Film Riding on Camerupt! Episode guide

[Zak]

AG 86: The Film Riding on Camerupt!!

Having just won at the Fortree City Gym, Ash is now gloating upon his newly acquired Feather Badge. Six down, two more to go! Of course he’d be interested in knowing where the next Gym is, so Brock and Max check the PokeNav and travel guide. The next Gym is in Mossdeep City, so as they look up the quickest route to get there, it seems the fastest way would be to cut through Lilycove City, so they might as well be heading there.
Sure enough while their walking, knowing them they’d be distracted by a side adventure. This time, they hear a man in the nearby lake, struggling with a Camerupt who seems to be carrying some fragile equipment! A firey camel with its earthen feet stuck in the water is very bad news, especially when it’s stacked with such equipment. Ash-tachi to the rescue!
Well, Ash sure is brave, willing to have Torkoal stand in the water and use its strength to push Camerupt. While everyone else is also helping push that Camerupt, May stands back at the bank with Bulbasaur, who uses its Vine Whip to help pull it. Thankfully their plan is successful, and Camerupt is back on dry land with no damaged equipment. The man thanks them, and introduces himself as Takaya. Max then takes a closer look at the goods Camerupt is carrying, and realizes it’s a camera and film set, so the guy must be a movie director. He then explains that he makes small silent movies featuring Pokemon, and travels around putting on live shows for young kids, at one of those outdoor-theater screens. Max, rather interested, asks about his current production he’s carrying in the box, and Takaya says that its his latest piece, “Plusle and Minun’s Great Adventure”. Max and May get excited at the mention of Plusle and Minun, and wish the man best of luck. Takaya happens to be headed towards an area where he is to present that one to a group of kids, so they decide to come along.
Meanwhile, J&J are spying on Ash and co and Takaya and Camerupt, plotting another mission. Jessie still hasn’t gotten used to that Chimecho hanging around annoying them outside the Pokeball, and scolds James to recall it. But as he does so, it does its usual gimmick of wrapping around his face, but he manages to get it back in anyway. Meowth then comes up with yet another scheme for the boss, that being to steal the Camerupt with the film. Meowth imagines the boss having his own little private room with all the movies he wants, and not only being impressed, but also hopefully seeing the ones Meowth stars in such as “Gotta Dance!”, and gaining respect for him again. However, J&J don’t understand why not just steal the film, but Meowth explains to them that the boss could use the Camerupt for hiking trips and whatnot. They decide to go through with it…
Suddenly, Takaya’s group arrives at a broken bridge over the river, so they’re gonna have to find some other way to cross. As they head to a shallower and narrower spot, they’re about to haul Camerupt through there, it’s not really much—PLOP! The ground collapses under them, and they all fall into the old infamous hole. Don’t they ever learn to watch out for those? Expectedly (maybe not to them), this is the work of J&J who come in their balloon! Then they use the old trick of the robot arm, which picks up Camerupt and the film. Ash sees this as no threat whatsoever, sends out Corphish, frees Camerupt by slicing the arm, and blasts them off with BubbleBeam. Woo-hoo.
As they walk Camerupt over the river, May once again goes into her wannabe-reporter mode, and talks as if they’re on some adventure expedition. As they’re walking along the rocky cliffs, she draws the attention to some rumbling up ahead, focuses on it, as a rock comes closer, and closer… and just in time, gets pulled out of the way by Max. Unfortunately, now they have a pile of boulders in their way, way too big for even Camerupt to handle. At least, not without starting an avalanche. Looks like they will have to camp in the woods.
While enjoying feasting on Brock’s dinner, Takaya tells them a little more about his silent movie productions, geared at the younger audience. Opening his backpack, he takes out a letter from one of his fans who saw his production “Camp Pikachu”, and loved the cute Pichu Bros. Takaya then asks if they recall seeing any Pokemon mini-films, since it is possible that he created them. A lot of them had been released in theaters, apparently. Ash actually happens to remember watching one in the theater with his family and Gary and Oak and the Pallet gang, which went something like this:
This film is based on the Manga characters, Red, Pikachu, and Pippi the talking Clefairy. As the three of them walk, suddenly Pippi stops. Red yells a bit, then realizes its picked up a tempting aroma, and then finds a Teddiursa feasting on a hamburger. Pippi runs up to it, snatches the burger from it, and gobbles it at the speed of light. Red gets angry, Teddiursa starts crying for mommy. Suddenly, an Ursaring comes, knocks the three of them away before they get a chance to say anything.
Brock also remembers a silent Western mini film from his childhood, in the theater. It went something like this:
Late afternoon in the Wild West, and Sheriff Snorlax is about to pick a fight with Machoke the kid. Mrs. Azumarill is standing outside the saloon, worried about the Sheriff. As they take their steps back, they draw their Remoraid and fight. After squirting at each other, Machoke falls over drenched in water, and Sheriff Snorlax happily saves the village.
Come to think of it, Max and May also remember a movie from their childhood about a giant Meowthzilla attacking a village. Went something like this:
Meowthzilla is roaming about the village, destroying everything in sight with Hyper Beams. It must be stopped! Two fighter planes are ready to take it on, one being piloted by two Pichu, the other by a Marshtomp. As they fire energy blasts, they do nothing except anger Meowthzilla, who blasts more Hyper Beams. Suddenly, one seems to hit Marshtomp’s pod, which comes crashing down… but somehow Marshtomp begins to grow super-size, Tackles Meowthzilla, defeating it and saving the city.
May also remembers a childhood movie she saw with friends, based on the Titanic, which went something like this:
Way out in the galaxy, a Novelty Space Voyager is roaming through the stars, aboard which are a romantic pair, Natu and Xatu. While they’re enjoying the cruise, suddenly a huge icy meteor is headed for a collision with the vehicle! It’s too late to do anything, as it crashes, damaging the ship. Xatu seems to have been separated from the ship, and is slowly drifting off into space! As Natu cries, Xatu tells her to make sure she never forgets him…
Everyone seems to be enjoying their trips down memory lane, while Takaya says he remembers all of those films. “Plusle and Minun’s Great Adventure”, however, is supposed to be a smash. As Ash asks what its about, Takaya is a little careful about giving stuff away. Taking out a book with all the beta plans for it, he tells them that it’s a silent movie featuring Plusle and Minun on a mission to get somewhere. No more details, yet. Max and May are now very interested in seeing it, and ask if its possible for them to see it before anyone else. Takaya happens to be presenting it tonight, so it really wouldn’t make much of a difference. However, how does agree to let them as well as Ash and Brock help set up the studio and roll the film.
As they all continue walking, they eventually arrive at a town, and as some elderly fans notice Takaya, and then everyone else starts flocking around him, as if they were expecting him and whatnot, and ask what film he’s presenting this year. As he announces the name, he and Ash’s friends then make their way to the park and set up the screen, film, and slides.
Later that night, its about time for the presentation of Takaya-San’s newest work, Plusle and Minun’s Great Adventure. All the kids have made their way to the park, are grabbing the audience seats, waiting for it to begin. Lights… camera… and ACTION!
In a faraway land, a castle sits atop a mountain, by the forest of Pokemon. In that forest live our two heroes, Plusle and Minun. One day, Plusle and Minun are invited to visit the beautiful Princess Kirlia in the castle. Excited, they make their way through the valley, rolling down the hills, and… crashing into huge boulders (comic relief). As they make their way, suddenly they come across a huge Armaldo blocking the path, ready to crush them! Luckily for them, it starts to storm, so they may have a chance. Armaldo prepares to attack, and then lashes at them with the… Make-the-screen-go-black-and-two-shadowy-figures-appear attack.
Suddenly, the screen falls, and behind it are J&J! Some of the kids are wondering if this is part of the show, but once Ash cries out and Jessie sends out Seviper and has it use a Haze attack on the audience, they realize that the show has been stolen, the party crashed. As the smoke clears, and the lights go on again, they notice that everything—the film, screen, camera, and whatnot—is gone! They must have run off with it. As Takaya makes an announcement for everyone to remain calm and seated while he goes searching for the film, Ash and the others offer to help. However, the kids need entertainment, they can’t just sit there and be bored. Thinking fast, May asks Brock to do that job… and although he’s reluctant, it’s too late, they’ve already left. Time for Brock to have some fun.
Brock’s new Lombre is a pretty good dancer after all. The kids seem to enjoy his performance of “Brock’s Paraside” (I don’t blame them, it’s pretty hilarious).
Takaya and the heroes seem to have found something. A filmstrip! Ash looks at it closely, and recognizes that it is indeed Takaya’s. Much to their luck, they find a whole path of film through the woods as well. Silly TR, always making themselves easy…
TR are hauling it off in a wheelbarrow, James and Meowth pulling, of course. This is when they start to think that maybe they should have brought Camerupt. Of course, Jessie refuses in a heartbeat to help, and insists on relaxing. Now is when they notice the film has been unraveling as they go, so the twerps can easily track them down. Thinking fast, Meowth hurries to roll up the film, but as the others follow, sure enough they rendezvous with the twerps again.
Battle time. Jessie releases Seviper, and Ash, Grovyle. Seviper goes for a Bite, Grovyle dodges and releases a Bullet Seed, hitting it on the spot. One more Quick Attack has them blasting off.
Brock is beginning to get tired of singing, and about to faint on stage. Lucky for him, his friends return just in time with Takaya, who seem to have recovered the film! Everyone cheers, as they continue on with the show.
Back at the Armaldo encounter scene. Thankfully, before Plusle and Minun get a chance to do anything, a Pikachu comes to the rescue, knocking it out in a single Tackle (Ash’s Pikachu blushing in excitement)! Now that they’ve taken care of Armaldo, they’re almost already at the castle. Better late than never, time to visit Kirlia. After encountering a few more enemies on the way such as Exploud, they’re enough of a team to take care of it. Along with Pikachu, they safely reach Princess Kirlia, and together they all go to the Pokemon Paradise on the other side of the mountain. The End. Everyone cheers as the screen closes.
J&J have actually been hiding behind the bushes and watching the film just for fun and curiousity… and are actually starting to cry, rather touched by it. They are even a bit ashamed of themselves they had to steal such a touching piece. As they head out of the next town, Jessie is going on about how good the film was, wiping her tears on Meowth. As the tears drop, TR head off to their next heist…


~Zak

[Gaborn]

This was a pretty cute episode. The movies were funny, especially the one with Pippi. That thing is the devil, I'm sure of it.

May used her Bulbasaur just like how Ash used to, which was nice. Torkoal didn't seem to be having too much trouble with all that water. I've made jokes about how all of it's crying made it resistant to water attacks, but now I'm starting to wonder...

[Pewter City Geodude]

We've seen Fire types in water before. Remember Cyndaquil in Pryce's Gym? And all those Houndour/Houndoom in the Entei episode?