IL010: Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village

Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village is a the tenth episode of the Pokémon anime series, except in the United States, after Battle Aboard the St. Anne was broadcast as the first episode. The episode was first broadcast in Japan on June 3, 1997 and in the United States on September 21, 1998. The episode follows Ash Ketchum, Misty, Brock and Pikachu near a stream and Misty tries to catch an Oddish but fails when the bodyguard Bulbasaur comes to protect it. Later Ash does battle with the Bulbasaur and becomes one of his all-stars.

Episode plot
At the start of the episode, Ash, Misty, and Brock are lost and trying to find the path to Vermilion City. Ash and Misty are fighting, only this time they are fighting over who got them lost in the first place.

They stop to rest and Ash notices an Oddish taking a drink from a stream. Misty sends out her Starmie to battle Oddish so she can catch it. Oddish is defeated, but Misty's PokeBall is deflected by a Bulbasaur. The Bulbasaur attacks and defeats Starmie. Ash sends out his Butterfree after Bulbasaur and uses Sleep Powder, but Bulbasaur blows the attack back at Butterfree. The Oddish and Bulbasaur escape into the bushes.

A little later, the three of them try to cross a rope bridge, but the wind rips it apart. Brock falls into the river below and Misty and Pikachu cling to Ash. Ash pulls them up and they make their way to the end of the bridge. They go down to water level and start looking for Brock. Almost immediately Misty falls into a hole in the ground. Ash pulls her out and they go farther down stream. Misty foot catches on a rope and Misty, Ash,and Pikachu get stuck in a net. They are found by the same Bulbasaur from before.

Ash starts to think that Brock has been washed to sea and captured by pirates, when Brock appears with a knife and cuts them free. He tells them how he got out of the rapids. He says that he was rescued by an "incredibly beautiful" girl. Brock takes them to a small village and introduces them to the girl, Melanie.

Ash and Misty notice that there are many pokemon in the village and wonder if they are Melanie's pokemon. Brock explains that the village is a place for hurt or abandoned pokemon to come and get better, then they leave. Melanie says that she collects plants to heal the pokemon with, but she's not a qualified pokemon doctor. Misty makes fun of Brock for falling in love with Melanie. Brock tells her to be quiet because he's afraid Melanie heard her.

Melanie explains that she set the traps because she wants to protect the hurt pokemon from Pokemon Trainers. Brock says that he promised Melanie that they wouldn't catch any pokemon in the village. Misty agrees saying, "Only bad guys try to catch sick pokemon." Ash worries if the traps are enough to stop thieves, " You have to be pretty stupid to fall into one of those holes." The scene cuts to Jessie, James, and Meowth as Jessie says," That's the third hole we have fallen into!" They get out of the hole and get caught in the net almost immediatly.

While Brock and Ash are healing a hurt Staryu, Misty apologizies to the Oddish that she tried to catch earlier. Bulbasaur tackles Misty, thinking that Oddish was in danger. Melanie explains that Bulbasaur volunteered to protect the whole village. Ash says that he wishes he had a pokemon that brave.

Team Rocket appears in their balloon reciting their motto. They land in a clearing close to the village and they use a giant vacuum to try to steal all the pokemon. Brock leads everyone into the cabin, but Oddish is caught by the vacuum. Bulbasaur uses Vine Whip to save Oddish. Ash helps by blocking the wind so Bulbasaur can get Oddish to safety. The vacuum is so strong, it starts to pull the roof off the cabin. Bulbasaur uses Vine Whip to try and stop the roof from flying away. Ash sends out Pidgeotto and tells it to use Gust. The Gust attack blows Team Rocket away, saving the village and the pokemon.

Melanie asks Ash to take Bulbasaur with him, the pokemon are staying too long because Bulbasaur does such a good job of protecting the pokemon! Bulbasaur agrees to go, but only if Ash battles it. Ash chooses Pikachu to battle Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur uses Vine Whip on Pikachu and starts tossing Pikachu around. Pikachu uses ThunderShock and it defeats Bulbasaur, letting Ash be able to catch Bulbasaur. Brock offers to stay and help but Melanie tells him to continue his adventure.

Debuts
Pokemon Characters
 * Human Characters
 * Melanie
 * Ash's Bulbasaur
 * Oddish

Trivia

 * The pokemon Melanie was taking care of were Caterpie, a Paras, a Weepinbell, an Oddish and two Rattata.
 * Melanie was voiced by Tara Jayne (Tara Sands).
 * The "Who's that Pokemon?" in this episode is Bulbasaur.
 * In one scene James is not wearing gloves when he's holding his rose.

Quotes

 * "(phew) I told you to stick to the main road but you had to take a shortcut." &mdash; Misty
 * "I took a shortcut? It was you who said to go this way." &mdash; Ash
 * "Ha! If I was leading we wouldn't have gotten lost like this." &mdash; Misty
 * "Who says we're lost?" &mdash; Ash
 * "Listen genius, if you don't know where you are or where you're going that means you're lost!" &mdash; Misty


 * "All right, but remind me to yell at you some more if we ever get to Vermilion City." &mdash; Misty


 * "Hold it." &mdash; Misty
 * "What for?" &mdash; Ash
 * "Because I'm gonna catch that Pokémon." &mdash; Misty


 * "Wow! I can't believe it! A Bulbasaur!" &mdash; Ash excited to see a real live Bulbasaur.


 * "How'd you get down there?" &mdash; Ash
 * "I fell in, how else? Whats a trap doing here?" &mdash; Misty
 * "It seems pretty strange." &mdash; Ash
 * "Just help me out quick." &mdash; Misty
 * "This is just not our day." &mdash; Ash


 * "Try wiggling. See if the net will open." &mdash; Misty
 * "This is dumb." &mdash; Ash
 * "You got any better ideas let's hear 'em." &mdash; Misty


 * "Now you're wiggling too much. Ouch! You kicked me." &mdash; Misty


 * "Gee I wonder what happened to Brock." &mdash; Ash
 * "I wonder too." &mdash; Misty
 * "Maybe the river carried him far away, all the way to the ocean. Then some pirates spotted him and brought him aboard their ship, and one of the pirates has a wooden leg." &mdash; Ash
 * "You have a crazy imagination." &mdash; Misty
 * "Kachu." &mdash; Pikachu
 * "Then came the storm." &mdash; Ash
 * "Ahoy." &mdash; Brock
 * "Hey Brock." &mdash; Ash
 * "Why're you hangin' around up in that tree?" &mdash; Brock


 * "Thanks but next time you could let us down a little more gently." &mdash; Misty about Brock getting her and Ash out of the tree.


 * "The girl who saved my life, was incredibly beautiful." &mdash; Brock
 * "Hmmm, A beautiful girl huh? That's even better than pirates. Unless of course she was really a pirate in disguise." &mdash; Ash
 * "Maybe it's time to get a reality check." &mdash; Misty


 * "So you guys really love to take care of Pokémon." &mdash; Ash
 * "We sure do." &mdash; Brock
 * "Melanie is on screen, back to the group." &mdash; Melanie
 * "I bet that's not the only thing you love." &mdash; Misty
 * "Ahhhh! Be quiet, she might hear you." &mdash; Brock


 * "I'm sorry. I was the one who set those traps. I wanted to catch Pokémon trainers before they reached the village. Since you got caught I guess they really worked." &mdash; Melanie


 * "I promised Melanie we wouldn't capture any Pokémon here." &mdash; Brock
 * "And did you seal the promise with a kiss?" &mdash; Misty
 * "So that must mean you really do love her." &mdash; Misty


 * "But are those traps tough enough to keep robbers away from this place. I mean you'd have to be pretty stupid to fall into one of those holes." &mdash; Ash
 * "Hey!" &mdash; Misty


 * "This is the third hole we've fallen into! How come nobody ever falls into our traps and we always fall into theirs?" &mdash; Jessie
 * "Well, this one was cleverly hidden, well made and-" &mdash; James
 * "I'm glad you're enjoying it so much!" &mdash; Jessie


 * "You're sweet Oddish. I am sorry. All I think about lately is winning. I hope I'm not becoming heartless." &mdash; Misty
 * "You are always heartless." &mdash; Ash
 * "Mind your own business!" &mdash; Misty


 * "Bulbasaur was worried about the other Pokémon so it decided to be the village bodyguard. Now that's what I call bravery. It would be great to have a Pokémon like that." &mdash; Ash  about Bulbasaur.


 * "Those village idiots thought their measly traps would stop us. They thought they had the home team advantage." &mdash; James
 * "No such luck. We're the home team now." &mdash; Jessie


 * "Here we go again." &mdash; Ash  about Team Rocket.


 * "Today only at Jessie's Stadium it's the Team Rocket Pokémon challenge." &mdash; Jessie
 * "The flying stadium was my idea." &mdash; James


 * "Yeah, we're not hosin ya. Well, maybe we are." &mdash; Meowth with a pun about the vacuum hose.


 * "They never run out of ideas do they?" &mdash; Ash, again about Team Rocket.


 * "Let's go Team. To steal them is our dream. Let's go Rocket. Put Pokémon in our pocket." &mdash; Team Rocket cheering.


 * "And the tornado's winding up." &mdash; James
 * "But will it strike us out?" &mdash; Jessie
 * "There goes the whole ball game." &mdash; Meowth


 * "Is everyone feeling ok?" &mdash; Melanie
 * "I just had the wind knocked out of me." &mdash; Ash


 * "Bulbasaur will join you on one condition: it wants to battle you in a Pokémon match. Right Bulbasaur?" &mdash; Melanie


 * "The Vine Whip is Bulbasaur's special move." &mdash; Misty about Bulbasaur.


 * "We did it! We got Bulbasaur." &mdash; Ash after catching Bulbasaur.


 * "Uh, Melanie I've been thinking." &mdash; Brock
 * "Yes?" &mdash; Melanie
 * "Well since Bulbasaur's leaving I wouldn't mind staying and helping you out." &mdash; Brock
 * "It's very kind of you but we'll be ok. I wouldn't want to keep you from all your wonderful adventures." &mdash; Melanie
 * "Yeah, well, I guess you're right." &mdash; Brock


 * "So what did Melanie say when you said you loved her? Did you kiss her goodbye?" &mdash; Misty
 * "That's enough stupid questions. Will you please quit embarassing me already? You know, ok, so she's cute, I understand that but you know-" &mdash; Brock
 * "Did I miss something? What's going on?" &mdash; Ash

Links
Watch this and other episodes: Pokemon Episode 10: Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village