Here Comes the Squirtle Squad (Japanese: ゼニガメぐんだんとうじょう！, Hepburn: Enter the Squirtle Squad!) is the 12th episode of Pocket Monsters of Pocket Monsters (1997 series), Season 1 of Pokémon the Series, and Pokémon: Indigo League of Pokémon the Series: The Beginning.
Synopsis[]
Ash and his friends walk along a path and fall into a hole dug by a batch of mischievous Squirtle. Ash climbs out and tries to battle them, but they scatter when Officer Jenny arrives.
Team Rocket tries to enjoy a picnic, but the Squirtle Squad (as Officer Jenny calls them) shows up, traps them (then ties them to a tree), and eats their food. Meowth makes a deal with the Squirtle to secure its release.
With Meowth in charge, the Squirtle are able to capture Ash, Misty, Brock, and a wounded Pikachu. They tie up the humans in a cave while Pikachu, its health fading, lies in a cage. Ash convinces the Squirtle to let him go to town to get a Super Potion for Pikachu, while Meowth awaits Jessie and James to arrive so they can complete their plan.
Will Ash retrieve Pikachu's medicine in time? What is this sinister Team Rocket plot? And what's the real story behind the Squirtle Squad?[1]
Episode plot[]
Ash is feeling very confident and is humming the Red/Blue theme as he, Misty, and Brock walk down the road. They all fall into a pit and immediately think Team Rocket dug it. But they didn't, a group of sunglasses-wearing Squirtle dug the pit. They stare at Ash and his friends and laugh. Pikachu uses ThunderShock, but one of the Squirtle (most likely the leader) defends the other Squirtle.
A battle starts, Pikachu against the Squirtle that was the leader. Suddenly, sirens start going off and the Squirtle grabbed their injured comrade and run off. Officer Jenny quickly appears and Ash thinks that he had met her before. Officer Jenny tells him that all of the Officer Jennys are related, they all look alike, and they are all named Jenny (this is evidenced by a photo of the family of Officer Jennys). Ash, with a smile, regards it as an interesting family resemblance and Misty picks up, saying that at least the names are not confused. At the police station, Officer Jenny explains that the group of Squirtle they met call themselves "The Squirtle Squad". The Squirtle Squad were abandoned by their trainers and they pull pranks on people. Jenny is worried that if no one can deal with them, it's scary to even imagine what will happen next.
A little ways away, Team Rocket are watching Ash and his friends. Jessie is focused on catching Pikachu, but James and Meowth only wanted to get some food, making Jessie hit them with a fan. Soon Jessie realized that she was getting hungry too and pulls out a picnic basket, which cheered James and Meowth up. They notice that the Squirtle Squad was watching them. The Squirtle Squad's leader tells them to hand over their food or else. Jessie and James say no and walk over to battle them. They quickly fell into a pit that the squad had dug. Later, the squad was happily eating Team Rocket's food, with them tied to a tree. Jessie asks them to help them capture Pikachu, but they say no, because they think humans can't be trusted. Meowth thinks of an idea and explains to the squad that Jessie and James are owned by him. James gets mad but Meowth tells him to be quiet and that he will explain it to him later. Meowth says that Jessie and James are his pets and started kicking James for speaking. The Squirtle Squad buys this and unties Meowth. They let him join them at eating the food, with Jessie and James still tied up.
Far away, Misty is fishing while Ash and Brock are sitting by the river. A member of the Squirtle Squad appears and soaks them all with Water Gun. Pikachu tries to use ThunderShock on it, but only shocks Ash, Misty, and Brock. Ash grows sick of all of this and confronts the Squirtle when it jumps out of the water. Pikachu started to attack, but the Squirtle withdraws into its shell and spins, knocking Pikachu into the water. A Goldeen was in the water as Pikachu fell in. Ash yells to Pikachu to swim to shore, but Pikachu couldn't swim faster than the Goldeen. Pikachu gets hurt by Goldeen's horn and knocked out of the water. Ash runs to help, but three lassos came out, tying up Ash, Misty, and Brock. Running around them, the Squirtle Squad tighten the ropes. Then Meowth comes out of hiding. Later, Ash, Misty, and Brock are tied up in a cave with Pikachu trapped in a cage nearby. Meowth says that he was in charge, but Ash tries to convince the Squirtle Squad not to listen to Meowth because he's a liar. Meowth uses a Scratch attack on his face and convinces the Squad to not listen to Ash.
Brock sees that Pikachu is badly hurt and that they would need a Super Potion to heal him. Ash asks the squad if he can be released to get some medicine for Pikachu. They refuse, but Ash begs and even cries to convince them. They decide that only Ash would be let go to get medicine. They warn him, translated by Meowth, that if he didn't come back by noon tomorrow, Misty would get her hair dyed purple. Misty gets mad at Meowth and Ash promises that he would be back by then. Ash raced towards town and is tripped on a rock. The image of Pikachu badly hurt keeps him going. He soon comes to a dangerous bridge and when he is halfway across, it brakes sending Ash into the river where he also gets hurt from a Goldeen. Ash finally makes it into town, but he os so exhausted that he has to use a walking stick. He reaches out to open the door to the shop when Gary pushes it open and hits Ash in the head, knocking him unconscious.
Back in the cave, Pikachu is getting worse, and Brock and Misty worry about Ash. Meowth is worried too because Jessie and James are taking a long time to come around. In town, Ash wakes up to yelling coming from inside the shop. Team Rocket is holding up the shop with ice guns and demands all of their Flash Powder and Dental Floss. When they get what they want, they fire a rocket that makes it snow inside the store and they run off to their balloon. Ash runs into the store to get the medicine and when he walks in, he has four gun barrels pointing at him. Officer Jenny stops the people holding the guns saying that he wasn't with Team Rocket. Ash is soon riding on the back of Officer Jenny's motorcycle and heading towards the cave. Unfortunately, they come to the bridge that broke and are forced to take a longer route. Team Rocket flies over the broken bridge and make Flash Bombs.
The Squirtle Squad! - Pokémon- Indigo League - Official Clip
Ash and the gang with the Squirtle Squad!
Ash and Officer Jenny find another way into the cave but it is too small for an adult to fit through, so Ash goes in alone. It is too dark too see, so he has Charmander be his walking torch. Ash comes to where the Squirtle Squad was but they aren't there anymore. Ash runs out of the cave where the squad was and demands to know where Misty and Brock are, and they were right there. It turns out that the Squad was joking when they said they would dye Misty's hair. Pikachu is quickly sprayed with the Super Potion. Suddenly, an explosion occurs and Team Rocket recites their motto. They throw some more bombs and drop down a ladder for Meowth to climb up with Pikachu. Ash yells for everyone to go into the cave for cover. Ash looks back and sees that the squad leader had been knocked onto its back and can't move. Ash runs back and protects the Squirtle from the bombs. Ash tells the Squirtle to save itself, but the Squirtle picks up Ash and runs to the cave.
Team Rocket is busy celebrating and Ash tolls them that everyone had survived. They are stunned and Ash tells all of the Squirtle to use Water Gun. It blows a hole in the balloon and James drops Pikachu. Ash runs and catches Pikachu. Team Rocket and their balloon get blasted off again. The bombs they had thrown start a fire and Ash says that if the squad worked together, they could stop the fire. They do. The fire is stopped and the town was saved. They make the Squirtle Squad their new firefighter squad. Ash and his friends leave to go to Vermilion City with Pikachu back to his regular self. Misty notices that the leader of the Squirtle Squad is following them. Ash asks Squirtle if he wants to join them and he gladly accepts.
Debuts[]
Pokémon[]
Item[]
Quotes[]
- "My cousins are all police officers, all of us look identical, plus we're all named Jenny." Officer Jenny about her family
- "Talk about family resemblance." - Ash
- "At least they remember all their names." - Misty
- "I'm the Pokémon in charge here. Just wait until my human pets get back!" - Meowth announcing to the Squirtle Squad and to Ash and company
- "Nah, nah, nah-nah, nah!" - Meowth taunting Ash and poking his tail in his face
- "Don't believe him, Squirtles! Meowth's a big liar! Those humans aren't Meowth's pets! Team Rocket's just trying to trick you all into doing their dirty work!" - Ash trying to convince the Squirtle Squad not to believe Meowth.
- "Quiet, human!" - Meowth using Scratch on Ash
- "Who are you going to believe, this human or a fellow Pokémon?" - Meowth
- "Ash, Pikachu's in bad shape!" - Brock alerting Ash that Pikachu is in need of healing.
- "We've got to do something!" - Misty
- "We've got to heal Pikachu with Super Potion before it's too late. - Brock
- "But we don't have any Super Potion. What can we do?" - Ash
- "A shop in town sells it." - Brock
- "Squirtle Squad, please, you've got to let me go into town. If I don't get the medicine, Pikachu's in a lot of trouble!" -Ash
- "They know you humans are just trying to get away!" - Meowth
- "Trust me. I won't run away! As soon as I buy the medicine, I'll come back. I promise!" - Ash
- "Squirtle says promises are cheap!" - Meowth
- "I'm begging you. Please trust me." - Ash becoming concerned for Pikachu
- "The Squirtle says if you're not back here by noon tomorrow, the red-headed girl gets her hair dyed purple." - Meowth
- "Purple?! Why you mangy little flea-trap! When I get out of this I'm gonna wrap your tail around that-" - Misty
- "These are ice packs we're gunning. I mean, ice guns we're packing." - James
- "It's Team Rocket!" - Shop owner
- "Cool, we're just like those supervillains in the comic books except better looking." - Jessie
- "And even meaner." - James
- "What've you done? I told you I'd be back by noon and I am. What did you do with my friends?" - Ash
- "We're right here." - Misty
- "So Misty, your hair isn't purple." - Ash
- "Nope, I'm still a red-head." - Misty
- "The Squirtle Squad was bluffing." - Brock
- "They play tricks, but they'd never change a girl's natural hair color." - Misty
- "Yeah! I just caught a Squirtle!" - Ash
- "Caught?! What do you mean 'caught'?!" - Misty
- "It doesn't matter, it's on our side now!" - Ash
Trivia[]
- "Who's That Pokémon?:" Squirtle (JA, EN and KO)
- Ash was singing the Pokémon video game theme near the beginning of the episode.
- The part where Goldeen was sneaking up on Pikachu is near similar to a part in the movie Jaws.
- Ikue Ōtani voiced not only Pikachu but also one of Squirtle Squad members, as well as the wild Goldeen that attacks Pikachu.
- There's a scene shown where one of the Squirtle's spray paintings bear resemblance to a character from the Kirby series, named Dark Matter.
- When Pikachu and Squirtle were eyeing each other, Western themed music is played.
- One of the merchants in Jenny's reports resemble the Magikarp Salesman.
Mistakes[]
- When Ash got hit by Goldeen, both his hat and his right eye are discolored.
- In the dub, Ash and Jenny refer to the Squirtle as "Squirtles", even though the plural for every Pokémon name is the same as the singular.
Dub differences[]
- In the original version, Misty is threatened to be executed if Ash doesn't deliver the Super Potion in time; this was changed to having her hair dyed purple in the dub.
- Ironically, Misty actually volunteers to retrieve the Super Potion instead of Ash in the original as well.
- Ash saying that he can beat Gary with his own Squirtle is in the dub only.
- In the original version Brock tells Ash that his Pikachu would die if he doesn't get the Super Potion, in the dub, it's changed to big trouble.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ (n.d.) . "Here Comes the Squirtle Squad | Pokémon TV (pokemon.com)". From The Official Pokémon Website | Pokemon.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2024.
