Battle Aboard the St. Anne (Japanese: サントアンヌごうのたたかい！, Hepburn: Battle on the St. Anne!) is the 15th 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 board a fancy cruise ship called the St. Anne, thanks to tickets provided by two friendly but familiar-looking people. We soon learn that they're actually Jessie and James in disguise, and their latest plan is to lure Pokémon Trainers onto the ship and steal their Pokémon!
While onboard, Ash observes a Raticate defeating a Starmie. Ash challenges the Raticate with his Butterfree. Though the Raticate's owner removes his Pokémon before the battle ends, he's impressed with Ash's Butterfree and offers a trade. Ash trades his Butterfree for the Raticate, but soon regrets his decision. Meanwhile, James is tricked into buying a Magikarp.
While all the Trainers are gathered in a room, the ship's employees reveal themselves to be members of Team Rocket! As they suck up Poké Balls with vacuum-like devices, the Trainers fight back; their Pokémon team up to multiply their attacks and drive back the bad guys.
During all the commotion, a tumultuous storm brews outside. Eventually, the ship rocks violently, and the consensus is to abandon ship. Only Jessie, James, Meowth, and Ash and his friends are unable to flee, as they are knocked unconscious by the jerking movements of the ship—then the ship flips over and sinks!
What will become of our heroes? Will they have to join forces with Team Rocket to escape? And how successful could such a partnership be?[1]
Episode plot[]
After earning his badge from Lt. Surge, they witness the St. Anne, a cruise ship, docked at the shore. Their Curiosity gets the better of them, but their wallets are too light for a ticket, so they begin to depart in disappointment. However, a disguised Jessie and James give them a ticket for free and tells them that there is a trainer convention on board. Meeting up with Meowth later, it is revealed to Giovanni via video call that the plan is to rob all of the trainers on the vessel of their Pokémon when they're out to sea.
While out at sea, Ash witnesses a Gentleman's Raticate defeat a Starmie. Ash wishes to battle the Gentleman and uses Butterfree. However, as the battle tips in Ash's favor, the Gentleman declares it a draw and recalls his Raticate, all while James is conned into spending an arm and a leg for a Magikarp. Later, the Gentleman, impressed with Butterfree, wishes to trade, and Ash agrees. However, later, he has buyer's remorse as he remembers all the good times he had with Butterfree. Later, Team Rocket Grunts appear on the ship to steal all the Pokémon, but Ash spurs them to fight back.
As they fight back, the St. Anne sails into a storm and begins to sink under the waves. Ash asks for a trade-back with the Gentleman who agrees. However, the trade takes too long, and after a wave knocks the pokeball from Ash's hands, the heroes scramble to get it, only to be trapped on the vessel with Team Rocket as it sinks.
Debuts[]
Character[]
- Giovanni (silhouette)
- Magikarp Salesman
- Gentleman
Pokémon[]
Move[]
Quotes[]
- "Just imagine, sunbathing on deck all day, just a nice long, relaxing cruise." - Misty
- "We could never afford a cruise like that." - Brock
- "Augh." - Misty
- "Reality can really bum you out." - Ash
- "Do you know anybody who says "radical" anymore?" - Ash about outdated slang
- "Like wow, don't I make like the coolest girl?" - James
- (Jessie clobbers him with a mallet)
- "Ow!" - James
- "Stop acting like an ignoramus." - Jessie
- (normal voice) "Ow." - James
- "I normally charge $100 but for you I'll throw in an egg-laying set, child-care set and an education set for only $300. How about it?" - Magikarp Salesmen
- "I'LL TAKE IT!" - James
- "I can tell, haha, you're going to be a very rich man, a very rich man." - Magikarp Salesmen
- "You idiot! Can't you see you were tricked?!" - Jessie
- "What a dope!" - Meowth
- "But you don't understand, Magikarp is a gold mine. Even its Poké Ball is solid gold."
- "IT'S JUST GOLD-PLATED!" - Meowth
- (Meowth scratches the gold Poke-Ball, revealing the red-and-white regular paint underneath, to James' horror)
- "Magikarp is a no-talent Pokemon that can do nothing but flop around! How do you expect to sell it?!" - Jessie
- "I was tricked." - James
- "How did you get the money for it?" - Jessie
- "Well, the advance on my salary didn't quite cover it so I..." - James
- "So you did what?" - Jessie
- "I used the advance on your salary." - James
- "You go return that fish and get my money back right NOW!" - Jessie
- (The Rocket Grunts spring their ambush, but James is too busy to notice as he looks for the Magikarp Salesman)
- "Hey...hombre...I want my...my money back!" - James
- (Jessie grabs him and pulls him out of the room to scold him over trying to find the salesman now that they've sprung their trap)
- "Are you crazy?!" - Jessie
- "But I..." - James
- "WE GOT WORK TO DO!!" - Jessie
- "Now there's no reason to panic. I just thought I'd test out one of the lifeboats." - The Captain
- "Wait! There goes my next paycheck!" - James
- "Who cares about your paycheck, what about mine?!" - Jessie
- "We gotta get out of here!" - Meowth
Trivia[]
Dare Da?
Who's that Pokémon?
- "Who's that Pokémon?": Raticate (JA, EN and KO)
- The captain of the St. Anne decided to leave the ship first, even though it's usually customary for captains to leave last, so as to ensure that all passengers and crew have been evacuated.
- James and Jessie disguised themselves as Ganguro Girls at the beginning of the episode, though technically Jessie had orange hair.
- This is the first of few episodes where James cross-dresses as a girl.
- Aside from Misty and Jessie, Rachael Lillis also voiced the lady accompanying the Gentleman.
- The trade machine had the same buttons as a VCR.
- This is the first time that Ash battled a large group of Team Rocket Members.
- The girl disguised voice Eric Stuart used for James sounded the same as Gourry's (Lala) voice from the Slayers episode "Question? He's Proposing to THAT Girl?".
Mistakes[]
- Raticate uses Jump Kick in this episode, a move it can't learn.
Dub differences[]
- The gentlemen having Southern accents was in the English dub only.
- In the original version, Jessie says that the ticket for the St. Anne was a present (even going as far to spell it as "P-re-s-en-t"), while in the dub she says that they're "Totally free, To-tal-ly free".
- When the episode aired as a sneak peek, it had different opening and closing narrations:
- Sneak Peek opening narration: "Welcome to this special exclusive sneak preview of Pokémon! For this sneak peek, let's pick up the adventure as our heroes are departing Vermilion City. As always, Brock, Misty and Pikachu join Ash on his quest to become a Pokémon Master."
- Regular version opening narration: "As his Pokémon journey continues, Ash is one step closer to achieving his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master. Last time, Ash defeated the Vermilion City Gym Leader and earned a Thunder Badge."
- Sneak Peek closing narration: "Not everyone, captain. And as the St. Anne heads to the bottom of the sea, our heroes are trapped unconscious inside, and so is Team Rocket. Could this be the end? How will they escape their watery fate? Those answers will be coming soon enough, but tomorrow we'll take you back to the beginning, to find out how everybody met, and to discover how this incredible Pokémon adventure all began."
- Regular version closing narration: "Not everyone, captain. And as the St. Anne heads to the bottom of the sea, our heroes are trapped unconscious inside, and so is Team Rocket. Could this be the end? How will they escape their watery fate? I don't know, but I have a terrible sinking feeling!"
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ (n.d.) . "Battle Aboard the St. Anne | Pokémon TV (pokemon.com)". From The Official Pokémon Website | Pokemon.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2024.
