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| Season | Pokémon: Master Quest (Season 5) · The Johto League Silver Conference arc (EP265–EP272) |
| Episode | Season 5, episode 55 · English episode 264 · Japanese episode 267 · Bulbapedia code EP265 |
| English title | Pop Goes the Sneasel |
| Japanese title | ニューラとせいなる ほのお! Nyūra to Seinaru Honō! — “Nyula and the Sacred Flame!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 12 September 2002 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 16 September 2003 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Yukiyoshi Ōhashi |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Ready Go! – Naomi Tamura · Pokettāri Monsutāri – Kana |
| English opening | Believe in Me – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Elekid (US) · Sneasel (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Mother of All Battles (EP264) |
| Next episode | A Claim to Flame! (EP266) |
Plot episodeHarrison debutsBlaziken debut
Pop Goes the Sneasel is the 55th episode of Pokémon: Master Quest, the fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 264th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 267, Bulbapedia code EP265). It first aired in Japan on 12 September 2002 and in the United States on 16 September 2003. It falls within the season’s The Johto League Silver Conference stretch (EP265–EP272).
Aired on Tuesday 16 September 2003 as part of a second weekday premiere week; Kids’ WB counted the episodes from EP263 onward as the start of Season 6, though they still carried the Master Quest title card.
Synopsis
As Ash and company approach the conference they stop to see the start of the lighting of the torch ceremony at the Ho-oh Shrine. Soon there is an announcement that the ceremony will be delayed. Ash and company and Harrison, a trainer from the Hoenn region are asked to help capture a sneasel who has taken up residence at the shrine along with a machop and a machoke. Everyone accepts the quest. Harrison is looking forward to catching a sneasel, and the one at the shrine seems especially feisty. Despite an attempt by Team Rocket to catch the sneasel to replace Meowth, they succeed in beating off the machop and machoke. Harrison is then able to catch the sneasel with a pokémon he brought from the Hoenn region, a blaziken. Now that the ceremony is able to proceed, Ash and Harrison are both looking forward to battling at the Silver Conference.
Major Events
- Harrison debuts
- Blaziken, Houndoom(Harrison’s) debuts
- Sneasel TV debut
- Hoenn first mentioned
Pokémon making their anime debut
Sneasel#0215 · EP265
Blaziken#0257 · EP265
Captures and evolutions
- Sneasel#0215 · Harrison
Trivia
- The English title plays on the nursery rhyme "Pop Goes the Weasel".
- The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Sneasel in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Elekid in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- Team Rocket motto variations and dub-only fourth-wall jokes (“Meowth has been dropped from the rest of the season”, EP265). Move-name errors: Headbutt → “Skull Bash” (EP216–217), Take Down (EP220), Outrage → “Attack Rage” (EP253), Bind → “Wrap”, Scary Face → “Leer” (EP271), Ice Beam → “Cold Beam” (EP257). The announcer repeatedly calls Harrison “from Silver Town” instead of Littleroot (EP270, EP272).
Part of our Pokémon: Master Quest guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.