Hypno’s Naptime – Pokémon Season 1, Episode 27

Plot episodeMisty catches Psyduck

Hypno’s Naptime is the 27th episode of Pokémon: Indigo League, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 27th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 27, Bulbapedia code EP027). It first aired in Japan on 30 September 1997 and in the United States on 13 October 1998. It falls within the season’s Ghosts, Psychics & the Celadon fire stretch (EP20–EP27).

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

While pounding the pavements of Hop Hop Hop Town trying to work out where they are Ash is grabbed by a woman who is overjoyed to see “her Arnold”, mistaking him for her missing son. The woman then explains to Ash, Misty and Brock that many children have gone missing recently, and points out all the missing posters nearby.

Ash feels sorry for the woman imagining how his own mother would feel if he was missing. Detective Ash Ketchum steps up to try and help the towns Officer Jenny find out what happened to the kids, they begin asking questions in the Pokemon Center but no one seems to know anything. It turns out that the Pokemon Center is full of sleeping/overtired Pokemon. Officer Jenny picks up strong readings on a Sleep Wave detector and Pikachu is put to sleep, Officer Jenny, Ash and friends deduct that the sleep waves and missing children may be connected. They track back the sleep waves to the top of a tall building and head up to investigate. There they find a rooftop mansion along with a terraced garden, and appear to have found the source of the sleep waves. Ash and Brock burst in to find some sort of event taking place, and a Drowzee and Hypno sat together on a table in the middle of it.

It turns out that the Hypno is the one responsible for the sleep waves, and that he evolved from Drowzee 3 days prior, exactly when the kids started going missing. The Pokémon Lovers club has a lot of members that struggle to sleep at night and suffer insomnia, they had been using Hypno’s powers to help them get a good nights sleep. And it turns out that the Pokemon across the town being put to sleep is a side effect of Hypno’s powers being used in this way. Misty falls under this side affect hynosis and thinks she’s a Seel, she runs out of the building, into a park and sits by the side of a lake. Everyone follows her and there they find not just Misty but all the missing children from the town, who also think they’re Pokemon!

The Pokemon Lovers Society upon realising what’s happened use Drowzees Dream Waves to restore Misty to normal. Team Rocket who have also followed the sleep waves attack on the rooftop and are fended off by Ash’s Pidgeotto. Then Ash and friends set out with Drowzee to return all the kids to normal before heading to the Pokemon Center to wake up all the sleeping Pokemon. One Pokémon however still seems to be having trouble; a Psyduck who Misty inadvertantly manages to catch despite really not wanting to.

Major Events

• — Misty accidentally catches Psyduck
• HopHopHop Town
• Fourth-wall “half-hour” jokes
• First interior shot of a Poké Ball. Debuts: Psyduck, Drowzee, Hypno. Dub flashback still uses EP018 footage.

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Psyduck#0054 · EP027
• Drowzee#0096 · EP027
• Hypno#0097 · EP027

Captures and evolutions

• Psyduck#0054 · Misty · by accident

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• 3 s “Yo Yo Yo” hopping shot cut (music skips)
• Missing-children posters → dots
• The “we have to fill a half-hour” joke is in both versions
• Dub ending: the Kanto Pokérap (Tuesday segment)

Part of our Pokémon: Indigo League guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.