A Fan with a Plan – Pokémon Season 7, Episode 37

Plot episodeMothers for PokémonRubello R1 Contest begins

A Fan with a Plan is the 37th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 350th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 353, Bulbapedia code AG077). It first aired in Japan on 20 May 2004 and in the United States on 7 May 2005. It falls within the season’s Littleroot to Rubello: Oak, Bulbasaur & the R1 Contest stretch (EP71–EP78).

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

Synopsis

Arriving in Rubello Town on the way to Fortree City, the group spot a poster for a Contest the next day, and May decides at once to enter. Brock notices an unfamiliar “R1” symbol, and Nurse Joy explains that entrants must already hold at least one Ribbon. At the Pokémon Center May runs into Drew, and after they exchange barbs a crowd of excited women swarms Drew, and then May, whom they recognise as Norman’s daughter. They are the Mothers for Pokémon, a club of wives and mothers who adore Coordinators. Their leader, Savannah, saw May at Verdanturf and is entering the Rubello Contest herself. The club throws a party for May and Max while telling Ash that he is not on their list of promising young Trainers, which leaves him grumbling, although he denies being jealous.

Team Rocket also arrive, and Jessie, desperate to enter, decides to steal the Ribbon she lacks. Savannah shows May her Flareon and Lairon and explains the R1 rule: two Pokémon are needed, one for the appeals round and one for the battles, so May must choose two of her four. Savannah, whose nerves make her freeze up, introduces her daughter Sandra and invites the group to dinner. That night May tests all her Pokémon. Bulbasaur stumbles during a combination, and Drew, training his new Masquerain nearby, mocks it as undisciplined. Stung, May decides to enter Bulbasaur in the Contest. Savannah, who started out with a Bulbasaur herself, relaxes at the sight of it, and the two begin a practice battle with Bulbasaur at a disadvantage against Flareon.

The battle is interrupted by Team Rocket, with James and Meowth only reluctantly helping Jessie steal the Ribbons. Dustox attacks the Pokémon the women have out, and Ash, Brock and Max join in with Pikachu, Lombre and Mudkip. Wobbuffet bounces back Flareon’s Flamethrower and the Water Guns, while Pikachu’s Thunderbolt stops Dustox’s Poison Sting. When Jessie orders a Psybeam at Sandra, Savannah is furious, and Flareon’s next Flamethrower sets Team Rocket’s balloon ablaze and brings it down. Jessie declares that she would sooner give up James and Meowth than the Ribbons, angering her teammates, but they finally convince her that nobody would believe the Ribbons were hers, and she hands them back. Savannah and Sandra then blast the trio off with Water Pulse, and the Coordinators settle down to wait for the Rubello Contest to begin.

Major Events

• Rubello Town’s R1 Contest (Ribbon holders only, two Pokémon each)
• The Mothers for Pokémon, Savannah and Sandra
• Jessie steals Ribbons, then hands them back
• May chooses Bulbasaur
• Drew’s Masquerain and Savannah’s Lairon debut

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Masquerain#0284 · AG077
• Lairon#0305 · AG077

Trivia

• The English title plays on "a man with a plan".
• The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Hoenn storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• Jessie’s akanbe cut
• Jessie’s “R1 = Rocket Number One” joke replaced
• Brock’s “A domestic god!” added
• Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon evolves into Seviper? Answer: Arbok (the segment’s most infamous mistake — Seviper does not evolve from anything)

Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Challenge guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.