Malice In Wonderland! – Pokémon Season 10, Episode 43

Filler / stand-alone episodeMismagius’s nightmareEight blast-offs

Malice In Wonderland! is the 43rd episode of Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl, the tenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 507th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 510, Bulbapedia code DP043). It first aired in Japan on 16 August 2007 and in the United States on 29 December 2007. It falls within the season’s The road to Hearthome: Happiny, Cynthia & Gary stretch (EP38–EP47).

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

Synopsis

Searching for a Pokémon Center at night, the friends shelter from a downpour under an old gate, then cross a field of tall grass into thick fog, where a flock of Crobat chases them and a strange purple light flashes in the mist. When the fog lifts, a Pokémon Center stands before them, and inside, to Brock’s disbelief, Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny both say they have longed to meet him; only Pikachu’s Thunderbolt convinces him he is not dreaming. Professor Oak and Johanna then appear to invite Ash and Dawn to the playoffs for the world’s greatest Trainer and Coordinator. Elsewhere in the fog, Team Rocket see the same purple flash and stumble into a restaurant offering free food, where Jessie is offered a starring role in a reality show and James finds a rare bottle cap.

At a packed stadium, Cynthia’s Rayquaza defeats a Groudon with Ice Beam, Twister and Hyper Beam, and Ash learns he will face her in the final, while Dawn will battle her mother and Johanna gives her a Piplup costume. Giovanni arrives, tosses his Persian aside and takes Meowth onto his lap. Meanwhile, the mobs of adoring Joys and Jennys surrounding Brock suddenly turn into Croagunk and attack him with Poison Jab, and he wakes up in a field with Croagunk standing over him and Ash and Dawn asleep beside a Mismagius. The purple light was Hypnosis. Mismagius puts him back under, but now he knows it is an illusion. He races into the stadium as Dawn’s Piplup defeats Johanna’s newly evolved Milotic and Pikachu beats Rayquaza, and Oak and Johanna present full sets of Badges and Ribbons.

Brock warns his friends that none of it is real, and the announcer turns into Mismagius, the prizes crumble to dust and every exit leads back into the stadium. An illusory Rayquaza merges with Mismagius and chases them, while Team Rocket’s dreams turn sour: Wobbuffet hijacks Jessie’s show, James’s bottle caps become milk tabs and Giovanni strangles Meowth. Blasted from one illusion into the next by Rayquaza, Groudon, Milotic and a pack of Persian, the trio set a record for blast-offs. At the gate, Pikachu, Piplup and Croagunk grow to giant size and defeat Rayquaza with Volt Tackle, Peck and Poison Jab, leaving Mismagius knocked out. Ash and Dawn refuse the shower of fake Badges and Ribbons, choosing to earn their own, and wake at sunrise before a real Pokémon Center, while Team Rocket remain trapped in their nightmares.

Major Events

• A dream world of Badges, Ribbons and Legendary Pokémon
• Team Rocket blasted off a record eight times
• The gate modelled on Rashōmon

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Mismagius#0429 · DP043

Trivia

• The English title plays on “Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland”.
• The screenplay is by Shōji Yonemura.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.

Changes in the English Dub

• The pun on Hikari (“light”) removed
• Pokémon Symphonic Medley as background music
• Lucario score

Part of our Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.