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| Season | Pokémon: Indigo League (Season 1) · Ghosts, Psychics & the Celadon fire arc (EP20–EP27) |
| Episode | Season 1, episode 23 · English episode 23 · Japanese episode 23 · Bulbapedia code EP023 |
| English title | The Tower of Terror |
| Japanese title | ポケモンタワーでゲットだぜ! Pokemon Tawā de Getto da ze! — “Got It at the Pokémon Tower!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 2 September 1997 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 7 October 1998 · first-run syndication |
| Screenplay | Hideki Sonoda |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Mezase Pokémon Master (Aim to Be a Pokémon Master) – Rica Matsumoto · Hyakugojūichi (One Hundred Fifty-One) – Professor Oak & the Pokémon Kids |
| English opening | Pokémon Theme – Jason Paige |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Gengar (US) · Gengar (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Abra and the Psychic Showdown (EP022) |
| Next episode | Haunter vs. Kadabra (EP024) |
Plot episodeAsh befriends Haunter
The Tower of Terror is the 23rd episode of Pokémon: Indigo League, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 23rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 23, Bulbapedia code EP023). It first aired in Japan on 2 September 1997 and in the United States on 7 October 1998. It falls within the season’s Ghosts, Psychics & the Celadon fire stretch (EP20–EP27).
Synopsis
Team Rocket got wind of where Ash and his friends were headed and beat them to the Haunted Tower in Lavender Town in order to set a trap for them, however they were promptly scared away by the spooky events that happened inside the tower. Ash and the gang arrive at the tower shortly after, while Ash and Pikachu enter the Tower, Misty and Brock remain outside as they’re too afraid to enter.
Ash and Pikachu befall many scary pranks at the hands of a trio of ghost Pokémon; Gengar, Haunter and Gastly. I say pranks loosely, one of them involved them being crushed by a huge falling Chanedelier so I’m not sure if that qualifies as attempted murder or a prank. Nonetheless Haunter then turns Ash and Pikachu into ghosts and they fly together and have some fun, they then return to the room where his body is to find Brock and Misty crying at the sight of Ash and Pikachu’s lifeless bodies. Ash asks Haunter to please bring him and Pikachu back so Brock and Misty won’t be upset, which he does. Haunter decides to follow Ash and become his friend and Pokémon, for now.
Major Events
- Lavender Town
- Out-of-body experience
- Ash befriends Haunter (never in a Poké Ball). Debut: Haunter. No motto. Pulled after 9/11 (title). Elements Vol. 9.
Pokémon making their anime debut
Haunter#0093 · EP023
Captures and evolutions
- Haunter#0093 · Ash · befriended, never caught
Trivia
- The English title plays on the Disney theme-park ride.
- The screenplay is by Hideki Sonoda.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- First two tree shots of the pan cut (~2 s)
- Banquet note restyled
- いらっしゃい banner translated
- Pulled by Kids’ WB! after 11 September 2001 because of its title; it returned on Cartoon Network
- “I don’t want to die yet” becomes “become a ghost”; Heaven/Hell becomes a “torture chamber”
- Dub ending: the Kanto Pokérap (Wednesday segment)
Part of our Pokémon: Indigo League guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.