Tanks a Lot! – Pokémon Season 3, Episode 17

Filler / stand-alone episodeSentret debut

Tanks a Lot! is the 17th episode of Pokémon: The Johto Journeys, the third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 133rd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 135, Bulbapedia code EP133). It first aired in Japan on 3 February 2000 and in the United States on 27 January 2001. It falls within the season’s Towards Azalea & Charizard’s farewell stretch (EP132–EP134).

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

Synopsis

Ash and friends have found a quiet spot where they are taking a rest before their next Johto league gym battle, little do they know that Team Rocket are nearby in an Arbok themed tank they call the “Arbo-tank” and have spotted the group (who are asleep). Team Rocket know if they approach and try to steal Pikachu in the tank it will wake Ash and co up so they get out of the tank and prepare for a stealth approach.

Just then Togepi, and a Sentret (a new playmate he just met) get inside the Arbo-tank and start playing around in the control room, sending the tank driving off into the distance. Ash is woken up by another Sentret who is trying to communicate something to them; then they realise Togepi is missing too… they spot a commotion in the distance and head in its direction, Team Rocket meanwhile are chasing after the Arbo-tank and so are a huge group of Sentret but having minimal luck catching it.

The Arbo-tank seems unstoppable, smashing through all the rocks in it’s path; Ash and gang notice this too and Brock formulates a plan to stop it using all of their Pokemon; a hole must be dug and filled with rocks and mud from the surrounding area, the water Pokémon will then use their water attacks to turn the earth to mud, stopping the Arbo-tank in its tracks. It’s at that point that Sentret and Pikachu will head inside to rescue Togepi and the other Sentret.

The operation begins and the water Pokemon manage to fill the ditch with water just in time, despite Togepi and the Sentret inside the Arbo-tank managing to jump on the control to speed the tank up. The crash along with the water is making things go wrong inside the tank and it starts moving again… firing missles as it goes and escaping the trap Brock devised. Team Rocket appear and reveal that they too have set a trap for the Arbo-tank, catching it in a really big deep hole… Meowth jumps inside to try to steal Pikachu, Togepi and the Sentret. Pikachu doesn’t take kindly to this and drops a thunderbolt on Meowth, but it also powers up the Arbo-tank which then deploys a spring mechanism to jump its’s way out of the hole and continue on it’s trail of destruction!

Meanwhile The Sentret are all calling out warnings to each other as they watch the chaos unfold and Ash and friends are chasing the Arbo-tank. The Arbo-tank hits a mountain and things look bad for the Pokémon inside but it then deploys its rock-drill and bores its way through the mountainside. Brock draws up new plans to try and stop the Arbo-tank, which is on a direct course for a nearby town. Jessie and James are also present as Brock presents their plans; as it’s also in their interest to get the Arbo-tank back.

Ash sends out Charizard to fly ahead and try to slow the Arbo-tank down while the others catch up. Charizard slows it right down but its on the cliff immediately above the town…. Charizard, Sentret and Onix manage to stop the Arbo-tank long enough to rescue their Pokémon. Jessie and James head inside the Arbo-tank to try and stop it exploding, but they’re too late… the explosion sends them blasting off. Misty tells off Togepi for it’s mischief and the little Sentret’s mother tells it off too for joyriding a giant mechanical tank.

Officer Jenny approaches the group on the Cliffside and actually THANKS them for the hole they made in the mountainside, apparently the tunnel the Arbo-tank drilled will save the townspeople lots of travel time as they won’t have to go around the outside of the mountain.

Major Events

• Sentret debut
• Arbotank
• Togepi’s Metronome drills a tunnel

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Sentret#0161 · EP133

Trivia

• The English title plays on "thanks a lot", for Team Rocket’s Arbotank.
• The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Johto story.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Sentret in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Igglybuff in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Pokémon Karaokémon: “Pikachu (I Choose You)” (Élan Rivera).

Part of our Pokémon: The Johto Journeys guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.