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| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · Westward with Todd: Snowtop Mountain & Articuno arc (EP184–EP191) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 32 · English episode 189 · Japanese episode 191 · Bulbapedia code EP189 |
| English title | Freeze Frame |
| Japanese title | フリーザーVSプリン! ふぶきのなかで!! Furīzā Tai Purin! Fubuki no Naka de!! — “Freezer vs. Purin! In the Middle of a Snowstorm!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 15 March 2001 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 9 February 2002 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | OK! – Rica Matsumoto · Boku no Best Friend e (To My Best Friend) – Hiromi Iwasaki |
| English opening | Born to Be a Winner – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Charizard (US) · Articuno (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Spring Fever (EP188) |
| Next episode | The Stolen Stones! (EP190) |
Plot episodeArticunoTodd leaves
Freeze Frame is the 32nd episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 189th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 191, Bulbapedia code EP189). It first aired in Japan on 15 March 2001 and in the United States on 9 February 2002. It falls within the season’s Westward with Todd: Snowtop Mountain & Articuno stretch (EP184–EP191).
Synopsis
Todd finally photographs Articuno on Snowtop Mountain, where the Legendary bird saves both Team Rocket and Ash from the blizzards. Golbat finds Jigglypuff frozen solid, microphone and all; thawed by Cyndaquil, it points the way to the peak. At the world’s highest Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny show the gang a 1,200-year-old Articuno statue and tell of climbers once saved by the bird.
Team Rocket, stranded on a ledge after Spearow steal their ice axes, are enveloped by a blizzard and rescued by a glowing shape before being found in a snowdrift. Todd realises it was Articuno and dashes out with Ash; Articuno appears and halts them at a cliff edge, but the trio, now intent on capturing it, attack. Arbok’s Poison Sting and Weezing’s Sludge fly, Wobbuffet’s Mirror Coat reflects Ice Beam into the cliff, and falling ice knocks Articuno into a crevasse, with Ash, Todd, Pikachu and Jigglypuff tumbling after.
Articuno cushions their fall. When the trio try again, Powder Snow freezes their attacks, Agility dodges them, Ice Beam overpowers Mirror Coat and Blizzard blows Team Rocket and Jigglypuff away together. Sunlight strikes the shimmering bird and Todd gets his shot, which later hangs in the Snowtop Center. He stays to photograph the mountain, while in a cave Jigglypuff sings the shivering trio to sleep.
Major Events
- Todd photographs Articuno and leaves the group
- Jessie orders Mirror Coat for the first time
- Jigglypuff appears
- Team Rocket blast off three times
Trivia
- The English title plays on a freeze frame in photography, with Articuno the Freeze Pokémon as the subject.
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Articuno in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Charizard in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- The kotatsu becomes a “coffee table”.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.