 |
|
| Season | Pokémon: Johto League Champions (Season 4) · Olivine & Cianwood: the Storm Badge arc (EP208–EP209) |
| Episode | Season 4, episode 52 · English episode 209 · Japanese episode 211 · Bulbapedia code EP209 |
| English title | Machoke, Machoke Man! |
| Japanese title | タンバジム! まっこうしょうぶかくとうたいけつ!! Tanba Jimu! Makkō Shōbu Kakutō Taiketsu!! — “Tanba Gym! Front-Game Wrestling Showdown!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 2 August 2001 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 7 September 2002 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Shinzō Fujita |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Mezase Pokémon Master (Whiteberry version) – Whiteberry · Maemuki Rocket-dan! (Face Forward Team Rocket!) – Team Rocket |
| English opening | Born to Be a Winner – David Rolfe |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Ampharos (US) · Machoke (Japan) |
| Previous episode | Fight for the Light (EP208) |
Plot episodeStorm BadgeSeason finale
Machoke, Machoke Man! is the 52nd episode of Pokémon: Johto League Champions, the fourth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 209th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 211, Bulbapedia code EP209). It first aired in Japan on 2 August 2001 and in the United States on 7 September 2002. It falls within the season’s Olivine & Cianwood: the Storm Badge stretch (EP208–EP209).
Synopsis
Ash earns the Storm Badge in Cianwood City as Bayleef takes down both of Gym Leader Chuck’s Pokémon. Janina collects Sparkle’s medicine and catches the ferry home, while the gang find a burly man sparring on the beach with his Machoke, grinning as a Submission floors him. He races them to the Gym, finishes last, wheezing, and is revealed by his students as Chuck. Over a dinner of Pokémon Power Food, his wife teases that Ash should have no trouble with her “flabby” husband.
Chuck opens with Poliwrath. Pikachu’s third Thunderbolt connects, but Quick Attack bounces harmlessly off and Double Slap knocks it out, prompting tears from Chuck, who insists tough guys cry too. Bayleef dodges Water Gun, lands Razor Leaf, slams Poliwrath down with Vine Whip and finishes it with Body Slam. Team Rocket, following the smell of food, are mistaken for new students and put to work on chores for the promise of dumplings.
Machoke’s Karate Chops eventually floor Bayleef, but Vine Whip binds its arms to block Cross Chop; Ash refuses his friends’ tactical advice and fights head-on, surviving a Submission throw before Vine Whip hurls Machoke down and Body Slam and Razor Leaf end it. Chuck hands over the Badge, and with Jasmine still occupied the gang set sail for the Whirl Islands.
Major Events
- Storm Badge
- Chuck and his wife debut
- The group decides to visit the Whirl Islands
- Season finale
- Last Pokémon Johto eyecatch music in the dub
- Last original-series episode dubbed into Czech
Trivia
- The English title plays on the Village People song "Macho Man".
- The screenplay is by Shinzō Fujita.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Johto storyline.
- The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Machoke in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Ampharos in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.
Changes in the English Dub
- About 26 seconds are cut in three places: two seconds from the first shot, two from a later shot and 22 seconds of footage replayed before the commercial break.
- The writing on the scroll behind Chuck is painted out on its first appearance only.
- The sound of Poliwrath’s Double Slap is almost muted and birdsong is covered.
- Chuck’s “Fighting Pokémon master” introduction, his wife’s “flabby” joke, “Pokémon Power Food” and a “see food” pun are dub additions, and steamed buns become dumplings.
- Misty’s note that Double Slap hits five times is lost.
- Jigoku Guruma, a technique named after the judo manga Judo Ikkokusen, becomes “Submission”.
- Only 5 of the 18 Japanese tracks (28%) survive, and the whole Bayleef-versus-Machoke half is rescored.
- The last episode to use a snippet of Pokémon Johto as the dub’s eyecatch music.
Part of our Pokémon: Johto League Champions guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.