 |
|
| Season | Pokémon: Advanced Challenge (Season 7) · To Lilycove: Aerial Ace & the Lilycove Ribbon arc (AG086–AG092) |
| Episode | Season 7, episode 49 · English episode 362 · Japanese episode 365 · Bulbapedia code AG089 |
| English title | A Scare to Remember! |
| Japanese title | ピカチュウ、ロケット団に入る！？ Pikachū, Roketto-dan ni Hairu!? — “Pikachu, Joining Rocket-dan!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 12 August 2004 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 3 September 2005 · Kids’ WB |
| Screenplay | Masashi Sogo |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Challenger!! – Rica Matsumoto · Ippai Samā!! (Full of Summer!!) – Naomi Tamura & the Himawari Chorus |
| English opening | This Dream – David Rolfe |
| Pokémon Trainer’s Choice | Which Pokémon evolves into Raichu? — Pikachu |
| Previous episode | The Garden of Eatin’ (AG088) |
| Next episode | Pokéblock, Stock, and Berry (AG090) |
Filler / stand-alone episodePikachu loses his memory
A Scare to Remember! is the 49th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 362nd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 365, Bulbapedia code AG089). It first aired in Japan on 12 August 2004 and in the United States on 3 September 2005. It falls within the season’s To Lilycove: Aerial Ace & the Lilycove Ribbon stretch (EP86–EP92).
Synopsis
On the way to the ferry port in Lilycove City, a falling tree nearly hits Pikachu, and Team Rocket’s latest machine, the Mean and Nasty, Grumpy Grabber Mark One, bursts out of the sand and seizes him. Its insulated design shrugs off Thunderbolt, and when the heroes charge they fall into a pit. The machine then sinks, crumbles and explodes, scattering everyone across the forest. Pikachu, being light, is thrown much farther than the others, and Ash fails to catch him. Ash ends up stuck in a tree, and Jessie and James argue over whether to search for Meowth or return to base. Pikachu, meanwhile, wakes up on top of Meowth’s head. Meowth braces himself for a shock, but Pikachu does nothing, and Meowth realises that he has lost his memory.
Seizing the chance, Meowth tells Pikachu that he is a member of Team Rocket and that Meowth is his best friend, and Pikachu believes him. While Ash sends Swellow to search from the air and Mudkip on the ground, Meowth leads Pikachu through the forest towards the Team Rocket base. Pikachu drives off a Beedrill with Thunderbolt and rescues a Zigzagoon, and when Meowth slips off a narrow ledge, Pikachu grabs his tail and hauls him back. Meowth invents stories about their “past”, such as nursing Pikachu through a fever. When Pikachu offers him their only apple, Meowth splits it, echoing a kindness Pikachu once showed him, and when Pikachu slips on a steep slope, Meowth catches him. Increasingly guilty, Meowth carries on towards the base as Swellow spots the pair from above.
At the base Pikachu is wary of Jessie and James, but Meowth vouches for them. Ash arrives and begs Pikachu to remember him, but Pikachu chooses Team Rocket and joins in at the end of their motto, leaving Ash stunned. When James orders a Thunderbolt, it knocks Pikachu flying, and Brock realises the truth: Pikachu has amnesia. The base explodes and Team Rocket escape by balloon, with Ash clinging to the basket until another Thunderbolt shocks everyone and sends Ash and Pikachu tumbling into a river. They wash ashore, and Pikachu licks Ash awake, his memory restored. Ash hugs him tearfully, the others catch up, and when Team Rocket land in the water crying for help, Pikachu sends them flying with Thunderbolt. In the English dub, Ash’s memories of Pikachu are set to a new song, “You Can’t Remember”.
Major Events
- Pikachu loses his memory and Meowth convinces him that he is in Team Rocket
- Pikachu joins in the motto
- His memory returns after a fall into a river
- The dub adds the song You Can’t Remember
Trivia
- The English title plays on the film A Walk to Remember.
- The screenplay is by Masashi Sogo.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Hoenn story.
Changes in the English Dub
- The 36-second flashback montage rebuilt with different clips; Ash’s memories of Roxanne and Norman and a scene of a sick Pikachu cut
- Fruit called “apples”
- Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon evolves into Raichu? Answer: Pikachu
- New English song You Can’t Remember over the rebuilt flashback; in Japan the scene used one of the season’s vocal endings (Smile per Bulbapedia, Because the Sky is There per Dogasu’s Backpack)
- Cues from Pokémon Heroes, Jirachi: Wish Maker, Pikachu’s Vacation and Gotta Dance!! used in Japan
Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Challenge guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.