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| Season | Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension (Season 11) · Fantina & the Celestic Ribbon arc (DP092–DP095) |
| Episode | Season 11, episode 40 · English episode 555 · Japanese episode 559 · Bulbapedia code DP092 |
| English title | A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine! |
| Japanese title | 原点回帰だロケット団！？ Genten Kaiki da Roketto-dan!? — “Back to Basics, Rocket-dan!?” |
| First aired (Japan) | 4 September 2008 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 31 January 2009 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Aya Matsui |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Together2008 – Fumie Akiyoshi · Kaze no Messēji (Message of the Wind) – Mai Mizuhashi |
| English opening | We Will Be Heroes – Kirsten Price |
| Previous episode | One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team! (DP091) |
| Next episode | Playing The Leveling Field! (DP093) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeTeam Rocket back to basicsMew’s first TV appearance
A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine! is the 40th episode of Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension, the eleventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 555th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 559, Bulbapedia code DP092). It first aired in Japan on 4 September 2008 and in the United States on 31 January 2009. It falls within the season’s Fantina & the Celestic Ribbon stretch (EP92–EP95).
Synopsis
Dawn trains Piplup hard for her next Contest, and after proudly performing its Bubble Beam routine, Piplup collapses from exhaustion; at a Pokémon Center Nurse Joy reassures everyone that it is only overtrained, and the friends agree to ease off. Meanwhile Team Rocket trudge uphill grumbling about the weight they put on at the Summer Academy, where the beds were soft, the food was plentiful and Jessie was adored as “Jessilinda”. Spotting an all-you-can-eat restaurant, they stack their plates sky-high, laugh at each other’s plumpness and resolve to get back into fighting shape. Recalling the dreams that first brought them together, they decide to go back to basics: back to the days when they first set out to catch Pikachu. As they leave, an elderly couple thank them for giving up their table, and the guilt-stricken trio flee the town in tears.
At the Pokémon Center, Dawn apologises to Piplup for overworking it, and it reassures her before falling asleep in her arms. Outside, she finds Ash talking to Professor Oak, whom she still thinks of as “the poetry man”; Oak advises Ash about Gliscor’s weaknesses and the importance of agility, and suggests that Dawn use her rest time to swap tips with other Trainers and Coordinators, which she does. That night the slimmed-down Team Rocket drive up to the Center and break in through the ceiling, Jessie and James working one side while Meowth and their Pokémon raid the other. They stuff the stolen Poké Balls into Carnivine’s mouth, but it cannot hold them all and spits some out, and the noise wakes Piplup, which finds Meowth in the act and raises the alarm. The trio flee outside with their loot, and Nurse Joy discovers that her storage room is empty.
Ash and his friends confront the thieves, who recite their original motto, complete with James’s rose, the first time Dawn has ever heard it. Yanmega’s Silver Wind and Carnivine’s Bullet Seed open the attack, and Yanmega’s SonicBoom cancels Pikachu’s Thunderbolt. Then the trio press a button and their car transforms into a giant mecha. It punches straight through Piplup’s Whirlpool, but Piplup’s Bubble Beam blinds it, Pikachu’s Iron Tail knocks loose the pod holding the stolen Poké Balls, and Brock’s Happiny catches it. A final Thunderbolt makes the mecha malfunction and explode, blasting Team Rocket into the sky, as Meowth admits he deliberately left out the electrical insulation to stay true to their back-to-basics plan. Nurse Joy thanks the group and reminds Dawn not to let Piplup overdo things, and the friends set out for Celestic Town, Brock lovestruck at leaving Joy behind. A Meowth daydream gives Mew its first appearance in the TV series.
Major Events
- Out of shape after the Summer Academy, Team Rocket go back to basics
- Their original motto, with James’s rose
- Piplup is overtrained
- The trio raid a Pokémon Center
- Mew’s first TV-series appearance, in a daydream
Trivia
- The English title plays on “a lean, mean fighting machine”.
- The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Sinnoh story.
Changes in the English Dub
- The title card is read aloud by Ash and Team Rocket
- “Face Forward Team Rocket!” is replaced in the dub by “Double Trouble”, the only Pokémon 2.B.A. Master track ever used in the Pokémon USA dub
- “Team Rocket Forever”
Part of our Pokémon DP: Battle Dimension guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.