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| Season | Pokémon: Black & White (Season 14) · A new region, a new start arc (BW001–BW004) |
| Episode | Season 14, episode 1 · English episode 654 · Japanese episode 659 · Bulbapedia code BW001 |
| English title | In the Shadow of Zekrom! |
| Japanese title | イッシュ地方へ！ゼクロムの影！！ Isshu Chihō e! Zekuromu no Kage!! — “To the Isshu Region! Zekrom’s Shadow!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 23 September 2010 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 12 February 2011 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Besuto Uisshu! (Best Wishes!) – Rica Matsumoto · none on the original broadcast (reruns and DVDs: Kokoro no Fanfāre (Fanfare of the Heart) – Aki Okui) |
| English opening | Black and White – Erin Bowman & Joe Philips |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Pidove (US) |
| Next episode | Enter Iris and Axew! (BW002) |
Plot episodeSeason premiereTrip beats Ash
In the Shadow of Zekrom! is the 1st episode of Pokémon: Black & White, the fourteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 654th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 659, Bulbapedia code BW001). It first aired in Japan on 23 September 2010 and in the United States on 12 February 2011. It falls within the season’s A new region, a new start stretch (EP1–EP4).
Premiered on Cartoon Network at 9 a.m. on Saturday 12 February 2011 as the first half of a one-hour special with Enter Iris and Axew! — the first time two new episodes had premiered on the same day since 1 February 2008 — a week after the channel premiered Zoroark: Master of Illusions; it brought back Who’s That Pokémon? after 344 episodes.
Synopsis
Ash flies to the Unova region with Pikachu, his mother and Professor Oak, and a mysterious thundercloud over the sea leaves Pikachu unable to use its Electric moves. Team Rocket, sent ahead by Giovanni, are on the same flight and cage Pikachu at the pier, but a huge blue bolt sets it free, and Ash glimpses a red-eyed Pokémon in the clouds before lightning strikes him and Pikachu. A girl with an Axew watches from a tree.
Professor Juniper drives everyone to her lab in Nuvema Town, where tests find nothing wrong with Pikachu. A new Trainer named Trip arrives for his first partner, chooses Snivy over Tepig and Oshawott, and looks down on Ash for coming from Pallet Town.
Stung, Ash accepts Trip’s challenge, but Pikachu’s cheeks only spark and Snivy wins easily with Leaf Tornado. Juniper explains that Pikachu is overloaded with electricity. As the black cloud returns over the lab, lightning strikes the lightning rod and surges into Pikachu, and Juniper names the storm’s source: Zekrom, a guardian of people and Pokémon.
Major Events
- Ash arrives in Unova. Ash, Delia and Professor Oak fly to Nuvema Town
- Zekrom’s storm overloads Pikachu
- Professor Juniper
- Trip chooses Snivy and beats the powerless Pikachu
- Oshawott starts following Ash
- Ash’s redesign
- Team Rocket arrive on Giovanni’s orders, without their motto
- Japanese one-hour premiere with BW002, without an ending song
- The English dub’s first Who’s That Pokémon? since AG040
- TV debuts of Zekrom, Reshiram (introduction only), Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Axew, Pidove, Patrat, Minccino, Swanna, Alomomola and Spring Form Deerling
Pokémon making their anime debut
Zekrom#0644 · BW001
Reshiram#0643 · BW001
Snivy#0495 · BW001
Tepig#0498 · BW001
Oshawott#0501 · BW001
Patrat#0504 · BW001
Pidove#0519 · BW001
Minccino#0572 · BW001
Swanna#0581 · BW001
Deerling#0585 · BW001
Alomomola#0594 · BW001
Axew#0610 · BW001
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Unova storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- Giovanni’s line calling Unova a step towards world conquest is cut
- Juniper’s “eyes of God” and “judgements from God” for Zekrom’s storm become a protector and a “judgment from up above”
- The narrator’s explanation of the name “pocket monsters” and his “this planet” are dropped
- New English opening Black and White (Erin Bowman and Joe Philips)
- The series’ first music from Arceus and the Jewel of Life, after Trip’s win
- No Japanese ending song on the original broadcast
Part of our Pokémon: Black & White guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.