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| Season | Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series (Season 25) · Lilycove, Greninja & the Masters Eight arc (JN105–JN109) |
| Episode | Season 25, episode 16 · English episode 1186 · Japanese episode 1192 · Bulbapedia code JN106 |
| English title | Radio Lulled the Mischievous Stars! |
| Japanese title | 新番組！ロケット団ないしょ王国ラジオ！！ Shin Bangumi! Roketto-dan Naisho Ōkoku Rajio!! — “A New Show! Rocket-dan’s Covert Kingdom Radio!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 15 April 2022 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 24 February 2023 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Deko Akao |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Wan, Tsū, Surī (One, Two, Three) – Satoshi & Go (Rica Matsumoto and Daiki Yamashita) · Batsugun Taipu (Supereffective Type) – Pokémon Music Club |
| English opening | With You – Echosmith |
| Previous episode | Reuniting for the First Time! (JN105) |
| Next episode | Big Brother to the Rescue! (JN107) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeTeam Rocket’s radio show
Radio Lulled the Mischievous Stars! is the 16th episode of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, the twenty-fifth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1186th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1192, Bulbapedia code JN106). It first aired in Japan on 15 April 2022 and in the United States on 24 February 2023. It falls within the season’s Lilycove, Greninja & the Masters Eight stretch (EP105–EP109).
Released on Netflix in the US on 24 February 2023 with the second part (JN103–JN117); Teletoon had premiered it in Canada on 24 September 2022.
Synopsis
Ordered by Giovanni to recruit new members, Team Rocket launch a late-night web radio show from their Vermilion City hideout, which wins a devoted audience, including Ren and Professor Cerise, but not a single recruit. After the first broadcast, Rotom reports that nobody tuned in at all, and the second night also draws zero recruits, so the trio overhaul the programme. They shorten its overly complicated name, adopt nicknames and decide to send keepsakes to listeners who write in: James suggests badges made from bottle caps and, to Jessie and Meowth’s surprise, offers one of the Premier Balls from his treasured Poké Ball collection as a prize. Meanwhile, at the Cerise Laboratory, Professor Cerise and Ren discover that they share a love of live radio.
Through many more changes, the programme, now renamed “Dum-Dum-Dum Z,” steadily grows in popularity, drawing listeners such as Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, Brock, Allister and Ren. New segments appear: listeners’ letters are read on air, fans guess what Pelipper is holding in its mouth, and “James’s ASMR Time” features Morpeko, which goes awry when Morpeko eats the puddings meant for everyone. When the hosts mention on air that they are considering making a devoted listener their scriptwriter, Ren, who has become a faithful fan at the Cerise Laboratory, is moved to write a heartfelt email to the show, and it earns him James’s prized Premier Ball. The next morning, as Ash and Goh come down for breakfast, Ren spots a bottle-cap badge on Professor Cerise’s chest and realises that his boss listens to the show too.
Ren proudly shows off his Premier Ball, but Professor Cerise opens his lab coat to reveal a whole collection of badges, proving that he is the devoted listener the hosts have been talking about. Ash and Goh have no idea what the two men are talking about, but since both are so happy, they let it be. Celebrating their success, Team Rocket keep producing new episodes and completely forget their original mission, and the narrator explains that Giovanni later scolds them for it, though they go on broadcasting now and then. Breaking the fourth wall, the trio interrupt the narrator, scold him for not listening to them, and hand him a letter to read on air from a listener who calls himself “Radio Connoisseur.”
Major Events
- Team Rocket’s radio show. Team Rocket host the web-radio show Dum-Dum-Dum Z
- James gives Ren a Premier Ball
- Professor Cerise turns out to be a super-fan
- Fourth-wall jokes
- The Radio Connoisseur is Cilan, according to official art
- A nod to the 2012 radio show Team Rocket’s Secret Empire
- First scheduled for 8 April 2022 but aired a week later
- Debut of Cursola
Pokémon making their anime debut
Cursola#0864 · JN106
Trivia
- The English title plays on the song “Video Killed the Radio Star”, for Team Rocket’s radio show.
- The screenplay is by Deko Akao.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kanto, Galar & beyond story.
Changes in the English Dub
- The title card shows Pikachu instead of Team Rocket
- Jessie refers to “Team Rocket’s With You”
Part of our Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.