The Water Flowers of Cerulean City! (007)

[Alfonso]

Then why was Tracey given the last name Sketchit? Doesn't Tracey already match the lip flaps of Kenji?

No idea. Hence why I didn't say anything about it. (I actually hoped that nobody would ask. )

Oh! Answer: The dubbers take drugs, thus making them make stupid descions like that.

[cold_katanagirl]

I wasn't too fond of the way Ash got his badge. It would have been WAY better if he had blasted all of Misty's pokemon away with Pikachu.

Ah well. It was ok though. Probably one of only handful of episodes I liked that revolved around Misty so...

Guess I'll give this... A... 8/10. Yeah a B is good...

[The Big Al]

I would have put my foot down with Pikachu. I know Misty's a friend, however, it's not like Ash was asking him to kill her Pokemon. Ash needs to learn to the leader of his Pokemon. Maybe if Ash had shown better leadership skills, Charizard would have respected him more.

[Murgatroyd]

Excellent points, Gryphon. Another thought:

It seems that a common last name for people to give Misty is Waterflower. It probably comes from this episode, but that's just wrong. Water Flowers is clearly 2 words, not one, so it's obviously not their last name.

I'll add to this. Back when they wrote this episode title, they were just translating the Japanese titles, not creating their own. "Water Flowers" is probably the best concise English rendition of the corresponding term in the Japanese title. 水中花 (suichuuka, lit. "in-water flower") is a word (not a name) that refers to an artificial flower that opens when placed in water.

[Geodude]

I would have put my foot down with Pikachu. I know Misty's a friend, however, it's not like Ash was asking him to kill her Pokemon. Ash needs to learn to the leader of his Pokemon. Maybe if Ash had shown better leadership skills, Charizard would have respected him more.

Doesn't matter. Fact was, Pikachu didn't want to do it. Ash couldn't exactly physically force it to battle, and if he did somehow intimidate Pikachu into doing so, it would have probably either lost respect for him or not put its all into the battle. No doubt Ash felt better battling with a fully willing Pidgeotto and Butterfree than a very hesitant Pikachu. I don't know what's so hard to understand about a trainer abiding by his Pokemon's wishes, even when said trainer is still a rookie, which shows that he already has his priorities straight in that respect.

[The Big Al]

Doesn't matter. Fact was, Pikachu didn't want to do it. Ash couldn't exactly physically force it to battle, and if he did somehow intimidate Pikachu into doing so, it would have probably either lost respect for him or not put its all into the battle. No doubt Ash felt better battling with a fully willing Pidgeotto and Butterfree than a very hesitant Pikachu. I don't know what's so hard to understand about a trainer abiding by his Pokemon's wishes, even when said trainer is still a rookie, which shows that he already has his priorities straight in that respect.

I'm just saying that Ash should have made it clear to Pikachu that he was the leader. He bowed to the will of his subordinate. I'm not saying he should have physically forced Pikachu (like he could, zap), however, he is supposed to be the team leader.

[Chris]

That'd contradict completely with Satoshi's philosophy. He treats his Pokémon as his friends, not fighting machines. He's said this about a thousand times in Kanto alone. o_O

[The Big Al]

*Slaps forehead with hand and pulls hand down face*

I don't quite know how I'm going to explain this to you. You just don't seem to get what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying he should treat them as weapons. I'm saying he should treat them as team member and he is the Captain. He is the leader of them. As a leader, he must lead. He can't just cave to his subordinates because it shows he has bad leadership skills. Many have talked about the fact that Ash's leadership gaffes in "The Problem with Paras" caused Charmeleon to lose all respect for him.

Ash should have tried to work out this problem with Pikachu instead of just saying alright.

[Jesse GS the II]

Ash doesn't see himself as a superior leader, he sees himself as an equal partner. If his Pokémon have problems, he's obviously gonna listen to them.

And for the record, I always believed that the whole Charmeleon thing had nothing to do with how good a trainer Ash was - it had to do with Charmeleon's hormones (but that's a discussion for another thread).

[The Big Al]

There's a difference between listening and just caving in (which Ash did).

[Psychic Venusaur]

It seemed that Ash totally overworked Charmander in the episode it evolved, so that may have something to do with it...or not.

The people from Pokemon Rocks America are either under the same delusion as certain people on the Internet, or are taking crack. Harrison is *not* an official name. Neither is James Morgan, or Misty Waterflower.

No Main Characters were given last names, apart from Ash and Tracey in the dub. Ash's last name was most likely given to him to match the lip flaps of 'Satoshi', or something.

They gave out a prize for whoever got it right, so that would be kind of weird if it was totally made up. I've never even heard of James "Morgan", or Misty "Waterflower" I don't know where Harrison got it's origins anyway.

Pikachu's defiance annoyed me. Would it really be willing to jeopardize it's trainer's victory for it's trainer's friend (it's friend too, I guess). but still, Ash didn't tell Pikachu to do anything horrid.

[ChaosMage]

The second episode I saw. It was good and introduced the multiple Jennys.

[vulpix]

i loved this episode so much that i just wanted to watch it nonstop.

[wobbanut]

You know, I've never really been a fan of Misty's sisters. They have more air in their combined heads than the Goodyear blimp, and they're more than a little mean to Misty. Yes, I know they're her sisters, but I think they're a bit rude. I may not be a Misty fan, but really, she's a good trainer.

It was interesting seeing Ash get to battle Misty, though. It's funny how they didn't resolve their battle until season three's "The Totodile Duel". Not only that, it's strange how Misty beat him in "Dueling Heroes", but made no mention of being even now or anything.

Of course, a big highlight is James's classic line of saying times like these make him want to go straight. And we have Brock's first hit on a woman in the series, Officer Jenny. It's strange how toned-down he is in this episode, considering the slobbering job he does in most later episodes.

Overall, not a favorite episode of mine, but at least it had a few interesting moments.

[Silver Ryu]

OK, I know this thing hasn't been posted in for the longest time, but I just feel like saying this. This was the first episode I ever saw, and I remember being really confused when I watched it. Of course, Misty being a Gym Leader was no surprise for me, as I didn't know anything about her, I'd never played the games, and I didn't know what a Gym Leader was anyway. I was all "What's a badge? What's his name? Who are these weird people? Why isn't Pikachu talking? (lol, I actually was waiting for him to talk. Because of Meowth, ya know?) What does "water conducts electricity" mean?" (hey, I was about 6 or 7, OK?)

[Mini Apocalypse]

the episode was ok. but i got realy confused about misty beeing a leader with her sisters and stuff and why she left.i had to watch it a few times to understand.

[Ultimate Mewtwo]

I like this episode, but I hate when Ash doesn't finish his gym battles.

[Mini Apocalypse]

yeh he does seem to do that quirt abit in the 1st cuple of series

[The Phantom Thief]

It would have been WAY better if he had blasted all of Misty's pokemon away with Pikachu.

Yeah, I guess it would've but the writers at that time didn't want to do it cause it would've been too easy for Ash, at least that my opinion. Butterfree and Pidgeotto both put up pretty good fights though in Pika's place. Too bad they didn't finish the match and Ash got rewarded the Badge but that's how he got the Boulder, Cascade, Rainbow and Marsh Badges. The episode itself was pretty good, I have it on tape. A nice intro to Misty's sisters and the battle between Ash and Misty was going well before TR interrupted it

8/10 for this episode

[Professor Ivy]

Ketchum
WaterFlower
Harrison
Sketchit

Well we all know Tracey's name last is Sketchit. And Ash is Ketchum. My question what big deal with last name.