Keeping On Top Forme (636)

[Corzola]

Rather slow episode during most parts. On the other hand we actually had a COTD who was a bit interesting and not like the most people they run in to at any given episode. Sure it looked like the 11th movie on the cheap but that was not a bad thing in itself, but when the ep was a cheap version of a movie theme we have seen the episode was slow. We know how the story could be in a fast packed movie, and that theme and recepie may not work when doing a regular episode of the week. All in all the episode in itself was not bad but slow compared to the all to familiar 11th movie.

[Geodude]

And Marley looked Emo after all with her half opened eyes

Justified due to her lack of sleep while protecting Shaymin.

[HoennMaster]

It wasn't as bad as it looked, but it was still sub-par overall. Nice to see Marley though.

[KGB13]

I felt like this episode was really slow and going nowhere in most parts. Outside of the battle against TR and their Caterpie machine, nothing really happened. Overall, this was an OK episode.

[Hikari Paradise]

I've waited forever for Marley to show up and it's great that she's helping that shaymin. Shaymin gave TR hell and Marley keeps things cool. Not bad for an episode.

[Ragingmaiden]

we had the bad news....this episode is banned in dub anyway this is a filler [my opinon]

[STICKTOPIA]

Ragingmaiden I know it's ur opinion but since Marley is in the episode it's not really a filler.

[G4Pokefan]

It was a decent episode. Kinda like a mini-Girantina & The Sky Warrior movie. I was hoping that the writers would acknowledge the fact that the trio met Shaymin before but once again decided not to tie in the movies with the eps. But in a way they did since they already knew all about Shaymin and its forme.

8/10 for me

[Torpoleon]

we had the bad news....this episode is banned in dub anyway this is a filler [my opinon]

Your opinion is, as usual, wrong. The episode is not a filler since Marley made an appearance (and it was also Marley's anime debut).

I thought the episode was OK. Like g4Pokefan pointed out, it did seem like a mini- Movie 11. It was nice to see Team Rocket last for a substantial time in their recent robot. Nice to see Shaymin in both forms debut in the US!
6/10

[Dattebayo]

I knew that Marely would somewhat speak as if she were emotionless, but I never knew she would be that emotionless, and I really wish she really was an alien. Doesn't the whole Flower Garden event take place once every year though because I'm thinking Ash and co. have been there before in Movie 11 and came back as if it was a year later.

[the1stpkmnfan]

It was awesome getting to see the next Stat Trainer, Marley, from the DPPt games. And great for Brock to be the one to save her from the the waterfall. Marley's personality, despite being so emotionless, it was really good. And her voice actor did an amazing job!

Plus, I loved it when she said she was an Alien, and she was kidding. That got Ash and Dawn annoyed for being like that. xD However can we believe her? :P

And seeing Shaymin from her lunch basket, Shaymin was adorable and nice to see finally appear in the anime. It's voice was great too!
The rest of the episode was alright, especially watching Marley's explination of meeting Shaymin. Her Arcanine was pretty cool too, like from the games, as Team Rocket were wanting to take Shaymin. And Shaymin in Sky forme was sweet.
The ending was good too, as Marley and Shaymin say goodbye, with Shaymin giving her a Thank You as it was about to fly off with its friends.

Marley and Shaymin were really both great to see, and were treated great!

Not too much of a bad episode, but it was great.

[WaterDragon trainer]

This episode was good. Marley was a very creepy character. I have to admit that Team Rocket's robot was quite impressive for once. It was awesome to see an Air Slash.

[SmartD]

It was a great episode. We get to see Shaymin in Land Forme and Sky Forme. And how it beat Team Rocket with Air Slash was really cool.

[Swampert_trainer]

Okay episode. Marley's dub voice really fit her. Ash and Dawn were just mad because a cotd acknowledged Brock before either of them or their Pokemon. In fact, Ash and Dawn were so disgruntled that they didn't even want to help Marley, despite the fact tha they were going in that direction anyway. Wow, we finally get to see Ash and Dawn's true colors.

This episode felt like the diet cola version of Movie 11, but diet cola is good once you haven't had the real thing in a while.

7/10

[ash_forever]

It was a decent episode, not too good but not too bad either.

As for Marley: I'm still undecided what to think of her.
On the one hand, I'm really interested in and fascinated by the Gothic culture in general (my favorite kind of music btw. is Symphonic Metal, just in case you wanted to know that), but on the other hand Gothic girls are supposed to have LONG hair. However, Marley's hair was way too short and regardless of her black clothes, this firstly isn't authentic Gothic style and secondly doesn't look beautiful at all ( I absolutely don't like girls with short hair, because that doesn't look feminine at all if you ask me). Furthermore, as poke07 rightly said, she somehow seemed misplaced in this episode. In a story about a flower Pokemon you would expect a CoD which resembles a hippie or a gardener or something like that. I reckon a sleepy, emotionless Goth is the least you'd expect in here.
Sorry writers, your idea to introduce a Gothic character was excellent, but the way you put it into practice was not quite fitting. It would have been way better if you had made a creepy episode with morbid motifs and rather dark elements. I would have loved to see that.

Realizing that Team Rocket was already mentioned pretty often, I also have to agree that they were quite witty today. But I also noticed that sometimes they were a bit hard to understand acoustically. I guess they just mutter too much here and there.

I also liked Brock's heroic efforts to rescue Marley. It's kind of unusual that Ash isn't the hero for a change, but Brock definitely deserved the spotlight.
And last but not least, there was one thing that especially struck me:
Did you notice that after a long time Marley is the first girl not to be hit on by womanizer Brock??
This is a very special event and I guess it needs to be discussed. Frankly, I can't come up with a solution other than that either Marley was too old ( Brock called her "Miss" after all) or that Brock just didn't find her beautiful enough with her fake Gothic style.
To be honest I prefer option number 2 because although being a Gothic fan, I just couldn't get to like her short hair. So, yeah, it's kind of understandable that Brock didn't find her attractive. But on the other hand, I can't remember that Brock hasn't hit on all kinds of girls in all those years so far.
Maybe this will remain a mystery...

Apart from a Gothic girl being misplaced in rather happy and colorful episode about a flower Pokemon, this week's adventure was pretty entertaining.

6 out of 10 points

[Herdheaven]

I also found it strange that Brock didn't hit on Marley, but I think that it was because she was too young. She looks around the same age as Dawn and Zoey in which Brock never hit on. I thought Arcanine and Torterra sort of looked motionless... Especially when Torterra used energy ball. A pretty good episode overall still, and it was good to see Marley. 7/10

[vipsoccermaster]

Decent episode. Marley making an appearance was nice. I thought she looked a bit rude at first, but turns out she was nice after all. Lovely to see Shaymin here, too.

[Platinum fan.]

Marley is in Alien. I loved the way she said Alien. Marley was the main reason I watched this episode. The goth trainer is one of my favorites in DPPt. Other then Marley being her weird self the episode was okay. I think the fact that movie 11 was about the same thing with Shaymin made this episode not as enjoyable. But overall a good episode.

[poizonsting]

Yay! Finally Marley showed up as I was hoping she would. She's my favourite character from the D/Pt games.

[Brumrha]

Some familiar faces?? Hell, If that's not important, I'm doing this for the sake of proving to myself that I'm back to normal!

Vamoose!!

- Ash & Dawn are both training their Pokemon, whilst Brock is supervising them from afar.
- Then, a seemingly empty boat drifting downstream catches his eye.
- Turns out, the boat actually isn't empty; the familiar face that we know as Marley is lying inside it, & she isn't responding to any outside stimuli.
- Brock looks ahead from the boat, & finds a waterfall?!! HOLY #$%^!!! She's heading towards the waterfall!!
- Wasting no time, Brock gets into the stream to attempt to stop it going down the fall. Unfortunately, the stream is getting a little too strong for him.
- He finds a rope attached to the boat's front, & he get the idea of using his Happiny to help bring it to solid ground with that rope.
- He executes this plan down to a T, & Marley's boat, along with Brock, get slung back onto Terra Firma.
- Surprisingly, she didn't budge a single inch during this whole charade. But then...
- She's alive! ALIVE!! *lightning crashes* BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
- Goddamn, her facial expressions are colder than a witch's tit! Anyhow, Introductions abounds...
- Turns out that she was hiding from some bad people that are looking for her, but unfortunately, she's keeping a lot of secrets from Ash & the gang.
- What isn't a secret is that she needs to go across a mountain to some meadow that's through it.
- A little while after setting off, Marley heads off away from the rest of the gang.
- Turns out, that she isn't keeping food inside her picnic basket, she's holding a Shaymin inside it! My, my...
- Sad thing is, she's in bad shape, & she isn't eating any of Marley's Pokémon food...
- The rest of the gang find out what she's doing behind their backs, & the jig is up, but seeing that Brock is an aspiring breeder, that turns out to be a blessing for Marley.
- Turns out that Shaymin got this way from absorbing a Seviper's Haze & utilizing a Seed Flare. Sound familiar? If it doesn't, I'm calling you the Duke/Duchess of Amnesia!
- Brock helps out by giving the Shaymin a Pecha Berry, thus neutralizing the poison in he body, then he gives her a Sitrus Berry, & she's back to normal again.
- But, they get interrupted by none other than TR!! Unfortunately, Marley's packing a motto breaker in the form of Arcanine, which burns them into a crisp.
- Seeing as to how she is among friends, Marley explains what she's doing to Shaymin: She's been trying to get Shaymin over to that meadow, where Shaymin can transform into her sky form to aid in her migratory patterns.
- Thing is, she's trying to get Shaymin to go off on her own, but she wants to stay with her on the way.
- Then, we see that TR has plans on getting that Shaymin for themselves, but they manage to flee with her Arcanine's help.
- She managed to find that same boat that we've found her in the very beginning, & she lay in there so that she could keep hidden from them.
- So, with that said, it is in their best interest to stick with Marley.
- They get into the mountain's tunnel, & they find a wild Shroomish, which unleashes a Poison Powder. AHHHH!!!
- Shaymin absorbs it into her systems & unleashes a Seed Flare, thus scaring it off.
- Bad thing is, Pikachu & Piplup are poisoned! good thing is, Shaymin is packing Aromatherapy!
- They make it into the meadow, but sadly, it isn't in bloom! $%^&! We're too late...
- Actually, no. They've managed to find some Gracideas on a high rock above them.
- What makes things even worse is TR with their Caterpie Mecha!!
- Ash's Torterra & Dawn's Buneary get out there to stop them, & with an Ice Beam, they are effectively immobilized. Combine that with Torterra's Rock Climb, which breaks the ground beneath the mecha, thus smashing it apart.
- But, & it is a J Lo BUTT, the Mecha transforms into a Butterfree Mecha, which then fires a Solar Beam at them.
- But where's Shaymin?! Well... she's at the blooming Gracideas.
- She transforms, & she flies off to discombobulate TR.
- After utilizing an Air Slash, she rips that mecha apart, which thus explodes & sends TR off into god knows where.
- Unfortunately, that also sends Shaymin careening out of control onto the ground, & to add insult to injury, is that same ground that Buneary had frozen.
- Seeing as to how she doesn't like it frozen, she goes back into her original land form. Now all hope is abandoned... or is it?
- Surprise, surprise! It turns out that they were early in arriving, as a couple more Shaymin are just arriving at the meadow, which then start blooming into Gracideas.
- They all transform, & they fly off. That's nice.

It was great to see Shaymin again - her voice on both forms haven't changed at all from Movie 11. Speaking of which, if you haven't watched Movie 11, you should be ashamed of yourself!

Hey! I'm back to normal! It's an Easter Miracle!!