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Review S15 EP48: Meloetta and the Undersea Temple!

Adil

Adil

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dang when you arent used to giovanni talk soo much, his voice almost can catch you off guard at points.. and really? riddley? they couldnt keep his name larry?
 
GolfDude said:
dang when you arent used to giovanni talk soo much, his voice almost can catch you off guard at points.. and really? riddley? they couldnt keep his name larry?
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Agreed. I don't recall Giovanni's English dub voice but this one sounded... Different but not all bad. Or it could be because we are not used to see him talking much.
Since TPCi changed Jeremy to Jervis, it wasn't a surprise when I heard Ridley. However, I don't see the need to change it.
 
Maybe they changed Larry's name because they didn't think the name was appropriate for the two-parter? 'Larry' doesn't sound dramatic, mysterious nor serious.
 
Adyniz said:
However, I don't see the need to change it.
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Because apparently English speaking humans, don't understand the name "Larry." It's too foreign.

English Viewer: What? Larry isn't a name......hey Larry pass the popcorn.
------

Don't get me wrong, Ridley is an awesome name....it's just doesn't suit this character.
 
^^ probably because there's a ton of Larry's and they just wanna be unique.
 
Protectors protect, do they? Thanks for the clarification, Cilan!

...That was the big battle between Ash and Giovanni? Persian overpowered Pikachu with only two moves! The rest of the episode was nice and dramatic, though.
 
dman_dustin said:
♥Lady Marie♥ said:
^^ probably because there's a ton of Larry's and they just wanna be unique.
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Had he kept his name (according to Bulbapedia), he would have been the only Larry in the entire Pokémon anime.
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Wow, I did not know that. O.O I would had expected to be used sooner or later since it was such a regular and common name. Anyway I do agree with you why do they change the name of charaters with already western names to other western names is something that actually bugs me for a while.
 
NOA's changes Japanese names to different Japanese names as well.


I'm guessing the lack of anyone bringing up the cross scene means it wasn't edited?
 
So this ep finally aired stateside...

Interesting to see Giovanni take the field for the first time since the Mewtwo special nobody remembers, and nice to hear Ted Lewis still voicing him. Still, I kinda expected more between him and Ash, given that this was the first time Our Boy met the leader of Team Rocket (not including the aforementioned special).

One thing that TPTB kinda messed up in the early days was not showing much to TR aside from the TRio, so it was nice to see that Boss Blofeld brought a few mooks with him. Helps show that there really is a full-scale syndicate.

For a while I wasn't sure why TR took Ash and Pikachu with them along with Meloetta, until I figured out (and Blofeld confirmed) that they were using Our Boy to force Meloetta's cooperation.
 
Operation Tempest! In both the games and the anime, every Gen has that last big bid by the bad guy team that symbolizes the climax of the journey in this Gen. Took a long time for Team Rocket to finally do this.

We open with Team Rocket meeting on top of what I think is a large submarine or something. Giovanni shows up. I guess things are fer srs now. They talk about how Operation Tempest begins now, and how they're gonna do stuff with some Undersea Temple.

Like a Temple Of The Sea?

Back at Cynthia's vacation home in Unova, Ash and co are still there. Just waiting for the Unova League to start. Gettin' some training in. Oshawott is sharpening his Scalchop against Pansage's Bullet Seed, whilst getting a morale boost from Meloetta's eager applause, what red-blooded male Pokémon wouldn't feel invincible after excited squeals of "Merre!" every time you land a blow?

Then Meloetta is so excited by all the battling, she steps onto the field, in front of Oshawott. Oh my God, is his dream finally coming true??? She then sings that song she sings where she changes Formes, and she changes Forme. To her part Fighting-Type Forme. Pirouette Forme. And she starts dancin' around with fancy boxing footwork, coaxing Oshawott to fight her. But Oshawott can't bring himself to mar that pretty face! Besides, she's a Legendary. She might clean his clock. He withdraws.

Krookodile has no qualms about beating up Meloetta though. He thinks with his claws. So they fight. Stone Edge, Dragon Claw, Meloetta holds her own. and then a huge Flash Cannon hits the arena, disrupting the battle! It's a Golurk! And for some reason Ash doesn't remember what a Golurk is from his Victini adventure. Whichever one of those two Victini adventures actually happened. From the Golurk hops a blue haired hippie who claims that Ash and company are villains who have stolen Meloetta! And all Meloetta does is rush to this guy's side and not even try to explain anything. Is she gonna throw Ash under the bus? Just as Golurk is about to obliterate Ash with Flash Cannon, Meloetta jumps in front of the line of fire and finally attests to Ash's innocence. Sheesh, Governor, you coulda held off the switch a little earlier, couldn't you have?

They all regroup inside Cynthia's vacation home. The hippie apologizes and Ash says "It's okay. NOW." The ire in his voice is palpable. The hippie introduces himself as Ridley. I hope to see him and Meloetta in the new Smash game for Wii U. He explains that he's from a tribe of people who protect Meloetta in the forest, and one day some villains, AKA Team Rocket, came and kidnapped Meloetta. She eventually escaped, and in the meantime the tribe of protectors went looking for Meloetta.

So does that mean Meloetta is Ridley's Pokémon? Nope, because Meloetta can never belong to just one trainer. She's a Legendary. Legendaries can't be kept.

So all that affection and nuzzling, and she just wanted to be friends! Heartbreaking gypsy! I KNEW SHE WASN'T CAPABLE OF REAL LOVE!!!

Now that Ridley has Meloetta back, they will return to hiding. The tribe has found a new place where Team Rocket hasn't been yet. But then smoke appears, and Team Rocket returns for what they've been seeking.

Ash and team head outside to meet their force, which is comprised of an old school Golem and Rhydon. More old timers. Very cool. Ridley's Golurk holds them off while Ash and the rest run off and get Meloetta to safety. I guess the plan is to run around until Ridley is free to take Meloetta back to the new safe point without being followed. But eventually Ash and team are cut off by the Team Rocket TRio. And like in Sword Of Justice, Iris and Cilan have to act as decoys as well, to help Ash get the prize Pokémon to safety. But alas, Team Rocket is bigger than even Kyurem's force. They've always at least got one Ace Of Spades up their sleeve. The boss man, Giovanni, shows up to challenge Ash.

I thought we were shaping up for a major battle, but instead Persian just used Power Gem on Ash and Pikachu, and captured them both in a box that slowly grows smaller. Now THAT'S how you catch that Pikachu! If Meloetta doesn't come along, Giovanni will crush Ash and Pikachu into a singularity. She doesn't want that, so she surrenders. Team Rocket has everything they've been striving for since Gen 1. Iris and Cilan show up just in time to see their plan backfire, they thought they were delaying Team Rocket so that Ash and Meloetta could escape, but in fact Team Rocket was delaying them so that Giovanni could snatch the prize without anyone interfering! And Ridley, he shows up just way too late.

On the Team Rocket transport, they head to the Undersea Temple. Ash looks around and doesn't remember it or anything. I guess it's not the Temple Of The Sea. Meanwhile, Giovanni begins the rite. He orders Meloetta to bind herself to the cross-like thing on the temple's shrine. She does so, lest Ash and Pikachu be crushed. Now he needs her to sing. But she needs to be happy to do it! How can she be happy in this situation? You can't order someone to feel a certain way, that's near impossible! Fortunately, Team Rocket is lucky enough to have that problem solved for them. They recorded Meloetta singing, and with Meloetta on the cross, a recording is as good as a live performance.

Back at Cynthia's summer home, Ridley and Iris and Cilan tell Cynthia what happened, and what's going to happen. Cynthia orders Jarvis to prepare the Batmobile. And she wonders what great power Team Rocket means to harness by using Meloetta. What does Meloetta's power do? Well, for one, it gives rise to the Undersea Temple. It breaches to the surface. What could this mean?

And thus concludes the first chapter of the final story battle of Pokémon Black & White. This sure was a short series. So much unsaid. I think I'll miss it. It's kinda awkward watching it, having seen the stuff for Gen 6 already.
 
You're probably just not used to hearing him say more than one or two sentences per episode.

This two parter is probably the most we've ever heard Giovanni speak.
 
Dogasu said:
You're probably just not used to hearing him say more than one or two sentences per episode.

This two parter is probably the most we've ever heard Giovanni speak.
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Or just associate him Meowth's voice in those boss fantasies.

I can't think of much to say about this episode. One thing I was going to mention when it evolved but I wanted to hear more of it just to see if it wasn't a one off, but I'm sure Krookodile pronounces its own name wrong compared to what all the other characters and the Pokedex call him - it stands out that Krookodile's name is otherwise pronounced to avoid literally saying 'Crocodile' but whoever voiced it didn't get that memo.
 
I love it whenever there are things like temples, mysterious powers, old myths etc. in a Pokemon episode, so this week's story promised to be an exciting one as well. Finally we had action, real excitement (and not just a clumsy gang of villains) and a touch of mythology. Great! If the whole story turns out to be only half as good as the Team Galactic finale, I'll be totally happy
And, of course, wasn't Cynthia extremely cool once again? So far we've had two great showdowns with the main villain team (Sinnoh and Unova) and every time Cynthia was there. Coincidence? No ;)

Anyways, I'm really looking forward to the conclusion. It is one of the few Unova episodes that are really worth waiting for...)
 
Oh god Meloetta trying to get Oshawott to battle her was adorable. She was all "Come on! Bring it on!" and he was just like "eeeek noo". XD

That terrified look on Meloetta's face while Giovanni was playing back that song, though... D:
 
Thank heavens for OnDemand. I can watch this to my heart's content. Now, let's see:
Oshawott's "But I don't wanna hurt my woman!" reaction to Meloetta's battle challenge was adorable. I doubled over laughing at the poor little guy.
Kaljinyu said:
Krookodile has no qualms about beating up Meloetta though. He thinks with his claws. So they fight. Stone Edge, Dragon Claw, Meloetta holds her own. and then a huge Flash Cannon hits the arena, disrupting the battle! It's a Golurk! And for some reason Ash doesn't remember what a Golurk is from his Victini adventure. Whichever one of those two Victini adventures actually happened. From the Golurk hops a blue haired hippie who claims that Ash and company are villains who have stolen Meloetta! And all Meloetta does is rush to this guy's side and not even try to explain anything. Is she gonna throw Ash under the bus? Just as Golurk is about to obliterate Ash with Flash Cannon, Meloetta jumps in front of the line of fire and finally attests to Ash's innocence. Sheesh, Governor, you coulda held off the switch a little earlier, couldn't you have?
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And here's where I did a little fangirling. I do not kid. I mean seriously--EEEK! GOLURK!! So big and strong and gorgeous! :crush:

I admit: when Ash broke out the 'Dex I caught myself snapping, "Oh for heaven's sake! You've seen one before!" My husband replies, "Honey, Ash is a moron." I didn't argue.

There was a little something I noticed--when Meloetta explains everything, Golurk seemed to have a slightly confused note to its voice. It almost sounded as if the big fella was saying, "Really?"

A little something Prime pointed out--when Ridley lets Golurk out of its Ball in the flashback sequence, would it really be such a great idea to keep something THAT FREAKING LARGE in a tiny little cramped Ball? I mean, Ridley was scaling Golurk like a frigging tree; the big guy is massive and I don't think keeping him in such a tiny Ball could be too comfy for the poor dear.

Ash and team head outside to meet their force, which is comprised of an old school Golem and Rhydon. More old timers. Very cool. Ridley's Golurk holds them off while Ash and the rest run off and get Meloetta to safety.
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I was loving that battle. Loving every second of it. But I really loved it when Golurk played troll and used Rhydon as a living shield to block Golem's Rock Blast. Epic.
And thus concludes the first chapter of the final story battle of Pokémon Black & White. This sure was a short series. So much unsaid. I think I'll miss it. It's kinda awkward watching it, having seen the stuff for Gen 6 already.
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Tell me about it. I want so much more. Not that I'm complaining about Gen 6, but Unova's just been so much fun that I don't want to leave yet.
 
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