EP075 : Round One - Begin!
Original series
EP077 : The Fourth Round Rumble
Fire and Ice
EP076.png
  EP076  
こおりのフィールド!ほのおのたたかい!
Ice Field! Blazing Battle!
First broadcast
Japan December 24, 1998
United States November 6, 1999
English themes
Opening Pokémon Theme
Ending
Japanese themes
Opening めざせポケモンマスター
Ending タイプ・ワイルド
Credits
Animation Team Ota
Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami
Storyboard 鈴木敏明 Toshiaki Suzuki
Assistant director 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani
Animation director 玉川明洋 Akihiro Tamagawa
Additional credits

Fire and Ice (Japanese: こおりのフィールド!ほのおのたたかい! Ice Field! Blazing Battle!) is the 76th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 24, 1998, and in the United States on November 6, 1999.

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Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
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Blurb

Ash's second battle takes place on the Rock Field where he relies on his Squirtle to hopefully take down a Nidorino. In between matches, Ash needs to drop off his Pokémon at the Pokémon Center to have them taken care of. Team Rocket takes this opportunity to make one more attempt at stealing Pikachu. They set up a Pokémon Center of their own and when Ash drops off his Pokeballs, they grab them and run! When he finally gets his Pokémon back, Ash must race to make it to his third match of competition, which will be held on the Ice Field.

Plot

As Ash wins his second preliminary battle on the Rock Field with Squirtle, it is revealed that Gary was watching Ash's battle with his cheerleaders. He scoffs at Ash's confidence for winning what he calls two easy matches. Gary walks off while his entourage cheers Ash's name, seemingly jealous and a bit spiteful toward Ash.

Misty later arrives at the group's accommodation, only to notice Ash's absence while Brock takes care of Ash's Pokémon. She criticizes his selfishness, and the two soon reunite with Ash and Pikachu, who are in midst of searching for a place to eat. Ash soon locates an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, where he and Misty indulge. During the meal, Pikachu saves Togepi's life from falling cutlery, though Misty only sees Pikachu performing a seemingly dangerous stunt. She warns her Pokémon not to follow suit and goes on to criticize Ash's training methods.

Afterwards, Ash and his friends search for a Pokémon Center so Ash can heal his Pokémon before the third round, but they find the Centers are all crowded. Noticing this, Team Rocket decides to use this opportunity to swipe Ash's Pokémon by opening a fake Pokémon Center. James, disguised in a nurse outfit with a face-mask, lures them into the auspicious building, where Ash submits his Pokémon for healing. However, Brock becomes suspicious when he isn't attracted to the Center's Nurse Joy, who is actually Jessie.

While Ash and his friends are talking, they keep saying the word "trouble," which eventually triggers Team Rocket to recite their motto and reveal themselves. As a result, Team Rocket is forced to destroy the fake Center and flee in their balloon. Brock's Onix stops them and retrieves Ash's Pokémon. After biting a hole into their balloon, Onix sends Team Rocket blasting off again. Afterwards, the group hears that new Pokémon can now be admitted into the Pokémon Center. Ash takes this opportunity to heal his Pokémon.

Later on, Ash is now in the middle of the third round match with Pete Pebbleman of Pewter City on the Ice Field, and both Trainers are each down one Pokémon. Ash uses Kingler for the battle, while Pete uses Cloyster for the battle. Pete orders Cloyster to Withdraw into its spiked shell, helping it defend itself from Kingler's barrage of Crabhammers. While Ash fears that Kingler will be exhausted, Misty and Brock encourage him to keep going, since Cloyster is still losing health despite the defense boost. Kingler keeps hitting Cloyster with its Crabhammer until Cloyster's shell finally cracks, knocking it out.

Pete recalls Cloyster and sends out Arcanine. Kingler tries a Bubble attack, but Pete's Arcanine dodges it and uses Dragon Rage. Kingler is caught in the icy twister, but with Ash's plea, it manages to stand up. Ash still recalls Kingler and sends Pikachu onto the battlefield. Hoping to confuse his opponent, Ash has Pikachu use Agility and it narrowly evades Arcanine's Fire Blast attacks. Pete soon reveals his strategy: the Fire Blast attacks were meant to melt the field. The technique takes Ash by surprise, but with Brock's suggestion, Ash has Pikachu dive into the water. Misty reminds him that water conducts electricity, so Ash has Pikachu use Thunderbolt, thus defeating Arcanine. With this, Ash claims the victory over Pete and advances to the fourth round.

Major events

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Koffing (US and international), Nidorino (Japan)

Trivia

Errors

Brock's miscolored shirt
  • Pokémon.com's blurb for this episode misspells Poké Balls as Pokeballs, lacking the accent over the "e" and formatted as one word.
  • On the posters in the village, the é in Pokémon lacks its accent.
  • While Team Rocket is reciting their motto, the white piece of paper behind them covering part of the "R" is missing the blue design and text.
  • Misty says that Brock and Ash need to get all of their Pokémon back, but only Ash's Pikachu was stolen.
  • The scoreboard prior to Ash's battle on the Ice Field erroneously shows him as the Red Competitor instead of the Green Competitor.
  • In one scene, Nidorino attacked without his Trainer's commands.
  • When Brock tells Misty that Ash was "starving", his shirt collar is discolored, making it look like his head is disconnected to the rest of his body.
  • Pikachu's Thunderbolt should not have work against Arcanine, as ice does not conduct electricity. This is an example of animation physics.
  • In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, when Misty refers to Hit Points, her words are mistranslated as Attack Points (Pontos de Ataque).
  • In the Polish dub, Viridian City is absent during the parade.

Dub edits

  • Pikachu's Jukebox: 2.B.A. Master
  • North American DVD releases and Pokémon TV cut roughly 13 seconds from this episode. Immediately after Ash and Pikachu pass by the movie theater showing Pokémon in Love, there are several shots showing Pokémon-related merchandise, including Clefairy figures, Gengar cotton candy, and Cubone bobbleheads. Pikachu taps the head on one of the bobbleheads, causing it to bob and say its name. Ash and Pikachu laugh and move on. This segment is still present in the broadcast and streaming versions, as well as Australian DVDs.
  • Originally, the Pokémon Center was unable to accept patients due to a big accident instead of due to being full.
  • Ash's "collection plate" joke is dub-only; in the original version, he just says he doesn't have any money.
  • Ash asks Pikachu if he's practicing to be in the circus while spinning a plate but in the original version, he warns him the people in the restaurant will get angry.
  • In the original version, when Brock notices he's not falling in love with the "Nurse Joy" (Jessie in disguise) at Team Rocket's fake Pokémon Center, he comments that usually when he sees a Nurse Joy, his blood pressure rises and his heart races and his face blushes, to which Misty dryly comments that he's strangely calm. In the dub, Brock describing his symptoms is changed to saying that he's dizzy and acts crazy and starts talking in a "really goofy way", prompting Misty to dryly remark that Ash acts that way all the time.
  • In the original version, Ash and Misty trigger Team Rocket to recite their motto and blow their cover when they keep asking Brock why he suspects something's wrong with the fake Pokémon Center's Nurse Joy, as Jessie's first line in the Japanese motto is "If you ask us this or that..." The dub changes this so Ash and Misty suggest to Brock that the trouble is he wasn't prepared to see all the Nurse Joys he gushed over earlier, since Jessie's first line in the dub motto is "Prepare for trouble."
  • In the original version, Team Rocket references getting expensive makeup from Hollywood (I.e. Jessie's Nurse Joy mask) and having to patch together their older balloons to save money; in the dub, they talk about taking a vacation and leaving with Pikachu as a souvenir.
  • The movie posters Ash passes by were originally for Pokémon the Movie.
  • During the parade scene, Viridian City replaces Type: Wild as an insert song.
  • Misty mentions Hit Points in the dub, the only time it is referenced in the animated series. She just talks about "taking damage" in the original version, however.
  • The "take a dive" misunderstanding was originally referring to a Japanese proverb equivalent to "fortune favors the bold", but with the Japanese word for float (浮かぶ).

In other languages



EP075 : Round One - Begin!
Original series
EP077 : The Fourth Round Rumble
Project Anime logo.png This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.