Indigo League, Episode 27: "Hypno's Naptime"

 

Season 1, Episode 27, Original Air Date: September 13, 1997 (JP), October 13, 1998 (US)

Picking up where we left off, everyone has left Celadon City and are passing through Hop Hop Hop Town. Though that name is silly, would you believe it was called Yo Yo Yo Town in the Japanese version?

Anyway, Ash is accosted by a woman who mistakes him for her son Arnold; who it turns out is missing! He's one of several children who have disappeared, three days before they got to the city!

Officer Jenny, who is the "cousin's cousin" of the one from Maiden's Peak; is trying to help find them; and everyone else offers their assistance. They go to interview children at the Pokémon center about their whereabouts, and I kind of like the Star Trek shirt one of them wears here.

Nurse Joy is dealing with her own mystery involving a Cubone, an Oddish, a Charmander and a Magikarp acting lethargic among other Pokémon, including a Psyduck! Just then, Ash's Pikachu loses consciousness and Jenny ends up picking up sleep waves on a detector made for that purpose! Interesting, it took a few days for me to update the firmware on my Switch.

As everyone goes to find the source of the sleep waves, Team Rocket of course, wants to use them their own gain and incapacitate Giovanni; crying over how badly they need a vacation. Elsewhere, Jenny and the others are able to trace the sleep waves to a building with a mansion on the roof; linking the two occurrences to the Pokémon being sapped of their energy! As Ash comes bursting in the door of the mansion, the guests inside don't even bat an eye at this; simply asking if they're new members of the Pokémon lovers club! To be fair, even now; people in the games don't raise much of an eyebrow at a 10-year-old walking in the front door.

Anyway, it turns out since the members of the club love Pokémon but are having trouble sleeping (I can relate); they're using a pair of Pokémon in lieu of sleep aids to help them sleep: Hypno and its pre-evolved form, Drowzee. 

Misty then gets affected by Hypno's coin, and she thinks she's a Seel! She then leads everyone else to a park in the middle of the city; where all the missing children think they're Pokémon due to Hypno's sleep waves! ... I never realized this before, but this episode ended up being quite prescient about a major plot point of the Detective Pikachu movie, over 20 years before it even came out. I'm also quite amused by this kid in the puddle that thinks she's a Magikarp; especially when she won't come back with Jenny. That always amused me, and still does.

Drowzee is able to undo Hypno's effect on Misty; meaning it's time to do the same for everyone else! Also, I'm amazed Ash can lift Drowzee without injuring himself; given how its weight in the Pokédex is 71.4 pounds standard, 32.4 kg metric.

Team Rocket comes swooping in to steal Drowzee and Hypno on hang-gliders with help from a mirror; but when the mirror is broken (that's seven years bad luck, guys), they just decide to wrap them up with whips! When James asks why they didn't lead with that, Jessie replies; "we have to fill a half-hour." Nice: they may not be my favorite characters, but I do like those jokes.

Misty cuts them free with Staryu, and Ash's Pidgeotto sends them blasting off with a powerful Gust! It's their words, not mine. Drowzee is then taken to the park, which snaps the children out of their trance and sees Arnold reunite with his mother.

Pikachu and the other Pokémon are also freed from their trance, which leaves Psyduck and its mysterious headache! Despite Misty's objections (and her specialty being water-types); this leads to one of my favorite comedic captures: she trips backward, an empty Poké Ball falls out of her bag, and with a couple taps, she captures Psyduck without even trying! We even end on another fourth wall joke as Misty angrily tells the narrator not to congratulate her about it! This took longer than I expected, but I had a lot of fun talking about it.

"Hypno's Naptime" is among my favorite episodes of the season; and a fantastic example of how gleefully-bizarre the early episodes can be at their best, with every aspect from the writing to the visuals playing a part in this experience. It's one I never pass up a chance to revisit, so it's definitely worth watching today. Next time: my look at "Pokémon Fashion Flash!" To be continued...