Indigo League, Episode 4: "Challenge of the Samurai"

Season 1, Episode 4, Original Air Date: April 22, 1997 (JP), September 11, 1998 (US)

After a brief reel of the story so far, we open on Ash, Misty and Pikachu still navigating Viridian Forest. Misty gets spooked by a bug, which Ash jokingly responds; "Maybe it's a Cow-terpie!" Guess they hadn't come up with Miltank yet.

Misty says that's not funny, and it turns out that it's a Weedle! After scanning it with his Pokédex, Ash decides to catch it! However, as Pikachu is napping; Ash decides to use Pidgeotto in battle instead.

After Misty storms off, we see a strange young man in a samurai armor searching for a trainer from Pallet, who Misty realizes is Ash! Just as Ash is about to catch the Weedle, Samurai pulls his sword on Ash and demands a battle! Interestingly, as the sword sounds like metal when it's unsheathed, the way Samurai flicks the blade seems to suggest that it's actually plastic.

Weedle slips away, and Ash grudgingly agrees to battle. However, Pidgeotto is still tired from the last match; and Samurai sends out his Pinsir to counter!

Pinsir is able to take out Pidgeotto with a single stroke, forcing Ash to send out Metapod! He could have been cut in half, but thanks to some quick thinking; Metapod's Harden attack is able to defend itself so well that it chips Pinsir's horns!

Samurai follows up with his own Metapod, leading to the now memetic "Metapod VS Metapod" battle. I'm not going to make too much of the innuendo, nor Misty in her swimsuit; but I am going to share some of the more suspect lines out of context just for the sake of argument.

Samurai: Metapod, Harden like his!

Ash: Maximum hardness Metapod! More power, Metapod! Samurai's is weakening!

Samurai: Harder! You're the stronger Metapod!

Elsewhere, we get our first glimpse of the comedic Team Rocket running around the forest in a cardboard tank; giving an early glimpse of the ineffectual sympathetic villain character type they'd be known as in the public eye for, well, ever. They say it will protect them from Beedrill, but we'll see how silly this is later.

Back with Ash and Samurai, their battle continues with more lines that sound a bit more suspect than when I first saw this as a kid in hindsight. Least of all, they're so determined that they fall over as hard as they can; causing Misty to shout the following: "YOU TWO ARE MORE HARDHEADED THAN YOUR METAPOD!"

Just then, a bunch of Beedrill that are related to Weedle from earlier are upon them snatch Ash's Metapod and force everyone to flee! They dive for cover in some bushes, and discover that it's a hive a Kakuna! Metapod is with them, but the Kakuna sense their presence and evolve into Beedrill! They're able to hide in Samurai's cabin to wait out the swarm, and I always found it amusing how few locked doors there were in the games; and I still do.

After removing his armor, Samurai chastises Ash for what's happened; which Ash isn't having any of. I'm just going on record that I never got the hate for this plot thread, so I'm just going to move on.

The next morning, Ash returns to the Kakuna hive to retrieve Metapod. Team Rocket's motto ends up alerting all the Beedrill, and Ash is able to evade them by doing a Captain Kirk roll; and the Weedle end up eating their cardboard tank!

Metapod is relucant to get in the Poké Ball, but Ash is able to carry him away from the hive! They're ambushed by a Beedrill, and after taking a Twin Needle attack for Ash, Metapod evolves into Butterfree! Using its Sleep Powder attack, all their enemies fall asleep as Ash jumps for joy at his new Pokémon!

So, as Team Rocket hides from the Beedrill; Ash and Misty say goodbye to the first of many "characters of the day" as they head to Pewter City.

Following up on the events of the last episode, "Challenge of the Samurai" is a nice episode to transition from Viridian Forest to Pewter City. This is also one of the first episodes I watched as a kid, and while it has definitely aged; it still has enough to enjoy that I can recommend it. There's still plenty to cover here, so check back next time for "Showdown in Pewter City." To be continued...