Indigo League, Episode 10: "Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village"

Season 1, Episode 10, Original Air Date: June 3, 1997 (JP), September 21, 1998 (US)

On their way to Vermilion City, Ash, Misty and Brock are lost again. They decide to take a break, and Ash sees an Oddish. Misty tries to catch it, but her Poké Ball is blocked by Bulbasaur!

Like I was back in the day, Ash is very excited to see Bulbasaur.

He sends out Butterfree against Bulbasaur, but Bulbasaur blows Butterfree's Sleep Powder back at him! Ash whines about it, but cheers right back up as they're crossing a bridge. The bridge breaks, and Brock falls in the water! Ash and Misty climb back up, and Misty then falls in a hole! They then get caught in a net when they're trying to look for Bulbasaur. Ash then insinuates that maybe Brock was caught by pirates, one of which had a wooden leg. Maybe there's some that are made of rubber, or steal from other pirates.

Team Rocket is also searching for the village, which is said to be full of Pokémon. Brock meets up with Ash and Misty, and frees them from the net. He then says that we was rescued by a beautiful girl! Her name is Melanie. She then takes everyone to a sanctuary for abandoned and injured Pokémon. Ash also jokes that maybe she's a pirate in disguise, to which Misty replies "maybe it's time to get a reality check." Yes, this was made in the '90s, why do you ask?

Meanwhile, Team Rocket crosses the bridge and gets swept downstream, and they fall into the other traps. Their plan this time involves a flying baseball stadium to steal all the Pokémon!

Everyone then defends the preserve, and Ash's Pidgeotto uses Gust to send the stadium and Team Rocket blasting off! So, Melanie encourages Ash to take Bulbasaur with him so he can grow. Ash agrees to give Bulbasaur a place on his team, and after battling him, Ash catches Bulbasaur.

We then end on a joke that's very peculiar: after spending the last episode cooing over Giselle, Ash is apparently oblivious to Misty teasing Brock about Melanie.

"Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village" may be a bit dated in a way, but very silly as well. I definitely like the idea of a Pokémon sanctuary, and there's some great interplay between everyone here. People having engaging conversations between each other is much more interesting to me than just a one-liner. The dialogue definitely helps humanize the show, and I definitely recommend watching it. I am going to do the other two episodes of the original starter captures next. Later.