Electric Shock Showdown

Season 1, Episode 14, Aired
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Episode Summary

Our heroes finally reach Vermilion City. They make their way to the Pokmon Center to refill their empty stomachs, but once there, they witness dozens of injured Pokmon being treated. Pikachu and Ash are alarmed to learn that all of these Pokmon were injured in battles with the Vermilion Gym Leader, Lt. Surge. Nonetheless, eager to earn a badge, Ash challenges Lt. Surge. Pikachu reluctantly enters the battle only to discover its opponent to be a Raichu, its evolved form. After a short battle Pikachu is overwhelmingly defeated. At the pokmon center Ash wonders what he can do to win. Nurse Joy presents him with a Thunder Stone which would evolve Pikachu into Raichu and make it more powerful. Now he must choose whether or not to evolve Pikachu just to beat one trainer.moreless
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Fan Episode Reviews (14)

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  • pikachu vs Raichu

    8.0
    "Great"
    By dragondude4, Aug 23, 2010 Report Abuse
    in this episode Ash and his friends get to Vermilion City and ash is ready to prove that he can defeat a Gym Leader yeah like he beats his friends to get the 2 badges he all ready has and the gym leader is some guy that was in the armay and has a tough Raichu which is the evovle form of a pikachu and bady beats Pikachu and is ash planing to use a thuder stone ot evovle Pikachu and he trains pikachu and they were able to beat the armay guy and now ash has 3 badges and need 5 moremoreless

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    0 0

  • Ash challenges the Vermilion Gym Leader: Lt. Surge to a gym battle. But with Pikachu facing its evolution Raichu, can Ash succeed?

    10
    "Perfect"
    By BAC510, Jan 27, 2009 Report Abuse
    Ash finally arrives at the next gym. This gym specializes in electric types. Ash then meets the gym leader: Lt. Surge. Ash chooses Pikachu, and Lt. Surge uses Raichu. Ash thinks that Pikachu can win but Raichu proves to be superior. Pikachu ends up losing the match. At the Pokemon Center, Pikachu is in bed, resting. Nurse Joy appears, giving Ash a Thunderstone. An item necessary for Pikachu to evolve. Ash considers that Pikachu should evolve, to give it a fighting chance. Pikachu disagrees, saying that it will defeat Raichu as a Pikachu. Pikachu proves to be correct, as in the rematch, it uses its agility to overcom Raichu and eventually defeating it, earning Ash the Thunderbadge. So officially, this is Ash's first gym victory.moreless

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  • They finally reach Vermilion City!

    7.0
    "Good"
    By McKellars, Sep 01, 2008 Report Abuse
    Well, they have been trying to reach Vermilion City since the first episode I believe and they finally get there in this 14th installment of the series.
    Now, even though they reached Vermilion City doesn't mean that this episode is anything special, I mean, I was waiting for awhile for them to get there during the series but I didn't expect much and nothing much really did happen. I just don't care to much for the episodes where Ash battles for badges but this one was alright. The thing is, there was a lot leading up to this episode when they did reach Vermilion City but nothing really happened except for Ash getting the Thunder Badge.moreless

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  • Wonderful!!

    9.3
    "Superb"
    By Meowth365, May 30, 2008 Report Abuse
    The gang reach Vermillion City They try to make their way to the Pokemon Center to refill there poor empty stomachs but there they see loads of injured Pokemon being treated with good care. Pikachu and Ash are amazed to learn that all the Pokemon were injured by battles with the Vermillion Gym Leader L.t Surge Ash then challenges L.t Surge to a Pokemon Battle by using Pikachu Pikachu finds out that his opponent is his evolved form Raichu If Pikachu can defeat his opponent he must be trained harder and he must be stronger too Can they train Pikachu to win the battle?moreless

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  • A gym leader who thinks that evolving your Pokemon will make them stronger...

    9.4
    "Superb"
    By Shadow_Lucario, May 12, 2008 Report Abuse
    This episode is laughable and tolerable. LT Surge can call you a baby in the anime because he thinks you're not worthy of beating him, but he won't insult you in the RBY games! But he was easy on Misty just because she was a girl. lol. This episode is action packed for the reason that the battle was really tough. If Team Rocket wasn't there to encourage Ash's Pikachu (for once), the battle would've been boring if the same loss repeated once more. I'm glad that a under-evolved Pikachu was able to beat a Raichu, so Ash can prove him that evolving your Pokemon won't necessarily make them stronger.

    A moral that everyone should learn. Even though you can consider your opponent weaker than you, never underestimate them as they'll become tougher later on, even if you say it'll never happen. And LT Surge finally realized that in the end.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

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    • This is the first episode in which Jesse, James, and Meowth wear a costume to disguise themselves from Ash and company. Edit
    • Pikachu makes up its mind to not evolve. Edit
    • Ash wins a Thunder Badge. Edit

  • Notes

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    • This episode was published in the book Pokémon Volume 1 "I Choose You". Edit
    • Pokémon Debut: Raichu Edit
    • This episode is on the VHS/DVD "Thunder Shock!" Edit

  • Quotes

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    • Brock: Pikachu used it's tail as a ground, and dodged the electric shock! Jessie: What a shocking story! James: That was quite a tail! Meowth: (Hits Jessie and James) And now, you've both been Pun-ished! Edit
    • Meowth: (Translating Pikachu) Its saying it won't change. Pikachu's gonna beat that Raichu just as it is. Its gonna defend its honor and Ash's. James: (Starts crying) Oh dear! Thats so beautiful! Edit
    • Surge: Okay, Baby, if you want to quit, now's your chance. Ash: There's no way we're going to quit now. Surge: Ha! What kind of a baby would do that? If you want to be a real Pokemon trainer, you should have your Pokemon evolve as soon as you catch it. Ash: There's more to training a Pokemon than forcing it to evolve, and I like this Pikachu just the way it is. Surge: Wrong, Baby. Electric Pokemon are only useful once they've learned all their electric attacks. You keep a puny like that, and it's no more than a little pet. Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Lt. Surge esembles the Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren. Both of them are tall, have spiky blonde hair, and are very muscular. Edit
    • Lt. Surge is meant to be a play on G.I. Joe. This is made even more obvious in the Japanese version, where he states that he is a soldier from America and he speaks fluent English. Edit

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