Pokémon Wiki

Don't like the ads? Then create an account! Users with accounts will only see ads on the Main Page and have more options than anonymous users.

READ MORE

Pokémon Wiki
Register
Advertisement

A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine! (Japanese: 原点回帰だロケット団!?, HepburnReturn to the Basics, Team Rocket!?) is the 40th episode of Pokémon: DP Battle Dimension.

Synopsis[]

Dawn and Piplup are hard at work on a new BubbleBeam combination, but Piplup works so hard that it passes out from exhaustion! Dawn and the gang rush Piplup to a Pokémon Center for some much-needed rest. Team Rocket is also exhausted, but not from hard work; after a well-fed week at the Pokémon Summer Academy and a stop at an all-you-can-eat restaurant, Team Rocket realizes they've put on weight. Now they're so out of shape, they're more likely to give up their seats to an elderly couple than pull off a criminal caper! Horrified, Team Rocket resolves to get back to basics and begins an exercise program.

Over at the Pokémon Center, Dawn apologies to Piplup and gets some advice from Professor Oak. While Dawn talks to other Trainers to pick up training tips, her friends perform chores to help Nurse Joy. Meanwhile, Team Rocket sneaks into the Pokémon Center and begins stealing Poké Balls from the repository. Piplup wakes up when it hears the noise; it sounds the alarm as soon as it sees Team Rocket, bringing Ash and his friends running to the scene of the crime.

When our heroes confront Team Rocket outside the Pokémon Center, Team Rocket proudly unveils their latest giant mecha. It's captured all the Poké Balls and it's too powerful to approach, but Piplup uses BubbleBeam to cloud up its windshield. Then Pikachu and Happiny recover the stolen Poké Balls, and Pikachu's Thunderbolt sends Team Rocket sailing away into the night sky—Team Rocket's back to basics plan got them a basic robot with no shielding against electricity! The next day, since Piplup is healthy again, Dawn and her friends set off for Celestic Town and the next Pokémon Contest.[1]

Episode plot[]

Dawn and Piplup train for their next Contest battle while the others watch. Piplup however overworks itself and passes out from exhaustion.

Elsewhere, Team Rocket begins to experience the effects of an unhealthy lifestyle. Despite this, they decide to visit an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch.

Team Rocket thinks back on the time spent at the academy and how easy things were there. At the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy examines Piplup, saying it will make a full recovery, but warns against overtraining. Dawn is revealed, but worries still over Piplup.

At the buffet, Team Rocket is stuffing their faces with food food. Jessie notices that the team is starting to gain too much weight. They laugh at this, but eventually they decide to begin exercising.At the Pokemon Center, Dawn waits by Piplup's side, the tiny pokemon waking up. The guild adds up and Dawn burst into tears for her neglect of her pokemon's needs, however, Piplup seems to forgive her as it falls asleep in her arms. Outside, Ash speaks with Professor Oak, who is giving him information on how best to raise his Gliscor. He gives advice to Dawn to learn from her peers as much as trying to beat them. Later, Ash and Sudowoodo attempt to do the dishes to help Nurse Joy. The other pokemon are attempting to defend the food from a hungry Swinub, and Buneary shows off infront of Pikachu and the others. Croagunk just looks at itself in shiny metal. Everyone gets hungry and Ash begs Brock to make some food. Brock is caught in a trance in helping Nurse Joy. He goes into a small story about his need to help Nurse Joy and day dreams about his little romances, which Croagunk undoubtedly interrupts.

Team Rocket appears and splits into two teams to rob the pokemon center. They sneak in and use Carnivine to carry the pokeballs that they steal. Piplup wakes up and alerts the others. They rush out to stop Team Rocket. Team Rocket fights with the others before rushing back to their car which is revealed to be another mech. However, Piplup uses bubble beam to cover for Pikachu who utilizes Iron Tail to break free the pod holding the Pokeball. With one final Thunderbolt, Team Rocket are sent blasting off again. After receiving thanks from Nurse Joy, the team continues their trek to Celectic Town.

Trivia[]

  • Professor Oak's Pokémon Lecture: Ash's Gliscor
  • Both Team Rocket Forever and Face Forward Team Rocket! are used as background music.
  • Music from Pokémon Heroes is used.
  • Team Rocket used their original motto in this episode, and the background music used in it from the original series can also be heard. James displayed his famous rose as well.
    • This makes it the first (and so far the only) time Dawn hears their original motto.
  • Team Rocket makes a reference to their first machine being vulnerable to Electric attacks, similar to theirs in this episode.
  • Meowth tells Wobbuffet, Mime Jr. and Carnivine to return to the basics, even though none of these Pokémon were in the original Team Rocket.
  • A girl who is seen in the Pokémon Center telling Dawn how she raised her Glaceon has a design very similar to Pietra from Right On, Rhydon!.
  • This episode marks the first appearance of Mew in an episode of the anime (although it is merely in one of Meowth's fantasies). As a result, this means that all of the Generation I Pokémon have appeared in an episode of the anime at some point.
  • The disguise Team Rocket wears in this episode looks very similar to The Black Arachnid's, especially when Meowth appears, which the Black Arachnid also owns.
  • The dub's title is a pun on the phrase, "a lean mean fighting machine".
  • Ash and Team Rocket read the title card.
    • In the European Portuguese dub, only Ash and James read the title card. The reason of this is unknown.
  • This episode marks the first time Brock is hit by Croagunk during a daydream, instead of really flirting with a girl.
  • The transformation of Team Rocket's car resembles the car-to-robot transformation often seen in the Transformers series. This also happened during a previous episode.

Mistakes[]

During the beginning of the episode, Wobbuffet was shown completely normal-weight, contradicting his chubby appearance in the next scene.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ^ (n.d.) . "A Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine! | Pokémon TV (pokemon.com)". From The Official Pokémon Website | Pokemon.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024.


Advertisement