The Legend of Thunder

The Legend of Thunder! (Part 1) (Japanese: ポケットモンスタークリスタル・ライコウ　雷の伝説, Hepburn:  Raikou - The Legend of Thunder!) is the 1st episode of Pokémon Chronicles.

Episode Plot

A young Trainer named Jimmy and his Typhlosion are on a Pokémon journey and their latest Pokémon battle results in victory over another Trainer and his Hitmonlee. Meanwhile, Team Rocket agents Attila and Hun have arrived at a Team Rocket base to view the Miracle Crystal. This invention can store electric energy and attract it as well—including Electric-type Pokémon. Jimmy, still on his journey, visits a Pokémon Center and he runs into an old friend, Marina, in the middle of a video conversation with their mutual friend Vincent. Marina wants to be a Trainer and a star performer, but when Jimmy tells her that's impossible, Marina challenges him to a 2-on-2 battle!

For the first round, Marina uses her Jigglypuff and Jimmy goes with his Beedrill. Jigglypuff's dance training does come in useful, but Beedrill wins the round. Next it's Marina's Croconaw against Jimmy's Typhlosion, but a strange lightning storm interrupts the battle. Marina's Misdreavus flies towards the storm, so she and Jimmy give chase. They catch up with Misdreavus at the source of the storm: Team Rocket's Miracle Crystal! Atilla and Hun used it to stun all the Electric Pokémon drawn by its energy and now they're just scooping up the stunned Pokémon.

Before Jimmy and Marina can stop them, another blast of lightning signals the presence of a powerful Pokémon nearby. The Legendary Raikou appears on a nearby peak and it's angry! To protect the wild Pokémon, it attacks Atilla and Hun, but the Team Rocket agents don't even blink. Every bolt of Raikou's lightning is simply absorbed by the Miracle Crystal and the Crystal turns that energy back on Raikou with enough power to stun it. Now Atilla is ready to capture it, but Jimmy confronts Team Rocket and tells them to leave Raikou alone—or else!

Debuts

Humans

• Jimmy
• Marina
• Vincent
• Attila
• Hun
• Professor Sebastian

Pokémon

Jimmy's Typhlosion

Trivia

• This special was later released on DVD for Japan, as well as Taiwan and mainland China.
• By the time this aired dubbed, Eugene and Vincent had already been seen before, in For Ho-Oh The Bells Toll! and Love, Pokémon Style, respectively. In the episodes in question, they were named as Eusine and Jackson.
• This special marks the first time that any characters based on game protagonists have appeared besides Ash, who is based on Red.
• This special has the longest time between the original airings in Japanese and English, taking three and a half years to air dubbed.
• This is the only movie-length anime special that hasn't aired in Finland.

Mistakes

• In one scene, Hun commands Skarmory to use Fury Attack, but Skarmory is Attila's Pokémon.
• When Raikou is put into the cargo hold, there is no sign of Marina, though she had been knocked down when Raikou collided with her after the bubble exploded.
• Attila incorrectly refers to multiple Caterpie as Caterpies.
• When Vincent's Meganium hits Steelix with Solar Beam, Hun implies that Grass types are ineffective against a Steel type like Steelix. This is not entirely true because Steelix's other type, Ground, is weak to Grass, and thus Steelix receives neutral damage from Grass-type attacks.
• Raikou's electric attacks worked on Steelix, even though Steelix is part Ground. This, however, could be because of Raikou's sheer strength, similar to Pikachu. A similar situation occurs when Raikou tackles Steelix forcefully, sending it crashing into the cliff side.
• In the Hindi dub, Misdreavus was once mispronounced as "Misdrees."

Dub differences

• The dub of The Legend of Thunder is one of the most heavily edited episodes of Pokémon, most likely due to TV time constraints:
  • All of the music is replaced, besides the three seconds of Jigglypuff's song.
  • Hun was male in the Japanese version, but has a female voice in the dub.
  • The Trainer that Jimmy battles at the beginning had a name in Japanese, Shinji. The scene in which Shinji introduces himself and swaps Pokégear numbers with Jimmy is cut in the dub.