Fowl Play!

Gotta Watch’em All Podcast 150: Fowl Play!

Recording Date: 9/7/2026

Watch the video version of this podcast at: http://patreon.com/pokemonprofessor 

The long, slow…. Really slow journey to Goldenrod City continues! We noticed a small detail that right away proved that we would not be making it to Goldenrod this episode. Apparently there were some episodes that didn’t follow the Japanese release schedule, with Fowl Play actually releasing almost a month before Love, Totodile Style! Not sure why this episode broke the timeline, but never the less, we journey on!

The episode begins with Ash and the crew finding a birdhouse tucked into a tree, when they suddenly see a Noctowl! When Ash pulls out his Dex to scan it, he ends up seeing  a man, hidden in the tree shooing the Noctowl away! A small scuffle ensues and we are introduced to Dr. Wiseman, who is studying and watch to catch a Shiny Noctowl! While we have seen unique variants of Pokémon like the Crystal Onix and the Pink Butterfree, this is the debut of an actual Shiny Pokémon. It coincides with the release of Shiny Pokémon in Gold & Silver.

It isn;t long before we Team Rocket takes a liking to Shiny Noctowl, and it becomes a free for all to try to catch it. We even see Team Rocket blast off Dr. Wiseman, leaving it up to Ash to save the day. He ends up using multiple Pokémon like Bulbasaur, Chikorita, and Cyndaquil to take on Team Rocket’s giant Noctowl Machine, before sending in Pikachu to finish the job.

After Team Rocket is taken care of, Shiny Noctowl challenges Ash to a battle. We see some cool move combinations and battle animations, which lead to an epic battle between Noctowl and Pikachu. Will Pikachu and Ash be able to defeat Noctowl! Check out this week’s episode to find out!

Learn more about this Fowl Play! on Bulbapedia: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/EP154 

Pokémon the Series original air date -

Japan: 6/29/2000

USA: 4/28/2001

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