EP075

Round One - Begin! (Japanese: ポケモンリーグかいまく！みずのフィールド！ Pokémon League Opens! Water Field!) is the 75th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on December 17, 1998, and in the United States on October 30, 1999. 
==Blurb==
It's day one of the Pokémon League Tournament and the trainers learn where they will be competing in their first round battle and who their first opponent will be. We find Ash as he's checking into the Pokémon Village where he's told his first battle will be held on the Water Field. Since Misty's specialty is water Pokémon she offers to let him use some of hers, but Ash declines. Professor Oak suggests that he not go into battle with Squirtle as his only water Pokémon and sends over Krabby as a back up. Against the advice of his coaches, Brock and Misty, Ash begins the battle by using his Krabby who's never fought before. 
==Plot==
After registering for the Indigo Plateau Conference, learns that he must first pass through four preliminary battles on four unique battlefields (Grass, Water, Ice, and Rock) to qualify for battling inside the Indigo Stadium. The lady at the registry has Ash go through a random selection, and he is assigned to on the Water Field later that day against a named Mandi.
Since he is assigned to the Water field, Ash plans to rely on for the battle, but suggests that it might not be enough. The group runs into , who is battling on the Ice Field. He mockingly wishes Ash luck as he wants to be the one to defeat him, and he walks away laughing with his cheerleaders. At that moment, Ash receives a call from , who suggests he swap out one of his Pokémon. Ash decides to have sent through to boost his team. Misty is worried because Ash had never used Krabby before, but Ash is confident in the Pokémon. Meanwhile, is posing as a news crew and unsuccessfully trying to find rare Pokémon to steal. While waiting for his turn to battle at a restaurant, Ash sees Gary winning his first match on the Ice Field on TV, fueling his determination.
Ash's battle on the Water Field soon begins, and he starts off with Krabby, while Mandi uses an . Krabby jumps into the pool to avoid a , but Exeggutor uses to create a whirlpool, revealing Krabby's hiding space and trapping it in the vortex. Mandi orders an , bombarding Krabby as it's getting whirled around. Ash tries to recall Krabby, but the whirlpool prevents him from doing so. Suddenly, Krabby escapes from the vortex, and Ash orders it to use on Exeggutor's leaves, stopping it from using . Hanging on tightly, Krabby uses to immobilize Exeggutor, and its attack knocks it out. As it stands triumphant over Exeggutor, Krabby suddenly evolves into . Mandi, still confident, sends out his second Pokémon, a . Seadra uses to dodge Kingler's , but Kingler manages to send it flying with , and then knocks Seadra out with .
Mandi remains undaunted as he sends out his last Pokémon, a . becomes worried, since Kingler is weak against aerial attacks. Misty suggests that Ash should switch to , but Ash stands by his Pokémon. Golbat manages to evade Kingler's Vise Grip with with , before dealing a great amount of damage with . Mandi aims for a finishing strike with , but Ash counters by ordering Kingler to use . Kingler's shot hits Golbat dead-on, knocking it out and winning Ash his first Indigo League victory. Mandi is astounded by his defeat, with the commentator confirming that Ash successfully used only one Pokémon for the entire match. Misty and Brock watch on in shock as Ash jumps around, overexcited by his first win.
==Major events==
* wins his first round match.
* uses his in for the first time.
* Ash's Krabby is revealed to know , , , and .
* Ash's Krabby evolves into and learns .
* Ash's Kingler is revealed to know , , and .
* Ash defeats Mandi in his first round match using only his Kingler.
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
* Ash's Kingler
=====TV episode debuts=====
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* 
* Delia Ketchum
* 
* Officer Jenny (multiple)
* Mandi
* s
* Reporters
* Crowd
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international), (Japan)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; evolves)
* (; newly evolved)
* ('s, Mimey)
* (Mandi's)
* (Mandi's)
* (Mandi's)
* (Mandi's; multiple)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
* ('s)
==Trivia==
* Professor Oak's Pokémon Lecture: Pokémon League participation
** Pokémon senryū summary: If you win the league, be sure to praise them, your Pokémon.
* This episode marks the first time when a owned by has evolved. The second time wouldn't occur until A Stealthy Challenge!, 776 episodes later.
** This also marks the first time when one of has evolved during a Pokémon League battle. The second time wouldn't occur until Fiery Surprises!, 1,007 episodes later.
* This is the last episode where a Generation I Pokémon would make its main series debut in 's first season. The remaining five Generation I Pokémon would make their main series debut in later seasons (, , , , and ).
* Excluding one-on-one matches, this marks the only time to date when Ash has won a Pokémon League battle without any of his Pokémon being defeated.
* In the English dub, no gender for the "Who's That Pokémon?" feature is given, only "Nidoran". The picture and cry was of the .
* Team Rocket's bogus news network is called "Lovely Charming Network", a reference to their Japanese where they introduce themselves as "the lovely charming villains".
* While as a move wouldn't be introduced until Generation II, the whirlpool created by in this episode has a matching effect that prevents the trapped Pokémon being recalled.
* Team Rocket doesn't recite the motto or blast off in this episode.
* Music from Mewtwo Strikes Back is used in this episode.
===Errors===
* When Jessie says that name of her news network captures her essence of her, the band on her disguise is dark-green instead of light-green.
* When uses the video phone to talk to , Ash puts the phone against his ear and uses the screen when and Professor Oak only used the screen.
* When the Officer Jennys say that the news reporters are , 's disguise disappears.
* After Ash's evolves into Kingler, he looks at its Pokédex entry. The entry for Kingler states that "[Its] claws can pinch with the power of 10,000 horsepower". In fact, horsepower is a unit of power which is energy divided by time—not at all related to pressure. A better unit would be .
* Throughout the episode, the back of 's wings is colored blue instead of purple.
* When Mandi's Golbat uses , the move looks more like .
* Right after Ash defeats Mandi, the black background of the big screen disappears when the screen changes to congratulate the winner. This also happens after 's battle, therefore it may have been intentional and was simply changed in future episodes.
* In the English dub:
** During the battle on the Water Field, the announcer says that the battle is about to begin, but one Trainer has two Pokémon remaining, and the other has one Pokémon remaining. In the original version, he says it's about to end.
** When a random is showing off his Pokémon to Team Rocket, he holds up a containing a , yet a picture of a appears. When he holds up the Poké Ball containing Venomoth, the next scene shows him staring at Team Rocket's camera, with his mouth not moving when he says "And a Venomoth!". In the Japanese version, he only showed off one Pokémon and a Venomoth.
** After Mandi summons a flock of during his magic trick, Meowth refers to the Pidgey as . In the original version, Meowth doesn't name the Pokémon at all.
EP075 error.png|Jessie's miscolored band
EP075 error 2.png|Meowth's missing disguise
EP075 error 3.png|Golbat's miscolored wings
===Dub edits===
* Pikachu's Jukebox: Together Forever
* In the original version, Gary says Ash is lucky to not be up against him, then speaks of a promise he supposedly made that Ash would lose, prompting Ash to question where said promise came from. In the dub, Gary says he'd feel terrible if Ash lost, then tells Ash he wants the pleasure of beating him as a Pokémon Master. Ash then responds with a sarcastic remark about Gary's overconfidence.
* Gary's comments on the to the news reporter are a bit more goading towards Ash in the dub. In the original version, he just says he's relieved because everything went according to plan.
* saying he wants a chocolate shake in response to Ash and the stadium shaking is nowhere to be found in the original version; instead he unconvincingly claims that he isn't nervous.
* Before the screen switches to the scoreboard, the Japanese version has an extra screen that reads "POCKEMON LEAGUE! BATTLE OF WATER FIELD". This is omitted in the dub.
* The PA makes a reference to a real-life event in the dub by saying that Exeggutor's makes the scene look like the . In the original version, he just says it looks like fireworks.
* The Trainer's book Brock reads says that Trainers should conduct themselves with dignity and restraint in the dub. In the original version, it says that the second round is two days later.
==In other languages==
075
Category:Episodes written by Atsuhiro Tomioka
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Kazu Yokota
Category:Episodes directed by Shigeru Ōmachi
Category:Episodes animated by Yūsaku Takeda
Category:Pokémon League episodes
Category:Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon evolves
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes in which a main character's Pokémon learns a new move
de:Ring frei zur Runde 1
es:EP077
fr:EP075
it:GA075
ja:無印編第75話
zh:宝可梦 第76集