AG001

Get the Show on the Road! (Japanese: 新たなる大地！ 新たなる冒険！！ A New Land! A New Adventure!!) is the first episode of Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire and the 275th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It was first broadcast in Japan on November 21, 2002, and in the United States on March 15, 2003 as part of a special preview. It was later broadcast in sequence in the United States on November 1, 2003.
==Blurb==
Team Rocket's failed attempt to catch Pikachu has left the little yellow Pokémon dangerously ill. Littleroot Town has no Pokémon Center so Ash turns to Professor Birch for help. Professor Birch thinks that Pikachu can be cured—but first they'll have to catch it. Delirious with fever, Pikachu has run off into the forest. Meanwhile, a girl named May is also going to see Professor Birch in order to receive her first Pokémon. She arrives just in time to save the professor from a pack of mad Poochyena. Before he can explain why he's running around in woods, Professor Birch runs off in search of the missing Pikachu. Time is running out and Pikachu is in danger of exploding. In a twisted turn of events, Team Rocket's latest Pikachu-catching contraption ends up saving the day.
==Plot==
A young girl named is riding her bike towards Littleroot Town to receive her first from Professor Birch. However, she muses that she would rather just travel the world and is not really interested in training Pokémon. Suddenly, a appears next to her and scares her. She speeds off, loses control, and crashes into a tree. She continues onward, before stopping briefly to take in the view when she reaches a cliff overlooking Littleroot Town.
Meanwhile, is also arriving in Littleroot Town but all he can think about is trying to heal . He wonders if there's a Pokémon Center in town, and hopes that Nurse Joy can inspect Pikachu to see if he's okay. On the upper deck, hears the call for Littleroot Town. All are eager to enter this new land except for Jessie, who reminisces about her past and subtly reveals that she has been to Littleroot Town before. She enters a depressed state, and as James presses for answers, Jessie doesn't elaborate. When the boat docks, Ash disembarks and asks the port attendant where the Pokémon Center is. He is saddened to learn that there is none in the small town. He is about to give up when he remembers Professor Birch, and wonders if he would be able to heal Pikachu. He calls Birch's lab, only to find that he is out doing fieldwork. , his assistant, tells Ash to stay where he is and that he will alert the Professor to the situation as soon as possible.
Ash waits on a bench, anxious for any word from the professor. Out of the blue, Ash hears a screeching noise. He looks up to see Professor Birch in an SUV. Birch asks if Ash is the one who called about Pikachu, and he immediately responds. He carries Pikachu into the SUV and they speed off. Along the way back to the lab, Birch quickly diagnoses Pikachu with an electric overload, and Ash adds that he was strapped to Team Rocket's giant magnet. If the Pokémon doesn't receive immediate attention, he might explode from all the energy. Their only hope is to drain all of it out of Pikachu. Once at the lab, the Professor attaches a machine to Pikachu's cheeks, while Joshua turns it on. However, Pikachu's electricity levels are so high, they cause the machine to explode. Pikachu runs off due to his illness causing a confused state of mind, and Ash runs after him. Upon finding out Ash isn't carrying any other Pokémon, Birch grabs the three first partner Pokémon to assist him and runs after the young . Joshua reminds Birch that the first partner Pokémon are supposed to be for May who is due to arrive that day, and Birch tells Joshua to ask May to wait until he gets back. As he explains this, Ash is desperately calling out and searching for Pikachu, but the Pokémon is nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, May arrives at the lab. Joshua tells her that the Professor will be right back, but she ignores him and goes looking for Birch. She is unaware that he has fallen off a cliff and landed on top of a while looking for Pikachu. After recovering, he apologizes to the Pokémon, but it just appears to get angrier. Two more Poochyena appear, and they all begin to growl at the Professor. He realizes that they're about to attack. Although initially proud of his knowledge, he soon realizes that their anger is directed at him, and runs away trying to escape from them.
As he takes shelter in a tree, May arrives and inquires as to why he is climbing a tree. Relieved that somebody has arrived, he tells May to get one of his Pokémon from his bag to ward off the Poochyena. Hesitantly, she takes out a and sends out . The Professor tells her to command it to use an attack, but May is unfamiliar with the Pokémon's moves. Birch tells her to have it use . When she commands it, the Pokémon sprays her in the face. Frustrated, Birch falls from his branch and is being pursued once again. He calls after Mudkip, who rushes to his side. Birch commands the Pokémon to use Water Gun on the Poochyena, scaring them off. Birch realizes that Ash and Pikachu are still missing, and has May follow him.
Pikachu continues to weaken and become frightened. When Ash approaches him, Pikachu's eyes glow red and he furiously attacks him with , thinking he is an enemy in his delirious state. Afterwards, Pikachu ends up running off a cliff. Birch and May reach the area and see Ash dive off the cliff to save his friend. Luckily, he manages to grab onto a branch, but he is far from danger-free. Pikachu continues shocking him and even bites him at one point in an attempt to try to get away. Eventually, Ash calms Pikachu down as he slowly realizes who is holding him. The Trainer makes it back up the cliff and meets up with the Professor and May. Pikachu licks Ash's hand in apology for unintentionally attacking him. Ash forgives Pikachu, saying he knows Pikachu would never attack him on purpose.
Just then, Team Rocket appears in their latest mecha, a giant battery robot. When May and Birch inquire about them, Ash informs them about the trio and their evil ways. brags about the mecha's ability to absorb electricity and grabs Pikachu with one of the machine's arms. Team Rocket has the machine put suction cups on Pikachu's cheeks to absorb his electricity. As James and Meowth celebrate the fact the machine is filling up with energy, Jessie yells at them, saying that Pikachu is getting stronger. After getting most of the energy drained, Pikachu shocks the machine and a stray bolt of electricity fries May's bike. Then, the robot blasts Team Rocket off by exploding on them. This time, Jessie is happy, claiming she feels completely recharged thanks to Pikachu. However, Pikachu collapses on the ground, causing Ash to panic once again.
Back at Birch's lab, the Professor determines that Team Rocket's machine drained all the excess energy out of Pikachu until his levels were returned to normal. After a rest, he says that Pikachu should make a full recovery. With that situation over, Birch now turns his attention to May and her first Pokémon. He first shows her , but May thinks the type looks scary. Mudkip is next, but May says she doesn't want it because it refused to listen to her. Finally, the Professor reveals , a type. The Pokémon hops up to May and begins brushing up against her leg. She decides that she will take as her first Pokémon. Birch gives her six empty Poké Balls and a Pokédex. She makes a few comments under her breath, Birch wondering what she said before she tries to cover it up.
The next morning, May looks at her bike, angry that it has been destroyed. She goes to find Ash and scold him, but when she opens the door, she finds Ash still asleep by Pikachu's bedside. May softens up and watches as Ash mutters a few things in his sleep and Pikachu awakens. The Pokémon soon wakes up Ash, and Pikachu's reassuring nudge instantly cheers Ash up. May realizes that her bike can wait. Outside, May releases Torchic, and Ash soon steps outside as well. May greets him and Pikachu leaps off Ash's shoulder to meet Torchic. The two Pokémon soon play around, and Ash comments that Pikachu has already made his first friend in the Hoenn region. Later, Birch and Joshua inform the pair that their next destination should be Oldale Town's Pokémon Center to register for the Hoenn League. May makes a few remarks about going alone and purposely says she would have, but Pikachu destroyed her bike. May asks Ash if she could come along with him, and Ash agrees. The pair waves goodbye to the Professor and his assistant before beginning their walk towards Oldale Town.
==Major events==
* arrives in Littleroot Town and meets with Professor Birch.
* Ash meets , a beginning .
* May encounters for the first time.
* Team Rocket unintentionally heals .
* Pikachu accidentally destroys May's bike.
* May chooses as her first partner Pokémon and receives a Pokédex and six s from Professor Birch.
* Ash and May decide to travel together.
* Ash and May head to Oldale Town in order for Ash to register for the Hoenn League.
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* 
* Professor Birch (in person)
* 
====Pokémon debuts====
* First partner Pokémon of Hoenn:
** ()
** 
** 
* 
* 
=====Main series debuts=====
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* 
* Jessie
* James
* Professor Birch
* 
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: 
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (, new; debut)
* (first partner Pokémon; debut)
* (first partner Pokémon; debut)
* (multiple; debut)
* (multiple; debut)
* (multiple)
* 
==Trivia==
* Professor Oak's Pokémon Lecture: 
** Pokémon senryū summary: Large eruption, fire rising to surface, Entei.
* Beginning with this episode and lasting until DP120, a new "To Be Continued" graphic is introduced, and the arrow that follows it is gone.
* This episode aired in Japan on the same day that was first released. The dubbed version aired two days before the games' release in North America.
** Nice Pryce, Baby! had been the previous episode to air in North America, leaving 36 more Johto episodes to air before the end of the original series.
* On DVD releases of Pokémon: Advanced, this episode is considered the season premiere. However, on televised airings, that title falls to Address Unown!.
* Advance Adventure replaced Ready Go! as the Japanese opening theme.
* Because the Sky is There replaced Pocket-ering Monster-ing as the Japanese ending theme.
* This is the last series opener that has both an opening and an ending in the Japanese version. DP001 only has an ending, BW001, XY001, and SM001 are each part of one-hour specials and only have an opening, JN001 only has an opening (played at the end of the episode), and HZ001 is part of a one-hour special and has no opening or ending.
* Kanji are used in episode titles for the first time starting from this episode.
* The eyecatches shown in this episode feature and .
* The episode's English dub title is based on the idiom "Let's get this show on the road".
* The title card sequence changes to show a map of Hoenn and Ash's location on it. In the Japanese version, the music is also changed to the successful evolution fanfare from the games.
** The English dub continues to use the original series title card theme up to the end of the eighth season.
** The dub continues to use the Master Quest title card design up to the end of the sixth season.
* Ash's journey in Hoenn begins much like Kanto, with being injured and destroying a girl's bike.
* Although May claims are "creepy" in this episode, she says they are "cute" six episodes later.
* Music from The Power of One is used.
* This is the first region with no cameo by a Legendary Pokémon in the first episode. Kalos is the second.
** However, Ash saw before he left for Hoenn at the end of the original series.
* Pikachu having problems with his electricity in this episode is seen again in a later episode.
* This marks the first time that a:
** Main character other than Ash has obtained a first partner Pokémon.
** Main character has received a first partner Pokémon as their first Pokémon.
** Female main character has received a Pokédex.
===Errors===
* Although Ash and Pikachu go to Littleroot Town by boat, neither the nor any Generation III Hoenn map show water surrounding Littleroot Town. This may have been changed for the animated series so that Ash could start his Hoenn journey there.
* After May hits the tree with her bike, her sleeves are longer than normal.
* Just before uses , its jaw turns the same color as its body when it should be a lighter shade of blue.
* When Ash gets up and goes toward Pikachu, the front part of his hat is green.
* Just before May's bike is destroyed, her bandanna is miscolored. This reoccurs in her flashback in There's no Place like Hoenn.
* When is directing Ash and May to Oldale Town, Professor Birch's lab is missing its left section. This section then reappears in the next perspective change, when May is talking.
* In the English dub, during the "Who's That Pokémon?" segment, part of 's tailfin is cut off.
* In the dub, when Ash throws himself off the ledge to save Pikachu, the English dub voices are used for Ash, Professor Birch, and May.
AG001 error.png|The Mudkip error
AG001 error 3.png|Ash's miscolored hat
AG001 error 2.png|May's miscolored bandanna
===Dub edits===
* This episode was first aired on as a sneak peek in March 2003 when were released. The version that has aired since has a slight grammar correction and addition in May's introductory speech:
** Sneak Peek: "But just between you and I, what I'm more interested in is traveling and seeing new places."
** Regular version: "But just between you and me, what I'm more interested in is traveling and seeing new places. There it is, Littleroot Town, up ahead!"
* All the original music gets replaced, with the exception of 's new theme.
* While the original has no Who's That Pokémon? segment, 4Kids keeps it before replacing it with Pokémon Trainer's Choice in What You Seed is What You Get.
==In other languages==
001
Category:Episodes written by Junki Takegami
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Kunihiko Yuyama
Category:Episodes directed by Toshiaki Suzuki
Category:Episodes animated by Izumi Shimura
Category:Episodes in which a main character is introduced
Category:Episodes in which a main character joins the group
Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a new Pokémon
Category:Episodes focusing on May
Category:Episodes focusing on Pikachu
Category:Milestone episodes
de:Pikachu in Not
es:EP277
fr:AG001
it:RZ001
ja:AG編第1話
zh:宝可梦 超世代 第1集