BW001: In The Shadow of Zekrom!

September 23, 2010

**In the Shadow of Zekrom** is the first episode of Pokémon: Black and White, where Ash and Pikachu get ready to start a new journey in the Unova region. Ash also gets a new outfit, like in previous seasons.

## Episode Plot

Once again Ash sets his sights on a new region and a new adventure. He, his mom, and Prof. Oak set out on a plane to Unova. At the same time, Jessie and James of Team Rocket are given an assignment by Giovanni to Unova. Upon arrival in Unova (Nuvema Town), Ash sees an Alomomola but then Jessie and James appear and try to capture Pikachu. They would've sucseeded, but Zekrom appears and strikes Pikachu with lightning. When Zekrom vanishes and the storm that came with it clears up, it shows that Jessie and James has vanished as well.

Ash and Pikachu visit Prof. Juniper's lab, and there they meet Prof. Juniper. After informing Ash about the Unova region, she ubdates his Pokédex for Unova's unique Pokémon. Afterwards, Trip appears and is given his choice of a starter. Out of Tepig, Snivy, and Oshawott, he chooses Snivy, gets his Poké Balls, and his Pokédex. Ash challenges Trip, and battles him outside the Pokémon Center.

In the battle, Ash finds his Pikachu can't use Electric-Type Attacks. After a brief battle, Pikachu losing to Snivy's Leaf Tornado, Ash returns to the Lab and lets Prof. Juniper know. She then hooks Pikachu up to a machine that will restore its attacks. Zekrom then returns and strikes the lab with lightning.

## Debuts

**Human Characters**

* Professor Juniper
* Trip
* Iris

**Pokemon Characters**

* Zekrom
* Deerling (Spring Forme)
* Swanna
* Patrat
* Snivy
* Tepig
* Oshawott
* Axew
* Alomomola

## Quotes

* *"There, perfect." - Delia after straightening Ash's hat.*
* Professor Oak: "Let's hit the road."

Ash: "Why are you dressed like that?"

Professor Oak: "Oh this? To get everyone in the vacationing mood. It's been years since I visited the Unova Region."

Delia: "But this *is* work related, right Professor?"

Professor Oak: "Yes, but when I'm inbetween conferences it's *my* time. So in you go."

Ash: "You heard what he said, right Pikachu?"

Pikachu: "Pikachu."

* Giovanni: "Now once again, what is Team Rocket's number one goal?"

Jessie: "Sir! Our goal is to capture powerful Pokémon."

James: "Pokemon that are powerful and rare."

Meowth: "And to use them to take over the world."

* Jessie: "Hmmm. Imagine running into the twerp at a time like this."

Meowth: "And the world's most powerful Pikachu too. With Pikachu we cant lose."

James: "A win straight out of the box. Here's to success."

* *"We're Here Pikachu!"- Ash taking his first steps in the Unova Region*
* *"Pikachu, what's up?" - Ash*
* *"Never seen that before." - Ash about Alomomola*
* *"That was cool! I wonder if there are anymore?"- Ash*
* *"Hey who are you guys?" - Ash*
* Jessie: ""Who are you?" is the question indeed."

James: "We'll answer you if we feel the need."

* Ash: "Team Rocket what are you doing here?"

James: "I'll ask you the same question."
James: "Wasted effort."

Jessie: "We're completely "Thunderbolt-proof.""

* *"Check it out! Something great's going on! Axew, let's go!" - Iris*
* *"My Ash!"- Delia Ketchum worried about her son*
* *"Pikachu are you o.k?" - Ash*
* Professor Juniper: "Oh Proesser Oak."

Ash: "Huh?"

Professor Oak: "What do you know. Professor Juniper."

Professor Juniper: "I'm sorry I was so late. How are you getting on after that huge thunderstorm?"

Professor Oak: "We're just fine Professor, thank you. I'd like you to meet Professor Juniper, and don't let the youthfulness of one of the most important Unova Region resarchers fool you."

Professor Juniper: "Pleasure to meet you."

* *"Pokemon we've never seen before." - Ash about the Unova Pokémon*
* Professor Juniper: "So, this is Nuvema Town."

Ash: "Nuvema Town."

Professor Juniper: "My Laboratory's just up ahead."

* *"According to Ash, Pikachu was completely enveloped inside a powerful, electric field. Still, I see no evidence of any problems." - Professor Juniper's diagnosis of Ash's Pikachu.*
* *You see Ash, one of Professor Juniper's numerous duties is to give all new trainers in the Unova Region their starter Pokémon" - Professor Oak.*
* *"Awesome! Starter Pokémon!" - Ash*
* *"See, I was just thinking that a guy like you came from the boonies." - Trip about Ash.*
* *"Come on, today is your first day as a trainer! So it's a happy day!" -Professor Juniper*
* *"Now, you can choose your partner from among these three types. The first is Tepig a fire type!" - Professor Juniper*
* *"That's a fire type. Nice and fiery." - Ash about Tepig.*
* *"Up next here's Oshawott, a water type." -Professor Juniper.*
* *"Awwww, aren't you the cutest?" - Ash about Oshawott.*
* *"Finally, Snivy, a grass type." - Professor Juniper.*
* *"Cool, this one's got plenty of confidence." - Ash about Snivy.*
* *"Osha..." - Oshawott shocked that Trip didn't choose him*
* ***"Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokémon. Cool, calm and collected, Snivy uses photosynthesis to collect energy with the leaf on its tail"** - Unova Pokédex.*
* *"Yeah, that's basic." - Trip*
* *"All right Snivy, so let's get this journey started." - Trip*
* *"Have a great journey good luck!" - Professor Juniper*
* *"Who's that Pokémon?" - Trip*
* ***"Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu's tail is sometimes struck by lightning as it raises it to check its surroundings."** - Unova Pokédex*
* *"Snivy, go get 'em now!" - Trip calling out Snivy.*
* Ash: "Why are you always taking pictures?"

Trip takes some pictures.

Trip: "I'm recording my journey, and remember this is Snivy's first battle."

Ash: "And this is our first battle in the Unova Region, so we'll go first."

* *"Okay, is this some kind of strategy? Calling moves that you can't even use?" - Trip*
* *"That again." - Iris*
* Professor Juniper: "Could the source of those clouds be Zekrom? The legendary Pokémon?"

Ash: "Zekrom?"

Professor Juniper: "Zekrom's quite a legend in these parts. From within its thundercloud, Zekrom watches over people and Pokémon. And its lightning bolts, are said to be judgments from up above and they're also the pillars that hold up the skies."

## Gallery

* Ash and Pikachu ready for a new adventure
* Ash's mother prepares Ash for his new adventure
* Oak is here!
* Team Rocket gets a message
* And a new mission!
* To the Unova region!
* Unova has Pokémon that you can't catch in any other region!
* Zekrom appears!
* No way! (Iris' debut)
* Pikachu?!?
* Pikachu, are you okay?
* Ash, are you alright?
* Professer Juniper is here!
* There are lots of new Pokémon for you to discover in Unova!
* At Professor Juniper's Lab in Nuvema Town...
* Is Pikachu okay?
* Pikachu's fine but we'll need to conduct a few more experiments, just to gather some more data.
* Professor Juniper? A trainer was scheduled to arrived today to meet you.
* Hello Professor! My name's Trip!
* Hello Trip, it's nice to meet you! I'd like to introduce you to Ash, from Pallet Town in the Kanto Region.
* Now Trip, you have to choose your starter Pokémon, you have three to choose from.
* First, Tepig, a Fire Type!
* Tepig! Nice and Fiery!
* Up next here's Oshawott, a water type.
* Awwww, aren't you the cutest?
* Finally, Snivy, a Grass Type.
* Cool, this one's got plenty of confidence.
* So Trip, who will it be?
* Man, if I were you I wouldn't have a clue who to choose.
* Snivy, I choose you.
* Here's your Pokédex
* Snivy, the Grass Snake Pokémon. Cool, calm and collected, Snivy uses photosynthesis to collect energy with the leaf on it's tail.
* Five Poké Balls
* And Finally Snivy's Poké Ball
* Snivy, return.
* Thank you Professor. I'll be going now.
* Hey Trip! Going for Gym Battles?
* That's basic. Pokémon Trainers go around challenging different Gyms and try to collect eight badges so they can enter the Unova League.
* Really? That's just like back in Kanto!
* Pika Piiii!
* Pikachu! Done with your tests huh?
* Who's that Pokémon?
* Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu's tail is sometimes struck by lightning as it raises it to check its surroundings.
* This is why we don't like people from the Boonies. Listen up! A Pikachu in Unova is huge! It's a really big deal.
* Hey! It's not a big deal! Pikachu's my number one partner and buddy!
* Is it strong?
* Oh you bet! You wanna see?
* Sure I do!
* Trip VS Ash
* Trip's Snivy VS Ash's Pikachu
* Pikachu loses...
* All that Electrical Energy Pikachu absorbed from the Thunderstorm was too much.
* Right, and that would explain why Pikachu is unable to use any Electric type moves.
* No way!
* What's wrong!
* Look Professor Oak that Cloud!
* It's the same cloud as before!
* That again?
* Reload the system! Quickly!
* It couldn't be? Could it? Could the source of those clouds be Zekrom? The Legendary Pokémon?
* Pikaaaaa!
* No! Pikachuuuu!
* Pikachu has been affected by a mysterious phenomenon! Can Pikachu regain it's electric type powers?
* A dark cloud of confusion has suddenly fallen over Ash and pikachu as their journey continues.

Glitches
* An error on Ash's Pikachu's ear.

## Trivia

* "Who's that Pokémon?" returns after being on hiatus since the end of season 6, and the first of many of these is the new Unova region Pokémon Pidove.
* The Deerling in this episode were in Spring Form indicating that the episode takes place in springtime.
* Lisa Ortiz returns as a regular for the BW series providing the voice of Oshawott as well as the voice of the Pokédex.
* Marc Thompson returns to voice Tepig, while Jason Griffith also returns to do the voice of Trip's Snivy.
* The flight number Ash took from Kanto to Unova was "Flight 151" referencing the original 151 Pokemon.

### Errors

* Pikachu's ears are at both sides, but in one scene only one of his ears were black and the other one was colored completely yellow.
* The Japanese narrator starts off as they do at the beginning of the series and movies by explaining what 'Pokémon' stands for. The English dub skips the 'Pocket Monsters' explanation part.

English Narrator: The Pokémon world!
Japanese Narrator: Pocket Monsters, "Pokémon" for short.
(ナレーター): ポケットモンスター　縮めてポケモン。

* Sakaki in the Japanese original specifically states that the plan is to 'take over the world'. Giovanni in the English dub just states that the Unova region is vital to completing Team Rocket's plan.

Giovanni: A major new stepping-stone that will move us toward the successful completion of our plan.
Sakaki: This place is to become a new foothold in our plan to conquer the world.
（サカキ）: 我がロケット団世界征服計画の新たな足がかりとなる場所だ。

* The English dub added an extra line for the Air Traffic Control man.

Air Traffic Control: You are cleared for landing.

* The reference to the thundercloud being like god's eye (神の目) was removed from the English dub.

Professor Juniper: From within its thundercloud, Zekrom watches over people and Pokémon.
Professor Araragi: The huge thundercloud is a god's eye protecting people and Pokémon.
（アララギ）: 巨大な雷雲は人とポケモンを見守る神の目。

* The 'Who's that Pokémon?' segment returns as the commercial eye catch in the English dub.