EP030
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Sparks Fly for Magnemite
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Sparks Fly for Magnemite (Japanese: コイルはでんきネズミのユメをみるか！？ Do Coil Dream of Electric Mice!?) is the 30th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on October 21, 1997 and in the United States on October 16, 1998.
Synopsis
Ash, Misty, and Brock make their way through Gringey City. The air and water there is incredibly polluted thanks to the many factories. Ash notices that Pikachu is acting weird. Sparks are coming out of its cheeks and its face is red. A shadowy Pokémon watches from a nearby alley.
Ash wears rubber gloves as he rushes Pikachu to the Pokémon Center. Meowth watches them enter from a periscope deep in the sewers. Jessie and James begin to do the motto, then complain about the horrible smell instead. Meowth gives them scuba suits to wear, and says he'll stay there to pump them oxygen and fresh air. Meowth tells them to dive into the water and swim through the pipes to the Pokémon Center, but they refuse. Meowth pushes a button which delivers the hapless humans an electric shock. They reluctantly enter the sludge water of the sewers.
Ash rings the bell at the desk. A Nurse Joy comes out of a nearby room, yawning. It's late at night and she dismisses Pikachu's condition as a cold. When Ash yells at her for not being very helpful, she explains that the sparks coming out of Pikachu's cheeks are an early symptom of a cold in electric rodent Pokémon. She suggests that they leave Pikachu there for the night, and it will be fine in the morning.
At the same time, a large group of Grimer block the water flow into the hydroelectric power plant, causing the power to go out. This causes the power supply to Team Rocket's scuba equipment to go dead. There are also several Pokémon in the intensive care unit at the Center, and if the power is not restored soon, bad things will happen! Ash, Misty, and Brock decide to head for the power plant to try to do something. Pikachu cries out as they leave. They ask an Officer Jenny for directions, as Pikachu comes out of the nearby bushes.
Misty realizes that Pikachu is afraid that they won't come back for it later, so Ash decides to let it come along. Pikachu jumps into Ash's arms and Ash gets shocked as the shadowy Pokémon watches from a nearby bush.
Somehow, Meowth gets Jessie and James back on the surface level as they gasp for air. Meowth watches as Ash, Misty, and Brock race past the alley they are hiding in.
The group arrives at the power plant. They enter and nobody is there to greet them. Misty looks at a map and points out the direction to the central control room. Misty gets spooked as something flies behind her. After a philosophical discussion about Misty's cowardice, both Misty and Brock spot something behind Ash. He turns around and nobody is there. The shadowy figure appears behind Pikachu. Ash looks it up on the Pokédex and it's a Magnemite, the Magnet Pokémon. Ash decides to try to catch it, but Magnemite only seems interested in Pikachu. Magnemite seems to be in love with Pikachu for some reason.
Ash yells at the Magnemite to cut it out, and the Magnemite backs off. A nasty stench enters the corridor. They turn around to see a grating fall off the ceiling, followed by several Grimer. Brock decides that it would be best not to say anything to insult their pride. Ash pretends to compliment their unique smell, but Misty says it stinks, and the leader of the Grimer, a Muk, rises from behind them. With a command from Muk, the Grimer attack. Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu run. As they round the corner, they run into two plant workers. The Grimer approach, and they all start running for the control room. They all hide in the control room. One of the workers explains that the Grimer are clogging the sea intake, preventing the power from coming back on.
The Grimer bust down the door. Pikachu uses its ThunderShock attack to knock out some of the Grimer, but it's not good enough. Suddenly, the Magnemite knocks out the grating above them, and several Magnemite and Magneton arrive. Their combined electric attack is enough to chase away all the Grimer. They also manage to get rid of the Grimer blocking the flow of water into the power plant, and the power is restored.
However, the Muk leader remains. Pikachu uses ThunderShock, and Pikachu's stalker Magnemite assists with a ThunderShock of its own. The combined electric attacks knock the Muk unconscious, and Ash captures it in a Poké Ball. To his discontent, he realizes that the smell of the Muk comes through the Poké Ball!
Everyone is now outside, and the sun is back up. Pikachu seems to be a lot better now. One of the power plant workers explains that when an electric mouse builds up too much electricity, its body becomes magnetized and it seems as though it has a cold. The Magnemite is no longer interested in Pikachu. Magnemite was in love with Pikachu because it was magnetized, but Magnemite has no interest in a non-magnetized electric mouse.
A Gyarados submarine comes out of the water with a large magnet attached to it. Team Rocket's plan is to use the magnet to capture Pikachu due to the fact that its body is now magnetized. What they don't know is that Pikachu is no longer magnetized. When they activate the magnet, Magnemite and Magneton from all over town are sucked onto the magnet. The weight of all the Magnemite and Magneton cause the sub to sink.
As Ash and the others prepare to leave Gringy City, they mention that the Grimer horde was a sign that the town needed to be cleaned up and suggest that if the residence clean up the air and water, they'll restore the city to its former glory. Taking the advice to heart, the residence bid farewell to the kids with hopes of a brighter and greener future.
Meanwhile, at Professor Oak's house, a Poké Ball arrives from Ash. As Professor Oak wonders what Ash captured this time, the Poké Ball opens up, and Professor Oak covers his nose in disgust as Muk appears.
Major events
- Ash catches a Muk, but sends it to Professor Oak's lab due to its nasty smell.
- For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series, please see the timeline page.
Debuts
Pokémon
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Magnemite
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Muk (Ash's; new; sent to Oak's Laboratory; debut)
- Magnemite (debut)
- Magneton (multiple; debut)
- Grimer (multiple)
Various Pokémon seen at the Pokémon Center:
Trivia
- The Japanese title is a reference to a book by Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which also serves as the basis for the 1982 futuristic sci-fi thriller Blade Runner. The next time the franchise would refer to the book is the creation of Mareep and its evolution family.
- On a related note, another reference to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? comes from the two power plant workers, whose names, while not given in the episode itself, were revealed in the Kids Pocket Books Pocket Monsters guide as Dick and Philip.
- When Magnemite is told by Ash to stop bothering Pikachu, it makes two sounds. The first is a couple of beeps. These beeps are commonly heard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The second sound is a "whine" or "cry" like sound that would later be used as Magnemite's signature sound in Pokémon Snap. Later on, when Magnemite is helping Pikachu attack Muk, it is making a high pitched screeching noise. This sound is also used in Pokémon Snap when the Magnemite evolve and when the player zooms in on a Magnemite, they don't want their picture taken.
- This episode reveals Pikachu has a fear that Ash would abandon him.
- This is the first episode to reveal the problem that an Template:Type2 Pokémon that has too much stored electricity has. It would later be expanded upon in Hoenn Alone! and subsequent episodes.
- This is the first episode in which a genderless Pokémon falls in love with a main character's Pokémon. This would later happen again in Hold the Phione!.
- This is the first time that the English version of an episode aired less than a year after the Japanese version was first broadcast.
Errors
- In one scene, around six minutes in, Pikachu's ears are noticeably bigger than their normal size.
- After the numerous Magnemite and Magneton clear the station of Grimer, Misty notices there is still a Muk left in the control room. Ash then says, "An adult Muk, and its child!" But, there is no Grimer in the room. Also, he refers to it as "an" adult Muk, even though it was the only Muk nearby and they had seen it only a few minutes beforehand. They refer to it as if it is a new arrival.
- Near the end of the episode, (just after 19 minutes in) Ash, Misty, and Brock are talking to Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny at the Pokémon Center. Behind them are all of the Pokémon that were sick. Among them, there are both a Rattata and Raticate, but the Raticate is much smaller than normal; it is actually smaller than the Rattata. The Fearow seen also appears to be smaller than normal. All the other Pokémon appear to be normal sized. After that scene Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy wave goodbye to the three trainers, behind them are the same Pokémon, and the Raticate is still very small. Also, a Nidoran♀ which was normal sized before has now shrunk considerably, though this could be due to perspective.
Dub edits
- Meowth's bit about how air-freshener was mixed with oxygen in their suits pumps was dub added.
- The text that was on Nurse Joy's bell (ご用の方は押してね！Press the button for service!) was removed from the dub.
- The scene where Meowth mentions that they have another chance to capture Pikachu was originally an untranslatable Japanese pun involving the word "fuku" having the meanings of "clothes" and "fortune", and nasu (to change into) and nassu (nurse) sounding similar to each other.
- Ash's stalker comment was originally referencing a skirt rather than a streaker.
- Ash's mention of Muk having a child was not in the Japanese version.
- When Pikachu attacks Grimer and later Muk in the Japanese version, Ash tells him to use Thunderbolt. In the dub, he tells Pikachu to use ThunderShock instead.
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 小磁怪的電氣老鼠之夢 / 小磁怪的电气老鼠之梦 | |
 Czech
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Zamilovaný Magnemite | |
 Dutch
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Vonkenregen van Magnemite | |
 Finnish
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Kipinöivät Magnemitet | |
 European French
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Coup de foudre magnétique | |
 German
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Drohende Gefahr | |
 Hebrew
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מגנמייט מתאהב Magnemite mit'ahev | |
 Hungarian
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Magnemite, a repülő mágnes | |
 Italian
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Un'amica magnetica | |
 Polish
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Elektryczny Magnemite | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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Faíscas Voam pelo Magnemite |
 Portugal
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Faíscas Voam pelo Magnemite | |
 Russian
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Странное притяжение Магнемайта | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Hurra por Magnemite! |
 Spain
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Saltan chispas por Magnemite | |
 Swedish
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Den stinkande staden | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |