This article is about an episode of the Pokémon anime that has not been dubbed into English. As such, its coverage may contain romanized Japanese names, rather than dub names.
(Japanese: こおりのどうくつ！The Ice Cave!) is the 250th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on May 30, 2002, but was not aired anywhere else outside of Asia.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
As they continue on their journey, Ash and his friends go through the Ice Cave, a shortcut to Blackthorn City. However, they suddenly slip and fall into a hole dug by Team Rocket. Team Rocket starts pouring water into the hole. Ash's Pikachu uses Thunderbolt and Misty's Politoed uses Water Gun, sending Team Rocket blasting off. When they finally get out of the hole, Brock catches a cold. As they walk along, they find a Pokémon Center with Jynx. As they check Brock's temperature, he becomes feverish because of Nurse Joy, who explains that she is the sister of the Nurse Joy whom Ash and Mistymet at the Orange Islands. Later, Joy explains that the ice cave remains stable due to a large building acting as a refrigerator.
Meanwhile, Team Rocket, overlooking the Pokémon Center from a nearby cliff, complains about the cold draft. They leave to find its source and soon come upon the large building Joy described. They set about their evil deeds as the scene cuts back to Brock in the Pokémon Center. Brock continues to dream of Nurse Joy and mistakenly shares a kiss with Jynx as she cares for him. Nurse Joy notices a rapid rise in cavern temperature, and goes to the building with Ash and Misty to investigate. All three travel by sled driven by Piloswine. Upon their arrival, the group sees that the structure has been reversed, heating the cave and cooling the jungle outside. This puts both sides in danger, so the group runs outside to find the cold air pipe, but immediately falls into a pitfall dug by Team Rocket.
Team Rocket declares their plan to steal the Ice-type Pokémon before running off. Ash and the others climb out of the hole with help from Bayleef. Knowing they have to get the pipe back in the cave, Ash commands Bayleef to use Vine Whip to grab the pipe. They pull on Bayleef's vines as hard as they can, and the pipe is restored to its original place. The scene cuts to Brock lying in bed in his sickly state, and he gets up out of bed. He notices Team Rocket outside the Pokémon Center; they have set up a bunch of heaters to weaken the Ice Pokémon there. They scoop up all the Swinub and Piloswine there, and then Jynx appears. She attempts to stop them, but Team Rocket points a heater right at her, and Jynx collapses.
Brock, in his weakened state, appears to confront Team Rocket. Brock sends out his Geodude, while Jessie sends out her Arbok. Geodude uses Tackle, but this has no effect on Arbok, and the Cobra Pokémon retaliates using Headbutt. Geodude is sent flying into Brock, and Jessie commands Arbok to use Wrap on both of them. Arbok wraps them with its tail and slams them into the ground. Brock has been defeated, and Team Rocket proceeds to steal Geodude. Just then, Ash, Misty, and Joy appear. Misty and Joy tend to Brock, while Ash takes care of Team Rocket. He sends out Totodile, and Jessie once again uses her Arbok, and James sends out Victreebel. Misty joins in too, sending out her Corsola. She commands it to use Tackle, and James, under attack from Victreebel, is sent flying. Meanwhile, Totodile uses Bite on Arbok. Jessie sends forth Wobbuffet. Corsola uses Tackle on Wobbuffet, but he uses Counter and sends Corsola flying. Totodile uses Water Gun on Wobbuffet, but he counters this too and Totodile and Corsola are defeated.
Meanwhile, the cold air enters the battleground. Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on the heaters, and the Ice Pokémon are revitalized. Jynx and Piloswine use Powder Snow on Team Rocket. Joy commands Jynx to use Lovely Kiss on Wobbuffet. For their final effort, Joy commands Jynx and all the Piloswine to use Blizzard, instantly freezing Arbok, Victreebel, and Wobbuffet. Pikachu delivers the final blow using Thunder, sending Team Rocket blasting off again. Later, Nurse Joy thanks Ash and his friends for helping her to save the Ice Pokémon, and Brock's fever is now gone. Ash and his friends leave Joy and the Ice Cave Pokémon Center. They have now arrived at the end of the Ice Cave, and they come across Blackthorn Lake. Brock informs Ash and Misty that Blackthorn City is on the other side of the lake, and they rush towards Blackthorn City and Ash's final Johto League Gym.
Major events
For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.
This episode was skipped in the dub because of the prominence of Jynx, whose design at the time was considered by some-most significantly in the United States-to be an offensive racial stereotype. Jynx had appeared in previous episodes and another future episode in this design, but 4Kids were able to cut Jynx's appearance, as those deletions did not significantly affect the storyline of those particular episodes. That was not the case with this episode, as Jynx is one of the main characters in this episode, and 4Kids knew it would be impossible to remove Jynx entirely for this episode and still have the story make sense. As a result, 4Kids eventually decided to skip the episode in its entirety. Also, three previous episodes (Holiday Hi-Jynx, Stage Fight!, and The Mandarin Island Miss Match) that were originally dubbed and aired normally, were later removed from Pokémon TV and the re-release of the Orange Islands DVD box set because of this controversy. Jynx wouldn't appear again in a dub episode until Mean With Envy, where it finally appeared in the redesign it was given due to the complaints leveled against it.
Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea are among the only areas outside of Japan to have aired the episode, as East Asian dubs are based on the original Japanese version.
When the series came to Prime Video in Japan in 2017, the version featured used the updated design of Jynx in its current purple coloration. However, this version did not exist at the time the fifth dub season, Pokémon: Master Quest, was being produced and has not been dubbed into any other language. As a result, the episode is still banned from airing or being shown in the English dub.
Trivia
The Ice Cave in this episode is not named こおりのぬけみち Ice Path, as it is in the games, though its location as the gateway to Blackthorn City indicates that it is indeed the Ice Path.
The Nurse Joy from The Joy of Pokémon is seen in a photograph in this episode, and is said to be the elder sister of the nurse in charge of the Pokémon Center in the Ice Cave.
This is the only Johto League episode to have been banned internationally.
This was the last episode to be banned in the English dub until SM064, 753 episodes later.
Errors
Although Ash, Misty, and Brock were all soaked-up with water, they were not affected by the electricity from Pikachu's Thunderbolt.
Korean
