Pokémon Anime Review – EP011 “Charmander  – The Stray Pokémon” | Stray All Night, Stray a Little Longer - Pika Pals: A Pokémon Anime Rewatch Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Pikachu and now join Pokémon Trainer Jed

(00:21):
for a non-stop, action-packed, laugh filled perilous journey.
Turn your hat around, grab your pokeballs, and get ready for the
fantastic Pika Pals podcast, where the excitement never ends.
Welcome to the Pika Pals podcast.
I'm your host, Pokémon trainer Jed and I thank you for tuning

(00:45):
in. The Pika Pals podcast is where?
I am on an. Adventure.
Through. Every episode of the original
Pokémon anime series, I'm going to look back on the moments that
made Ash and Pikachu the very best.
I'm going to uncover fascinatingbehind the scenes trivia and
never before heard poker facts, as well as occasionally having

(01:06):
encounters with fantastic special guests.
The Pika Pals Podcast is your weekly nostalgia trip destined
to be filled with joy, laughter,and the heart warming life
lessons from the always fascinating world of Pokémon.
Now on today's episode I go backand re watch Pokémon episode 11

(01:29):
which is Charmander the Stray Pokémon.
But before I get to that, did you listen to that new fancy
intro? Did you listen to that voice
over? That was the actual Pokémon
narrator. Introducing the Pika Pals
Podcast, I reached out to the Pokémon narrator Roger Parsons

(01:53):
and explained to him my idea forthe podcast.
My idea to raise money for a good cause, which is the mental
health charity Mind, and just kind of spread some positivity
through the world of Pokémon. And I couldn't believe it that
Roger actually got back to me, the actual narrator of Pokémon,

(02:17):
the guiding voice of Ash's Pokémon journey.
And he was ever so kind in providing me with not only the
support for me to do this podcast.
He's been incredibly encouragingand supportive of that, but he
also provided that voice over for the intro to the Pika Pals
podcast. That was the actual Pokémon

(02:39):
narrator, the real guy, the samenarrator in all of those Pokémon
episodes that I watched as a kidjust introduced me.
I'm really, really grateful. And I want to say thank you to
Roger Parsons, the Pokémon narrator, for taking the time to
do that. And just to let him know how
much that really means to me to take the time to not just record

(03:02):
an intro for me, but the kind and supportive comments that
he's had about my podcast. It's really encouraged me to do
this. And, and for those of you that
have listened to every Peak of Pounds podcast episode up until
now, you'll know that this is quite the journey for me,
myself, a kind of a battle with my own anxiety and self esteem.

(03:24):
I have my own mental health struggles and I wasn't sure if I
was going to get past one episode of the podcast
initially. I just made it as a test to
myself. And I don't have the biggest.
Audience in the world. Most of the people who listen to
this podcast are actually peoplethat I know, my friends or my
family. But to me, that actually means

(03:45):
so much to know that you're enjoying this and you're
enjoying me. Talk about Pokémon and tell some
daft Pokémon jokes and read out some Pokémon sponsors for some
products that don't even exist, or they might exist one day.
Yeah, so here I am now. I've got to over 15 episodes of

(04:08):
the podcast that I've recorded and the actual Pokémon narrator
is now introducing the show. I really don't know where to go
from there because that is something that I could never
imagined possible. Thank you very much to the
Pokémon narrator and thank you to all of you for your support.

(04:33):
Don't forget to help out the show by leaving a review and a
rating as that will help others discover the show as the
Internet has some sort of strange algorithm that you need
to kind of hit the like button and stuff.
But if you do that, then it willhelp spread the word about the
Peeker Pals Podcast and we can get more Peeker Pals on board.
And if you know anyone that you think might enjoy the Peeker

(04:55):
Pals podcast, a family member, afriend, someone in the street,
send it to him, let him know, say, hey, check this out.
It's a funny podcast about Pokémon and the guy's raising
awareness for mental health and he tells some terrible Pokémon
jokes. But yeah, it's worth an hour of
your time each week. Yeah, send it to them, see what
they think. I also have more news, and that

(05:15):
is about my Pica Pals Unite fundraiser.
Man, this is a big news episode.My Pica Pals Unite fundraiser
was where I decided to try and raise money for my local mental
health charity, which is mined in Somerset.
You can find more information about them in the episode
description. But when I started this podcast
a few weeks ago, I thought, let's see if I could do

(05:37):
something good out of this. Let's see if I can raise some
money for a good cause. Chose a mental health charity.
Talking to Roger, the Pokémon narrator, he was a big part of
of that as well. And I thought, OK, let's let's
set target. I don't know 151 lbs because
that's how many Pokémon there were originally, including MU.

(05:58):
And we've done it, guys. We've done it Thanks to my
friends and my family and everyone who has supported my
Little Pokémon podcast and my Little Pokémon fundraiser.
We've raised over 151 lbs. We've gone above and beyond the
target, and that money is going to be incredibly helpful and

(06:20):
it's going to go towards Mind inSomerset.
The money goes directly to them,and it's going to help out
people struggling with mental health.
And so I can't thank you enough for your support in in less than
a month we've we've hit the target that I'd set.
And I didn't expect anyone to really donate because why would
you? I mean, all I'm doing is a

(06:41):
Pokémon podcast. It's not like I'm climbing Mount
Everest. But you guys did support me, and
that encouraged me not only to continue with the show, but to
look at other avenues in which Ican use my creative ideas to
help out other charities. And I've got a few things
planned and a few things in the works that I'm in discussion

(07:02):
with Mind in Somerset about. So, hey, this is just the
beginning. So watch this space, as they
say. And yeah, well, who knows?
Who knows where things will go, But it's all thanks to you guys.
We have smashed the target. Pika Pounds did indeed unite and
we have raised over 151 lbs. Thank you to everyone who took

(07:26):
the time to donate. Don't forget you can follow me.
Across all the socials at Yeet AMania, you can find my Pokémon
posts. I'm getting a little bit more
into Instagram. I wasn't very good at it to
begin with, but I'm starting to promote the show a bit more
there and starting to post some Pokémon memories and some
screenshots from the anime just for fun.
So check me out on on Instagram at yeetamania and you can find

(07:49):
me on any other socials as well.Or you can send me an e-mail at
yeetamania@gmail.com. But let's get to today's
episode. It's Charmander, the stray
Pokémon. OK, so we're up to episode 11 of

(08:14):
the original Pokémon anime series, and this one is called
Charmander the Stray Pokémon. I just got done watching this
one back and it's the first timethat we get to meet Charmander,
a very popular Pokémon character.
This episode first aired in Japan on June the 10th, 1997,

(08:36):
would then go on to air in the United States and beyond on
September the 22nd. 1998 still blows my mind thinking back how
long ago some of these episodes were when they were first shown
on TV. 1998. I mean, we're talking a long
time ago folks, but Pokémon still as relevant and popular

(08:59):
today as it always was, and I'veenjoyed going back and watching
the original anime series. So we've got up to.
Episode 11, This one begins in asimilar fashion to what we've
seen. Ash and his friends are lost.
They're trying to find their wayto Vermilion City, but they've

(09:20):
lost their way. Now, Brooke does have a map and
he's trying to kind of figure out what to do, kind of figure
out which way to go. And that's when Ash comes and
says that if they follow this particular route, it will
intersect with Route 24, and that should lead them straight
to Vermilion City. So Brock's satisfied with this

(09:41):
and he's puts the map away and they continue on their journey.
Route 24. A reference to the Pokémon
Nintendo game if you've played them, and a little bit more on
that later on. I've got an interesting fact
about Route 24 being referenced in this particular episode.
But anyway, Ash, Misty, Barack, and Pikachu continue on their

(10:04):
way. Let's hope that they're actually
going to go in the correct direction this time.
Now, as they're moving along, a large shadow suddenly comes
across their path, and the sunlight dims, revealing a
Charmander. Now, Charmander's sat upon a

(10:24):
rock and Ash quick to whip out his Pokedex, always keen to
learn about the new Pokémon thathe comes across.
Ash sees this Charmander as an opportunity to catch it and add
it to his Pokémon collection. But Brock would interject and
point out to Ash that the flame on Charmander's tail is very low

(10:48):
and very weak, and that might indicate that this Charmander
needs help. Ash, however, still keen to
catch Charmander new on his Pokémon journey at this stage,
excited to try and catch any Pokémon that he comes across.
We've seen him try to do that inquite unconventional ways up
until now. He threw a a rock at a Sparrow

(11:10):
and he tried to catch a piggy with a pyjama top.
But he's not too worried that the Charmander may be showing
signs that it's weak. So he still attempts to catch
it, but Charmander is able to resist.
Brock says you know what? Try again, try again, Ash.
Ash goes for a second attempt, but that also fails.

(11:33):
So Ash not successful in catching Charmander.
In the early part of this episode, we'd see Pikachu
actually climb up onto the rock and have a little bit of a poker
conversation with Charmander sometimes.
It's nice to see the actual Pokémon characters talking to
each other in their Pokémon language.
I suppose when he goes back to Ash and the gang, he's able to

(11:56):
kind of tell them that Charmander is sat on that rock
because he's waiting for someoneto come and pick him up.
So I don't know what he's waiting for.
Maybe he's waiting for a bus, Maybe Charmander's just waiting
there for the bus to come. But no, Charmander is sat there
because he already belongs to someone and he's waiting for
them to come back. And so at this stage Brock

(12:19):
decides, well, if he belongs to someone else, it's probably best
that we leave him alone and we continue on our on our trip.
Which is fair enough because they're trying to catch somebody
else's Pokémon. Later on, we catch up with the
gang and they've made it to a Pokémon Centre.
And just in time too, because itstarts raining.

(12:39):
Now. Brock, though, still quite
compassionate, he thinks back about that Charmander who was
sat on the rock, and especially now that it's raining, he's
thinking, oh, I hope Charmander's not still there.
But Ash says he wouldn't have waited around that long, and
he'd probably found his owner bynow.
He'd probably found his way to to safety.

(12:59):
Now, while they're in the Pokémon Centre, there's actually
some other trainers in there. Pokémon Centres are where
trainers can go to replenish their Pokémon, recharge their
poker balls, have a rest themselves, They can have a a
meal, have have something to eat, they can sleep overnight if
they need to. They can use the phone to call

(13:20):
Ash's mum. Well, I suppose not all the
Pokémon trainers are going to call Ash's mum, just Ash I
suppose. But well, other Pokémon trainers
might want to call Ash's mum. They also get to call Professor
Oak and and trade their poker balls if there's any that they
have with him. But a Pokémon Centre?
It's kind of like AI don't. Know like a travel.

(13:41):
Lodge, but also it has the ability to recharge your poker
balls and it's run by Nurse Troy, which is much better than
any of the travel lodges I've ever been to.
But yeah, what were they saying?Oh yeah.
So there's some other Pokémon trainers in this Pokémon Centre
kind of joking around and laughing and Ash and Brock over

(14:06):
here that these trainers are actually talking about
Charmander. And this is where we meet a
Pokémon trainer named Damien. He's already got a name like
that. You know he's going to be
trouble, Damien, Damien. So they kind of earwig on his
conversation. Listen in and they hear Damian

(14:29):
laughing about Charmander sayingthat he had a Charmander but it
was so weak he left him on a rock in the middle of the woods
and he promised to return, although he admits that he has
no intention of doing so. So very convenient that Damian
explains exactly what was happening there with Charmander.
He essentially says he's, he's ditched his Charmander because

(14:52):
he thought it was weak. And sadly for the poor old
Charmander, he's told him that he's going to come back, but
he's not. So now we know why the
Charmander was sat on that rock waiting for so long.
Ash, Brock, Misty figure out that obviously that was the
Charmander that they saw earlierand they're not too happy that
Damien is has abandoned the Pokémon like this.

(15:14):
We've seen that Ash is very caring and compassionate towards
Pokémon, and he's kind of come across some characters so far
who he doesn't agree with the way they treat Pokémon.
But Damien in particular, you know, ditching a Pokémon,
telling it you're going to come back and then just leaving it
there, that's not a very nice thing to do.
So I kind of agree with Ash on this one.

(15:37):
And even Brock, who's usually calm and collected, even he gets
pushed over the edge here and wesee him getting quite angry at
Damien. And it's actually Brock who
would go out to confront Damien.He says you know what, you need
to go and get your Traumander back and starts to get into a
little bit of a scuffle. Here, Misty and Ash are able to
kind of calm things down, as well as a Nurse Joy.

(16:00):
Who? Tells the gang that you know
there's no fighting allowed at Aat a Pokémon centre.
I think it says that on the door.
No shoes, no shirt, no fighting.Instead of leaving Charmander
out in the rain, Ash and the gang head outside and rush back
to try and find the abandoned Charmander.

(16:21):
And bear in mind it's pouring down with rain at this point, so
it is tipping it down with rain.It's not going to be good
conditions for Charmander with his flame that was already quite
weak, and it's not going to be good conditions for him to be
left out in the in the rain. Now along the way they come
across a gang of Spiro who are attacking Charmander.

(16:43):
They're taking advantage of the fact that Charmander is
abandoned, that Charmander is weak, and that it's raining and
these Spiro are they're ganging up on on Charmander at this
point. Now Ash actually tries to drive
off the Spiro by throwing rocks at them.
Classic Ash move call back to episode 1 when he threw a rock.

(17:04):
But this just kind of angers theSpiro.
And then they try to attack Ash,Misty, and Brock.
Luckily, Pikachu comes in to save the day with a Thunder
shock and that kind of scares the Spiro off, not only saving
them, but also saving Charmanderwho was being quite badly
attacked. At this point, the group were
able to wrap Charmander up in some sort of blanket or raincoat

(17:27):
and they race back to the Pokémon Centre and ask Nurse Joy
to help. Nurse Joy, she's like, what have
you guys done? She is angry.
She's angry at Ash, she's angry at Brock, she's angry at Misty
for what they've done to this Charmander.
But Ash is able to explain that it wasn't him, it was Damien
over there pointing, you know, it's that it was that kid over

(17:48):
there. It was Damien who left
Charmander behind, as we know hepromised to go back for.
Him. But he had no intention of doing
so, and now Charmander is in a pretty bad way.
Brock pleading with Nurse Joy tosave Charmander.
Nurse Joy says she'll do what she can, and we'd have a bit of
a distressing weight to see if Nurse Joy was able to bring

(18:11):
Charmander background. Charmander, you've got to hold
on. Please keep your flame burning.

(18:41):
Charmander's recovering. It should be fine by morning.
That's the spirit, Charmander. So after a pretty intense and
distressing weight which you just heard a clip from the
episode there, Nurse Joy was able to deliver the good news

(19:02):
from the operating room and reports that Charmander has
pulled through and he will be fine by the morning.
So broken the gang obviously happy to know that Charmander
will be OK. But when morning would come
around, Brock would shout out towake up Ash and Misty because
Charmander has disappeared. Although they'd taken him there

(19:25):
the night before and he'd received treatment from Nurse
Joy. They've woken up in the morning
and Charmander has fled. So Ash thinks, well, Charmander
has probably gone back to the Rock, Not the People's Champ,
The Rock, not Dwayne Johnson, but he's probably gone back to
that Rock that he was sat on waiting for Damien.

(19:46):
Brock is quick to want to go after him again.
Brock very, very connected to this Charmander and says, well,
we got to go find him. We got to go find Charmander.
But Misty would be the voice of reason here and say it might not
be any use going back after Charmander again because.
Even though Damien doesn't care about this Charmander, and even

(20:09):
though Damien has treated this Charmander so badly, Charmander
as a Pokémon is stubbornly loyaland the trait that it has to be
loyal to it's trainer means thatit's loyal to Damien no matter
what. So although Brock is
disappointed in this and and wants to go and save this

(20:32):
Charmander, he he understands, he thinks, well maybe I
shouldn't break up Charmander from his owner because
Charmander is still loyal to Damien.
And at this point Ash and the gang would leave the Pokémon
Centre and continue on their journey.
So Charmander might be left behind here.

(20:53):
At least he was rescued from theheavy rain and was able to be
saved by Nurse Joy. But Ash, Brock and Misty are
going on their way. They're going to going to leave
them behind at this point. We would see Team Rocket now.
Team Rocket always make an appearance in these episodes,
chasing after Ash, trying to catch that Pikachu.

(21:15):
They've just finished digging another one of their pitfall
traps for the twerps to fall in,as they call them, and Pikachu
walks straight across the trap. If it is too light to activate
it, it's too light to make it break.
And so Jesse and James are arguing about who built the trap
and why it didn't work. Meowth silences them both pretty

(21:36):
quickly with a scratch attack tothe face.
I always like when Meowth does his scratch attack to the
characters in Pokémon because you see the thin lines of
scratch on the character's face,but they're like bright red and
like glowing. And if you've ever been
scratched by a cat, then you canrelate.
You're like, yeah, that is actually how a cat scratch

(21:58):
feels. So meowth.
He's like, yeah, stop arguing. Scratch his Team Rocket in the
face. Pikachu was too light to break
the trap, but Ash, Brock and Misty walk across and bam,
straight down into Team Rocket'spitfall trap.
Team Rocket happy to be able to grab Pikachu and try and take

(22:22):
him back to the boss. So.
Is this the episode? Where Team Rocket are going to
capture Pikachu, Pikachu tries to use his Thunder Shock on
them, but Team Rock at this timeare wearing rubber uniforms that
are insulated against electricity.
One of their main defences against Pikachu in the series

(22:43):
would be rubber gloves and rubber uniforms.
And so we would see quite repeatedly throughout the
series, they'd say. Oh not.
You're not going to be able to shock us this time, Pikachu,
because we've got this insulated.
Cage or oh your Thunder shock won't work because I'm wearing
rubber gloves so I don't know why they didn't think of that in
the 1st place. I mean, we even saw.
A pair of rubber. Gloves in episode 1 that Ash's

(23:06):
mum gave to Ash so they could have got the idea then.
But anyway, Pikachu tries to make a break for it, tries to
run away, and Team Rocket send out a special ball trap that
kind of swallows Pikachu hole and further insulates his
electricity. So Pikachu is in a bit of a
predicament now because Ash and the gang are down in a hole.

(23:31):
Team Rocket are wearing rubber uniforms.
They finally figured out how to not get shocked by Pikachu's
electric attacks. And now they've captured Pikachu
inside of a giant ball. And just as things are looking
rough for Pikachu, we would see Charmander Diamander.
What is that thing It's saying? You better give Pikachu back to

(23:57):
those guys right now. It's got to be kidding.
Now step aside, you insolent little firebug.
We haven't got time to play withyou.
Team Rocket plays rough, so get moving.

(24:21):
You see, didn't I tell you we needed fireproof uniforms?
Shut up and keep rocking. I'm genius.
Meow Charmander had a quick conversation with Meow.
Meow able to translate and Charmander was saying you better
give that Pikachu back right now.
But Team Rocket refused because you know they're bad guys.

(24:42):
And so Charmander responded. He closed his eyes.
He focused hard and he unleasheda massive flamethrower which
roasted Team Rocket. Those rubber suits may have been
shockproof, but they definitely weren't flame proof.
And Team Rocket would be sent blasting off again, and Pikachu

(25:05):
would be rescued by Charmander. But things aren't over.
There, because this is where we'd see.
Damien again. So Damien Charmander's actual
Pokémon trainer. At this stage, I consider Damien
to be more of a bad guy than Team Rocket.
He sees what Charmander has justdone.

(25:25):
He's able to see that Charmanderwere able to defeat Team Rocket
and Meowth. Now Ash, Misty, and Brocker
eventually able to get out of the the big hole in the ground
and thank Charmander for his help.
I guess Charmander was like, well, you know, you saved me
from the rain, so I saved you from Team Rocket and now we're
even. And Ash asks Charmander if he

(25:47):
wants to come along with them onon their adventure, which Ash
has done in the last episode. If we remember when he came
across Bobosaur, Bobosaur actually was happy to go along
with Ash and and join him on hisadventure.
So, Ash, asking Charmander, do you want to come along with?
Us, we're good guys. Brock knows how to cook.

(26:07):
Misty is good at stuff as well. And, and, and yeah, we can have
a good, we can have a good old time.
But not so fast, because Damien comes back in and claims he's
come back for Charmander, just like he'd promised, conveniently
after he's defeated Team Rocket,and that Charmander belongs to

(26:27):
him. Damien's reasoning is that he
abandoned Charmander on purpose to make him a stronger Pokémon,
and so Damien would try to recall Charmander into his Poker
Ball, but Charmander would reject it.
Nope, Whips away with his tail. Damien tries to recall
Charmander again. Nope.

(26:49):
Charmander rejects it and so wouldn't take long for Damien to
show. His true colours tries to attack
Charmander by just throwing repeated poker.
Balls at him. And finally, Charmander would
give Damien what he deserves with a Flamethrower attack.
Pikachu gives him a Thunder Shock for good measure and

(27:11):
Damian flees the same. How dare you call yourself a
Pokémon trainer? You see, he doesn't care about
you, he just wants to use you towin matches.
Charmander, Charmander Charmander return that doesn't

(27:37):
crush you with every Pokémon I've got.
Mummy. Way to go, Charmander.
Yeah, good work. And so Charmander would now join

(27:58):
Ash, Brock and Misty and Pikachuon their adventure.
Although initially Brock was very caring towards this
Charmander and seemed to be the one who was who was worried the
most about the Charmander. Brock would actually insist that
Ash should have the Charmander as one of his Pokémon.
And the fire type lizard happilyjumps into Ash's poker ball as

(28:24):
episode 11 comes to a close. And that would be Charmander,
the stray Pokémon. In this episode, we got to see
Ash catch his Charmander, one ofthe three starter Pokémon.
We got to see Ash's Charmander debut in this episode.

(28:46):
And that is why Charmander is this week's Pokémon Spotlight
Charmander National Pokedex. Number is #4 He is a fire type
Pokémon. And his abilities include Blaze,

(29:06):
which in Japan is called Raging Flames, and Solar Power, which
in Japan is called Sun Power. Now, here's a little bit more
information that I've been able to research about Charmander.
Professor Roke would be proud ofme here doing this Pokémon
research. So, Charmander is a bipedal

(29:28):
reptilian Pokémon with a primarily orange body and blue
eyes. It's underside from the chest
down and the soles of it's feet are cream coloured.
It has two small fangs visible in it's upper drawer and two
small fangs in it's lower drawer.
A fire burns at the tip of this Pokémon's tail, which has blazed

(29:50):
there since Charmander's birth. Now, the flame can indicate
Charmander's health and mood, burning brightly when the
Pokémon is strong, but burning weakly when it's exhausted,
wavering when it's happy, and blazing hot when it's enraged.
It is said that Charmander woulddie if it's flame were to go

(30:11):
out. However, if the Pokémon is
healthy, the flame will continueto burn even if it gets a bit
wet, and it's said to steam in the rain.
Now, as shown in Pokémon Sleep. Pokémon Sleep?
You're probably wondering, what is Pokémon Sleep?
Well I'll tell you, Pokémon Sleep is a sleep tracking spin

(30:32):
off Pokémon game for your mobilephone.
You know, like those sleep trackers, You wake up in the
morning and it tells you whetheryou had a good night's sleep.
I've never had a good night's sleep, but maybe I will if I use
Pokémon Sleep. There's actually one as well.
There's another app that you canuse where Pikachu tells you how
to brush your teeth. Pokémon teeth brushing app?

(30:53):
But anyway, yeah, so Pokémon Sleep is an app.
There's Pokémon everything. Of course there is.
So there's a Pokémon Sleep app. And in that app, Charmander is
known to sleep while curled up. Supposedly by doing this,
Charmander is drawing warmth from the flame on its tail
during the quiet nights. The sound of its flame can be

(31:15):
heard by listening carefully while Charmander sleeps.
So maybe if you want to listen to some sleep sounds, you could
listen to the flame on Charmander's tale slowly
Crackling. Charmander actually has four
different sleep styles that you didn't think you were going to
tune into this week's podcast and find out how Charmander

(31:35):
sleeps. Well, get ready.
Get your pen and paper ready because here they come.
Charmander's sleep styles include crackling sleep, Toummy
rub sleep, Toummy up sleep, and a top of belly sleep.
So which one of those sleep styles do you sleep in?

(31:56):
Let me know. Put a comment in the comments
section. Charmander can be found in hot
mountainous areas. It has been recently seen living
in the terranium of the Blueberry Academy.
However, it is found more often in the ownership of trainers.
So Charmander is a Pokémon that is quite common for Pokémon

(32:18):
trainers to have. Although in the Pokémon
universe, there are some Traumander that are located at
the Blueberry Academy which is like a Pokémon school.
Not sure if Traumatic goes to school.
What would he learn? Welding maybe?
I think he'd probably learn welding.
Do people still learn welding atschool?
Glassblowing. Yeah.
That would be a good thing for Traumander to learn.

(32:40):
He could be a glassblower, a lost art.
Glassblowing as well. Traumander could make quite a
lucrative. Career there, Glassblowing.
Actually, there's an episode coming up in the future where we
see somebody who makes glass sculptures.
He's a glass blower and Charmander actually helps him
out. So there you go.
Maybe I don't know. Stay tuned, we'll talk about it

(33:02):
in the future. And another fact here about
Charmander is that Charmander exhibits.
Pack. Type behaviour travel in packs
they will call out to other types of it's species if they
find food and other Charmanders will watch each other's tail
flames to make sure that they don't go out.

(33:23):
So that's quite nice isn't it? You know, taking the night
shift. Are you on flame shift tonight
Charmander? Yeah, I'm on the flame shift.
OK right. So just stare at my tail and
then I'll wake up and stare at your tail and we'll just make
sure our tails. Don't go out, but what about
the? Evolution of Charmander?
Well, Charmander evolves into Charmeleon, which would evolve

(33:44):
into Charizard. Here's some char char facts for
you. Charmander and Cinderquil and
their respective evolutionary Pokémon have the exact same base
stats in the same distribution. So almost the exact same
Pokémon. They have the exact same stats.

(34:05):
Now I've dug even deeper about Charmander and I've found out
that Niu. Which I don't know if that's how
that is pronounced, but Niu NI. UE which is a.
Self governing island in association with New Zealand.
They actually released a $1.00 coin featuring a Charmander as

(34:25):
part of a commemorative promotion for.
Pokémon and a Charmander on one side and it had the national
coat of arms on the other side. So how random is that?
I wish we had Pokémon coins in this country.
We just get pictures of the Queen on it.
But King now I suppose. But sometimes we get Paddington
Bear on there. I think we get Paddington.

(34:46):
Usually it's some sort of storybook character.
I'd much rather have one with a Pokémon on.
That would be really cool. And wrapping up here on Pokémon
Spotlight, Charmander. The name is a combination of
Char to Burn and Salamander, which is stated in the 1999

(35:11):
Pokémon Journal on the official Game Freak website.
However, alternatively, it's also found that Charmander's
name is a combination of the word Charcoal, which is a carbon
residue produced by strongly heating wood.
Again, bet you didn't think you'd tune into the podcast to
find that out. But an alternate version of the

(35:33):
name is a combination of the word Charcoal and Salamandra.
Now, that isn't a salamander's auntie called Sandra.
A salamandra is a genesis of a salamander, including four
species of fire salamander. So it all makes sense.
See, everything, Everything has a reason.
Everything has a connection. Now in folklore and mythology,

(35:57):
salamanders are often thought ofas fire spirits capable of
surviving extreme heat, and as Charizard, the final
evolutionary stage for Charmander as he's based on a
European dragon. Charmander's lizard like design
seems to maybe be a reference tohow western Dragons in folklore

(36:20):
were heavily inspired by lizardsand other reptiles and if you go
and look into different types. Of lizards, a lot of them are
likened to and sometimes named after Dragons due to that
connection. Another interesting fact.
Dragon facts, Dragon facts, dragon facts.

(36:40):
I wonder if Charmander knew Spyro the dragon.
That'd be cool anyway. I don't know.
Now, I've got more to bring you on the Peeker Powers podcast,
but first we've got to take a pause for the course.
Keep the lights on in the PeekerPowers studio with a quick
message from our sponsors. Hey there Peeker Powers fans

(37:07):
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(37:29):
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(37:51):
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(38:12):
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(38:34):
cleanse, or experience the powerof our Mind Freeze massage with
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(38:58):
Articuno's Arctic Oasis services.
So remember, when life heats up,it's time to cool down and chill
out at Articuno's Arctic Oasis Spa, where every day is a snow
day. OK, welcome back.

(39:37):
You are listening to the Pig of Pals podcast.
Well, I hope you're still listening.
Actually, you might have turned off by this point.
If you're still here, that's great.
Now, if you've listened to my previous episodes and you're
listening to this episode, you might notice a few differences
in editing and a few different sound effects and music cues and

(39:58):
just experimenting with a littledifferent format for the podcast
and trying to get a little bit more Pokémon nostalgia going.
If you can identify some of the music, then bonus poker balls to
you, but. Please let me know what you
think. I really appreciate any feedback
on the show. And for anyone who's listened up
until this point, let me know ifthis kind of works as a format.

(40:21):
Always looking to tweak the show.
I'm always looking to make things better and improve.
I think that we can constantly improve.
And yeah, let's just see, let's just see what, what you think.
If you don't like it, maybe we can revert back to how things
were. If, if you like some of these
changes, then then we'll keep them.
And that's where I thought I'd bring in a new segment.
It's time for poker flute. Now the poker flute is a key

(40:46):
item introduced in generation 1 and it's appearance.
It's kind of like a yellow recorder with a poker ball on
the end. And in the Pokémon games, in
Pokémon Red, blue, yellow, fire,red leaf, red, Let's Go Pikachu,
Let's Go EV, Pokémon, Pokémon, Pokémon blue, pink, purple gold,

(41:07):
in all of them, you can use the poker flute as an item.
And if you use the flute, then you can wake up Snorlax, who's
kind of blocking your path if you're trying to get through
Route 12 or or Route 6. But I've managed to get my hands
on my very own poker flute. That's right.

(41:28):
And just like they use the pokerflute in the games to wake up
Snorlax, if you've fallen asleeplistening to the podcast by this
stage, then hopefully I can use my poker flute to wake you up.
Not saying that you're a Snorlaxunless you are Snorlax, in which
case, thanks for listening Snorlax.
That's pretty cool. So each week I'm going to play

(41:50):
you a small tune on my poker flute and then I want you to
guess what the tune is. Either leave a comment in the
comment section or reach out to me on social media at Yeet a
Mania and let me know if you cantell me what I'm playing on my
poker flute. Not sure what this segment is

(42:10):
called yet. What am I playing on my poker
flute? Should we just call it that?
Here we go. All right, I've got my poker

(42:32):
flute. I have to record this, but it
helps a video. OK, see if I can remember.
See if you can guess what this is on the poker flute.

(43:12):
Perfect rendition, I think that was.
If the London Philharmonic Orchestra is listening, then
please do get in touch on the socials at Yeetomania.
So that was the poker flute challenge.
It might be a one and done. Maybe we'll just do it this week
and it'll be so awful that we'llnever do it again.
But if you could tell what that was, then please let me know.

(43:33):
Leave a comment on the episode or tell me on social media that
was the poker flute. All right, Who fancies some deep

(43:55):
dive episode trivia on this one?Misty states that the group have
been searching for Vermilion City for 10 days since they left
Cerulean City. Now, that was where they met
Misty's sisters at the water gym, and she states it's been 10
days since then. So that gives you a little bit
of a timeline in how long Ash, Brock and Misty have been

(44:19):
travelling between that episode and this episode.
Also in this episode, Damien is shown to be carrying around 20
poker balls. I hope he's got a really big
poker bag to put them in. Now he says that those poker
balls all contain Pokémon, but it's established that a trainer
can actually only carry 6 Pokémon at a time.

(44:42):
That's like in the Nintendo games.
But the reason Damien may have so many poker balls is because
it's not actually shown if he has a Pokedex or not.
Therefore, he is not forced to abide by the storage system.
He, he could have be a bit of a rogue trainer, you know, he not,
he might not be associated with Professor Roke and maybe he's

(45:04):
just out there capturing as manyPokémon as he wants.
Alternatively, he may have had six Pokémon just like everyone
else, and maybe the rest of the poker balls were all just empty
and those were the ones that he was throwing at Charmander.
This is the first episode. That mentions that a Pokémon
could die. That's quite sad, but this is

(45:26):
the episode that mentions that Pokémon can actually die in the
Pokémon universe. If Charmander's tail flame had
gone out, he would have died, and that's the first time that
we hear about that in the Pokémon universe.
This is also an episode where wesee Meowth translating a
Pokémon's speech for the first time.

(45:47):
Meowth was able to listen to Charmander and then translate
what he said, which was handy for us, the audience, and also
Team Rocket. But Meowth would go on to kind
of translate poker speak in future episodes.
But this was the first time thatwe saw him do it.
Now, in this episode as well, it's also revealed that using a

(46:09):
Pokémon battle to settle a personal score is frowned upon,
and that Pokémon battles are notsupposed to occur in Pokémon
Centres. That's why Nurse Joy was like,
whoa, calm down, no fighting in the Pokémon Centre.
But if you think about that, you're not allowed to battle in
a Pokémon Centre in the Pokémon Nintendo games using the Cable

(46:33):
Club. That's where players can link up
to a battle exclusively in the Pokémon Centre using their
Nintendo and a cable. And you know, and it's and
actually in the game, it's rightnext to the counter where you
hand over your poker balls to behealed.
So in the games. Themselves, you could use the
cable club feature to battle Pokémon, and I guess all the

(46:54):
time Nurse Joy was looking down on us for that.
She was over the other side of the counter.
She was like, I don't know who put this cable club computer in
my Pokémon Centre, but I'm frowning upon it now.
I mentioned about Route 24 earlier in the episode.
That is where Ash looks on Brock's map and he's like, if we
keep going this way, we'll get there.

(47:16):
So Route 24 and 25 are stated tolead to Vermilion City, and at
least that's what Ash hopes. In the game.
These routes actually lead to the Sea Cottage just north of
Cerulean City, so slight difference there between the
game and the anime. Here's something fun for you to

(47:36):
go back and watch and see if youcan spot it.
In one of the scenes, I noticed that Pikachu is actually missing
his cheek pouches. His little red circles on his
cheeks weren't drawn in. See if you can spot that if you
watch back the episode. And I always like to look at
some dub edits. So in the original Japanese
version, Damian mentioned to hisfriends that Charmander was so

(48:00):
weak it couldn't even defeat a pollywag.
But in the English version it just says that Charmander was so
weak it couldn't even defeat theweakest opponents.
But then Brock actually goes on to say, well, Charmander is
naturally weak against watertight Pokémon, which
wouldn't make sense in the dubbed version, but there you
go. And hey, what's with the hey on

(48:22):
pollywag? No need for that.
Rocking and rolling with anothersegment.
Let's see what the Pokémon fanbase had to say about this
episode. I've dove into the archives of
the Internet. Is that a thing is the I don't
know. But anyway, I've found some
comments about this episode and it's time for a segment that I

(48:42):
like to call IMDb the very best,like no one ever was.
See, that's a really clever title.
That's really clever because it's, you know, play on the
words and I get the comments from IMDb.
Anyway, let's see what we got. IMDb the very best like no one

(49:06):
ever was. More singing on the Peak of
Pounds podcast. Just what you all asked for.
OK, let's see. These are some comments from
Pokémon Season 1 Episode 11. Jigalito Tigorito says.
Poor little dramander, Carla said.

(49:28):
Oh, this episode, I'm crying now, Matthias said This is one
of the saddest episodes. Sad face.
Charmander is such a babe. Lesser OPS said This is the most
depressing episode so far. Vinny is attached a screenshot

(49:51):
of Team Rocket's hole that they.Dug in the ground and he put me
hiding from my responsibilities.XX rocks Bing XX says, oh,
Charmander, he's so cute. And Leia Snu Huang says this
episode reminds me of stray animals in reality.

(50:13):
It's so sad that some of them will be waiting for their owners
until they die. Oh, that can't end on that, can
we? I mean, that's true.
That is that's that's also incredibly depressing.
OK, so here we go. Kissuki said Brock should have
gotten Charmander. To be honest, Ash would be
nowhere without the help of the others.

(50:35):
Tayti Hoyong says this episode is so sad.
How could anyone abandoned A Charmander?
And for those Spiro jumping on him.
Oh my God, Bella said Charmanderis such a baby.
Techie said poor Charmander. Damien doesn't deserve such a

(50:59):
nice Pokémon. Jayden said This is one of my
favourite episodes. I love Charmander and he's going
to get his back real soon. And lastly, Britty has brought a
comment that just says Char withan orange har.

(51:22):
So that was what you guys thought of Pokémon Season 1
episode 11. Do you know what time it is?
It's time for everyone's favorite segment.
This is the part of the show where I tell Pokémon jokes.

(51:43):
That's right, it's time for Jokehim On.
OK, let's see what Pokémon jokeswe have this week.
Knock, knock, who's there? Charmander.
Charmander who? Charmandering you?

(52:04):
Open the door or not, it's raining out here.
That's actually very good because it features rain and
Charmander was left in the rain in this episode.
So pretty impressive that one. I finally caught a Snorlax the

(52:27):
other day. OK, let's start again.
I haven't even read it yet. Compose yourself, it's a
professional podcast. I finally caught a Snorlax the
other day. Turns out it was just an

(52:49):
oversized stuffed animal that eats all my food and sleeps all
day. I could have just gotten a
roommate instead. All that for that.
Great. I tried using a fire type
Pokémon to light my cigarettes but all I got was a burnt finger

(53:09):
and a Pikachu with a nicotine addiction.
Pika Paz podcast does not condone smoking or getting your
Pikachu to get a nicotine addiction.
I went to a Pokémon tournament last week.
Turns out my opponents weren't too happy when I showed up with

(53:30):
my dog dressed as a Growlithe. But hey, at least we won best in
show. I think it was a joke last week
about a growlithe getting disqualified at a dog show.
Who writes these jokes? Where are they coming from?
Here's another Pokémon Knock knock, joke.
Knock knock. Who's there?

(53:52):
Pikachu. Pikachu Who?
Well, Pikachu. Better than anyone else I know.
What the heck the. Heck, is that better?
I don't think my therapist told me to face my fears so I went to

(54:13):
a Pokémon gym to battle psychic type Pokémon.
Now I just have existential dread and a $200 therapy bill.
Thanks MU 2 eh? OK the last one.
I finally evolved my war turtle into a Blastoise after months of

(54:36):
hard work. Now whenever I take it out for
walks people just think I'm watering the plants.
What the heck? Well that was the Pokémon jokes.
That was joking. Let's see if there's any

(55:08):
questions in Dragonite's mailbagthis week.
Dragon Knight's mailbag Dragon Knight's mailbag.
Now, I'm always happy to answer listener questions and comments
on the show, and you can send meyour questions and comments
anywhere on social media. You can find me at Yeet a mania.
You can leave a comment in the episode wherever you're

(55:31):
listening to this on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music
or YouTube, or you can send me an e-mail at
eatamania@gmail.com. Dragonite then gets all of those
letters, puts them in his mailbag, flies through my window
and delivers me the mail. So let's have a look at what

(55:53):
questions we've got this week. First question here comes from
Brian Sock. Brian Sock says hi Jed.
What kind of real world jobs do you think Professor Oak or other
Pokémon professors would have? Well, I imagine they'd probably

(56:14):
be professors of some kind or working in the field of animal
research trying to find ways to sustain the planet for animals.
Imagine that Professor Oak wouldprobably be doing a very similar
job to what he's doing. Be a waste of his skill if not.
If Professor Oak was to do something else, he's What kind

(56:36):
of real world job do you think Professor Oak would have?
Oh, he'd probably work in a fastfood restaurant.
Yeah. So I think he'd probably be
doing some sort of animal research or animal conservation.
He'd be like the real life version of David Attenborough.
That's what I think anyway. So that answers your question.

(56:59):
The next question here comes from Harry Teacup.
Harry Teacup says hi Jed, love the Peekapowers podcast.
My question is, have you ever cosplayed or dressed up as a
Pokémon character? And if so, who was it?
Yes, I have, and Harry Teacup, maybe you sent this question in

(57:20):
before listening to my guest episode with Mark.
And if you haven't listened to that, then go back and listen to
it because we talked about the time that me and my friend Mark
actually dressed up as Ash and Pikachu.
And Pikachu was very tall because Mark's very tall.
I'm short, so Ash was very short.
It was quite funny. Go back and listen to that

(57:41):
episode to find out what happened when we dressed up as
Ash and Pikachu. Have I ever dressed up as any
other Pokémon characters? But who knows?
Watch this space. Maybe, maybe I will.
Maybe I'll dress up as as Brock.That'll be cool.
Oh no, maybe not Brock. Maybe I'll dress up as Meowth.
Meowth would be cool. Keep a look out on social media.
We'll see. And the final question in the

(58:04):
bottom of Dragonite's mailbag this week comes from Willie
Jigsaw. Is that your real Willie?
William Jigsaw? We call him William Jigsaw says
Hey Pika Pals podcast. If you were a Pokémon trainer,
which type of Pokémon do you think you would specialize in?
I think I've answered the question similar to this before,

(58:26):
and I said probably bug Pokémon.I used to like bug Pokémon,
specifically when I was younger,I liked Caterpie and Metapod and
Butterfree, but if it was based on the three starter Pokémon, I
would maybe choose Squirrel and then specialized in water type
Pokémon so it would maybe be similar to Misty in that sense.

(58:46):
And that was the questions this week.
Thank you very much to those 3 Pika pals who sent in their
questions. Don't forget you can do so as
well. I'll put some details in the
episode description. Now, before we go, I always like
to kind of look at these Pokémonepisodes and reflect on a life

(59:07):
lesson that we can potentially learn.
See what we could learn from theworld of Pokémon.
And watching back this episode in particular, I thought that
one life lesson that we could learn from Charmander and the
stray Pokémon is the importance of showing compassion and
kindness towards those who may be facing difficulties or

(59:28):
rejection and being there for them in a time of need.
Now, in this episode, we saw that Charmander had been
abandoned by his trainer, Damien, Yet the little Pokémon
remained loyal and patiently waited for his return.
It was a powerful symbol of faithfulness and inner strength
in the face of adversity. When Ash and his friends came

(59:50):
across Charmander, they initially didn't understand the
situation, but upon realizing what had happened, they offered
to help. Showing the kindness of a
stranger. And their actions can remind us
that we could all make a big difference in someone else's
life by offering to help, even when it's not expected of us.
So this lesson could be applicable to our everyday

(01:00:13):
lives. We never know what others may be
going through, and sometimes a simple act of kindness can have
a significant impact. Compassion and empathy can help
build strong relationships. Create a sense of community and
inspire others to pay it forwardand well, that is the end of the

(01:00:35):
show. And do you know what that means?
The time has come. It's.
For the best I know where here. Who could have guessed that you
and I some house away? Somehow, some way, we'd have to

(01:01:08):
say goodbye. Thank you for listening to this
week's show. Please leave a review to help
others discover the Peak Pals Podcast and share it with
someone who think might enjoy the show.
Don't forget that you can followme across all the socials at
Yeet, A Mania for exclusive content and to share your love

(01:01:32):
of Pokémon. You can also send me your
questions and suggestions at eatamania@gmail.com.
Details about my Pika Pals Unitefundraiser are in the episode
description. We have smashed the target but
we'll keep it open and we'll keep the fundraiser going,

(01:01:53):
supporting a great cause in mindin Somerset.
Stay tuned to the Peeker Pals Podcast as I have a special
episode planned soon, but that does it for this week.
Thank you for hanging in there. It's been a long episode but
hopefully you enjoyed it. I've been Jed, this has been the

(01:02:14):
Peeker Pals Podcast, and you've been a real Peeker pal.
The show may be over, but the journey continues.

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Pokémon Anime Review – EP011 “Charmander  – The Stray Pokémon” | Stray All Night, Stray a Little Longer

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Pokémon Anime Review – EP011 “Charmander – The Stray Pokémon” | Stray All Night, Stray a Little Longer