Pokémon
Pearls Are a Spoink's Best Friend
TV Flash files “Pearls Are a Spoink's Best Friend” as hour 355 of 1220 in the TV Flash guide — Pokémon (1998–present (U.S.)) on Kids' WB/Syndication, season 7, episode 39, aired 2005-05-21, 22 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S07E39: listed hour 355 of 1220 in the Pokémon guide, hour 39 of 52 in season 7. It aired 2005-05-21 (22 min). The listed hour before it is “Cruisin' for a Losin'” (S07E38). Next is “That's Just Swellow” (S07E40). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Continuing their journey to Fortree City, Ash and friends come across a Spoink, who is upset after losing the Pearl it keeps on the top of its head. After Spoink tries to put on a couple of round Pokémon on its head, the Pearl is found. However, during a Team Rocket encounter, they steal the Pearl. After coming across a fair, James is approached by the same Magikarp Salesman who has made his life miserable in the past and offers to trade Feebas for the Pearl. After discovering Feebas evolves into Milotic, Team Rocket agree. However, when they let their new Feebas out to have a swim in a nearby river, they discover the Feebas is just a Magikarp painted with a Feebas' colors, meaning they have been swindled yet again. After Ash and the others find out what happened, they have to get Spoink's Pearl back by finding the Magikarp Salesman before Team Rocket do.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Pearls Are a Spoink's Best Friend sit in the Pokémon guide?
S07E39 is listed hour 355 of 1220 — hour 39 of 52 in season 7, season 7 episode 39.
When did Pokémon S07E39 air?
Pearls Are a Spoink's Best Friend aired 2005-05-21 and is listed at 22 minutes.
Do I need the games first?
The TV series is one engine with the games and cards, not a homework prerequisite. U.S. breakthrough is 1998 anime syndication as childhood OS.
In the series
Why this series still plays
A ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, and a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Anime lands in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards — catch, train, argue about types. Kids’ TV as collection ritual, gym-badge serialization, and the rare cartoon that still prints money because the adventure never quite finishes.
The work, first: a young trainer, a yellow mouse, a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Based on Game Freak/Nintendo games, the anime's U.S. TV breakthrough in 1998 (Kids' WB and syndication) detonated a multi-platform kids' empire: games, cards, films, toys, one engine. Satoshi Tajiri and Kunihiko Yuyama's world turned anime into mainstream American children's programming. Rica Matsumoto and Veronica Taylor as Ash across languages; Ikue Otani's Pikachu. Catch, train, argue about…
Filed against
- Rica Matsumoto as Ash Ketchum (JP)
Rica Matsumoto voices Ash Ketchum on Pokémon — the ten-year-old whose globetrotting checklist became a childhood operating system in Japanese, then a syndication engine abroad. Catch, train, argue about types. TV Flash files her as 1990s…
- Veronica Taylor as Ash Ketchum (US early)
Veronica Taylor was early U.S. Ash Ketchum on Pokémon — a ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, a globetrotting checklist that became a childhood operating system. Anime landed in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards:…
- Ikue Otani as Pikachu
Ikue Otani voiced Pikachu as a childhood operating system — a ten-year-old, a yellow mouse, anime landing in American syndication as one engine with the games and cards. Catch, train, argue about types. TV Flash files her as 1990s kids-TV…