Review S14 EP30: A UFO for Elgyem!

[SuperTrainStationH]

This episode was by no means a stinker, but it wasn't especially outstanding either.

This time at least Team Rocket's role wasn't negligible, but on the down side we now see the TRio back to using costumes, and not-very necessary ones at that. They werent over the top goofy, but its a far cry from the fedoras, sunglasses and trenchcoats of pre-Castelia.

The main cool thing the TRio did was shoot down the Protag's flying machine even after they already lost and were retreating purely out of spite. That was decently villainous.

But I'm going to have to concede at this point that Team Rocket being outrageously awesome villains was just a temporary gimmick for the aborted Rocket Vs. Plasma saga that evidently didn't have much significant consequence anyway.

As for the episode itself, Cilan's skepticism was much better and less annoyingly handled than in earlier episodes, but I thought it was annoying that they kept calling the doctor's flying machine a "UFO" even after they learned what it was. The point of calling something a UFO is that you DONT KNOW WHAT IT IS, once you find out that it's a flying machine that someone built, then its not a UFO anymore.

Not bad overall though, but very little action from the protag's Pokémon, which is what the show aught to be about.

 

[Zacho94]

I thought it was a good episode. I thought the plot was good and I liked how they used the legend of Are 51 in the storyline.

 

[DracoMan]

What I didn't understand was Cilan's bull about everything paranormal having a scientific explanation, especially after the incident back at the Nacrene Museum. Back then, even he stopped believing his own BS. You'd think he'd learn by now...

I also thought I'd touch on the technobabble. Cilan was right that dark matter has a lot to do with gravity, but Icarus was full of bull. Dark matter, like other matter, is gravitationally attractive, and would probably be useless for an antigravity system. That would be better served with what's known as "dark energy," which is gravitationally repulsive and is believed to be responsible for the acceleration of the universal expansion.

 

[Thingamajig]

Honestly, I sort of just picked him out of the credits list. I looked over the credits and he seemed like the most likely candidate to me (in comparison to Lucario in M08). Here's the full list of the additional cast for this episode:

Of course it may have been Vic. The only role I know that Vic played was Omega, and Icarus definitely sounded nothing like Omega.

Yeah, I would've picked it as Sean Schemmel too if it wasn't for the fact that he was obviously the guy who was running the diner. So by process of elimination with the male supporting cast.

Eli James - Pansage
Mike Pollock - the fat guy
Sean Schemmel - The guy running the diner
Marc Thompson - Pokedex
Tom Wayland - Yamask, Dwebble

Which leaves Icarus (and Elgyem, but that was probably Erica Schroeder, because it sounds like one of her Pokemon voices) as the only character that Vic Mignogna could've voiced.

Anyway, I thoght the episode was kind of cool in the way it referred to real-life alien conspiracies. I did facepalm a little at some of Ash's lines, though. "SPACE ALIENS!?" Although I guess that was a little funny, too.

 

[dman_dustin]

but that was probably Erica Schroeder,

If I'm not mistaken Erica Schroeder voices Ash's Tranquill, but I suppose it is possible she voices the Elgyem as well.

 

[Aestivate]

@Vulpixtail

Hi, just as a heads-up - getting posts through was probably difficult because of how wacky the server has been tonight, but try to refresh to see if your post has gone through rather than continuously attempt to post new ones. In the meantime, I will merge your two posts together.

Edit: nvm, you seem to have deleted them o.o

 

[Vulpixtail]

crap the sever is wacky! now i hav to repeat it! WTF!!!!!! :boom:

i say this ep is 8 of 10. even though it was a filler it was a rockin filler! TRio was actully smart in this episode unlike the last one. the downside was that ash was stupid the whole entire time(yes i know that i am probably gonna die at the hands of an ash fan girl!). and the pokedex in the games (cant remember which) related to what happened to the people in cafe and mailman. oh, and elgyem was all like "oh no we ain't" when they were falling down that casem. the cutest part was when the twerps say what the prof. saw a long time a go in the sky.

 

[Froakie]

I only really watched half of this episode because I got kinda bored with it. I'm very interested in science and things the episode discussed, but it was hardly interesting and most of it was just Cilan talking. Which I don't like.


5/10

 

[MizuTaipu]

Icarus was Vic Mignogna,eh? It's nice that more FUNimation/ADV Films actors are joining the voice cast even if they're voicing filler characters when they're in the NYC area.

 

[NoodleChefKyle]

I'm not entirely sure why they named him Icarus, since that's the name of one of the towns too.

I think it's symbolic since he built a flying machine that came crashing down in the end. Icarus is the name of an angel whose wings burnt off, right?

Anyway, this episode was somewhere in the middle for me. I liked Elgyem and its flashing lights and I also liked Yamask's "opera voice."

 

[Karamazov]

I think it's symbolic since he built a flying machine that came crashing down in the end. Icarus is the name of an angel whose wings burnt off, right?

Actually, Icarus was a man, and his father made him wax wings. Said wings melted when he flew too close to the sun.
But it's a good observation. Never saw it that way.

 

[Hellwarden]

I think it's symbolic since he built a flying machine that came crashing down in the end. Icarus is the name of an angel whose wings burnt off, right?

Actually Icarus is a character in Greek Mythology. His father built him wings out of wax, and well he flew too close to the Sun.

I actually think it's a pretty cool name.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

Sorry for the delay but I didn't get to see this episodes until now.

Well, actually I was pretty happy with this episode for a change. I particularly liked all those references to supernatural phenomena, outer space and above all, dark matter. It made the plot mature and very interesting to follow.
Also, Cilan's assumption that every paranormal activity must be related to rational reasons may be bold but still, it's highly interesting. I just hope the writers will further elaborate on that aspect. It doesn't change the fact though that I think Cilan's wrong.

Prof. Icarus who I initially thought was a crumpy old man actually turned out to be a nice guy and was growing on me quickly although I still don't get it why it's so hard to figure out the meaning of Elgyem's flashlights. If could made him combine the lights with a nod of his head, you could at least find out what "yes" and "no" means. The rest would just come naturally and with a little practice. Well, I guess scientists don't seem to be very skilled Pokemon trainers.

Flying with that saucer sure looked like a lot of fun. I wished I had the chance to come with them.

And finally, ROFL@ Ash considering dark matter a Pokemon. How embarrassing can it get....


All in all, an interesting, above average episode.

 

[Adamant]

although I still don't get it why it's so hard to figure out the meaning of Elgyem's flashlights.

It's a detail straight from the games. One of the dex entires mentions that no one has ever managed to decipher the intent of these flashing lights.

If could made him combine the lights with a nod of his head, you could at least find out what "yes" and "no" means.

That's assuming it's "language" is close enough to your average human language that it only has one signal for "yes" and one for "no". Given that no one has managed to decipher it, apparantly that isn't the case.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

That's assuming it's "language" is close enough to your average human language that it only has one signal for "yes" and one for "no". Given that no one has managed to decipher it, apparantly that isn't the case.

True, but it's still a Pokemon and as such should be able to communicate by nodding or shaking its head. Isn't this the least we should expect given that all those beings which fall under the definition "Pokemon" can in fact do much much more?

 

[Adamant]

Theoretically, yes, but the anime has used the "certain Pokemon don't necessarily understand all human concepts" plot point many times, so it's possible that Elgyem, given its completely alien nature and that people have been unable to understand its communicative system, has a completely different way of thinking, like only communicating in positives and being unable to process what this "no" concept is supposed to be.

(or we could just run with the standard "its inability to communicate these things is a plot device, live with it", but that's less fun)