Pokémon Ranger: Heatran Rescue! (Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl)
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Pokémon Ranger: Heatran Rescue! is the eleventh episode of Pokémon: DP Sinnoh League Victors, the fourth season of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, as well as the 169th episode of Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the 635th episode of the Pokémon anime. This episode has been hated by many Pokémon fans and is considered to be one of the worst episodes in Pokémon history.
Summary
Pokémon Ranger Ben meets the group while pursuing a wild Heatran, which has gone on a rampage. Team Rocket steal Ben's Capture Styler and attempt to use it to capture Heatran for themselves.
Why It Discontinued The Pokémon Ranger Franchise (Bad Qualities)
- Unlike the other Pokémon Ranger specials (The Green Guardian, Pokémon Ranger: Deoxys' Crisis Parts 1 & 2, and Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu Parts 1 & 2), this Pokémon Ranger special is absolutely nothing but 22 minutes of pure filler, with numerous plot holes, lack-luster writing (courtesy of Junki Takagemi), and Ranger Ben acting completely out-of-character for no valid reason at all.
- This episode, unlike the other Pokémon Ranger specials, is a standalone episode instead of having two separate parts, which caused it to feel incredibly rushed.
- Overall, it's a somewhat disappointing way to end the Pokémon Ranger franchise, since the separate airings of it in Japan and the United States of America marked the release of Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs.
- The pacing in this episode is very erratic. At some points, the episode goes on way too fast, and at other points, the episode goes on way too slow, similar to the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode Everyone Knows It's Bendy.
- While Ben is likable in the Guardian Signs trailer, he seems to be acting completely out-of-character in this episode as he is depicted as being incredibly rude to Ash and his friends while attempting to rescue Heatran.
- There's even one infamous scene where Ben attempts to get his Capture Styler back after Team Rocket steals it, and James, Jessie and Meowth lunge at him, causing the ground beneath them to crumble and nearly sending them into the lava below.
- Aside from the scene where Ben tries to take his styler back from James, there are many frustrating scenes that didn't even need to be in the episode.
- There is also an animation error where, when Brock says that normal Heatran forms can't use the Eruption move, Dawn's hat is shown to have some strange lines.
- The Team Rocket members are heavily flanderized in this episode. For example, James became a bland, cliched thief who wants to steal Ben's Capture Styler for no reason. Even Ben points this out later in the episode.
- Numerous plot holes:
- Why did Meowth's feet get burned by the ground while Ash and Co. were entering the cave? It would've made more sense if Team Rocket made Meowth wear sandals.
- Why did James even steal Ben's Capture Styler in the first place?
- Why would a small earthquake make Heatran run away just before Ben could capture it?
- When Pikachu attacks Team Rocket by using Thunderbolt, how come Ben doesn't climb up to the ledge immediately?
- Why would the Robo-Diglett go out of control for no apparent reason after the remote gets destroyed?
- If Ben's Capture Styler was missing, why didn't he inform Team Rocket earlier in the episode?
- Why would Heatran need to be rescued when it's about to fall into the lava? After all, it's a Fire-type. The title also speaks for itself.
- It's never explained why Ben's Capture Styler was missing and how Team Rocket took it away from him, all because they wanted to capture it for themselves.
- It marked a rare occasion in which Jessie, a member of Team Rocket, refers to one of the main protagonists by Ash himself, which doesn't make sense since Ash is the main protagonist of the Pokémon anime, while Jessie is part of the Team Rocket trio.
- The English dub of the episode has an excessive use of background music, which comes off as obnoxious to some viewers. Even though the Sinnoh era is no stranger to having a decent usage of background music in both the Japanese and English dubs, the episode took the annoying usage of background music way too far.
- Some scenes are downright unsettling by Pokémon standards.
- The scene where Ben nearly plummets into an active volcano can get way too dark for a Japanese kids' anime.
- After Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on Team Rocket, the Robo-Diglett remote that Meowth was holding falls into the lava, causing the Robo-Diglett to malfunction and go on a rampage before Heatran blows it to pieces with Eruption.
- Dubbing error: In the Thai dub, Ben incorrectly says Pidgeot's name by calling it Pidgeotto.
- Completely wasted potential: The idea of an episode where Ash and his friends had to save a Legendary Pokémon with a Pokémon Ranger would've been a great idea of an episode, but it's handled incredibly poorly. The 2-part special Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu did the concept a lot better.
Good Qualities
- The faces that Ash, Pikachu, Brock, and Dawn make after Ben surprises them with his cheerful nature look extremely hilarious.
- Wayne Grayson in the English dub and Tatsuya Hasome in the Japanese dub both do a good job at voicing Ben. Other than that, the voice acting is still great as always.
- A downright hellish atmosphere in the second half of the episode, which is quite fitting for Heatran.
- The ending was decent.
- Ash, Dawn, Brock and most of the Pokémon are likable as usual.
- The flashback scene was somewhat heartwarming.
- In one scene, while Ben was talking about his grandfather, he said that he told him that it was better to try than cry, which means that someone can either try and get things done or sit around and complain and that if they don't succeed, they could try again.
- Even though Ben is questionably written and very out-of-character in this episode, his personality is the same as in the Guardian Signs trailer in some scenes.
- A few of the scenes can be entertaining, such as the ground temperature scene and the scene where Ben says that he's suffering from extreme heat conditions, which comes off as pretty funny.
- If you want, you can say that this episode is non-canon to the entire Pokémon series.
- The use of Feraligatr by Ben's Ranger Signs is pretty neat and creative in the episode as it manages to rescue Ben from falling and using Ice Beam on the lava to prevent Ben from getting burned to his death.
- The Robo-Diglett is pretty creative, but it was executed horribly.
Reception
This episode currently holds a 5.9 on IMDb.
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