There have been some bizarre episodes of Pokémon over the years, but one of the weirdest has to be the time when Ash and Team Rocket worked together to overcome an alien invasion. The alien invaders were, in fact, Pokémon, but that didn’t change the fact that they came from space and were slowly taking over one small town.
In the episode “Capacia Island UFO!”, Ash and friends witness the crash of a UFO just outside of town. They investigate the crash site and find an Amulet Coin, an item from the games which increases prize money when held. Team Rocket investigate on their own, finding a seemingly identical coin and losing Meowth. Ash and co. decide to retire for the evening, and head to the local Pokémon Center for some rest. However, upon waking, Ash is stunned at the faces of his companions, who have been transformed.
Cilan, Iris, and even Axew’s faces have all been replaced with flat faces resembling that of the Pokémon Beheeyem, which Ash slowly begins to recognize.
Beheeyem’s Invasion Is Shockingly Successful
While they insist nothing is wrong, Ash runs from them, but soon finds that Officer Jenny, and indeed, the whole town, have all been transformed to have this emotionless, mask-like face. Ash watches as a Beheeyem comes out to give the townsfolk an order: search for an object resembling Ash’s Amulet Coin. Ash makes contact with Team Rocket, who likewise haven’t been transformed, and they agree to work together to get to the bottom of this.
The episode has a full Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style plot, with Ash, Jessie and James left alone to save the town. It’s one of the most horror-like episodes in the entire series, with Ash outnumbered and pursued by the townsfolk with disturbingly featureless faces. Eventually, Beheeyem explains that their spaceship is missing a crucial component, and that, in desperation, they used their psychic powers to enlist the townsfolk to search. Ash hands over his coin, but it fails; the coin James found is the real deal, but Team Rocket can’t help themselves and try to keep it.
By dealing with Team Rocket and returning the power source, Ash is able to get the Beheeyem to return to their ship and leave, and he watches it take off, presumably headed back out into space. Thankfully, everyone is returned to normal when the Beheeyem leave, including Ash’s companions, and it goes down as yet another weird day in the life of Ash Ketchum.
The episode is bizarre from start to finish, not only for introducing another UFO-piloting alien Pokémon species, but for its horror themes and strange use of an item from the games. There’s no telling what might have happened had Ash not been able to return the coin they were looking for, and the UFO’s existence provides hard proof that these Pokémon are definitely from space. At the end of the day, Ash Ketchum singlehandedly stopped an alien invasion, which is probably something no Pokémon fan ever expected.
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