Fishing Conference of Hiun City! Fisher Sommelier - Dent Appears!! is an alternate, unreleased edition of the 37th episode of the Pokémon Best Wishes series.
Originally scheduled to air as the 26th episode of the series on April 7th, 2011, the episode was initially pulled in response to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Had it aired, it would've been between the episodes "Battling for the Love of Bug-Types!" and "Emolga the Irresistible!".
Later, an edited version of the episode aired on June 23rd, 2011, complete with a slightly altered title (the "Fishing Conference of Hiun City" part was dropped) and certain portions re-written to so that the episode fitted into its new place in the continuity (between "Archeops in the Modern World!" and "Movie Time! Zorua in 'The Legend of the Pokémon Knight'!")
The original cut of the episode has remained unreleased.
Known Edits[]
While it's impossible to confirm every single edit that would've occurred in the aired version for obvious reasons, there are at least two that can be chalked up from educated assumptions:
- The original episode was set in Castelia City (Hiun City in Japanese). This can be seen from the original title along with how Ash and friends are clearly still in Castelia City by the end of the (what would have originally been) previous episode. In the aired version, the setting is retconned into being a generic filler city, as the group had already left Castelia many episodes ago.
- A new scene of Bianca leaving after the events of the episode is inserted. In the original, Bianca would've started traveling with Ash and friends for a short time beginning from this episode (throughout "Emolga the Irresistible" and "Emolga and the New Volt Switch!". Note that in the former, Bianca is already traveling with the group with no explanation)
Telltale Signs[]
Despite the edits stated above, the aired version of the episode still contained many continuity errors implying the episode originally took place earlier:
- When Cilan reveals his special fishing rod, Ash acts surprised, despite having already seen it in a previous episode. Had the episode aired when originally planned, this would've been the first time he'd seen it.
- Team Rocket's jet packs have a lot more emphasis on them when they're revealed, even though they'd used them before. Again, this would've been the first time they'd been used had the original airing went as planned.
- Ash acts surprised upon seeing James' Yamask and scans it with his Pokédex despite having already seen it in his possession previously. Once again, this would've marked the first time Ash had seen it, had the episode aired when originally planned.
- In the English dub (titled "A Fishing Connoisseur in a Fishy Competition"), this is altered so that Ash doesn't sound surprised, and is scanning Yamask with his Pokédex so that Bianca could learn about it.