TV Special
Description
Meowth is a Normal-type Pokémon and a primary antagonist in Team Rocket alongside his human partners, Jessie and James. Their recurring objective is to capture Ash Ketchum's Pikachu.
His early life was marked by hardship and abandonment, beginning as a hungry and lonely kitten. While searching for food at Camp Pokéhearst, he mistook baseballs for doughnuts and was tied to a tree as punishment. There, he saw a movie depicting a luxurious life for Meowth in Hollywood, also known as Tinseltown, which inspired him to travel there.
In Hollywood, he initially survived as a stray stealing food before being taken in by a street gang of Meowth led by a Persian. He met a female Meowth named Meowzie and developed strong feelings for her, but she rejected him for being a poor "street Meowth" and expressed a preference for humans. Determined to win her affection, Meowth undertook the arduous task of making himself more human-like.
This endeavor involved two monumental efforts: teaching himself to walk permanently upright on two legs, a painful and difficult process, and learning to understand and speak human language. He learned to speak by eavesdropping on a school class from a hole in the ceiling and practicing complex tongue twisters until his meows formed coherent sentences. He learned to read from a picture book, with the first word he comprehended being "rocket." Despite this immense effort, Meowzie was horrified and called him a freak, rejecting his transformation. This rejection, following his earlier neglect, led him to join Team Rocket, inspired by that first word he learned.
As a result of dedicating all his energy to learning human speech and bipedal locomotion, Meowth’s proficiency in standard Pokémon combat was significantly reduced. He is unable to use his species' signature move, Pay Day, and generally performs poorly in battles, though on rare occasions of high passion or anger he can demonstrate formidable strength.
Within Team Rocket, Meowth serves as the trio's primary strategist and mechanic, often devising plans and building contraptions for their missions. He also functions as a translator between humans and Pokémon. His relationship with Jessie and James is deep and familial; he is intensely loyal to them, and they reciprocate this loyalty. Meowth maintains a strong, albeit often jealous, admiration for Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, and harbors a desire to replace Giovanni's Persian as his "top cat."
His personality is multifaceted. He is cunning, prideful, greedy, and mischievous, fitting his role as a villain. He is a skilled liar, capable of convincingly pretending to have left Team Rocket to infiltrate Ash's group. Conversely, he possesses a capacity for compassion and wisdom, particularly towards other Pokémon who have experienced abandonment or hardship. He has observed that under different circumstances, he and Pikachu could have been friends, and the two have been forced to team up on several occasions.
His history with love has been defined by rejection. Beyond Meowzie, he has shown amorous interest in various other Pokémon, including May's Skitty, a Glameow, and Meloetta, though these pursuits were unsuccessful.
Meowth has appeared in various media beyond the main series. In the Pokémon Chronicles episode "Of Meowth and Pokémon," he embarked on independent comical misadventures with the Pichu Brothers. Another Chronicles episode, "Training Daze," revealed how Meowth, Jessie, and James first met and formed their partnership as Team Rocket trainees. He also played a significant role in the XY series episode "A Conspiracy to Conquer," where he was forced to ally with Ash and his friends to confront a threatening Malamar.
His early life was marked by hardship and abandonment, beginning as a hungry and lonely kitten. While searching for food at Camp Pokéhearst, he mistook baseballs for doughnuts and was tied to a tree as punishment. There, he saw a movie depicting a luxurious life for Meowth in Hollywood, also known as Tinseltown, which inspired him to travel there.
In Hollywood, he initially survived as a stray stealing food before being taken in by a street gang of Meowth led by a Persian. He met a female Meowth named Meowzie and developed strong feelings for her, but she rejected him for being a poor "street Meowth" and expressed a preference for humans. Determined to win her affection, Meowth undertook the arduous task of making himself more human-like.
This endeavor involved two monumental efforts: teaching himself to walk permanently upright on two legs, a painful and difficult process, and learning to understand and speak human language. He learned to speak by eavesdropping on a school class from a hole in the ceiling and practicing complex tongue twisters until his meows formed coherent sentences. He learned to read from a picture book, with the first word he comprehended being "rocket." Despite this immense effort, Meowzie was horrified and called him a freak, rejecting his transformation. This rejection, following his earlier neglect, led him to join Team Rocket, inspired by that first word he learned.
As a result of dedicating all his energy to learning human speech and bipedal locomotion, Meowth’s proficiency in standard Pokémon combat was significantly reduced. He is unable to use his species' signature move, Pay Day, and generally performs poorly in battles, though on rare occasions of high passion or anger he can demonstrate formidable strength.
Within Team Rocket, Meowth serves as the trio's primary strategist and mechanic, often devising plans and building contraptions for their missions. He also functions as a translator between humans and Pokémon. His relationship with Jessie and James is deep and familial; he is intensely loyal to them, and they reciprocate this loyalty. Meowth maintains a strong, albeit often jealous, admiration for Team Rocket's boss, Giovanni, and harbors a desire to replace Giovanni's Persian as his "top cat."
His personality is multifaceted. He is cunning, prideful, greedy, and mischievous, fitting his role as a villain. He is a skilled liar, capable of convincingly pretending to have left Team Rocket to infiltrate Ash's group. Conversely, he possesses a capacity for compassion and wisdom, particularly towards other Pokémon who have experienced abandonment or hardship. He has observed that under different circumstances, he and Pikachu could have been friends, and the two have been forced to team up on several occasions.
His history with love has been defined by rejection. Beyond Meowzie, he has shown amorous interest in various other Pokémon, including May's Skitty, a Glameow, and Meloetta, though these pursuits were unsuccessful.
Meowth has appeared in various media beyond the main series. In the Pokémon Chronicles episode "Of Meowth and Pokémon," he embarked on independent comical misadventures with the Pichu Brothers. Another Chronicles episode, "Training Daze," revealed how Meowth, Jessie, and James first met and formed their partnership as Team Rocket trainees. He also played a significant role in the XY series episode "A Conspiracy to Conquer," where he was forced to ally with Ash and his friends to confront a threatening Malamar.