Mary: The Radio Host Whose Show Guides All of Johto

Mary doesn't battle: she talks, and Johto listens. Based at the Radio Tower in Goldenrod City, she co-hosts, with Professor Oak, the show the player keeps tuned in to from one end of the region to the other. The program also airs across the border in Kanto, which makes her a celebrity in two regions at once. The games, the anime and the manga offer three takes on her that have little in common.

Contents

• The Show That Tells You Where to Hunt
• The Day Team Rocket Took Over the Airwaves
• Marie, Her Name in the French Anime
• A Radio Drama Saved Single-Handedly
• Two Marys, Two Oaks and a Missing Professor
• In the Manga, the Host Joins the Fight
• Mary at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Show That Tells You Where to Hunt

Mary works at the Goldenrod Radio Tower, where she shares the airwaves with Professor Oak. Their show is called "Prof. Oak's Pokémon Talk" in Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal, then "Professor Oak's Pokémon Talk" in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.

The split between the two hosts is clear when you listen. Oak announces where Trainers can run into one species or another, some rarer than others, while Mary talks about those Pokémon on air. So the show is part entertainment, part scouting tool.

The broadcast doesn't stop at Johto: the show also airs in Kanto, so much so that people from the neighboring region travel all the way to Goldenrod City hoping to meet the host. Oak himself admits it: without his co-host's personality and energy, the program would never have stayed on the air.

The Day Team Rocket Took Over the Airwaves

The voice has a face, and the game lets you go see it for yourself. You'll find Mary on the fourth floor of the Radio Tower, where the player can talk to her like any other station employee.

The visit takes a bad turn when Team Rocket seizes the tower. Mary is held along with the rest of the staff and, in a panic, calls on her Meowth for help — not that it changes anything.

Once the tower is freed, she thanks the player when they come back to see her. Her gift is a Pink Bow in Gold, Silver and Crystal, and BrightPowder in HeartGold and SoulSilver: the first powers up Normal-type moves, the second raises the evasion of the Pokémon holding it.

Her last appearance in the games is a reporter gag. She comes running up at the Indigo Plateau right after the player's victory over Lance, misses the battle, blames Professor Oak for it and asks in vain for an interview with the brand-new Champion, whom Lance immediately whisks off to the Hall of Fame.

🎙️ Mary's Meowth has its own section: see the Pokémon plushies.

Marie, Her Name in the French Anime

The French version of the anime gives her a new name. There she goes by Marie, the French form of her English name, Mary, but she holds exactly the same job at the Goldenrod Radio Tower.

Her first appearance has her falling for a scam she never sees through. She welcomes a disguised Team Rocket on air, mistaking them for the Dugtrio Trio, Pokémon ventriloquists by trade, and even compliments the crooks on how lifelike their "puppet" is.

She then interviews Ash, who has just won the Plain Badge from Whitney. Seeing the boy frozen in front of the microphone, she suggests he treat the interview like a Pokémon battle, and the trick is enough to relax him right up to the last question.

A Radio Drama Saved Single-Handedly

The episode then runs into a scheduling problem. The tapes of the Pokémon radio drama scheduled right after the interview have been wrecked by Team Rocket, forcing the station to go live.

Mary inherits the narration of the radio drama "Prince Goldenrod." The characters' voices go to Ash's group and to the members of Team Rocket, who still haven't taken off their disguises: a questionable cast, but the show goes on anyway.

The crooks use the live broadcast to rewrite the script and try to kidnap Pikachu. Mary improvises around every twist to keep the story coherent, and once Team Rocket is unmasked and defeated, she carries the drama through to its planned ending: it's a huge success.

Two Marys, Two Oaks and a Missing Professor

She later returns alongside Professor Oak for a show about Pokémon, with an announcement to go with it: the next episode will be recorded in front of an audience gathered in a park in Maroon Town.

When they arrive, Nurse Joy tells them that "Mary and Oak" got there the day before. Impostors have taken their place, and these fake hosts — Team Rocket — turn the accusation back on the real ones; it takes a Pokémon quiz, refereed by Nurse Joy, to tell the two Oaks apart, with each Mary presenting the contest.

Her last appearance comes in Pokémon Chronicles, where Professor Oak is kidnapped before being found safe and sound. Mary lets Tracey Sketchit, the Professor's assistant, know that Oak has vanished from a building no witness saw him leave, mentions the two scientists who came to talk to him before lunch, then follows the trail with Officer Jenny and Ritchie all the way to the kidnappers, Butch and Cassidy.

In the Manga, the Host Joins the Fight

The manga gives her a partner and an inciting incident. Her Smeargle, a gift from her friend Whitney, who runs the Goldenrod Gym, scribbles on a fan's face while he's asleep: the Trainer Gold bursts in during a live broadcast to get back at the Pokémon, and the argument goes out on air.

Ratings soar, and the station's management cashes in by staging a bike race between Gold and Whitney. Mary, rather overwhelmed by the whole thing, covers it as a host and raises the alarm when a wild Rhydon attacks Whitney; she later signs autographs for the winner.

Then she leaves the studio for good. She joins the group heading to Mahogany Town to warn Pryce, at his Gym, that Suicune is attacking the region's Gym Leaders one by one, then ends up behind the microphone for the Pokémon League, at the Indigo Plateau.

That's where she joins the fight. When the Masked Man unleashes an army of mind-controlled Grunts on the League, she orders her Smeargle to use Sketch to copy the Fire-type moves of Entei: the host thus saves the Gym Leaders under attack. She's later seen presenting the Pokéathlon, until Lance's Dragonite wrecks the dome and forces an evacuation.

Mary at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where can you find Mary in the games?
  On the fourth floor of the Goldenrod Radio Tower. Team Rocket holds her there when they take over the building, and she thanks the player who comes back to talk to her once the tower is freed.
• What show does Mary host?
  The show she co-hosts with Professor Oak: he tells you where to find certain Pokémon, some rarer than others, and she talks about them. The program airs in both Johto and Kanto.
• What does Mary give the player?
  A Pink Bow in Gold, Silver and Crystal, which boosts Normal-type moves, replaced by BrightPowder in HeartGold and SoulSilver, which improves the evasion of the Pokémon holding it.
• Why is Mary called Marie in the French anime?
  Because the French dub worked from her English name, Mary, and Marie is its French form, while the French games call her Lula. The character is the same: the host at the Goldenrod Radio Tower.
• Which Pokémon does Mary have?
  A Meowth in the games, which she calls for help during the hostage crisis. In the manga, it's a Smeargle, a gift from Whitney, which she uses to copy Entei's Fire-type moves and save Johto's Gym Leaders.

In short

Mary holds a rare place in Johto: that of a civilian whose job shapes your playthrough, since her show tells the player what they can catch and where. The adaptations each handle her in their own way — the anime makes her a pro who can rescue a live broadcast, the manga a presenter who ends up joining the fight. Which leaves the gag that sums her up best: rushing to the Indigo Plateau and leaving without her interview.