This episode was temporarily banned in the US after the events of September 11, 2001, due to the scenes where Tentracruel destroys skyscrapers. However, the scene with the Tentacruel destroying a skyscraper is in the opening theme song for the entire season. It was banned in the US again in 2005 after the events of Hurricane Katrina as it showed shots of a flooded city.
First appearance of Misty's Horsea.
Nastina lands on top of her cousin. Her actual name is Brutella, but her episode ("Beauty and the Beach") was banned until 2000.
The scene where Ash tells Misty not to try to protect the Tentacool because of an incoming tidal wave was changed from the Japanese version, which had Ash calling Misty an idiot.
There is a noticeable similarity between the scene where Tentacruel speaks through Meowth, and a scene from the 1996 sci-fi disaster film Independence Day (1996), in which a captive alien speaks through the body of a scientist. In both cases, a voiceless creature covered in tentacles telepathically speaks through another being in order to make its objectives known to humans.