Original series

If you were looking for the series of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, see Pokémon Trading Card Game → Original Series.

A poster for the series, featuring Ash, Misty, Brock, and some of their Pokémon

Pokémon the Series: The Beginning and Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver, collectively referred to as Pokémon (Japanese: ポケットモンスター Pocket Monsters) and referred to by fans as the original series (Japanese: 無印編 unnamed saga), are the first series of the Pokémon anime and are based on the events of the core series Generation I and II Pokémon games, respectively. They were succeeded by Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. They ran from April 1, 1997 to November 14, 2002 in Japan and from September 7, 1998 to October 25, 2003 in the United States. They were not given English names until after the release of Pokémon the Series: XY.

During the original series, rookie Trainer Ash Ketchum begins his journey in the Kanto region, leaving his home of Pallet Town with the only first partner Pokémon that Professor Oak had left to give: a reluctant and moody Pikachu. Ash's quest begins in earnest to defeat all of the Gym Leaders and get to the Pokémon League as soon as he has gained Pikachu's trust, and he is joined by two mentors, Misty and Brock.

After competing in the Indigo Plateau Conference and not performing as well as he had hoped, Ash journeys to the Orange Islands to receive the GS Ball from Professor Ivy, as it cannot be transported to Professor Oak by PC. During his time there, Ash competes in another Pokémon League, the Orange League, and meets a new friend named Tracey Sketchit. When Oak cannot figure out how to open the GS Ball on Ash's return to Pallet, the Professor sends Ash to Johto to give the special Poké Ball to Kurt. While there, Ash again competes in a Pokémon League, the Silver Conference.

Episodes in the original series are numbered with the prefix EP on Bulbapedia. For a complete episode listing, see the list of original series episodes.

Blurb

It’s Ash Ketchum’s tenth birthday, and he’s ready to do what many 10-year-olds in the Kanto region set out to do—become a Pokémon Trainer! Things don’t go exactly the way he planned when he ends up with a Pikachu instead of a standard first Pokémon, and winning Gym Badges turns out to be much tougher than he thought. Luckily, he’s got former Gym Leaders Brock and Misty at his side, along with a bevy of new Pokémon friends, including Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander.

Chapters

In Japan, the original series is officially divided into three chapters; their titles were officially rendered in English in Pocket Monsters Film Comic. These chapter titles are not used within the episodes themselves, but were retroactively titled as such in later releases.

• Pocket Monsters (ポケットモンスター) (EP001 - EP080)
• Pocket Monsters Episode: Orange Islands (ポケットモンスター オレンジ諸島編) (EP081 - EP116)
• Pocket Monsters Episode: Gold & Silver (ポケットモンスター 金銀編) (EP117 - EP274)

These titles were used in the VHS and DVD releases. The sale-only VHS Gym Battle Complete Pack: Masara Town Arc, the rental-only VHS Pocket Monsters TV Special: Masara Town Arc Recap, and promotional material for the Episode: Gold & Silver VHS and DVD release retroactively titled the first chapter as Pocket Monsters: Masara Town Arc (ポケットモンスター マサラタウン編).

The following logos were subsequently used on the official site from 2002 to 2020, though the color of the text underneath has changed over the course of several site redesigns. The 2020 site redesign replaced the individual Episode: Orange Islands and Episode: Gold & Silver logos with the generic logo.

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  Pocket Monsters logo

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  Pocket Monsters Episode: Orange Islands logo

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  Pocket Monsters Episode: Gold & Silver logo

Dub seasons

When the anime was dubbed into English and other languages, the series was divided between five seasons:

• Pokémon: Indigo League (EP001 - EP017, EP019 - EP034, EP036 - EP037, EP039 - EP051, EP054 - EP057)
• Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands (EP052 - EP053, EP058 - EP116, Holiday Hi-Jynx, Snow Way Out!)
• Pokémon: The Johto Journeys (EP117 - EP157)
• Pokémon: Johto League Champions (EP158 - EP209)
• Pokémon: Master Quest (EP210 - EP249, EP251 - EP274)

The titles for the first two seasons are not used within the episodes themselves, but were retroactively titled as such in later releases. On televised airings and Region 4 home video releases, the last 12 episodes of Master Quest are counted as part of Pokémon: Advanced.

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  Pokémon: Indigo League logo

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  Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands logo

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  Pokémon: The Johto Journeys logo

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  Pokémon: Johto League Champions logo

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  Pokémon: Master Quest logo

Pokémon TV and Prime Video additionally divide it instead into two distinct series:

• Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, consisting of the Kanto and Orange Islands episodes. (EP001 - EP116, Holiday Hi-Jynx, Snow Way Out!)
• Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver, consisting of the Johto episodes. (EP117 - EP274)

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  Pokémon the Series: The Beginning logo

• 

  Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver logo

Movies

Main article: Pokémon movie → Original series

• Pokémon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back
• Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One
• Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown: Entei
• Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi: The Voice of the Forest
• Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias

Home video releases

North American home video releases

• List of English language Indigo League home video releases (Region 1)
• List of English language Adventures in the Orange Islands home video releases (Region 1)
• List of English language The Johto Journeys home video releases (Region 1)
• List of English language Johto League Champions home video releases (Region 1)
• List of English language Master Quest home video releases (Region 1)

Australian home video releases

• List of English language Indigo League home video releases (Region 4)
• List of English language Adventures in the Orange Islands home video releases (Region 4)
• List of English language The Johto Journeys home video releases (Region 4)
• List of English language Johto League Champions home video releases (Region 4)
• List of English language Master Quest home video releases (Region 4)

Japanese home video releases

• List of Japanese language original series home video releases

Gallery

For more images, please see artwork from the original anime series on the Bulbagarden Archives.

Posters

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  Early Japanese poster

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  Japanese poster

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  Pokémon Asia poster

Main characters

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  Ash Ketchum

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  Pikachu

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  Misty

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  Brock

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  Tracey Sketchit

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  Team Rocket

Rivals

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  Gary Oak

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  Ritchie

Supporting characters

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  Professor Oak

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  Nurse Joy

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  Officer Jenny

Trivia

• Originally, this series was meant to last for a year and a half, approximately as long as the Kanto saga would have lasted, had the EP038 incident not happened.
• This is the only series in which:
  • The journey is based on two different generations of the core series Pokémon games, being based on both Generations I and II.
  • All of its dub seasons are dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment.
  • Ash places in the Top 16 of a Pokémon League Conference, his lowest placing to date.
  • Most episodes except for the last ones are animated traditionally or by using cels.
  • No CG animation is used outside of movies.
  • No Mythical Pokémon appear outside of movies, although there were later-scrapped plans for a Celebi to appear during the Johto saga.
  • At least one movie does not feature any Mythical Pokémon at all.
• At 274 episodes, this is the anime's longest series.
  • This series also has the most dub seasons, with five.
  • This series also contains the most movies of any series, with five.
  • This series also has the most banned episodes, with a total of seven.
• The first 40 episodes were originally aired in syndication in the United States in 1998 before moving to Kids' WB! in 1999 for the remaining 12 episodes of Pokémon: Indigo League.
• Throughout the English dub versions of the Johto saga, the narrator refers to the group as being "On the road to Johto". Though it would be more correct to say "On the road through Johto", he could have just been referring to the Johto League.
• Out of all anime series, this one features the most Pokémon from an upcoming generation.
  • This series also features the most characters of the day of any anime series.
• The name of the Kanto region is never mentioned in this series.
• In the Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl episode A Marathon Rivalry!, Ash and Brock mention having heard of Pokéathlon during their travels in Johto during this series, despite this never being shown and the competition only being introduced in Generation IV.
• All the Pokémon Ash catches in Kanto and the Orange Islands (excluding Primeape), would later go on to gain a Mega Evolution, a regional form, and/or a Gigantamax form for their current or later stages.

In other languages

Pokémon the Series: The Beginning

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	精靈寶可夢 Jīnglìhng Pokémon* 寵物小精靈 Chúngmaht Síujīnglìhng*
	Mandarin	神奇寶貝 / 神奇宝贝 Shénqí Bǎobèi* 宠物小精灵 Chǒngwù Xǐaojīnglíng* 精靈寶可夢 / 精灵宝可梦 Jīnglíng Pokémon* 神奇寶貝橘子群島篇 Shénqí Bǎobèi Júzǐ Qúndǎo Piān* 神奇宝贝柑橘群岛编 Shénqí Bǎobèi Gānjú Qúndǎo Biān*
Danish		Pokémon Serien: Begyndelsen
Dutch		Pokémon de Serie: Het Begin Pokémon-serie: Het begin
Finnish		Pokémon-sarja: Alku
French		Pokémon, la série : Le commencement* Pokémon, la série : The Beginning*
German		Pokémon – Die TV-Serie: Die Anfänge* Pokémon – Die TV-Serie: The Beginning*
Italian		Serie Pokémon Gli albori
Korean		포켓몬스터 Pocket Monsters* 포켓몬스터 오렌지제도 Pocket Monsters Orange Jedo*
Norwegian		Pokémon Serien: Begynnelsen* Pokémon-serien: Starten*
Brazilian Portuguese		Pokémon, a série: O início* Pokémon A Série: O Começo* Pokémon, a Série: O Início*
Russian		Покемон сериал: Начало
European Spanish		Serie Pokémon El comienzo
Swedish		Pokémon Serien: Början
Thai		โปเกมอน เดอะ ซีรี่ส์: จุดเริ่มต้น Pokémon the Series: Jùt Rêrm-dtôn

Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		神奇寶貝金銀篇 Shénqí Bǎobèi Jīnyín Piān* 神奇宝贝金銀编 Shénqí Bǎobèi Jīnyín Biān*
Danish		Pokémon-serien: Guld og sølv
Dutch		Pokémon de Serie: Gold and Silver Pokémon-serie: Goud en zilver
Finnish		Pokémon-sarja: Alku
French		Pokémon, la série : Or et Argent* Pokémon, la série : Gold and Silver*
German		Pokémon – Die TV-Serie: Gold und Silber
Italian		Serie Pokémon Oro e Argento
Korean		포켓몬스터 금은 Pocket Monsters Geum & Eun
Norwegian		Pokémon-serien: Gold og Silver
Brazilian Portuguese		Pokémon, a série: Ouro e Prata* Pokémon A Série: Ouro e Prata* Pokémon, a Série: Ouro e Prata*
Russian		Покемон сериал: Золото и Серебро*
Spanish	Latin America	La Serie Pokémon Oro y Plata
	Spain	Serie Pokémon Oro y Plata
Swedish		Pokémon Serien: Guld och Silver

External links

• Pokémon the Series: The Beginning at the Pokémon official site for Asia
• Pokémon the Series: The Beginning PV

Series and seasons of the Pokémon animated series Original series (list) Indigo League • Adventures in the Orange Islands The Johto Journeys • Johto League Champions • Master Quest Ruby and Sapphire (list) Advanced • Advanced Challenge • Advanced Battle • Battle Frontier Diamond and Pearl (list) Diamond and Pearl • Battle Dimension • Galactic Battles • Sinnoh League Victors Black & White (list) Black & White • Rival Destinies • Adventures in Unova and Beyond XY (list) XY • Kalos Quest • XYZ (Mega Evolution Specials) Sun & Moon (list) Sun & Moon • Ultra Adventures‎ • Ultra Legends Journeys (list) Journeys • Master Journeys • Ultimate Journeys (The Arceus Chronicles) Horizons (list) Horizons Specials (list) Pikachu's Winter Vacation • Side Stories • Pokémon Chronicles Planetarium specials • Pikachu shorts Mewtwo Returns • The Legend of Thunder! • Pichu Bros. in Party Panic The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon • A Ripple in Time Complete list • Movies

This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.