EP038

This article is about an episode of the Pokémon animated series that has not been dubbed into English. As such, its coverage may contain romanized Japanese names, rather than dub names.

EP038 File:ElectricSoldierPorygon.jpg.png

EP038   でんのうせんしポリゴン Computer Soldier Porygon

First broadcast Japan December 16, 1997 United States Unaired

English themes Opening Ending

Japanese themes Opening めざせポケモンマスター Ending ポケットにファンタジー

Credits Animation Team Ota Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Assistant director 井硲清高 Kiyotaka Itani Animation director 志村隆行 Takayuki Shimura Additional credits

Electric Soldier Porygon is the most commonly used translation: no known official English title exists for this episode.

(Japanese: でんのうせんしポリゴン Computer Soldier Porygon, commonly Electric Soldier Porygon; no known English title) is a somewhat notorious episode of the Pokémon anime, due to the fact that on its single airing in Japan on December 16, 1997, nearly 700 Japanese children suffered seizures, vomiting, irritated eyes and other symptoms due to a flashing strobe effect.

The episode was never commercially released or re-broadcast anywhere in the world due to it being banned by the Japanese government.

The scene which caused the seizures was a fifteen-second section in which Pikachu used an Electric attack on some vaccine missiles. The explosion was shown as a bright flashing object which alternated rapidly between red and blue.

The seizures caused by this episode caused OLM to drop the strobe effects from Pikachu's electric attacks. Also, a disclaimer is now broadcast at the beginning of television anime precautioning viewers to not sit too close to the television screen and watch it only in a brightly lit room. (テレビアニメを見るときには、部屋をあかるくして近づきすぎないようにしてみてくださいね。)

Also, this episode gained Pokémon the title of "Most Seizures Caused by an Animated Television Program" from The Guinness Book of World Records.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Synopsis

Template:Incomplete synopsis Ash, Misty and Brock go to a Pokémon Center in order to revive a tired Pikachu when they see a distressed Nurse Joy. There's a problem with the Poké Ball transporter — the Pokémon she sends arrives at another Pokémon Center as a different Pokémon!

Akihabara-hakase, the inventor of the Pokémon Transport System, explains that some thieves have intruded the system and are causing havoc. He sends the reluctant Ash and friends into the computer world, where Team Rocket have set up barricades.

Just as the barricades are destroyed, a flying jet-like machine enters with missiles aimed at our heroes! It seems that Joy hired a technician to put an anti-virus program into the computer, and it indiscriminately targets Team Rocket and the heroes.

After a hectic chase and a strong electric blast from Pikachu, the program is destroyed. Ash and friends emerge in the real world, and now the system is restored to normal.

Major events

Debuts

• Porygon

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Misty
• Brock
• Professor Akihabara
• Jessie
• James

Pokémon

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Meowth (Team Rocket)
• Bulbasaur (Ash's)
• Psyduck (Misty's)
• Arbok (Jessie's)
• Weezing (James's)
• Porygon (Team Rocket's, new; leaves; Japanese debut)

Pokémon seen at the Pokémon Center:

• Ninetales
• Magikarp

Trivia

• Pocket Fantasy replaced Meowth's Song as the ending.
• Akihabara, the name of the professor is also the name of a famous electronics district in Tokyo.
• The seizures caused from this episode were parodied by The Simpsons in the episode "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" and South Park in the episode "Chinpokomon".
• There was originally going to be a New Year's Eve episode of Pokémon. It was never shown, not even in Japan. Electric Soldier Porygon is to blame for this.
• After the hiatus, the time slot changed from Tuesday to Thursday. The original schedule was as follows:

	English title	Japanese title	Planned broadcast	Actual broadcast
	Holiday Hi-Jynx	ルージュラのクリスマス	December 23, 1997	October 5, 1998
	Snow Way Out!	イワークでビバーク	January 6, 1998	October 5, 1998
EP040	The Battling Eevee Brothers	イーブイ４きょうだい	January 13, 1998	April 16, 1998
EP041	Wake Up, Snorlax!	おきろ！カビゴン！	January 20, 1998	April 23, 1998
EP042	Showdown at Dark City	たいけつ！ポケモンジム！	January 27, 1998	April 30, 1998
EP043	March of the Exeggutor Squad	ナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん！	February 3, 1998	May 7, 1998
EP044	The Problem with Paras	パラスとパラセクト	February 10, 1998	May 14, 1998

• The incident also caused EP052 and EP053 to be rescheduled from March 3 and May 5, 1998, respectively, to July 9, 1998.
• Before the series restarted, a special report was aired on April 11, 1998 titled 検証番組 アニメ　ポケットモンスター問題検証報告 Inspection program: inspection report of the anime Pocket Monsters problem.
• Despite Pikachu being the one to launch the seizure causing attack, Porygon has never had an important role in another episode since. Its evolved form, Porygon2, is the only one out of the 100 Generation II Pokémon that hasn't appeared in the anime and many believe that it never will. Also, many believe that Porygon's final form, Porygon-Z, will never appear either. Porygon has appeared in the first four films however.
• Many Pokémon fans have uploaded the Japanese dubbed version of this episode to various websites, including the seizure clip.

Dub edits

• According to Maddie Blaustein, 4Kids Entertainment did in fact dub this episode, reducing the speed and intensity of the flashing explosion to make it safe, but the episode has still never been shown.

In other languages

• Following the results of the Japanese premier, this episode has never aired anywhere else in the world.

External links

• The scene that caused the seizures Watch At Your Own Risk
• Neuroscience for kids - Pokémon on the brain
• Forbidden Pokémon - Pikachu Attack Induces Seizures
• A Japanese page showing the seizure-inducing images
• A Japanese page showing the news reports after the incident
• Electric Soldier Porygon on Wikipedia