Original series
- If you were looking for the series of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, see Pokémon Trading Card Game → Original Series.
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, 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 the Advanced Generation series. 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 starter 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 Archipelago 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.
Chapters
The original series is officially divided into three chapters:
- 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)
Pocket Monsters logo
Pocket Monsters: Episode Orange Islands logo
Pocket Monsters: Episode Gold & Silver logo
Dub seasons
When the anime was dubbed into English and other languages, the series was divided between six seasons:
- Pokémon: Indigo League (EP001 - EP017, EP019 - EP034, EP036 - EP037, EP039 - EP051, EP054 - EP057)
- Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands (EP052 - EP053, EP058 - EP105, Holiday Hi-Jynx, Snow Way Out!)
- Pokémon: The Johto Journeys (EP106 - EP157)
- Pokémon: Johto League Champions (EP158 - EP209)
- Pokémon: Master Quest (EP210 - EP249, EP251 - EP262)
Pokémon TV and the Pokémon.com Pokémon Trainer Club stamps divide it instead into Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, consisting of the Kanto and Orange Archipelago episodes, and Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver, consisting of the Johto episodes.
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: Voice of the Forest
- Pokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias
Gallery
- For more images, please see artwork from the original anime series on the Bulbagarden Archives.
Characters
Trivia
- Originally, this series of the anime was only to have lasted 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 based on two different generations of the core series Pokémon games, being based on both Generations I and II.
- 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.
- 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.
- This is the only series in which Ash doesn't have the same group of regular traveling companions for the entire series, with Brock briefly being swapped out for Tracey Sketchit during the Orange 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.
In other languages
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Pokémon the Series: The Beginning
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Pokémon the Series: Gold and Silver
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
