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 (Japanese: 無印編 unnamed saga), are the first series of the Pokémon animated series in Japan and Asia and the first and second series of Pokémon the Series in the West. The series is based on the events of the core series Generation I and II Pokémon games, respectively. It was succeeded by Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire. It 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.
Pocket Monsters logo
Pocket Monsters Episode: Orange Islands logo
Pocket Monsters Episode: Gold & Silver logo
Dub seasons
When the series was dubbed into English and other languages, it 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.
Pokémon: Indigo League logo
Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands logo
Pokémon: The Johto Journeys logo
Pokémon: Johto League Champions logo
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)
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
Gallery
- For more images, please see artwork from the original anime series on the Bulbagarden Archives.
Posters
Early Japanese poster
Japanese poster
Pokémon Asia poster
Main characters
Rivals
Supporting characters
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 animated series'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 series in the animated series, this one features the most Pokémon from an upcoming generation.
- This series also features the most characters of the day of any 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
| Language | Title | |
|---|---|---|
 Korean
|
오리지널 시리즈 Original Series | |
Pocket Monsters
| Language | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | Cantonese | 寶可夢 Bóuhómuhng* 精靈寶可夢 Jīnglìhng Bóuhómuhng* 寵物小精靈 Chúngmaht Síujīnglìhng* |
| Mandarin | 寶可夢 / 宝可梦 Bǎokěmèng* 精靈寶可夢 / 精灵宝可梦 Jīnglíng Bǎokěmèng* 神奇寶貝 / 神奇宝贝 Shénqí Bǎobèi* 宠物小精灵 Chǒngwù Xǐaojīnglíng* | |
| Korean
|
포켓몬스터 Pocket Monsters | |
Pocket Monsters Episode: Orange Islands
| Language | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin Chinese | 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* | |
| Korean
|
포켓몬스터 오렌지제도편 Pocket Monsters Orange Jedo Pyeon 포켓몬스터 오렌지제도 Pocket Monsters Orange Jedo | |
Pokémon the Series: The Beginning
| Language | Title | |
|---|---|---|
 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 | |
 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: Gold and Silver | |
| 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 금은편 Pocket Monsters Geum & Eun Pyeon 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
|
This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation. |
