On December 16, 1997 in Japan, what can now be said as perhaps the most infamous anime episode of all time aired. The season 1 Pokémon episode, "Dennō Senshi Porygon" (translated to "Computer Warrior Porygon", but more commonly known as "Electric Soldier Porygon") involved Ash (or Satoshi, as he is known in the Japanese dub) and the gang going (digitally) inside an out-of-order Poké Ball transmitting device to determine the cause of its malfunctioning.
A little more than halfway through the episode, there are several scenes in which "vaccine missiles" are set upon the group by Team Rocket, resulting in several explosions depicted by quick, bright, alternating flashes of red and blue in the background (and sometimes foreground). This flashing caused an estimated 685 Japanese children to be hospitalised after suffering epileptic seizures, two of whom remained hospitalised for upwards of two weeks. The event caused a huge amount of controversy, and received worldwide media coverage, sending Pokémon into a four-month hiatus, and the timeslot was taken over by class king yamazaki, and during the hiatus, all Previous 37 Episodes were rerun on Kids station before being back on Air On TV Tokyo. The episode was immediately banned from reairing worldwide by the Japanese government. As an added bonus, Porygon and its future evolutions, never appeared or were mentioned in the anime ever again (aside from cameos in the movies) out of fear that negative connotations of the incident would surface; it should be noted, however, that Pikachu was the one who destroyed the missiles and set off the flashing explosion, but as Pikachu is the franchise mascot, Nintendo decided to use Porygon as a scapegoat.
The Japanese dub of the episode, that only aired once, was captured by several home viewers, and has subsequently found its way onto YouTube.
In an online Q&A[1] with the late voice actress Maddie Blaustein (who voiced Meowth in the English dub), said that 4Kids had produced and completed an English dubbed version of the episode (with the seizure-inducing flashes assumingly edited out), however, due to the previously imposed ban on the episode, it was still not allowed to go to air (and as such has never been heard/seen by the public). Veronica Taylor (Ash's English voice actor), on the other hand, claims they never dubbed the episode.
References[]
- ↑ 2008 Q&A with the late Maddie Blaustein (Meowth's English voice actor). Retrieved 29 May '13.