Pokémon Season 1: Indigo League

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Pokémon Indigo League was initially just known as ‘Pokémon’ and is the first season of the Pokémon Anime that was dubbed and released in English. The subtitle ‘Indigo League’ was added by the official DVD and VHS releases and is a direct reference to the Indigo Plateau, where the Kanto Pokémon league is hosted.

The story begins by following Ash Ketchum, a ten-year-old boy who has just got his Pokémon Trainer license. It follows the journey of Ash and Pikachu leaving Pallet Town on their adventures (and misadventures) as he sets out to try and fulfill his ambition of becoming a Pokémon Master. The whole season is set in the Kanto region. You can click here to read a summarised version of this season’s key events.

Prior to its English dub being released, Pokémon Season 1 began airing in Japan on April 1st, 1997, and by August 6th, 1998 all 52 episodes of the original US television season had been shown there; the Japanese run of the season continued until January 21st, 1999. The first aired episode was “Pokémon – I Choose You!”.

The theme songs for this season were: “Aim to Be a Pokémon Master” by Rica Matsumoto in Japan and “Pokémon Theme” by Jason Paige for the English opening. There was also a PokéRap segment at the end of each episode (up to The Breeding Center Secret) which would “rap” the names of around 30 different Pokémon of the complete 151, changing the Pokémon in it each time; this was intended to help viewers remember the names of all the Pokémon.

In the U.S. in terms of television airings there were 52 televised episodes originally out of 79 dubbed, meaning the other 27 were first broadcast as part of Kids’ WB’s second season in late 1999. The first season aired in the United States in 1998 with the first episode being “Battle Aboard the St. Anne” which aired as a sneak preview on September 7th, 1998, and ran right the way up to May 1st, 1999 when the final episode of Season 1 “The Breeding Center Secret” was finally shown. Shortly after it was aired in the USA, YTV picked up the series for airing in Canada.

This season was directly succeeded by Pokémon Season 2: Adventures in the Orange Islands which continued the story of Ash and his friends in the Kanto region and its offshore islands, collectively known as the Orange Archipelago.

Pokémon: Indigo League covers the first 82 episodes of Pocket Monsters as broadcast on TV Tokyo between 1 April 1997 and 21 January 1999 — Bulbapedia’s EP001 to EP080 plus the two winter specials Holiday Hi-Jynx and Snow Way Out!. Dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment, it premiered in American first-run syndication in September 1998, moved to Kids’ WB! in February 1999 and turned a Game Boy RPG into a worldwide craze. Along the way Ash collects all eight Kanto badges — only three of them by actually beating the Gym Leader — builds a team around Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle and Pidgeotto, watches Charmander grow into a Charizard that will no longer obey him, and reaches the Top 16 of the Indigo Plateau Conference before Charizard’s refusal to fight hands victory to his new friend Ritchie.

It is also the season that wrote the rulebook. The Team Rocket motto, the “blasting off again” twinkle, Who’s That Pokémon?, Brock’s ear-pulling, the families of identical Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys and the jelly-filled doughnuts all start here, and so do the anime’s first captures, evolutions, trades and releases. Behind the scenes it is the season of the Pokémon Shock: the seizure-inducing Electric Soldier Porygon took the series off Japanese television for four months, and together with the never-dubbed The Legend of Dratini, the long-shelved Beauty and the Beach and the later withdrawal of Holiday Hi-Jynx it makes Indigo League the most censored season of the dub. Our complete episode guide below preserves the original synopses written for Pokémon Dungeon, now with Japanese titles, air dates and the Who’s That Pokémon? answers for every episode.

• 82episodes in Japan (79 dubbed, 52 in the US TV season)
• 8Gym badges — only three won by beating the Leader
• 148Pokémon species debut, 146 of them from Generation I
• Top 16Ash’s finish at the Indigo Plateau Conference
• 2episodes never dubbed: The Legend of Dratini and Electric Soldier Porygon
• 18.6%Japanese rating for The Flame Pokémon-athon! — the series’ best

Quick Answers

Story Arcs

Indigo League runs for 82 Japanese episodes, from Ash’s late start in Pallet Town to the Indigo Plateau Conference, and beneath the character-of-the-day adventures it follows the route of the original Red and Green games surprisingly closely — here is how the season breaks down, with stills from our episode guide below.

Pallet Town to Cerulean CityEP001–EP007

Ash Ketchum oversleeps on the morning of his tenth birthday, finds that Professor Oak’s three Kanto starters have already gone, and leaves Pallet Town with a disobedient Pikachu that refuses to ride in its Poké Ball. A Spearow flock, Misty’s borrowed — and fried — bicycle and a glimpse of the legendary Ho-Oh forge the bond between them, and in Viridian City Jessie, James and their talking Meowth decide to steal this remarkably powerful Pikachu. Ash catches Caterpie and Pidgeotto in Viridian Forest, and Caterpie evolves twice into Butterfree. In Pewter City Brock’s Onix crushes Pikachu; in the rematch Ash calls off his attack rather than finish a soaked, defenceless Onix, and Brock hands him the Boulder Badge anyway before leaving the Gym to his father and joining the journey. After the Clefairy of Mt. Moon, Misty turns out to be the youngest of Cerulean City’s Gym Leader sisters; Team Rocket’s giant vacuum ends her battle with Ash, and her sisters give him the Cascade Badge for defending the Gym.

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Bulbasaur, Charmander & SquirtleEP008–EP014

After lessons in humility from A.J.’s unbeaten unofficial Gym and Giselle of Pokémon Tech, Ash gathers the other three Kanto starters in consecutive episodes: Bulbasaur, the guardian of Melanie’s Hidden Village, battles its way onto the team; Charmander, abandoned on a rock in the rain by its trainer Damian, chooses Ash; and the leader of the Squirtle Squad joins after the gang help save a town from Team Rocket. At Bill’s lighthouse Ash catches a Krabby — sent straight to Professor Oak because he already carries six Pokémon — and glimpses a giant Dragonite. In Vermilion City Lt. Surge’s Raichu flattens Pikachu, but Pikachu turns down the Thunder Stone, wins the rematch on speed and earns Ash the Thunder Badge, the first he wins by beating a Gym Leader.

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The St. Anne & Porta VistaEP015–EP019

A free cruise on the luxury liner St. Anne turns out to be a Team Rocket trap. Ash briefly trades Butterfree for a Raticate, James is talked into buying a worthless Magikarp, and when the ship capsizes the heroes and the trio have to escape the wreck together — only for the Magikarp James kicks away to evolve into a furious Gyarados. The castaways wash up on Giovanni’s robot-filled Pokémon Land, then reach the resort of Porta Vista, setting of the beauty-contest episode Beauty and the Beach that the dub skipped, and of Nastina’s war with a giant Tentacruel, during which Misty catches a Horsea.

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Ghosts, Psychics & the Celadon fireEP020–EP027

After the Ghost of Maiden’s Peak comes one of the series’ most famous farewells, as Ash releases Butterfree to follow a pink mate across the sea. In Saffron City Sabrina’s Abra evolves into Kadabra mid-battle and Ash ends up shrunk inside her dollhouse; he finds a mischievous Haunter in Lavender Town’s Pokémon Tower and brings it to the Gym, where its antics make the stone-faced Sabrina laugh — Kadabra laughs too, cannot continue, and the Marsh Badge is Ash’s, with Haunter staying behind. A hat-stealing Mankey becomes Ash’s Primeape, Ash dresses up as “Ashley” to get into Erika’s Celadon Gym and earns the Rainbow Badge by rescuing her Gloom from a fire started by Team Rocket, and Misty ends up with a Psyduck she never wanted.

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Fuchsia, the Safari Zone & the Pokémon ShockEP028–EP038

Brock is entrusted with Suzie’s Vulpix, Primeape wins the P1 Grand Prix and stays behind to train with Anthony, and Ash catches a Muk at Gringey City’s power plant. Team Rocket’s Ekans and Koffing evolve together into Arbok and Weezing, and in Koga’s ninja mansion Charmander’s Fire Spin wins the Soul Badge. Then come the Big P Pokémon Race, the Kangaskhan kid, the Safari Zone — where Ash catches thirty Tauros in an episode that was never dubbed — Team Rocket’s biker past, Duplica’s Ditto and finally the cyberspace adventure Electric Soldier Porygon, whose flashing lights sent hundreds of Japanese children to hospital and took the show off the air for four months.

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The comeback, Charizard & the EggEP039–EP051

The series returned with Pikachu’s Goodbye, in which Ash tries to leave Pikachu with a colony of wild Pikachu and Pikachu chooses him instead. The Eevee brothers, a Snorlax blocking a river, the rival Gyms of Dark City and the Exeggutor Squad follow; Charmander evolves into Charmeleon and promptly stops listening to Ash, and a Jigglypuff starts following the group with its sleep-inducing song. At Grampa Canyon Charmeleon evolves into an even more defiant Charizard while Ash finds a mysterious Egg, which hatches into Togepi and adopts Misty as its mother. James’s past as a runaway heir catches up with him in the shape of his fiancée Jessebelle, and Bulbasaur refuses to evolve in the garden after which Bulbagarden is named.

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Festivals, photographs & the Breeding CenterEP052–EP057

Two holiday episodes postponed by the hiatus — the Princess Festival, where Misty is crowned queen and Jessie catches a Lickitung, and a Children’s Day story with Meowth as a hero — are followed by police Growlithe training, the arrival of photographer Todd Snap and the Pokémon League Admissions Exam, which nobody passes. The stretch ends with The Breeding Center Secret, the US television season finale: rival Rocket agents Butch and Cassidy debut, James is reunited with a Weepinbell that has become a Victreebel, and Todd goes his own way.

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Cinnabar, Cerulean & Viridian: the last badgesEP058–EP063

Blaine’s riddles lead to a Gym hidden inside Cinnabar Island’s volcano. Pikachu beats Rhydon by shocking it through its horn, but Ash forfeits to save Pikachu from Magmar; in the rematch on the crater’s rim Charizard, who will fight only because it wants to beat Magmar, wins the Volcano Badge with Seismic Toss. After a detour to a sleeping Blastoise’s island, Misty’s Underwater Ballet back home in Cerulean City (where she leaves Starmie and Horsea) and the Clefairy spaceship, the group reach the Viridian Gym. Gary loses to the Gym Leader’s armoured Mewtwo; Ash then faces stand-in Leaders Jessie and James, wins despite their rigged arena, and the Earth Badge — his eighth — literally falls into his hands when Togepi blows up their platform.

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Christmas, Mewtwo & the road to IndigoEP064–EP073

Back in Pallet Town, Ash’s mother Delia adopts a Mr. Mime, and the two snowbound specials shelved after the Pokémon Shock finally air — Santa’s Jynx in Holiday Hi-Jynx and Ash’s Pokémon leaving their balls to keep him warm in Snow Way Out!. Mewtwo destroys Team Rocket’s headquarters, the League is announced for two months’ time, and Ash finds his thirty Tauros grazing at Professor Oak’s lab. The run-up to Indigo mixes plot and filler: Slowpoke’s evolution, the surfing Pikachu Puka, Psyduck’s film career, Meowth’s Hollywood backstory, Bruno of the Elite Four and a giant Onix, the giant Pokémon of Pokémopolis, and Otoshi and his stolen badges on the road to the Plateau.

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The Indigo Plateau ConferenceEP074–EP080

Ash, Misty and Brock help carry the Moltres flame to the Indigo Plateau and see the Legendary bird itself. On the Water Field Krabby evolves into Kingler and sweeps Mandi’s team; Squirtle takes the Rock Field, Pikachu’s underwater Thunderbolt wins the Ice Field and Muk’s Body Slam the Grass Field, while Gary crashes out in the Top 32. Ash befriends Ritchie, a trainer with a Pikachu of his own, then has to face him in the Top 16 after Team Rocket almost make him miss the match: Charizard refuses to battle Ritchie’s Sparky and Ash is out. Ritchie loses in turn to Assunta in the first Full Battle shown in the anime, the flame is put out at the closing ceremony, and Ash heads home to Pallet Town.

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Episode Guide

All 82 episodes of the Kanto saga are listed below — the 80 numbered episodes plus the two winter specials, which sit in the slot after Electric Soldier Porygon that they were originally scheduled for (TV Tokyo shelved them after the Pokémon Shock and aired them in October 1998). Every episode has its own page with our full synopsis, both titles, air dates, major events, Pokémon debuts, trivia, dub changes and the Who’s That Pokémon? answers — click the title or the screenshot. The # column is the episode’s number in our English-dub listing and the orange code is the Bulbapedia EP number used by most fan sites; the two episodes that were never dubbed have no number. If you watched the original American broadcasts, your Season 1 ended after 52 episodes with The Breeding Center Secret — the rest of the Kanto story aired on Kids’ WB! in autumn 1999.

	#	Episode	First aired	In short
	1EP001	Pokémon, I Choose You!ポケモン! きみにきめた!	Japan 1 Apr 1997 US 8 Sep 1998	Ash Ketchum has just had his 10th birthday and can finally get his Pokémon trainers license. · Series premiere Episode guide →
	2EP002	Pokémon Emergency!たいけつ! ポケモンセンター!	Japan 8 Apr 1997 US 9 Sep 1998	Ash rushes Pikachu to the nearby Viridian City in search of it’s Pokemon Center. · Team Rocket debut Episode guide →
	3EP003	Ash Catches a Pokémonポケモンゲットだぜ!	Japan 15 Apr 1997 US 10 Sep 1998	Ash heads into the Viridian Forest accompanied by Pikachu and Misty. · Ash catches Caterpie & Pidgeotto Episode guide →
	4EP004	Challenge of the Samuraiサムライしょうねんのちょうせん!	Japan 22 Apr 1997 US 11 Sep 1998	While exploring the Viridian Forest Ash and his group encounter a Samurai who challenges Ash to a battle, said battle wouldn’t exactly pack out a… · Metapod evolves into Butterfree Episode guide →
	5EP005	Showdown in Pewter Cityニビジムのたたかい!	Japan 22 Apr 1997 US 11 Sep 1998	After heading to Pewter City to challenge it’s gym leader and try to win his first gym badge Ash and his group meet a mysterious rock salesman called… · Boulder Badge Episode guide →
	6EP006	Clefairy and the Moon Stoneピッピとつきのいし	Japan 6 May 1997 US 15 Sep 1998	Ash and his friends arrive at Mt. Moon where they find Team Rocket causing chaos in their search for the mysterious Moon Stone. · Brock catches Zubat Episode guide →
	7EP007	The Water Flowers of Cerulean Cityハナダシティのすいちゅうか	Japan 13 May 1997 US 16 Sep 1998	The journey continues with Ash seeking his second gym badge and the course is set for Cerulean City. · Cascade Badge Episode guide →
	8EP008	The Path to the Pokémon Leagueポケモンリーグへのみち	Japan 20 May 1997 US 17 Sep 1998	An increasingly confident Ash sets out on his journey for Vermillion City accompanied by his new friends but along the way they hear talk of a… · Filler Episode guide →
	9EP009	The School of Hard Knocksポケモンひっしょうマニュアル	Japan 27 May 1997 US 18 Sep 1998	While lost deep in a forest shrouded by a thick mist our heroes decide to take a break from being lost for a minute and have a rest. · Filler Episode guide →
	10EP010	Bulbasaur and the Hidden Villageかくれざとのフシギダネ	Japan 3 Jun 1997 US 21 Sep 1998	Our heroes are continuing on their journey to Vermillion City (well hopefully, they’re a bit lost.) and take a short break near a pond. · Ash gets Bulbasaur Episode guide →
	11EP011	Charmander – The Stray Pokémonはぐれポケモン・ヒトカゲ	Japan 10 Jun 1997 US 22 Sep 1998	Ash and friends are finally on the right path to Vermillion City but along the way they come to a Rock where they find a stray Charmander sitting. · Ash gets Charmander Episode guide →
	12EP012	Here Comes the Squirtle Squadゼニガメぐんだんとうじょう!	Japan 17 Jun 1997 US 23 Sep 1998	Ash, Misty and Brock fall victim to a series of pranks set up by a notorious gang called the Squirtle Squad. · Squirtle joins Ash Episode guide →
	13EP013	Mystery at the Lighthouseマサキのとうだい	Japan 24 Jun 1997 US 24 Sep 1998	When Ash was summarising the Pokemon he’d caught so far Misty and Brock commented that he hadn’t technically "caught" most of them, Ash runs off and… · Ash catches Krabby Episode guide →
	14EP014	Electric Shock Showdownでんげきたいけつ! クチバジム	Japan 1 Jul 1997 US 25 Sep 1998	Ash and friends finally arrivev at the Vermillion City Gym, with Ash very enthusiastic to prove he is a strong enough trainer to defeat Lt. · Thunder Badge Episode guide →
	15EP015	Battle Aboard the St. Anneサントアンヌごうのたたかい!	Japan 8 Jul 1997 US 28 Sep 1998	Our heroes are excited to head out to the St. · First trade Episode guide →
	16EP016	Pokémon Shipwreckポケモンひょうりゅうき	Japan 15 Jul 1997 US 29 Sep 1998	The episode opens with officer Jenny laying flowers at sea for Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie & James suspecting they are now dead. · Magikarp evolves into Gyarados Episode guide →
	17EP017	Island of the Giant Pokémonきょだいポケモンのしま!?	Japan 22 Jul 1997 US 30 Sep 1998	Following the Dragon Rage attack they were hit by at the end of last episode Ash, Misty and Brock find themselves regaining consciousness on a beach,… · Filler Episode guide →
	18EP018	Beauty and the Beachアオプルコのきゅうじつ	Japan 29 Jul 1997 US 24 Jun 2000	Ash and Brock are start the episode by playing in the sea before taking a moment to admire Misty and point out how weird it is to see her "looking… · Skipped by the dub Episode guide →
	19EP019	Tentacool & Tentacruelメノクラゲドククラゲ	Japan 5 Aug 1997 US 1 Oct 1998	Ash and friends are running late as always and miss the boat they were meant to be on from Porta Vista, while sat around waiting for the next one… · Misty catches Horsea Episode guide →
	20EP020	The Ghost of Maiden’s Peakゆうれいポケモンとなつまつり	Japan 12 Aug 1997 US 2 Oct 1998	Ash and friends finally manage to catch a boat from whats left of Porta Vista, finally arriving in the port city of Maiden’s Peak where they attend… · Filler Episode guide →
	21EP021	Bye, Bye Butterfreeバイバイバタフリー	Japan 19 Aug 1997 US 5 Oct 1998	As Ash and his group continue their journey to Saffron City they see a large number of Butterfree flying above the sea. · Ash releases Butterfree Episode guide →
	22EP022	Abra and the Psychic Showdownケーシィ! ちょうのうりょくたいけつ!	Japan 26 Aug 1997 US 6 Oct 1998	Ash and his friends have arrived in Saffron City and Ash makes no secret about the fact he’s there to challenge the leader of the Saffron City Gym. · Saffron Gym Episode guide →
	23EP023	The Tower of Terrorポケモンタワーでゲットだぜ!	Japan 2 Sep 1997 US 7 Oct 1998	Team Rocket got wind of where Ash and his friends were headed and beat them to the Haunted Tower in Lavender Town in order to set a trap for them,… · Ash befriends Haunter Episode guide →
	24EP024	Haunter vs. KadabraゴーストVSエスパー!	Japan 9 Sep 1997 US 8 Oct 1998	Despite the previous warnings Ash and friends arrive back at Saffron City to face Sabrina once more. · Marsh Badge Episode guide →
	25EP025	Primeape Goes Bananasおこらないでねオコリザル!	Japan 16 Sep 1997 US 9 Oct 1998	While on the route to Celadon City Ash and his friends encounter a rather mischevious Mankey. · Ash catches Primeape Episode guide →
	26EP026	Pokémon Scent-sation!エリカとクサイハナ	Japan 23 Sep 1997 US 12 Oct 1998	Upon arriving at Celadon City, Brock instantly decides he’s going to like it there after he spots a number of beautiful girls. · Rainbow Badge Episode guide →
	27EP027	Hypno’s Naptimeスリーパーとポケモンがえり!?	Japan 30 Sep 1997 US 13 Oct 1998	While pounding the pavements of Hop Hop Hop Town trying to work out where they are Ash is grabbed by a woman who is overjoyed to see "her Arnold",… · Misty catches Psyduck Episode guide →
	28EP028	Pokémon Fashion Flashロコン! ブリーダーたいけつ!	Japan 7 Oct 1997 US 14 Oct 1998	After arriving in Scissor Street, Ash and Misty are a bit bemused as to why they’re there, Brock is looking for something but doesn’t answer – Misty… · Brock gets Vulpix Episode guide →
	29EP029	The Punchy Pokémonかくとうポケモン! だいバトル!	Japan 14 Oct 1997 US 15 Oct 1998	Ash and his friends happen upon a Hitmonchan in the road which appears to be wild. · Primeape stays with Anthony Episode guide →
	30EP030	Sparks Fly for Magnemiteコイルはでんきネズミのユメをみるか!?	Japan 21 Oct 1997 US 16 Oct 1998	Ash, Misty and Brock arrive in the very industrial and aptly named Gringy City, where everything is dark and miserable and theres no one around. · Ash catches Muk Episode guide →
	31EP031	Dig Those Diglett!ディグダがいっぱい!	Japan 28 Oct 1997 US 19 Oct 1998	It’s now been months since Ash began his journey from Pallet, and the gang decide to head for the Fuschia Gym next, but not being surrounded by… · Arbok & Weezing evolve Episode guide →
	32EP032	The Ninja-Poké Showdownセキチクにんじゃたいけつ!	Japan 4 Nov 1997 US 20 Oct 1998	The group arrive… somewhere, and find themselves deep in the Forest, stopping for a short break. · Soul Badge Episode guide →
	33EP033	The Flame Pokémon-athon!ほのおのポケモンだいレース!	Japan 11 Nov 1997 US 21 Oct 1998	Ash and friends arrive at the Safari zone in search of some new Pokemon when a herd of Tauros charges right nearby. · Filler Episode guide →
	34EP034	The Kangaskhan Kidガルーラのこもりうた	Japan 18 Nov 1997 US 22 Oct 1998	This time Ash and his friends arrive at the real Safari Zone, but at a small protected part of it which still counts as a Pokemon reserve. · Filler Episode guide →
	–EP035	The Legend of Dratiniミニリュウのでんせつ	Japan 25 Nov 1997 US never aired	Ash and friends now enter what is hopefully the ACTUAL Safari Zone, and are still yet to catch a single Pokemon. · Banned Episode guide →
	35EP036	The Bridge Bike Gangあらしのサイクリングロード	Japan 2 Dec 1997 US 23 Oct 1998	With fond memories of the Safari zone still fresh in their minds our heroes arrive in a nearby City and while looking for the Pokemon Center they… · Filler Episode guide →
	36EP037	Ditto’s Mysterious Mansionメタモンとものまねむすめ	Japan 9 Dec 1997 US 26 Oct 1998	As our heroes continue their journey a sudden rain storm comes out of nowhere. · Filler Episode guide →
	–EP038	Electric Soldier Porygonでんのうせんしポリゴン	Japan 16 Dec 1997 US never aired	At last our heroes have arrivevd at Matcha City, it’s been a long journey and the group, particularly Pikachu needs a rest. · Banned worldwide Episode guide →
	37Special	Holiday Hi-Jynxルージュラのクリスマス	Japan 5 Oct 1998 US 11 Dec 1999	This Christmas special episode opens with Jessie dreaming in bed, James dressing as Santa, entering the room and promptly being caught in a trap. · Christmas special Episode guide →
	38Special	Snow Way Outイワークでビバーク	Japan 5 Oct 1998 US 18 Dec 1999	As Ash and his friends continue on their journey they figure their future is favourable but the foursome is about to find a fateful fork in the road… · Winter special Episode guide →
	39EP039	Pikachu’s Goodbyeピカチュウのもり	Japan 16 Apr 1998 US 20 Nov 1998	Our hero Ash along with his friends Misty and Brock are tired from their adventures and decide to take a break in a quiet forest. · Comeback episode Episode guide →
	40EP040	The Battling Eevee Brothersイーブイ4きょうだい	Japan 16 Apr 1998 US 27 Oct 1998	During their travels through the forest, Pikachu senses something nearby and heads into the bushes where he finds an Eevee tied to a tree abandoned. · Filler Episode guide →
	41EP041	Wake Up, Snorlax!おきろ! カビゴン!	Japan 23 Apr 1998 US 28 Oct 1998	Ash, Misty and Brock continue along on their journey, bumping into a strange hippy type guy playing a PokéFlute, he plays them a tune and then says… · Filler Episode guide →
	42EP042	Showdown at Dark Cityたいけつ! ポケモンジム!	Japan 30 Apr 1998 US 29 Oct 1998	Dark City, the next step on the journey for Ash, Misty and Brock. · Filler Episode guide →
	43EP043	The March of the Exeggutor Squadナッシーぐんだんだいこうしん!	Japan 7 May 1998 US 30 Oct 1998	After a difficult journey with many challenges along the way our heroes are in luck, they’ve arrived in town just in time for the Carnival. · Charmander evolves into Charmeleon Episode guide →
	44EP044	The Problem with Parasパラスとパラセクト	Japan 14 May 1998 US 13 Feb 1999	Ash and friends arrive in Moss Green village, a cute little place but so small that it doesn’t even have it’s own Pokemon Gym, as a result Ash isn’t… · Charmeleon disobeys Episode guide →
	45EP045	The Song of Jigglypuffうたって! プリン!	Japan 21 May 1998 US 20 Feb 1999	After travelling through a vast desert, Ash, Misty and Brock see a town of lights in the distance and shortly after they arrive in Neon Town, a place… · Jigglypuff debut Episode guide →
	46EP046	Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémonふっかつ!? かせきポケモン!	Japan 28 May 1998 US 27 Feb 1999	Ash and his friends find themselves in beautiful Grandpa Canyon, where they discover a large archaeology expedition taking place. · Charmeleon evolves into Charizard Episode guide →
	47EP047	A Chansey Operationラッキーのカルテ	Japan 4 Jun 1998 US 6 Mar 1999	After getting knocked out of a tree while looking for apples Pikachu doesn’t look right, it’s voice is funny and its face is red. · Filler Episode guide →
	48EP048	Holy Matrimony!ガーディとコジロウ	Japan 11 Jun 1998 US 13 Mar 1999	Ash continues his journey with Misty, Brock, Pikachu and their Eggscelent new companion when they come across a missing poster, with a picture of a… · James’s backstory Episode guide →
	49EP049	So Near, Yet So Farfetch’dカモネギのカモ	Japan 18 Jun 1998 US 20 Mar 1999	Ash and his friends have been on the road for quite a while now, so they decide to take a little break in a beautiful Meadow. · Filler Episode guide →
	50EP050	Who Gets to Keep Togepi?トゲピーはだれのもの!?	Japan 25 Jun 1998 US 27 Mar 1999	Ash and his friends are in for a surprise at this small town Pokemon Center. · Togepi hatches Episode guide →
	51EP051	Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Gardenフシギダネのふしぎのはなぞの	Japan 2 Jul 1998 US 3 Apr 1999	Ash marches onward toward Cinnibar Gym, hoping to win his 7th badge, but on the way he bumps into another trainer who wants to battle. · Bulbasaur refuses to evolve Episode guide →
	52EP052	Princess vs. Princessげきとう! ポケモンひなまつり	Japan 9 Jul 1998 US 4 Sep 1999	The Princess Festival, Misty and Jessies favourite festival has begun and Ash, Brock and James find themselves carrying lots of bags and being… · Jessie catches Lickitung Episode guide →
	53EP053	The Purr-fect Heroこどものひだよ! ぜんいんしゅうごう!	Japan 9 Jul 1998 US 11 Sep 1999	Our heroes are continuing on their journey to Cinnibar Island where Ash hopes to earn his 7th badge on the path to the Pokemon League. · Filler Episode guide →
	54EP054	The Case of the K-9 Caper!けいさつけんガーディ	Japan 16 Jul 1998 US 10 Apr 1999	Today our heroes find themselves travelling through the forest, heading toward Cinnibar Island, the site of Ash’s next Pokemon challenge when all of… · Filler Episode guide →
	55EP055	Pokémon Paparazziシャッターチャンスはピカチュウ	Japan 23 Jul 1998 US 17 Apr 1999	Everyone is enjoying some of Brocks finest Rice balls, completely unaware that they are being watched that is until the light reflects of the… · Todd Snap joins Episode guide →
	56EP056	The Ultimate Testポケモンけんていしけん!?	Japan 30 Jul 1998 US 24 Apr 1999	The story begins with Misty questioning the fact that Ash hasn’t had a badge in a while, he challenges her to a battle. · Filler Episode guide →
	57EP057	The Breeding Center Secretそだてやのひみつ!	Japan 6 Aug 1998 US 1 May 1999	As our heroes take a break in their journey, Snap, their photographer friend decides to shoot a few Pokemon pictures, a weather report comes on the… · Butch & Cassidy debut Episode guide →
	58EP058	Riddle Me Thisもえろ! グレンジム!	Japan 13 Aug 1998 US 18 Sep 1999	Ash and his friends are on a ship sailing toward Cinnibar Island, a beautiful Island with a Volcano and one of the best Pokemon labs in the world. · Cinnabar Gym, part 1 Episode guide →
	59EP059	Volcanic Panicけっせん! グレンジム!	Japan 20 Aug 1998 US 18 Sep 1999	Pikachu is in real Pika-peril with a Fire Blast heading his way and nowhere to go but down. · Volcano Badge Episode guide →
	60EP060	Beach Blank-Out Blastoiseカメックスのしま	Japan 27 Aug 1998 US 20 Sep 1999	With Ash’s seventh badge in hand our heroes are rushing to catch the last ferry from Cinnibar Island. · Filler Episode guide →
	61EP061	The Misty Mermaidハナダジム! すいちゅうのたたかい!	Japan 3 Sep 1998 US 23 Sep 1999	Today we join Ash, Misty and Brock at the entrance to Viridian City where Ash intends to earn an Earth Badge, but Horsea looks sad, Brock thinks its… · Misty’s Underwater Ballet Episode guide →
	62EP062	Clefairy TalesピッピVSプリン	Japan 10 Sep 1998 US 25 Sep 1999	Jigglypuff is walking through the forest at night singing, knocking out wild Pokemon as it goes and grafitti’ing their faces, when it notices a UFO… · Filler Episode guide →
	63EP063	The Battle of the Badgeトキワジム! さいごのバッジ!	Japan 17 Sep 1998 US 25 Sep 1999	Ash and friends finally arrive at Viridian City, it’s been a whole year since they were last here and the Pokemon Center has reopened, and the… · Earth Badge – eighth badge Episode guide →
	64EP064	It’s Mr. Mime Time!ポケモンサーカスのバリヤード	Japan 24 Sep 1998 US 27 Sep 1999	Ash calls his mom to let her know that he’s on the way home. · Delia gets Mr. Mime Episode guide →
	65EP065	Showdown at the Po-ké Corralライバルたいけつ! オーキドけんきゅうじょ	Japan 8 Oct 1998 US 30 Sep 1999	Ash is rudely awoken from a dream about becoming a Pokemon master by Mr. · Mewtwo prelude Episode guide →
	66EP066	The Evolution Solutionヤドンがヤドランになるとき	Japan 15 Oct 1998 US 2 Oct 1999	About to begin his training in Pallet, Ash sees his mom, friends and many townsfolk are all about to take a trip to Seafoam Island to visit the beach… · Filler Episode guide →
	67EP067	The Pi-Kahunaなみのりピカチュウのでんせつ	Japan 22 Oct 1998 US 2 Oct 1999	Despite being at the beach on Seafoam Island, Ash isn’t slacking and is training hard, as is Pikachu. · Filler Episode guide →
	68EP068	Make Room for Gloomしょくぶつえんのクサイハナ	Japan 29 Oct 1998 US 4 Oct 1999	It’s a new day in Pallet Town and Ash is sticking strictly to a punishing daily training regimen, oh wait, no he’s still in bed. · Filler Episode guide →
	69EP069	Lights, Camera, Quack-tion!ポケモン・ザ・ムービー!	Japan 5 Nov 1998 US 8 Oct 1999	While hiking to their next adventure our young heroes find a picture perfect spot to set up camp, where Ash intends on finally starting his training… · Filler Episode guide →
	70EP070	Go West, Young Meowthニャースのあいうえお	Japan 12 Nov 1998 US 9 Oct 1999	It’s a beautiful morning in Pallet Town and Ash and Brock are up with the sun getting ready for the Pokemon League competition. · Meowth’s backstory Episode guide →
	71EP071	To Master the Onixpected!してんのうシバとうじょう!	Japan 19 Nov 1998 US 11 Oct 1999	With only three weeks left to the Pokemon League competition Ash is behind in his training. · Bruno debuts Episode guide →
	72EP072	The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémopolisげきとつ! ちょうこだいポケモン	Japan 26 Nov 1998 US 14 Oct 1999	Ash is having a practice match against Brock, Pikachu vs. · Filler Episode guide →
	73EP073	Bad to the Bone!ガラガラのホネこんぼう	Japan 3 Dec 1998 US 16 Oct 1999	Even though Ash has tried to train for the Pokemon league competition, he still has a lot to learn so he and his friends have decided to get some… · Road to Indigo Episode guide →
	74EP074	All Fired Up!ファイヤー! ポケモンリーグかいかいしき!	Japan 10 Dec 1998 US 23 Oct 1999	Our heroes have finally reached the Indigo Plateau, home of the renound Pokemon League, Ash screams in celebration and terrifies Togepi who starts… · Indigo Conference opens Episode guide →
	75EP075	Round One: Begin!ポケモンリーグかいまく! みずのフィールド!	Japan 17 Dec 1998 US 30 Oct 1999	Professor Oak alongwith Ash’s mom and basically everyone else in Pallet town are gathered at Oak’s lab watching the Pokemon League coverage on TV. · Krabby evolves into Kingler Episode guide →
	76EP076	Fire and Iceこおりのフィールド! ほのおのたたかい!	Japan 24 Dec 1998 US 6 Nov 1999	After winning a thrilling first round victory, Ash is battling on the Rock field with only one Pokemon left. · Rounds 2 & 3 Episode guide →
	77EP077	The Fourth Round Rumbleくさのフィールド! いがいなきょうてき!	Japan 1 Jan 1999 US 13 Nov 1999	The crowds are cheering in anticipation as our fourth round winner is about to be decided, but this time our heroes are cheering in the stands as… · Round 4 Episode guide →
	78EP078	A Friend in Deedライバルとうじょう!	Japan 7 Jan 1999 US 20 Nov 1999	Ash, Misty and Brock are walking around the Pokemon League Village when they decide to go for a meal to celebrate Ash’s victory. · Ritchie debuts Episode guide →
	79EP079	Friend and Foe Alikeセキエイスタジアム! VSヒロシ!	Japan 14 Jan 1999 US 27 Nov 1999	While together foiling a Team Rocket scheme Ash and Ritchie became friends, but now a cruel twist of fate pits them against each other in their next… · Ash loses to Ritchie – Top 16 Episode guide →
	80EP080	Friends to the Endポケモンリーグ! さいごのたたかい!	Japan 21 Jan 1999 US 27 Nov 1999	Since the unfortunate events which lead to Ash being defeated by Ritchie in the Pokemon League Ash has been just lying in his bed in the Pokemon… · Season finale Episode guide →

Characters & Travelling Companions

Ash sets off on his Pokémon Journey with Pikachu, but after destroying Misty’s bike in Episode 1 she vows to follow him until he pays her back for the bike. Ash and Misty then travel together to Pewter City where Ash meets Brock and eventually earns the Boulder Badge from him in the Pewter Gym; Brock’s father returns to the Gym after many years enabling Brock to leave and follow his ambitions of becoming a great Pokémon Breeder, and he too follows Ash and Misty on their journey.

The trio of Ash, Misty and Brock then travelled together for the entirety of this season; they were also joined for a few episodes by Todd Snap who they met in Pokémon Episode 55 after Jessie and James inadvertently hired him to ‘capture’ Ash’s Pikachu on film, but he went his own way after that.

Across the season Ash wins all eight Kanto badges, catches or is given Caterpie, Pidgeotto, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Krabby, Primeape, Muk and thirty Tauros, briefly owns a Raticate, befriends a Haunter and finds the Egg that hatches into Togepi. He also has his first real falling-out with a Pokémon: from The Problem with Paras onwards his Charmeleon, and then his Charizard, ignores almost every command. Misty catches Horsea and (accidentally) Psyduck and becomes Togepi’s adopted mother, while Brock, the would-be Pokémon Breeder of the group, catches a Zubat and is entrusted with a Vulpix. The Kanto trio stays together until early in Adventures in the Orange Islands, when Brock stays behind with Professor Ivy and Tracey Sketchit takes his place.

• Ash KetchumThe would-be Pokémon Master from Pallet Town
• MistyCerulean City Gym Leader, travelling with Ash
• BrockPewter City Gym Leader and would-be Pokémon Breeder

Team Rocket

Jessie, James and Meowth debut in Pokémon Emergency! and recite their motto in full for the first time two episodes later; from then on they chase Pikachu across Kanto, usually in a Meowth-shaped balloon, and end most episodes “blasting off again”. Indigo League gives all three their backstories: Jessie and James flunked Pokémon Tech (EP009) and once rode with a bike gang (EP036), James is the runaway heir of a fabulously rich family who left behind a domineering fiancée, Jessebelle, and his loyal Growlithe, Growlie (EP048), and Meowth taught himself to walk and talk to impress a Hollywood Meowth called Meowzie (EP070). Ekans and Koffing evolve side by side into Arbok and Weezing in Dig Those Diglett!, James’s Magikarp becomes the Gyarados that almost drowns everyone in Pokémon Shipwreck, Jessie catches Lickitung at the Princess Festival, and James’s off-screen Weepinbell turns up as a Victreebel in The Breeding Center Secret.

Their boss Giovanni is heard and half-seen, stroking his Persian, from Battle Aboard the St. Anne onwards, and his face is finally shown in The Battle of the Badge, where he turns out to run the Viridian Gym — and to own an armoured Mewtwo, which breaks free and destroys Team Rocket’s headquarters two episodes later. Rival agents Butch and Cassidy debut in EP057, running a fake Pokémon breeding centre. The trio’s English voices changed mid-season: Ted Lewis played James until Eric Stuart took over part-way through EP008, and Nathan Price’s Meowth gave way to Maddie Blaustein from EP032.

• JessieTeam Rocket
• JamesTeam Rocket
• MeowthTeam Rocket’s talking Meowth

Rivals, Gym Leaders & recurring characters

Gary Oak, Professor Oak’s arrogant grandson, sets off on the same morning as Ash in a red convertible with a squad of cheerleaders and stays a step ahead all season — he has ten badges by EP063 and more than 200 Pokémon by EP065 — until he loses to the Viridian Gym Leader’s Mewtwo and then goes out of the Indigo Plateau Conference in the Top 32. Professor Oak gives Ash Pikachu and his Pokédex and looks after the Pokémon he cannot carry, Delia Ketchum adopts the Mr. Mime known as Mimey, and the families of identical Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys become fixtures, as does a wild Jigglypuff that follows the group from EP045 to sing them to sleep. The Gym Leaders are Brock, Misty and her Sensational Sisters, Lt. Surge, Sabrina, Erika, Koga, Blaine and Giovanni; photographer Todd Snap tags along for three episodes, Bill runs the lighthouse in EP013, Bruno becomes the first member of the Elite Four to appear, and the Indigo Plateau introduces League president Charles Goodshow and Ritchie, Ash’s look-alike friend and the trainer who knocks him out.

• Todd Snap
• Gary OakAsh’s rival from Pallet Town
• Professor Oak
• Delia Ketchum and Mimey
• Lt. SurgeVermilion City Gym Leader
• SabrinaSaffron City Gym Leader, with Kadabra
• Bruno of the Elite Four with Onix
• RitchieAsh’s friend and rival at the Indigo Plateau

Voice cast

Character	English voice actor	Japanese voice actor
Ash Ketchum	Veronica Taylor	Rica Matsumoto
Pikachu	Ikue Ōtani	Ikue Ōtani
Misty	Rachael Lillis	Mayumi Iizuka
Brock	Eric Stuart	Yūji Ueda
Togepi	Satomi Kōrogi	Satomi Kōrogi
Jessie	Rachael Lillis	Megumi Hayashibara
James	Ted Lewis (EP002–EP008) · Eric Stuart (from EP008)	Shin-ichiro Miki
Meowth	Nathan Price (EP002–EP031) · Maddie Blaustein (from EP032)	Inuko Inuyama
Giovanni	Ted Lewis (as Ed Paul)	Hirotaka Suzuoki
Butch	Eric Stuart	Takehito Koyasu
Cassidy	Megan Hollingshead	Masako Katsuki
Gary Oak	Carter Cathcart (as Jimmy Zoppi)	Yūko Kobayashi
Professor Oak	Stuart Zagnit	Unshō Ishizuka
Delia Ketchum	Veronica Taylor	Masami Toyoshima
Officer Jenny	Lee Quick	Chinami Nishimura
Nurse Joy	Megan Hollingshead	Ayako Shiraishi
Jigglypuff	Rachael Lillis	Mika Kanai
Lt. Surge	Maddie Blaustein	Fumihiko Tachiki
Sabrina	Lisa Ortiz	Kae Araki
Erika	Leah Applebaum	Kyōko Hikami
Koga	Stuart Zagnit	Hōchū Ōtsuka
Blaine	Michael Haigney (as Roger Kay)	Toshiya Ueda
Bruno	Maddie Blaustein	Toshiyuki Morikawa
Todd Snap	Carter Cathcart (as Jimmy Zoppi)	Kappei Yamaguchi
Ritchie	Tara Sands (as Tara Jayne)	Minami Takayama
Charles Goodshow	Carter Cathcart (as Jimmy Zoppi)	Masaharu Satō
Pokédex	Nicholas James Tate (EP001–EP049) · Eric Stuart (from EP050)	Shin-ichiro Miki
Narrator	Rodger Parsons (credited as Ken Gates)	Unshō Ishizuka

Pokémon: Captures, Changes, Encounters & Evolutions

In brief:

• All about the Pokémon we see in the first season, whether we see them caught, they were already owned prior to the events of Season 1 or we witnessed them via evolution, they’re all here broken down into different tables. There’s also a table for the Pokémon we said goodbye to this season.
• Ash receives Pikachu and catches Caterpie, Pidgeotto, Krabby, Primeape, Muk and thirty Tauros; Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle join him of their own accord.
• Caterpie becomes Butterfree, Charmander becomes a disobedient Charizard, and Krabby becomes Kingler in Ash’s first League battle.
• Ash says goodbye to Butterfree and Primeape, leaves Haunter with Sabrina, and the Egg he finds hatches into Misty’s Togepi.
• Misty catches Horsea and Psyduck; Brock catches Zubat and is entrusted with Vulpix.
• Jessie’s Ekans and James’s Koffing evolve side by side, James’s Magikarp becomes a Gyarados and Jessie catches a Lickitung.

New Pokémon captured or hatched

• Pikachu#0025 · Ash · starter from Professor Oak · EP001
• Caterpie#0010 · Ash · first capture · EP003
• Pidgeotto#0017 · Ash · EP003
• Zubat#0041 · Brock · off-screen · EP006
• Bulbasaur#0001 · Ash · from Melanie’s village · EP010
• Charmander#0004 · Ash · abandoned by Damian · EP011
• Squirtle#0007 · Ash · Squirtle Squad leader · EP012
• Krabby#0098 · Ash · sent to Oak’s lab · EP013
• Magikarp#0129 · James · bought · EP015
• Raticate#0020 · Ash · traded and traded back · EP015
• Horsea#0116 · Misty · EP019
• Haunter#0093 · Ash · befriended, never caught · EP023
• Primeape#0057 · Ash · EP025
• Psyduck#0054 · Misty · by accident · EP027
• Vulpix#0037 · Brock · from Suzie · EP028
• Muk#0089 · Ash · sent to Oak’s lab · EP030
• Tauros#0128 · Ash · thirty, in the Safari Zone · EP035
• Porygon#0137 · Jessie · taken and lost · EP038
• Togepi#0175 · Misty · hatched from Ash’s Egg · EP050
• Lickitung#0108 · Jessie · EP052
• Mr. Mime#0122 · Delia · “Mimey” · EP064
• Shellder#0090 · Jessie · briefly · EP066
• Onix#0095 · Bruno · the giant Onix · EP071

Evolutions

• Caterpie → Metapod#0011 · Ash · EP003
• Metapod → Butterfree#0012 · Ash · EP004
• Clefairy → Clefable#0036 · wild · Moon Stone · EP006
• Magikarp → Gyarados#0130 · James · EP016
• Abra → Kadabra#0064 · Sabrina · mid-battle · EP022
• Mankey → Primeape#0057 · then caught by Ash · EP025
• Ekans → Arbok#0024 · Jessie · EP031
• Koffing → Weezing#0110 · James · EP031
• Venonat → Venomoth#0049 · Koga · EP032
• Ponyta → Rapidash#0078 · Lara Laramie · EP033
• Charmander → Charmeleon#0005 · Ash · EP043
• Exeggcute → Exeggutor#0103 · Melvin · EP043
• Paras → Parasect#0047 · Cassandra · EP044
• Charmeleon → Charizard#0006 · Ash · EP046
• Weepinbell → Victreebel#0071 · James · off-screen · EP057
• Seel → Dewgong#0087 · Cerulean Gym · EP061
• Slowpoke → Slowbro#0080 · Westwood V · EP066
• Krabby → Kingler#0099 · Ash · in his first League battle · EP075

Releases, departures and returns

There were a number of occasions where either Ash or another character released a captured Pokémon back into the wild, or left with someone else for one reason or another. Ash’s first parting is the most famous: in Bye Bye Butterfree (EP021) he lets Butterfree fly off with a pink mate during the migration season, the first time a main character releases a Pokémon. Haunter, never actually caught, stays with Sabrina after winning Ash the Marsh Badge (EP024); Primeape is left with the P1 Grand Prix coach Anthony to train as a champion (EP029); and the Raticate Ash gets for Butterfree aboard the St. Anne is traded straight back (EP015). Krabby, Muk and the thirty Tauros never travel with Ash at all — the six-Pokémon rule sends them straight to Professor Oak’s lab, where the Tauros herd finally appears in the dub in EP065 without any explanation of where it came from.

Elsewhere, James kicks his useless Magikarp out of the boat and it swims off as a Gyarados (EP016), Jessie loses Dr. Akihabara’s prototype Porygon in cyberspace (EP038), and her briefly caught Shellder clamps onto a Slowpoke, evolving it into Slowbro, and leaves her (EP066). Misty leaves Starmie and Horsea at the Cerulean Gym with her sisters after the Underwater Ballet (EP061) — Horsea’s last appearance in the main series — and Togepi, hatched from Ash’s Egg, stays with Misty even after Ash wins the tournament held to decide who should keep it (EP050).

New Pokémon captured by Ash & other characters A list of Pokémon we see Ash, Misty, Brock and other characters capture on their Pokémon journey.

Pokémon	Caught by	Episode	Notes
Pikachu	Ash	EP001	Granted to him by Professor Oak as a starter Pokémon
Caterpie	Ash	EP003	Straight capture
Pidgeotto	Ash	EP003	Straight capture
Zubat	Brock	EP006	Straight capture
Bulbasaur	Ash	EP010	Melanie asked Ash to take Bulbasaur to help it see the world and grow.
Charmander	Ash	EP011	Charmander’s trainer abandoned it, Ash and co saved it. Charmander chose Ash over Damian.
Squirtle	Ash	EP012	Squirtle decided to join Ash after working together to defeat Team Rocket & saving a town from a fire.
Krabby	Ash	EP013	Straight capture
Magikarp	James	EP015	James was sold the Magikarp by an unscrupulous salesman who promised it would make him rich.
Raticate	Ash	EP015	Ash traded his Butterfree for an unnamed Gentleman’s Raticate. He felt bad and traded it back after.
Horsea	Misty	EP019	Straight capture
Primeape	Ash	EP025	Straight capture
Psyduck	Misty	EP027	Nurse Joy had been caring for the Psyduck for a prolonged period due to its headaches; when Brock tried to pass it on to Misty, it pecked one of her Poké Balls and caught itself by accident.
Vulpix	Brock	EP028	Suzie, Vulpix’ owner saw that it took a liking to Brock, and his homemade food. She asks Brock to take Vulpix on his journey.
Muk	Ash	EP030	Straight capture
Tauros	Ash	EP035	Multiple straight Safari Zone captures
Porygon	Jessie	EP038	Jessie stole the prototype Porygon in order to access the virtual world and steal Pokémon from within the virtual transfer system.
Togepi	Misty	EP050	Ash found an egg, Brock cared for it, when the egg hatched the baby Pokémon saw Misty first and took a liking to her.
Lickitung	Jessie	EP052	Lickitung ate a load of food that Jessie bought in the sales to give to Giovanni as a gift. Jessie captured it in anger.
Weepinbell	James	EP057	Straight capture, but we didn’t see it happen

Pokémon caught / owned prior to the events of Pokémon Season 1 These Pokémon were already owned / associated with people prior to the events we see onscreen.

Pokémon	Trainer	Notes
“Growlie” (Growlithe)	James	James’ loyal Growlithe he grew up with, Growlie was his only friend back on the posh estate he grew up in.
Ekans	Jessie	Jessie had this Pokémon the first time we saw her in Episode 2.
Koffing	James	James had this Pokémon the first time we ever saw him in Episode 2.
Goldeen	Misty	Misty already had this Pokémon when it first appeared in Episode 2.
Onix	Brock	Brock already had this Pokémon prior to Episode 5.
Geodude	Brock	Brock already had this Pokémon prior to Episode 5.
Staryu	Misty	Misty already had this Pokémon prior to Episode 6.
Starmie	Misty	Misty already had this Pokémon prior to Episode 7.

Evolution We see the following Pokémon evolutions take place during this season.

Pokémon	Evolved to	Episode	Trainer	Notes
Caterpie	Metapod	EP003	Ash	Evolves after defeating Team Rocket.
Metapod	Butterfree	EP004	Ash	Evolves after Ash rescues it from Beedrill captivity
Magikarp	Gyarados	EP016	James	James was horrible to Magikarp and kicked it, it evolved into Gyarados to punish James for his actions.
Ekans	Arbok	EP031	Jessie	Seemed to see that Jessie really wanted it to evolve, and it did.
Koffing	Weezing	EP031	James	Seemed to see that James really wanted it to evolve, and it did.
Charmander	Charmeleon	EP043	Ash	Charmander evolved after helping to repel a group of stampeding Exeggutor, saving a town in the process.
Charmeleon	Charizard	EP046	Ash	Charmeleon evolved out of pure frustration at being unable to battle Aerodactyl.
Weepinbell	Victreebel	Pre-EP057	James	We didn’t see this take place, after breaking into the Breeding Center James realises it’s the one he left his Weepinbell in, he looks around and finds it has evolved into Victreebel, enjoys a brutal reunion and then takes it with him.

Pokémon released

Pokémon	Trainer	Episode	Notes
Gyarados	James	EP016	James rejected his Magikarp, kicking it to the ocean. Sort of releasing it back into the wild. It then evolved into Gyarados.
Butterfree	Ash	EP021	During the Butterfree mating season Ash’s Butterfree fell in love with a Pink Butterfree and the two crossed the ocean to start a family together.
Primeape	Ash	EP029	Left his Primeape to train with Anthony at his gym.
Porygon	Jessie	EP038	Jessie left her Porygon inside the virtual world that she and her peers narrowly escaped.

Pokémon making their anime debut this season

Indigo League introduces almost the entire original Pokédex: 146 of the 151 Generation I species make their TV debut this season — all but Nidoqueen, Golduck, Articuno, Zapdos and Mew, which first appeared in the movies and reached the series later — plus two previews of Generation II, the Legendary Ho-Oh in the very first episode and Togepi in EP050. Pokémon – I Choose You! alone introduces 16 species, still a record, and Seadra in EP075 is the last new Generation I species of the season. A few debuts happened in episodes that never aired in English — Dratini and Dragonair (EP035), Porygon and Ninetales (EP038) — while Jynx and Lapras first appeared in person in Holiday Hi-Jynx (SP01), which has since been withdrawn. Where a species was first seen in a dream, flashback or fantasy, both episodes are given.

• Bulbasaur#0001 · EP001 (dream) · EP010
• Ivysaur#0002 · EP047
• Venusaur#0003 · EP020 (illusion) · EP051
• Charmander#0004 · EP001 (dream) · EP011
• Charmeleon#0005 · EP043
• Charizard#0006 · EP025 (flashback) · EP046
• Squirtle#0007 · EP001 (dream) · EP012
• Wartortle#0008 · EP060
• Blastoise#0009 · EP020 (illusion) · EP060
• Caterpie#0010 · EP002
• Metapod#0011 · EP003
• Butterfree#0012 · EP003 (fantasy) · EP004
• Weedle#0013 · EP004
• Kakuna#0014 · EP004
• Beedrill#0015 · EP003
• Pidgey#0016 · EP001
• Pidgeotto#0017 · EP003
• Pidgeot#0018 · EP009 (fantasy)
• Rattata#0019 · EP001
• Raticate#0020 · EP015
• Spearow#0021 · EP001
• Fearow#0022 · EP030
• Ekans#0023 · EP002
• Arbok#0024 · EP031
• Pikachu#0025 · EP001
• Raichu#0026 · EP014
• Sandshrew#0027 · EP001
• Sandslash#0028 · EP033
• Nidoran♀#0029 · EP030
• Nidorina#0030 · EP033
• Nidoran♂#0032 · EP028
• Nidorino#0033 · EP001
• Nidoking#0034 · EP047
• Clefairy#0035 · EP006
• Clefable#0036 · EP006
• Vulpix#0037 · EP028
• Ninetales#0038 · EP038 · dub: EP040
• Jigglypuff#0039 · EP045
• Wigglytuff#0040 · EP069
• Zubat#0041 · EP006
• Golbat#0042 · EP032
• Oddish#0043 · EP010
• Gloom#0044 · EP026
• Vileplume#0045 · EP026
• Paras#0046 · EP006
• Parasect#0047 · EP044
• Venonat#0048 · EP028
• Venomoth#0049 · EP032
• Diglett#0050 · EP031
• Dugtrio#0051 · EP031
• Meowth#0052 · EP002
• Persian#0053 · EP015
• Psyduck#0054 · EP027
• Mankey#0056 · EP001
• Primeape#0057 · EP025
• Growlithe#0058 · EP030
• Arcanine#0059 · EP063
• Poliwag#0060 · EP025
• Poliwhirl#0061 · EP025
• Poliwrath#0062 · EP029
• Abra#0063 · EP022
• Kadabra#0064 · EP022
• Alakazam#0065 · EP072 (giant)
• Machop#0066 · EP029
• Machoke#0067 · EP029
• Machamp#0068 · EP029
• Bellsprout#0069 · EP025
• Weepinbell#0070 · EP009
• Victreebel#0071 · EP026
• Tentacool#0072 · EP019
• Tentacruel#0073 · EP019
• Geodude#0074 · EP005
• Graveler#0075 · EP009
• Golem#0076 · EP036
• Ponyta#0077 · EP033
• Rapidash#0078 · EP033
• Slowpoke#0079 · EP017
• Slowbro#0080 · EP017
• Magnemite#0081 · EP030
• Magneton#0082 · EP030
• Farfetch’d#0083 · EP049
• Doduo#0084 · EP065
• Dodrio#0085 · EP001
• Seel#0086 · EP007
• Dewgong#0087 · EP061
• Grimer#0088 · EP026 (flashback) · EP030
• Muk#0089 · EP030
• Shellder#0090 · EP036
• Cloyster#0091 · EP036
• Gastly#0092 · EP020
• Haunter#0093 · EP023
• Gengar#0094 · EP001
• Onix#0095 · EP001
• Drowzee#0096 · EP027
• Hypno#0097 · EP027
• Krabby#0098 · EP013
• Kingler#0099 · EP042
• Voltorb#0100 · EP028
• Electrode#0101 · EP033
• Exeggcute#0102 · EP026
• Exeggutor#0103 · EP040
• Cubone#0104 · EP009
• Marowak#0105 · EP073
• Hitmonlee#0106 · EP029
• Hitmonchan#0107 · EP029
• Lickitung#0108 · EP052
• Koffing#0109 · EP002
• Weezing#0110 · EP031
• Rhyhorn#0111 · EP033
• Rhydon#0112 · EP035 (flashback) · dub: EP042
• Chansey#0113 · EP002
• Tangela#0114 · EP026
• Kangaskhan#0115 · EP034
• Horsea#0116 · EP019
• Seadra#0117 · EP075 · last Gen I debut of the season
• Goldeen#0118 · EP002
• Seaking#0119 · EP061
• Staryu#0120 · EP006
• Starmie#0121 · EP007
• Mr. Mime#0122 · EP064
• Scyther#0123 · EP042
• Jynx#0124 · Holiday Hi-Jynx (SP01)
• Electabuzz#0125 · EP042
• Magmar#0126 · EP058
• Pinsir#0127 · EP004
• Tauros#0128 · EP033
• Magikarp#0129 · EP001
• Gyarados#0130 · EP001
• Lapras#0131 · EP050 (fantasy) · SP01
• Ditto#0132 · EP037
• Eevee#0133 · EP040
• Vaporeon#0134 · EP040
• Jolteon#0135 · EP040
• Flareon#0136 · EP040
• Porygon#0137 · EP038 · dub: EP047 (title card only)
• Omanyte#0138 · EP046
• Omastar#0139 · EP046
• Kabuto#0140 · EP046
• Kabutops#0141 · EP046
• Aerodactyl#0142 · EP046
• Snorlax#0143 · EP041
• Moltres#0146 · EP074
• Dratini#0147 · EP035 (never dubbed)
• Dragonair#0148 · EP035 · dub: EP050 (fantasy)
• Dragonite#0149 · EP013 (giant)
• Mewtwo#0150 · EP063 (armoured)
• Togepi#0175 · EP050 · Gen II
• Ho-Oh#0250 · EP001 · first Gen II & first Legendary

Key Events, Gym Battles & Tournaments

All eight Kanto badges

Badge	Gym & Leader	Leader’s Pokémon	Ash’s Pokémon	Result	Episode
Boulder Badge	Pewter Gym · Brock	Geodude, Onix	Pikachu	Given — Ash forfeits the first match as Onix crushes Pikachu; in the rematch Pikachu’s new Thunderbolt beats Geodude, but Ash calls off the attack on a soaked Onix and Brock awards the badge anyway	EP005
Cascade Badge	Cerulean Gym · Misty	Staryu, Starmie	Butterfree, Pidgeotto (Pikachu refuses to fight Misty)	Given — Staryu beats Butterfree; Team Rocket’s giant vacuum interrupts Pidgeotto versus Starmie and Daisy hands Ash the badge for defending the Gym	EP007
Thunder Badge	Vermilion Gym · Lt. Surge	Raichu	Pikachu	Win (rematch) — Raichu flattens Pikachu first time round; in the rematch Pikachu’s speed, Agility and Quick Attack and a final Thunderbolt win it	EP014
Marsh Badge	Saffron Gym · Sabrina	Abra → Kadabra	Pikachu (with Haunter)	Awarded — after forfeits in EP022 and EP024, Haunter makes Sabrina and Kadabra laugh until Kadabra cannot continue and Pikachu is declared the winner	EP024
Rainbow Badge	Celadon Gym · Erika	Tangela, Weepinbell, Gloom	Bulbasaur, Charmander	Given — Tangela beats Bulbasaur, Charmander beats Weepinbell and falls to Gloom’s stench; Team Rocket’s bomb sets the Gym on fire and Erika gives Ash the badge for rescuing Gloom	EP026
Soul Badge	Fuchsia Gym · Koga	Venonat → Venomoth, Golbat	Pidgeotto, Charmander	Win — Venomoth paralyses Pidgeotto; after Team Rocket’s interruption Charmander’s Fire Spin knocks out Golbat	EP032
Volcano Badge	Cinnabar Gym · Blaine	Ninetales, Rhydon, Magmar	Squirtle, Charizard, Pikachu	Win (rematch) — Ash forfeits the first match to save Pikachu from the lava (EP058); on the volcano’s rim Charizard beats Magmar with Submission and Seismic Toss	EP059
Earth Badge	Viridian Gym · Giovanni (Jessie & James standing in)	Machamp, Kingler, Rhydon	Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Pidgeotto, Pikachu	Badge falls to Ash — Team Rocket rig the battle and refuse to hand over the badge after Pikachu’s Thunderbolt, until Togepi blows up their platform	EP063

Tournaments & detours on the way to the League

Ash’s badge run is punctuated by competitions of every kind. He wins the Fighting-type P1 Grand Prix with Primeape, beating Team Rocket’s stolen Hitmonlee in the final (EP029); rides Lara Laramie’s Ponyta in the Big P Pokémon Race, where it evolves into Rapidash and beats Dario’s Dodrio in a photo finish (EP033); and wins an impromptu tournament against Brock and Misty to decide who keeps the newly hatched Togepi — though Togepi picks Misty anyway (EP050).

Misty wins the women-only Princess Festival contest when Psyduck’s Confusion beats Jessie’s new Lickitung in the final (EP052), while Ash, Jessie and James all fail the Pokémon League Admissions Exam (EP056) — the trio are thrown out for cheating. Unofficial Gyms crop up too: A.J.’s training Gym, which is 98–0 when Ash arrives (EP008), and the two warring Gyms of Dark City run by Yas and Kaz (EP042). Gary, meanwhile, collects ten badges without ever fighting Lt. Surge, Sabrina or Koga, which implies that Kanto has at least fifteen official Gyms.

The Indigo Plateau Conference

The Indigo Plateau Conference (EP074–EP080) is open to around 256 trainers who hold eight Kanto badges, pass the League Admissions Exam or graduate from Pokémon Tech. It opens with a torch relay carrying the sacred Moltres flame: Ash, Misty and Brock join the runners, Team Rocket steal the torch and Moltres itself appears before League president Charles Goodshow lights the stadium flame (EP074). Every competitor must then win four three-on-three preliminary rounds on the Water, Rock, Ice and Grass Fields against randomly drawn opponents before the Top 16 battle in Indigo Stadium; from the Top 8 onwards every match is a six-on-six Full Battle, and a Pokémon that refuses to fight counts as beaten.

Ash wins all four preliminaries. On the Water Field his Krabby beats “the Astounding” Mandi’s Exeggutor, evolves into Kingler and sweeps Seadra and Golbat with Crabhammer and Hyper Beam — the only League win of Ash’s career in which he loses no Pokémon (EP075). On the Rock Field Squirtle finishes off an unnamed trainer’s Nidorino; on the Ice Field Kingler cracks Pete Pebbleman’s Cloyster, and when Arcanine’s Fire Blast melts the arena into a lake Pikachu dives in and wins with a Thunderbolt through the water (EP076). On the Grass Field Bulbasaur beats Jeanette Fisher’s Beedrill and Scyther, her Bellsprout beats Bulbasaur and Pikachu, and Muk smothers Bellsprout with Body Slam — its only official win (EP077). The same day Gary goes out in the Top 32 when Melissa’s Golem beats his Nidoking, and he heads home to Pallet Town.

In the fifth round, in Indigo Stadium, Ash faces his new friend Ritchie, whose Pikachu Sparky, Charmander Zippo and Butterfree Happy mirror Ash’s own team (EP078–EP079). Team Rocket kidnap Ash so that he only just makes it to the match; Happy puts Squirtle to sleep, Pikachu beats Happy and then falls to Zippo, and Charizard roasts Zippo but then refuses to fight Sparky. Under the refusal rule Ash is out: Top 16, still the lowest League finish of his career.

Ritchie reaches the Top 8, where he loses to Assunta in the first Full Battle ever shown in the anime (EP080); the eventual champion is never named. At the closing ceremony every competitor receives a participation badge, the top three are honoured and the Moltres flame is extinguished. Ash and Ritchie promise to meet again, and the friends head back to Pallet Town to plan their next journey.

Movies & Specials Released During the Season

The first Pokémon movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, opened in Japanese cinemas on 18 July 1998, between The Case of the K-9 Caper! (EP054) and Pokémon Paparazzi (EP055), together with the Pikachu short Pikachu’s Vacation. Written by series head writer Takeshi Shudō, it took ¥4.2 billion at the Japanese box office. Warner Bros. released the English version, Pokémon: The First Movie, in the United States on 10 November 1999 — three days before The Fourth Round Rumble aired on Kids’ WB! — without its Mewtwo-origin prologue, and it reached VHS and DVD on 21 March 2000.

Because of the four-month hiatus after Electric Soldier Porygon, the three TV episodes written to lead into the film — Gary’s defeat by an armoured Mewtwo in The Battle of the Badge, It’s Mr. Mime Time and Mewtwo’s destruction of Team Rocket’s base in Showdown at the Po-ké Corral — ended up airing two to three months after it opened in Japan. Pikachu’s Vacation introduced Marill and Snubbull and gave Mr. Mime its first appearance before Mimey joined the TV cast in EP064. The Pikachu shorts Christmas Night and Kanga Games followed in Japan as the video release Pikachu’s Winter Vacation on 22 December 1998, and the second movie, The Power of One, opened in Japan on 17 July 1999 while American audiences were still watching the Kanto episodes.

Side Stories, Specials & Crossovers

Side-story tie-ins

• Pikachu’s Vacation (PK01; Japan 18 July 1998, US 10 November 1999), the first Pikachu short, played in front of Mewtwo Strikes Back: Ash’s Pokémon spend a day on holiday without their trainers, and Marill, Snubbull and Mr. Mime make their anime debuts.
• Pikachu’s Winter Vacation (Japan 22 December 1998) packages the shorts Christmas Night and Kanga Games, starring Pikachu, Togepi and friends; it was released on English VHS and DVD in 1999 and later aired as part of Pokémon Chronicles.
• Pocket Monsters, Fall Special! (TV Tokyo, 7 October 1997) followed Pokémon Fashion Flash with an hour-long recap of the first 27 episodes; a Winter Special clip show planned for 6 January 1998 was cancelled after the Pokémon Shock and is now lost.
• Anime Pocket Monsters Problem Inspection Report (TV Tokyo, 11 April 1998) explained the Pokémon Shock to Japanese viewers, and the one-hour comeback broadcast of 16 April 1998 opened with an on-air explanation before Pikachu’s Goodbye and The Battling Eevee Brothers.
• Pokémon: Gotta Catch ’Em All! A Sneak Peek at Pokémon, a 1998 promotional VHS from 4Kids, mixed clips from EP001–EP003, EP006 and EP015 — including an alternate Giovanni line about capturing Pikachu “before the merchandise launches” — with the Tuesday PokéRap.

Characters from the games, manga and specials

• Ash and Gary are the anime’s versions of the player and the rival from Pokémon Red and Green (in Japanese, Satoshi and Shigeru), and Professor Oak, the eight Gym Leaders, Bill and the Elite Four’s Bruno all come straight from the games — though the anime turns two of those Gym Leaders, Brock and Misty, into Ash’s travelling companions.
• Jessie, James and Meowth are anime originals — the games have only nameless Team Rocket Grunts — but they proved so popular that Pokémon Yellow wrote them in as recurring opponents.
• Todd Snap (EP055–EP057) is the photographer hero of Pokémon Snap for the Nintendo 64, which came out in Japan in March 1999; his three episodes previewed the game.
• The Pi-Kahuna (EP067) brings the surfing Pikachu of Pokémon Yellow’s Pikachu’s Beach minigame to the anime; Yellow, itself modelled on the anime with Pikachu following the player, went on sale in Japan on 12 September 1998, two days after Clefairy Tales aired.
• Ho-Oh (EP001) and Togepi (EP050) were early previews of Pokémon Gold and Silver, still more than a year from release; Ho-Oh’s cameo is the first appearance of a Legendary Pokémon in the series.
• The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Toshihiro Ono’s manga adaptation of the early anime, retells many Indigo League episodes, and samplers of it were packed with some of the original American VHS tapes.

Opening & Ending Themes

Indigo League has a single Japanese opening but five Japanese endings, and one English opening that became the most famous song in the franchise. Mezase Pokémon Master, sung by Rica Matsumoto — Ash’s own voice actress — opens all 82 Japanese episodes; after the Pokémon Shock its animation was re-cut to show four images per screen instead of full-screen flashes. In English, Jason Paige’s Pokémon Theme, written by John Loeffler and John Siegler, introduced the slogan “Gotta catch ’em all!” and opened 83 episodes, the longest run of any dub opening. In place of the Japanese endings the dub closed each episode with a segment of the Kanto PokéRap (up to EP057) and then with Pikachu’s Jukebox music videos from the album Pokémon 2.B.A. Master.

The two Japanese specials add a sixth song: Kaze to Issho ni, Sachiko Kobayashi’s ending for Mewtwo Strikes Back, played as a music video after Holiday Hi-Jynx and Snow Way Out!. In the dub, “The Time Has Come (Pikachu’s Goodbye)” by Marti Lebow replaces the lullaby Goodnight, My Pikachu in EP039, Vicki Sue Robinson’s “Pokémon (Dance Mix)” scores Psyduck’s film shoot in EP069 and “Viridian City” replaces Type: Wild at the League parade in EP076, while the full two-verse Pokémon Theme accompanies the torch relay in EP074. One Japanese song survived untouched: Pokémon Ondo, which plays at the festival in The Flame Pokémon-athon! with its original Japanese lyrics — the only time 4Kids ever left a song in Japanese.

Pokémon Theme by Jason Paige — the English opening of every Indigo League episode, and the video linked from our original Season 1 page. Video: ThePokemonNetwork on YouTube.

TV Broadcasts & Original Airing Dates

This season of Pokémon first aired in Japan and spanned April 1st, 1997 to January 21st, 1999. The English dub then followed in the U.S. from September 8th, 1998 to November 27th, 1999, in first-run syndication and then, from February 1999, on Kids’ WB. To this date it remains the longest running Pokémon Season.

The episode numbers we give to the Pokémon episodes in our list are based on the following: English dub air dates are based on the sequential order in which episodes were aired on US television (in syndication and then on The WB Television Network’s Kids’ WB block), and Japanese air dates are based on the sequential order in which episodes were aired on TV Tokyo.

Since these original airings, Western showings of this season of the Pokémon anime have aired in the same order that they originally did in Japan, with of course the exception of the couple of banned episodes.

About halfway through the initial U.S. airings, YTV Canada also picked up the series and from there on aired it in line with the U.S. broadcasts until some point during Season 3.

Japan. TV Tokyo premiered Pocket Monsters on Tuesday 1 April 1997 at 6:30 p.m. and aired EP001–EP038 weekly without a break until 16 December 1997, when Electric Soldier Porygon caused the Pokémon Shock. The series was pulled for exactly four months and returned on Thursday 16 April 1998 in a new 7 p.m. slot, with a one-hour special of Pikachu’s Goodbye and The Battling Eevee Brothers introduced by an on-air explanation. The seasonal episodes held up by the hiatus aired months late — the Hinamatsuri and Children’s Day stories as a double bill on 9 July 1998, and the two winter specials in a Monday one-hour slot on 5 October 1998, which shifted every later Japanese episode number up by two — and the Kanto saga ended with Friends to the End on 21 January 1999. The Orange Islands followed the next week.

United States. 4Kids Entertainment and Summit Media Group launched the dub in first-run syndication on local stations. Battle Aboard the St. Anne was shown as a sneak preview on Labor Day, Monday 7 September 1998, and weekday premieres then ran from Pokémon – I Choose You! on 8 September to The March of the Exeggutor Squad on 30 October, skipping Beauty and the Beach, The Legend of Dratini and Electric Soldier Porygon; Pikachu’s Goodbye was held back to close the syndicated run on 20 November 1998. The dub debuted 20 days before Pokémon Red and Blue went on sale in North America. Kids’ WB! then took the show and premiered the remaining twelve TV-season episodes on Saturday mornings from 13 February to 1 May 1999.

How many episodes is Indigo League? It depends who is counting. Japan aired 82 episodes (EP001–EP080 plus the two specials). The US television season was 52 episodes, ending with The Breeding Center Secret; Kids’ WB! premiered everything else — Princess vs. Princess and The Purr-fect Hero, held back from the spring, then EP058–EP080 — as its “Season 2” from 4 September to 27 November 1999, with a “Pokémania” fortnight of three airings a day, the specials on 11 and 18 December and Beauty and the Beach finally appearing as “The Lost Episode” in June 2000. Pokémon.com, Netflix and the UK and Australian discs use the 52-episode definition; VIZ Media’s box sets group the season by storyline and opening theme, giving 79 dubbed episodes — 78 since Holiday Hi-Jynx was removed in 2014.

Elsewhere. In the United Kingdom the dub premiered on Sky One on 29 March 1999 before reaching ITV’s SM:TV Live — where Ant & Dec replaced the Who’s That Pokémon? break with a sketch — CITV and GMTV. Australia watched it in Network Ten’s Cheez TV block. South Korea banned seven episodes and Holiday Hi-Jynx for their Japanese cultural content, Turkey skipped The Song of Jigglypuff, and Finland dropped the PokéRap as advertising. Later US homes for the season include Cartoon Network and Boomerang reruns, Netflix (from 2014), Pokémon TV (until March 2024), a Twitch marathon in 2018 and, from 7 August 2026, Disney+ and Hulu, which carry the first 27 episodes.

Dub Edits, Censorship & the Banned Episodes

The banned and withdrawn episodes

Beauty and the Beach (EP018, アオプルコのきゅうじつ) was skipped when the dub went into syndication in 1998, chiefly because of James’s inflatable-bikini routine in the Porta Vista beauty contest and an old man ogling Misty. 4Kids dubbed it late, with Maddie Blaustein’s Meowth and a Season 2-style title card, and Kids’ WB! aired it, 37 seconds shorter, as “The Lost Episode” on 24 June 2000 and “The Return of the Lost Episode” on 18 August 2000. It has never been shown in English since and has never appeared on home video or streaming; its 1,061-day wait for an English broadcast is the longest of any dubbed episode. Read more in our article on the banned scenes of Beauty and the Beach.

The Legend of Dratini (EP035, ミニリュウのでんせつ) was never dubbed at all. The Safari Zone warden Kaiser holds a revolver to Ash’s head and Team Rocket open fire on him — more gunplay than every other episode of the series combined — and 4Kids judged that no American network would air it. The episode matters to the story: it is where Ash catches thirty Tauros, who turn up in the dub at Professor Oak’s lab with no explanation, and where Dratini and Dragonair debut. 4Kids clearly had the footage, because shots of Rhyhorn, Dratini and Dragonair appear in the PokéRap and in Pikachu’s Jukebox videos. See our full guide to the banned episode.

Electric Soldier Porygon (EP038, でんのうせんしポリゴン) is the only episode banned worldwide. When it aired on TV Tokyo on 16 December 1997, a sequence in which Pikachu’s Thunderbolt detonates a volley of “vaccine” missiles flashed red and blue at around 12 Hz, and 685 viewers — mostly children — were taken to hospital with seizures and other symptoms. TV Tokyo pulled the series for four months, Japanese broadcasters adopted new rules on flashing images, and every earlier episode was toned down before the show returned on 16 April 1998. The episode has never been rebroadcast in any country, Porygon has barely appeared in the anime since, and it was never aired in English (whether 4Kids ever recorded a dub is still disputed by the cast). Read the full story of the Pokémon Shock.

Holiday Hi-Jynx (ルージュラのクリスマス), the Christmas special starring Santa Claus and his Jynx, was dubbed and aired on Kids’ WB! on 11 December 1999, but it was pulled from US rotation after children’s author Carole Boston Weatherford argued in 2000 that Jynx’s black-faced design echoed racist caricature. It survived on the original VHS and VIZ’s 2008 box set, but was dropped from every release from 2014, erased from Pokémon.com and never offered on Pokémon TV or Netflix. In Japan Jynx was recoloured purple for a 2012 rerun, and that version is the one most Japanese streaming services now carry; it has never been dubbed.

Other changes in the English version

Airing order. The dub’s very first broadcast was Battle Aboard the St. Anne, shown as a sneak preview the day before the regular run began. Pikachu’s Goodbye was held back to close the syndicated run after EP043; Princess vs. Princess and The Purr-fect Hero were moved to open Kids’ WB!’s second season in September 1999, which is why Jessie’s Lickitung is mentioned in So Near, Yet So Farfetch’d before she has caught it and why Togepi is missing from both; and the two Christmas-season specials aired after the first Orange Islands episode, in December 1999.

PokéRap, Jukebox and Who’s That Pokémon? 4Kids replaced every Japanese ending with a “day” segment of the Kanto PokéRap (up to EP057) and then with Pikachu’s Jukebox music videos, and from EP061 it also cut Japan’s closing segment, Professor Oak’s Pokémon Lecture. Who’s That Pokémon? began in EP001 as a Japanese eyecatch in which the silhouetted Pokémon says its own name; the dub added the narrator’s question and the cast shouting the answer. The two versions first differ in EP017 (Slowbro in English, Slowpoke in Japanese), and from Kids’ WB!’s second season the American silhouette usually previews the next episode’s Pokémon.

Cuts and paint edits. By later standards Indigo League was lightly cut — Misty’s slaps in EP001 and EP003, a log thrown at Brock in EP009, a zoom on Misty’s chest in EP034, 23 seconds of a snow-sushi stall and Jessie’s lit matches in Snow Way Out!, and Jessie’s spanking in EP045 on Kids’ WB! — and the guns of EP012, EP034 and EP054 were left alone. What 4Kids did almost everywhere was paint out Japanese writing: Dogasu’s Backpack counts 22 repaints in Pokémon Fashion Flash and 34 in Princess vs. Princess, and James’s Pokémon card collection becomes a set of glamour photos in EP073. About 30 seconds of shopping and restaurant scenes in EP076 are missing from the US DVDs and Pokémon TV, although they were broadcast.

Names, food and dialogue. Satoshi became Ash Ketchum — a surname invented for the dub — Kasumi became Misty, Takeshi Brock, Shigeru Gary Oak and Musashi and Kojirō Jessie and James, while the Japanese town names gave way to the games’ English ones. Brock’s rice balls became the most famous jelly-filled doughnuts in anime (EP025), ramen became pizza, Hinamatsuri the “Princess Festival” and Children’s Day a generic “Kids Day”, and references to death and religion were systematically softened. Some rewrites changed the story: the dub makes Ash and Gary strangers rather than childhood friends, says that Brock’s mother has died, turns the male trainer who beats Gary into Melissa, and invents League rules about Gym challenges and torch-bearers. Todd Snap is “Todd” on Kids’ WB! but “Snap” on other prints, because two takes were recorded after Kellogg’s objected to the name.

Music. Almost all of Shinji Miyazaki’s score was replaced with 4Kids’ own cues — in the first episode only about a minute of Japanese music survives — and the Japanese songs were swapped for English ones (see Opening & Ending Themes). The exception is Pokémon Ondo in EP033, kept with its Japanese lyrics; music from Mewtwo Strikes Back was also kept from EP064 onwards.

Later withdrawals. After 11 September 2001 Kids’ WB! dropped Tentacool & Tentacruel, in which a giant Tentacruel wrecks a skyscraper, and The Tower of Terror for its title; both returned on Cartoon Network, though EP019 was pulled again for some weeks after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Cartoon Network’s 2003 rerun package left out The Song of Jigglypuff, Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden and The Case of the K-9 Caper!, which did not air there until 2007.

Episode titles explained

From The School of Hard Knocks onwards, 4Kids loved a pun or a pop-culture reference; the Japanese titles are mostly literal. A few worth decoding:

• The School of Hard Knocks — the saying; Bulbapedia counts it as the first referential English title
• Beauty and the Beach — Beauty and the Beast
• The Tower of Terror — the Disney theme-park ride
• Primeape Goes Bananas — the film Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)
• Pokémon Scent-sation! — sensation, for Erika’s perfume shop
• Sparks Fly for Magnemite — “sparks fly”; the Japanese title, Do Coil Dream of Electric Mice?, parodies Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — and the power-plant workers are called Dick and Philip
• Dig Those Diglett! — “dig” as in “like”
• Bye Bye Butterfree — the games’ “Bye-bye” release message; one of the few titles that is the same in both languages
• A Chansey Operation — a chancy operation
• So Near, Yet So Farfetch’d — so near, yet so far
• Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden — the Japanese title puns on fushigi (mysterious) and Fushigidane (Bulbasaur); Bulbagarden takes its name from the episode
• The Purr-fect Hero and The Case of the K-9 Caper! — perfect and canine
• Riddle Me This — the Riddler’s catchphrase in Batman
• Beach Blank-Out Blastoise — the film Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
• The Misty Mermaid — The Little Mermaid
• Clefairy Tales — fairy tales
• The Battle of the Badge — the Battle of the Bulge
• It’s Mr. Mime Time — the Animaniacs segment “Mime Time”
• Holiday Hi-Jynx and Snow Way Out! — high jinks and no way out
• Showdown at the Po-ké Corral — the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
• The Pi-Kahuna — the big kahuna
• Make Room for Gloom — the sitcom Make Room for Daddy
• Go West Young Meowth — Horace Greeley’s “Go West, young man”
• To Master the Onixpected! and The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémopolis — the unexpected and metropolis
• Bad to the Bone — George Thorogood’s song, for Marowak’s bone club
• A Friend in Deed — “a friend in need is a friend indeed”

DVD & Blu-ray / Streaming

Episodes from this season were initially released over 26 different DVDs and videos between December 13th, 1998 and January 23rd, 2001. A couple of years later, between 2006 and 2008, VIZ Media re-released the whole season in three box sets. Nearly another decade passed and then Manga Entertainment released the 52-episode TV season of Pokémon Indigo League on DVD and Blu-ray as a box set in the UK. Today the most complete release is VIZ’s nine-disc Complete Collection — but note that every set since 2014 leaves out Holiday Hi-Jynx, and no English release has ever included Beauty and the Beach, The Legend of Dratini or Electric Soldier Porygon.

North America (Region 1)

Release	Date	Contents
26 single VHS and DVD volumes (Viz Video / Pioneer), from I Choose You! Pikachu! to Friends & Rivals	13 December 1998 – 23 January 2001	Three episodes per volume (four on vol. 17); vol. 21, The Po-ké Corral!, carries both specials
Pokémon: Indigo League Season 1 Part 1 (3 discs, VIZ Media)	21 November 2006	26 episodes, EP001–EP027 (no EP018), with the full PokéRap
Season 1 Part 2 (3 discs)	13 November 2007	26 episodes, EP028–EP057 (no EP035, EP038, EP052 or EP053)
Season 1 Part 3 (3 discs)	18 February 2008	27 episodes: EP052, EP053, EP058–EP080 and both specials
Indigo League Volumes 1–3 re-issues (VIZ / Warner Home Video)	5 November 2013 · 28 October 2014	Volume 3 drops Holiday Hi-Jynx
Pokémon: Indigo League – The Complete Collection (9 discs, VIZ / Warner)	28 October 2014	78 episodes on Pokémon-themed discs, with the PokéRap on discs 1–6
Pokémon: Indigo League, Season 1 – Champion’s Edition Blu-ray (6 discs, VIZ)	14 November 2017	The 52-episode TV season, with a Who’s That Pokémon? gallery and a Pokémon Adventures sampler
Game Boy Advance Video Pokémon Vol. 3 and Vol. 4 (Nintendo)	2004	EP001 and EP012; EP060 and EP070

Australia & New Zealand (Region 4)

Release	Date	Notes
16 single VHS volumes (Siren Entertainment)	to 14 August 2000	Same titles as the US vols. 1–16; Seaside Pikachu omits EP018 and Pikachu Party the two banned episodes
Pokémon Season 1 Super Wallet (Magna Pacific, 12 discs + 2 bonus discs)	10 May 2006	48 episodes (EP001–EP051), plus The Legend of Thunder! and Pikachu’s Winter Vacation as bonus material
Season 1 DigiPack (6 discs, Magna Pacific / Beyond Home Entertainment)	10 March 2010 (NZ 9 September 2010)	The 52-episode TV season; reissued for the 20th anniversary in 2016
MetalPak limited edition, Slimline and alternate-cover re-releases (Beyond)	5 June 2013 · 2 April 2014 · 28 August 2019	Also sold with Charmander and Charizard T-shirts (2015–16) and in the Kanto and Orange Islands, Heritage and multi-season Deluxe/Ultra/Mega collections
Season 1 Blu-ray (5 discs, Beyond)	6 December 2017	The 52-episode TV season

United Kingdom (Region 2)

Release	Date	Notes
11 PAL VHS volumes (Warner Home Video)	12 February 2001 – 11 February 2002	Only the first 33 dubbed episodes (to The Kangaskhan Kid); every tape ends with a full PokéRap
Pokémon: Indigo League Season 1 DVD (8 discs) and Blu-ray (5 discs), Manga Entertainment	30 October 2017	The 52-episode TV season; no extras or Japanese audio
Partner Up with Pikachu! (Manga Entertainment)	15 April 2019	EP001, EP005, EP014 and EP039

Japan

Shogakukan released the Kanto episodes in Japan on 27 rental-only VHS tapes, three episodes per tape, from 27 November 1997 to 26 June 1999 (Electric Soldier Porygon omitted), alongside two-episode sell-through tapes from 18 July 1998 — the day Mewtwo Strikes Back opened. No complete Japanese DVD or Blu-ray release of the Kanto saga is known. The episodes stream on Prime Video and Netflix in Japan (with the recoloured Jynx in Holiday Hi-Jynx) and on Hulu Japan.

Streaming

Hulu carried the dub before 2014, and Netflix US has streamed the 52-episode season since 1 March 2014. Pokémon TV offered it from 2010 until the service closed on 28 March 2024, and the Official Pokémon YouTube channel has been uploading seasons 1–11 since 6 December 2024 (not in the UK). The season is also sold on Prime Video, iTunes and Google Play, streams free with ads on Tubi in the US and on Stan in Australia (since September 2025), and the first 27 episodes have been on Disney+ and Hulu in the US since 7 August 2026. Beauty and the Beach, The Legend of Dratini, Electric Soldier Porygon and, since 2014, Holiday Hi-Jynx are not available on any English-language service.

Covers

• I Choose You! Pikachu! VHS, vol. 1 (Region 1, 1998)
• Season 1 Part 1 box set (Region 1, 2006)
• Season 1 Part 2 box set (Region 1, 2007)
• Season 1 Part 3 box set (Region 1, 2008)
• The Complete Collection (Region 1, 2014)
• Champion’s Edition Blu-ray (Region A, 2017)
• Season 1 Super Wallet (Region 4, 2006)
• Manga Entertainment Blu-ray (Region B, 2017)

Where to Watch & Buy

Availability changes constantly, so treat this as a snapshot (October 2026) and check your local service. Links will be added here once we have settled on referral partners.

• NetflixStreams the 52-episode TV season (up to The Breeding Center Secret) in the US and several other territories.
• Disney+ & Hulu (US)The first 27 episodes have been streaming since 7 August 2026.
• The Official Pokémon YouTube channelHas been uploading seasons 1–11 since December 2024 (not available in the UK).
• Prime Video, iTunes & Google PlaySell the season digitally (Prime Video is missing Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden); Tubi streams it free with ads in the US.
• DVD – North AmericaPokémon: Indigo League – The Complete Collection (VIZ Media, 9 discs, 2014) is the most complete set: all 78 currently released episodes.
• Blu-rayVIZ’s Champion’s Edition (US), Manga Entertainment’s UK set and Beyond’s Australian set, all from 2017, hold the 52-episode TV season.
• Not available anywhereBeauty and the Beach, The Legend of Dratini, Electric Soldier Porygon and, since 2014, Holiday Hi-Jynx.

Trading Cards Released During the Season

The Pokémon Trading Card Game reached English-speaking shops while Indigo League was on the air, and Wizards of the Coast’s first three sets map neatly onto the season’s US run. If you want the cards that were in the playground while these episodes were new, these are the ones:

• Base Set — January 1999 — the first English set, released a month before the dub moved to Kids’ WB!
• Jungle — June 1999
• Fossil — October 1999 — on shelves for the Indigo Plateau Conference episodes

In Japan the card game had launched in October 1996, before the anime; during the Japanese run Media Factory released Mystery of the Fossils (June 1997), Rocket Gang (November 1997) and the first Gym expansion, Leaders’ Stadium (October 1998), as monthly card production climbed from around 16 million to more than 40 million. Topps’ Pokémon TV Animation Edition trading cards (1999–2000) used stills from these episodes.

Our TCG section has a full card list, print variations and the most valuable cards for every one of them.

Cards with a link to the season

Three cards from those first three sets tie straight into what was on screen:

• Charizard · Base Set 4/102Ash’s Charmander became the anime’s most famous Charizard in EP046; the card became the hobby’s most wanted the same year the dub aired.
• Butterfree · Jungle 33/64Jungle (June 1999) landed a few months after Bye Bye Butterfree (EP021) first aired in the US — and the pink Butterfree is still the only alternately coloured one in the franchise.
• Pikachu · Base Set 58/102The first print run gave Pikachu red cheeks instead of yellow — the ‘Red Cheeks’ Pikachu that collectors still hunt.

Firsts & Lasts

• First episode of the anime: Pokémon – I Choose You! (EP001), which also debuts 16 species — still a record — and the first Legendary Pokémon, Ho-Oh.
• First capture and first evolution: Caterpie, caught and evolved into Metapod in Ash Catches a Pokémon (EP003).
• First full Team Rocket motto (EP004) and first “blasting off again” (EP006).
• First Gym badge: the Boulder Badge (EP005); first won by beating a Gym Leader: the Thunder Badge (EP014).
• First filler episode: The Path to the Pokémon League (EP008), also the first episode without a single new species.
• First trade and first purchased Pokémon: Ash’s Butterfree-for-Raticate swap and James’s Magikarp, both in Battle Aboard the St. Anne (EP015).
• First release by a main character, and the first alternately coloured Pokémon in any medium: Butterfree and its pink mate in Bye Bye Butterfree (EP021).
• First Pokémon hatched from an Egg and the first later-generation Pokémon owned by a main character: Togepi (EP050).
• First episode at the standard 24-minute-35-second length: Volcanic Panic (EP059).
• First Elite Four member to appear: Bruno, in To Master the Onixpected! (EP071).
• First Pokémon League, and the first Full Battle shown: Ritchie versus Assunta at the Indigo Plateau Conference (EP080).
• Last episode with the PokéRap: The Breeding Center Secret (EP057); last new Generation I species of the season: Seadra (EP075).
• Only episode banned worldwide: Electric Soldier Porygon (EP038).

Trivia & Facts

• Indigo League built the template every later season follows: Who’s That Pokémon? (EP001), the full Team Rocket motto (EP004) and its first variation (EP028), the pitfall trap (EP005), the “blasting off again” twinkle (EP006), Team Rocket’s fantasy of being praised by the boss (EP021), Brock’s ear-pulling by Misty (EP036) and the families of identical Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys (EP005 and EP012).
• Pokémon – I Choose You! debuts 16 species, the most of any episode, including Ho-Oh — the first Legendary and the first Generation II Pokémon in the series, more than two years before Gold and Silver came out.
• The Pokémon Shock of 16 December 1997 sent 685 viewers to hospital, earned Electric Soldier Porygon a Guinness World Record for the most photosensitive seizures caused by a television programme, and was parodied by The Simpsons (“Thirty Minutes over Tokyo”) and South Park (“Chinpokomon”). The hiatus that followed moved the show from Tuesdays to Thursdays, where it stayed until 2018.
• The anime had originally been planned to run for about a year and a half — roughly the length of the Kanto saga had the hiatus not happened.
• With three skipped or banned episodes and a fourth later withdrawn, Indigo League is the most censored season of the dub. Because The Legend of Dratini was never dubbed, English viewers never saw Ash catch his thirty Tauros.
• Ash earns his eight badges in 63 episodes, the quickest Gym run of any region, but wins only three of them (Thunder, Soul and Volcano) by beating the Leader. The Marsh Badge is his fourth in the anime but the sixth in the games.
• Gary has ten badges by EP063 without ever fighting Lt. Surge, Sabrina or Koga, which implies that Kanto has at least fifteen official Gyms.
• The three Mewtwo prelude episodes (EP063–EP065) were written to lead into Mewtwo Strikes Back but, thanks to the hiatus, aired two to three months after the film opened in Japan.
• The Flame Pokémon-athon! (11 November 1997) drew an 18.6% rating in the Kanto region, the highest in the anime’s history; the premiere had scored 10.2%.
• Game tie-ins were everywhere: Pokémon Yellow (Japan, 12 September 1998) was modelled on the anime and The Pi-Kahuna adapts its surfing minigame; Todd Snap previewed Pokémon Snap; and the dub premiered 20 days before Red and Blue reached North America on 28 September 1998. The English Trading Card Game’s Base Set, Jungle and Fossil all arrived during the US run, and Topps’ Pokémon TV Animation Edition cards used stills from these episodes.
• In Japan, Pokémon game sales rose from about 3.8 million before the anime began to over 10 million by March 1998; the first Pokémon Center opened in Tokyo on 25 April 1998 and ANA’s Pokémon Jets took off that July.
• The fan site Bulbagarden takes its name from Bulbasaur’s Mysterious Garden (EP051).
• The pink Butterfree of Bye Bye Butterfree is the first alternately coloured Pokémon in any Pokémon medium.
  

  

• Internet culture owes Indigo League a lot: Pikachu’s shocked face in Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village became the “Surprised Pikachu” meme in 2018, “Pikachu, the horn!” (EP058) is a dub-only line, and Brock’s jelly-filled doughnuts are referenced in Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution and Pokémon Masters EX.
  

  

• Three English voices changed mid-season: Eric Stuart took over James from Ted Lewis part-way through EP008, Maddie Blaustein replaced Nathan Price as Meowth from EP032, and the Pokédex upgrade in EP050 was written into the dub as a “new voice” when Eric Stuart replaced Nicholas James Tate. Blaustein later cited Go West Young Meowth as an inspiration for coming out as a trans woman.
• Volcanic Panic (EP059) is the first episode at the 24-minute-35-second running time that became the standard, and the first with animation director Masaaki Iwane, later famous for the series’ big battles.
• A Japanese Winter Special clip show, planned for 6 January 1998, was cancelled after the Pokémon Shock and is one of only a handful of unreleased Pokémon episodes.
• For the anime’s 20th anniversary in 2017 TV Tokyo reran ten episodes chosen by celebrities and staff as Pocket Monsters Premier 10, including Pokémon – I Choose You! (picked by director Kunihiko Yuyama), Bye Bye Butterfree (picked by Rica Matsumoto), Pikachu’s Goodbye, Showdown in Pewter City and Electric Shock Showdown.

Reception

Ratings. In Japan the series opened with a 10.2% household rating in the Kanto region and climbed steadily to around 17% by November 1997; The Flame Pokémon-athon! scored 18.6%, the highest rating the anime has ever achieved, and even the comeback broadcast after the Pokémon Shock drew 16.2%. In the United States the syndicated run ranked fifth among all children’s programmes from October 1998 to March 1999, Kids’ WB!’s first week with the show scored a 3.9 rating and handed the network repeated Saturday-morning wins over Fox Kids, and by November 1999 Nielsen reported that half of all boys aged 6–11 watching television at 10 a.m. were watching Pokémon. VIZ and Pioneer’s tapes and discs sold 25 million units in the US in 2000 alone.

Fan favourites. On IMDb the series premiere Pokémon – I Choose You! is the season’s highest-rated episode (8.5/10 from more than 2,000 votes), followed by Charmander – The Stray Pokémon (8.4), Bye Bye Butterfree (8.2), Electric Shock Showdown (8.1), and The Tower of Terror and Pikachu’s Goodbye (both 8.0); the lowest-rated are The Kangaskhan Kid (6.4), The March of the Exeggutor Squad (6.7) and Hypno’s Naptime (6.9). The same handful of episodes — the premiere, Butterfree’s farewell and Pikachu’s near-release — were among the picks when celebrities and staff chose the Pocket Monsters Premier 10 reruns in Japan in 2017.

Critical commentary. Rotten Tomatoes lists an 88% score for the season from a handful of reviews. Paste’s Sarra Sedghi called the show’s pervasiveness “a testament to the power of nostalgia”; IGN’s staff credited “clever writing and a golden marketing formula”, while IGN’s Jeffrey Harris found the story “boring, repetitive, and formulaic” and gave VIZ’s bare-bones Season 1 Part 3 DVD 2 out of 10 in 2008. Dogasu’s Backpack, the long-running dub-comparison site, rates Pokémon Emergency! as perhaps the most important episode of the series and Lights, Camera, Quack-tion an instant classic, but calls the Indigo Plateau loss to Ritchie arguably the worst defeat of Ash’s career and regularly criticises 4Kids’ wholesale replacement of the score. Later releases fared better: A-to-J Connections gave the 2017 Champion’s Edition Blu-ray a B+ for its strong transfer, despite few extras and a steep price.

Continue the journey with Season 2: Adventures in the Orange Islands, or browse every season of the Pokémon anime.