Dennō Senshi Porygon facts for kids

"Dennō Senshi Porygon" (Japanese: 電脳戦士ポリゴン, Hepburn: Dennō Senshi Porigon, translated as "Computer Warrior Porygon", although more commonly "Electric Soldier Porygon") is the 38th episode of the Pokémon anime's first season. It was shown only once in Japan on December 16, 1997. In this episode, Ash and his friends discover a problem with the Poké Ball transmitting machine at the local Pokémon Center. To fix it, they must go inside the machine itself.

The episode had fast-flashing lights and colors. These lights caused some viewers in Japan to feel unwell, an event called the "Pokémon Shock" (ポケモンショック, Pokemon Shokku) by the Japanese news. About 685 children across Japan were taken to hospitals. Two of them stayed in the hospital for more than two weeks. After this happened, Nintendo, the company that makes the Pokémon games, ordered the episode to be removed. It has not been shown in any country since.

After the incident, the Pokémon anime took a four-month break. When it returned on April 16, 1998, its TV time slot changed. The episode has since been mentioned or made fun of in other shows, like The Simpsons and South Park.

Story of the Episode

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu arrive at a Pokémon Center. They find that the machine used to send Poké Balls is not working. Nurse Joy asks them to visit Professor Akihabara. He is the person who created the Poké Ball transfer system.

The professor tells them that Team Rocket stole his special Porygon. Porygon is a digital Pokémon that can live inside computer systems. Team Rocket is using it to steal trainers' Pokémon from inside the computer network.

Professor Akihabara sends Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, and his second Porygon into the computer system. They use his special Dimension Transporter. Inside, they find that Team Rocket has set up a barrier. This barrier stops Poké Balls from moving through the network. Porygon helps them defeat Team Rocket's Porygon.

However, Nurse Joy is watching the situation. She doesn't know Ash and his friends are inside the computer. She sends an antivirus program into the system to fight Team Rocket's computer virus. During the confusion, Pikachu uses a Thunderbolt attack on the antivirus program. This causes a huge explosion with bright flashes. The group and Team Rocket manage to escape the computer. With Team Rocket's barrier gone, the Poké Ball transmitting device starts working normally again.

When It Aired

"Dennō Senshi Porygon" was shown only once in Japan. It aired on Tuesday, December 16, 1997, at 6:30 PM Japan Standard Time. It was broadcast on over 37 TV stations that night. The episode had very high ratings for its time. About 4.6 million homes watched it.

What Happened After

News of the incident quickly spread across Japan. It also reached the main office of Nintendo, the company that makes the Pokémon games. The next day, TV Tokyo, the TV station that showed the episode, apologized to the public. They stopped showing the program and said they would investigate why the viewers felt unwell. Police officers were asked to question the anime's creators about the show.

An important meeting was held by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Experts discussed the situation and gathered information from hospitals. Video stores all over Japan removed the Pokémon anime from their shelves.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange reacted quickly. Nintendo's shares, which show the company's value, dropped by about 5%. The president of Nintendo at the time, Hiroshi Yamauchi, said the company was not responsible. He explained that the original Pokémon game for Game Boy was in black and white.

After "Dennō Senshi Porygon" aired, the Pokémon anime took a four-month break. When it returned on April 16, 1998, the opening animation was changed. Fast lightning flashes were removed from the "Who's That Pokémon?" part. The show's time slot also changed from Tuesday to Thursday.

Many Japanese TV broadcasters and medical experts worked together. They wanted to make sure such an incident would not happen again. They created new rules for animated programs. These rules include:

• Flashing images, especially red ones, should not flicker faster than three times per second. If the image is not red, it should not flicker faster than five times per second.
• Flashing images should not be shown for more than two seconds in total.
• Patterns like stripes, whirls, and circles should not take up too much of the screen.

Because of this incident, two other Pokémon episodes were not shown on their planned dates. These episodes were "Holiday Hi-Jynx" and "Snow Way Out!". They were supposed to air soon after "Dennō Senshi Porygon." Instead, they were finally shown much later, on October 5, 1998, as a special hour-long show. This caused some confusion for viewers. For example, Ash still had a Charmander instead of Charizard. Also, Misty did not have Togepi yet.

To prevent similar problems, Nintendo ordered "Dennō Senshi Porygon" to be removed from circulation. It has not been shown in any country since. After the incident, TV channels started adding warnings to shows for young children. These warnings encouraged viewers to watch anime in a well-lit room and to sit far from the TV. Also, Porygon and its evolved forms, Porygon-2 and Porygon-Z, have not appeared in any Pokémon episodes since then.

Cultural Mentions

The "Pokémon Shock" incident has been made fun of or mentioned in many other popular shows.

For example, an episode of The Simpsons called "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" shows this. In the episode, the Simpson family travels to Japan. Bart watches an anime called Battling Seizure Robots. This cartoon has robots with flashing eye lasers. Bart asks, "Isn't this that cartoon that causes seizures?" The flashing eyes then cause him to have a seizure. Marge and Lisa are also affected. Homer sees them all shaking on the floor and joins in.

An episode of South Park from November 1999, called "Chinpokomon", is also about a Pokémon-like craze. The children of South Park become obsessed with something called Chinpokomon. A Japanese company sells Chinpokomon toys and video games to American children. The company's president uses the toys to trick the American children. He wants to turn them into his own army. These toys include a video game where players try to bomb Pearl Harbor. While playing this game, Kenny has a seizure and later dies. This is a reference to the Pokémon seizure incident.

In the first episode of Drawn Together, Ling-Ling is a character who looks like Pikachu. He says his goal is to "destroy all, and give children seizures." A scene with flashing lights then follows.

On September 19, 2020, the official Pokémon Twitter account posted a message saying "Porygon did nothing wrong." This was a reference to the explosion from Pikachu's Thunderbolt attack being the cause of the flashing lights in the episode, not Porygon itself. The tweet was later deleted.

Images for kids

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  A slowed-down version of the effect that caused seizures among the viewers of the episode.

See also

In Spanish: Dennō Senshi Porygon para niños