Summary
When you are on the air for as long asPokemonis, there are going to be hiccups in production. The anime has its fair share of banned episodes both in America and Japan. In America, several episodes have been pre-maturely and retroactively banned for sexual content, violence, and racial insensitivity. In Japan, the most famous banned episode wasElectric Soldier Porygon, which became infamous for being the episode that caused many kids to go to the hospital with seizures.
While nothing like that has happened since there was an incident where a completed two-part episode of the anime ended up being pulled. This was no small thing either, as the episode was heavily hyped up as an event for the series, one that would involve all of Team Rocket, a major conflict, and even Ash finally coming face-to-face with Giovanni after so many years.Pokemonfans eagerly awaited the episodes, having wondered for years what such a face-off would look like. However, it was not meant to be: the two-parter was pulled before it aired and has never been seen since. What happened?
What were the Episodes About?
The episodes in question were titled The Rocket-Dan vs. The Plasma-Dan. It was going to be a two-part showdown whereTeam Rocketand their rivals, Team Plasma, finally come face-to-face in an ultimate showdown for power, with Ash and his friends finding themselves in the middle of the feud. This was supposed to be one ofthePokemonevents of the franchise, and Nintendo went all out to promote it! Not only did every member of Team Rocket and Team Plasma make cameo appearances in episodes leading up to the two-part event, butPokemon Fanmagazine dedicated five pages to writing about the event!
Something Unexpected Happens
One week before the episodes are scheduled to air previews are aired about the episodes. The staff’s Twitter accounts hype up the events and at the end of episode 22 ofPokemon Best Wishes,apreview of the two-part eventairs. At this point, kids in Japan are hyped for the upcoming two-parter and anticipation is high. Unfortunately, a major disaster would occur that would halt all plans to air the episodes less than 24 hours later.
What Caused the Episodes to be Pulled?
On March 11th, 2011, The Great East Japan Earthquake struck Japan at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC). Over 19,000 people died (many of them children) and the ripple effects were devastating. Not only were whole towns in Japan destroyed, but as a result of the tsunami, three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melted down, causing the greatest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. All programs (anime and live-action) were deferred as the news covered the ongoing situation, as many around the world prayed and hoped for things to get under control.
The Japanese Media Reacts to the Tragedy
When things finally did settle down and Pokemon returned to air, the two-part episode was skipped. Much like America made some changes to media that were released after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, so too did Japan take current sensitivities into account when returning to air programming. The anime producers felt there were scenes in the episodes that might be considered too distressing for a still-healing nation at the time, so thechoice was made to skip the two-parter. This meant that certain new characters were introduced with no proper explanation, but it was considered by many to be the best thing to do at the time.
Is there Any Chance Fans will Get to See them?
On March 13th, 2013 then-English dub voice director Tom Wayland tweeted this to a fan who asked about the lost episodes:
The first thing that this tweet confirms is that copies of the episode were sent out to international markets, so multiple copies do exist (and frustratingly, are likely sitting on a hard drive somewhere, just waiting to be translated). The second thing is thatthey weren’t dubbed. While it isn’t clear why they weren’t dubbed, chances are it was a request by The Pokemon Company not to dub or air the episodes. As for Japan, they never got to see the episodes either. Several shots of the finished animation would end up being repurposed for later episodes of the series, suggesting that the two-parter was scrapped for parts and that the anime company had no intention of using the material as it was originally intended.
It has now been more than ten years since the episodes were initially slated to air. Traveling companions Ash was traveling with have long since left the show. Ash himself has even been retired from the franchise as the series prepares for a long-awaited reboot. The chances of these episodes ever resurfacing seem pretty low at this point (though if a cutEnchantedsong can leak 17 years after the fact, anything is possible). While you can never say never, many Pokemon fans forgot these episodes were ever supposed to air, so there is little point in revisiting them now. Maybe at some point, the producers will reveal them to the world in a massive BluRay box set or something along those lines, but seeing as this is a show that doesn’t mind making episodes ‘disappear’ for one reason or another, the odds of winning that bet seem pretty low.
