Pokémon "Battle Aboard the St. Anne" (found original American broadcast version of anime episode; 1998)

The "To Be Continued" cliffhanger at the end of the preview.

Status: Found

Date found: 04 Dec '16

Found by: Squigglemclamesprite

When the Pokémon anime first came to the English-speaking world, it was broadcast in syndication. However, before officially starting the series from the first episode, it was decided that a more exciting, action-packed episode that ended in a cliffhanger would be used to first expose American audiences to the new sensation. On September 7, 1998, a day before the series officially debuted in the United States, "Battle Aboard the St. Anne," the 15th episode, was broadcast.

However, the version broadcast on that date was not identical to the one that aired in its normal place 20 days later on September 27. At the beginning, the narrator announced that this was a special preview, and at the end, he teased a cliffhanger, wondering if the heroes would escape the shipwreck that occurs at the end of the episode, and says that the next day, audiences would see how Ash's journey began. This version of the episode never aired again, with all subsequent broadcasts, home videos, and Internet streams using normal narration. The broadcast has never resurfaced among the fan community, either. It is unlikely that anyone recorded the broadcast, as it was America's first official exposure to Pokémon and nobody in the country would have been a fan yet.

Availability

The American broadcast dub of the episode was lost until December 4th, 2016, when user Squigglemclamesprite found the preview version of the episode and mirrored it on MEGA and Google Drive. The dub is currently available for download on the previously mentioned sites.

See Also

• Pokémon "Computer Warrior Porygon" (lost unaired English dub of anime episode; 1998)
• Pokémon "The Legend of Dratini" (non-existent unaired English dub of anime episode; 1997)
• Pokémon "Battle of the Quaking Island! Barboach VS Whiscash!!" (partially found unaired episode of anime; 2004)
• Pokémon "Cream of the Croagunk Crop" (found original "Hiroki version" of anime episode; 2008)
• Pokémon "Rocket-dan VS Plasma-dan!" (partially found unaired two-part episode of anime; 2011)
• Pokémon 3: The Movie (lost first draft of script of anime movie; late 1990s)
• Pokémon 3D Adventure: Mew o Sagase! (lost 3D short of anime; 2005)
• Pokémon 4D: Pikachu's Ocean Adventure (partially found 4D short of anime; 2006)
• Pokémon! I Choose You! (found original Japanese airing of anime series pilot; 1997)
• Pokémon "It's New Year's Eve! Pocket Monsters Encore" (lost special of anime series; 1997)
• Pokémon "Pocket Monsters, Fall Special!" (found "clip show" episode of anime series; 1997)
• Pokémon "Pocket Monsters, Winter Special!" (lost unaired "clip show" episode of anime series; 1998)

External Links

• A link to the mirror on MEGA.
• Another link to the episode on Google Drive.