Two episodes of the Pokémon anime were never aired, leaving fans wondering for 12 years about what happened in them. Now they have managed to obtain the scripts.
Why are the episodes missing? In March 2011, a major earthquake occurred off the coast of Japan, claiming numerous lives and destroying around 400,000 buildings.
As a result of the disaster, Japanese broadcasters decided to indefinitely postpone the airing of two episodes of the Pokémon anime. The episodes were originally scheduled to be aired at a later date, which never happened.
What episodes were they? They were the two-part episode “Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma (Part 1 & 2).” It would have been the finale of a story arc in Pokémon: Black & White, the 14th season of the anime.
The plot revolved around Team Rocket trying to seize control of the Unova region. Fans wondered for 12 years how the conflict between the villains of Team Rocket and Team Plasma ended.
Now, fans of the series have managed to get hold of the scripts for the lost episodes.
A Piece of Pokémon History
How were the episodes found? As Kotaku reports, a fan tracked down someone who had copies of the scripts for the episodes. The fan then launched a fundraiser to buy the scripts from the owner.
The community raised $4,000, but ultimately the owner decided to make the scripts available for free. All donations were refunded. The fans did not stop there and translated the documents directly into English.
Twitter user Annet accompanied the search for the lost scripts and shared the success on May 1: History was made. In the embedded tweets, you will also find links to the translation.
What were the episodes about? In the 14th season of Pokémon, Team Rocket attempted to seize a piece of meteorite. Giovanni planned to use the energy of the meteorite, known as Meteonite in English, to gain control over the Unova region.
In the missing episodes, the meteorite was in the possession of Team Rocket but was then stolen by Team Plasma. They, however, lost control over the power of the stone, and the released energy destroyed entire buildings. Thus, the villains, who were supposed to be more comical than threatening, were perhaps too close to the real catastrophe.
Even though the complete episodes will probably never be shown, fans now finally know how the story was originally supposed to unfold. Some speculate to what extent the tragic events influenced the further storyline of the anime, and suspect that Team Plasma was originally intended to play a larger role.
