After the December 16th, 1997 airing of Pocket Monsters Episode 038, "Cyber Soldier Porygon," OLM went back over the first 37 episodes of the TV series and re-edited them to reduce any strobe lights, flashing, quick background color changes, or any other special effects that even slightly resembled the types of images that sent all those children to the hospital during the "Pokémon Shock" incident. This was probably done both out of an abundance of caution as well as an attempt to show the public at large that OLM and every other party involved was taking the incident seriously.

Thankfully, the versions of Episodes 2 - 37 that the Japanese Hulu site has of the series are all the pre-Porygon edits, meaning it is now possible to do side-by-side comparisons of the changes made.  Below is a gallery of those changes. The 1997 original broadcast version is on the left while the 1998 re-edit is on the right.

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WARNING The animated gifs below contain rapidly flashing images that may potentially trigger seizures for people with visual sensitivities.. While there was never any issues reported when the "unedited" episodes originally aired in Japan back in 1997, and the gifs presented here are all kept at a small 300 x 225 pixel size, viewer discretion is still advised. If you are concerned about viewing such images then please navigate away from this page immediately. - Dogasu's Backpack

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Episode 003 "Get Pokémon!"  (B Part: Rocket Trio vs. Pigeon)

 

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The flashback from the previous episode is slowed down, just like it was in the actual episode itself.


Similarly, the explosion scene is edited to reduce the flashing.


Impact stars are removed from the Post-Porygon edit.


The speed at which the Rocket duo throws their Monster Balls is reduced.


Kojirou slides in from the left side in the 1997 version but starts off this shot already on screen in the 1998 version.


The speed of this stock footage is reduced.


The part where the Monster Ball takes up the whole screen in this sequence is removed entirely.


The full screen flashes when Pigeon is called into battle are removed.


Frames are removed from Pigeon's Quick Attack here.


The speed at which Pigeon darts around the screen to avoid Dogars' sludge attacks is reduced significantly.


The red impact star is replaced by a yellow one.


The strobe light flashing in the background is edited significantly for the next two attacks. The red / blue / yellow flashing here is eerily similar to the red and blue flashing that caused the Pokémon Shock incident.


The same thing happens during Arbo's attack.


It's subtle, but the speed at which the light takes Pigeon away is reduced in the later edit.

| B Part: Getting Pigeon, Rockets appear | Rocket Trio vs. Pigeon | Rocket Trio vs Caterpie, Ending |