Once upon a time, there was a period when the Japanese producers of the Pokémon animated TV show didn't care about the American viewers... mostly because it didn't have to. Therefore, a lot of the early Pokémon episodes were deemed too "dangerous" to air on American television. For good reason too, seeing guns and males with breasts will warp the kids for sure!

Anyways, the following is a list of three Pokémon episodes that were never aired on American television, or at least not without some MAJOR edits to it.

1. Holiday at Porta Vista (aired between episodes 17 & 18)

Episode Summary: Ash's mom and Professor Oak happen to come to Porta Vista, at the same time that Ash, Misty, and Brock came after their encounter with the Giant Pokémon. The group find Ryu, an old man who runs a beach house. Somehow, Ash's antics destroys Ryu's wooden dock. However, Ryu is too poor to try to repair the dock, so Ash and company decide to work for Ryu's restruant to help pay off their debt. Eventually business picks up, which begins to bug one of Ryu's competitors, to the point where they hire Team Rocket to chase away Ryu's business. Out of money, the party later learns of a beauty pageant, "Miss Sunburn". And the prize money is just enough to pay off the dock (so Ash wouldn't have to work any more). Misty, being the only one who can enter the contest, enters the contest. Later, Team Rocket is back at it again, and enters the contest also. But in order for James to participate, he has to wear a body suit with fake breasts so that he can pass off as a woman. But Ash, being the smrt fellow he is, wises up to their antics and drive Team Rocket away. Later Ash's mom wins the competition and gives the money to Ryu to fix his deck. The reason why it won't air in the US: Well, technically it DID air on TV (back on June 24th, 2000 for anyone who wants to know), but not without James' busom scene(s) being cut out.

2. Electric Soldier Porygon

Episode Summary: Pokémon centers have a system to transport Pokéballs to other centers. One day, the system just breaks down. Dr. Akihabara, who developed the system, sends Ash and his friends fine out what's wrong. Our heroes find out that Team Rocket has broken in, capturing Pokéballs. This caused the Pokéball transporter system to shut down. While Ash and so forth fight Team Rocket, an unexpected error occurs. Nurse Joy is afraid that the system crashed, and orders a security company to install a vaccine program. The program later is activated and takes the form of a missile. The vaccine program doesn't realize that Ash and his friends aren't bugs in the computer and constantly attacks them. Porygon, a Pokémon that Ash and Co. used to enter the system, eventually leads the crew to safety. The reason why it won't air in the US: As the missiles were being fired towards Ash and Co.'s general direction, Ash uses Pikachu to knock out a few of them before it hits them. Pikachu does, and the missile explodes in a rapid flashing red-blue effect. Unfortunately, repeating flashes is #1 on a kid's not-good list. When the episode aired in Japan, about 700 kids were rushed to a hospital due to epileptic seizures. Since there's more kids in the US than in Japan, you figure that probably more kids will suffer the same fate. Here's a clip of the episode, it's about 2 megabytes ... Of course if you ask me, the scene could easily be cut out or fixed up. But I guess there's too much stigmata against the episode to make it worth the while.

3. Legend of Dratini

Official Summary: After finally entering the Safari Zone, our heroes meet up with the elderly supervisor of the zone. As they are being explained the rules of the safari zone in his office, a picture, carefully hung there, catches Ash's attention. It is a picture of the elderly supervisor as a boy, taken alongside a Dratini, the legendary Pokémon. Ash asks desperately about the existence of Dratini, but the elderly man denies everything. Hearing of the plenitude of Pokémon in the safari zone, Team Rocket also arrives on the scene. The reason why it won't air in the US: This episode was never aired because the Game Warden of the Safari Zone began shooting at people. The Censors pulled the episode out because of that, most likely using several school shootings as a reason to pull it off the air. Of course we ALL know that school shootings are because of ignorant parents who toss their kids in front of "the ultimate babysitter", the television set.

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