A few years back there was a rumor spreading that an episode of pokemon wich contained a many colored flashing explosion gave children seizure i belive it was called electric warior porygon or polygon.Im not sure if this is true but i remember it was a pretty hot topic in school when pokemon was still popular

It did happen. It was Immediately Banned, The episode was never shown again due to the amount of seizure that happened. It was Never shown in the US though.

Yep, it absolutely happened, the phenomimon is called photosensitive epilepsy. The episode of Pokémon was called, Dennō Senshi Porygon, but it's correct that it was never shown in the USA. The numbers of "thousands" is probably way exagerated, but I have no doubt that it caused several serious issues.

My daughter actually has a VHS recording of this episode she got from a friend in Japan who recorded it when it aired, I've watched it... it never gave me a seizure, even though I tend to consider myself somewhat sensitve to blinking and flashing lights (being in a Vegas Casino makes me want to jump off a building). I do believe you need to be predisposed to the condition, but since I'm not a doctor, don't take my word for it.

As I recall, it was hundreds instead of thousands, but it was a terrible tragedy. For many of the children this wasn't a one time seizure, for them it was the start of chronic seizure disorders. It was pikachu walking through the battle area with lightning flashing the entire screen at just the wrong frequency. Supposedly the "Cartoon Network" eventually showed a slightly modified version, with the lightning frequency changed.

I think all continual flashing lights and strobes should be banned, on TV and in clubs, in fact anywhere. Fruit machines are a pain, their flashing lights are a nuisance, they use them to get people's attention and the makers hope it will encourage them to stick their money in the machines.

A friend of mine a few years back had a baby daughter, now this little girl as she grew older began to have epileptic seizures. My friend said that when driving, if she drove through a tunnel (such at the Dartford Tunnel in Kent), the strip lighting on the sides of the tunnel were in strips of a few feet long and as she drove through there it made it appear like flashing, her daughter sitting in the back would have a few seizures until they came out of the tunnel. I always used to wonder what would happen if a driver who had not been through there before but unknown to him/her was predisposed to epilespy, it could be disastrous!

Oh gawd. Thank goodness, I've stopped watching the show. When Yu-Gi-Oh first appeared. >.<

I feel bad for the children who had the seizures. I hate blinking & flashing lights. No easy on the eyes either.

If CN did the episode slightly editted. Then how came someone said it never showed on American shores? Just curious.

I agree, flashing lights are hard on the eyes, even when they don't cause seizures. That's the reason I've never enjoyed video games. I wonder how many children are being harmed without their knowing? I have a theory which I can't prove, that video games are the cause of the incredible numbers of people with ADD, that the brain is vulnerable to the flashing lights and often mindless action.

I don't know, I could have been listening to wrong information about them having shown it, I suppose. I hope if they did show it, that they warned the audience anyways.

But thanks to Youtube we can all watch it whenever we want now...

- Link removed -

The seizure inducing episode was never shown in the USA... I know I did see an altered version of it on one of the science channels. I suppose it's possible CN altered the original and showed it. I'm not a big Pokemon fan, never was, but my daughter might actually know for sure if CN altered and aired it. She's a computer graphics and animation major with a minor in Asian studies--or will be come June! She lives sleeps and breathes japanese animation and regular japanese television programing, when she's not playing Final Fantasy online.

I wanna watch but I'm afraid I'll get a seizure or go blind. D=

You know, the fact that they actually translated it as "Porygon" never fails to amuse me.

If my daughter wasn't sleeping right now I'd go ask her what it does translate to... enlighten us?

Man, I hate havin' a kid that's so much smarter than I am. hahaha

Well, I'm sure you know the stereotype of Asians pronouncing "l"s in English words as "r"s. This arises from the fact that there is no "l" in Japanese, and if I'm not mistaken, in several other Asian languages too. So when they convert English words to Japanese they tend to change "l"s to "r"s, hence Porygon from Polygon. It just amuses me that they translated it back into English with the "r" intact, furthering the stereotype.

Ah! Gotcha! It's a case of us english speakers perpetuating the "Engrish" of asian languages. Now that I think about it, my kid has mentioned this happening in some cases.

Well, having watched the youtube clip, I can certainly see why it would have caused problems....

Fun fact of the day: If you wear a pair of 3D sunglasses, flashing lights can't give you seizures...the two different colours alter how your brain puts together an image, so the flashing lights wouldn't have the same effect as if you watched them with the naked eye. So if you have a history of seizures, and you honestly want to satisfy your curiousity about this episode (honestly, you're not missing much) make yourself a pair of 3D glasses to do it

'3D' contact lenses...

*patents*

sry guys for being misinformed when i said thousand the number of children who had seizures was about 700 children in japan

did anyone watch the original episode or have the link to the episode your stories about this episode are welcome

I have a VHS copy of the original show around here somewhere. My daughter got it from a friend in Japan who recorded it when it aired.

I did ask my kiddo if CN ever remasterd the original and she claims they did and that you can catch the remasted version on CN once in a while.

I have no idea if the ones posted on YouTube are the remasted version or not.

I've seen the original of course, since I have a copy. It didn't do anything to me or my daughter. My daughter already knew it didn't affect her because she'd seen it previously, but when I watched it, I made darn sure that she kept the phone handy just in case. It didn't affect me either, but I'm not going to press my luck by watching it again.

I don't know about the show having that effect but every time one of those guys would pop up while I was playing the game the flashing lights would give me a headache after awhile. Now that I think about it all of those Japanese shows have nauseating lights that cant be good to stare at.

I have an update on my information guys it is said that pokemon recived a large amount of lawsuits and almost had to temporarily shut down but most cases were dissmised due to the fact that many did not have evidence that they or their children had seizures

It's strange that this is the ONLY episode with porygon in it...

I liek mudkips.

Folks be very careful, DO NOT CLICK that link tyler t. posted .... that made me want to puke. VERY DANGEROUS

Testing for Photosensitive Epilepsy should be done under the care of a doctor.

Oh ok, Miss. Mels Well. Thank you.

lol party poopers

My eyes :< need healing mudkips brb

Sorry people... I don't care whether its trying to be informative, or joking... the potential for this to effect the health of anyone who clicks on that link.. including people who don't know they are susceptible and children.... is way too risky to have those sort of links advertised.

I have removed them.

It's not a legend, it's true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denn%C5%8D_Senshi_Porygon

Don't worry, there's no videos.
It's an article on Wikipedia.

Thanks Subtemperate... I appreciate that.

the exact number was 685 and three children had to be hospitalized over a week

good thing I stopped watching it--slightly after yugioh came on but I didn't watch either then lol

ive seen that episode before........ i still wonder why they even showed it on tv, because of the bright lights and stuff, wonder if any of the people who made or watched the episode before it was aired had any problems.

The episode you are seeing on Cartoon Network is altered with the frequency of the lights reduced to a more suitable flash rate. The original version was only shown on TV once, in Japan.

You have to understand how animations are produced to see how this slipped by the producers. They're rarely watched by anyone at full speed because they are editing, synching sound, dubbed, etc... the animators rarely get to see the full animation in action and when they do, they're seeing it at a slower rate. It was likely watched by a final production team, but none of them were probably affected by the imagry. I can easily see how this slipped by them. Bet it never happens again though.

.

HaHa........ I guess it would. LOL

This seems so weird... you all have to be fairly young... I'm not--I turn 40 in a few weeks... but I have to say, I've been watching the japanese language version of Death Note with my daughter lately (she's 19) and I kind of like it, it's really an interesting concept.

I don't think it is a big deal. Anime is often very creative, and they push the envelope of the visual experience. Flashing images, colors, whatever.

Lain (another anime) kind of gave me a headache also. The animators draw these frame by frame so they don't feel it, but when it starts flashing the effect is different.

O_o; I had no problem with it.

FLCL started to give me a headache. Of course I no longer watch it. >.<

keep posting guys please post if you read this

Dumb question but, where can I find that link at? Is it part of a site? PM me if you know where I can find it so no one accidentally hits a link on the thread.

Odd, I've never been at all interested in any aspect of that toy/cartoon before?

Those sneaky Japanese, they never did get over that atom bomb thing, did they!?! Had to do this to get even with the U.S.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Silly round eye!

All in good fun.

a game called Dawn of War : Dark Crusade has also some serious issue with the flashes. after playing the game it gave me some minor Headache. but was cured after i slept.

anyways. Death Note in Japanese Dub and English Sub is a good anime... currently waiting for Episode 24.

Feh. Don't call me until Japan gets Evangelions...

comon guys keep comenting please

I'm still waiting for someone to camment on my last comment!

By the way, you never had any problems with the old GI-Joe cartoons! Bombs, tanks, helicopters, fighterjets, explosions yet not one seizure! I miss GI-Joe.

I once had a seizure while watching Charles In Charge back in the 80's....Scott Baio is the Anti-Christ.

Actually, I saw a clip of that infamous Pokemon episode a few years ago and it looked pretty ((((frantic)))) to me. I remember wondering if they were trying to give kids seizures!

I went on YouTube and watched the clip, I didn't have a seizure, but it gave my head a funny feeling. I can see why it gave so many seizures, the combination of bright red and blue makes your eyes want to bleed.

Very true. I have done much research on this.

They've slowed down the flashing for that purpose. One guy got his hands on a frame-by-frame, Put it together, and I almost fell over. My head Hurt!!!

What! That is crazy!!!