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FILM NOTES
Pikachu's Vacation screened theatrically in 1998 as the short accompanying Pokémon: The First Movie, produced by OLM under Nintendo and The Pokémon Company's early licensing push and distributed stateside by Warner Bros. It arrived at the height of Pokémon's American breakout, when the franchise was converting a card and video game craze into a theatrical event, and the short became many young viewers' first extended look at Pokémon existing outside battle, simply spending a day together in the woods.
This cell pairs Squirtle and Pikachu, two of the franchise's most recognizable faces from the original 151, sourced from a 35mm print of that same short. Squirtle brings its own following as one of the starter trio, while Pikachu remains the franchise's defining mascot, and their shared appearance here reflects the short's premise of Pokémon at leisure rather than in combat. For collectors, a frame pairing these two characters together captures a genuine moment of animation history from the property's breakout year.
