Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The First Movie arrived in November 1999 from Warner Bros. and Nintendo's Fourth Kids/OLM collaboration, riding the peak of Pokémania in America. It paired the Mewtwo Strikes Back feature with the Pikachu's Vacation short, introducing a generation of American kids to genetic experimentation, cloning, and questions of identity dressed up in a kids' franchise. It was the first Pokémon theatrical release, a cultural landmark for 90s animation collecting, and remains a cornerstone title for franchise reel collectors.
This cell centers on Blastoise and its clone, part of Mewtwo's roster of duplicated Pokémon assembled to battle their originals. Blastoise, one of the original starter evolutions from Kanto, carries enormous collector demand on its own, and pairing it with its cloned counterpart taps directly into the film's central theme of copy versus original. Collectors prize these dual-figure cells because they capture the movie's philosophical core rather than a background moment, making this a meaningful frame within the larger Mewtwo Strikes Back narrative.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital optical release print of Pokémon: The First Movie.
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds two frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the picture area, appearing as a wavy white line consistent with a mono or stereo optical track; Dolby Digital data blocks are also visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the bottom edge.
Edge print
Top edge reads, mirrored: '2333 189 025 0 20'; no SAFETY FILM text is legible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight blue-teal tint typical of modern safety stock; the dye image reads as saturated and neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; both frames appear to be consecutive frames from the same shot and the animated character visible is consistent with the Pokémon franchise as recorded.
Era check
The combination of a Dolby Digital inter-perforation data track alongside a variable-area optical track, and the blue-tinted polyester safety base, is consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1990s.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
