Sources: Wikidata. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
FILM NOTES
Pikachu's Vacation arrived in 1999 as the animated short accompanying Pokemon: The First Movie, produced by OLM and released stateside by Warner Bros. as part of the Pokemon franchise's first theatrical push in America. It gave Pikachu and friends a rare moment away from Ash and the main cast, following the pocket monsters on a woodland holiday. For a generation of collectors it stands as a snapshot of Pokemon's peak cultural moment, when the series crossed from television into cinemas and into the broader American toy and trading card boom.
This cell carries the name Babysitting Togepi, a segment centered on Togepi, the egg-born Pokemon prized by collectors for its rarity in early merchandise and its gentle, dependent presence among the tougher creatures of the main cast. The scene implies a caretaking episode, a quieter beat within the short's holiday structure where responsibility falls to companions rather than trainers. As a single 35mm frame, it preserves one instant from that thread, a physical remnant of a production moment now valued for its tie to Pokemon's earliest animated era.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Pikachu's Vacation (1999).
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 one edge, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area strip; Dolby Digital data blocks are also visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint; dye image reads as a fully saturated colour positive with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a projected print.
Picture
Positive colour image; both frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot and the animated characters and background are consistent with the Pikachu's Vacation animated short on record.
Era check
The combination of dual bilateral variable-area optical track and Dolby Digital data blocks in the perforation gaps is consistent with a 1999 theatrical release print era, when that hybrid soundtrack configuration was standard.
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
