SCENEPikachu, Bulbasaur, Vulpix and Brock/Blastoise Clone - Transition Cell
FILM FORMAT35mm
YEAR1999
CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000003084
FILM NOTES
Pokémon: The Movie Trailer (1999) arrived as part of the promotional push that introduced American audiences to Pokémon: The First Movie, released by Warner Bros. in theaters that November under license from Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. The franchise had only just landed stateside via the television series and trading cards, and this theatrical trailer run was a key part of building anticipation for Mewtwo Strikes Back. Collectors prize material from this window because it marks the earliest cinema exposure of Pokémon to a mass American audience, predating the saturation that followed.
This cell preserves a transition moment from that trailer, built around Pikachu and Bulbasaur alongside references to Vulpix, Brock, and a Blastoise clone. Pikachu remains the franchise's defining figure, the character most collectors seek first, while Bulbasaur represents one of the original three starter Pokémon central to the series' early identity. A transition cell like this one marks the trailer's movement between scenes, a connective frame rather than a centerpiece, valuable for how it captures the promotional material's pacing and construction in that pivotal 1999 release window.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm optical-sound release print of the Pokémon: The Movie trailer (1999).
Gauge
Four perforations per frame along both edges, which reads as 35mm; the strip holds three full frames, with the layout showing four perforation pitches per frame height.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, rounded-rectangle holes, evenly spaced and cleanly punched, with no torn or distorted perforations seen in this capture.
Soundtrack
A twin variable-area optical track runs between the picture and the lower perforations; Dolby Digital blocks, DTS timecode and SDDS tracks are not visible in this capture.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture
Base & colour
Clear base with a light blue cast at the edges; the dye image looks saturated and neutral, with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, cue marks or splices seen at this size; the frames look clean, with only a faint softness and ghosting in the picture area.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames run consecutively as one near-static shot, and the cartoon-style characters are plausible for a Pokémon trailer, though no title card appears.
Era check
A twin optical track on colour positive stock fits a late-1990s 35mm release print, though without Dolby or DTS marks it only loosely suggests the 1999 date.
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 in partnership with National Film Vault, 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.
CROWN SERIAL 000070085
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
