The Pokemon Seizure Panic of ‘97 | Photosensitive Epilepsy
Sickboy
CBC
4.8 • 524 Ratings
🗓️ 29 July 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Turns out, the most dangerous thing on TV in the ‘90s wasn’t violence—it was Pikachu. In December, 1997, nearly 700 kids in Japan were rushed to the hospital after watching a single episode of Pokémon. No, this isn’t an urban legend—it actually happened, and it was electrifying (lol). This week, Jer walks the fellas headfirst into the wild, true story of the Pokémon seizure panic, how Pikachu literally short-circuited a nation, and why poor ol’ Porygon got wrongfully canceled before being canceled was cool.
We break down the science of photosensitive epilepsy, uncover how a cartoon nearly led to a nationwide media meltdown. Justice for Porygon. Blame Pikachu.
You can watch this entire episode over on YouTube!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's becoming pretty clear that U.S. President Donald Trump is ripping up the political |
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| 0:30.2 | This is a CBC podcast. |
| 0:35.6 | December 16th, 1997. |
| 0:38.3 | It's a Tuesday night in Japan. |
| 0:42.3 | Kids all over the country are settling down to watch their favorite cartoon, Pokemon. |
| 0:48.3 | Life is good until suddenly it's not. |
| 0:50.3 | That evening, episode 38 of Pokemon, titled, Denenshi Horiog. Heirs and within minutes, |
| 0:59.2 | absolute chaos breaks out. In homes across Japan, children start collapsing. They're shaking |
| 1:06.0 | uncontrollably. They're losing consciousness. They're pukin all over the floors. Hospitals are overwhelmed. |
| 1:12.0 | By the end of the night, almost 700 kids, 685, if we're going to be very precise, have been rushed to the hospital. |
| 1:20.6 | This was not some kind of mass poisoning. It wasn't a virus. It was literally caused by a cartoon. |
| 1:28.8 | Now, if you grew up in the 90s like we did, |
| 1:32.1 | Pokemon was, I mean, for most of us, it was life. |
| 1:35.5 | It was sick. |
| 1:36.4 | Trading cards. |
| 1:38.1 | Game Boy games. |
... |
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