Pokémon Strange Journeys

Pokémon Strange Journeys is a Japanese-American-British animated television series produced by Satsuki Film Company and distributed by 1happycats Productions. The series first aired on January 26, 2015, and ended on August 11, 2017.

Season 2 (2015-2016)
A television special titled "Pokémon Vs. Digimon" premiered after this season ended, just before the theatrical release of Pokémon Strange Journeys: Adventures in Minecraft.

Film series
All three movies in the series appear to be a crossover of some sort.

The Rise of Dr. Eggman
The first movie was released on August 7, 2015, just after the first season ended. It involves Dr. Eggman, having captured Ash's friends after they left, planning to take over the entire Pokémon universe, and it's up to Ash and his friends to stop him.

Adventures in Minecraft
The second movie was released on June 17, 2016, after the second season ended. It is a crossover with Minecraft.

Mystery of the Missing Kid
The third and final movie was released on May 30, 2017, after the fourth season ended. It is a crossover with My Neighbor Totoro.

Censorship
The original versions as shown in Japan and South Korea ran roughly 24 minutes. Since the content of the show would often push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable in children's programming, in most countries such as the United States, certain episodes were edited for time and/or content when shown on television, and can vary from its original length of 24 minutes to as short as 16 minutes. Some countries would use different edits for certain episodes. Some episodes were even considered so controversial they were skipped entirely. However, some countries which got the edited versions on television received the uncut versions on home media and streaming. As a result, the censored prints would have been considered lost media if not for their inclusion on some international releases of the original DVD singles from 2015 to 2017.

Home media releases
From May 2015 to sometime between late-2017 and early-2018, most official home media releases of the show were handled solely by 1happycats Home Entertainment, although other distributors handled such releases in certain countries. From April 2018 onward, Satsuki Video Company handled most official home media releases of the show alongside 1happycats Home Entertainment. Releases since November 2019 were solely handled by Satsuki Video Company.

While most home media releases of the show in Japan and North America would use the unedited masters of the episodes, some countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands would instead use censored prints produced for television airings in order to recieve a specific rating. In some cases, releases that use these masters would leave out some episodes entirely due to them not being broadcast on television there. This was usually only done for the single releases, as the season box sets would typically use the unedited prints.

The release dates listed below are specifically for the North American releases. While most of these releases came out on the same day in some countries such as the United Kingdom, this was not always consistent.

DVD/Blu-ray
On May 10, 2015, the first thirty-two episodes of the first season were released on ten DVD volumes, each with three episodes, except for the fourth and eighth volumes which contain four. On July 6, 2015, the remaining thirty-three episodes of that season were released on ten more DVD volumes, each with three episodes, except for the twelfth, sixteenth and twentieth volumes, which contain four.

On September 21, 2015, The Rise of Dr. Eggman was released on DVD and Blu-ray. This is the only movie in which the bonus features were on a second disc, due to the movie's length.

On June 6, 2016, the first thirty-two episodes of the second season were released on ten DVD volumes, each with three episodes, except for the 24th and 28th volumes which contain four. On July 4 of that year, the next thirty-three episodes of that season were released on ten more DVD volumes, each with three episodes, except for the 32nd, 36th and 40th which contain four. On the 22nd of that month, the remaining fifteen episodes were released on four more DVD volumes, this time with only the 41st volume containing three episodes, with the remaining three containing four.

Also on June 22, 2016, the TV special "Pokémon Vs. Digimon" was released on DVD.

On September 17, 2016, Adventures in Minecraft was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

On November 10, 2017, all fourteen episodes of the third season were released on twelve DVD volumes, each with three episodes, except for the 48th, 52nd, 56th and 57th volumes which contain four.

On May 10, 2017, all fifteen episodes of the fourth season were released on five DVD volumes, each with three episodes.

On July 20, 2017, Mystery of the Missing Kid was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

On August 25, 2017, all twenty episodes of the fifth season were released on six DVD volumes, each with three episodes, except for the 65th and 68th volumes which contain four.

On October 19, 2017, five box sets encompassing all five seasons were released. In some countries, this was the first time the complete series in their uncut forms had been made officially available on home media. "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Complete First Season" contains all sixty-five episodes of that season on seven discs, with the seventh disc also containing bonus content. "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Complete Second Season" contains all eighty episodes of that season on eight discs, with a ninth disc containing "Pokémon Vs. Digimon" and bonus content. "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Complete Third Season" contains all fourty episodes of that season on four discs, with a fifth disc containing bonus content. "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Ghibli Saga - The Complete Fourth Season" contains all fifty episodes of that season on two discs, with the second disc also containing bonus content. "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Complete Fifth Season" contains all twenty episodes of that season on two discs, with a third disc containing bonus content.

On October 21, 2017, the entirety of the series was released as a box set titled "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Complete Series". On that same day, all three movies were released as a box set titled "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Movies". A further box set titled "Pokémon Strange Journeys: The Complete Series + The Movies" was released on November 2, 2017.

All the box sets described above were re-released on April 20, 2018 by 1happycats Home Entertainment and the then-new Satsuki Video Company, and again on November 12, 2019, solely by Satsuki Video Company.

VCD
In Southeast Asia, the single volumes were released on VCD between 2015 and 2017. The VCD release of The Rise of Dr. Eggman was split up into three or four discs, depending on the region and/or the distributor.

Miscellaneous
In Eruowood and some other countries, the single volumes were also released on TechEruo System. These releases usually contain simple mini-games such as coloring books and slide puzzles, as most 1happycats releases on the format do.

Production
The show was first conceived sometime in August 2013, after Michael Valenti had dreamt about watching a strange Pokémon episode involving Ash and James, and reading about another involving James and Cream the Rabbit, the latter of which would be implemented into an episode of the first season, "James's New Home". It was posted on Bulbapedia and as a post on the Bulbagarden forum. Production on the series properly began in September 2014.

Reception
The show received mixed-to-negative reviews, mostly due to the quality of the writing which varied from episode to episode, as well as due to it barely focusing on any Pokémon, along with the many blatant references and severe padding.

The first and third seasons were notorious for the incredibly juvenile personalities of some of the characters (Misty and May in the first season, and Mash in the third season, being some of the worst offenders), while the second and fifth seasons were favored more positively. The fourth season was considered by many to be pointless and only acted as a way to neatly lead into Mystery of the Missing Kid (which is, in fact, the main reason why the decision to cross over with Studio Ghibli films was made).

Its lone TV special "Pokémon Vs. Digimon" was considered by many to be one of the best episodes of the series, due to its superior writing quality and actually feeling more like an episode from the regular Pokémon anime.

Trivia

 * In production order, this is 1happycats Productions's first series to be created specifically for television. Their previous works, Peppa Pig Revisited, The New Charlie and Lola Show and a planned Walden is Stupid series (which would eventually become Wuzzleburg Rewritten) were created for YouTube.
 * This is Satsuki Film Company's first television series, and their first collaboration with 1happycats Productions, who would end up purchasing the former in 2018.
 * It was rumored that the show was rejected by most of the companies affiliated with the official Pokémon anime, and Satsuki Film Company only accepted in hopes of attempting to get into the TV show industry.
 * On October 7, 2021, 1happycats Productions revealed that a revival of the series was in the works, which would have been co-produced by Yoshi Animation Studios, and featured the characters re-imagined in CGI form. However, it was cancelled due to the closure of 1happycats Productions in January 2022.