M01: Difference between revisions

[[Dr. Fuji]], wanting to find a way to restore life by cloning, goes to [[Guyana]] after finding evidence of a shrine dedicated to {{p|Mew}}, the world's most powerful—but now said to be extinct—Pokémon. {{an|Giovanni}}, the leader of [[Team Rocket]], funds Fuji's research in return for an enhanced living replica of Mew. Finding a Fossil of Mew, Fuji and his team create {{an|Mewtwo}}. A confused Mewtwo asks himself who he is, what he is, and where he came from. Just then, Mewtwo wakes up in a stasis tube in one of Fuji's laboratories, where the scientists study him. Mewtwo breaks out of his test tube; [[Dr. Fuji]] tells Mewtwo that he was made by humans and is a clone, much more powerful than Mew. Mewtwo is angry that the scientists see him more as an end result to their project and less of a sentient being, so he destroys the lab and kills all of the scientists. Dr. Fuji says to himself that he succeeded in creating the world's most powerful Pokémon before dying at the hands of Mewtwo. Then, Giovanni arrives in his private helicopter and offers to help Mewtwo focus his powers. Mewtwo takes up the offer, and is put in a suit of armor.

Over the next few weeks, Mewtwo does most of Team Rocket's dirty work, capturing wild Pokémon and beating any {{pkmn|Trainer}}s that come into the Gym in [[Viridian City]], including [[Gary Oak]]. When Giovanni tells Mewtwo his own twisted way of controlling Pokémon, Mewtwo angrily blasts away, destroying his armor, and—atop the island he was created on—vows to begin his reign on Earth.

As they arrive in the dining room, Ash and the gang meet three Pokémon Trainers named [[Neesha]], [[Fergus]], and [[Corey]]. Just then, the mystery woman introduces everybody in the room to her master, who is revealed to be none other than Mewtwo. Fergus insults Mewtwo, who sends him flying. Fergus has his {{p|Gyarados}} attack with {{m|Hyper Beam}}, but Mewtwo easily reflects it. Then, Mewtwo releases the woman from his power, Brock quickly catches her, and it is revealed that the mystery woman is the missing Nurse Joy. Mewtwo tells the Trainers that humans are weak and cruel, and have made all Pokémon their slaves. He also says that Pokémon are no better off, since they choose to associate with humans.

As Team Rocket gets into the fortress and make their way into a laboratory, they come across a weird-looking machine, a computer, and several Pokémon sleeping in giant pods. Jessie accidentally sits on the computer controls, which play back a recorded message from Dr. Fuji about the fossilized eyelash of Mew that was used to create Mewtwo. Suddenly, the machine takes a piece of hair from Meowth to create a clone of him. The cloned Pokémon awaken (via Mewtwo) and exit to their master.

Mewtwo leads Ash and the other Trainers into the stadium part of the fortress and suggests that they should battle Pokémon to see who is the strongest, the clones versus the originals. Ash's {{AP|Charizard}}, Corey's {{p|Venusaur}}, and Neesha's {{p|Blastoise}} are no match for Mewtwo's clones. Mewtwo then summons his own specialized [[Poké Ball]]s, the Clone Balls, and uses them to capture Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise, claiming them as his prize. Mewtwo then announces that the other Pokémon will be taken to be cloned. The clones will remain safe on the island while Mewtwo's storms destroy the planet. He then sends the Balls after the Pokémon.

Immediately, all the Trainers are on the run. Some Pokémon are captured before they realize what's happening, some attempt to outrun the Clone Balls and some attempt to use their attacks to defend themselves. However, it proves to be useless as the Pokémon end up all being captured one by one. Ash realizes that Pokémon that are inside their Poké Balls should be safe from capture and recalls {{AP|Bulbasaur}} and {{AP|Squirtle}}; however, it turns out to be no use, as the Clone Balls instead capture the Poké Balls whole with Bulbasaur and Squirtle still inside. Brock suggests carrying the Pokémon away, but while Misty successfully hides {{TP|Misty|Togepi}} inside her bag, {{TP|Misty|Psyduck}} and {{TP|Brock|Vulpix}} aren't so lucky and are also caught.

Mewtwo releases the other humans and is soon joined by his clone army. Ash emerges from the smoke with his and every Trainer's Pokémon. Ash says they won't let Mewtwo's plan succeed, and he tries to punch Mewtwo, but Mewtwo's forcefield knocks him down. Ash goes in for another punch, but this time Mewtwo sends him flying. Just then, after hearing all the commotion, Mew flies down and creates a giant bubble, which Ash lands on, breaking his fall. The playful Pokémon is soon attacked by its clone; Mewtwo says that clones are far more powerful than the originals, but Mew tells him (via Meowth's translating) that a Pokémon's real strength comes from the heart. Mewtwo disgustedly throws another energy ball at Mew; it dodges it, but the blast hits Ash. With Mewtwo blocking all the Pokémon's special moves, a gigantic battle begins between the Pokémon and their clones.

Ash survives the blast, but is horrified to see all the Pokémon fighting their clones, especially Pikachu getting slapped endlessly by his [[Pikachutwo|clone]]. He eventually falls back down to the stadium floor, causing Misty Brock, and Nurse Joy to come to his aid. They see now how horrible this kind of fighting is, and that the originals and clones will never give up, resulting in their deaths. Ash realizes someone has to take a stand and refuse to fight, like Pikachu is.

Just as Mew and Mewtwo are about to finish each other off with huge energy blasts, Ash, angered by the continuous fighting, runs between them, demanding them to stop. The two blasts of energy come in contact with him together and—being so powerful—it turns him into stone.

The stadium becomes silent, save for Pikachu, who runs to Ash's side. After trying to wake him up, Pikachu uses his Thunderbolt in vain, as Ash stays unmoving. Pikachu begins to cry at losing his friend, as do the rest of those present in the stadium due to Ash's sacrifice. The tears of all the Pokémon come together and magically revive Ash, bringing him back to life just like in the story Miranda told earlier.

After witnessing all of this, Mewtwo states that it does not matter who is more powerful, that the clones and originals both have value, and that the circumstances of one's birth is irrelevant: it is what one does with life that determines one's destiny. He also says that it would be best if no one knew about what happened. When Mewtwo flies off, he tells Ash that he will find a place where he and the clones can live in peace. As a result, all the memories of this event are erased from the Trainers' minds.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and everyone else instantly find themselves back at the Pokémon Center with no memory of their adventure on New Island. Nurse Joy is also back, offering shelter from the storm. Going out to the pier, Ash sees Mew in the clouds as the storm ends and tells Misty and Brock that [[EP001|when his journey began]] he saw a {{an|Ho-Oh|mysterious Pokémon}} and now he believes he just saw another. Misty thinks that Ash was just imagining it, but Brock points out that maybe he wasn't. With that, the three friends prepare to continue their journeys.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket—on the now empty and green New Island—having no clue how they got here, decide to take a vacation as the credits begin to roll.

* This is the only movie which does not feature Ash on the English cover. However, Pikachu does appear.

* The movie was re-released on DVD in Japan and contained the Japanese and English audio tracks along with the complete 'Origin of Mewtwo' short.

* ''[[PK01|Pikachu's Vacation]]'' is the first appearance of the {{cat|Generation II Pokémon}} {{p|Snubbull}} and {{p|Marill}}, and the feature film is the first appearance of {{p|Donphan}}.

* During [[EP063]]-[[EP065]], scenes of Mewtwo breaking out of the lab and battling at Giovanni's Gym can be seen. Furthermore, the film used footage of [[Gary Oak]] battling Mewtwo. The director's commentary jokes that they had to get a 'stand-in' for Gary because his agent was asking for too much.

* This movie marks the only time in the anime that [[Ash's Pikachu]] is shown going ''into'' a [[Poké Ball]], and only the second time he has come out of one (the other being in ''[[EP001|Pokémon - I Choose You!]]'').

* Besides Corey, Fergus and Neesha, a female fourth Trainer takes off from the pier on the back of a Fearow. She is seen flying alongside Fergus and Neesha and their Gyarados and Dewgong respectively; however, she likely never made it to New Island unlike the others.

** The female Trainer and her Fearow are often mistaken as a continuity error involving Corey and his Pidgeot.

* This movie is the only Pokémon material to be given a release on LaserDisc. It was packaged with the Pikachu's Vacation short.

* Early in the film, Ash engages in a battle with another Trainer. The opponent's Golem, a dual-type Rock/Ground Pokémon, was defeated by Ash's Pikachu's Electric attack. In the games, {{t|Ground}} types are immune to Electric attacks.

* In the English dub, three Pokémon are referred to by the wrong name. {{p|Pidgeot}} was called {{p|Pidgeotto}}, {{p|Scyther}} was called {{p|Alakazam}}, and {{p|Sandslash}} was called {{p|Sandshrew}}. In the audio commentary, [[4Kids Entertainment|4Kids]] stated that they decided to leave the Alakazam error when they noticed it as something for the children watching to notice and because they felt it was plausible in context that Team Rocket could make a mistake.

* When Fergus releases his Gyarados into the water to ride on its back, its lips are blue instead of the normal yellow.

* During the scene where Ash confronts Mewtwo, {{p|Rapidash}} was seen without flames.

* During the scene where Ash is looking at Fergus's Pokémon, his Japanese voice can be heard over the voice of the Pokémon.

* Fergus states that all of his Pokémon are {{t|Water}} types, however, he has a Nidoqueen which clearly is not a Water type (though his other Pokémon are).

* In the scene where Mewtwo creates the storm, he is colored pink.

* When the clones enter with an explosion and emerged from the smoke, Pikachutwo's black fur tipped ears are the same as a normal {{p|Pikachu}} and Golduck is a green-teal instead of blue.

* Despite Mewtwo blocking Pokémon special abilities, when Pikachu comes across Pikachutwo, Pikachutwo can be seen with jolts coming out of its cheek pouches.

**However, the Japanese dialog says nothing about the Pokémon's abilities being blocked, and they simply brawl out of pure hatred.

* Some scenes detailing the history of Mewtwo's creation, a full twelve-minute sequence, were added to later Japanese home releases of the movie, which also included the CGI edits made for the American release. The first scene centered around a group of explorers who found an ancient engraving of Mew, and then finding Mew's eyelash. The second detailed the history of [[Dr. Fuji]] and his attempts to clone Mew, as well as {{an|Amber|his daughter}}, who had died as a child. The final scene detailed a young Mewtwo's interaction with clones of the [[Kanto]] starters as well as Amber Fuji. Certain later international releases of the movie include these new scenes, and they were also made into a short known as ''[[The Uncut Story of Mewtwo's Origin]]'', included on the international DVD releases of ''[[Mewtwo Returns]]''. These scenes were adapted from the radio drama ''[[The Birth of Mewtwo]]''.

* Miranda's story about the water of the tears that can revive people exists in the English version only, and is not in the Japanese version.

* When Team Rocket is disguised as two Vikings, Brock comments that he wasn't aware that they existed anymore. Ash replies that they mostly live in Minnesota, which is an obvious reference to the {{wp|National Football League|NFL}} team, the {{wp|Minnesota Vikings}}.

* In the Danish version Brock says '''{{tt|Jeg vidste ikke vikingerne stadig fantes.|I didn't know that the Vikings still existed.}}''', and Ash replies '''{{tt|Jo, men de turnere mest i Sverige.|Yes, but they are mostly touring in Sweden.}}''' This is probably because at the time the vikings existed, the Danes were also Vikings.

** In the Danish subtitled version Ash says '''{{tt|Vikingerne er et band.|The Vikings is a band.}}'''

*** The Vikings is an old Swedish band, and that is probably what Ash and Brock are referring to.

* In the Swedish dub Brock says '''{{tt| Jag visste inte att vikingar fortfarande existerade.|I didn't know that the Vikings still existed.}}''', and Ash replies '''{{tt|Jo, men de hänger mest i Norge.|Yes, but they mostly hang out in Norway}}'''. This being that real Vikings existed in both Sweden and Norway.

* Raymond's Machamp is shown coming out of the Poké Ball twice.

* In the wide shot of Mewtwo facing Dr. Fuji, who is explaining to him how he was created, two large test tubes were shown positioned on either side of the screen in front of the characters with a magnified image of each of them. These were pushed off to the edge of the screen in the newer version of the film.

* When Mewtwo first summons the storm, the shadow color on his hand is changed from purple to pinkish-red.

* Throughout the film, the original hand-drawn clouds of Mewtwo's storm are replaced with more realistic looking CGI clouds. The water in the storm is also altered to have different shades of blue.