Oh, my God! I just realized this show has multiple seasons! This'll take forever!
— Pikachu
One day, a video-maker known as Master WGS saw the avalanche of Pokémon: The Series Abridged Series on YouTube, and set a personal goal: make one that was actually funny. Several who watched the Pilot assured Master WGS that he had succeeded, and as a result, his series
has gone on for over 20 episodes. Most of the humor relies on retelling episodes from the first season with Invoked Alternative Character Interpretation (eg, Ash Ketchum going from naive to Too Dumb to Live), even to the extent where the Pokémon themselves speak English instead of Pokémon Speak. Constant homages to other Pokémon media, such as the video games, are also made.
While working on the fifth episode, Master WGS started allowing friends, such as Dark Bomber Kid and Xerostyle, to assist with the series. Eventually, they formed a team named "PokemonAbridgedFTW," which later changed to, "Box of Danger." Their current name was derived from a scene in the 11th PTAS episode where Team Rocket obtained a box labeled "DANGER" from a general store. As a result of their original You Tube channel getting banned, Box of Danger started their own website, which also contains abridged series of other anime.
Not to be mistaken for 1KidsEntertainment's Pokémon The 'Bridged Series.
This work provides examples of:
- Black Comedy: Jessie's attempt to escape Pokémon Land involves calling 911 and exclaiming, "I'm shaking my baby to death!"
- Black Comedy Rape: Caterpie rapes Misty in her sleep in episode 3, leading her to reveal that they were, apparently, married.
- Catchphrase: Pikachu's "Thank Valkyrie!"
- Christmas Special: The "Christmas Cop Out," an audio-only special in which Ash, Misty, and Pikachu sing "Sleigh Ride," Team Rocket joins in after assuring Ash they won't steal Pikachu, and Master WGS details his Christmas plans to listeners.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Ash on occasion. One such instance involved Ash using an out-of-order phone at Viridian City's Pokémon Center to order pizza from Donatos, and believing he not only got an order confirmation, but was having conversations with the President and Santa Claus (who could very well have been the same person in Ash's mind) as well.
- Combat Pragmatist: Ash would blackmail to get his badge or even burn down a gym just to rob it.
- Crossdressing Voice: Master WGS as Misty and Jesse, as well as Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny in the early episodes.
- Cultural Translation: Meowth once referred to rice balls as, "rice ball-shaped jelly donuts." Later, Misty and Brock referred to them as, "jelly donuts," but after Ash tried one, he exclaimed, "they taste like rice and red bean paste!"
- Dead Fic: The anime is too long to fully abridge, but this abridged series didn't finish the full Kanto arc. It stopped after 25 episodes.
- Dirty Old Man: Brock's father loves inviting adolescents to his dimly lit cabin.
- Discontinuity Nod: Episode 8 begins with the narrator describing two episodes Box of Danger never abridged, prompting Ash to exclaim, "That stuff never happened!"
- Does Not Like Men: Erika, and her staff at the perfume shop and the gym.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Occurs in-universe after Brock's suggestion to use a bird to find dry land, inspired by something a man named, "Noah" did in a book he read, only results in the gang finding Team Rocket's unconscious bodies:Misty: That book you read must have been full of crap, Brock!(Ash interrupts)
- Dysfunctional Family: Ash's parents have spent years away from him, his mother takes plenty of drugs, and apparently they both regret having him.
- Eyes Always Shut: Brock's first episode lampshades the fact his eyes look like that even after he opens them.
- Eyecatch: Episode 13 contains a parody of "Who's That Pokémon?" in which a silhouette of Raichu transforms into Kangaskhan during the reveal.
- Filler: Episodes 12 and 16 send our heroes to "The Filler Zone"
- Follow the Leader: Dexter refers to Squirtle as "The Trend Slave Pokémon," explaining that Squirtle has to follow trends set by others in order to maintain his unreasonably high level of popularity.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Episode 18 played out as an episode of "Pokémon: The Traditional Abridged Series," retelling "The Ghost of Maiden's Peak" with minimal jokes and several of the weirdest scenes cut out. This episode proved polarizing as a result.
- Global Ignorance: After Ash suggests in episode 10 that they take Route 24 to Vermillion City, the narrator points out that Route 24 actually leads into the opposite direction of Vermillion City. No one listens.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: After Ash gets crushed by a chandelier, Misty and Brock curse gravity for killing their ally, and even threaten to sue.
- Hitler Ate Sugar: In episode six, Team Rocket tries to abolish the Pokemon slavery that Seymour Awesome uses to make money, but, since it's Team Rocket, the 'protagonists' just fight them anyway, because, as Brock states, "No, Team Rocket is evil! No matter what they are doing, it is the opposite of what is good and righteous".
- Ironic Echo:
- Episode 8:
Ash: I'm so depressed, I wish I was dead!Brock: Ash, don't say such things.(bridge breaks)Ash: All right, I changed my mind. I, I wish Brock was dead!(Brock falls into a river)Brock: You son of a- AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!- Episode 11:
Brock: I'm so depressed. I wish I was dead.Misty: Brock, don't say such things!Brock: Okay, I changed my mind. I wish Ash was dead!(Ash falls into a river) - Killed Off for Real: The Mighty Butterfree, at the end of the same episode where he finds a wife.
- Lampshaded the Obscure Reference: A text card in episode 14 offers ten points to viewers who can figure out what Brock is referencing when he asks, "C'mon, Misty. Can't we get beyond Thunderdome?"
- Leitmotif:
- Music from Dragonforce accompanies several of the Mighty Butterfree's appearances.
- Scenes featuring Professor Oak in his laboratory are accompanied by a piece of score from the Pokémon Red And Blue games.
- The Load:
- Ash's Pidgeotto is so unhelpful, practically all of his dialogue simply lampshades the fact he gets screentime.
- Dexter's not afraid to admit what other Pokémon he considers worthless:
Metapod, the evolved form of Caterpie. It can no longer attack. What an improvement. - Metaphorgotten:Misty: Those fools! They're disrespecting the ocean. And the ocean is much like an elephant, it never forgives. Wait, that doesn't make any sense!
- Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: Ash points out that if Pikachu evolves into Raichu, he must lose his fingers in exchange for the extra power.Pikachu: But how will I play piano?Ash: You won't.Pikachu: Screw that! I f-ing live for the piano!
- Never Say "Die": After Ash expresses obliviousness towards the concept of death in episode 10, Dexter and Brock inform him that Charmander will actually "go to sleep for a really long time" if the flame on its tail ever goes out.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: As Ash, Misty, and Pikachu hang for dear life off of a falling bridge, a "scene missing" card appears. By the time the episode resumes, the three of them have reached land, and Ash admires the "amazing stunt" they pulled.
-
The Other Darrin: Nowacking took the role of Nurse Joy from Master WGS in episode 13. - Punny Name: The narrator once said Brock has the last name Obama. Because of this, Brock briefly worries in a later episode whether or not he'll make a good President.
- Serious Business: "This isn't your virginity, damn it! This is a Gym Badge! Something you have to earn!"
- Shout-Out:
- Episode 4 - "The P stands for pool" is a shoutout to The Music Man.
- Episode 11 begins with Ash "singing our favorite theme song..." the theme to Yu Yu Hakusho Abridged.
- Squirtle spends most of that same episode leading his squad in living like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann characters.
- The start of Episode 20 involves Team Rocket kidnapping the group and trapping them in a room, then going through a Sadistic Choice routine straight out of Saw.
- The Talk: Misty gave it to Ash. Apparently, a woman becomes pregnant after a Beedrill stabs her.Prof. Oak: "That's stupid, you're stupid."
- Take That!:
- After LittleKuriboh produced a Naruto: The Abridged Comedy Fandub Spoof Series Show short in which Iruka produced a "Dangerous Box" which "tells you how bad your material is, and produces absolutely nothing of value," Master WGS released a video in which Ash tried to become a comedian by over-killing Forced Memes, making an exorbitant amount of Shout Outs and also some Overly Long Gags, and finally turning into a Small Name, Big Ego. Although, Little Kuriboh apparently had given Master WGS permission to insult him like this.
- "An Electric type in a Rock Gym? That's as logical as putting a tripping mechanic in a fighting game. You just shouldn't do it!"
- Too Dumb to Live: Most of Ash's humor revolves around this. A prime example being in Episode 11 when, in a dark cave, he calls out his Charmander (a Pokémon that has a permanent fire on the tip of its tail) and asks it if it has a flashlight.
- Training Montage: One plays in episode 13 when Pikachu has to face Raichu for a Thunder Badge. However, Pikachu wasn't really training; Ash was just imagining how epically they could portray the preparation if the montage weren't "such a pain in the ass to edit."
- Unexplained Recovery:
- Master WGS had Ash killed by Pikachu's Thundershock at the end of the Pilot, in case he wouldn't be able to make any more episodes, and handwaved his reappearance in the following episode by saying he "narrowly survived."
- In the first episode Gary gets into a car which crashes and explodes offscreen. He later appears in Episode 11 with no explanation.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Misty seems completely unfazed at Ash's becoming a ghost.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Episode 15 has a format similar to a Lost episode, switching between the characters stranded in Pokémon Land and flashbacks to their escape from the sunken St. Anne.
