Web Video / Pokémon The 'Bridged Series

Narrator: This is Ass Ketchup, and he's—
Ash: It's Ash Ketchum!
Narrator: This is Ass Face, a two-dimensional character who likes tying his shoes, wearing gloves, and inserting foreign objects into Pokémon.

An abridgement of the Pokemon cartoons by Team Elite 3.

This series, often shortened as P:TBS, prides itself in using humor that defies many of the Tropes typically seen in Pokémon parodies and other Abridged Series. There are twenty-nine episodes and various extras, including redubs and songs performed by the characters. xJerry64x and Nowacking co-write, whilst 1KidsEntertainment does the video stuff, and between the three of them they handle all the voicing as well (1Kids: Ash, Pikachu, James; Nowacking: Misty, Jessie; Jerry: Brock, Meowth, The Narrator).

Team Elite 3 have also branched out into other projects, such as an abridgement of Twitch Plays Pokémon (seen here), for which they added two honorary members: ChromeGloss, who has provided them with incidental music for several years, and Stephan Krosecz of Abridged on Titan, who does outside animation and editing.

In December 2018, the series, as well as the planned ‘bridging of Pokémon: The First Movie that was building up for a few years, was cancelled and Team Elite 3 was disbanded after Nowacking revealed that 1Kids had been abusing him and Jerry for years.

Not to be mistaken for Box of Danger's Pokémon The Abridged Series.

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This work provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Played for laughs. Delia Ketchum kicks Ash out of the house on his birthday, tries her hardest never to talk to him, and sleeps with Professor Oak, which everyone but Ash knows. She even has Gary beat him up for entertainment.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Apparently Ash broke into a safe in episode 12 just so he could pee in the bottle.
• Adaptational Villainy: Quite frequently, and Played for Laughs.
• All Just a Dream: Episode 15 is revealed to be one.
• Angrish: Misty is prone to this.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: From episode 6:
  Jessie: You know what this hole reminds me of? Our relationship. It's dark, uncomfortable, lifeless, and Meowth is here.
• Asshole Victim: In the first two episodes, Pikachu keeps repeatedly dying, only to be replaced with the exact same Pokemon later in the episodes.
• Barred from the Afterlife: During the Orange Islands Special, Brock died after falling off the blimp and went to hell, but after breeding Satan, he was kicked out in fear of him breeding Satan yet again.
• Berserk Button:
  • The color blue for Ash (despite that he wears the color blue).
  • Brock: Claiming that breeding is all about massages and making food (and eventually being called "lazy" by Misty).
  • Misty: Claiming Ash is a genius or whenever he is rewarded for doing nothing.
• Bestiality Is Depraved: Brock's... unhealthy obsession with Pokemon breeding is a major part of this series.
  • He even finds out that other breeders do the same thing he does (behind closed doors, of course), but even they're so disgusted by him they refuse to let him into their secret society.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Lt. Surge reveals himself to be racist, saying he thought that Brock was Ash and Misty's slave.
• Black Comedy Rape:
  • Outside of Brock, Officer Jenny is a pedophile. In episode 2, Officer Jenny gives Ash a roofie and has her way with him for 2 weeks. It's implied she does the same thing in Episode 7
  • When Sabrina offers Ash her gym badge in exchange for leaving Brock and Misty in her dungeon:
  Ash: Later, Misty!
  Misty: Ugh! I hate boys!
  Sabrina: *smiles*
  Misty: Oh good...
• Brick Joke:
  • "Purple" as a verb. From episode 7:
  Ash: "And you can't even purple because you're ugly and you're stupid and you're bad! That's right: you can't even purple!"
  • Then later, in episode 9:
  Misty: "But you're wearing blue!"
  Ash: "It's a light purple, which, incidentally, you cannot do."
  Misty: "Just because you keep saying that doesn't make it a thing! I have no idea what you're talking about!"
  Ash: "Neither do I!"
  • This gem from episode 14:
  Misty: "Wait... Wait... Why was there a Pokemon on the bed? I don't get it"
  (at the end of the episode...)
  Misty: "Eugh! Oh— Oh god! I just got why there was a Snubbull on the bed! Jesus Christ, Brock!"
  • Tracey being with the group the entire time. From episode 15:
    Misty: "You weren't there! You don't know that!"
    Tracey: "But I was there and you don't know that.
    • Later on, in the three part special episode, it's revealed that Tracey has been with the group the entire time and Misty was the only one who didn't notice him. Subverted at the end of the episode, as it turns out he's actually just some insane stalker that none of them have met before, but Ash was too stupid to realize it and Brock wasn't there because Tracey killed him to take his place.
  • In Sunshine Valley Happy Place Town City Valley
    Brock: *about the Grimer* Hey look my new children like Misty's scent.
    Misty: HOW DID YOU MAKE THESE?!
    Brock: Misty, look at me, look at me. I can breed anything.
    Misty: Anything?
    Brock: Anything.
    • And in Orange Island Episode 3/3:
    Misty: YOU BRED SATAN?!
    Brock: I told you; I can breed anything!
• Brown Note: Jigglypuff's song is depicted as a horrifying reverberation that causes peoples' ears, eyes and noses to bleed until they pass out.
• Butt-Monkey: Misty.
  • Max in Episode 15. When an uncharacteristically happy Pikachu notes that he loves everybody, even Tracey, he still makes sure to note he hates Max.
• Camp Straight: James. There's as many hints between him and Jesse in the later episodes as there was in the original series. Plus, she distinctly refers to her association with him as "our relationship".
  • Seymour and Lt. Surge.
• Cargo Envy:
  Ash: (hugging a tree) I WISH THIS TREE WAS MY MOMMY!
  Brock: I wish I was that tree.
  Misty: (reluctantly) Me too.
• The Cameo: Max makes a verbal one in Episode 16, as the one Officer Jenny is calling.
• Catchphrase:
  • Ash: BATTLE!!
    • Also, "I wonder what Pokémon that is!" occasionally followed by "I guess I'll never know!"
    • "Whatever THAT means!"
  • James: No one will ever suspect I've disguised myself as a ___!
    • "Oh my gooooooooood!
    • "We're Team Rocket!!"
  • Samurai: "MY Cabin!!"
  • Meowth: You mad?
  • Brock: Breeeediiiiing...
  • Prof. Oak: Back in my days ________ husks of cooorn!
  • Jessie: But Jaaaaames...
  • Misty: I'm not crazy!"
  • Tracy: "Naaaked."
  • Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny: DON'T TELL ME/HER/US HOW TO DO MY/HER/OUR JOB(S)!
• Comedic Sociopathy: Pikachu seems to be one for Schadenfreude.
  Pikachu: Watch it bleed! It's entertaining!
• Cosmic Plaything: Misty. She is the least insane member of the cast and the universe is determined to make her break (and has succeed a lot).
• Crapsack World: Let's see, Nurse Joy is corrupt and inefficient, Officer Jenny is a pedophile, people like Brock aren't arrested, parental abandonment is widespread, and literally everyone the "heroes" meet is insane or evil (or both). Played for Laughs, naturally.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Brock is still the team's chef, but his dishes are always horrific creations often involving miscellaneous body parts as the key ingredients.
  "Who's up for Brock Crotch Steeeew?"
• Country Matters: With a serene smile on her face, Misty calls May a c**t.
• Cute Is Evil: You think you're familiar with the adorable Clefairy? Well in this series, they intend to sacrifice humans, as well as dismember them.
• Dude, He's Like, In a Coma: A Photo Montage in Episode 2 reveals that Officer Jenny took a barely conscious Ash on...quite a few "adventures" around the world.
• Downer Ending: On Misty's part in episode 24, she ends up losing all of her Pokemon thanks to Ash, who lost the battle between him and the thief who stole Misty's pokemon completely on purpose as revenge for Misty capturing pokemon that he wanted. Even Brock was disturbed by Ash's actions.
• Dumb Blonde: Misty's sister, Sisty.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Ash was not as dumb as he was later, there were pop culture references abound (something 1Kids would later attempt to avoid at all costs), Misty and several other female characters were just the guys doing falsetto voices, and Professor Oak had a typical wheezy old man voice whose only joke was that he was sleeping with Ash's mother. The third thing is lampshaded in both versions of Episode 2, where Misty reveals she had a voice condition ("Falsetosis") that other females, like Nurse Joy, were currently suffering from.
  Misty: Oh, look! My voice is better now!
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: The only person to so far legitimately befriend Brock, Barbara, has a really bad case of this. So does Bulbasaur. However, it's more like "Elber Fubb Sybdrobe."
• Enfante Terrible: Ash regularly commits all manner of atrocities, but it always seems to be out of sheer stupidity. Except for the time when he deliberately allowed all of Misty's Pokemon to be stolen out of petty spite.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • In episode 15, Brock describes Tracey as "so creepy", before serving his Brock Crotch Stew.
  • Brock is too creepy for the Organization of Underground Breeders.
  • During the Orange Islands Special, Brock was kicked out of Hell in fear of him breeding Satan yet again, something Brock admits he was fully intent on doing.
  • In episode 24, Brock is just as disgusted with the thief as Misty is for wanting to eat Pokemon, saying that they're for "breeding only" and calling the thief a "sicko". At the end of the episode, Brock actually appeared to be shocked when Ash deliberately lost the battle between him and the Pokemon thief, which resulted in Misty losing all of her Pokemon to said thief.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Played straight in episode 7 at the expense of Misty. Subverted in episode 12 when all four main characters seem to be laughing, but in reality, only Ash, Brock, and Pikachu are laughing while Misty is actually crying because she's distraught that Ash has gotten away with setting the Celedon Gym on fire, and was in fact rewarded with his fourth gym badge for doing nothing but watch everyone else put it out.
• Everyone Has Standards: The end of Episode 23 has Tommy's parents ram their helicopter into Team Rocket's enormous Kangaskhan mecha (which was already on fire). The ensuing explosion kills Tommy's parents, horrifying Ash, Misty, and Brock (and making it one of the few times they're all on the same page about something).
  Ash: Weapons are bad.
  Misty: Weapons are bad.
  Brock: Weapons are bad. Yeah.
  Ash: Yep.
  Misty: We should go.
• Exact Words: In Episode 24, Ash makes sure to hammer in that he can win a battle "whenever he wants to", signaling that he's about to throw his fight with the Pokemon thief.
• Flash Forward: Episode 15, which parodies the Advanced Generation saga of the anime. Turns out to have been All Just a Dream.
• Foreshadowing: A possible case in episode 17. The island that Nurse Joy was sending the dead Pokemon to seemed strangely familiar....
  • That's not even the first time. Remember back in episode 7 how Sisty was explaining why there are suddenly three of her? She made some pretty vague remarks about a machine and a "boyfriend" with cat eyes who gave her the idea.
  • Again in episode 20. Apparently Brock's dad created a machine that creates copies of pokemon...
  • Unfortunately, this foreshadowing won’t lead to anything due to the cancellation of the series in December 2018.
• Forgetful Jones: Professor Oak
• The Friend Nobody Likes:
  • Misty, who is regularly made the butt of most jokes from Ash and Brock.
  • Also Tracy, who is rarely even acknowledged as a friend due to arguably being even worse than Brock.
• Funny Schizophrenia: Oh Misty. She's Hearing Voices, seeing things, experiencing mood swings and has very strange taste in perfume... and she's still the sanest cast member. Common sense and not being a sexual deviant or a psychopath helps.
• Homoerotic Subtext: Brock really likes Ash, and enjoys any scene where they touch.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  Brock: Officer Jenny, it's not right for you to go around abducting children. *muffled screaming from his backpack* And Misty agrees.
• I Am Not Weasel: Ash decides his Caterpie looks like a Mewtwo and nicknames it as such, despite Caterpie's protests.
• I Banged Your Mom: It seems everyone is trying to tell Ash this about Professor Oak and his mother. Even Gary, but they are either cut off by an explosion, or Ash simply ignores it.
  • Seemingly averted when the group returns home from the Orange Islands
    Tracy: Hey, Ash. Where's Professor Oak?
    Ash: He's either down the block to the right, or he's up in my mommy's room.
• I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Inverted with the guy in episode 22 who says he is a janitor, not a doctor. And he is not even a janitor, he has just been living in the ruined hospital since it was abandoned.
• Idiot Hero: Ash Ketchum, with more idiot than hero.
• Insane Troll Logic: Misty's sisters insist that Ash won the battle between him and Misty by claiming that he could've won, even though he didn't.
• I Love the Dead: In The Stinger of episode 8, Brock revealed that he was with a family for a Thanksgiving dinner, where he hosed down the family's collection of Vulpix; however, at the dead of night, he "killed the Vulpix, made love to the carcasses, before I buried them in the back yard. Breeding!"
• Karma Houdini: Ash. All the time. He never earns any of the awards he receives, and he continues to get away with leaving destruction in his path. Only Misty finds something wrong with this.
• Lampshade Hanging: In episode 2, Ash tries to take advantage of the Pokemon anime's very long run and make himself believe he's 21 to get into a building. It doesn't work.
• Large Ham:
  Officer Jenny: "I'M SOOOOLVING CRIIIIIME!!!!!"
• Larynx Dissonance: Any time 1Kids, Jerry, and practically every other voice actor who isn't Nowacking plays a female character.
• Lazy Bum: Officer Jenny, who instead doing any law enforcement, spends her time actively looking for ways to not do her job so she can instead hit on children.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Misty believes Brock to be this when compared to Tracey.
  Misty: I've never been so happy to see Brock in my life!
  • Later:
  Misty: I'm really not sure if I prefer you or Tracey...
  Tracey: Ok guys, I'm done with my best sketch yet! *shows a picture of a naked Oak and Delliah.*
  Misty: Ok, never mind! Brock I missed you!
• Let's Get Out of Here: At the end of episode 23, when Tommy's parents are killed in the explosion, the trio simply state that "weapons are bad" in solemn tones before noting that they should go. It's further enforced when the group realizes that Tommy holds them responsible for his parents dying, and the parents come back as ghosts.
  Misty: You guys seem them too, right?
  Ash: Uh-huh.
  Misty: We need to leave now.
• Love Triangle: Both Brock and Misty have a crush on Ash, for some reason. Misty is obviously less than enthusiastic about it, while Brock goes out of his way to make Misty look bad so that Ash will prefer him.
• Mind Screw: Episode 18. Not even The Narrator knows what's going on. Or Misty.
  Narrator: Sooo... that happened...
  Misty: It shouldn't have happened!
  Brock: What happened?
  Misty: I DON'T KNOW!
• Mood-Swinger: Misty. One minute she's screaming in fury at Ash, and the next, she's complimenting him.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Used often.
  • In Episode 10, when introducing Barbara to Ash, Pikachu, and Misty, Brock refers to them as "my friend and his sexual companion...and his Misty."
  • Episode 15 has Pikachu proclaiming that he loves everyone, even Tracy! But not Max...
  • Vaporeon is disparaged throughout Episode 19, with it universally being described as the worst of the Eevee evolutions. At one point, Brock says that Team Rocket took "Vaporeon and all the good Pokemon!"
  • In Episode 2 of the Orange Islands arc, the narrator begins the episode with "Ash and friends (and Tracey)..."
  • Episode 3 of the Orange Islands Special continues it.
    Narrator: Ash and Misty, now without a large baby Pokemon to ride, had to take a ferry back home to Pallet Town. Unfortunately for them, Tracey still tagged along.
• No Indoor Voice: Samurai, who's always shouting, even while inside his cabin. James, to a lesser extent.
• Non-Indicative Name: Sunshine Valley Happy Place Town City Valley. There's no sunshine.
• Noodle Incident: Prof Oak's nudist colony, and how he founded it when Tracy's great, great, great grandparents were still alive.
• Not as You Know Them: Ash is utterly retarded, Misty loves Fire Pokemon (which was worked into her new backstory, with her being disowned by her family) and Brock is... yeah.
• Obliviously Evil:
  • Zig-zagged regarding Ash. He's depicted as extremely stupid and that usually causes trouble for people around him. That said, several episodes have him doing horrible things to people on purpose.
  • Keith in episode 24 appears to be this. His reaction when everyone reacts with horror at the realization that he's going to eat Misty's Pokemon is a shrug and a genuinely defensive "Guy's gotta eat, you know?" The Stinger implies that he's homeless and starving, not to mention he doesn't even like eating Pokemon if his meek-sounding "I miss pizza" comment is to be believed, so it might be slightly more justified in this case.
• Only Sane Man: Misty thinks she's this, but really, she's Not So Above It All.
  • Mikey from Ep 19 is easily the sanest character in the series.
  • Also Pikachu has his moments when his not being a complete psycho.
• Parental Abandonment: All three protagonists have been disowned by their parent(s) at some point during or prior to the series: Ash (on his birthday, no less) so he wouldn't dip into his mom's savings account; Misty because her love for Fire-type Pokemon was seen as a disgrace to her family of Water-type trainers; and Brock for sullying his family name with his unhealthy obsession with breeding. In defense of Brock's father, Brock deserved it.
• Plot-Based Voice Cancellation: A Running Gag involves Oak saying "By the way, I f*cked your-", only to be cut off by an explosion.
• Pokémon Speak: Played straight in some cases, averted in others. Pikachu, for one, is the series' most prevalent aversion to this trope; he speaks perfect English and has conversations with other characters.
• Police Are Useless: Officer Jenny is NOT good at her job in any way, to the point where she doesn't even seem to acknowledge that she's even a police officer.
• Psycho Lesbian: Possibly Sabrina, given her evil looking Slasher Smile in episode 16 after Misty proclaims she hates boys.
• Pungeon Master: Meowth becomes one in Episode 19 when Jesse and James refuse to dig more holes.
• Railroading: The Narrator in episode 16. Ash and friends will stay in Sunshine Valley Happy Place Town City Valley!
• Rapid-Fire Comedy
• Really 700 Years Old: Prof Oak apparently founded a nudist colony that Tracy's great, great, great grandparents lived in. How this is possible is of course left unexplained.
• Reformed, but Rejected: In episode 17, Officer Jenny decides it's time to stop molesting children and start taking her job seriously. Unfortunately for her, she still has a bad rapport with the kids. And Brock doesn't help.
• Remember the New Guy?: Brock is first shown traveling with the others in episode 5 without even showing how or why he's with them. Subverted in that Ash has absolutely no idea who he is at the time, and doesn't even notice him until they start talking to each other. Even some of the viewers were confused by his sudden appearance.
  • Tracey in the Orange Island specials claims to have been with Ash and Misty for several months. Lampshaded by the two as they have no clue who he is.
• Running Gag: Someone saying, "I'm up here and you're down there!" or a variation of the sort.
• Sanity Slippage: Misty, the more time she spends with Ash and Brock. Episodes 14 and 15 (despite the latter being All Just a Dream) imply that Brock is doing it on purpose to ensure she doesn't steal his friendship with Ash.
• Say It: When Ash is Disguised in Drag in Episode 12, Pikachu demands he say “I’m a pretty girl” or else Pikachu will blow his cover. After some reluctance, Ash does so, but Pikachu blows his cover anyway stating that it was too late.
• Say My Name:
  • From Episode 19 - "MIIIKEEEEEY!"
  • After returning to Pallet Town in Episode 3 of the Orange Islands Special, Ash and company are treated to Brock's return with this:
    Brock: And here's some Brock-taint tea for you, (tone grows dark) Tracey.
    Tracey: (standoffish) Brock.
    Misty: Tracy? Brock?
    Ash: Ash?
    Misty: (annoyed) Ash!
    Brock: Misty!
    Misty: What?
    Brock: Aww, you messed it up! Crazy Misty!
• Shared Universe: If Soul Whatever is to be trusted, the Hell that Brock ended up in was Death City.
• Simpleton Voice: Ash, with increasing severity each episode.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Brock and Tracy, who apparently despise each other. Tracy was the one who pushed him out of the blimp.
• Stalker with a Crush: After the Orange Islands arc was released, some episodes that take place before it chronologically have Tracey in the background, spying on the team.
• Stealth Pun: I will become lord of the moonstones! Seymour is voiced by Lord Moonstone
• The Stinger: Episode 10 has, like, five. Episode 15 has four.
• Shout-Out: Averted. 1Kids dislikes references (the Take That! listed below is basically the only one in the entire series), preferring to revise until they come up with something more creative. This has been Flanderized into being his real-life primary personality facet.
  • Except in episode 15 when during Crazy Misty's return The opening theme to Child's Play 3 is heard while her internal monologue is laughing.
• Surprise Incest: It's heavily implied in Episode 15 and in Orange Islands Episode 3 that Ash and May are half-siblings, and Episode 15 makes heavy reference to the multiple instances in which they've had sex.
• Take That!: Against Ray William Johnson and others.
• The Nth Doctor: Misty's sudden change of voice is explained by having come down with a case of "falsettosis". Every female character in the series not voiced by Nowacking is explained away with this.
• They Killed Kenny Again: Pikachu, who on occasion will be killed, only for Ash to replace him with another, identical Pikachu.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Ash and Professor Oak are outside Oak's house and realize that it's on fire, then they go inside to stand around and talk.
  • Misty gets in on the act too. Due to Ash breaking her brain through sheer stupidity, their battle in Episode 7 goes like this:
  Ash: "Go, Butterfree!" (His butterfly deploys)
  Misty: "Go, Staryu!" (Her starfish deploys)
  Ash: "My Butterfree can swim ten times better than your Staryu!"
  Misty: "Well my Staryu can fly a gillion times better than your Butterfree!"
  Ash: "Butterfree, use Dive!"
  Misty: (flapping her arms) "Staryu, Fly!!"
  Staryu: *tips into the water and drowns*
  Butterfree: *falls into the water and drowns*
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Brock actually dies during the Orange Islands Special, but he ends up getting thrown out of Hell because he decided to breed Satan, as this set off a violent battle to the death between the demon and his offspring for control of the Underworld. The other members of Hell were frightened by the prospect of him breeding Satan again, which is something Brock admits he was fully intent on doing.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Pikachu apparently took one offscreen at some point between the show's present and its version of Advanced Generation, given his joyous greeting of Misty and his declaration that he "loves everything'' in Episode 15. Of course, given that Episode 15 was All Just a Dream, this may not be true.
• Troll: Koga gives Ash the Soul Badge despite utterly curbstomping him. Why? To confuse Misty.
• True Companions: Parodied in the ending song for the season finale. Ash & Co. aren't really together as a group because they like, trust and rely on each other, but more because they're all major screw-ups who got kicked out by their families and who would probably be better off without the others.
• Tsundere: Misty, though her swings between tsuntsun and deredere are even less predictable than in the original show.
  • In the episode 1 redub we get to see her mood swings as they occur in her head.
• Unexplained Recovery: Oak, after Pikachu nuked Pallet Town. Lampshaded by Ash.
  Ash: He'll be back in the next episode due to continuity errors.
• Unfortunate Names: Big Billy Kunt. He didn't choose his family name, c*nt.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Pikachu has no qualms about electrocuting or setting up traps meant for Ash, but Ash still considers Pikachu his buddy. Then again, Ash thinks nothing of getting his Pikachu replaced in episode 10.
  • The entire basis of the song My 'Bridged Friends.
• Vocal Dissonance: Cute Pikachu's voice is a deep, brutish growl, and the things he says are just as crude. Lampshaded.
  Ash: Why is your voice so weird?
  Pikachu: Long story short; my voice actor ran out of ideas.
• What Does She See in Him?: Misty has a crush on Ash, for some reason...
• Wham Line: From Lieutenant Surge:

  Surge: Oh, I thought he was your slave.

  • "'She's due around May"'
    • From episode 15:
    Wait a second. I could've sworn I had a daughter. [Beat] Gonna need extra tequila tonight.
• Women Are Wiser: Zig-zagged with Misty, while completely averted with the other female characters (except maybe Jessie).
• Yandere: Misty, at least in episode 15 which is All Just a Dream. After spending years re-adjusting to life post-Ash, she's confident that she can handle being around him and May. At least until he reveals that all he and May need is "just one finger". Misty doesn't take it well.
• Younger Than They Look: Doctor Janitor is only 12.