Pokémon in Poland

The Pokémon franchise first reached  in 1999, when Pokémon Red and Blue Versions were released. On September 4, 2000, Pokémon, wybieram cię! premiered in Poland.

Pokémon games
All Pokémon games sold in Poland are in English. Poland, from the 1990s, was in the distribution network of the Austrian company Stadlbauer. In 2000, the distributor of Nintendo cooperating with Stadlbauer was the Lucas Toys company which decided to use the popularity of anime to advertise games in Poland .In 2010, the distribution was carried out by Stadlbauer Poland. After, Stadlbauer ended cooperation with Nintendo. Since March 2014 ConQuest Entertainment is the Polish distributor.

Pokémon anime
On September 4, 2000, started to air the Pokémon anime on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. The first 104 episodes aired without any breaks until mid 2001. At the end of 2001, the next 52 episodes started to air.

After a short break, Johto League Champions aired from September to December 2002. This season was moved to an earlier timeslot, when most Polish children were in school. Likely due to this, and because of a lack of payment to the Polish voice actors, there were no new episodes until 2004.

New episodes were shown on Sunday mornings (and later also on Saturdays) until April 2005. Some of the recurring characters like, Nurse Joy, and Officer Jenny had their voice actors changed in this new season. Shortly after this, on May 19, 2005, started to air the series and, without any breaks, showed the first 260 episodes, on afternoons from Monday to Thursday, followed by the first airing of Pokémon: Advanced on September 11, 2006. New episodes ended in December 2006 and only reruns were shown until August 2008. Seasons seven to nine were never aired in Poland.

Reruns of the first three seasons have also aired on Fox Kids (later renamed Jetix) until September 2006. However, this version was censored (compared to the episodes shown by Polsat and TV 4, which were based on the 4Kids dub) and several scenes were cut.

Jetix started to air brand-new Pokémon: Diamond and Pearl episodes on December 1, 2008. This season infamously recast the entire series with completely new voice actors. Airing of this season ended in January 2009 and there have been no reruns since.

In February 2009, Jetix aired the first 26 episodes of Battle Dimension, with most of the original cast restored. The next 13 episodes aired in April. The last 13 episodes were at first planned for May, later moved to August, but ultimately did not air until November 2009 on Disney XD. The eleventh movie also premiered in November.

From May to August 2009, aired the sixth season on Sunday mornings. They have ceased to air any episodes from the original series.

Galactic Battles debuted on Disney XD on July 3, 2010. The twelfth movie aired first time on October 2, 2010. On March 7, 2011, the first episode of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl: Sinnoh League Victors aired on Disney XD; this season is the first to have season logo episode titles in Polish rather than English (previously the Polish version was only spoken), this also applies to "To Be Continued" text. It's also the first one with credits showing staff and voice actors responsible for dubbing. The thirteenth movie premiered on August 27, 2011.

Black & White debuted on Disney XD on January 2, 2012, while Rival Destinies started on November 4, 2012. Reshiram version of fourteenth movie aired on May 27, 2012 while the Zekrom version debuted in DVD format on October 25, 2012. The fifteenth movie aired on June 23, 2013. The first episode of Pokémon Black & White: Adventures in Unova aired on October 7, 2013. The sixteenth movie aired on September 7, 2014.

In September 2014, Disney XD aired the first 16 episodes of. After two months on November 3, 2014 Disney XD started airing the next 16 episodes (without XY024). In January 2015, the last 16 episodes of were aired. The seventeenth movie aired on October 3, 2015. Two days after, 5 October 2015, Disney XD began to air first 24 episodes of XY: Kalos Quest. In February 18th 2016, Disney XD began airing the last 21 episodes of XY: Kalos Quest.

In Poland, the anime is available on Netflix, but only with Polish subtitles. However, on September 13, 2016, the dubbed version of eighteenth movie was added alongside with dubbed version of XY, XY: Kalos Quest, and ''Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction.

On January 16, 2017, Disney XD began airing the first 20 episodes of XYZ. On April 1, 2017, Netflix uploaded the full season of XYZ, including the episodes that didn't air on Disney XD. On January 1, 2018, Netflix released Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel.

In March 2018, Disney XD began airing the first ten episodes of. However, on April 1, 2018, Netflix released the full season of Sun & Moon. On January 1, 2019, Netflix released I Choose You.

Movies
In 2001, Mewtwo Strikes Back and The Power of One premiered in Polish cinemas and later both movies were also released on VHS and DVD. In 2002 Spell of the Unown: Entei and Mewtwo Returns were released directly to VHS and DVD. All movies were distributed by Warner Bros. Poland. All movies also later aired on HBO and HBO 2 channels. The first movie also aired on Cinemax and Cinemax 2 in 2008 and 2009.

Movies 4, 5, 6 and 7 are often airing on SPI owned channels Filmbox, Filmbox HD, Filmbox Extra and Filmbox Family. However, these movies are not dubbed into Polish, instead there are voice-overs giving Polish translations of the English dub.

Dubbing
Seasons 1-4 were dubbed by Studia En-Be-Ef based in for Twin Media Power Video. Translators were only credited in some episodes of the 4th season and they include Katarzyna Precigs and Dorota Brewińska. The 5th season is credited as the work of Twin Media Power Video and 6th season was dubbed by GMC Studio. Translators of the 6th season are Dorota Brewińska, Maria Horodecka and Elżbieta Kowalska.

The first two movies were dubbed by Studio Sonica as well as Barbara Robaczewska. The third movie and Mewtwo Returns were dubbed by Master Film. The cast was mostly the same as in the En-Be-Ef version, however unknown voice actor was replaced by Adam Bauman for the role of Giovanni, Anna Bielańska by Krystyna Kozanecka for the role of Delia Ketchum and, most notable, Wojciech Majchrzak by Jacek Kopczyński for the role of in the second movie, and Józef Mika in the third movie.

Later the voice-over version of the first three movies were created. They were all read by Piotr Borowiec in Master Film. Next two movies were read by the same lector in Studio Sonoria. Movies 6 and 7 had voice-over made by Genetix Film Factory and were read by Radosław Popłonikowski (who also voiced some minor characters in the first season of the dub, most notable Koga) and Jacek Brzostyński respectively.

The leading role of Ash Ketchum was given to Hanna Kinder-Kiss. Misty was dubbed by Iwona Rulewicz (who also provided voice of Vivian Meridian when left the series), while the third main character,, was voiced by Marek Włodarczyk, who also voiced Gary Oak.

Tracey was voiced by Wojciech Majchrzak in the second season, who also provided voices of many others minor characters, most notable Professor Elm at the beginning of the fifth season (he was also dubbed by Jacek Kałucki in the third season and Ireneusz Machnicki from the end of the fifth season). However Jacek Kopczyński replaced Majchrzak in the second movie, Józef Mika in the third movie, Arkadiusz Detmer in the fifth season and, finally, Aleksander Gawek in the sixth season.

Team Rocket's Jessie, James, and were dubbed by Dorota Lanton, Jarosław Budnik, and Mirosław Wieprzewski respectively. Their boss was dubbed by unknown voice actors in the first six season and Adam Bauman in the dub of the first movie and Mewtwo Returns. Voice of narrator was provided by Mikołaj Klimek.

May was dubbed by Julita Kożuszek-Borsuk and Max by Joanna Domańska in the sixth season of anime.

Other notable voice actors in En-Be-Ef, Twin Media, GMC, Sonica and Master Film dubs of the Pokémon anime include Małgorzata Maślanka as Officer Jenny in the first four seasons and movies, and Katarzyna Łukszyńska in the next two seasons, Anna Bielańska (seasons 1-4, movies) and Agata Rzeszewska (seasons 5-6) as Nurse Joy, Grzegorz Pawlak (seasons 1-4, movies) and Jacek Kałucki (seasons 5-6) as and Olga Borys as the voice of Duplica,  (first season only), Jessiebelle and other minor characters.

Much to everyone's surprise, the tenth season were dubbed by Sun Studio Polska. It was translated by Anna Wysocka and Anna Izdebska. Sun Studio decided to ignore previous cast of the series and choose all new actors for every character. Ash was then voiced by Grzegorz Drojewski, who received mixed opinions about his work from Polish Pokémon fans. Some of them stated his voice is now more suitable for Ash than previous, because in tenth season he is older and shouldn't be longer voiced by female, some others Drojewski is sounding too young, unsuitable to this role and Hanna Kinder-Kiss voice is commonly linked with Ash. Brock was voiced by Waldemar Barwiński, Jessie by Izabela Dąbrowska, James by Marcin Przybylski, Meowth by Łukasz Lewandowski, Professor Oak by Janusz Wituch, Gary Oak by Karol Wróblewski (who also voiced Conway), Nurse Joy and Delia Ketchum by Joanna Węgrzynowska and Officer Jenny by unknown voice actress. Piotr Bąk provided the voice of narrator. Magdalena Krylik was chosen for the role of.

The next season, as well as the 11th movie, was dubbed by Studio Eurocom, who worked on majority of Jetix dubs. Most of original actors returned to their respective characters, however there were few exceptions. Jessie was still voiced by Izabella Dąbrowska, Professor Oak by Janusz Wituch and Gary Oak by Karol Wróblewski (even though original Gary voice actor, Marek Włodarczyk, was providing the voice of Brock in the season). Beata Wyrąbkiewicz replaced Magdalena Krylik in the role of Dawn, and Joanna Domańska (who returned to voice Cassidy) began to provide the voice of Officer Jenny. Dub of this season was directed by Tomasz Marzecki and it was translated by Anna Wysocka, Maciej Wysocki and Kamil Pozorski (famous member of the Polish Pokémon fandom, known under the nickname AtoMan).

In the current, Serena is voiced by Dominika Sell, Clemont is voiced by Maciej Falana, and Bonnie is voiced by Natalia Jankiewicz.

Seasons 12-20, as well as movies 12-19, were dubbed by SDI Media Polska.

Music
In 2000, the soundtrack album Pokémon 2.B.A. Master was translated into Polish under the title . Additionally, the album Totally Pokémon was recorded but never released on CD. Some of the songs were used in the Polish Pokémon Karaokémon segment.

Pokémon Trading Card Game
The cards of Pokémon Trading Card Game available in Polish stores were sold in English for ten years. However on January 12, 2010, TM Toys began to distribute Polish-language versions of the TCG Diamond & Pearl expansion, and beginning June 1, 2012 distribution of Polish language versions of the TCG Mysterious Treasures expansion followed. TM Toys has stated they currently have no plans to release further Polish language expansions. Starting from May 18 2017, cards in English language are being sold in Tesco stores.

Pokémon manga
The Pokémon Adventures manga was released in Poland in 2001 by Japonica Polonica Fantastica. Unlike the anime, it was translated directly from the Japanese version. The complete first volume was released in the form of four A4 comic books. However, due to the low popularity of the series in Poland, a collected volume was never released and no subsequent volumes were translated.

Pokémon merchandise
In 2001, the publisher Egmont Polska released The Official Pokémon Handbook by Maria S. Barbo under the Polish name  (ISBN 8323710724). The book has 155 pages in the size of 155 × 230 mm. It also includes a small ''Togepi! Book'' containing the description of new Pokémon: and, a poster full of Togepi, the introductions of eight Gyms, and the profiles of , , , and Team Rocket.

Some books from the Pokémon anime novelization series were also translated into Polish.

Trivia

 * An official Pokémon Day was held in 2011.
 * Poland shares its distributor, ConQuest Entertainment, with.

Related articles

 * List of Polish Pokémon themes