And so it begins...

Seven kids at summer camp are sucked in to a strange "Digital World", where strange creatures called Digimon greet them.

thumb|225px|left|Episode recap for And so it begins...

Synopsis
Tai recounts how the world's climate has been going haywire - Asia is in a drought, the Middle East is being hit by flash floods, and America is wracked with freezing cold temperatures. Meanwhile, he's in summer camp, having a perfectly normal summer until it begins snowing, and a sudden blizzard appears.

Taichi "Tai" Kamiya, Sora Takenouchi, Yamato "Matt" Ishida, Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi, Mimi Tachikawa, Takeru "T.K." Takaishi, and Joe Kido are all amazed when it begins snowing. They then observe lights like auroras in the sky, from which emerges a portal that shoots out strange electronic devices. When they reach out and grab the objects, a huge wave of water erupts from the ground and sucks them into the portal, which sends them to a new world.

Tai is awoken by a strange creature which calls itself Koromon, and soon Izzy shows up with his own creature, Motimon. The creatures claim to know Tai and Izzy, as well as to have been waiting a long time for them.

The kids try to figure out where they are, and Tai climbs a tree to take a look through his telescope. He's startled to find that they are near the ocean, and then spots a huge red beetle which Koromon tells him is Kuwagamon. It attacks Tai and Izzy, but they hide within a "hiding tree". After Kuwagamon passes, Sora tells them to come out, and the group is reunited and introduced to each child's new creature. The creatures then explain that they are "Digimon: Digital Monsters!".

As the group wonders where Mimi is, they hear her screaming and she shows up being chased by Kuwagamon. It chases the gang to the edge of a cliff, and the Digimon decide to fight. However, as In-Training Digimon, they can only blow bubbles, and are knocked out by the Champion-level Kuwagamon. The children try to stop them from fighting, and just as everything seems lost, the devices glow and the Digimon suddenly digivolve to Rookie level! Together, all seven Rookies attack Kuwagamon, but their combined attacks are only enough to daze it. It crashes into the cliff, breaking off the chunk the kids and Digimon are on and letting it fall into the river.

Digivolutions
(Number indicates order of occurrence.)

Dubbing changes

 * Tai does not narrate. Instead, there is a generic narrator who covers the climate changes in more detail, as well as reading Kuwagamon's profile more in-depth. In general, though, there is less speaking during the episode.
 * The DigiDestined's original profile screens include their school and grade, and their names are read by the narrator.
 * No one speaks during the In-Training Digimon's Analyser screens.
 * Kuwagamon makes a more insect-like chittering noise, instead of the reptilian roar he makes in the English version.
 * The background music for the English dub is different to the original Japanese episode. In fact, different music is used throughout this series, and in all the others as well.

Digimon references

 * The events preceding the kids entry into the digital world are revealed in the episode The Ultimate Clash
 * The events of this episode are reminisced about in the episode Now Apocalymon.
 * The Digi-gate at the summer camp is not used to enter the Digital World again until the end of the next series, in the episode A Million Points of Light, when it is the only one available due to BlackWarGreymon sealing off of the local gates from Oikawa.

Real-world references

 * Six of the children attend Odaiba Elementary, while T.K. attends Kawada elementary in Nagano.

Miscellaneous trivia

 * Tai announces the episode title in the Japanese episode.
 * This is the first episode of the entire Digimon anime (not counting the movie that preceded it).
 * Koromon is the first ever Digimon to make an appearance in the Digimon anime.
 * Agumon marks the very first appearance of a Rookie Digimon.
 * Koromon is the first to digivolve to the next level - a continued theme throughout he series, as he is also the first of the group to reach Champion, Ultimate, and Mega levels (though Gabumon's the only other Digimon in the group to reach Mega level).
 * The kids' grades are as follows:
 * Tai - Fifth Grade
 * Sora - Fifth Grade
 * Matt - Fifth Grade
 * Izzy - Fourth Grade
 * Mimi - Fourth Grade
 * T.K. - Third Grade
 * Joe - Sixth Grade (making him the oldest of the group)