Jake's Team Pirate (found pitch pilot of "Jake and the Never Land Pirates" Disney Junior animated series; 2009)

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JATNLP Old Logo.png

A prototype of the series’ logo, utilizing Jake’s pilot design.

Status: Found (unedited version)
Existence Unconfirmed (re-edited version)

Date found: 25 Apr 2024

Found by: Anonymous

Jake and the Never Land Pirates was an interactive animated series that ran on Disney Junior from 2011-2016. The series follows Jake, Izzy, Cubby, their parrot Skully, and their pirate ship Bucky as they go on adventures across Never Land whilst attempting to outsmart Captain Hook and his assistant, Mr. Smee, who constantly steal their treasures. Every episode ends with an original song performed by Sharky (voiced by Loren Hoskins) and Bones (voiced by Kevin Hendrickson), who make up the Never Land Pirate Band.

History

According to an interview, production on the pilot began back in late 2007 when the show’s creator Bobs Gannaway was looking for music to listen to while writing the pilot. After discovering a pirate band called Captain Bogg and Salty, Gannaway showed the pirate band to Jay Stutler, the vice president of music at Disney Television Animation. Originally, the team was going to utilize their catalog of music created for Captain Bogg and Salty, but the team decided it would be more suitable for the composers to create their own original songs specifically for the series. The Jake pilot was completed in 2009, and due to positive reception, Disney Channel ordered a first season with 26 episodes. After originally planning to air on Playhouse Disney, the series was set to release on February 14th, 2011 as the flagship show to launch the rebranded Disney Junior[1].

In another interview with Nancy Kanter, the former Senior Vice President of Original Programming for Disney Junior (then Playhouse Disney), Kanter provided insight on how programs were made. She detailed that Disney wanted to create a pirate series based on the Peter Pan franchise. After working with writers and creators to develop ideas, a pilot was created to test to an audience of parents and their children. Following the success of the pilot, the show was green-lit for its first season[2].

A tweet from Colin Ford reveals that the show was originally titled Jake’s Team Pirate before the title was changed to Jake and the Never Land Pirates.

Footage

A user named Angelu James Talento Galacio uploaded a Hong Kong promo for Disney Junior, containing footage of an earlier version of the show. Clips can be found at 0:59-1:01, and again at 1:11. It is unconfirmed if this footage is from the pilot or an earlier version of the final show.

On April 25th, 2024, a myriad of animated pilots and workprints from the Disney Television Animation Co. were anonymously posted on various file-sharing sites, video-sharing sites, and discussion boards. Among these pilots is the full unedited animated pilot and pitch bible for Jake and the Never Land Pirates which contained an undocumented character named Nibs who wore a purple hat and purple suit.

It is unconfirmed if a re-edited version of this pilot that does not feature Nibs, as shown in the Hong Kong promo, exists, or was just cut out for the Hong Kong promo in itself.

Video

Disney HK promo that includes footage from the pilot.

Images

JATNLP Old Logo.png
Jake, Izzy, and Cubby sliding.

See Also

Disney Channel

Playhouse Disney

Disney Junior

Toon Disney

Disney XD

Other

References