Big Beast Quintet (lost Nickelodeon animated pilot; 1990): Difference between revisions
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==See Also== | ==See Also== | ||
=== | ===Other Nickelodeon Pilots=== | ||
*[[Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (partially found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; early 1990s)]] | *[[Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (partially found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; early 1990s)]] | ||
*[[The Adventures of Johnny Quasar (found prototype "Jimmy Neutron" animated shorts; 1995-1997)]] | *[[The Adventures of Johnny Quasar (found prototype "Jimmy Neutron" animated shorts; 1995-1997)]] | ||
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*[[Who Knew? (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; 1998)]] | *[[Who Knew? (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; 1998)]] | ||
*[[The Wild Thornberrys (found pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; 1998)]] | *[[The Wild Thornberrys (found pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; 1998)]] | ||
==Reference== | ==Reference== | ||
Revision as of 20:51, 7 February 2023
The original station ID.
Status: Lost
Big Beast Quintet was an unsold animated pilot that was pitched to Nickelodeon.
Origin
In 1989, the kid-oriented cable network Nickelodeon decided to launch their own original animated programming, which they dubbed "Nicktoons." They commissioned eight pilots, and planned to choose the four best pilots to make it to series (though in the end, only three were chosen), with a targeted premiere in August 1991.[1]
Big Beast Quintet was created by Japhet Asher and George Evelyn of Colossal Pictures. The idea was not original to the pilot, as the characters first appeared in an animated Nickelodeon station ID: five animals walked down the street, singing nonsensical lyrics, wearing orange shirts with a few letters on each. They walked inside a television set, rearranged themselves, and their shirts spelled out "Nickelodeon," which they sang at the end. The idea to pitch a series based on the bumper came from the idea that a show about characters the audience was already familiar with would make for a more successful series. The pilot was made in 1990.
The Pilot
The characters were more fleshed out in the pilot. The Big Beast Quintet lived in the city of Animatropolis where they worked as news reporters for Channel Zero. Their boss, Nero Zero, who had a "nice-mean" switch on his head controlled by his assistant Bombat, sends them to Ice Cube Island to do a story on the Abominably Animated Man. They can't find him, however, and use a stage set to fake the broadcast, pretending to get lost. Big Beast, feeling guilty, goes out on his own to find the Abominably Animated Man. Nero Zero shows up to save the Big Beast Quintet but is upset to find only four of them on a fake set. But then, Big Beast shows up with the surprisingly friendly Abominably Animated Man and Nero Zero becomes nice again.[1]
Results
The pilot has been described as having a silly Nickelodeon "feel," but it tested poorly. The concept of having a mean, angry boss was not something the kid audience could relate to, and the fake news story subplot went over their heads. Nickelodeon tried tweaking the concept with Colossal Pictures and a revised pilot, called Channel Zero, was pitched, but it was considered not funny enough to be picked up as a TV series.[1]
The pilots eventually picked up were:
- Doug Can't Dance by Jim Jinkins for Jumbo Pictures; became the pilot for Doug.
- Tommy Pickles and the Great White Thing by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó and Paul Germain for Klasky Csupo; became the pilot for Rugrats.
- Ren Hoek and Stimpy in "Big House Blues" by John Kricfalusi for Spümcø; became the pilot for The Ren & Stimpy Show.
Unlike the original station ID, which is easily found on the Internet, the Big Beast Quintet pilot was never shown to anyone outside those involved in its production and the test audiences, nor has it been shared by its creators since, save for a presentation given by Linda Simensky in 1995 at the Society for Animation Studies Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, where she showed the five failed Nicktoon pilots, as well as four others, to an audience of animation professors and historians.[1] The reworked version, Channel Zero, has also never been seen.
Status
On August 9th, 2018, when asked about the pilot on Twitter, Japhet Asher said he may have a VHS tape containing the pilot, and that George Evelyn probably had a higher-quality copy.[2]
Credits
- Created by Japhet Asher and George Evelyn
- Written by Japhet Asher
- Directed by George Evelyn[1]
Gallery
See Also
Other Nickelodeon Pilots
- Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (partially found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; early 1990s)
- The Adventures of Johnny Quasar (found prototype "Jimmy Neutron" animated shorts; 1995-1997)
- The Angry Beavers "Cuffed Together" (non-existent pilot episode of Nickelodeon animated series; early-mid 1990s)
- Back at the Barnyard (partially found original test pitch of Nickelodeon CGI animated series; 2000)
- Bad Seeds (found pilot of "Harvey Beaks" Nickelodeon animated series; 2013)
- Camp Nick (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; mid-1990s)
- Catscratch (found animated pitch of Nickelodeon animated series; 2004)
- The Crowville Chronicles (partially found Nickelodeon animated pilot; 1990)
- Drake & Josh (partially found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon sitcom; 2002)
- Figure it Out (partially found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon game show; 1990s)
- Fresh Beat Band of Spies (found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon animated spin-off of "The Fresh Beat Band" musical series; 2013)
- Generation Gap (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; early 1990s)
- Gibby! (partially found unaired pilot of cancelled spin-off of "iCarly" Nickelodeon teen sitcom; 2012)
- Go For It (lost Nickelodeon game show pilot; early 1990s)
- Hey Arnold! (found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; 1994)
- Humongous (lost pilot of Nickelodeon game show; early 1990s)
- I Don't Think So (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; 1994)
- Invader Zim (lost 3D animation test sequence from pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; 1999)
- KaBlam! "The Henry and June Show" (found spinoff pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; 2000)
- Kappa Mikey (found original MTV pitch and Nicktoons pilots of animated series; 2004)
- Morph Sports (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; 1995-1996)
- Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (partially found pilots of Nickelodeon sitcom; 2003)
- Ned's Declassified High School Survival Guide (lost pilot of rejected spin-off series of Nickelodeon sitcom; 2008)
- Pudding Toast (lost Nickelodeon animated pitch pilots; 2012)
- Rocket Beach (found unaired pilot of "Rocket Power" Nickelodeon animated series; 1998)
- Roundhouse (partially found unaired pilot of Nickelodeon comedy series; 1991)
- Slime Survivor (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; 2000)
- The Thundermans (partially lost unaired pilot of Nickelodeon live-action comedy series; 2012)
- Tooned In! (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; 1998)
- Trash (lost Nickelodeon stop-motion animated pilot; 1990)
- The Weasel Patrol (lost Nickelodeon animated pilot; 1990)
- Who Knew? (partially found Nickelodeon game show pilot; 1998)
- The Wild Thornberrys (found pilot of Nickelodeon animated series; 1998)
Reference
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America's Only TV Channel for Kids by Heather Hendershot (passage by Linda Simensky). Retrieved 16 Jul '18
- ↑ Japhet Asher on Twitter Retrieved 23 Sep '20