The Backyardigans (partially found Nick Digital pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2002)

The pilot's title card.

Status: Partially Found

The Backyardigans is a CGI animated series that premiered on Nick Jr. in 2004. However, its development history stretches back to the late 1990s. A CGI-animated pilot for the show (then titled Backyardigans) was produced in 2002 by series creator Janice Burgess, that was based upon a rejected live-action pilot from 1998 called Me and My Friends.

Production

The pilot was produced at Nickelodeon Digital animation studio in New York. It was animated using motion capture, but due to the major difference between the dancers and the character model's proportions, the animation looked too floaty, as Burgess wanted more precise movements.

Because of that, the animators had to change the movements manually to make them work properly, using footage of live-action dancers as a rough guideline.

Synopsis

The pilot’s plot seems to be an early version of the season 1 episode "The Heart of the Jungle." Uniqua falls in quicksand, and Pablo and Tyrone use sticks to get her out. Austin and Tasha are not present in the footage available. Austin (who would eventually be introduced later in the first season) seems to be completely absent even from concept art at this stage.

Status

At present only some screenshots and a few seconds of footage are available. More was allegedly found in a deleted YouTube video that has since been re-uploaded, with no new footage of the pilot.

Differences

• Uniqua has visible nostrils, smaller eyes and a longer muzzle.
• The characters have black eyebrows.
• Pablo and Tyrone have lighter colors.
  • In the first season of the final series, Pablo is dark blue, but as of the second season, he returns to his light blue color.
• Uniqua's house has three windows. It also does not have a picnic table on the outside, and in its place is a litter box that in the final series would happen to be in front of Tyrone's house.
• In the backyard there is a soccer ball and a red bicycle.
• Pablo and Tyrone's houses don't have a porch.
• In one scene from the pilot, Pablo is seen playing in his pool, something he never did in the final series.

Gallery

Videos

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Animation reel by Lyla Warren (0:46-0:51).

Screenshots

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See Also

The Backyardigans

• The Backyardigans (partially lost British dub of Nick Jr. CGI-animated series; mid-late 2000s)
• Me and My Friends (partially found live-action pilot of "The Backyardigans" Nick Jr. CGI-animated series; 1998)

Nick Jr. Original Pilots

• Blue Prints (partially found unaired pilot of "Blue's Clues" Nick Jr. animated/live action series; 1994-1995)
• Bubble Guppies (partially found unaired pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2006)
• Dora the Explorer (partially found unaired pilot episodes of Nick Jr. animated series; late 1990s)
• Super Why? (partially found stop-motion Nick Jr. pilot of PBS Kids CGI series; 1999)
• The Umizumiz (partially found unaired pilot of "Team Umizoomi" Nick Jr. CGI-animated/live-action series; 2008)

External Links

• The Backyardigans Wikia page on the Nick Digital pilot.
• Nickelodeon's trademarks of The Backyardigans.