View source for Basile and Melba (lost animated television pilot based on French graphic novel series; 2009)

{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>Basile and Melba (television pilot)</center>
|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
}} 
'''''Basile and Melba''''' is a French graphic novel series written by Mathilde Domecq and published by  Glénat Editions. In September 2009, it was announced during MIPCOM that an animated adaptation was being developed as a co-production between Zagtoon<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101016164926/http://www.univergroup.com/series.html Official Univergroup website] Retrieved 16 October '10</ref>, now known today as the studio behind ''Miraculous Ladybug'', and Europa Glénat, a now-defunct production company founded by French filmmaker Luc Besson.<ref name="MIPCOM 2009">[https://web.archive.org/web/20140301173129/http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/publicsiteContentFileAccess?fileContentId=174355&fromOtherPageToDisableHistory=T&menuName=Events&companyId=3123 ZAGTOON heads for MIP Junior with a raft of blue chip animation programs] Retrieved 01 March '14</ref> 

A '''pilot for the planned television series''' was created for MIPCOM 2009, and was shown at the event.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111124122308/http://www.catsuka.com/news/2010-01-08/pilote-du-p-tit-cosmonaute-et-autres-adaptations-de-bd-le-petit-spirou-samson-et-neon-job-academy-basile-et-melba Pilote du P'tit Cosmonaute, et autres adaptations de BD] Retrieved 24 November '11</ref> However, the project isn't greenlighted into a full-fledged television series due to a lack of interest from any French broadcasters who wanted to purchase the rights for it.

Eventually, the project was canceled after ZAG lost the licensing rights for it and Europa-Glénat later became defunct. This resulted in the full rights for ''Basile and Melba'' to revert to Glénat.

Since then, the pilot hasn't resurfaced anywhere, online or otherwise. There isn't a lot of information about it outside of a few articles that were published in France. Nor are there any known concept art created for the pilot surfaced online nor confirmation of the people who worked on it.

== Production ==
According to an MTV article published on October 23, 2008, it was announced that Luc Besson and his production company EuropaCorp had partnered with Glénat to launch Europa Glénat, a joint company to produce animated adaptations of Glénat's graphic novel titles.<ref>[https://www.mtv.com/news/x3w9cc/transporter-producer-luc-besson-partners-with-french-comic-publisher 'Transporter' Producer Luc Besson Partners With French Comic Publisher] Published 23 October '08</ref>

''Basile and Melba'' was one of the few known projects originally part of Europa-Glénat's plan, which was later confirmed at MIPCOM 2009.<ref name="MIPCOM 2009" /> The pilot, alongside ''[[Job Academy (lost animated television pilot based on a French graphic novel; 2009)|Job Academy]]'', was created by Zagtoon and Europa-Glénat, which was shown at the event.<ref>[https://kidscreen.com/2009/05/15/univergroup-20090515/ Upstart French prodco Univergroup and subsid Zagtoon make debut] Published 15 May '09</ref> It was also confirmed to be animated by 2 Minutes.<ref name="MIPCOM 2009" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

== See also ==
* [[Job Academy (lost animated television pilot based on a French graphic novel; 2009)]]
* [[Sweet Power (lost animated French television pilot; 2009)]]
* [[Touftouf and Kenotte (lost animated French television pilot; 2010)]]
* [[Transylmaniac (lost animated French television pilot; 2009)]]

== External Links ==
* [https://zagtoon.fandom.com/wiki/Basile_and_Melba ''Zagtoon Wiki'' page on the canceled ''Basile and Melba'' project]

[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Lost animation]]