Video Dream Theater (lost Nickelodeon animated pilots; 1979)

Status: Lost

Video Dream Theatre was the first effort of then-newly launched kids channel Nickelodeon in 1979 to make animated content.

Origin

In 1979, Nickelodeon hired its future president Geraldine Laybourne to make two pilots of Video Dream Theatre, Nick's first effort of original animation content. ^[1] It was produced over a half-year period and it used animation to visualize children's dreams in different styles, such as Xerox.^[2]

Results

Nickelodeon ended up not airing the pilots, according to Laybourne herself, because it were too frightening, saying:

"The trouble with kids' dreams is they're really scary. It's a lot about abandonment, it's a lot about suffocation. They don't make very good stories."^[3]

It is uncertain if Nickelodeon still has the two pilots at their archives, given the scary content of the pilots.

Anthology and Short Series

Bumpers and Promos

Game Shows

Inaugural Series

Live Action

Pilots

TV Films

Other

References

↑ Interview with Cable Center. Retrieved 31 Oct '22
↑ The kids' channel that 'Double Dares' to be different Retrieved 31 Oct '22
↑ Interview with the Television Academy Foundation and New York Women in Film & Television, mentioning the reason why Nickelodeon didn't air the pilots. Retrieved 31 Oct '22

[1] Interview with Cable Center. Retrieved 31 Oct '22

[2] The kids' channel that 'Double Dares' to be different Retrieved 31 Oct '22

[3] Interview with the Television Academy Foundation and New York Women in Film & Television, mentioning the reason why Nickelodeon didn't air the pilots. Retrieved 31 Oct '22

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[2]

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