Video Dream Theater (lost Nickelodeon animated pilots; 1979)
Status: Lost
Video Dream Theater is a series of pilots developed for the then-newly launched children's TV channel Nickelodeon in 1979 to make animated content for the network.
Origin
In 1979, Nickelodeon hired its future president Geraldine Laybourne to make two pilots of Video Dream Theater, the network'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]
According to sources, the pilots were test screen to children to negative reviews.
Status
As of 2023 no footage or screenshots of the pilots had resurfaced. given the scary content of the pilots, It's uncertain if Nickelodeon still has them in their archives.
References
- ↑ Interview with Cable Center. Retrieved 31 Oct '22
- ↑ The kids' channel that 'Double Dares' to be different - Washington Post (archived) 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