Geronimo Stilton (non-existent pilot for animated television series; 1999)
Fan-made concept art for the animated television pilot.
Status: Non-existent
Geronimo Stilton is an Italian series of children's books written by Elisabetta Dami. The series featured the title character, a mouse possibly inspired by Sherlock Holmes but not really going on detective adventures. Instead, he goes on adventures with his family and describes them in books like a memoir. Before reaching international popularity, it became a huge skyrocket in Italy two years after the books were first published in 1999, so much so that in 2002, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) made an article about how it was challenging sales of the much popular Harry Potter which also started the same year as Geronimo Stilton.[1] In 1999, there was a pilot for an animated television series based on the books and also a possible television series that aired from the years 1999 to 2002. These most likely never aired outside Italy till the 2009 incarnation which became a big success. In fact, they may have never existed.
Plot
So far, there is absolutely no information about the plot which has been received or found. In other cases, it may have adapted one of the books in the series.
Availability
Almost completely no information about the pilot has been found and no footage or screenshots exist online. The pilot itself was made by Stranemani Animation, Graphilm and Gertie Productions (both in Italy).[2]
Considering the many mentions of it on a few sources and documents and animator's portfolios, it's not possible whether the whole pilot or some pilot material may be in the hands of Stranemani Animation, an animator who worked on it or a collector. However, it recently has been confirmed that the pilot along with an earlier television series is non-existent and is the result of rumors according to the studios and animators as they had little memory on the production and thus cannot be found in the respective archives or collections of the studios and animators.