Gravity Falls (found pitch pilot of Disney Channel animated mystery comedy series; 2010)

The show's logo.

Status: Found

Date found: 03 Aug 2016

Sometime in 2010, animator Alex Hirsch began work on a pitch pilot for what would soon become the hit Disney mystery series Gravity Falls. Created in Adobe Flash, the pilot ran for 12 minutes and was essentially a cut-down version of the first official episode, "Tourist Trapped."^[1]

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In a Reddit IAMA conducted by Alex Hirsch, when asked if the unaired pilot would ever be released, he replied that it "would be like showing you awkward photos from my high school prom", and that he wouldn't want it to be seen. Additionally, the pilot used licensed songs that Hirsch didn't have the right to use commercially, meaning that there may have been legal problems with releasing it, on DVD or otherwise.

Despite that, on July 25th, 2016, Alex revealed that if the puzzle that was a part of the unofficial Cipher Hunt was completed, then he would release the pilot online.^[2] It was completed about a week later,^[3] and on August 3rd, 2016, it was released on The Mystery of Gravity Falls' website under the username of RETURNBACKWARDS and the password of TOTHEPASTAGAINTHREE.^[4] It was also uploaded to YouTube with little to no difficulty or conflict (albeit private).

In June 2022 more footage of the pilot was rediscovered on an animation reel from 2011 that was uploaded onto YouTube in 2016 by the animator Alfredo Cassano.