Super Why! (found stop-motion Nick Jr. pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated series; 1999)
The pilot's title card.
Status: Found
Date found: 12 Jun 2023
Found by: The OLD Washington resident and Melody
Super Why! is a computer-animated television show from 2007 to 2016 about a kid who lives in Storybrook Village. When he or his friends have an issue, they can jump into storybooks to collect "Super Letters" which they use to solve problems. Super Why! originally started life as Angela Santomero's masters' thesis, which is said to predate Blue's Clues, before being developed into a TV show. The show will was initially meant to be a stop-motion show, and a pilot was produced to pitch to Nick Jr. The show's pilot was in production by Blue's Clues creator Angela Santomero and Cuppa Coffee Studios in Toronto, Canada between early-mid 1999. The pilot was rejected, but after a period of development hell, the show premiered in 2007 on PBS Kids as the CGI show known today. According to the pilot's director, the pilot was greenlit by Nick Jr. but later was cancelled in favor of another Nick Jr. show Oswald. The pilot was unreleased, created with a working title, Super Why?.[1] Footage of the pilot has surfaced, however.
On February 19th, 2021, the 1st unused theme song for the pilot was found by Stephen Laurent and Scramble Fan 2021. However, the audio is higher-pitched, and the beginning and end of the music are cut off, the used theme song was slightly different. A high-quality version of the unused theme song can be found on Nick Balaban's website, the composer of the 1st unused theme song. The 2nd unused theme song was made by artist Daniel Leblanc who uploaded an altered version of the instrumentals to pond5 after realizing the showrunners didn’t care about the pilot, anymore.
Footage of the pilot was once available on Cuppa Coffee Animation's old website with 2 clips entitled "Opening Shot" and "Willa Blows". Curiously, these clips are from a version of the pilot that was later found, using an altered version of the unused theme song as well as different BGM entirely. These files were since never archived, unfortunately.
In May 2021, a listing for the pilot was found at a library by user pdog64. It was only the audio however and on August 2nd that year, he uploaded the audio to YouTube.
On January 2nd, 2023, a slideshow known as 'Next Generation Kids - PBS Kids' was discovered on SlidePlayer. One of the slides contained a render image for the pilot showing the main character's superhero design and a placeholder image for the series' logo. Interestingly, there was a different version of the image that was placed behind the render image if you try to edit the slideshow which instead displays "Super Readers to the Rescue," which is believed to be a title once considered for the series around 2006.
On June 12th, 2023, YouTubers The OLD Washington resident and Melody were able to find and release a copy of the full pilot after contacting the Annecy Film Festival, where the pilot won an award.
During the search, it was believed that the pilot's audio that Pdog64 found was the audio used for the pilot, including the theme song inside of that audio, they were both debunked to be used when the pilot was found.
Description
Annecy Festival 2000
"6 cm tall Superwhy lives in a children's library. When he needs answers to his questions, he jumps into the right storybook. Characters like "The Three Little Pigs" and "Red Riding Hood" answer his questions and teach him how to solve problems.[2]
Cuppa Coffee
"Who do you call when you need to know why? Superwhy, of course! This award winning pre-school pilot encourages critical thinking and reinforces reading skills in young viewers. Stop-motion and cutout animation bring this curious little tyke, his kangaroo friend and all of his favorite storybooks to life."[3]
Eyewitness
"The video reel was maybe about a minute long. The theme song was a chill reggae track, and a Jamaican singer said: "Wonder why, Just like Super Why!" It was very chill. The proto-Super Why character then said: "Hello! I'm hiding. Can you find me?" The rest of the video is kind of a blur after that. When the yellow-skinned girl appeared, she created some kind of wind/tornado, causing the buttons around the room to whirl around. Proto-Super Why then said something to the camera in reaction to this."
Cuppa Coffee (Variant 1)
"Who do you call when you need to know why? Superwhy of course! Cuppa recently produced this pilot episode for Nickelodeon. The show encourages kids to read, and reinforces reading skills. We used stop motion animation as well as cut-out to bring this curious little tyke to life."[4]
Cuppa Coffee (Variant 2)
"A pilot for Nick Jr, Superwhy was centred around a superhero whose ability is to question why - AND find out! Superwhy takes place in the book of the three little pigs and the animations in the book come to life. The action gets kids to look into books to find out, well...why!?!"[5]
BAMKids Film Festival
"Tiny Super Why doesn't take up much space in the children's library where he lives. When he needs answers to problems, he effortlessly hops into storybooks to find solutions."[6]
ChicagoReader.com
"In Adam Shaheen's Super Why? an imp interacts with illustrations from a book of The Three Little Pigs, inviting the viewer into its world."[7]
Lyrics
Unused Intro #1
"Tell me why.
Why Why (Why, Why)
Tell me Super Why.
Tell me why? (Tell me why)
From his wee home in the library, Willy. (also known as Wee Willy)
Asks the burning question why?
This powerful need to know transforms him into Super Why!
Tell me why.
Why Why (Why, Why)
Tell me Super Why.
Tell me why? (Tell me why)"
Unused Intro #2
"The world is full of questions
Everywhere I look
And when I need an answer
I look inside a book
Anything I wanna be
I'm reaching for the sky
I can do anything that's why
SUPER WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
He's Super Why!"
Used Intro
"Wonder why.
Why, why?
Why, why? (why)
Just like Super Why! (Boo)
Wonder why?"
Gallery
Images
Footage
Audio
Videos
See Also
Super Why!
- Super Why! (partially found British dub of PBS Kids CGI animated series; late 2000s-2010s)
- Super Why! (lost second pitch pilot of PBS Kids CGI-animated series; 2004-2006)
Bumpers and Interstitials
- Loretta the Letter Lady (partially found Nick Jr. short interstitial series; mid 1990s)
- Nick Jr. (partially found revamped Face promos of Nickelodeon channel block; 2003-2004)
- Nick Jr. Power Play Summer (partially found Nick Jr. interstitial series; 2005)
- Snappy Larry's Showtime (partially lost Nick Jr. UK interstitial series and American dub; mid-2000s)
Pilots
- The Backyardigans (partially found Nick Digital pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2002)
- Blaze and the Monster Machines (lost pitch pilot of Nick Jr. animated series; existence unconfirmed; 2012)
- Blue's Clues (partially found pitch pilots of international adaptations of Nick Jr. animated/live-action series; late 1990s)
- Blue Prints (found unaired pilot of "Blue's Clues" Nick Jr. animated/live-action series; 1994-1995)
- Bubble Guppies (found pitch pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2006)
- Dora the Explorer (partially found unaired pilots of Nick Jr. animated series; late 1990s)
- Fresh Beat Band of Spies (found pitch pilot of Nick Jr. animated spin-off of musical series; 2013)
- The JumpArounds (partially found pitch pilot of "The Fresh Beat Band" Nick Jr. musical series; 2008)
- Me and My Friends (partially found live-action pilot of "The Backyardigans" Nick Jr. CGI-animated series; 1998)
- Oswald (partially found pitch pilot of Nick Jr. animated series; late 1990s)
- PAW Patrol (lost pitch pilots and early concepts of Nick Jr. animated series; 2008-2013)
- The Umizumiz (partially found pitch pilot of "Team Umizoomi" Nick Jr. live-action/CGI animated series; 2008)
- Wallykazam! "Monty's Magic Words" (partially found pilot for Nick Jr. education series; 2010s)
- Yo Gabba Gabba! (found pilots/test demo of Nick Jr. live-action/puppet musical series; early 2000s/2006)
Other
- As Pistas da Blue (partially lost Portuguese adaptation of "Blue's Clues" Nick Jr. animated/live-action series; mid-2000s)
- The Backyardigans (partially lost British dub of Nick Jr. CGI-animated series; mid-late 2000s)
- Binyah Binyah! (found spin-off of "Gullah Gullah Island" Nick Jr. musical series; 1997-1998)
- Blue's Clues (found British adaptation of Nick Jr. animated/live-action series; 1998-2003)
- Bubble and Squeak (partially found Nick Jr. UK live-action puppet series; 2007-2010)
- Downward Doghouse (found precursor to "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan" Nick Jr. animated series; 2000s)
- Eureeka's Castle (partially found Nick Jr. puppet series; 1989-1991)
- Made by Maddie (partially found unaired Nick Jr. animated series; 2020)
- Riddle Blue/수수께끼 블루 (partially found Korean adaptation of "Blue's Clues" Nick Jr. animated/live-action series; 2000-2001)
- Whoopi's Littleburg (partially found Nick Jr. musical miniseries; 2004)
- Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (partially found British dub of Nick Jr. animated series; late 2000s-early 2010s)
- Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (partially found early test animation of Nick Jr. animated series; 2005)
- Yo Gabba Gabba! (partially found British dub of Nick Jr. live-action/puppet musical series; 2009-mid 2010s)
- You Do Too (partially found Nick Jr. UK live-action puppet series; early 2000s)
External Links
- A website mentioning the pilot.
- Super Why! Wiki page on the pilot.
- An archived image of the pilot's logo.
- A slideshow presentation for PBS Kids with a design from the pilot.
- Internet Archive link for the Super Why! pilot (reupload).
References
- ↑ Kidscreen article on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 22 Mar '14
- ↑ Annecy article on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
- ↑ Cuppa Coffee archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
- ↑ Cuppa Coffee archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
- ↑ Cuppa Coffee archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 24 April '21
- ↑ pdf. archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
- ↑ An article mentioning the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21