Ned's Newt (partially found pilot episode of Nelvana animated series; 1997)

The show's main characters, Ned and Newton.

Status: Partially Found

Ned's Newt is a Canadian-German animated series created by Andy Knight (creator of Get Ed) and Mike Burgess. It was co-produced by Nelvana and TMO Film GmbH in conjunction with Studio B Productions and originally aired on Teletoon in Canada from October 1997 to December 1999. The series follows nine-year-old Ned Flemkin, who discovers that his new pet newt, Newton, transforms into a friendly but five-hundred-pound shape-shifting monster when overfed on Zippo Newt Food. Immediately they become best pals... whereupon the fun-loving Newton leads Ned into adventures not always easily explained to his parents.

Production

Like many animated serious, Ned's Newt was the subject of a pitch pilot created solely to be shown to network executives. On February 23rd, 2010, Steve Schiner, a Canadian writer, producer, and director who worked at Nelvana during the mid-1990s, wrote glowingly of this particular project:

Before I go any further - I want to say that I LOVED this pilot and still do. It's great. It's hilarious. It tells you everything you need to know about the show. And that's the problem.

It's too damned good. The series couldn't live up to the promise of the pilot.

First, the audio that is on this show opening is NOT what was on the pilot film. In the original, whenever the Newt spoke, canned TV and movie dialogue came out of his mouth - he'd learned to talk by watching TV. It was everything from Wilma Flintstone to John Wayne. Hilarious - but due to rights clearances, they'd never be able to do that on the show. They settled for an actor doing impersonations - which was okay and PRACTICAL - was about a mile below what they showed in the pilot film.

Likewise, the design and quality of the animation was top notch. Brilliant - but unsustainable on an episodic TV budget. They promised too much.

While the series did run a full three seasons in production - in my opinion, it never lived up to the potential of the pilot film. There was nowhere to go but down.

Availability

While the pitch pilot was never intended for public viewing and has not formally been released as such, its plot would be later reworked as the first segment of the actual series (titled "Out With the Old, In With the Newt") and various additional scenes survived as part of the show's intro sequence. The entire series proper can be viewed through digital downloading on iTunes and Amazon Prime as well as on YouTube. On February 6th, 2012, an additional minute-long clip of the pitch pilot was posted on Vimeo by user BFX. The remaining footage has not yet surfaced online.

Gallery

One minute footage of the series' original pilot pitch, posted by Vimeo user BFX.

The series' opening intro, which showed scenes from the pilot.

External Links

• Steve Schiner's blog entry on the Ned's Newt pilot Retrieved 04 Oct '19
• The IMDb page on Ned's Newt Retrieved 04 Oct '19
• The TV Guide page on Ned's Newt Retrieved 04 Oct '19