Super Why! (found stop-motion Nick Jr. pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated series; 1999): Difference between revisions

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{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>Super Why! (pilot)</center>
|title=<center>Super Why! (pilot)</center>
|image=Superwhypliot.png
|image=Super Why Pilot Logo.png
|imagecaption=Screenshots from the pliot.
|imagecaption=The pilot's logo.
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
}}
}}
'''''Super Why!''''' is an animated television show about a kid who jumps into books. 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 show would return to production between 2004 and 2005 to be pitched to PBS Kids, and had its first television airing on 2007, while the pilot was unreleased created with a working title, '''Super Why?'''<ref>[http://kidscreen.com/1999/07/01/25954-19990701/ Kidscreen article on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 22 Mar '14</ref>
''Super Why!'' is an animated television show about a kid who jumps into books. 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 show would return to production between 2004 and 2005 to be pitched to PBS Kids, and had its first television airing on 2007, '''while the pilot was unreleased created with a working title, ''Super Why?'''''.<ref>[http://kidscreen.com/1999/07/01/25954-19990701/ Kidscreen article on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 22 Mar '14</ref>


No footage of the pilot has surfaced anywhere, however.
No footage of the pilot has surfaced anywhere, however.


On February 19th, 2021, the sound used for the intro was found by Stephen Laurent and Scramble Fan 2021. However, the audio is apparently higher-pitched, and the beginning and end of the music is cut off.
On February 19th, 2021, the sound used for the intro was found by Stephen Laurent and Scramble Fan 2021. However, the audio is apparently higher-pitched, and the beginning and end of the music are cut off.


A high quality version of the intro's theme song can be found on Nick Balaban's website, the composer of the theme song.
A high-quality version of the intro's theme song can be found on Nick Balaban's website, the composer of the theme song.


==Description==
==Description==
===Annecy Festival===
===Annecy Festival===
 
<blockquote>"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.<ref>[https://www.annecy.org/about/archives/2000/award-winners/film-index:film-20000399 Annecy article on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 07 Apr '21</ref></blockquote>
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.<ref>[https://www.annecy.org/about/archives/2000/award-winners/film-index:film-20000399 Annecy article on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.]</ref>


===Cuppa Coffee===
===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 favourite storybooks to life."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060618074748/http://www.cuppacoffee.com/cuppa_series.html Cuppa Coffee archive on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 07 Apr '21</ref>


"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 favourite storybooks to life."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060618074748/http://www.cuppacoffee.com/cuppa_series.html Cuppa Coffee archive on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.]</ref>
===Cuppa Coffee (Variant 1)===
 
<blockquote>"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."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20000816033018/http://www.cuppacoffee.com:80/portfolio/series.htm Cuppa Coffee archive on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 07 Apr '21</ref></blockquote>
===Cuppa Coffee (Variant)===


"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."<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20000816033018/http://www.cuppacoffee.com:80/portfolio/series.htm Cuppa Coffee archive on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.]</ref>
===Cuppa Coffee (Variant 2)===
<blockquote>"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!?!"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20011225095236/http://www.cuppacoffee.com:80/portfolio/anim_stop-motion.htm Cuppa Coffee archive on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 24 April '21</ref></blockquote>


===BAMKids Film Festival===
===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.<ref>[http://levyarchive.bam.org/Detail/objects/93606 pdf. archive on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 07 Apr '21</ref>
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.<ref>[http://levyarchive.bam.org/Detail/objects/93606 pdf. archive on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.]</ref>


===ChicagoReader.com===
===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.<ref>[https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-international-childrens-film-festival/Content?oid=903569 An article mentioning the ''Super Why!'' pilot.]</ref>
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.<ref>[https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-international-childrens-film-festival/Content?oid=903569 An article mentioning the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 07 Apr '21</ref>
 
==Differences==
 
What makes the pilot different from the final product is that:
*The pilot was animated in stop-motion animation instead of CGI animation.
*Super Why/Whyatt, Pig/Alpha Pig and Wonder Red/Red Riding Hood were the only characters present in the pilot, while Princess Presto/Princess Pea and Woofster was not present.
**Also, Whyatt was originally known as Willy (also known as Wee Willy).
***His superhero name, Super Why, originally served as his nickname due to him often asking the question "why".
**In addition, there were two other characters in the pilot that never got to appear in the final product, this includes a stuffed purple kangaroo that served as Super Why's sidekick, and another character named Willa whom bears some resemblance to Red.
***All the characters looked different from the final product due to the premise at the time was originally not superhero-themed.
*The intro's theme and lyrics was completely different with a song only known as "Wonder Why, Just Like Superwhy". An unused one, one of 3, used a reggae tune instead of an upbeat theme.
*The art style of the characters in the pilot is closely reminiscent to the characters' art style in Blues' Clues.
<br>
A revised version finally aired on PBS Kids in 2007 and lasted until 2016. Below are the lyrics to the unused intro. Listen to it here: https://youtu.be/ujVM3wp1UZc


==Lyrics (Unused Intro)==
==Lyrics (Unused Intro)==
*''Tell me why.''
*"Tell me why."
*''Why Why (Why, Why)''
*"Why Why (Why, Why)"
*''Tell me Super Why.''
*"Tell me Super Why."
*''Tell me why? (Why, Why)''
*"Tell me why? (Why, Why)"
*''From his wee home in the library, Willy. (also known as Wee Willy)''
*"From his wee home in the library, Willy. (also known as Wee Willy)"
*''Asks the burning question why?''
*"Asks the burning question why?"
*''This powerful need to know transforms him into Super Why!''
*"This powerful need to know transforms him into Super Why!"
*''Tell me why.''
*"Tell me why."
*''Why Why (Why, Why)''
*"Why Why (Why, Why)"
*''Tell me Super Why.''
*"Tell me Super Why."
*''Tell me why? (Why, Why)''
*"Tell me why? (Why, Why)"
 
==Trivia==
*The name for the series was originally known as Superwhy (also known as SuperWhy? in Cuppa Coffee Animation site archives, or SuperWhy! in Alexander Gorelick's site) in the pilot, since the premise was slightly different before being changed to Super Why! in the final product.
*According to Annecy Festival, the running time for the pilot is 9 minutes and 36 seconds.
*Even though the voice of Super Why is unknown, it's believed to be '''Zachary Tyler''' since he was young at the time.
*Speaking of Super Why's voice, his voice might of sounded like Little Bill's voice.
*The pilot episode was one of the winners of the 2000 Annecy Festival, receiving an award for being considered an educational, scientific or industrial film.
**The pilot episode also received an award for 2001 Cairo Children's Festival, Gold Special Jury Award - Houston Worldfest 2000, the Certificate of Participation - Chicago International Children's Film Festival and the International Festival 2000.
*The pilot episode was greenlit by Nick Jr. as a new series idea, but they decided to shelve it by choosing to produce Oswald the Octopus at the time.
*In initial development, the series' pilot was originally conceived as a puppet show before being switched to stop-motion.
*Before the site's rebranding, Cuppa Coffee Studios originally had two reels of the Super Why pilot on its site before becoming unavailable to view in the public. The first reel was the pilot's intro, while the second reel was a scene of Willa blowing Willy's buttons.
**However, extra copies of the pilot episode is recently confirmed by the director (Dave Thomas) to be archived by Cuppa Coffee Studios in its current headquarters.
**Despite the rest of the pilot's plot being unknown, the composer (Nick Balaban) recalled a scene of Super Why solving puzzles with the Three Little Pigs.
***This is most likely that the pilot episode would follow the same plot as the first official episode ''"The Three Little Pigs"'', the only difference is that the plot focuses on Willy dealing with Willa blowing his buttons instead of Alpha Pig stopping Jill knocking his tower down.
*In the unused version of the pilot's intro, the vocals for the children saying "also known as Wee Willy" and "Why?" is provided by the composer (Nick Balaban). It is likely that his voice heard in the intro is filtered with a voice changer.


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
===Images===
===Images===
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px>
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px>
Super why pilot.png|Screenshot from the pilot 1/4.
Superwhypliot.png|Screenshot from the pilot 1/5
Super why pilot 2.jpeg|Screenshot from the pilot 2/4.
Super why pilot.png|Screenshot from the pilot 2/5.
Super why pilot 4.png|Screenshot from the pilot 3/4.
Super why pilot 2.jpeg|Screenshot from the pilot 3/5.
Super why pilot 5.png|Screenshot from the pilot 4/4. Ditto of the second footage, but with a larger background.
Super why pilot 4.png|Screenshot from the pilot 4/5.
Super why pilot 5.png|Screenshot from the pilot 5/5. Same as the second footage, but with a larger background.
Super why pilot concept art.jpeg|Concept art for the pilot.
Super why pilot concept art.jpeg|Concept art for the pilot.
</gallery>
</gallery>
===Video===
===Videos===
{{Video|perrow  =1
{{Video|perrow  =2
   |service1    =youtube
   |service1    =youtube
   |id1          =v=zbUOnPa4JLI
   |id1          =v=zbUOnPa4JLI
   |description1 =The pilot's intro audio.
   |description1 =The pilot's intro audio.
}}
  |service2    =youtube
  |id2          =v=feWNPz6LjMs&t=2s
  |description2 =LSuperSonicQ's video on the subject.
}}
==See Also==
==See Also==
===Other Nick Jr. Pilots===
===Other Nick Jr. Pilots===
*[[Blue Prints (partially found unaired pilot episode of "Blue's Clues" animated/live action TV series; 1995)]]
*[[Blue Prints (partially found unaired pilot episode of "Blue's Clues" animated/live action TV series; 1994-1995)]]
*[[Dora the Explorer (partially found unaired pilot episodes of Nick Jr. animated series; late 1990s)]]
*[[Dora the Explorer (partially found unaired pilot episodes of Nick Jr. animated series; late 1990s)]]
*[[Me and My Friends (partially found live-action pilot of "The Backyardigans" Nick Jr. CGI-animated series; 1998)]]
*[[Me and My Friends (partially found live-action pilot of "The Backyardigans" Nick Jr. CGI-animated series; 1998)]]
Line 100: Line 73:
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131102012506/http://www.alexandergorelick.com/work-history.html A website mentioning the pilot.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131102012506/http://www.alexandergorelick.com/work-history.html A website mentioning the pilot.]
*[https://superwhy.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Why!_(pilot) ''Super Why!'' Wiki page on the pilot.]
*[https://superwhy.fandom.com/wiki/Super_Why!_(pilot) ''Super Why!'' Wiki page on the pilot.]
*[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SuperWhy%3F_logo.jpg An archived image of the pilot's logo.]


==Reference==
==Reference==

Revision as of 22:42, 9 June 2021

Super Why Pilot Logo.png

The pilot's logo.

Status: Partially Found

Super Why! is an animated television show about a kid who jumps into books. 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 show would return to production between 2004 and 2005 to be pitched to PBS Kids, and had its first television airing on 2007, while the pilot was unreleased created with a working title, Super Why?.[1]

No footage of the pilot has surfaced anywhere, however.

On February 19th, 2021, the sound used for the intro was found by Stephen Laurent and Scramble Fan 2021. However, the audio is apparently higher-pitched, and the beginning and end of the music are cut off.

A high-quality version of the intro's theme song can be found on Nick Balaban's website, the composer of the theme song.

Description

Annecy Festival

"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 favourite storybooks to life."[3]

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)

  • "Tell me why."
  • "Why Why (Why, Why)"
  • "Tell me Super Why."
  • "Tell me why? (Why, 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? (Why, Why)"

Gallery

Images

  • Screenshot from the pilot 1/5

    Screenshot from the pilot 1/5

  • Screenshot from the pilot 2/5.

    Screenshot from the pilot 2/5.

  • Screenshot from the pilot 3/5.

    Screenshot from the pilot 3/5.

  • Screenshot from the pilot 4/5.

    Screenshot from the pilot 4/5.

  • Screenshot from the pilot 5/5. Same as the second footage, but with a larger background.

    Screenshot from the pilot 5/5. Same as the second footage, but with a larger background.

  • Concept art for the pilot.

    Concept art for the pilot.

Videos

EmbedVideo is missing a required parameter.
EmbedVideo is missing a required parameter.

See Also

Other Nick Jr. Pilots

External Links

Reference

  1. ↑ Kidscreen article on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 22 Mar '14
  2. ↑ Annecy article on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
  3. ↑ Cuppa Coffee archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
  4. ↑ Cuppa Coffee archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
  5. ↑ Cuppa Coffee archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 24 April '21
  6. ↑ pdf. archive on the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
  7. ↑ An article mentioning the Super Why! pilot. Retrieved 07 Apr '21
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