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

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{{InfoboxLost
{{InfoboxFound
|title=<center>Super Why! (pilot)</center>
|title=<center>Super Why! (pilot)</center>
|image=Super Why Pilot Logo.png
|image=Super Why Pilot Logo.png
|imagecaption=The pilot's logo found by OS2GameDeveloper on Scratch on a Wikimedia Commons upload from 2004.
|imagecaption=The pilot's logo found by OS2GameDeveloper on Scratch on a Wikimedia Commons upload from 2004.
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
|status=<span style="color:green;">'''Found'''</span> (Audio) <span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span> (Video)
|datefound=02 Aug 2021 (Audio)
|foundby=pdog64 (Audio)
}}
}}
''Super Why!'' is an  computer animated television show from 2007 to 2016 about a kid who lives in storybrook village. When him or his friends have an issue, they can jump into storybooks to collect "Super Letters" which they use to solve problems. The show was originally meant to be a puppet show but was later changed to a stop-motion show, and then after lots of development hell became the 2007 PBS show we all know today. When the show was still meant to be stop-motion, 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. According to the pilots director, the pilot was greenlit by Nick Jr but later was canceled in favor of another Nick Jr show "Oswald". The pilot was unreleased, created with a working title, ''Superwhy?'''''.<ref>[http://kidscreen.com/1999/07/01/25954-19990701/ Kidscreen article on the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 22 Mar '14</ref>
''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 <ref> https://youtu.be/nLDAPrXtNfE?t=173 </ref>. The show 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 lots of development hell, the show was released in 2007 on PBS 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?''.<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.


On February 19th, 2021, the 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 completely different. A high-quality version of the unused theme song can be found on Nick Balaban's website, the composer of the unused theme song. The used 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.


No footage of the pilot has surfaced anywhere, however.
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 an earlier version of the pilot that uses an altered version of the unused theme song as well as different BGM entirely. Unfortunately, these files were never archived and are likely lost for good.
 
 
On February 19th, 2021, the 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 completely different.
 
 
A high-quality version of the unused theme song can be found on Nick Balaban's website, the composer of the unused theme song.
 
 
The used theme song was made by artist Daniel Leblanc who uploaded an altered version of the instrumentals to pond5 after realizing the show runners didn’t care about the pilot anymore.
 
 
Footage of the pilot was once available on Cuppa Coffee animations old website with 2 clips entitled "Opening Shot" and "Willa blows". Curiously, these clips are from an earlier version of the pilot that use an altered version of the unused theme song as well as different BGM entirely. Unfortunately these files were never archived and are likely lost for  
good.
   
   
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, 2021 he uploaded the audio to YouTube.


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, 2021 he uploaded the  
In January 1st 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 one tries 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.
audio to YouTube.
 


==Description==
==Description==
Line 40: Line 29:


===Cuppa Coffee (Variant 1)===
===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>
<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>[https://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 2)===
===Cuppa Coffee (Variant 2)===
Line 49: Line 38:


===ChicagoReader.com===
===ChicagoReader.com===
<blockquote>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></blockquote>
<blockquote>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://chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-international-childrens-film-festival/Content?oid=903569 An article mentioning the ''Super Why!'' pilot.] Retrieved 07 Apr '21</ref></blockquote>


==Lyrics (Unused Intro)==
==Lyrics (Unused Intro)==
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File:Super why pilot 4.png|Screenshot from the pilot 4/5.
File:Super why pilot 4.png|Screenshot from the pilot 4/5.
File:Super why pilot 5.png|Screenshot from the pilot 5/5. Same as the second footage, but with a larger background.
File:Super why pilot 5.png|Screenshot from the pilot 5/5. Same as the second footage, but with a larger background.
File:Super why pilot concept art.jpeg|concept art of the characters
File:Super why pilot concept art.jpeg|Concept art of the characters.
File:Super Why Pilot Logo.png|the pilot logo
File:SW Pilot Render 01.png|An image from the pilot of the main character's superhero design.
File:Unnamed (24).jpg|a pixel version of willy created by pdog64
File:SW Pilot Render 02.png|A different version of the image from the pilot of the main character's superhero design.
</gallery>
</gallery>
===Videos===
===Footage/Audio===
{{Video|perrow  =3
{{Video|perrow  =2
   |service1    =youtube
   |service1    =youtube
   |id1          =v=zbUOnPa4JLI
   |id1          =ujVM3wp1UZc
   |description1 =The unused theme song.
   |description1 =The unused theme song.
   |service2    =youtube
   |service2    =youtube
   |id2          =v=feWNPz6LjMs&t=2s
   |id2          =cBRdagUDh_U
   |description2 =LSuperSonicQ's video on the subject.
   |description2 =The full audio of the pilot.
  |service3    =youtube
  |id3          =cBRdagUDh_U
  |description3 =The full audio for the pilot.
}}
}}
===Videos===
{{Video|perrow  =1
  |service1    =youtube
  |id1          =feWNPz6LjMs
  |description1 =LSuperSonicQ's video on the subject.
}}
==See Also==
===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 found Nick Jr. UK interstitial series and American dub; mid-2000s)]]


==See Also==
===Pilots===
*[[The Backyardigans (partially found Nick Digital pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2002)]]
*[[Blue Prints (partially found unaired pilot of "Blue's Clues" Nick Jr. animated/live action series; 1994-1995)]]
*[[Blue Prints (partially found unaired pilot of "Blue's Clues" Nick Jr. animated/live action series; 1994-1995)]]
*[[Bubble Guppies (partially found unaired pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2006)]]
*[[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)]]
*[[The Backyardigans (partially found Nick Digital pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2002)]]
*[[Oswald (lost unaired pilot of Nick Jr. animated series; late 1990s)]]
*[[Bubble Guppies (lost unaired pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2006)]]
*[[The Umizumiz (partially found unaired pilot of "Team Umizoomi" Nick Jr. CGI-animated/live-action series; 2008)]]
*[[The Umizumiz (partially found unaired pilot of "Team Umizoomi" Nick Jr. CGI-animated/live-action series; 2008)]]
*[[Wallykazam! "Monty's Magic Words" (partially found pilot for Nick Jr. education series; 2010s)]]
===Other===
*[[Binyah Binyah! (found spinoff of "Gullah Gullah Island" Nick Jr. musical series; 1997-1998)]]
*[[Downward Doghouse (partially found precursor to "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan" Nick Jr. animated series; 2000s)]]
*[[Made by Maddie (partially found Nick Jr. animated series; 2020)]]
*[[Whoopi's Littleburg (partially found Nick Jr. musical miniseries; 2004)]]


==External Links==
==External Links==
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*[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.]
*[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SuperWhy%3F_logo.jpg An archived image of the pilot's logo.]
*[https://slideplayer.com/slide/9672920/ A slideshow presentation for PBS Kids with a design from the pilot.]


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]
<no-comment-streams />

Revision as of 18:27, 5 January 2023

Super Why Pilot Logo.png

The pilot's logo found by OS2GameDeveloper on Scratch on a Wikimedia Commons upload from 2004.

Status: Found (Audio) Lost (Video)

Date found: 02 Aug 2021 (Audio)

Found by: pdog64 (Audio)

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 [1]. The show 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 lots of development hell, the show was released in 2007 on PBS 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?.[2] No footage of the pilot has surfaced anywhere, however.

On February 19th, 2021, the 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 completely different. A high-quality version of the unused theme song can be found on Nick Balaban's website, the composer of the unused theme song. The used 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 an earlier version of the pilot that uses an altered version of the unused theme song as well as different BGM entirely. Unfortunately, these files were never archived and are likely lost for good.

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, 2021 he uploaded the audio to YouTube.

In January 1st 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 one tries 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.

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.[3]

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."[4]

"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."[5]

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!?!"[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

Lyrics (Unused Intro)

  • "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)"


Lyrics (Used Intro)

  • 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
  • SUPERWHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
  • He's Superwhy!

Gallery

Images

Footage/Audio

The unused theme song.

The full audio of the pilot.

Videos

LSuperSonicQ's video on the subject.

See Also

Bumpers and Interstitials

Pilots

Other

External Links

References