The Backyardigans (partially found Nick Digital pilot of Nick Jr. CGI animated series; 2002)

The pilot's title card.

Status: Partially Found

The Backyardigans is a CGI animated series that premiered on Nick Jr. in 2004. However, its development history stretches back from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. A CGI-animated pilot for the show (then titled Backyardigans) was produced in 2002 by series creator Janice Burgess, that was based upon a rejected pilot from 1998 called Me and My Friends.

Production

The pilot was produced at Nickelodeon Digital animation studio in New York. It was animated using motion capture, but due to the major difference between the dancers and the character model's proportions, the animation looked too floaty, as Burgess wanted more precise movements.

Because of that, the animators had to change the movements manually to make them work properly, using footage of live-action dancers as a rough guideline.

Synopsis

Little is known about the pilot's plot, other than Pablo, Tyrone, and Uniqua. Despite this, Austin and Tasha were not present. Also, Austin the Kangaroo seems to be completely absent from the pilot, even from concept art. This was later worked into the show's plot. though some screenshots and a few seconds of footage are available, more was allegedly found in a YouTube video that has since been deleted.