Oswald (partially found pitch pilot of Nick Jr. animated series; late 1990s): Difference between revisions

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Oswald is a Nick Jr. 2D animated series, released in 2001 by creator Dan Yaccarino. The show featured a Blue Octopus (Oswald), his friends, and the wacky adventures they issue. Dating back to 1998, when Dan was working on other projects with Nickelodeon, a pilot was being worked on for the show. Little is known about the pilot, besides pictures that could have been made at the time of production of the pilot.
{{InfoboxLost
|image=Image-016.jpg
|imagecaption=Screenshot of the pilot found from an issue of ''Animation Magazine''.
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
}}
''Oswald'' is a 2001-2003 Nick Jr. 2D animated series created by Dan Yaccarino and produced by HiT Entertainment. The show was notable for its uniquely surrealist style, featuring the day-to-day adventures of a good-natured, bowler-hatted blue octopus named Oswald, his sentient hot dog Weenie and their equally whimsical friends in a colourful, childlike universe. According to official sources, '''the show's pilot was being worked on as far back as the late 1990s'''. The pilot itself has never surfaced and little is known about its development process, besides concept artwork that dates from about the same time.  


== Production ==
==Plot==
Not much is known about the production of the pilot, besides a blog post from 2000 about Nickelodeon and HIT Entertainment working together to make the show. As well as the production of the pilot lasting from 1998 to 2001.
According to Dan Yaccarino in a Q&A on Discord, the pilot has Oswald's hat blow off his head so that he spends the rest of the pilot chasing it, presumably involving the rest of the main cast in the process, including Weenie and main supporting players Daisy the cheerful, optimistic sentient daisy and Henry the pessimistic, self-centred penguin.


=== Differences in Character ===
==Availability==
* In a photo, the dog Weenie's belly color is white, yet in the final show, it's tan.  
The project's existence at least as far back as 1999 has been confirmed indirectly by the creators of fellow Nick Jr series ''Super Why?'', who indicated that the show's pilot, created around the same time, was initially passed over in favor of an ''Oswald'' pitch pilot. Around the same time, an ''Oswald'' tie-in book was produced showing how the dapper octopod met all his friends, featuring slightly different character designs (Oswald is a shade darker blue, for instance, and Weenie's belly is a much lighter tan). The book was confirmed to be based on the pilot in an email exchange with Yaccarino.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20020709111744/http://danyaccarino.com/books/oswald.html Archived Yaccarino webpage confirming the unaired pilot is based on the book.] Retrieved 26 Jul '22</ref> Some backgrounds from this version of the pilot were later found on a Background Design portfolio.<ref>[http://stevelowtwait.com/oswald-the-octopus A webpage where the backgrounds were found on.] Retrieved 26 Jul '22</ref>
* Oswald is dark Blue.


=== Status ===
Yaccarino added in a Q&A that in this initial pitch for the series, all the characters had jobs, recalling that Oswald was to write commercial jingles (his piano-playing and singing was carried over into the finished series, but only as a hobby) and Henry, true to his grumbling, sarcastic nature, would be a film critic. It is unknown if any aspects of this made it to the pitch pilot.
There's not much to go off of, considering there's no footage of the pilot. For now, all we can do is speculate on if this could have been from the pilot. The only thing that is confirmed is that the production started in 1998, and ended around the show's release.


[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2-ux7_3Wh8 Possible Pictures from pilot]
Around 2023, a possible short clip was found on a Celluoid Studios animation montage from Vimeo. There is currently no known information as to whether this clip originates from the pilot or not, but the video is likely to have predated the premiere of Oswald. It is believed that the clip may be an ident, animation test, or a commercial rather than a pilot, however it has not yet been confirmed by the uploader or any production member, however it is known that the footage
does not seem to be from any aired episode of Oswald.
==Gallery==
===Possible Footage===
{{Video|perrow  =1
  |service1    =youtube
  |id1          =N0fgfTrOH_8
  |description1 =A short clip of the pilot (1:30).
}}
===Videos===
{{Video|perrow  =1
  |service1    =youtube
  |id1          =jvBk8_lzeHc
  |description1 =Read-aloud of an early book that may preserve the original, slightly different character .
}}
===Images===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:OswaldBackground1.jpeg|A city street corner.
File:OswaldBackground2.jpeg|Daisy's apartment building.
File:OswaldBackground3.jpeg|Music hall.
File:OswaldBackground4.jpeg|Pet shop.
File:Oswaldpromo.png|Promotional image for the series using designs from the pilot.
File:Desktop-wallpaper-oswald-0swald.jpg|Possible concept art from the pilot.
File:Oswalddesign.png|Original Oswald design.
</gallery>
 
==See Also==
===Oswald===
*[[The Oswalds (lost tie-in parody commercial for "Oswald" Nick Jr. series and "The Osbournes" MTV show; 2001-2003)]]
 
===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)]]
 
===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)]]
*[[PAW Patrol (lost pitch pilots and early concepts of Nick Jr. animated series; 2008-2013)]]
*[[Super Why! (found stop-motion Nick Jr. pilot of PBS Kids CGI animated series; 1999)]]
*[[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)]]
*[[Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (partially found unaired original pilot of children's animated TV series; 2005)|Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (partially found unaired original pilot of Nick Jr. animated series; 2005)]]
*[[Yo Gabba Gabba! (found pilots/test demo of live-action/puppet musical TV series; early 2000s/2006)|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 (partially lost 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 children's animated TV series; late 2000s-early 2010s)|Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (partially found British dub of Nick Jr. animated series; late 2000s-early 2010s)]]
*[[Yo Gabba Gabba! (partially found British dub of live-action/puppet musical TV series; 2009-mid 2010s)|Yo Gabba Gabba! (partially found British dub of Nick Jr. live-action/puppet musical series; 2009-mid 2010s)]]
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
 
[[Category:Lost animation]]
[[Category:Lost TV]]
[[Category:Completely lost media]]

Latest revision as of 08:20, 21 April 2024

Image-016.jpg

Screenshot of the pilot found from an issue of Animation Magazine.

Status: Partially Found

Oswald is a 2001-2003 Nick Jr. 2D animated series created by Dan Yaccarino and produced by HiT Entertainment. The show was notable for its uniquely surrealist style, featuring the day-to-day adventures of a good-natured, bowler-hatted blue octopus named Oswald, his sentient hot dog Weenie and their equally whimsical friends in a colourful, childlike universe. According to official sources, the show's pilot was being worked on as far back as the late 1990s. The pilot itself has never surfaced and little is known about its development process, besides concept artwork that dates from about the same time.

Plot

According to Dan Yaccarino in a Q&A on Discord, the pilot has Oswald's hat blow off his head so that he spends the rest of the pilot chasing it, presumably involving the rest of the main cast in the process, including Weenie and main supporting players Daisy the cheerful, optimistic sentient daisy and Henry the pessimistic, self-centred penguin.

Availability

The project's existence at least as far back as 1999 has been confirmed indirectly by the creators of fellow Nick Jr series Super Why?, who indicated that the show's pilot, created around the same time, was initially passed over in favor of an Oswald pitch pilot. Around the same time, an Oswald tie-in book was produced showing how the dapper octopod met all his friends, featuring slightly different character designs (Oswald is a shade darker blue, for instance, and Weenie's belly is a much lighter tan). The book was confirmed to be based on the pilot in an email exchange with Yaccarino.[1] Some backgrounds from this version of the pilot were later found on a Background Design portfolio.[2]

Yaccarino added in a Q&A that in this initial pitch for the series, all the characters had jobs, recalling that Oswald was to write commercial jingles (his piano-playing and singing was carried over into the finished series, but only as a hobby) and Henry, true to his grumbling, sarcastic nature, would be a film critic. It is unknown if any aspects of this made it to the pitch pilot.

Around 2023, a possible short clip was found on a Celluoid Studios animation montage from Vimeo. There is currently no known information as to whether this clip originates from the pilot or not, but the video is likely to have predated the premiere of Oswald. It is believed that the clip may be an ident, animation test, or a commercial rather than a pilot, however it has not yet been confirmed by the uploader or any production member, however it is known that the footage does not seem to be from any aired episode of Oswald.

Gallery

Possible Footage

A short clip of the pilot (1:30).

Videos

Read-aloud of an early book that may preserve the original, slightly different character .

Images

  • A city street corner.

    A city street corner.

  • Daisy's apartment building.

    Daisy's apartment building.

  • Music hall.

    Music hall.

  • Pet shop.

    Pet shop.

  • Promotional image for the series using designs from the pilot.

    Promotional image for the series using designs from the pilot.

  • Possible concept art from the pilot.

    Possible concept art from the pilot.

  • Original Oswald design.

    Original Oswald design.

See Also

Oswald

Bumpers and Interstitials

Pilots

Other

References

  1. ↑ Archived Yaccarino webpage confirming the unaired pilot is based on the book. Retrieved 26 Jul '22
  2. ↑ A webpage where the backgrounds were found on. Retrieved 26 Jul '22
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