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Nickelodeon pilots on Youtube

Last posted Jul 07, 2018 at 04:38PM EDT. Added Jul 02, 2018 at 07:21AM EDT
11 posts from 4 users

For about 4 months now, Nickelodeon has been uploading potentia pilots on their Nick Animation youtube

A small sample:

Planet Panic

by Gene Goldstein

The Girl from Dinosaur Island

by Celestino Marina

Someone Needs to Stop Aunt Phyllis

by Lisa Vandenberg

Space Mission: Danger!

by Lynn Wang and Ed Skudder

Barbabyan

by Paul Noth and Patrick Noth

Many more shorts/pilots can be seen HERE

Which ones do you think are the most likely to get picked-up?
Which ones would you like to see picked-up?

Last edited Jul 02, 2018 at 07:22AM EDT

Alright, here's my take in all of these in order of top to bottom as how you posted them.

Planet Panic: The premise feels way too much like OK KO, with it seemingly about another "world of heroes", and the protagonist is either the aspiring youngling apprentice, or the role-model master. Except this looks to be way more interesting in terms of actual characters and stylistic choice. That being said, good lord the whole "lol random xD" type of writing and humour is getting old. It's like they're trying to revive Invader Zim with the amount of loud, repeated words.

The Girl From Dinosaur Island: Easily the most unique-looking one due to the fact that the animation is fucking good. Like it looks like people actually tried, and it did. It almost looks like a 2D Disney animated film it's so good, though there's not really much to expand upon what I saw in the pilot. This one is easily the one I want to see succeed the most. Also that little girl almost fucking died from a laser rifle to the face.

Someone Needs to Stop Aunt Phyllis: Uhh… child abuse – the show? That's all I'm getting from it and it's less slapstick one-off comedy and just comes off as really awkward to watch. I do hope that it's not just all that, though. Sketch comedy can get real old real fast if you run out of ideas.

Space Mission: Danger!: CalArts.

Barbaryan: Ehhh. While it's not more "lol random" humour, it's definitely not for me. It's at least structured with its humour, and the style of the animation itself reminds me of the days of earlier cartoons. There's a good mix of lanky sharpness and round, chubbiness (which might be intentional because babies) and a little bit of that old gross-out factor. Not terrible, but I wouldn't tune into it deliberately.

Last edited Jul 02, 2018 at 08:38PM EDT

I might watch the rest of the 42 pilots available (since two are private) sometime later but from the five you posted, only two I actually find amusing and hope become a series: Someone Needs to Stop Aunt Phyllis and The Girl From Dinosaur Island.

Planet Panic looks like a shitty Adventure Time clone set in the future with a protagonist that acts worse than Flapjack. I guess they were trying to parody buddy cop flicks but the only funny part was the credits.

Space Mission: Danger! is an interesting concept. Too bad the pilot's main plot portrayed it as demographically aimed for small kids. The background plot about Earth being up in flames and a woman slowly losing her mind had me gripped more than a robot who couldn't compute a "best friend".

Barbabyan looks irredeemably awful. If Planet Panic and Space Missions: Danger! were selected for shows, I'd at least watch an episode just in case their pilots were deceiving. Did the creators see the trailer for Boss Baby and an episode of Fangbone for this shit? Sure is mindless and juvenile like Fangbone.

Last edited Jul 02, 2018 at 08:39PM EDT

considering the reactions, maybe these pilots would be more to your liking


Best Baddies by Max Wittert.


Harpy Gee by Brianne Drouhard.


The Ballad of Bea and Cad by Tim Probert.

(I promise not to post any more videos into this thread unless a new noteworthy pilot gets uploaded)

So here are the first 15 of the playlist rated (1-5 means I disliked it, 6-10 meant I liked it):

Private video: ???/10 – I can't watch it. So…
Tennis, The Good Boy: 8/10 – It's wacky in a good way. Certainly creative without being random with the premise.
Off the Shelf: 7/10 – This felt like a short film rather than a pilot. I couldn't see it working as a series but damn this was good.
Barbabyan: 3/10 – If this were a parody on gross, cheap cartoons I'd find it amusing but someone genuinely thought this was a good premise and funny.
Plunger the Dragon: 3/10 – Are they aiming for the Sesame Street demographic with this visually insipid toss?
A Boy and His Dude in Dem Bones: 4/10 – The premise is dumb (not even in good way like Tennis, The Good Boy), it looks shoddy for a show in 2018 and it's riding on randomness for its humour.
P.E. Paranormal Education: 2/10 – Oh fuck, what a trainwreck. The dialogue is horrid and reeks of a 40-year-old trying to be hip with the kids, it's inconsistent with its lore (how you managed to fuck your own lore up in THE PILOT of all things is astounding) and the animation is horrifyingly bad (people give CalArts shit when this is even lazier and unappealing).
Ziptronik Megablast: 6/10 – It's… something I guess. I wouldn't personally watch it as a show but it's not bad exactly. Just kinda mediocre.
The Ballad of Bea and Cad: 9/10 – The moment this started I knew I was in for a treat (no personal bias to Aaradman or anything… maybe…). I was delighted to see it was colourful, charming, funny, adventurous and it's only a 4 minutes.
Torum Tellum: ?/10 – I'm indecisive about this. It could work with better writing and art but if the entire show is just like the pilot I wouldn't like it.
Happy Zoo: 6/10 – It's so cheesy and cheap I can't hate it. Certainly a good b-grade show.
The Magic Hour: 7.5/10 – It was genuinely funny at some parts and the animation looks pretty good. The designs are vaguely familiar to an already existing Nickelodeon show, though…
Leashes: 5/10 – Well that was kinda stupid.
Fun Times With Rez: 4/10 – It has this roundabout issue where it looks and acts like a very small childrens show but so fucking fast paced no kid could keep up with it. The entire pilot feels like the opening to a show with how fast and random shit happens.
Broduel: 3/10 – It's the kind of shit I'd expect amateur animators on YouTube to make as a throwaway gag except a tenth of the length.

If you haven't got it by now, anything with a score of 6 or more are shows I would like to see greenlit.

Overall, a little disappointed. Nickelodeon opened the floodgates for creative talent and less than half of the first 15 pilots I've seen were any good (I still wanna know what that Private Video is).

Last edited Jul 04, 2018 at 05:36AM EDT

Off the Shelf was listed as private not to long ago, so I assume the other private one is going to be another pilot that has yet to be made public

OurDeerLeader wrote:

Off the Shelf was listed as private not to long ago, so I assume the other private one is going to be another pilot that has yet to be made public

I was gonna do the first 15 reviews yesterday but procrastinated and was pleasantly surprised to see one of the videos was no longer private today. Glad I waited.

DJKing wrote:

Harpy Gee, one of my favorite webcomics, is getting an animation.

. . .

Dreams do come true.

It is only a pilot tho
we have no idea whether it will get picked-up for a full series

REVIEW Part 2

Same as before, 1-5 means I disliked it and 6-10 means I did like it.

Russel & Fox's Cruel and Unusual Detention: 3/10 – Pretty boring and dull even though it's in your face for the whole duration and never shuts up. The creators must have a fetish for feat and arses because you'll see plenty of it.
Mini Cops: 4/10 – Relies too heavily on being random for its humour and tone. No style or charm.
The Super Dooper Studios: 5/10 – Exact same issue like Russel & Fox's Cruel and Unusual Detention. Minus the fetishes.
The Squatch Scouts: 3/10 – Visually looks mediocre. It has this major flaw where it thinks gross shit equates to humour. While that may be true in some circumstances, I don't think watching someone lick a hairball coughed up by a cat is funny, nor the cat eating it afterwards.
Low Life: 5/10 – Everything about it screams B-grade cartoon for little kids, but it has some charm to it. Certainly feels like an animation you'd find on YouTube rather than on a TV network.
Pig and a Blanket: 5/10 – When it stops pretending to be Adventure Time, it's alright. Sadly it hardly deviates from being a wannabe AT so it's wasted potential.
Slimelab: 6/10 – Looking past the novice Flash animation, it kind of is interesting I guess. Still it's dumb but a little bit creative with its dumbness.
Earth to Allen: 5/10 – It's just so cookie-cutter and bland. A better story for the pilot would explain what the aliens are, how they came to Earth or why the protagonist is associated with a galactic beings. Instead you're treated to ~4 minutes of a blob eating stuff.
Dia De Los Tacos: 6/10 – Premise, animation and style are good but the writing and jokes are sub-par. It's redeemable.
Bug Salad: --/10 – Rather than a pilot, it's a 6 episode mini-series. Instead of reviewing it in this post, I'll dedicate a singular post for it.

My disappointment is immeasurable.

Skeletor-sm

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