Television Pilots that Never Became Full Series
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on July 24, 2016, 2:16 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
The world of television can be very fickle at times, especially with television executives not being willing to fund an entire television series, so writers must often produce a single pilot episode to appeal to the executives, before they make a full series.
While many television pilots do become full series, there are many more that do not, so this thread is to discuss those television pilots, the projects whose full potential was never realized, for better or for worse.
Pryde of the X-Men, released in 1989, was the first television adaptation of the X-Men franchise; while television series had been made of numerous other Marvel properties at that time, X-Men had never been adapted, before. While this episode could possibly be considered a pilot for the X-Men animated series that premiered in 1992, three years later, due to the similar art styles, there are simply too many differences for them to exist in the same continuity, not the least of which is the fact that Wolverine has an Australian accent in the pilot (which is very ironic, considering that an Australian actor has played him in the recent live-action films).
Korgoth of Barbaria, released in 2006, was a pilot for what was supposed to be a full-length series that would appeal to adults and be part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. It was set in the distant future, when the world was devastated by war and rendered into a barren wasteland. It was highly reminiscent of the Heavy Metal films and the magazine that inspired them, and I believe that it could have been an awesome series, if it had been turned into a full series.
Next is The Big Bang Theory, and I may be bending my own rules by mentioning it in this thread, since that series is actually a full series that is very famous and successful, but it actually had a pilot episode that was rejected by the network that was very different from the series as it is now. In that version, only Leonard and Sheldon existed, and there was a different female lead, as well as a female nerd named Gilda, who was essentially a proto-Leslie Winkle. I do believe that I am glad that the series was changed, but I still think that that would have been a very interesting idea to pursue, and I do wish that Gilda had been kept in the series proper, since I believe that she could have been a very interesting character.
What does everyone else say about this subject? What are some television pilots that never became full series that you find to be most interesting?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
vampirelazarus, I do not know if I am allowed to provide you a direct link to the pilot, but I can provide you with a link to a website that has a link to it, found here.
July 24, 2016 3:04 p.m.
i always felt the barbarian sow was a missed opportunity the pilot had everything in it that made adult swim adult swim if you will
July 24, 2016 5:08 p.m.
PepsiAddicted says... #5
yeah Korgoth of Barbaria is awesome. they should really reconsider it
that link XADZ posted on the reddit thread you provided is the regular pilot. yes it has a different touch and it says "not for air" in the beginning but it was the first tbbt episode i ever saw and it had countless reruns on tv. just saying. maybe they just did it here and not in the US.. who knows
July 24, 2016 8:23 p.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
PepsiAddicted, in that case, here is a link to a YouTube search for it, with several scenes available for viewing.
July 24, 2016 11:57 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
PepsiAddicted, is it still not the unaired pilot? In that case, I would recommend that you go to a bittorrent website and download it from there.
July 25, 2016 6:58 p.m.
PepsiAddicted says... #9
nono :) it is in fact the "unaired pilot". all those links are. just when tbbt came on years ago we had that episode on tv (first thing i ever saw of tbbt), and since then it had lots of reruns here (ger). i had lots of discussions about how weird the first episode is (meaning the unaired pilot ofc) compared to the rest of the show. and when i read your post this morning (and looked at the reddit thread) i thought 'thats weird'. now, after a whole day of research, I am totally puzzled. why do we have it as the 'regular' first episode when the rest of the world obviously thinks its an unaired pilot. doesnt make any sense. maybe im just too baked for this shiaaat <3
vampirelazarus says... #2
I would like to see this pilot of TBBT, since its not the pilot Im familiar with, nor have I never heard anything about it before.
July 24, 2016 2:30 p.m.