Just before the weekend began, the entertainment room lit up when someone suddenly leaked something much featuring never-before-seen internal Disney footage. We won’t link to it, but included in this material is a significant amount of content from the company’s TV animation slate on its Disney Channel and Disney XD networks, dating back to the mid-2000s. Gravity Falls, Owl House, Whatever: If it has a large following (and isn’t a Marvel cartoon) then it’ll probably be featured here in some way.
The leak included over 20 pilot films, some of which were shows that were pitched but ultimately never made. Likewise, there were 40 show bibles – documents that creators use to pitch their show, from the tone and characters to breakdowns for possible future seasons. Disney’s animated series didn’t quite have the peak ratings of Cartoon Network or even Nickelodeon, but what’s here might make you think about some shows you haven’t thought about in a while. (Case in point: They have the Bibles for that Super Monkey Team HyperForce Go! And American Dragon: Jake Long in here, which might take you waaaaaaaay back.)
Aside from how surprising this all is The leaked – and more importantly, whoever did it hasn’t stated why or who they are – what’s out there is admittedly interesting to watch. Fans of specific series will find much to appreciate from these pilots and bibles, if only to see how these series have evolved over time, particularly in terms of their art style. What’s even more interesting is to see in which episodes these creators were featured Gravity Falls’ However, most of these weren’t filmed, but you can see how parts of them – like Dipper’s confrontation with Lil’ Gideon in the golf game – were turned into actual episodes.
For those interested in creativity, the show bibles are probably the most worthwhile things to comb through. If you read through some of them, they are quite comprehensive and can be a good guide to help you figure out how TV works, or even create a similar bible of your own for whatever you do. The Duck stories The Bible, for example, devotes several pages to the interests, special abilities, and core relationships of each of the main characters with each other… and how they would react to a mummy.
Again, various websites and Twitter channels have gone through this content and made it available for you to watch or read – and if you like any of these shows, or just animation in general, it’s worth looking for. io9 has reached out to Disney for comment on the leak and will update once there is a response.
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