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Check out the Lost Media Wiki’s article on the Super Why? Nick Jr. pilot!

Super Why! is a preschool computer-animated educational TV show about a gradeschool-year-old kid named Whyatt and his three friends (based on all fairytales) with the power to jump into books and interact with the world inside, to help solve their problems in the real world. The show's pilot was in production by Blue's Clues creator Angela Santomero and Cuppa Coffee Studios in Toronto, Canada between early-mid 1999. The pilot was greenlit by Nick Jr., but later was canceled in favor of another Nick Jr show Oswald. A few years later, the show would return to production between 2004 and 2005 to be pitched to PBS Kids (with Decode [now "WildBrain"]), and had its first television airing in 2007, while the pilot was unreleased, but created with a working title as SuperWhy?.

In May 2021, it was noticed that a listing for a tape containing the series' pilot could be found on the website for the McMaster University's library. The user Pdog64 decided to ask the library to digitize the tape and give him a digital copy, the library agreed, but the digitization process began on May 31, 2021 and was completed on July 16, 2021. Upon the tape being digitized, however, it was realized that the tape was actually an audio cassette tape and only included the audio from the pilot, along with the instrumental to it. In August 2021, Pdog64 shared the audio.

On January 2, 2023, a slideshow known as 'Next Generation Kids - PBS Kids' was discovered on SlidePlayer. One of the slides contained a render image for the pilot showing the main character's superhero design and a placeholder image for the series' logo. Interestingly, there was a more-alternated version of the image that was placed behind the render image if we try to edit the slideshow which instead displays "Super Readers to the Rescue" which was also the original name of the final show itself. A second pilot would later get made and pitch to PBS in 2006 this time being made by Curious Pictures and being accepted

On June 12, 2023, the pilot has been found by a Discord user contacting Annecy, resulting various users uploading the super why pilot onto YouTube.

During the search, it was believed that the pilot's audio that Pdog64 found was the audio used for the pilot, including the theme song inside of that audio, they were both debunked to be unused when the pilot was found.

The Plot[]

"The video reel was maybe about a minute long. The theme song was a chill reggae track, and a Caribbean singer said: "Wonder why, Just like Super Why!" It was very chill. The proto-Super Why character then said: "Hello! I'm hiding. Can you find me?"

The rest of the video is kind of a blur after that. When the yellow-skinned girl appeared, she created some kind of wind/tornado, causing the buttons around the room to whirl around. Proto-Super Why then said something to the camera in reaction to this."

The composer of the pilot (Nick Balaban) recalled the later parts of the pilot has Super Why solving puzzles with the Three Little Pigs.

Description[]

Kidscreen[]

Nickelodeon is angling for its own cup of the action, commissioning Super Why, another project combining stop motion and cel animation, created by the Blues Clues development team at Nickelodeon. The group includes Brown Johnson, senior VP of Nick Jr. and Angela Santomero, producer, head writer and co-creator of Blue's Clues. A preschool pilot, Super Why centers around a character who jumps into books, then inhabits the worlds inside them.

Annecy Festival[]

6 cm tall Super Why lives in a children's library. When he needs answers to his questions, he jumps into the right storybook. Characters like "The Three Little Pigs" and "Red Riding Hood" answer his questions and teach him how to solve fiction movies.

Cuppa Coffee (Variant 1)[]

"Who do you call when you need to know why? Super Why, of course! This award winning pre-school pilot encourages critical thinking and reinforces reading skills in young viewers. Stop-motion and cutout animation bring this curious little tyke, his kangaroo friend and all of his favorite fiction movies to life."

Cuppa Coffee (Variant 2)[]

"Who do you call when you need to know why? Super Why of course! Cuppa recently produced this pilot episode for Nickelodeon. The show encourages kids to read, and reinforces reading skills. We used stop motion animation as well as cut-out to bring this curious little fiction movie to life."

Cuppa Coffee (Variant 3)[]

"A pilot for Nick Jr, Super Why was centered around a superhero whose ability is to question why - AND find out! Super Why takes place in the book of the three little pigs and the fiction movies in the book come to life. The action gets kids to look into books to find out, well...why!?!"

BAMKids Film Festival[]

"Tiny Super Why doesn't take up much space in the children's library where he lives. When he needs answers to problems, he effortlessly hops into storybooks to find fiction movies."

ChicagoReader.com[]

"In Adam Shaheen's Super Why? an imp interacts with fiction movies from a book of The Three Little Pigs, inviting the viewer into its world."

Playback Online[]

"Toronto’s Cuppa Coffee Animation also had two winners, both by Dave Thomas: Super Why won for best educational, scientific or industrial film, and Trevor won for best fiction movie."

Differences[]

What makes the pilot different from the final-cut product is that:

  • The pilot added with US voice actors instead of Canadian.
  • The pilot was animated in stop-motion animation instead of 3D animation.
  • Whyatt and the Super Readers are never seen in the pilot.
    • The main character appearing in the pilot was Wee Willie/Super Why instead of Whyatt.
    • In addition, there were two other characters in the pilot that never got to appear in the final-cut product, this includes a stuffed purple kangaroo named Roo-Hoo that served as Super Why's sidekick, and another character named Willa who has some resemblance to Red, as well as a youngest sibling, who appears in the credits.
      • All the characters looked different from the final-cut product.
  • The art style of the characters in the pilot is closely reminiscent to the characters' art style in Blue's Clues (which Angela C. created).
  • There are no collectable "Super Letters" in the pilot that will help Wee Willie find his Super Story Answer. Instead, he has to interact with the storybook characters that are facing the same problem like he does in order to find his answer.
  • There are no "Why Flyers" in the pilot.
  • The pilot was set inside a children's library instead of Storybrook Village.
  • Willy is unable to change the stories in the pilot - despite his critical thinking skills to solve problems and the power to question why, compared to the final-cut product in which his successor (Whyatt) was able to change the stories for a better ending along with the antagonist of that said story redeeming himself.
  • Princess Presto and Alpha Pig did not appear in the pilot.

A revised version finally aired on PBS Kids in 2007 and lasted until 2016. Below are the lyrics to the intros.

Theme Song Lyrics[]

1st Unused Intro[]

The world is full of questions (Everywhere I look)
And when I need an answer, I look inside a book
Anything I wanna be, I'm reachin' for the sky
I can do anything, that's why...
SUPER WHYYY!
He's Super Why

2nd Unused Intro[]

Tell me why.
Why Why (Why, Why)
Tell me Super Why.
Tell me why? (Why, Tell Me Why, Why?)

From his wee home in the library, Willy. (also known as Wee Willy)
Asks the burning question why?
This powerful need to know transforms him into Super Why!

Tell me.
Why Why (Why, Why)
Tell me Super Why.
Tell me why? (Why, Tell Me Why, Why?)
Why Why (Why, Why)

Pilot Intro[]

Wonder why.
Why, why?
Why, why? (why)
Just like Super Why! (Boo)
Wonder why?

Trivia[]

  • The name for the series was originally known as Super Why? (also known as Superwhy? and Superwhy in Cuppa Coffee Animation site archives, or SuperWhy! in Alexander Gorelick's site) in the pilot, since the premise was slightly different before being changed to Super Why! in the final-cut product.
  • The only reason why someone at PBS Kids changed Wee Willy's name into "Whyatt" due to his name sounded like a word for a male body part. (It can also be due to people thinking the word\name “Willie (or Willy) is a male’s private (down there) part and making jokes out of it.
  • According to Annecy Festival, the running time for the pilot is 9 minutes and 36 seconds.
  • The voice of Willy was done by Zach Tyler Eisen (credited as Zachary Tyler), who is best known as the voice of Aang on Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pablo on The Backyardigans, and Andrew on Little Bill. Likewise, the voice of one of the three little pigs is LaShawn Tináh Jefferies, who later went on to be the speaking voice of Uniqua on The Backyardigans.
  • The pilot episode was one of the winners of the 2000 Annecy Festival, receiving an award for being considered an educational, scientific or industrial film.
    • The pilot episode also received an award for 2001 Cairo Children's Festival, Gold Special Jury Award - Houston Worldfest 2000, the Certificate of Participation - Chicago International Children's Film Festival and the International Festival 2000.
  • The pilot episode was greenlit by Nick Jr. as a new series idea, but they decided to shelve it by choosing to produce Oswald at the time.
  • In initial development, the series' pilot was originally conceived as a puppet show before being switched to stop-motion.
  • Before the site's rebranding, Cuppa Coffee Studios originally had two reels of the Super Why pilot on its site before becoming unavailable to view in the public. The first reel was the pilot's intro, while the second reel was a scene of Willa blowing Willy's buttons.
    • The pilot episode would follow the same basic plot as the first official episode "The Three Little Pigs", the only difference is that the plot focuses on Willy dealing with Willa blowing his tower of buttons instead of Alpha Pig stopping Jill knocking his tower down.
      • An article from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival of 2000 also confirmed that the book Willy jumped into was The Three Little Pigs.
  • In the unused version of the pilot's intro, the vocals for the children saying "also known as Wee Willy" and "Why?" is provided by the composer (Nick Balaban). It is likely that his voice heard in the intro is filtered with a voice changer.
    • The vocals of the singer saying "Tell me why, why, why?" is provided by Michael Rubin.
  • A logo of the pilot was uploaded in 2004 to Wikimedia by a user who is unacknowledged that it was the logo of the pilot. The image was likely taken down by a troll on April 3, 2021 falsely claiming that the use of the image violates copyright infringement.
    • An image from an archived article of the Super Why pilot from Annecy Festival was thought to be taken down for the similar reason. However, this turned out not to be the case as Annecy Festival was actually updating the theme of their website and the removal of one of the images turned out to be an error.
  • Daniel LeBlanc, who composed the the pilot's first unsued intro, would eventually sample the song to his song Wide Leg Funk. The only difference is that the songs use alternated instruments, while the latter has an extended and slightly altered music arrangement - including an extended opening during the beginning of the sample song.
  • The final-cut intro ("Wonder why?") is the same as the second unused one ("tell me why?") except with a few lyric differences
  • Willie (Or “Willy”) was Whyatt Beanstalk’s original name.
  • Willy was the first Super why character ever created (which means Whyatt wasn’t originally the first character from Super Why)
  • Willy is the original Super Why which means Whyatt isn’t.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Superwhy?_Pilot_Audio_(1999)

Superwhy? Pilot Audio (1999)

An early version of the audio

The_Lost_Super_Why_Pilot_-_How_Close_are_We_to_Finding_It?_(Nick_Jr.,_1999)

The Lost Super Why Pilot - How Close are We to Finding It? (Nick Jr., 1999)

LSuperSonicQ’s video on the subject.

Super_Why_Pilot_Found!_-_Final_Thoughts

Super Why Pilot Found! - Final Thoughts

BrayBray’s video on the subject.

Sources[]

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