Jungle Junction was an animated children's TV series, created by Trevor Ricketts, that aired on Disney Junior and Playhouse Disney from October 5th, 2009 to October 26th 2012. The show was produced by Spider Eye Productions. The Show had three pilots before the final show.
Information[]
There is no information about the pilots other than an early model of the character Lance. The third pilot aired during the Playhouse Disney block on March 31st 2008. As of June 2021, LMW users have contacted the show creator, Trevor Ricketts, about the pilots.
First Pilot (2003)[]
The idea for the first Jungle Junction pilot came when the show creator, Trevor Ricketts, saw a commercial in his childhood for Dunlop Tires, which featured a groundhog on wheels. The idea came back to him when he started a job at Spider Eye Productions in 2003, when he thought of an idea of a show with animals on wheels, called "Wheelers", in a lush and unexplored jungle. Ricketts showed the pilots to his colleagues at Spider Eye, and they loved the idea. They converted the pen and paper idea into a 6 minute 3D pilot with a single voice actor.
Second Pilot (2005)[]
Ricketts spent the next two years pitching the pilot to networks around Europe with little to no success, until the 2005 Cartoon Forum in Denmark. With the support from the forum, the team made a brand new pilot with better lighting, new writers, and a new treatment.
Third Pilot (2008)[]
The new pilot garnered a lot of interest from Playhouse Disney Senior Vice President, Nancy Kanter; she requested the team made a 3rd, full-scale pilot. This pilot was shown to a test audience of preschool students, and received the green light in January 2008. Some differences between this pilot and the final show were that Miss Jolly, a zebra in the final show was a sheep in the pilot called "Jolly Jeep", and the character "Zooter" in the final show was called "Rooter Scooter".
Gallery[]
File:JJPilot.jpg|An early model of the character Lance
Videos[]
See Also[]
Jungle Junction (lost pilots of Disney Junior CGI animated series; 2003; 2005; 2008) - The Lost Media Wiki
Sources[]
https://www.animationmagazine.net.tv/disney-swings-with-jungle-junction/ https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/media/27221/ricketts-on-making-of-jungle-junction https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r1vLZlAKE3vbIFIbgQ5FvTHwg-DsblKj/view?usp=sharing/ https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/trivia/junglejunction https://variety.com/2008/digital/markets-festivals/disney-goes-to-jungle-junction-1117983064/ https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/dec/14/nancy-kantor-disney-interview