Check out the Lost Media Wiki’s article on the Kappa Mikey pitch pilots!!!!!!
Assumed Promotional Art of the second pilot.
Kappa Mikey was an animated comedy TV series that aired on Nicktoons Network from 2006 to 2008, with a short-lived Nickelodeon run as well. The show centered around a teenage boy named Mikey Simon, who is originally from the American country, wins a trip to Japan to star in an anime series called LilyMu. The show was an affectionate parody in a mixture of anime and Japanese culture, and had a unique style of animation blending; Japanese people were portrayed in an anime style, while American people were portrayed in a Western-animated style.
The series wasn't always planned to air on Nicktoons. According to an article in Animation World Network from 2002, the series was originally picked up by Noggin for its teen-aimed block, The N, but co-produced by Studio 100's now-defunct subsidiary. The article was titled "Sunbow and Noggin's The N To Co-Develop Kappa Mikey." Two years following this production deal, a Kappa Mikey pilot was created and finished around 2004.
Both Noggin and Nickelodeon were part of the same company, MTV Networks (now as Paramount Media). After the pilot was made, all of those executives felt that Kappa Mikey could work better as a show for younger audiences, so the project was moved to the Nickelodeon division.
Update: The pilot has been found and uploaded by Sergei Aniskov (who was one of the producers of the show) on YouTube. It's a rough cut with temp voicing and temp music.
A Still from the Second Pilot.
March 29, 2018 Update[]
A second pilot has been uploaded by YouTube user TeamNotCrash and confirmed by the creator Larry Schwarz of being legitimate, which aired on Nicktoons as part of the annual event Nicktoons Film Festival. It is a 3-minute short that has different characterization, a different voice cast, a licensed soundtrack (Bawitdaba by Kid Rock plays during it), and an art style similar to that of the first pilot. However, it looks similar to the stills that were found during the early days of the search, mainly from character designs and art style.
update it got taken down
The Mystery of the Kappa Mikey MTV Pilot (Lost 2004 Pitch)
LSuperSonicQ's video on the first Kappa Mikey pilot.
References[]
- https://www.awn.com/news/sunbow-and-noggins-n-co-develop-kappa-mikey
- https://www.c21media.net/news/the-n-comes-onboard-sunbows-kappa-mikey/
- http://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/natpe-news-kappa-mikey-plucked-by-mtv-networks/
- http://kaiko-art.tumblr.com/post/100764145101/since-you-saw-the-kappa-mikey-mtv-pilot-would-you