Me and My Friends (Partially Found Backyardigans Pilot, 1998)

Disclaimer: Please do not harass anyone on this wiki about the pilot (the same goes for the admins on the Backyardigans Wiki).

Me and My Friends is the first pilot for the Nick Jr show The Backyardigans. It was filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida in September of 1998. The pilot was rejected by Nickelodeon in favor of Dora The Explorer. In the early 2000's, the show was later reworked into a CGI animated pilot. This time the pilot was picked up as "The Backyardigans", but was shifted into a full TV series two or three years later and was produced by Nelvana (a production company located In Canada).

Characters[]

At the time of the pilot's creation, there were only four main characters: Uniqua (an anthro “Uniqua” fictional species), Pablo (an anthro penguin), Tyrone (an anthro moose), and Tasha (an anthro hippo). These four characters were created by the late-Janice Burgess. She based the character of Uniqua on a view of herself as a child. The characters' finalized designs were drawn by illustrator Dan Yaccarino (author of "Oswald"), who collaborated with Janice Burgess on the pilot. Yaccarino supervised the creation of costumes modeled after the characters. There are also other characters known as the Meerkats, who were puppeteered by Jim Kroupa and Avenue Q stars Rick Lyon and Jennifer Barnhart. Nothing else about these characters is known.

Austin, the purple kangaroo and the fifth main character of the animated series, was absent in Me and My Friends. It is unknown if the character of Austin had been created when the pilot was made. Some say that this may be the reason why Austin was referred to as "the new kangaroo on the block" in his character biographies from Nickelodeon.

Premise[]

According to a producer who worked on the pilot, the premise would be the concept that if you are "waiting" and doing nothing, it seems like things take forever. But if you get involved with other things, the time passes and you enjoy your time. This concept was later reworked as the series' main theme, the imagination.

Differences[]

The characters' appearances aren't vastly different from that of the CGI series, though with a few minor differences:

The pilot was originally produced in live-action, compared to the rest of the series created in computer animation.
Uniqua has visible nostrils, eyelashes, and purple polka dots, as opposed to magenta polka dots. She also has a tail, which can only be seen in some shots.
Pablo's propeller is yellow, as opposed to red.
Tyrone's fur is red, as opposed to orange.
Tyrone and Tasha's nostrils are black instead of dark yellow and dark orange. These were utilized as vision areas for the performers in the costumes.
Tyrone's shirt has yellow and teal stripes rather than red/orange and dark blue stripes.
Tyrone's hair between his antlers is yellowish-orange instead of red.
Tasha has a bow on her head that was removed in the final-cut version.
Austin was never included in this pilot (and was only later added in the final-cut series.)

The backyard setting also has several differences. A shed and a gate, which never appeared in the final-cut series.

Availability[]

The only known footage of Me and My Friends online is a 5-minute compilation video created by former crew members of Nickelodeon Studios for its 10th anniversary in 2000. There are around 3 seconds of the pilot without the original audio (due to music being played over it), as well as footage from other lost pilots.

There is very little information about the pilot available, and whether or not Nickelodeon has a copy of it remains unconfirmed. A gold-colored plaque bearing the pilot's logo is visible in various Nickelodeon Studios videos. At least 2 tapes as well as rehearsal footage are known to exist. However it has been confirmed that the people who own these tapes will not be distributing or releasing them online.

Me and My Friends (Partially Found Backyardigans Pilot, 1998)

Contents

Characters[]

Premise[]

Differences[]

Availability[]

Gallery[]

Concept Art[]

Footage[]

Videos[]