Who misses the 5 part pilots?

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emi-loo42

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One of the things that is an example of how things have changed from syndication to cable as the primary outlet for animated series is the 5 part pilot or movie.

Now that series don't air original episodes 5 days a week like they did before, we don't have these 5 or in some cases 3 or 4 part pilots. For example Ducktales "Tressure Of The Lost Lamp", Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers "To The Rescure", Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 5 part pilot (I don't remember the name), and of course who could forget Gargoyles "Awakenings".

This came to mind this week with the Hub reruning the classic Transformers and GI Joe.

It is a shame, I think it would have been great for some of todays shows like Generator Rex or Syn Bionic Titan to have had a movie pilot.
 
Personally, I prefer a series to just introduce everything in one episode instead of the first five. And it just feels kind of weird for a show to start off with an arc-based feel only to be standalone after that (Gargoyles being the exception to this rule).
 
"The Epic Begins", or at least that was the name given to the spliced VHS/Laserdisc "movie" release. The actual 5 part pilot for TMNT 87 didn't have an overarcing title other than "Season One".

I do feel that action show openers these days work best if they have 2 or 3 parts to set up the plot. Granted, some have managed to set things up nicely in just one episode, but it does give some breathing room for setting up characters so I can actually relate to them and really feel like I should follow them week to week (someone might find this silly, but I usually watch action shows for the characters and not so much the action itself).
 
The 5-part pilot went away along with the weekday syndicated package. Since most first-run animated series don't air 5 days a week anymore, there's no real need for 5-part pilots, which constituted a week's worth of shows.

That said, I can't say that I really miss them. I'm with Mr. Wednesday; I prefer pilots which sum up the general overview of the show in 1 episode (or at a stretch, 2) overall. Even back then, it was hard for me to get into week long pilots since my attention span is generally only 30 to 60 minutes max.
 
Treasure of the Lost Lamp was the theatrical Ducktales feature, not the five part story arc the show premiered with. I think you meant The Treasures of the Golden Suns.
 
I think 2 part or 3 part pilots are god enough but I cant deny the Gargoyles 5 part pilot was epic and seemed like a movie.
 
I can't help but wonder what they'd come up with for some of Cartoon Network's shows if they'd been allowed to come up with 5 part pilots/finales.

Ben 10/Alien Force/Ultimate Alien could have done some epic things with a five part pilot.

Kids Next Door could have had an epic series finale with a five part closer, to match the feel of 'Operation Zero'.

I know not all shows could pull off a movie length pilot, but the action oriented shows could really pull off some massive things if written correctly.
 
Honestly, I wish more shows took the approach that syndicated cartoons did with their pilots. Not necessarily five-parters, but the pilot is the only chance to make a good first impression, and there have been a LOT of good shows with bad pilots.

What I'm saying is that pilots should be approached like movies are. Unless it's a sequel, you have to get to know a new cast of characters in every movie, and nobody minds that. TV pilots, by contrast, are part one of a long long story and they're too often written that way. When I finish a pilot, I should be just as satisfied as if I had finished a movie. If I was, I'd be more inclined to watch the series. Pilots should be mini-movies.
 
I think Cartoon Network should take chances on producing shows with 65 episode first seasons to air during the weekday hours. They were so willing to let Ben 10 get up to over 100 episodes over a four year period (How many do they have now?), they should take more risks like that.
 
I think that the 5 part pilots were pretty cool. G.I.Joe's "Mass" episodes were great. She-Ra's "The Secret Of The Sword" was great as well. However, I consider that one to be a movie since I first saw that one in the movie theater. And the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles five part series premiere was probably that show's best five episodes.



I don't like shows jumping straight to 65 episodes just to get aired five days a week. Having sixty five episodes in a season usually lowers the quality of the episodes. If a show is good enough, it'll get to 65 episodes after a few seasons or so. And then networks can pick up the show to air the reruns 5 days a week.
 
Ben 10 only has 52 episodes. I suppose you're including Alien Force and Ultimate Alien in your count. In either case, your wrong. It took 3 years to get through the original 52 episodes of Ben 10 and then another 1 1/2 years to get through the 39 episodes of Alien Force. That's 4 1/2 years to get through 91 episodes of Ben 10 and Alien Force, which still comes out to roughly 18-19 a year. If you include Ultimate Alien, then you can add an additional 52 episodes, though that's because CN ordered an additional 32 after the season premiere was so high. They originally only ordered 20, and they will only be airing episode 12 of it tonight after having a 3 month rerun period. You know they won't premiere those straight, instead dragging it out for at least another year and a half, meaning they'll have premiered 143 episodes in a 6 1/2 year stretch, or 22 episodes a year, meaning half the year is still reruns at once a week.

To answer the original question though, I don't feel a 5 part premiere is necessarily worthwhile. Most of the time the budget is extremely low during a shows first season. I'd rather have high quality animation with a good story over a 5-part premiere with horrid animation. Having individual episodes that can mostly be placed anywhere in a run is truly the way to go unless you are on a season or series finale. I'd much rather have multiple parts at the end of a show when its proven over the beginning.
 
I actually didn't know that there five part pilots. I thought that most animated pilots don't go beyond two or three episodes. I must have not seen the first five episodes of Gargoyles. I think I only got into it sometime around the middle of the first season. Anyway, five episodes for a pilot sounds awfully long. That's not to say that it couldn't work and I'm sure that there are some pilots with that many episodes that are pretty good, but it just feels a bit too long to introduce the characters, the backstory and the main conflict in the season. I think having only two to three episodes max could help flesh out the necessary details for the audience to know and become interested in the story. That way, we can deal with the main conflict and get to know the characters more through whatever kind of struggle they deal with as a result of that conflict.
 
I don't. I mean it is okay and I don't hate it if a show does a 5-episode pilot, but I prefer to get everything done in 30 minutes. I sometimes have a short attention span.
 
I think it's a generational think. I also miss the 5-part pilots. That's why I dug the Avengers micro-series so much, because basically it was a 5-part pilot broken up into 20 smaller parts. I loved the three G.I. Joe 5 parters, the three Ducktales ones, (Plus the 4 parter where Scrooge faces Glomgold for the title of wealthiest), as well as the TMNT one. I grew up in the 80s and they were all over the place. It seemed like every new action show opened with one. I do, however, like the 3 parter as well. Some of the newer 3 part pilots are very well done.
 
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