Little Einstein (Pilot) (2024)

Little Einstein was the original pilot episode made to pitch Little Einsteins to Disney (as stated by lead animator Frank Summers).

On November 6, 2001, The Walt Disney Company bought Baby Einstein for $25 million dollars. In a press release following the acquisition, Disney announced that among their first plans with the company was to turn the brand into a multimedia franchise, making new products that could appeal to an older audience. The first of these products would be "Little Einstein", a series targeted at preschoolers. Disney stated the series was intended to be launched in late 2002. However, numerous delays led to the series not being released until 2005.

Releases for the Stay Tuned Bumper/1st Trailer from 2003-2004[]

1. Baby Einstein Language Nursery 2004 DVD
2. Baby Mozart 2004 DVD
3. Baby Bach 2004 DVD
4. Baby Shakespeare 2004 DVD
5. Baby Van Gogh 2004 DVD
6. Baby Santa’s Music Box 2004 DVD
7. Baby Dolittle Neighborhood Animals 2004 DVD
8. Baby Dolittle World Animals 2004 DVD
9. Baby Newton 2004 DVD
10. Baby Beethoven 2004 DVD
11. Baby Neptune 2004 DVD
12. Baby Galileo 2004 DVD
13. Numbers Nursery 2004 DVD
14. Baby MacDonald 2004 DVD
15. Baby Noah 2004 DVD

Releases for the 2nd And Final Trailer from 2004-2005[]

1. Baby Monet 2005 DVD
2. Pooh's Heffalump Movie 2005 DVD

Versions[]

2003 Pilot[]

The Little Einstein trademark was filed on November 16, 2001. According to various other trademarks, the original vision for Little Einstein was to feature characters from the original Baby Einstein line of videos. However, this idea was scrapped early on. It was then decided to create entirely new characters for the show. As such, the premise of the series would revolve around four kids, which stuck around for the remainder of its development. In 2003, a pitch pilot was made for the series, and was a success with Disney, leading them to greenlight the series, now scheduled to premiere in 2005 on Playhouse Disney.

In 2004, the pilot was edited into a 30-second trailer, and was included on several Baby Einstein VHS and DVD releases from that year. This trailer showed off the earliest incarnation of the series, and although the general framework of the final series can be seen, it utilizes different character designs, an unused theme song, and lower-quality animation.

• Leo has brown eyes and a differently shaped nose. He wears a mint green shirt with a stripe near the bottom, orange shorts similar to the ones he wears in the final show, and blue sneakers. The pilot depicts him similarly to the final show, as the leader of the group who guides the other characters and the viewer through their missions. However, he occasionally consulted a laptop to research facts relating to their missions. His full name in the pilot is Leonardo, meaning Leo was just a nickname used by his friends.

• Annie has freckles on her cheeks and paler skin. Her pigtails are longer and appear to be braided, held with two red hair bands. She wears a white shirt under a navy blue denim dress, and red cowgirl boots. In the pilot, she was originally depicted as a tough and brave cowgirl who was named after Annie Oakley with a possibly thick, stereotypical cowgirl accent. She's also seen as more arrogant and pouty, which was toned down significantly in the final show, as all traces of her Southern roots were removed. Additionally, she was the driver of Rocket in the pilot, whereas in the final show, it was Leo.

• Quincy has lighter brown skin and a larger tuft of hair. He wears a cream shirt, a cyan hat, green jeans, and simple red shoes. In the pilot, he is presented as a nervous worrywart who is easily scared by many things; in the final show, Quincy is much braver and his only major fear is the dark. He was originally named Wolfgang (nicknamed Wolfy by his friends), but a couple of lines in the pilot's script indicate the name Byron was also considered. He originally owned Cuddly Dudley, a stuffed toy dog who acted as a security item to calm him down whenever he became anxious. Cuddly Dudley was scrapped from the final show.

• June has a fairer skin tone and red blush marks on her cheeks. She has long side-swept black hair, tied into buns with two blue hair bands. She wears a sleeveless pink dress with a flower print on the front and a red strap around it, and blue ballet shoes. In the pilot, she is depicted as a drama queen named after Isadora Duncan who loves to joke around, while the final show presents her as an elegant dancer. Additionally, she was originally named Isadora, with the script for the pilot using this name.

• Rocket, originally named the Cosmobile, is a crudely-rendered 3D model, consisting of an oval shape with a red texture on the bottom half and a glass dome-like top half. He also has various features in the pilot which are not present in the final show, such as a computerized voice (in the final show, Rocket communicates through xylophone noises), the "Where-Oh-Where Arrow", which was used to decide where the Little Einsteins would go, and the ability to camouflage. The Rocket Room was not included in this pilot, and as such, the children instead met up at a neighbourhood park.

Late 2004/Early 2005 Pilot[]

By late 2004, the series was overhauled, better resembling the final product. The logo and character designs were updated to their final incarnations, and various new elements were added; however, the theme song heard in the previous trailer was kept here (this theme song was last used in February 2005, on the "Little Einsteins Demonstration DVD", and replaced by the one used in the final show). Another pilot was made, and was once again pitched to Disney, who approved of the changes. As with the 2003 pilot, this pilot was made into its own trailer included on various Disney DVD and VHS releases in early 2005. Shortly after this, the series adopted its final name of Little Einsteins, which we know it as today. This was the final pitch pilot made for the series, as it would make its official debut in August 2005 with the direct-to-DVD movie "Our Huge Adventure", and would later premiere on Playhouse Disney in October 2005. The pilot is sometimes referred to by production members as the "Starry Night Test", likely attributing to the feature of the Starry Night painting in the pilot.

The designs in the second pilot are near identical to the final show, outside of a few minor changes, such as Quincy's colorway being different.

The Little Einstein trademark was abandoned on August 10, 2006.

Other[]

There are multiple sketches that were not animated, which showed character development. (etc. Annie having blue sleeves, Quincy with a blue and white shirt tan pants and blue shoes.)

Jingle Lyrics[]

Come on! It's time to climb aboard and meet the Little Einsteins! (and, thats it)

Trivia[]

• In late 2021, several crew members attributed with working on Little Einsteins during its early stages were contacted. Some of them were able to provide a collection of screenshots from the 2003 pilot, which gave a better understanding of its contents. In 2022, a demo reel of the 2003 pilot was found, showing a few mute clips of Rocket flying around (some of which were used in the 2004 trailer). In late 2023, a model sheet for the characters and script from the 2003 pilot were found. The script in question was dated June 11th, 2003. Also in late 2023, Mike Luzzi, who did work for the second pilot, provided some Flash models of the characters with their designs from the pilot. Some parts were corrupted and replaced with other SWF file parts.
• Despite animation tests being done for the characters, the rest of them have yet to surface.
• On some Disney Junior/Playhouse Disney flash games, Quincy and Annie's pilot colors are used instead of the normal outfits.
• Rocket appears as more of a golf ball rocket in the first pilot compared to his final design in the finished product, as his design In the second trailer is closer to his design in the final show.
• There were no full-length episodes that featured these designs or the title as this is meant to be a test pilot.
• Little Einstein(s) is officially made by the same company that did Baby Einstein as shown with the logo at the end.
• Little Einstein(s) actually started production in late 2002 after Julie Clark sold Baby Einstein to Disney to expand the brand, Also the series was originally going to be sequels to the Baby Einstein videos as the Little series for older kids as the Baby series for babies according to the black and white logos, before the episodes ended up with more original world traveling concepts.
• Little Einstein(s) was also planned to feature the same characters that were the puppets in Baby Einstein before in late 2003 to early 2004 making a final decision to feature original characters (Leo, Annie, June, Quincy, and Rocket) for some reason.
• On the 2003 website, an old logo featuring the old character designs was featured (and it's really hard to extract properly), but in late 2004 the logo with the final character designs was updated.

Allusions[]

TBA

External Links[]

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HY2MA3mIS7D4IkRpfyyOLPkoejRbEIrj