Seth Kearsley reveals Kingdom Hearts Animated Series Pilot Animatic

[Oracle Spockanort]

Seth Kearsley, known for directing Sony's 2002 animated film Eight Crazy Nights starring comedian Adam Sandler, has released the Kingdom Hearts animated series animatic he had been working on back in 2003.

Kearsley had this to say about the animatic:

I don't own this. I claim no rights to any part of this except that this is my work. I'm not profiting from it. I want to show my work. It's been 20 years.

This is not without it's flaws, which I have not doubt will be pointed out, but I was really proud of the story we were able to tell in the time we had. Setting up the entire premise of a series, and doing a 'typical episode' is a tall order. I feel like we pulled that off, and when they tested it with kids, it tested better than anything else they were testing in that round.

The animatic features full voice over by most of the original cast except for Haley Joel Osment who was replaced by Bobby Edner as Sora. 

Sora - Bobby Edner
Riku - David Gallagher
Kairi - Hayden Panettiere
Donald - Tony Anselmo
Goofy - Bill Farmer
Jafar - Jonathan Freeman
Maleficent - Susanne Blakeslee
Cave of Wonders - Frank Welker
Jiminy Cricket - Eddie Carroll

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[The_Echo]

Honestly, I would've watched the hell out of this show as a kid

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I would have never watched this show as a kid. If it wasn't at the level of Batman or Gargoyles, it wasn't on my radar.

 

[MATGSY]

Definately more of a proof-of-concept pitch than a real first episode. Unless the intention was to make the series a 2-shorts per episode format.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Definately more of a proof-of-concept pitch than a real first episode. Unless the intention was to make the series a 2-shorts per episode format.

For sure. This was never going to be the full episode. Disney gave Seth access to the archives and the voice cast and told him to make something with what was available to him. The intention was, if Disney approved the pilot, to actually properly do it with a proper script and animation team.

 

[kirabook]

Funnily enough, it reminds me of the Dark Road plot. Like, not including a bunch of Disney character cameos and mostly focusing on the important object/places instead? To be honest, pretty interesting.

 

[MATGSY]

Funnily enough, it reminds me of the Dark Road plot. Like, not including a bunch of Disney character cameos and mostly focusing on the important object/places instead? To be honest, pretty interesting.

Full series would for sure have more Disney. Maybe even take creative liberties with worlds that weren't in KH1 depending on the final episode count.

 

[Zettaflare]

I really liked it. Definitely would have watched it as a kid if it actually became a series. Bobby Edner did a great job voicing Sora

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I can't believe I've been blessed by Bleach and cursed by this in just a two day period.

 

[kirabook]

Full series would for sure have more Disney. Maybe even take creative liberties with worlds that weren't in KH1 depending on the final episode count.

Oh no doubt. But I think I kinda prefer if they didn't include a bunch of cameos and kept it simple like this. Find the objects and/or princesses to destabilize the worlds.

 

[Sign]

It's alright I guess. I wouldn't have watched it myself but fans seem to be responding well. I know someone won't though lol

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

why does Riku want to go back to the islands please make it make sense

 

[Barrett]

I really wanna see what a full series of this would've been like now. I'm absolutely living for the early 2000s cheesiness this gives off.

 

[Dandelion]

I interviewed Seth years ago. On this very site. I feel like, if I recall correctly, he said he WASN'T going to inundate it with disney cameos because he didn't want to replicate the movies. So, like, Aladdin and the like wouldn't have appeared as more than a background character.

 

[blank points]

Wow, it's cool that we finally got to see this. It's not bad. I have to wonder why Haley wasn't Sora in this, but Bobby Edner did a surprisingly good job. That means Sora shares his voice with Vaan, at least for this version. I do have to say, the interactions between the characters was better here. Sora, Riku, and Kairi actually feel like proper friends here, and stuff like Goofy acting as the dad of the group was quite endearing as well. If nothing else, it does make one wonder what a finished version of this series would have been. Would maybe have made for a interesting alternate version of the story anyway.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

hello I've circled around from "I hate this" to "I hate this so much but its funny"

All of my bad commentary aside, I hope that Disney, SE, Nomura, or whoever else matters in the chain of command sees that fans are interested in an animated series. The interest has always been there.

Essentially what I am saying is where tf is the Disney+ series?

Wow, it's cool that we finally got to see this. It's not bad. I have to wonder why Haley wasn't Sora in this, but Bobby Edner did a surprisingly good job. That means Sora shares his voice with Vaan, at least for this version. I do have to say, the interactions between the characters was better here. Sora, Riku, and Kairi actually feel like proper friends here, and stuff like Goofy acting as the dad of the group was quite endearing as well. If nothing else, it does make one wonder what a finished version of this series would have been. Would maybe have made for a interesting alternate version of the story anyway.

Haley was busy at the time.

Sora and Vaan are rather similar sorts. They are both thrust out into an adventure they never expected, are hopeful, care about their friends, and mostly serve as the player's avatar despite having a distinct personality.

 

[Zackarix]

Not including Aladdin was a surprise, but considering that this was already pretty packed it makes sense. This pilot had to be both an origin story and episode seven and only had eleven minutes to cover the concept.

Interesting detail: it assumes that the Gummi Ship is a full-sized spaceship with enough room for Sora to have a bunk instead of the bubble on top of an engine the games went with.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Not including Aladdin was a surprise, but considering that this was already pretty packed it makes sense. This pilot had to be both an origin story and episode seven and only had eleven minutes to cover the concept.

Interesting detail: it assumes that the Gummi Ship is a full-sized spaceship with enough room for Sora to have a bunk instead of the bubble on top of an engine the games went with.

I always assumed the gummi ship worked like hammerspace. xD

 

[Disney Adventurer]

All of my bad commentary aside, I hope that Disney, SE, Nomura, or whoever else matters in the chain of command sees that fans are interested in an animated series. The interest has always been there.

Essentially what I am saying is where tf is the Disney+ series?

It's a long shot, but fans can let Disney know they're interested in a series officially by
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[Zackarix]

Now that I think about it there's another reason to limit Disney character involvement: even assuming you have full-length episodes taking the time to introduce characters that audiences are already familiar with takes a chunk of time out of the still limited twenty minute timeslot. Best to pare it down to the essentials.