Line #25 Main/PilotMovie


1	[[quoteright:495:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emergencypilotadwwjdetroit.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:495:Ad for the Pilot Movie of ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' on NBC, Saturday, Jan. 15, 1972, from WWJ Channel 4 in Detroit (now WDIV)]]
3
4	A Pilot Movie is a TV movie that, while purporting to be a coherent story on its own, is obviously an attempt to get the higher-ups to turn it into a series. Think of it as a proactive version of TheMovie.
5
6	The advantage of a Pilot Movie over an ordinary {{pilot}} is that the bigger budget of a TV movie translates directly into better sets, cinematography, and effects, not to mention the occasional "big-name" actor. SpeculativeFiction series which must build their entire "world" for the viewer in particular do better with a Pilot Movie.
7
8	In addition, by advertising it as a movie, a network can excite the pilot and gauge the reaction without having to commit to showing any additional episodes. Quite often an ordinary pilot that was not picked up the first time around is repackaged as a MadeForTVMovie in an attempt to recoup costs, and a good audience reaction can lead to a series after all.
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10	There are both successful examples (''[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E00TheGathering Babylon 5: The Gathering]]'' gave birth to, of course, ''Series/BabylonFive''), and unsuccessful ones (Creator/USANetwork's 2004 debacle ''Frankenstein''). An unsuccessful Pilot Movie can become an Amelia Earhart -- "the pilot that was never seen again".
11
12	Sometimes the studio will be so impressed by the movie that it will be released theatrically -- while still serving as a pilot for a series. This is especially common with {{anime}}, where the pilot may be designed from the start to be shown in theaters.
13
14	Some network made-for-TV Movies, while originally intended only as a one-off production, are successful enough that the network decides to [[FromSpecialToSeries develop the movie into a TV series]], thus turning the TV movie into pilot film.
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16	Contrast: PoorlyDisguisedPilot (a redirect of this trope name, Backdoor Pilot, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_pilot#Backdoor_pilot can also be used]] to describe pilot movies). Compare and contrast with FiveEpisodePilot (a MultiPartEpisode at the beginning of a series that is frequently [[CompilationMovie repackaged as a Pilot Movie]]. Sometimes, a straight example of a Pilot Movie can be re-cut into several episodes to be aired alongside the rest of its series and FinaleMovie (when a full-length film is made to serve as the ''ending'' of a television series).
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18	----
19	!!Examples:
20
21	[[foldercontrol]]
22
23	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
24	* ''Anime/BorutoNarutoTheMovie'' was essentially the pilot movie for ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' SpinOffspring series, ''Manga/{{Boruto}}''.
25	* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' has [[Recap/DigimonAdventurePilot a short anime movie]], unusually released a week before the series itself; it was set four years earlier and starred a younger Taichi and Hikari, and its events are later stated to be the reason why the eight heroes are {{The Chosen One}}s. It was eventually dubbed as part one of ''Anime/DigimonTheMovie''.
26	* ''Manga/DragonBall'':
27	** The first series had a pilot movie for the American run. Funimation used ''[[Anime/DragonBallCurseOfTheBloodRubies Curse of the Blood Rubies]]'' as the pilot to sell the series. Because their initial dub had so much footage cut out from the actual movie, they had to copy/paste five minutes of footage from episode 2 to fill in for the lost time.
28	* The eventual ''Anime/MazingerZ'' spinoff ''Anime/UFORoboGrendizer'' started off as a 30-minute movie named ''Uchu Enban Daisenso''.
29	* ''Manga/KimagureOrangeRoad'''s pilot was a TV special loosely based on one of the chapters in the manga.
30	* Similarly, ''Manga/OnePiece'' had the pilot {{OVA}} ''[[Anime/OnePieceDefeatHimThePirateGanzack Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack]]''.
31	* ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' had a pilot movie entitled ''Codename: Robotech'', basically an extended edition of the ClipShow episode "Gloval's Report" taking bits from the first part of the [[Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross Macross Saga]]. It was released on home video in the UK and (barring a release of the first two episodes) was pretty much the only ''Robotech'' Brits got to see until TheNineties.
32	* The 1979 [[ShortFilm short movie]] ''[[Anime/UnicoBlackCloudAndWhiteFeather Unico: Black Cloud and White Feather]]'' by [[Creator/{{Sanrio}} Sanrio Animation]] and Creator/OsamuTezuka, was [[Manga/{{Unico}} Unico's animation debut]]. The film was planned as a potential anime series but for unknown reasons, Japanese executives quickly rejected it. However, Sanrio and Creator/MushiProductions decided to save some ideas from the animated series as a series of movies released in the early 1980s (''Anime/TheFantasticAdventuresOfUnico'' in 1981, and ''Anime/UnicoInTheIslandOfMagic'' in 1983). [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Sanrio even planned on making a third Unico movie]] before "Sanrio Animation" was shut down in the mid-1980s due to bankruptcy.
33	* The Tamagotchi anime series started out as two movies, Tamagotchi The Movie in 2007, and Happiest Story On Earth in 2008.
34	* ''Manga/UltraManiac'' started out with a one-off OVA pilot before getting picked up for a full 26-episode series.
35	* ''Anime/YokaiWatch'':
36	** The fourth film ''Anime/YokaiWatchShadowsideTheReturnOfTheOniKing'' was the pilot to ''Anime/YokaiWatchShadowside'', a SpinOffspring series.
37	** ''Anime/YokaiWatchJamTheMovieYokaiAcademyYCanACatBeAHero'' was the pilot movie to the AlternateUniverse series ''Anime/YokaiWatchJamYokaiAcademyYCloseEncountersOfTheNKind''.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
41	* ''Film/KonaCoast'' was a pilot movie for a TV series about a Hawaiian adventurer played by Creator/RichardBoone. After CBS passed on the pilot it was released in theaters as a feature.
42	* ''Film/MulhollandDrive'' was conceived as a television pilot. Every scene after the blue box is opened has a very different tone compared to those from before, because they were added by Creator/DavidLynch to wrap up the story once Creator/{{ABC}} declined to give it a go.
43	* ''Film/PainkillerJane'': This film was meant to be one of a series. While one [[Series/PainkillerJane did occur]], it has a very different plot.
44	* ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap'': When they were given seed money to pitch the film, the cast (being unsure how to put the style of the movie across) instead of filming scenes or developing production concepts, shot a complete twenty-minute film, Spinal Tap: The Last Tour, as their 'pitch' instead. Some sequences, such as the performance of "Gimme Some Money" are lifted from the original short film. It appears only on Criterion's long out-of-print pressing of the DVD, not on MGM's more recent pressing.
45	* The movie ''Film/ZombieLand''. The plot, premise, and characters were all written with the intent of being a series but were instead greenlit as a film. The "Zombie Kill Of The Week" is one of the [[OrphanedReference leftovers]] of its intended design.
46	* The ''Film/WonderWoman1974'' starring Creator/CathyLeeCrosby as a powerless, karate-choppin’, lasso and tiara-less, blond Wonder Woman was meant to be the start of a series but Creator/{{ABC}} didn't pick it up. Instead, a year later another pilot movie called ''The New Original Wonder Woman'' starring Creator/LyndaCarter as the more traditional Wonder Woman was made, which became the start of the ''Series/WonderWoman'' series.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
50	* ''Series/TheATeam'' had a pilot movie to launch the series (shown in syndication as a two-parter called "Mexican Slayride".
51	* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' had a pilot film in the form of ''Superman and the Mole Men'' in 1951. At the end of the first season, the film was edited into a two-parter called "The Unknown People."
52	* ''Series/TheAmazingSpiderMan1978'' was preceded by a 1977 television film that served as a pilot.
53	* ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' also had a feature-length pilot, but had a half-hour reduced cut as well.
54	* Other ''Series/BabylonFive'' examples include "A Call to Arms" which led to ''Series/{{Crusade}}'', and "Legend of the Rangers" (even giving it an episode title: "To Live and Die in Starlight") which led to nothing.
55	* ''Film/BatesMotel1987'' was intended as a pilot to a supernatural anthology series set at the titular motel, but was never picked up due to poor audience response.
56	* Both versions of ''Battlestar Galactica'' got a similar start; the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica1978 original]] was envisioned as a series of TV movies, picked up as a series after ABC liked what they saw, and the [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 2000s version]] originated as a three-hour miniseries that was successful enough to be continued.
57	* ''Blue Lagoon: The Awakening'' was written and filmed as a pilot for a potential series that could expand ''Literature/TheBlueLagoon'' into a full-blown franchise. Executives at Creator/{{Lifetime}} became uninterested, and the finished project became a standalone TV movie instead.
58	* ''Series/TheBoldOnes'':
59	** ''The Lawyers'' had two pilot movies, ''The Sound of Anger'' and ''The Whole World is Watching'' before the series began.
60	** ''The Protectors'' began with a TV Movie titled ''Deadlock''.
61	** The main character of ''The Senator'', Hayes Stowe, was introduced in a TV Movie titled ''A Clear and Present Danger'' as a Justice Department attorney with political ambitions who takes on the (then-controversial) topic of air pollution. When the series itself began, Stowe had been elected Senator and served for some time. Interestingly, since the TV movie and series aired in the same year, Creator/HalHolbrook earned ''two'' Emmy nominations for his performance as Stowe, in both TV Movie and Drama Series, winning the latter.
62	* The 1979 pilot film for the 1979-81 series ''Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury'' went to theatres instead of TV.
63	** With an incredibly [[FanService Fan Servicey]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINijYepahA opening credits sequence]] not shown on the TV series.
64	* ''Series/CagneyAndLacey'' began with a TV movie. When it was picked up as a series, Loretta Swit was [[TheOtherMarty replaced in the role of Cagney]] by Creator/MegFoster due to Swit being unable to get out of her ''Series/{{MASH}}'' contract. Ironically, Foster would be replaced by Sharon Gless after Season One. (Yes, ''two'' casting changes in one season.)
65	* There was a [[Film/CaptainAmerica1979 1979 Captain America movie]] that was made to serve as a pilot to a show never made.
66	* [[Film/Carrie2002 The 2002 remake]] of ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'' was intended as a pilot for a TV series on Creator/{{NBC}}, but it was never picked up because NBC had no interest in a tv series and only wanted a tv movie.
67	* The 1996 ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie TV movie]] was created as a possible pilot for a revival. It didn't pan out, but it gave the writers of spin-off media a new canon Doctor to play with until the show was revived for real in 2005.
68	* ''Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman'': The pilot episode was more of a made-for-television movie or a first episode of a mini-series but the story arc could very well remain as a stand-alone two-hour movie, but the show was picked up and ran for five seasons. The leading role was played by the well-known Creator/JaneSeymourActress. Several characters were re-cast.
69	* ''Series/DueSouth'' began with a Pilot Movie, about a [[StrangeCopInAStrangeLand Canadian Mountie arriving in Chicago]] on the trail of his [[YouKilledMyFather estranged father's killer]]. It later became a series, with a few cast changes and a slight retooling in tone (the movie was much more serious than the series tended to be, even with the FishOutOfWater premise). Summarizing the pilot film's plot to explain why a [[BuddyCopShow Canadian Mountie was partnered with a Chicago detective]] became a RunningGag on the series proper.
70	* "The Wedsworth-Townsend Act" from ''Series/{{Emergency}}'', a two-hour made-for-TV movie that focuses on the effort to train L. A. County firefighters as paramedics and get the legal backing necessary for them to use their training, in spite of a very doubtful Dr. Brackett. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB-fQIKppCs Here is the opening from that 1972 pilot picture.]] It features a cameo from ''Series/Adam12'' characters Reed and Malloy (leading to a later MindScrew when the guys are discussing a recent ep of that series)
71	** NBC tried to create a spinoff with the ''Emergency!'' Movie "The Most Deadly Passage" aka "Seattle Medic One", but without any luck that time.
72	* ''Series/EarthStarVoyager'' was a two-part miniseries that originally aired on ABC's ''Wonderful World of Disney'' in January 1988. It focused on a bunch of young people from a late 21st-century [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack Future Earth]] as they [[Franchise/StarTrek trekked through]] [[SerialNumbersFiledOff the stars]] to find a new home for the human race. Even though the series was never picked up, the miniseries was actually nominated for two primetime Emmys for sound editing and sound mixing.
73	* ''Series/{{Endeavour}}'' started as a one-off film {{prequel}} to ''Series/InspectorMorse''. It was picked up for a series, broadcast in April 2013.
74	* ''Series/{{Eureka}}'' was planned as a TV movie on the SciFi channel. After seeing the movie, executives turned the story into a series.
75	* Borderline example: The first pilot of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', called ''Serenity'' like the later [[TheMovie actual movie]], was the length of a Pilot Movie. Fox, who wanted a more action-based pilot than a story-driven one, asked for a new one, and so ''The Train Job'' was written in haste over a weekend and then became the show's pilot episode. In one of Fox's last bits of ExecutiveMeddling that plagued the series, ''Serenity'' was eventually aired last. (The series' preferred running order was the one eventually released to DVD.)
76	* ''Series/ForeverKnight'' started as a made-for-TV film named ''Nick Knight''. It was overhauled a bit and chopped in half for the two-part 'Dark Knight' pilot. Nick was relocated from Los Angeles to Toronto and his house went from a theater to a loft, and the male coroner was exchanged for Natalie. Don Kapelos (Schanke) was the only actor to make it from the movie to the series, however.
77	* Creator/WesleySnipes and Creator/DeanCain's ''Futuresport'', with its end sequence where a sportscaster talks about Dean Cain's character (a former player) becoming the coach of an FS team.
78	* ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'' kicked off with a pilot movie... and was also the first sighting of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuCIFX-MENg this]].
79	* ''/Series/HawaiiFiveO'' had a MadeForTVMovie to launch the series. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cYwvFyCqiI Here's the intro]]. In syndication it's shown as a two-part episode called "Cocoon". You get no explanation added as to why [[TheOtherDarrin Dan Williams is played by a completely different actor]].
80	* The [[Recap/TheIncredibleHulk1977Pilot first]] [[Recap/TheIncredibleHulk1977DeathInTheFamily two]] episodes of ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977'' originally aired as two-hour movies.
81	* The Raymond Burr series ''Series/{{Ironside 1967}}'' started with a pilot movie.
82	* ''Series/{{JAG}}'' began with a pilot movie, although the female lead was changed for the series.
83	* ''Series/JohnDoe'' started off with a pilot movie, which sported noticeably better special effects than the series did.
84	%% ZCE* Same with ''Film/{{Jumper}}''.
85	* Each season of ''Series/KnightRider'' started with a double-length episode (when re-aired, they would be split into a two-parter) billed as a "Season Premiere Movie". ''Series/KnightRider'' has a long history of pilot movie revivals:
86	** ''Knight Rider 2000'', set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, guest staring Michael and Devon for the movie but not for the proposed series (Michael retires, and Devon dies), but with KITT returning as the same character in a new body. Never to be seen again.
87	** ''Knight Rider 2010'', a ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica\|2003}}''-style reimagining, really more of an attempt at "Mad Max Gets a Talking Car: The Series", with no links to the original series (but adequate hooks left to add some in the proposed series). Never to be seen again.
88	** ''Knight Rider'' (2008), for the win. Keeping in close continuity with the original series despite an entirely new set of characters (Michael Knight makes a cameo at the end), going to series in fall 2008 despite some aggressively blatant product placement.
89	* ''Series/{{Kojak}}'' started with the pilot film ''The Marcus-Nelson Murders''.
90	* ''Level Up'' had a TV movie before becoming a full series.
91	* The first season of ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' comprises four telemovies.
92	* ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie'' started as a TV movie showing the Ingalls family moving across the country to Walnut Creek. To this day it is syndicated as part of a movie package to stations as opposed to being cut into two parts for the series.
93	* ''Series/LondonsBurning'' began with a two-hour pilot movie in 1986. Two years later it became a series, which ran until 2002.
94	* ''Series/TheLoveBoat'' had ''three'' pilot movies, all of which had different actors playing the regular lead roles.
95	* A 2003 TV movie called ''Mermaids'' was intended as a pilot for a series about three mermaid sisters. Networks apparently weren't interested, as they felt it was too similar to ''{{Series/Charmed\|1998}}''. The concept did reappear again in the form of the Australian TV show ''Series/H2OJustAddWater'' - which was more of a SliceOfLife approach, as opposed to the adventure aspect of ''Mermaids''.
96	* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' began as a pilot movie that showed how Jessica Fletcher got into writing in the first place and her helping to solve a murder while staying in New York City.
97	* ''Series/MyBabysittersAVampire'' had a pilot movie telling how the main characters met the babysitter and found out she was a vampire.
98	* Inverted with ''Film/TheOogielovesInTheBigBalloonAdventure'', which was a ''very'' loose adaptation of an obscure PBS show called ''My Bedbugs''. The creator of the film intends for it to become a potential TV series in the future (as of July 2015, nothing has materialized).
99	* ''Film/PopeyeDoyle'', a remake of ''Film/TheFrenchConnection'', was intended to be a spinoff, starring Ed O'Neill. Unfortunately, it was not picked up.
100	* ''Film/{{Push}}'' has "please give us a TV series" stamped all over it.
101	* Starting in 1994, the Action Pack was a series of TV movies that were all intended as Pilot Movies, several of the titles having 4 or 5 movies made before being turned into a series. ''Series/{{Hercules The Legendary Journeys}}'' was the most successful of these, but there were also series made out of ''Tek War'' and ''Vanishing Son''.
102	* ''Series/TheReallyLoudHouse'', a live-action spinoff of the Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} cartoon ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', started off with a Christmas film, ''Film/ALoudHouseChristmas''.
103	* ''Red Skies'' (2002) was an unsuccessful movie-length pilot repackaged and released as a MadeForTVMovie.
104	* It is said that the 1979 miniseries ''Literature/SalemsLot'' might have been considered as one.
105	* ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' had this, ''sorta''. The movie aired on Showtime, while the sitcom was picked up by ABC. Only Creator/MelissaJoanHart and Michelle Beaudoin appeared in both. The sitcom changed the setting from Riverdale to Westbridge, inverted the unrequited love plot (Sabrina now pining for Harvey), swapped the two aunts' personalities around, dropped Sabrina's RomanticFalseLead, renamed her best friend Jenny, and retooled her AlphaBitch rival from Katie to Libby. The sitcom had its own pilot episode anyway, making the movie some kind of alternate continuity story.
106	* ABC Family's ''Samurai Girl'' miniseries was supposed to lead into a TV series that never materialized.
107	* ''Series/{{Sliders}}'' started with a movie about, well, Quinn Mallory, his friend Wade Welles and his teacher Professor Arturo trying out Quinn's timer and getting stuck in a universe where the Russians won the UsefulNotes/ColdWar with an unwilling companion, Rembrandt Brown. It's a coherent story on its own, and the series really starts with the movie's TwistEnding.
108	* Inverted with the ''Series/StargateSG1'' pilot "Children of the Gods," a two-hour episode that was later remastered and turned into a DVD movie.
109	* Each of the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series from ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Next Gen]]'' to ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' began with a movie-length pilot. The tradition actually began with the development of ''Star Trek: Phase II''; though that series would never be produced, its pilot movie, "In Thy Image", was rewritten and expanded into ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''.
110	%% ZCE* ''Series/TheStreetsOfSanFrancisco''.
111	* The short-lived but cultishly-loved detective show ''Tenspeed and Brown Shoe'' opens with one of these, establishing how the pairing of a daydreaming stockbroker and a savvy con artist comes to be. Alas, because it has a different rights-holder from the remainder of the series, it isn't included in the Region 1 box set of the show Mill Creek Entertainment released in 2010. Rather, CBS DVD brought it out as a VanillaEdition disc in 2015.
112	* One weird example is ''Us'', a Pilot Movie that really wasn't. It was meant to be a normal pilot for a new series for Michael Landon but was converted to a movie when Landon died after production.
113	* ''Film/TurboAPowerRangersMovie'' is a strange case of this. This film is based on the already existing ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' series, but acts as a pilot to its fifth season ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'', as it introduces the season's new powers, villains, and zords.
114	* ''Series/TheUntouchables'' began life as a two-part episode of ''Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse'' on CBS on the consecutive Mondays of April 20 and April 27, 1959; it then moved to ABC later in 1959, starting Thursday, Oct. 15, and ran for four seasons on ABC to 1963. This pilot was later released theatrically in England in 1959, and in the U.S. in 1962, as ''The Scarface Mob''; this movie is presented as such on the Season 1, Vol. 1 DVD release of ''The Untouchables,'' but as a bonus, it has the original openings from the ''Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse'' CBS broadcasts, with introductions by Desi Arnaz and Walter Winchell.
115	* ''Series/Vegas1978'' started with a 90-min. movie (73 min. on DVD) called "High Roller," Tuesday, April 25, 1978.
116	* ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'' premiered with the two-hour TV movie "One Riot, One Ranger."
117	%% ZCE* ''Series/{{Witchblade}}''
118	* ''[[Series/WonderWoman1975 Wonder Woman]]'': "The New, Original Wonder Woman" was a TV movie airing on November 7, 1975, complete with special guest stars such as Creator/ClorisLeachman as Queen Hippolyta and Creator/RedButtons as Ashley Norman, the Nazi spy with the best reaction shot ever to Wonder Woman deflecting his bullets. It proceeded slowly from there to specials in April of 1976 to a short season on ABC in 1976-77 to two full seasons on CBS from 1977 to 1979.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
122	* According to Stephanie D'Abruzzo, the direct-to-video puppet show ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'' film ''Film/ScoobyDooAdventuresTheMysteryMap'' was intended to serve as a pilot for a ''Scooby-Doo'' puppet show television series.
123	[[/folder]]
124
125	[[folder:Webcomics]]
126	* The "Disorganized Sports" arc of ''Webcomic/{{Precocious}}'' was partially used to introduce some of the main cast of the {{spinoff}} strip ''Copper Road''.
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Western Animation]]
130	* ''WesternAnimation/ArloTheAlligatorBoy'' serves as the pilot movie to the series ''WesternAnimation/IHeartArlo''.
131	* 1929 cartoon "[[WesternAnimation/BoskoTheTalkInkKid1929 Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid]]" was the pilot short for Warner Brothers animation. Yep, Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny, and everything else.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' had [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJackThePremiereMovie a pilot movie]] that was actually the first three episodes with some footage taken out for pacing.
133	* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' had a premiere movie that was later re-aired as a three-part episode, and renamed "[[WesternAnimation/HouseOfBloos House of Bloo's]]".
134	* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' had a pilot theatrical movie titled ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius'' that preceded the TV series on Nickelodeon.
135	* Similarly, ''WesternAnimation/{{Barnyard}}: The Original Party Animals'' ended up being a pilot for Nickelodeon's ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'', from the same creators of ''Jimmy Neutron''.
136	* Averted by ''Fluppy Dogs'' -- The 1980s Disney animated made-for-TV-movie was not intended as a pilot.
137	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' began with a [[Recap/StarWarsTheCloneWarsMovie theatrical pilot film]] that served as the introduction of the series, though it was actually a compilation of a few early episodes that were meant for TV broadcast.
138	* ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' had a direct-to-video movie titled ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommandTheAdventureBegins'', which was later aired as the [[FiveEpisodePilot three-episode pilot]] of the TV show. Creator/TimAllen reprised Buzz for the VHS and DVD, but in the pilot version, he was replaced by Creator/PatrickWarburton, who would voice him for the series.
139	* Many of the Disney cartoons from the 1980s and 1990s had a Pilot Movie, which would turn into a FiveEpisodePilot in normal airplay. Among them ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'', ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'', ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''.
140	* ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'' was a pilot for ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' (establishing things like Abis Mal as a villain, Genie being somewhat weaker and his powers being on the fritz so that he couldn't solve the problem of the episode easily, Iago being something of an ally to Aladdin and Co.) in addition to tying up some dangling threads from the first film.
141	* The DirectToVideo ''WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie'' was effectively the pilot for ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'', establishing why the human-alien duo hunt down and rehabilitate [[Characters/LiloAndStitchExperiments Stitch's "cousins"]] during the show. The titles mismatch because at one point, ''The Series'' was going to be titled ''Stitch! The Series'', prompting ''The Movie'' to be renamed from its original intended title ''Lilo & Stitch: A New Ohana'', but when ''The Series'' got back to its final name, it was too late for ''Stitch! The Movie'' to have its title changed again. Complicating things further is that an anime series titled ''Anime/{{Stitch}}'' was made a few years later.
142	* ''WesternAnimation/LittleEinsteins''' debuted as a DirectToVideo movie in August 2005 titled ''Our Huge Adventure'' before being seen on the Playhouse Disney block of Disney Channel in October of the same year. It was later re-aired at the end of Season 1, but a [[EditedForSyndication reedited the movie to be split into two episodes]]. With said episodes being "A Brand New Outfit" and "The Missing Invitation".
143	* The first five episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', the "Awakening" story arc, was edited by Greg Weisman into ''Gargoyles The Movie: The Heroes Awaken'', which was given a special screening at Ride/WaltDisneyWorld before being released on home video.
144	* ''WesternAnimation/MagicAdventuresOfMumfie'' had its first thirteen episodes combined into one movie called ''Mumfie's Quest'', [[AdaptationDisplacement which is more well-known than the original episodes it comprised of]]. Unlike most examples, it did get a somewhat limited theatrical release (as part of a summer movie program in 1997 only camp and daycare groups could attend).
145	* ''WesternAnimation/MissSpidersSunnyPatchFriends'' was preceded by ''Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids'', which aired on Creator/{{Teletoon}} a year before the show made its official debut on the channel.
146	* Another Creator/{{Nelvana}} cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Wayside}}'' had a similar history, being preceded by the movie ''Wayside School'' before actually debuting on Teletoon a year after.
147	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'' was preceded by [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials two half-hour TV specials]] and a [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie1986 feature-length film]].
148	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' has one called ''Return of the Roar''.
149	* ''WesternAnimation/GrooveSquad'', an animated movie featuring three cheerleaders who gain superpowers by drinking fruit smoothies (one with x-ray and telescopic vision, one with super strength and one with flight) and are given gadgets by a former secret agent to battle a world domination obsessed MadScientist (who happens to be the father of their AlphaBitch school rival), was made as a pilot. The series was not picked up.
150	* ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' started out with "Once Upon A Princess"
151	* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' began with "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsSparkOfRebellion Spark of Rebellion]]".
152	* ''WesternAnimation/TangledTheSeries'' has this in the form of "Tangled: Before Ever After." The odd 55-minute running time resulted from the crew being unable to edit the desired story down any further, and the studio acquiesced to their request for an increased runtime.
153	* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' started with "Woo-oo!"
154	* ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'' started with "Baymax Returns"
155	* ''WesternAnimation/WonderPark'' is a Nickelodeon movie in the same vein as ''Jimmy Neutron'' and ''Barnyard'', with a television series based on the film announced on the DVD release. [[TheShelfOfMovieLanguishment As of January 2023, nothing has come of this]].
156	* ''[[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants The [=SpongeBob=] Movie: Sponge on the Run]]'' is this to ''Kamp Koral'', with Sponge on the Run's flashback sequences of a young [=SpongeBob=] going to camp serving as the basis to the spin-off series.
157	* ''[[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie Steven Universe: The Movie]]'' is this to ''[[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture Steven Universe: Future]]'' as well as a FinaleMovie to ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''.
158	* The animated ''Literature/{{Stellaluna}}'' movie is an obvious pilot, with its very-animated-TV-series-esque animation and it seemingly trying to set up for a TV show based on the book.
159	* ''WesternAnimation/BlinkyBill'' began with a movie that set up the events of the first season.
160	** The [[ContinuityReboot 2015 reboot series]] also had a pilot movie (although since the movie also functions on its own, the series that follows it may instead be an example of RecycledTheSeries).
161	* ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsAdventuresInCareALot'' was preceded by the DirectToVideo movie ''Oopsy Does It!'', which served as an introduction to CanonForeigner Oopsy Bear.
162	* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHeadDoTheUniverse'' serves to set up the {{revival}} of [[WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead their TV series]], explaining how Beavis and Butt-Head are still teens in the 2020s while establishing an AlternateUniverse where they've aged naturally.
163	* While the first installment of ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperheroGirls2019'' to be released is the short "[=#TheLateBatsby=]" (accompanying the theatrical release of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGoToTheMovies'' before subsequently being uploaded on the ''DC Super Hero Girls'' [=YouTube=] channel), its chronological starting point is "[=#SweetJustice=]", an hour-length special serving as the premiere of the actual series that shows the Super Hero Girls meeting each other for the first time and forming a team to fight back against Lexcorp construction bots that are destroying various popular teen hangouts in Metropolis.
164	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PilotMovie