About the original toon's five-part pilot.

[Anarchistguy]

Why do they call it "Season 1"? They just aired those episodes to see how well the audience would recieve it. That's called a pilot, not a "season". And whoever heard of a season with only five episodes?

[DrSpengler]

I guess because they showed more episodes the following year? I guess.

The way GI Joe did it was with a miniseries one year, a miniseries the next year and then a few years later Season 1. I guess they couldn't call the miniseries "seasons" because they took a break for a few years. TMNT started right back up the next year.

I dunno...

[Donatello]

seinfeld's first season was 5 episodes

and a pilot is only the first episode, not 5 of em

[Anarchistguy]

Originally Posted by Donatello

seinfeld's first season was 5 episodes

and a pilot is only the first episode, not 5 of em

Not exactly. A pilot is an episode which is aired to test how the audience appreciates the show. Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls both had TWO pilot episodes.

[Donatello]

Originally Posted by anarchistguy

Not exactly. A pilot is an episode which is aired to test how the audience appreciates the show. Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls both had TWO pilot episodes.

yeah, but those were special cases, the first of each of those pilots didn't air as their own shows, but as part of the cartoon cartoons line-up. to begin an actual series it's usually just one episode

[DrSpengler]

Well, as I recall, the pilot for Seinfeld was very different from the actual series. There was no Elaine, instead the female character worked at the cafe as a waitress and she never showed up after that point.

Pilots are kind of like episode 0s. The general public usually never even sees the pilot episode. Normally it's just shown to test audiences or studio staff members.

Like the pilot of Invader Zim was never shown on television, just to the executives at Nickelodeon. It did end up on the DVD, though.

[Anarchistguy]

Originally Posted by DrSpengler

Well, as I recall, the pilot for Seinfeld was very different from the actual series. There was no Elaine, instead the female character worked at the cafe as a waitress and she never showed up after that point.

Pilots are kind of like episode 0s. The general public usually never even sees the pilot episode. Normally it's just shown to test audiences or studio staff members.

Like the pilot of Invader Zim was never shown on television, just to the executives at Nickelodeon. It did end up on the DVD, though.

Exactly. Another thing they do with pilots is tweak them so they could fit in with the rest of the series for continuity's sake, like in Inspector Gadget. In an episode, he's featured with a mustache. But they made it look like a disguise.

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Originally Posted by anarchistguy

Why do they call it "Season 1"? They just aired those episodes to see how well the audience would recieve it. That's called a pilot, not a "season". And whoever heard of a season with only five episodes?

Well the red sky seasons came close with only 8 eps and in ep guides and tvtome the 5-part piolet is considered a season.

Posts said that it was supposed to be the end at the 5 ep right. But I heard from jump the shark that it did so well they turned it into a regular show. If the mini series did so well to become a regular show, then it must have been monsterously successful since turtles was the big thing in the late 1980s/early 1990s/

[jeff the cheff]

I always think of the pilot episode just as the first episode that airs. I wouldn't call 5 episodes a pilot, but an actual season.