Kingdom Hearts (2003 Pilot)

• Kingdom Hearts (2003 Pilot)

This article is about the canceled 2003 television series. For other uses, see Kingdom Hearts (disambiguation).

I'm carrying on what you yourself began, and I'm creating a brand new world, one heart at a time.
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Title card for the pilot episode.

Kingdom Hearts is a 2003 pilot episode for a canceled animated television series loosely based on the game of the same name. Directed and produced by Seth Kearsley, the episode takes place in Agrabah as Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Riku search for the magic lamp, hoping it can help them find Kairi and return home.

The 11-minute pilot episode is an animatic, rather than fully animated: colored storyboard panels are displayed in sequence, with voice acting and music added.

Plot

The pilot opens with narration by Jiminy Cricket, musing about how every world has a hero. The worlds, however, are in danger from the Heartless, whose origin are unknown. King Mickey leaves to face the threat, leaving Donald Duck and Goofy a message to seek the one who wields the Keyblade.

At Destiny Islands, Riku and Sora are in a sparring match, with Sora wielding his Keyblade and Riku wielding a black sword. Riku disarms Sora, sending his Keyblade flying, and Kairi calls the match a draw as it hits the ground. The trio rest on a horizontal palm tree and wonder about the existence of other worlds, but their conversation is interrupted - a portal appears and darkens the sky, as numerous Shadows appear on the island. Riku draws his sword and defeats several shadows, as Kairi runs toward him and Sora looks on in shock. A Darkside appears behind Sora, and as he turns to look at it, he notices he is on a floating chunk of the island high in the sky. The Darkside slams its hand into Sora and the ground, surrounding him in darkness. Sora suddenly wakes up on the Gummi Ship, revealing the prior events to be a nightmare. He looks at a photograph of himself, Riku, and Kairi, and affirms his vow to find them.

At Hollow Bastion, Maleficent demands the magic lamp from Agrabah to further the invasion of Heartless into that world. Jafar informs her that a "diamond in the rough" is necessary to retrieve the lamp, but Maleficent refuses his help, magically throwing him out of the room. She instead instructs Riku to find the "diamond in the rough" and the lamp, and assures Riku that she will help return him and his friends to Destiny Islands.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy use the Gummi Ship to arrive in Agrabah, where they've detected the presence of Heartless. Though Sora doubts his abilities as a hero, Goofy reassures him that a hero exists within everyone. Upon landing, Sora asks that Donald and Goofy keep a low profile, but they immediately start to loudly search the town for Riku and Kairi. The group quickly runs into Heartless such as Pot Spiders, Shadows, and Bandits, and start to fight them off.

Sora spots Riku fighting a group of bandits with his black sword, which now has a wing-like shape similar to the Soul Eater. The two reunite, and Riku tells Sora that they need to get the magic lamp in order to find Kairi. The conversation is interrupted by Fat Bandits that approach from both sides of the area, and Sora and Riku each decide to take one side. Donald and Goofy appear to assist Sora, to Riku's confusion. He watches the trio from the other side of the room, the group of Heartless behind him staying still and not attacking. He dispels the stationary Heartless with a snap of his fingers just before Sora finishes the last Fat Bandit by casting fire, blizzard, and thunder in quick succession. Sora introduces Riku to Donald and Goofy, and the group go to the Cave of Wonders to find the lamp.

Riku reasons that Sora qualifies as a "diamond in the rough", and the cave's guardian agrees, granting access to the group. Sora and Riku arrive at the lamp chamber and race up the stairs, with Riku being the first to grab the lamp. As he does, his eyes suddenly go white and the room darkens. A dark portal "to the realm of the Heartless" appears, and a Darkside among several other heartless start to come through. Sora tells Riku to put the lamp back, and a seemingly-possessed Riku responds that the power of the Heartless is both necessary to find Kairi and too strong for Sora to defeat. He tells Sora that he is not a hero, but Sora affirms his resolve and declares that he is one. He charges up the stairs, defeating several Heartless as he does, and forcibly takes the lamp from Riku's hands. Riku claims that he lost control upon touching the lamp, and begs Sora to believe him—but before Sora can respond, the Darkside grabs Riku and takes him through the dark portal. Sora places the lamp back on the pedestal and walks away.

Riku returns to Hollow Bastion with news of his failure. Maleficent asks if Sora believes Riku's claim, and Riku says that he has to. Maleficent maniacally laughs as the scene fades.

Sora returns to the Gummi Ship, where he reaffirms that he must defeat the Heartless in order to save his friends. Donald and Goofy offer words of encouragement, and that they will help him every step of the way.

Comparison to the game

The animatic features major differences from the plot of the game, primarily how Sora runs into Riku in Agrabah, which never happens in the game (Sora and Riku only reunite prior to Hollow Bastion in Traverse Town, Monstro, and Neverland). Additionally, the animatic features more lighthearted and comedic scenes, such as Jafar getting knocked out of the Castle Chapel by Maleficent's magic, Donald getting a feather plucked from his rear and sending him into a rage, and Goofy bowing after an attack which inadvertently dodges hits from a Fat Bandit.

Sora has his Keyblade from the beginning in the animatic, as opposed to getting it during the Heartless' attack on Destiny Islands. He also carries it on his back when not using it, as opposed to summoning and dispelling it as needed.

Development

After the completion of the 2002 animated film Eight Crazy Nights, Seth Kearsley sought to take on an "American anime" project, as he believed he could have more creative freedom. One day, Kearsley's agent informed him of a project with Disney TV for an animated series based on Kingdom Hearts. He attended a meeting to discuss the concept, looked through an art book, and was given a copy of Kingdom Hearts to play. He was impressed by the game and saw potential in its story, which he described as "the kind of story that I wished that we could do in American animation, that we never seem to be able to do".

Kearsley agreed to the idea, but was displeased with the initial script, which placed Aladdin as the main character with Kingdom Hearts characters as guest stars, rather than a Kingdom Hearts story taking place in Aladdin's world. He asked the head producer if he could do a rewrite, and despite initial conflicts, his request was approved. Kearsley was given a large amount of creative freedom with the project, even drawing all of the storyboards himself, and handling some of the editing and compositing. Kearsley was also allowed to use detailed backgrounds from the original Aladdin film, courtesy of the Disney archives.

Kearsley took inspiration from the anime Cowboy Bebop when writing Sora, Donald, and Goofy's interactions within the Gummi Ship, and used the music track "Patricide" from the film Gladiator when Riku is taken by the Darkside in the lamp chamber scene.

The pilot episode was well-received by test audiences, performing better than all of the other projects being tested at the time. However, Disney ultimately shelved the project as to not conflict with the release of future games.

Resurfacing

On November 21, 2013, Kearsley found storyboards of the pilot while sifting through old storage boxes, and shared his favorite panels on his DeviantArt account, revealing the pilot's existence to the public.

In July 8, 2014, Kearsley was interviewed by the website Gaming Union, where he described the plot of the pilot in detail. While Kearsley was willing to try and look for the pilot's animatic, he had concerns about legal action if he were to release it at the time.

On September 22, 2016, Kearsley's sister found a VHS of the pilot in her garage labeled "KINGDOM HEARTS "KH DVD V.6 MOV" ALT" and dated August 28, 2003. Kearsley posted a photo of the VHS on Twitter and tried to spread word of its discovery, but it was overshadowed by news of the then-upcoming Kingdom Hearts III.

In January 2022, Kearsley was involved in a life-threatening car accident, and afterwards decided that he wanted to show off his work while he still had time. On September 27, 2022, Kearsley posted another photo of the VHS on Twitter, this time asking for help to transfer its content to a digital format. The following day, he released a cast list for the show, additionally clarifying that Bobby Edner would have replaced Haley Joel Osment as Sora due to a schedule conflict.

On October 11, 2022, after some attempts to transfer the pilot himself, Kearsley went to a media transfer company to do it instead. He posted the 11-minute pilot to his YouTube channel later that day.

Worlds and characters

Disney Castle

• Donald Duck
• Goofy
• Jiminy Cricket
• Mickey Mouse

Destiny Islands

• Sora
• Riku
• Kairi

Agrabah

• Jafar
• Cave of Wonders Guardian
• Aladdin

Hollow Bastion

• Maleficent

Neverland

• Peter Pan

Olympus

Wonderland

Deep Jungle

Halloween Town

Traverse Town

Cast

Voice actor	Role(s)
Bobby Edner	Sora
David Gallagher	Riku
Hayden Panettiere	Kairi
Tony Anselmo	Donald
Bill Farmer	Goofy
Susanne Blakeslee	Maleficent
Eddie Carroll	Jiminy Cricket
Jonathan Freeman	Jafar
Frank Welker	Cave of Wonders Guardian

Trivia

• Of note is the fact that the world icon for Deep Jungle is seen in the intro for the animatic, as the world and its characters did not appear outside of the first Kingdom Hearts game due to Disney and Square being unable to secure the copyright for the Tarzan series. It is unknown if this was merely a placeholder, or a potential indicator towards content from that world appearing in the series had it been greenlit.