View Colour Boards for the Cancelled Kingdom Hearts TV Show!
- Details
- Published on December 31, 2016 @ 08:05 am
- Written by Joey
The Kingdom Hearts television series has been featured on KHInsider a few times. We learnt that the television series was in production but cancelled because the series was going to evolve and Square Enix and Disney wanted to maintain a good working relationship. It also would have also included a world based on the Jungle Book.
Seth Kearsley, who revealed all these details before, uploaded the colour boards from the cancelled series. You can see Kairi was meant to have a more active role with some combat scenes.
You asked for it. You got it. I hope I don't get in trouble for this.
This is all I have been able to find. My sister insists that she has a DVD of the animatic somewhere but she hasn't been able to find it yet. Looking back, I wish I could fix every single one of these drawings, but I still think this would have been bad ass. When they get to Agrabah, I boarded it so I could use original backgrounds from Aladdin that I was able to get copies of from the Disney Archive. So...when Riku grabs the lamp and suddenly becomes possessed by Maleficent, it's the same background as when Aladdin first grabs the lamp in the movie.
Woulda/coulda/shoulda been cool. Maybe they'll do it at some point but just to head off some of the frequently asked questions, I have no control of this project. It's completely owned by Disney. I just directed and boarded the animatic pilot.
Enjoy.
- Seth Kearsley
COMMENTS
Weird that Riku seems to be captive to Maleficent somehow.
Also weird that it seems to start in media res.
There was a rumoured VHS of it that has now turned into a rumoured DVD so maybe one day we could see it!
Also lmao these were uploaded in October so sorry we're a bit late on these! Still a good thing to get out there in the open :)
Despite all the changes, I really would have loved to have seen this animated. Something I have wanted for years, ever since I was a little kid really, is a Kingdom Hearts tv show/anime. Maybe Disney will look at the reaction to this and eventually make a show of some kind someday with a lot of good people behind it. That's VERY highly doubtful though, but a guy can dream right?
Weird that Riku seems to be captive to Maleficent somehow.
If I had to come up with a quick, simple explanation for why a seemingly upright and smart kid was running errands for an evil fairy that he implicitly does not trust, I'd probably go with that tbh. Plus... I mean, we see later on that Riku's going along with Maleficent's plan out of spite for Sora and a desire to save Kairi, but what kept him stuck at Hollow Bastion before that, hm?
For those who don't understand, this isn't the final look that the series would have had.
Story boards and colour boards are used internally to give an example of how the scene will look, what camera positions to use etc.
From that the animators would create the full scene the way it was initially intended.
KH series headed by Alex Hirsch on Disney XD for the 15th anniversary
make it happen disney
Nice to see SRK would of had photos of themselves in the tv show. Really wish that were in the games.
If I had to come up with a quick, simple explanation for why a seemingly upright and smart kid was running errands for an evil fairy that he implicitly does not trust, I'd probably go with that tbh. Plus... I mean, we see later on that Riku's going along with Maleficent's plan out of spite for Sora and a desire to save Kairi, but what kept him stuck at Hollow Bastion before that, hm?
I don't think he was her hostage. I figured Riku stayed and did her bidding cause she kept feeding his big ego :p
All of this is so fascinating somehow.
I really hope we get a Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV style anime for Kingdom Hearts for the 15th Anniversary. After all, the only reason why this TV pilot was never accomplished is due to the fact that Kingdom Hearts was at its infancy.
Oh my god. This makes my world.
Whoa! Wish something like this could've happened, but with the same animation as the game. And voices. That'd be so awesome!
The art style looks terrible, but as long as someone else would have made the final designs and made it look better, it might have been cool. But I don't really need a KH animation anyway, the manga is great and enough for me.
I'd watch this many times over if it was animated. I can forgive the art since it's concept boards, but would it be awesome if the music would've been done by Yoko Shimomura? [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/0UmeiNz.jpg" class="picture">[/IMG]
This right here made me tear up a bit for some reason. :v
Wait.... didn't we see the colored storyboards a while ago?
The art style looks terrible, but as long as someone else would have made the final designs and made it look better, it might have been cool. But I don't really need a KH animation anyway, the manga is great and enough for me.
*points to Chaser's comment*
For those who don't understand, this isn't the final look that the series would have had.
Story boards and colour boards are used internally to give an example of how the scene will look, what camera positions to use etc.
From that the animators would create the full scene the way it was initially intended.
Y'all should also know the guy is pretty active in the animation field. Don't snuff the dude just because his rough sketches for animatics and storyboards aren't works of beauty. Storyboards are only meant to give direction as Chaser said. Some may look gorgeous, and some might look like stick figures.
Wait.... didn't we see the colored storyboards a while ago?
No? They were released awhile back but we never posted about them.
Interesting. ^_^ Shame we couldn't see this come to fruition. Always nice to see different perspectives on a collaboration series. :3 I especially love that Kairi seems to have taken a more active role in this version too. :3 ( She seems to have turned into a young Tifa...)
Y'all should also know the guy is pretty active in the animation field. Don't snuff the dude just because his rough sketches for animatics and storyboards aren't works of beauty. Storyboards are only meant to give direction as Chaser said. Some may look gorgeous, and some might look like stick figures.
No? They were released awhile back but we never posted about them.
Wait, people were bashing the storyboards for their roughness? Lol, some people really must not know the creative process behind animations huh? I personally don't use storyboards, as I do all my own animations myself, but yeah... like chu say ish about directing what should happen at key points.
It might not be too late to see KH animated. Maybe Square can do anime shorts promoting KH3 like they did for XV
It might not be too late to see KH animated. Maybe Square can do anime shorts promoting KH3 like they did for XV
That would be a brilliant idea. ^_^ Not only would it promote it better as a marketing strategy, but it could also hearken back to the days of Disney's old 2d animations... after all, Kingdom Hearts does take place in mostly the older Disney animations. Would make perfect sense to see a KH mini series in the same style. :3
That would be a brilliant idea. ^_^ Not only would it promote it better as a marketing strategy, but it could also hearken back to the days of Disney's old 2d animations... after all, Kingdom Hearts does take place in mostly the older Disney animations. Would make perfect sense to see a KH mini series in the same style. :3
disney would have to signed out on the idea
I think Disney would approve of animated shorts. Especially since it would be marketing for the biggest game of the series
No? They were released awhile back but we never posted about them.
Yeah, IDK. This all looks kinda weird, first, Riku bowing to Maleficent? Her treating Jafar like that, when she doesn't treat even Pete like that? I can see why this didn't make it. It kinda looks like fanfiction.
Yeah, IDK. This all looks kinda weird, first, Riku bowing to Maleficent? Her treating Jafar like that, when she doesn't treat even Pete like that? I can see why this didn't make it. It kinda looks like fanfiction.
Lmao my man, the entire series is one long Star Wars AU turned final fantasy/Disney AU slash fiction with an incredible budget.
I want this so much it hurts.
It's so good.
Gah! Why couldn't we have gotten this? I know why we didn't (as Disney didn't want to step on Nomura's toes with it, after the first game became such a success and they knew it would become a series), but still.
This whole section was pretty dang close to the game, too, while even adding in neat stuff.
The Sora, Riku, and Kairi moments were so cute. And I especially what they did with Kairi, and having her concerned about Riku and all. That was a nice touch.
And seeing where Sora sleeps in the gummi ship, and him with the photo... just ASDFGHJKL.
But alas.
The possibility of a KH anime as we enter the 15th anniversary and KH3's eventual release is exciting, but I do hope they don't go with the story featured in these storyboards if the anime were a "recap."
These storyboards seem so simplistic where SRK are all victims, none of the depth that their characters had in the game (game-wise, Kairi's development was just that of a the damsel, so that kick is actually an improvement).
Goddamn, seeing Maleficent toss Jafar out of the room like that is pretty fucking cool. Not only that, seeing Riku's possible POV with Maleficent and forcing him to be her hitman? Andddddd possible internal discussions in the Gummi Ship? And good ol' Kairi doing something productive against enemies this early on?
While I don't know if I would have ended up loving whatever direction the story of the show may have gone in, the ideas present excite me.
Yeah, IDK. This all looks kinda weird, first, Riku bowing to Maleficent? Her treating Jafar like that, when she doesn't treat even Pete like that? I can see why this didn't make it. It kinda looks like fanfiction.
Kingdom Hearts is literally fanfiction. Hell, the Disney movies included in KH are also fanfiction based off of fairy tales.
Okay, so if Square Enix did end up making a series of short anime episodes similar to Brotherhood FFXV, what could they be about? Maybe what Kairi, Riku, and the other's are doing while Sora, Donald, and Goofy are off doing their thing in KH3? Like, maybe it could show Kairi rounding up the seven princesses of heart and Riku looking for the previous Keyblade masters, but I feel like I would want to actually see that in the actual game as cutscenes.
Was I the only one who thought it was strange that Sora has a keyblade before the heartless invade Destiny Islands...?
Some shorts centering on young Eraqus and Xehanort would be great. Or even just a young Xehanort growing up on Destiny islands before his master found him
This is pretty interesting.
Pretty strange but pretty interesting.
Out of all the games, KH1 might be the easiest to adapt as a cartoon/anime with its standalone story. Color boards look nice, art style is kinda off-putting but these are just storyboards and I know the guy who made these wanted the actual show's artstyle similar to the games, and wanted a Japanese studio to animate it.
If we're talking about our dream KH anime/cartoon, mine is a 6 episode OVA that focuses on things that weren't covered in the games (Kairi's island shenanigans, Leon and the game fixing up radiant garden, etc), animated by studio trigger and directed by Yoh Yoshinari. Yoshinari has such a cartoony, bouncy style that I think works best for the Disney/SE crossover aesthetic.
I'd like to point out that I was talking about the "art style", not the roughness of the drawings. I know very well what a storyboard is, I make them myself. I just don't like the style in which he draws, the faces especially. Art style is a different thing from the level of effort put into the drawings.
Was I the only one who thought it was strange that Sora has a keyblade before the heartless invade Destiny Islands...?
The storyboards suggest they meant to use a dream to cover the introduction on Destiny Islands, so that would allow them to take a few liberties.
I don't feel too much for this. Don't get me wrong I love these color boards but, KH in a show format is a little weird. For me it already seems episodic in the video game, still kind of a cartoon movie for me but more interactive. As a show it takes away from that magic.
But if the masses really want something like this, I'm not vehemently opposed to it.
It would be interesting to see what the actual style of the show would have been like, since the sketches aren't indicative. As it is now, it's kindof hard to look at tbh. Nearly everything looks like off-model, 2000s-bad-sequel-era animation.
Was I the only one who thought it was strange that Sora has a keyblade before the heartless invade Destiny Islands...?
I had the same thought, but because the first scene is actually Sora's dream while on the gummi ship...I'm guessing his dream mixed current and past events together.
Honestly, getting any new KH content is always really exciting to me, but I would definitely be worried about this show if it actually happened. There's things I like about this, but I could easily could see it becoming really cheesy (more so than the actual games) and just adding to KH's reputation of being a "kid game". I dunno, probably not a big deal, but I want to see the series receive the respect it deserves and this would just make me nervous. :confused:
I had the same thought, but because the first scene is actually Sora's dream while on the gummi ship...I'm guessing his dream mixed current and past events together.
Honestly, getting any new KH content is always really exciting to me, but I would definitely be worried about this show if it actually happened. There's things I like about this, but I could easily could see it becoming really cheesy (more so than the actual games) and just adding to KH's reputation of being a "kid game". I dunno, probably not a big deal, but I want to see the series receive the respect it deserves and this would just make me nervous. :confused:
The last time we had a dream on a gummi ship we ended up with a parrot, a volcano, maleficent stirring a cauldron, and a terrible phone game that no one will ever remember. I'd be worried too.
I had the same thought, but because the first scene is actually Sora's dream while on the gummi ship...I'm guessing his dream mixed current and past events together.
Honestly, getting any new KH content is always really exciting to me, but I would definitely be worried about this show if it actually happened. There's things I like about this, but I could easily could see it becoming really cheesy (more so than the actual games) and just adding to KH's reputation of being a "kid game". I dunno, probably not a big deal, but I want to see the series receive the respect it deserves and this would just make me nervous. :confused:
Kingdom Hearts has always succeeded best when it was a 'kids game' and only fails when it tries to be cool
Kingdom Hearts has always succeeded best when it was a 'kids game' and only fails when it tries to be cool
I understand where you're coming from. It's not that I think the games shouldn't be for children, I think they should be recognized as games for everyone and respected in the gaming community as the big, important series it is. It's little stuff like IGN reporting false KH3 dates and (personally) being told I wasn't a gamer because I played KH, which is quote "a girly game". I mean, I admit, I should not let these things bother me. They're stupid and artificial. That being said, I still really want the series to be more respected than it is. My hope is that it's a game seen as fun for children and adults.
If a TV show were made, I'd just worry about it being well written, not that it's aimed at children. I watch plenty of cartoons myself, but I guess my worry is that it would be closer to, say, Teen Titans GO! than to Teen Titans. That was totally unclear in my original comment though, so I apologize.
BlackOsprey
December 31, 2016 @ 08:29 amOffline