“Kingdom Hearts” has never stopped being popular, ever since its release on PS2 in 2002. The game produced by Square Enix was an instant success, combining the worlds of Final Fantasy and Disney. For all that time, fans clamored for a movie or television series. As it turns out, a cartoon series WAS almost made shortly after the first game’s release. Seth Kearsley, director of “8 Crazy Nights,” uploaded a pilot animatic of the long-lost pilot.
The 11 minute video is rough, but it gets the point across. Everything is readable, even if the characters look a little…well, like a fun-house mirror is a kind way to put it. There’s even vocal work by Sora voice actor Haley Joel Osment. It seems decently packaged and ready to pitch. So why now? After 20 years, why upload what could have been? “I want to show my work,” Kearsley said. No small amount of time and effort was put into this. So it’s an excellent answer. Kearsley is proud of what he accomplished, and wanted the rest of the world to see it.
Oh, What Could Have Been
The “Kingdom Hearts” cartoon was to be episodic in structure. It covers a surprising amount of information given its length. It quickly establishes Riku, Kairi, and Sora as three friends living on an island with dreams of something more. The heartless’ existence and Mickey’s disappearance are explained in a prologue. And it ends with Riku’s seduction by the darkness, thinking it’s a means to an end for finding Kairi.
Though pared down it covers all the bases for establishing it as a series. According to Kearsley, “It tested better than anything else.” when tested on child audiences in 2003. Not surprising given the popularity of the game. Unfortunately, Disney and Square passed on the series. The copyright paperwork alone probably would have been a nightmare. Perhaps, at the time, it was just too ambitious a project. At least the work Kearsley put into it can be seen.
We’ll let you know what we hear about the rumored series on Disney+.
