Just before the weekend started, the animation space lit up when someone suddenly leaked a lot of never-before-seen internal material from Disney. We won’t link to it, but included in that material is a sizable amount of stuff from the company’s TV animation slate across its Disney Channel and Disney XD networks that goes as far back as the mid-2000s. Gravity Falls, Owl House, you name it: if it’s got a sizable fanbase (and isn’t a Marvel cartoon), then it’s probably featured here in some fashion.
Setting aside how surprising it is that all this got leaked—and what’s more, whoever did it hasn’t stated why or who they are—what’s out there is admittedly interesting to go through. Fans of particular shows are going to get a lot out of those pilots and bibles, if only to see how these series evolved over time, particularly in terms of their art style. Even more interesting is to see what episodes these creators were pitching: in Gravity Falls’ case, most of these weren’t made, but you can see how parts of them—like Dipper getting into a golf war with Lil’ Gideon—were retooled into actual episodes.
For the creatively inclined, the show bibles are probably going to be the most worthwhile things to sift through. In reading through some of these, they’re quite extensive and can be a good guide to help you figure out how TV works, or even do a similar bible of your own for whatever you’re making. The Ducktales bible, for example, devotes multiple pages to each principle character’s interests, special skills, and core relationships with each other…along with how they’d react to a mummy.
Again, various websites and Twitters have gone through this stuff and put it out there for you to watch or read—and if you like any of these shows, or just animation in general, it’d be worth searching for. io9’s reached out to Disney for comment on the leak, and will update when a response is given.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
