Kingdom Hearts (2003 Pilot)

Kingdom Hearts is a canceled animated television series loosely based on the game of the same name.

The project was reportedly scrapped early in development, with only a story board pitch being made before being rejected. What is known is that Seth Kearsley, an experienced figure in the animation and television industry, was hired by The Walt Disney Company to produce a series for the Disney Channel. As the director and lead writer, Kearsley was tasked to develop a story pitch and, according to his own testimonials from interviews on the subject, was given a surprising amount of creative freedom. This allowed him to stray from the story of its source material, with only the characters and settings remaining in the pitch. Though the artstyle would be more faithful, with anime-like designs inspired by the artwork of Tetsuya Nomura. The backgrounds were planned to be reused from the films that were represented in the games. This pitch was also fully voiced with placeholder music taken from the film Gladiator. According to Seth Kearsley, while test screenings were positively recieved to the point of overshadowing other projects that screened along with it, the project was rejected for being "incredibly dark" for the Disney Channel and its target demographic of children and families. Disney executives also felt uncomfortable creating a project without the involvement of Nomura.

The only official media related to this project to publicly release are a collection of storyboards, likely the same used for the story pitch, which Kearsley uploaded to his DeviantArt account in 2014. He later revealed in a Twitter post on September 27, 2022 that he possessed a VHS tape labeled "KINGDOM HEARTS "KH DVD V.6 MOV" ALT" dated to August 28, 2003. The following day, he released a cast list for the show, additionally clarifying that would have replaced  as Sora due to a schedule conflict.

On October 11th, 2022, Kearsley released the animatic in full onto his YouTube channel. Narrated by an unseen Jiminy Cricket, the animatic begins with Sora, Riku, and Kairi on Destiny Islands, before a swarm of Heartless attack. After Kairi and Riku leave to fight the Heartless, Sora finds himself alone and face to face with a Darkside, before waking up on the Gummi Ship, revealing the scene to be a nightmare. Meanwhile, Riku, in Hollow Bastion, is meeting with Maleficent and Jafar, with the latter revealing a magic lamp existing in the Cave of Wonders of Agrabah which can only be accessed by a "diamond in the rough". Maleficent sends Riku to Agrabah to find the "diamond in the rough" and the lamp, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy shortly landing afterwards. Though Sora doubts his abilities as a hero, Goofy reassures him that a hero exists within everyone. After landing and exploring the town, the three are attacked by Heartless, and Sora overhears Riku fighting, having a heartfelt reunion with him. The two team up against more swarms of Heartless, and after the fight, Sora introduces Riku to Donald and Goofy. The four travel to the Cave of Wonders, who notes that, while not who it expected, Sora is nevertheless a "diamond in the rough" himself, and allowed to enter the cave. Riku challenges Sora to a race to see who gets the lamp first, with Riku winning, and him summoning a swarm of Heartless into the cave, declaring it the only way to get back Kairi, and claiming that Sora isn't a hero after all, which Sora denies. After Sora takes the lamp away from Riku, Riku claims that, as soon as he touched the lamp, everything "went dark", and asks if Sora believes him, before being taken away by a Darkside. Sora puts the lamp back, and Riku, having returned to Hollow Bastion, confirms to Maleficent that Sora believes his lie. Sora, back on the Gummi Ship, laments that, while he wanted to see worlds beyond Destiny Islands, he didn't expect it to be the way he was visiting them, and declares that defeating the Heartless is the only way to save Riku and Kairi, with Donald and Goofy backing him up, ending the animatic.

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 in a rage, and Goofy bowing after an attack which inadvertently dodges hits from a Fat Bandit.

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.