This is a series where I discuss either confirmed or supposedly cut content from the show. You can read my previous posts here:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
SOURCES:
Animation test: [1] Fandom page, [2] YouTube (full video)
Pilot: [1] Fandom page, [2] Youtube (live stream of Dana talking about the pilot), [3] Youtube (PostHoot where Dana talks about the pilot and the animation test)
So, just to make things straight: the animation test and the pilot are two different things. The animation test was created because they weren't allowed to animate the whole pilot. Please note that nothing in the pilot or the animation test was ever meant to be canon. In the words of Dana: "The pilot animation test that a lot of people see floating around on Tumblr and Twitter is actually a minute and a half animation test because we weren't allowed to animate our actual pilot. The pilot itself wasn't written to be the first episode: it was written to be a test of tone, a test of character, so we were just willy-nilly throwing stuff in there that we knew wouldn't make it into the show".
THE ANIMATION TEST
What follows is a few observations from a quick glance of the animation test reel. A timestamp is provided for each of the observations, so that it'll be more clear what I'm referring to when talking about some specific tidbits.
- [0:05] Like in the series, humans don't have magic. Luz's desire to become a witch was always intended to be the driving force of the narrative.
- [0:15] "King used to know magic". Although fairly ambiguous, it could mean that King was already written to have amnesia.
- Also about King: he had brown fur and red/blue eyes. I can see why they decided to change his colour palette lol.
- [0:37] Willow, or rather Paulina, had already been conceived as a character. She already had affinity with plants, but aside from that, we don't really know much about her role in the story.
- Her introduction is a reference to Ron's broken wand in the Harry Potter series, but it's unknown whether the similarities end there, or if more parallels were planned. Her lab seems a bit run down to me, which could mean that maybe she was envisioned as the "poor student" like Ron, but that could just be a coincidence or me reading too much in a very short animated reel.
- [0:48] "Sir William", an unknown character, makes an appearance. There isn't much to talk about, because the pilot doesn't tell anything about him. Fans speculate that he was a "proto Hunter" (while also being different from the other Proto Hunter), mostly because his introduction was later recycled into the "Wake up!" gag from S02 EP06. In my opinion, the chances of the two of them sharing a similar backstory are slim (if not entirely non-existent), so we should look at them as totally different characters.
- [1:08] The dead titan's skull has a much more prominent muzzle, similar to King's. King was probably always meant to be a titan cub.
- [1:09] Eda was already planned to be a hoarder and seller of human junk.
- In the same shot we can see the Owl House, and a strange thing can be noticed if we look at the door: Hooty seems just an immobile, non-animated carving on the door. Maybe his character hadn't been planned at this stage yet? The fact that the house "blinks" could mean that the entire house, and not just Hooty, was a living being.
- [1:23] An unknown enemy. Fans have dubbed him "Proto Belos" but there's really nothing that supports that theory. As far as we know, he could just be an evil side-kick or a one-off villain.
- Of note, Luz wields the magic of Eda's magic staff, which could imply either that she was eventually meant to learn magic, or that innate magic and palisman magic were already two separate powers in this pilot like in the series.
- [1:37] Luz performs magic in a similar way as the series, although she doesn't use glyph magic, but some kind of alchemical symbol.
- [1:44] Maybe more important, she's learning alchemic magic from a book whose cover depicts the silhouette of an unknown demon that kind of reminds me of titans? Maybe glyph/alchemic magic was already linked to titans at this stage in development.
THE PILOT
"The pilot was in many ways similar to the first episode, but there were a couple of major differences". Please not that the pilot has NOT been released to the public, so the two livestreams of Dana talking about it and showing some concept art is all we can base our analysis on. In italics, the direct quote from the streams (when not specified, the quote is from Dana herself).
- [57:01] Amity made an appearance in the pilot. Luz attempts to befriend her because Amity unwittingly or unknowingly stands up for her in class and, as a thank you, Luz draws her a picture, but she got a... I think the line, specifically, is "I got a paper cut while drawing it, so I just worked it into the picture".
The concept art shows a picture of Luz and Amity together, with the words "Thanks pal!" written over their heads. Amity has a red line over her face (Luz's blood) that makes it seem like she's blushing.
We got a bit more detail about this scene in the other video: "They were in the hallway after class, and Amity just defended her because everyone was bullying her for her project".
I'm unsure how to read this part: was Amity a human at this stage of development? Or is Dana talking about Hexside already? The fact that this concept art is put before everything else in the episode makes it seem like it's supposed to happen early in the pilot, and in the first episode Luz shows a school project in her human school.
- [57:35] There's a lot of similarities with, like, Eda and Luz. This was a slightly different scenario where Luz tries to run away from Eda and Eda is like "Oh, I know what you are... You are a customer!". It's kind of similar to what we got now. I think for a lot of the original words we literally used those for the first episode.
The concept art shows Eda grabbing Luz's arm to hold her in place, then showing her some of her junk. Like Dana says, it's pretty much the same as their first meeting in S01 EP01.
- [58:02] The Owl House looked a little differently. [...] Instead of a living room, it was more like a... (Spencer Wan) Foyer? (Dana continues) It's a beautiful drawing, we took a lot of inspiration from his [Leonard Weiss] concept pieces and worked it into the actual house.
The concept art shows the interior of the Owl House. It's cozy, the ceiling is magically lit, and some light spheres float around, similar to those that Luz creates with the light glyph. The art is credited to Leonard Weiss, a freelancer who worked with the team in the early stages of development.
- [58:49] Lilith made an appearance in the pilot, she... (Luz Batista) She was so early on, both her and Amity. (Dana continues) When you're making a pilot for a show, especially a pilot that's not going to be aired, and it's just going to be used for testing - because this was shown to a limited amount of kids to see if kids were into it - you kinda want to throw as much cool stuff as possible into the first episode, even if it's not the first episode you actually want to do. So I was just throwing in as many characters as I thought would be interesting, Lilith being one of them. I think, at this point, she was - at the very very beginning - she was actually the principal of Hexside, instead of Bump. That was before we figured out where we wanted to go with the story and how we wanted the characters to develop. It didn't quite work with the series, which is why we ended up changing it. (Spencer Wan) Didn't she also turn into a... (Dana silences him).
The concept art shows beta Lilith wielding some magic. She's very similar to show!Lilith. What Spencer Wan was trying to say before he got shushed was, Lilith was able to turn into a bat. Also, "Similar to Eda turning into the Owl Beast when she gets stressed out, Lilith used to turn into a bat when she got stressed out. However, that didn't work with the story".
- [59:55] The ending was a little different. Luz does get stuck and she has to find her way home, but in rewriting the pilot, me and my season one story editor, Rachel Vine, we thought it was more interesting if she made the conscious choice to stay and had to deal with the consequences of that later.
The concept art shows a melancholic Luz looking at King, who's checking himself out in the mirror while wearing the Burger King crown.
- [1:00:30] The ending hug was a little different. Eda still didn't know what a hug was. [...] I think the lines are exactly the same. Same with King.
The concept art shows Luz crying while hugging Eda, then doing the same with King. It's a bit different than the first episode, where Luz consciously decides to stay and happily hugs Eda and King. In both the concept art and the episode, Eda is visibly not accustomed to hugs.
LINDAR - Justiciar Unholy Ravager
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Lindar never flaps her wings too far away from her twin, Useni. Despite their differences, the two are inseparable and often act and think as one. While her brother delights in weaving a web of deceit and treachery around his prey, Lindar relies on her powers to face threats head-on. By combining their strengths and offsetting their weaknesses, the twins are formidable opponents to even the most seasoned party of heroes.USENI - Stalker Living Myth
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Useni never flaps his wings too far away from his twin, Lindar. Despite their differences, the two are inseparable and often act and think as one. While his sister relies on brute strength, Useni prefers to approach things at his own pace, setting traps, illusions and wearing down his foes through cunning tactics. By combining their strengths and offsetting their weaknesses, the twins are formidable opponents to even the most seasoned party of heroes.BAKARI - Guardian Detached Watcher
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Bakari is the odd one out. He departed from the nest centuries ago to wander the world in solitude. He rarely can be bothered to intervene in matters of importance, largely acting as a passive spectator of history. Still, he knows a lot more than he lets on, and he will attempt to thwart his family's plans by aiding the party in some critical moments, for what is there to see in a world that lies in ruins? Unfortunately, his help often comes in the form of cryptic advice... although he may have some rare artifacts to spare that he has found in his travels.DEVLIN - Rampager Worldbreaker
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The oldest of the bunch and Asher's second-in-command. He once despised his siblings and departed the nest. Amiable and charismatic, he joined the elves and was welcomed among them, who gave him the name of Alvar. But in the heat of war, his affable personality quickly gave way to an insatiable bloodlust, which he believed to be his father's curse, and from which he attempted to run away from. When war reached him, he fought bravely to protect his allies, but ended up unleashing destruction upon friends and foes alike, ultimately causing the death of the Elven King. Shunted off by his former allies, he let rage consume him, razed their cities, and returned to his nest. Expecting Asher's wrath, he was instead welcomed with open arms. From that moment on, he became her shadow, following her orders passively as long as she allowed him to spill blood.ASHER - Basara Annihilator
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With a keen intellect and a thirst for power, Asher, the second hatch of the nest, has always been ambitious. When she was only a few centuries old, she devised a daring plan to infiltrate her father's lair - an ancient wyrm of untold powers. Using her cunning intellect, she managed to outwit him, ultimately killing him and taking over his territory. Smart and manipulative, she recognized her father's solitary nature as his biggest weakness and decided to keep her siblings close and loyal to her through a mix of fear, respect, and genuine care - for there's nothing more powerful than a dragon, except for a bunch of dragons.