History Main / FiveEpisodePilot

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' and ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' both debuted with a movie-length pilot episode, Samurai Jack: The Premiere Movie and WesternAnimation/HouseOfBloos repesctivly, which was then broken into individual episodes for rerun (in both cases, three).

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' and ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' both debuted with a movie-length pilot episode, which was then broken into individual episodes for rerun (in both cases, three).

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' had two stand-alone mini-series ("The Mass Device" in 1983 and "The Weather Dominator" in 1984) before the first season proper began in 1985 with a third mini-series titled "The Pyramid of Darkness". The 1986 season began with yet another mini-series titled "Arise, Serpentor, Arise!", as did the later [=DiC=] series with the 1989 mini-series "Operation Dragonfire".

* ''WesternAnimation/MummiesAlive'' begins with four episodes that set up the show's premise, establishing all the main characters. At the end of the forth episode, BigBad Scarab is dragged away by Geb the Earth god. After the first four episodes the rest of the series maintains the same status quo and the episodes can be viewed in basically any order.

* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeRenegades'' started off with ''"The Decent"'', a two-parter that sets the underlining story and long-term goals of the soon-to-be Renegades in question. It's also when the group gets their "acquired" traveling vehicle, dubbed 'The Coyote' at a later date.

** ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers''. Like ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'', it also aired in movie form, but oddly enough, the movie version aired later than the serial version.

With the decline of syndication, this trope has since died out in favor of premiering with the shorter "two-parter". After all, if the studio is commissioned to only make 13-to-20 episodes to start for a network or streaming service, instead of creating a colossal 65 episodes themselves to sell to said networks, you don't want to waste such a substantial chunk of the first season on just establishing the premise.

When a new series is kicked off not by a single pilot episode, but by an entire five-episode miniseries that is either premiered one at a time, an episode for each weekday, or all at once as a CompilationMovie.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicAdventuresOfMumfie'''s first season was made up of 13 10-minute episodes that told the story of how Mumfie met his friends. Later, they were combined into a PilotMovie, [[AdaptationDisplacement which more people remember than the show the episodes came from]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGobots'' started with a five-part origin story.

** ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' almost had one as well. ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'' was written to be a three-part opener to the series (and a 90-minute movie special), but after rough animation of the opening scene came back from Australia, Eisner was so impressed with the movement of the horses he decided to release it as the first direct-to-video sequel. Tad Stones never intended for his script to be sold as a "real" movie, and remains embarrassed by "The Return of Jafar" to this day.

* ''Series/NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation'' began with the five-part arc "East Meets West," sees the turtles finally defeat long-time enemy Shredder, while introducing the new turtle, Venus de Milo, and the new antagonist, Dragonlord. The remaining episodes are much more episodic, though there is a four-part episode towards the end of the series.

* ''Series/NinjaTurtlesTheNextMutation'' began with the five-part arc "East Meets West".

* ''WesternAnimation/MummiesAlive'' begins with five episodes that set up the show's premise, establishing all the main characters. At the end of the fifth episode, BigBad Scarab is dragged away by Geb the Earth god. After the first five episodes the rest of the series maintains the same status quo and the episodes can be viewed in basically any order.

** ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' almost had one as well. ''Disney/AladdinTheReturnOfJafar'' was written to be a three-part opener to the series (and a 90-minute movie special), but after rough animation of the opening scene came back from Australia, Eisner was so impressed with the movement of the horses he decided to release it as the first direct-to-video sequel. Tad Stones never intended for his script to be sold as a "real" movie, and remains embarrassed by "The Return of Jafar" to this day.

** There was once a TV series based on ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' in production called ''Team Atlantis'', but the plug was pulled on it after work had already been started. The first three episodes were far enough along that they were completed and had some transition scenes added between episodes to make it into a single DTV film, despite the fact that the three episodes don't have much to do with each other. In other words, they somehow managed to invert this trope.