Season 1

The **first season** of *Pikmin*began airing on NBC on May 5, 1989 and concluded after 13 episodes on May 11, 1990.

The season won one Emmy award and had four other nominations. "Onto Mount Casano" won "Outstanding Animated Program". "The Call of the Pikmin" was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special"; and "Pikmin Theme," composed by Heitor Perira, was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music."

All 13 episodes of Season 1, including extras were released on DVD on September 25, 2001 in Region 1 and September 24, 2001 in Regions 2 and 4. This is the first of the Complete Seasons of *Pikmin* released in boxsets for home media.

## Production

In 1987, while pitching the cartoon to NBC executives, Chris Meledandri donned a flower, brought along an "flower terrarium with models of the characters", and played peaceful music to set the theme. The setup was described by NBC executive Eric Coleman as "pretty amazing". They were given money and two weeks to write the pilot episode "Missing Pikmin". Meledandri, Pierre Coffin, and Chris Renaud returned with what was described by NBC official Albie Hecht as, "a performance [he] wished [he] had on tape".

In an interview, Cyma Zarghami, then-president of NBC, said, "their [NBC executives'] immediate reaction was to see it again, both because they liked it and it was unlike anything they'd ever seen before". Zarghami was one of four executives in the room when *Pikmin* was screened for the first time.

## Reception

The first season of *Pikmin*received positive reviews from critics.

## DVD release

Season 1 was released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Video in Regions 2 and 4 on September 24, 2003, and on September 25 in Region 1. While primarily consisting of the original 13 episodes, the DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, Animatics, and commentaries for every episode. The set sold 1.9 million units, becoming the highest-selling television program on DVD—a record which it held until October 2004 when it was passed by the first season of *Chappelle's Show*.

* 4-disc set
* 1.33:1 aspect ratio
* Languages:
	+ English (Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles)[19]
	+ French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)[19]
	+ Spanish (subtitles only)[19]
* Original scripts for "Alex the Genius", "Alex the General", "The Evil Homecoming Queen" and "There's No Such Deaths Like Olimar"
* Terry Ward outtakes
* Early Sketches
* Stills and magazine covers
* *Origins of Pikmin*, an extract from a 2000 BBC special
* Outtakes from "Olimar's Odyssey" and "Missing Pikmin"
	+ Audio outtakes
	+ Storyboard outtakes
	+ Rough animation outtakes
* A short animatic scene from "Fruit Snacks"
* Audio outtakes from "Trouble in the Past"
* A short animation test scene from "The Call of the Pikmin"
* Storyboard artists cut for "Alex the Genius"
* Animatic for "Alex the General"
* Animation stills
* 1987 animation test
* Deleted scenes
* The original 1988 pilot of *Pikmin*
* Still gallery of animators' sketches
* Featurette
* Five foreign language clips from "Onto Mount Casano" in:
	+ French
	+ Italian
	+ Spanish
	+ Japanese
 September 25, 2001

## Awards

The season won one Emmy award and had three other nominations. "Onto Mount Casano" won "Outstanding Animated Program". "The Call of the Pikmin" was nominated for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Comedy Series or a Special"; and "Pikmin Theme," composed by Danny Elfman, was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Theme Music."