"Meet The Pickles: The Making of 'Win or Lose'" Keeps Backstage Peek Basic, Providing Simple Glimpse for Fans of the Pixar Series

A new, behind-the-scenes special  at the first long-form animated series from Pixar Animation Studios has arrived on Disney+, perfectly timed with the final two episodes of the series in which the special is about - Win or Lose.

Meet the Pickles: The Making of 'Win or Lose' showcases how Pixar brought its first long-form original series to life. The behind-the-scenes documentary introduces the scrappy filmmaking team that drew from personal experiences to create this ambitious and stylistically unique series that follows a middle-school softball team, the Pickles, in the week leading up to the big championship game.

The whole thing opens with Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter, explaining a bit of background about the project and, much like each episode of the namesake series, puts it into a whole new perspective - the eight episodes of this series combined are more minutes in length than their standard full-length feature. While a film that arrives in theaters might take five years and have a runtime on average of 90 minutes, collectively the episodes of Win or Lose land at about 145 minutes in total. Oh, and Docter only gave the team four years.

With that intro in place, we immediately meet the minds behind the series, directors Carrie Hobson and Michael Yates. Both had previously worked together on other Pixar projects and would likely come back to their shared office space and discuss the day’s events, commenting on how they each perceived an event they attended together (meeting, lunch, etc) so differently, serving as the launching point for the series.

Throughout the special, we learn about how relatable each of the characters featured in the series was to someone on the team of artists working on the show, and various other inspirations that made their way into the series. From a more technical standpoint, viewers will also learn about the various animation devices that are featured throughout - operating under a rule that if it can be done in live-action, it cannot be done in Win or Lose.

We also get to learn a bit about the various methods of stylization used, including different models like fuzz that would normally be saved for the wardrobe of a character in a feature, now being used as landscaping and hair in this production. You’ll also learn about a whole new rigging system for the facial features of each character that is strikingly similar (yet far more difficult to achieve) to a certain potato-based toy.

A bigger complaint, as someone who has followed this project since its announcement back in 2020, is what was not talked about in this special look at the series. Win or Lose wasn’t always a home run from the jump, hitting a number of delays and in some cases, headline grabbing production or creative issues. While we don’t need full details, a mere mention of these might have given more credit as a “backstage look" to those fans who have been waiting so long for the series to arrive.

That said, this special is a quick glimpse that is more akin to a bonus feature that would be on a standard DVD or Blu-Ray release, not a full deep dive into the production of the series. At just under 30 minutes, it’s a pleasant add-on for those who have enjoyed watching each episode of Win or Lose, and want a bit more information into the inspiration and creative process behind the series, but provides no stunning revelations into the process save for a bit of trivia. 3 out of 5 “Okay, I was wrong" pitching whirlwinds.

You can find out more for yourself by watching Meet the Pickles: The Making of ‘Win or Lose’ streaming now on Disney+.