Missing Pikmin

"Missing Pikmin" (also known as "Olimar Comes to Pikminville") is the first episode of Pikmin and the first episode of Season 1. It is also the first episode of the entire Pikmin franchise.

In the episode, Captain Olimar moves to Pikminville and picks four residents to live in his house. However, Yellow Pikmin showed up and wanted to live at the house.

The characters that debuted in this episode were Captain Olimar, Margo Gru, Alex Delmer, Red Pikmin, Blue Pikmin, Yellow Pikmin, Purple Pikmin, Edith Gru, Agnes Gru, Principal Michael, Daniel Ableman, Mindy Spencer, Amy Dealerson, Sammy Albertson, Dark Pikmin, Charlie, Mr. Wayne, and Zachary Stewartson.

Plot
Captain Olimar decides to move to a suburban house in the town of Pikminville to avoid any embarrassment from adults like his parents. He finds four friends—Margo Gru, Alex Delmer, Red Pikmin and Blue Pikmin—as his housemates. However, when a yellow pikmin named Yellow Pikmin, the last housemate to arrive, shows up, the others do not recognize him, but she told them that she managed to find the house when he was running away from home due to his parents' annoyance in his life. Yellow Pikmin then comes lonely and depressed, but Olimar and the others try to cheer her up by fitting gim in the house by giving her some new things, although they feel a bit uncomfortable for teaching a yellow pikmin new things. At the end, Yellow Pikmin finally gets to stay in the house.

Development
While Meledandri was there, his love of the ocean began to influence his artistry. He created a precursor to Pikmin: a comic book titled The Flower Zone used by the institute to teach visiting students about creatures. The comic starred various anthropomorphic lifeforms, many of which would evolve into Pikmin characters. Meledandri tried to get the comic professionally published, but none of the companies he sent it to were interested. In 1987, while pitching the cartoon to NBC executives, 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, Coffin, and Renaud returned with what was described by NBC official Albie Hecht as, "a performance [he] wished [he] had on tape". Pikmin first appeared in the development slate by NBC in late 1987, under no official name for the pilot, after a report that NBC had purchased the series from creators. On April 7, 1988, Meledandri and Universal Television inked a deal. The pilot was named Pikmin in April 1988, when it appeared on the primetime slate for the 1988–89 television season, although it wasn't officially on the network schedule. In November 1988, Pikmin appeared on the primetime slate for the 1989–90 television season.