Korgoth of Barbaria

Korgoth of Barbaria is a pilot episode for what was originally planned as an American animated television series created by Aaron Springer, storyboard writer and director for Dexter's Laboratory, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Samurai Jack and SpongeBob SquarePants. The pilot episode first aired in the United States on June 3, 2006, at 12:30 AM (EST) on Adult Swim. The pilot was both a critical and commercial success, garnering high ratings. On June 18, 2006, Adult Swim ran a bumper announcing Korgoth of Barbaria was officially picked up as a series, because of the success of the pilot. Later events, including a formal petition to revive the show, would indicate that it was dropped before production began, due to high production costs.

Overview
As of Comic Con 2006 the show was scheduled to release sometime in spring of 2007. However, as of December 29, 2007, the only mention of the show on the Adult Swim website is an intro graphic with the words "you couldn't handle more than one anyway".

Adult Swim re-aired the pilot episode on Halloween night, October 31, 2008, as part of an advertised "Halloween Stunt" night, where rarely seen programs such as the Welcome to Eltingville and Boo Boo Runs Wild were aired, rather than the usual programming line-up for a Friday evening.

In November 2010 Adult Swim ran a bumper listing shows that were not picked up and brief reasons why. Korgoth was listed with the explanation "too expensive".

Adult Swim re-aired the pilot (teased as a "surprise") on November 3, 2013, as a part of their Toonami block.

Summary
From the AdultSwim.com:
 * In a dark future wasteland, the great cities have risen and fallen, primordial beasts have reclaimed the wilderness and thieves and savages populate sparse, dirty towns. From the frozen north emerges a warrior known as Korgoth, and his merciless savagery may be his only key to survival.

The pilot episode followed the exploits of the eponymous Korgoth (voiced by actor Diedrich Bader), and parodied Conan the Barbarian, as well as the sword and sorcery subgenre in general. The show was set in a post-apocalyptic world where sorcery and the remnants of technology exist simultaneously, similar to Thundarr the Barbarian (needs citation). The heavy metal/thrash metal musical theme was composed by Lee Holdridge.

Home release
On October 27, 2009, Adult Swim and distributor Warner Home Video released Adult Swim in a Box, a DVD box set of a variety of different Adult Swim shows, Korgoth of Barbaria is featured on this box set on a special DVD along with Welcome to Eltingville, the pilot episode of Perfect Hair Forever, Totally for Teens, and Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge; in June 2010, the bonus DVD, from "Adult Swim in a Box", was made available for separate purchase on Adulswimshop.com.