So⦠what do you think of Wilson in the pilot?
It's something. A pleasant and thankful surprise we got to see it at all.
Everything in the pilot is has a very reflective texture, something that was improved in the final show, but the lack of shading was something they still had to iron out, which wasn't fully solved until S2.
As for Wilson himself, he's pretty close to his finalized model. The pilot model having its coupler blue like his bogies is an interesting quirk to it, and how he's written is perfectly on-parr with his character in the final show, which is always fun to see.
I also love that Koko's "You'd forget your wheels if they weren't bolted on!" joke in the finalized show originated from Vee in the pilot.
Whoever voiced Wilson, he doesn't sound bad for being the show's pilot, but I'm not sold on Wilson sounding like that in the final show. I much prefer Wilson's original VAs from the finalized show, particularly his UK one from the first 3 seasons, but due to uhh things he was caught with in 2020, Herschend Entertainment unfortunately but understandably redubbed him with his terrible UK VA from Tales From The Rails when they re-released the original series for BBC Iplayer in 2021. Probably best not to get into that here...
Before the pilot released I theorized that Wilson would possibly be voiced by Maria Darling, Vee and Lori's voice actress in the show, and would sound similar to her voice for Roary from Roary The Racing Car. I didn't account for Chuggington being originally conceptualized (at least partially) by a someone formerly from toy company Learning Curve which is American-based unless I'm completely mistaken, which is most likely why Wilson and Dunbar had American voices despite the final show originally being produced for BBC in the UK when it was greenlit, and wouldn't come to the US until 2010, two years after the show's debut in 2008.