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Pilot (Prison Break)

2005 episode of Prison Break directed by Brett Ratner

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 1, 2026
Entity authorityQ1098262 ↗
Source-derived summary

"Pilot" is the pilot episode and series premiere of the American television series Prison Break, which premiered on August 29, 2005, in the United States. That night, it was aired as the first of a two-part pilot special, along with "Allen", which was broadcast straight after this episode. The episode was directed by series producer Brett Ratner, noted director of such works as Rush Hour and Red Dragon, and written by series creator and producer Paul Scheuring. The episode was given numerous positive reviews in not just the US, but from the majority of the rest of world, reaching record ratings in various countries.

The episode introduces the two main protagonists of the series: Michael Scofield (played by Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln Burrows (played by Dominic Purcell). Lincoln Burrows has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit: the murder of Terrence Steadman, the brother of the Vice President of the United States. All avenues to delay or appeal Burrows’ execution have been exhausted owing to the high-profile nature of the case. Burrows' brother Michael Scofield, a structural engineer, plans to get himself incarcerated so he can save his brother from his death sentence, by using his new body tattoo.

Plot

Michael Scofield receives a mysterious body tattoo, and then strips his apartment of articles of various people from Fox River, along with a hard disk which he throws into a river. The next day, he robs a bank, but surrenders without incident when the police arrive.

Editorial summary

“Pilot (Prison Break)” enters the record as 2005 episode of Prison Break directed by Brett Ratner. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pilot, Prison and Break can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2005—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2005-08-29. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Pilot, Prison and Break.
Editorial analysis

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“Pilot (Prison Break)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Pilot, Prison and Break provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1098262. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2005.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Pilot (Prison Break)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.