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Click on the title you'd like to know more about - the text will appear below the line.
Aladdin (TV Series)
Animaniacs
Batman: The Animated Series
Beetlejuice (TV Series)
The Bugs Bunny Show
Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers
Cow and Chicken
Darkwing Duck
The Flintstones
Freakazoid!
Futurama
Garfield and Friends
G.I. Joe
Goof Troop
He-man and the Masters of the Universe
Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats
Inspector Gadget
The Jetsons
Johnny Bravo
The Justice League
Muppet Babies
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Pinky and the Brain
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
The Real Ghost Busters
Rocko's Modern Life
She-ra: Princess of Power
Shirt Tales
Smurfs
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast
Spider-Man: The Animated Series
Super Friends
TaleSpin
Taz-Mania
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
Thundercats (1985)
Tiny Toon Adventures
The Transformers (1984)
Voltron: Defender of the Universe
Wacky Races
X-Men (1992)
The Yogi Bear Show
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985–1991)
CASTLE THUNDER: Heard in the opening when Zummi's spell teleports the Gummies out of sight to be replaced with the title carving.
In 1991, a small part of Disneyland in California was temporarily outfitted as Disney Afternoon Avenue, featuring characters from The Disney Afternoon series of shows, including "Gummi Bears", which led to temporarily re-themeing the Disneyland attraction the Motor Boat Cruise as the Motor Boat Cruise To Gummi Glen. Plywood characters from the show were displayed during the ride.
Princess Calla is named after the daughter of NBC president Brandon Tartikoff.
This was the first Saturday morning network cartoon series produced by Walt Disney Productions.
Some episodes of this show were released theatrically overseas.
Since episodes aired in a vastly different order in the UK than they did in the USA, Gusto (and Artie) appeared in no sixth-season episodes before what was supposed to be the series finale since these aired before his introduction (which, in the US, was at the end of the second season).
CASTLE THUNDER: Heard in the opening when Zummi's spell teleports the Gummies out of sight to be replaced with the title carving.
In 1991, a small part of Disneyland in California was temporarily outfitted as Disney Afternoon Avenue, featuring characters from The Disney Afternoon series of shows, including "Gummi Bears", which led to temporarily re-themeing the Disneyland attraction the Motor Boat Cruise as the Motor Boat Cruise To Gummi Glen. Plywood characters from the show were displayed during the ride.
Princess Calla is named after the daughter of NBC president Brandon Tartikoff.
This was the first Saturday morning network cartoon series produced by Walt Disney Productions.
Some episodes of this show were released theatrically overseas.
Since episodes aired in a vastly different order in the UK than they did in the USA, Gusto (and Artie) appeared in no sixth-season episodes before what was supposed to be the series finale since these aired before his introduction (which, in the US, was at the end of the second season).
Aladdin (TV Series) (1994-1995)
Though the series follows "The Return of Jafar" chronologically, it actually premiered just before the movie. So certain elements (such as why Iago was a "good guy" and why the Genie was still with them) were unexplained.
Many episodes were based upon old stories or elements from classic movies.
One of the few exceptions to Disney's 65-episode limit.
The show was so popular that it ran for 86 episodes (three seasons), one of the few exceptions to Disney's 65-episode limit.
The opening credits originally included scenes from The Return of Jafar (1994) which the series followed, chronologically. By the third season many of the clips were replaced by scenes from previous episodes.
Though the series follows "The Return of Jafar" chronologically, it actually premiered just before the movie. So certain elements (such as why Iago was a "good guy" and why the Genie was still with them) were unexplained.
Many episodes were based upon old stories or elements from classic movies.
One of the few exceptions to Disney's 65-episode limit.
The show was so popular that it ran for 86 episodes (three seasons), one of the few exceptions to Disney's 65-episode limit.
The opening credits originally included scenes from The Return of Jafar (1994) which the series followed, chronologically. By the third season many of the clips were replaced by scenes from previous episodes.
Animaniacs (1993-1998)
Patrick Stewart was considered for the role of The Brain.
The Goodfeathers, a satire of the Warner Brothers film Goodfellas (1990) were made to reflect the personalities of the film's main stars. Bobby the blue pigeon is meant to be Robert De Niro, Pesto the purple pigeon is meant to be Joe Pesci, and Squit the gray pigeon is meant to be Ray Liotta.
Whenever someone says something that could be interpreted as being a dirty joke, Yakko blows a kiss to the audience, and says, "Goodnight everybody."
The music for the series was provided by a 35 piece orchestra and scored by a team of six composers.
The Pinky and the Brain sketch titled, "Yes, Always", was taken virtually word for word from a recording of Orson Welles doing a commercial and berating the director and his suggestions for Welles' delivery. In this recording, Welles uses some rather bad language, which was changed for the sketch.
After a few seasons the line "Bill Clinton plays the sax" was removed from the opening credits. It was briefly replaced with the line "We have wisecracks by the stacks", but it soon gave way to "We pay tons of income tax". In some cases "We have baloney in our slacks" was also used.
When Tom Ruegger created Buster Bunny for Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) he wanted to create a catch phrase (to parallel Bugs' "What's up, Doc?"). All he could think of was the old vaudeville standby "Hello, nurse!" but that made no sense for the character. Now the phrase is used by Yakko and Wakko when greeting Dr. Scratchansniff's attractive assistant.
In the opening of the Pinky and The Brain segments, Brain writes "THX=1138" on the blackboard. This is a reference to THX 1138 (1971), written and directed by George Lucas. Lucas is good friends with Steven Spielberg, Executive Producer for Animaniacs.
The shape of Dot's head mimics the shape of the Warner Bros. shield logo.
Writer/producer Sherri Stoner created Slappy the Squirrel after her friend and fellow writer John P. McCann made fun of her career playing troubled teenagers. McCann said she'll be playing troubled teens into her fifties. So she went the other direction, and created an older person acting like a teenager.
Jess Harnell said that he did a John Lennon impression when he went to audition for the role of Wakko, and it went great.
Executive Producer Steven Spielberg came up with the idea to have an original musical score in every episode.
Steven Spielberg said that the humor of social commentary and irreverence of the Warners were inspired by the Marx Brothers and the Looney Tunes cartoons.
After all of the characters were created, they were shown to Executive Producer Steven Spielberg for final approval. Buttons and Mindy were chosen by his daughter.
DC Comics published an Animaniacs comic book. From 1995-2000, the comic ran for 59 issues plus two specials.
The Warner siblings are based in a roundabout way on senior producer Tom Ruegger's three real-life children. Originally, they were going to be ducks named Yakki, Smakki and Wakki, but this idea was canned (it was thought to be too similar to DuckTales (1987)), and the three were changed into platypi, then into Bosko-like inkblots. Along the way, they gained a female friend; finally, Yakki became Yakko, Smakki and Wakki were combined into Wakko, and the female friend was named Dot and made their sister.
One of the regulars (Ralph the Guard) was a recurring character in the later episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures (1990); also, several other characters have made cameo appearances, and the theme song from it shows up occasionally as well.
Nathan Ruegger's voice began to change while voicing Skippy Squirrel. Rather than recast the part, the studio began altering his voice recordings to make them sound higher.
The CEO, Thaddeus Plotz's last name is Yiddish for "explode."
The water tower where the Warners live and many other features of the Warner lot are rather accurate representations of the Warner Studios lot in Burbank California. (Although, the real water tower is all gold, not red on top.)
During the theme song the characters proudly anounce that "We have pay or play contracts". This is a Hollywood term meaning the performer is paid whether or not he plays - this was a big deal in the days of contract studio players.
The Animaniacs theme is in part a satire of "This Is It", the theme song from The Bugs Bunny Show (1960). For example, Bugs and company sing "No more nursing, rehearsing a part. We know every part by heart." The Animaniacs sing, "The writer's flipped. We have no script. Why bother to rehearse?"
The Goodfeathers theme song is a parody of 'That's Amore' by 'Dean Martin'.
Jess Harnell normally provided the voice for Wakko. However, for the Great Wakkorotti belching segments, the voice is provided by Maurice LaMarche.
The Wheel of Morality segments were created to fill time when an episode was running short.
The character of Minerva Mink was scaled back because the network censors deemed her too sexually suggestive for the show's intended audience.
Maurice LaMarche based the voice of The Brain on Orson Welles. LaMarche also later played Welles by dubbing over Vincent D'Onofrio's voice for Ed Wood (1994).
Patrick Stewart was considered for the role of The Brain.
The Goodfeathers, a satire of the Warner Brothers film Goodfellas (1990) were made to reflect the personalities of the film's main stars. Bobby the blue pigeon is meant to be Robert De Niro, Pesto the purple pigeon is meant to be Joe Pesci, and Squit the gray pigeon is meant to be Ray Liotta.
Whenever someone says something that could be interpreted as being a dirty joke, Yakko blows a kiss to the audience, and says, "Goodnight everybody."
The music for the series was provided by a 35 piece orchestra and scored by a team of six composers.
The Pinky and the Brain sketch titled, "Yes, Always", was taken virtually word for word from a recording of Orson Welles doing a commercial and berating the director and his suggestions for Welles' delivery. In this recording, Welles uses some rather bad language, which was changed for the sketch.
After a few seasons the line "Bill Clinton plays the sax" was removed from the opening credits. It was briefly replaced with the line "We have wisecracks by the stacks", but it soon gave way to "We pay tons of income tax". In some cases "We have baloney in our slacks" was also used.
When Tom Ruegger created Buster Bunny for Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) he wanted to create a catch phrase (to parallel Bugs' "What's up, Doc?"). All he could think of was the old vaudeville standby "Hello, nurse!" but that made no sense for the character. Now the phrase is used by Yakko and Wakko when greeting Dr. Scratchansniff's attractive assistant.
In the opening of the Pinky and The Brain segments, Brain writes "THX=1138" on the blackboard. This is a reference to THX 1138 (1971), written and directed by George Lucas. Lucas is good friends with Steven Spielberg, Executive Producer for Animaniacs.
The shape of Dot's head mimics the shape of the Warner Bros. shield logo.
Writer/producer Sherri Stoner created Slappy the Squirrel after her friend and fellow writer John P. McCann made fun of her career playing troubled teenagers. McCann said she'll be playing troubled teens into her fifties. So she went the other direction, and created an older person acting like a teenager.
Jess Harnell said that he did a John Lennon impression when he went to audition for the role of Wakko, and it went great.
Executive Producer Steven Spielberg came up with the idea to have an original musical score in every episode.
Steven Spielberg said that the humor of social commentary and irreverence of the Warners were inspired by the Marx Brothers and the Looney Tunes cartoons.
After all of the characters were created, they were shown to Executive Producer Steven Spielberg for final approval. Buttons and Mindy were chosen by his daughter.
DC Comics published an Animaniacs comic book. From 1995-2000, the comic ran for 59 issues plus two specials.
The Warner siblings are based in a roundabout way on senior producer Tom Ruegger's three real-life children. Originally, they were going to be ducks named Yakki, Smakki and Wakki, but this idea was canned (it was thought to be too similar to DuckTales (1987)), and the three were changed into platypi, then into Bosko-like inkblots. Along the way, they gained a female friend; finally, Yakki became Yakko, Smakki and Wakki were combined into Wakko, and the female friend was named Dot and made their sister.
One of the regulars (Ralph the Guard) was a recurring character in the later episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures (1990); also, several other characters have made cameo appearances, and the theme song from it shows up occasionally as well.
Nathan Ruegger's voice began to change while voicing Skippy Squirrel. Rather than recast the part, the studio began altering his voice recordings to make them sound higher.
The CEO, Thaddeus Plotz's last name is Yiddish for "explode."
The water tower where the Warners live and many other features of the Warner lot are rather accurate representations of the Warner Studios lot in Burbank California. (Although, the real water tower is all gold, not red on top.)
During the theme song the characters proudly anounce that "We have pay or play contracts". This is a Hollywood term meaning the performer is paid whether or not he plays - this was a big deal in the days of contract studio players.
The Animaniacs theme is in part a satire of "This Is It", the theme song from The Bugs Bunny Show (1960). For example, Bugs and company sing "No more nursing, rehearsing a part. We know every part by heart." The Animaniacs sing, "The writer's flipped. We have no script. Why bother to rehearse?"
The Goodfeathers theme song is a parody of 'That's Amore' by 'Dean Martin'.
Jess Harnell normally provided the voice for Wakko. However, for the Great Wakkorotti belching segments, the voice is provided by Maurice LaMarche.
The Wheel of Morality segments were created to fill time when an episode was running short.
The character of Minerva Mink was scaled back because the network censors deemed her too sexually suggestive for the show's intended audience.
Maurice LaMarche based the voice of The Brain on Orson Welles. LaMarche also later played Welles by dubbing over Vincent D'Onofrio's voice for Ed Wood (1994).
Batman The Animated Series (1992-1998)
Kevin Conroy is the first person in animation to use two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman. It was his own idea.
Tim Curry was initially cast as the voice of the Joker. After he recorded four episodes, his take on the role was deemed to be too scary, so the decision was made to recast and eventually the role went to Mark Hamil.
Officer Renee Montoya and Joker's girlfriend/henchman Harley Quinn were created for the animated series and later incorporated into the comic books.
When establishing Two-Face, the writers took the time to show his alter-ego first, Harvey Dent, in a number of episodes so the audience could get to know him better. That way, they were more shocked at his transformation from the upstanding Dent to the monstrous Two-Face. The writers believed this made him into one of the show's best characters, and his origin one of the show's best episodes.
To create the eerie nighttime feeling, the background painters used dark paper instead of the traditional white. This also allowed them to save time from painting large portions of black color as most of the scenes are set at night. The animators coined the term "Dark Deco" for this art style.
Al Pacino was initially offered the role of Two-Face.
All voice acting was, unlike most voice-over work, performed ensemble. This means that all the voice actors performed their lines in a room together, rather than at separate times in different locations. Mark Hamill was the only cast member allowed to perform his Joker voice while standing, to make it easier to infuse the character with the manic energy the role required. All the other actors did their voices sitting down.
In most episodes, there is a character reading a Tiny Toons Adventures Magazine.
Robin/Dick Grayson had to be older, because of censorship rules against showing endangerment of children.
The producers admitted that this series wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for Tim Burton's Batman (1989) movie.
The title of the show is never seen. The producers decided that since Batman was an instantly recognizable character that anyone in any language would be able to tell what the show was about.
When it came time to bring The Penguin into the show, Batman Returns (1992) had just gone into production. Warner Brothers insisted the animated version should reflect the one in the film, but they weren't allowed to release any pictures. Bruce W. Timm had to draw sketches on the set of the film and then adjust him accordingly for the cartoon.
Harley Quinn's relationship with The Joker was intended as a Punch and Judy coupling, but with the roles reversed. She was initially a one-shot character but audiences took to her. She was brought back for more, and the writers even took the time to sketch a comic-book origin for Harley, to make her seem more real.
Harley Quinn was initially created for one episode, and was added to it almost at the last minute. In the episode "Joker's Favor," Joker was initially to disguise himself as a female model to serve as bait for a trap he was setting. Writers determined that posing as a woman would be below the Joker's ego, so they created Harley Quinn as his Henchwoman for the episode to keep the disguise.
Since the debut of this series, various elements have been adapted into the regular continuity of the Batman comics. These include the series' most popular original character, Harley Quinn, and the show's origin for Mr. Freeze.
The Scarecrow's voice actor Henry Polic II had problems with throat while playing Scarecrow in Episode "Dreams in Darkness." That is why his voice in Episode "Dreams in Darkness" is different from his voice in Episodes "Fear of Victory" and "Nothing to Fear." After the episode "Dreams in Darkness", the appearances of Scarecrow was reduced. Although Scarecrow appears in Episode "Trial", still Scarecrow has no dialogue in this episode. This was because Henry Pollic II was recuperating from throat surgery during this episode's production.
After 14 years, "The Dark Knight's First Night", the rarely seen pilot promo reel developed for Warner Brothers by Bruce W. Timm and Eric Radomski, was included on the first DVD boxed set. Versions of the promo had surfaced in degraded bootleg form at comic conventions over the years, but was never intended for public viewing. Unfortunately, the actual Warner Brothers reel was not kept in the best condition either, appearing at around 105 seconds in length and having been converted from VHS. The original Audio track was lost over time and replaced with the show's main theme for the DVD.
The animators auditioned over 150 actors before they settled on Kevin Conroy for the voice of Batman.
Roddy McDowell, who voiced The Mad Hatter, had earlier played the villain Bookworm on the 1960's Batman TV series. McDowell also read the Book on Tape adaption of the 1989 Batman movie novelization.
One of the reasons why Tim Curry was replaced by Mark Hamill for the role of Joker was because Executives of the show felt that Tim Curry's voice for Joker sounded similar to his voice for Captain Hook in Peter Pan and the Pirates (1990-1991) and his voice for Konk in Pirates of Dark Water (1991-1992).
Anthony Hopkins was offered the role of Mr Freeze.
For a long time, the producers wanted to use Firefly, a character that uses fire as a weapon, but Fox said no completely because they did not allow any character to be threatened or harmed by fire. It wasn't until Batman moved to the WB that Firefly was able to be used.
The character Max Shreck from Batman Returns (1992) was originally intended to appear in this series, but his inclusion was scrapped and the character of Roland Daggett was created instead.
When the series moved to Sunday evenings on WB, it marked one of the first time an animated series created specifically as a Saturday morning cartoon had aired on Primetime.
At no point in any of the episodes is the title, "Batman: The Animated Series" displayed. However, in all the Seasons 3, 4, and 5 episodes the title "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" was displayed.
After every single storyboard, FOX would send the producers a long single spaced list of restrictions about five pages in length, on things they could not do for example; no child endangerment, no open wounds, no blood, no heavy gun violence, no strangling or neck grabs, no alcohol references, and no smoking. The FOX network was really picky, not just about the censorship, but just in terms of content and story. The network had many opinions on what the producers should and shouldn't be doing.
Robin's costume was modeled after Neal Adams redesigned Robin costume that Tim Drake wore in the comics, though the Robin symbol was changed to a regular non-italicized "R" to make sure people would know he's Dick Grayson. However, when Tim Drake was used his costume was redesigned with a Red, Yellow, and Black color scheme.
The FOX network, on the assumption that kids won't watch a kid's show unless kids are in it, soon began insisting that Robin be prominently featured in every episode. When FOX changed to title to "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" for Season 3, they laid down the law - no story premise was to be considered unless it was either a Robin story or one in which the Boy Wonder played a key role.
A potentially story involving a Catwoman / Black Canary team-up was interrupted in mid-pitch to the FOX network by their demand, 'Where's Robin?' When the writers asked if they could omit Robin from just this one episode, FOX obliged by omitting the entire story.
Paul Dini has said that Harley Quinn was partly inspired by seeing Arleen Sorkin wearing a harlequin's costume in her role as Calliope Jones on an episode of the daytime drama Days of Our Lives (1965). As a result, Dini was subsequently inspired to cast Sorkin as the voice of Harlequin. In addition, Dini and Sorkin were college classmates together.
In Stu Hamilton's World's finest interview with Alan Burnett (one of the producers of this show), Alan Burnett revealed that he is a big Hitchcock fan. He was able to get John Vernon to play Rupert Thorne in this show. Roscoe Lee Browne was also cast for the role of Dr. Wakati in Episode "Time out of Joint." In Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz (1969), John Vernon played Rico Parra and Roscoe Lee Browne played Philippe Dubois.
Kevin Conroy is the first person in animation to use two distinct voices to portray Bruce Wayne and Batman. It was his own idea.
Tim Curry was initially cast as the voice of the Joker. After he recorded four episodes, his take on the role was deemed to be too scary, so the decision was made to recast and eventually the role went to Mark Hamil.
Officer Renee Montoya and Joker's girlfriend/henchman Harley Quinn were created for the animated series and later incorporated into the comic books.
When establishing Two-Face, the writers took the time to show his alter-ego first, Harvey Dent, in a number of episodes so the audience could get to know him better. That way, they were more shocked at his transformation from the upstanding Dent to the monstrous Two-Face. The writers believed this made him into one of the show's best characters, and his origin one of the show's best episodes.
To create the eerie nighttime feeling, the background painters used dark paper instead of the traditional white. This also allowed them to save time from painting large portions of black color as most of the scenes are set at night. The animators coined the term "Dark Deco" for this art style.
Al Pacino was initially offered the role of Two-Face.
All voice acting was, unlike most voice-over work, performed ensemble. This means that all the voice actors performed their lines in a room together, rather than at separate times in different locations. Mark Hamill was the only cast member allowed to perform his Joker voice while standing, to make it easier to infuse the character with the manic energy the role required. All the other actors did their voices sitting down.
In most episodes, there is a character reading a Tiny Toons Adventures Magazine.
Robin/Dick Grayson had to be older, because of censorship rules against showing endangerment of children.
The producers admitted that this series wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for Tim Burton's Batman (1989) movie.
The title of the show is never seen. The producers decided that since Batman was an instantly recognizable character that anyone in any language would be able to tell what the show was about.
When it came time to bring The Penguin into the show, Batman Returns (1992) had just gone into production. Warner Brothers insisted the animated version should reflect the one in the film, but they weren't allowed to release any pictures. Bruce W. Timm had to draw sketches on the set of the film and then adjust him accordingly for the cartoon.
Harley Quinn's relationship with The Joker was intended as a Punch and Judy coupling, but with the roles reversed. She was initially a one-shot character but audiences took to her. She was brought back for more, and the writers even took the time to sketch a comic-book origin for Harley, to make her seem more real.
Harley Quinn was initially created for one episode, and was added to it almost at the last minute. In the episode "Joker's Favor," Joker was initially to disguise himself as a female model to serve as bait for a trap he was setting. Writers determined that posing as a woman would be below the Joker's ego, so they created Harley Quinn as his Henchwoman for the episode to keep the disguise.
Since the debut of this series, various elements have been adapted into the regular continuity of the Batman comics. These include the series' most popular original character, Harley Quinn, and the show's origin for Mr. Freeze.
The Scarecrow's voice actor Henry Polic II had problems with throat while playing Scarecrow in Episode "Dreams in Darkness." That is why his voice in Episode "Dreams in Darkness" is different from his voice in Episodes "Fear of Victory" and "Nothing to Fear." After the episode "Dreams in Darkness", the appearances of Scarecrow was reduced. Although Scarecrow appears in Episode "Trial", still Scarecrow has no dialogue in this episode. This was because Henry Pollic II was recuperating from throat surgery during this episode's production.
After 14 years, "The Dark Knight's First Night", the rarely seen pilot promo reel developed for Warner Brothers by Bruce W. Timm and Eric Radomski, was included on the first DVD boxed set. Versions of the promo had surfaced in degraded bootleg form at comic conventions over the years, but was never intended for public viewing. Unfortunately, the actual Warner Brothers reel was not kept in the best condition either, appearing at around 105 seconds in length and having been converted from VHS. The original Audio track was lost over time and replaced with the show's main theme for the DVD.
The animators auditioned over 150 actors before they settled on Kevin Conroy for the voice of Batman.
Roddy McDowell, who voiced The Mad Hatter, had earlier played the villain Bookworm on the 1960's Batman TV series. McDowell also read the Book on Tape adaption of the 1989 Batman movie novelization.
One of the reasons why Tim Curry was replaced by Mark Hamill for the role of Joker was because Executives of the show felt that Tim Curry's voice for Joker sounded similar to his voice for Captain Hook in Peter Pan and the Pirates (1990-1991) and his voice for Konk in Pirates of Dark Water (1991-1992).
Anthony Hopkins was offered the role of Mr Freeze.
For a long time, the producers wanted to use Firefly, a character that uses fire as a weapon, but Fox said no completely because they did not allow any character to be threatened or harmed by fire. It wasn't until Batman moved to the WB that Firefly was able to be used.
The character Max Shreck from Batman Returns (1992) was originally intended to appear in this series, but his inclusion was scrapped and the character of Roland Daggett was created instead.
When the series moved to Sunday evenings on WB, it marked one of the first time an animated series created specifically as a Saturday morning cartoon had aired on Primetime.
At no point in any of the episodes is the title, "Batman: The Animated Series" displayed. However, in all the Seasons 3, 4, and 5 episodes the title "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" was displayed.
After every single storyboard, FOX would send the producers a long single spaced list of restrictions about five pages in length, on things they could not do for example; no child endangerment, no open wounds, no blood, no heavy gun violence, no strangling or neck grabs, no alcohol references, and no smoking. The FOX network was really picky, not just about the censorship, but just in terms of content and story. The network had many opinions on what the producers should and shouldn't be doing.
Robin's costume was modeled after Neal Adams redesigned Robin costume that Tim Drake wore in the comics, though the Robin symbol was changed to a regular non-italicized "R" to make sure people would know he's Dick Grayson. However, when Tim Drake was used his costume was redesigned with a Red, Yellow, and Black color scheme.
The FOX network, on the assumption that kids won't watch a kid's show unless kids are in it, soon began insisting that Robin be prominently featured in every episode. When FOX changed to title to "The Adventures of Batman and Robin" for Season 3, they laid down the law - no story premise was to be considered unless it was either a Robin story or one in which the Boy Wonder played a key role.
A potentially story involving a Catwoman / Black Canary team-up was interrupted in mid-pitch to the FOX network by their demand, 'Where's Robin?' When the writers asked if they could omit Robin from just this one episode, FOX obliged by omitting the entire story.
Paul Dini has said that Harley Quinn was partly inspired by seeing Arleen Sorkin wearing a harlequin's costume in her role as Calliope Jones on an episode of the daytime drama Days of Our Lives (1965). As a result, Dini was subsequently inspired to cast Sorkin as the voice of Harlequin. In addition, Dini and Sorkin were college classmates together.
In Stu Hamilton's World's finest interview with Alan Burnett (one of the producers of this show), Alan Burnett revealed that he is a big Hitchcock fan. He was able to get John Vernon to play Rupert Thorne in this show. Roscoe Lee Browne was also cast for the role of Dr. Wakati in Episode "Time out of Joint." In Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz (1969), John Vernon played Rico Parra and Roscoe Lee Browne played Philippe Dubois.
Beetlejuice (TV Series) (1989-1991)
The reoccurring character Prince Vince is the same one used for the title character Vincent (1982), an early Tim Burton short.
Even though the Maitlands were major characters in the movie, they had never made an appearance in the TV series.
This cartoon was a huge success when it first aired on ABC and later became one of the first cartoons to air on the Fox Channel's Fox Kids lineup. This led to Beetlejuice being seen Monday through Friday on FOX while still remaining on ABC's Saturday morning schedule, making it one of the few shows in American TV history to be aired concurrently on two different broadcast networks.
Kenner, the company behind the Beetlejuice movie action figures, had begun developing figures for the animated series, but the project did not come to fruition (one prototype figure head of Jacques LaLean for that ill-fated collection has been showcased online).
The reoccurring character Prince Vince is the same one used for the title character Vincent (1982), an early Tim Burton short.
Even though the Maitlands were major characters in the movie, they had never made an appearance in the TV series.
This cartoon was a huge success when it first aired on ABC and later became one of the first cartoons to air on the Fox Channel's Fox Kids lineup. This led to Beetlejuice being seen Monday through Friday on FOX while still remaining on ABC's Saturday morning schedule, making it one of the few shows in American TV history to be aired concurrently on two different broadcast networks.
Kenner, the company behind the Beetlejuice movie action figures, had begun developing figures for the animated series, but the project did not come to fruition (one prototype figure head of Jacques LaLean for that ill-fated collection has been showcased online).
Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers (1989-1990)
The Look of Chip and Dale were modeled after Indiana Jones and Magnum P.I. as Chip wears a leather jacket and hat and Dale wears a Hawaiian shirt.
Was the #1 rated syndicated cartoon for the 1989-1990 season (American market).
CASTLE THUNDER: Heard in the opening during the storm.
Series creator Tad Stones' original concepts for the series did not include Chip and Dale in the cast. Stones originally suggested a series based on The Rescuers (1977), but Jeffrey Katzenberg rejected it, as work on The Rescuers Down Under (1990) was beginning in the feature department. Stones then developed a pitch called "Metro Mice", featuring a mouse character named Kit Colby as the main protagonist (as well as early versions of Gadget and Monterey Jack along with a chameleon), but Katzenberg and Michael Eisner wanted known Disney characters as the stars. It was Eisner who suggested Chip and Dale.
The Look of Chip and Dale were modeled after Indiana Jones and Magnum P.I. as Chip wears a leather jacket and hat and Dale wears a Hawaiian shirt.
Was the #1 rated syndicated cartoon for the 1989-1990 season (American market).
CASTLE THUNDER: Heard in the opening during the storm.
Series creator Tad Stones' original concepts for the series did not include Chip and Dale in the cast. Stones originally suggested a series based on The Rescuers (1977), but Jeffrey Katzenberg rejected it, as work on The Rescuers Down Under (1990) was beginning in the feature department. Stones then developed a pitch called "Metro Mice", featuring a mouse character named Kit Colby as the main protagonist (as well as early versions of Gadget and Monterey Jack along with a chameleon), but Katzenberg and Michael Eisner wanted known Disney characters as the stars. It was Eisner who suggested Chip and Dale.
Darkwing Duck (1991-1995)
In several episodes there are references to cartoonist Gary Larson, creator of the comic strip "The Far Side". On one episode, Dr. Reginald Bushroot is teased by two fellow scientists, a Dr. Gary and a Dr. Larson. In another cartoon, aliens identify themselves as being from "the far side of the planet Larson".
The occupation of Drake Mallard is never mentioned, nor do his neighbors, the Muddlefoots, ever suspect he is doing anything suspicious.
Launchpad McQuack is the first Disney television cartoon character to appear in two seperate cartoon shows (he first appeared in DuckTales (1987)).
This show not only spoofs elements of the Batman films and comics and the Shadow, but the intelligence organization, SHUSH, also parodies Marvel Comics' SHIELD, a super spy organization that often requests the aid of superheroes, especially Captain America, on missions. Darkwing Duck's outfit was also influenced by the Scarlet Pimpernel.
F.O.W.L (the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny) originally appeared in an episode of DuckTales (1987).
A few episodes of Darkwing Duck were banned. The most infamous was season 3's "Hot Spells" which only aired once on ABC. The plot line involved Gosalyn trying to gain magic powers like Morgana, and, in the process, selling Darkwing's soul to the devil. Another banned episode was "Aduckaphobia", which was believed to be banned because it parodied Spider-Man.
The first season and syndicated version were released at the same time. Because of this, the nefarious five archenemies appeared in the daily stripped shows before their origin stories appeared in the weekly show. It was several years before the first season was integrated into the syndication schedule.
Much of Liquidator's dialogue is based on advertising slogans.
According to an interview with the show's creator, Tad Stones, Gosalyn was partly based on what he believed his then two-year-old daughter would be like when she grew older.
An earlier version of the show was originally going to be called "Double-O-Ducks". This idea was scrapped, as it turned out that "Double-O" was a copyrighted name, created by Ian Fleming, and owned by Albert R. Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films.
Darkwing Duck's nemesis, Steelbeak, was made with voice actor Rob Paulsen in mind.
Megavolt's original name was going to be "Dim Bulb".
DuckTales and Darkwing Duck spin-off show that never happened called Justice Ducks. The show would have featured Darkwing Duck and Gizmo Duck teaming up with some new heroes.
In several episodes there are references to cartoonist Gary Larson, creator of the comic strip "The Far Side". On one episode, Dr. Reginald Bushroot is teased by two fellow scientists, a Dr. Gary and a Dr. Larson. In another cartoon, aliens identify themselves as being from "the far side of the planet Larson".
The occupation of Drake Mallard is never mentioned, nor do his neighbors, the Muddlefoots, ever suspect he is doing anything suspicious.
Launchpad McQuack is the first Disney television cartoon character to appear in two seperate cartoon shows (he first appeared in DuckTales (1987)).
This show not only spoofs elements of the Batman films and comics and the Shadow, but the intelligence organization, SHUSH, also parodies Marvel Comics' SHIELD, a super spy organization that often requests the aid of superheroes, especially Captain America, on missions. Darkwing Duck's outfit was also influenced by the Scarlet Pimpernel.
F.O.W.L (the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny) originally appeared in an episode of DuckTales (1987).
A few episodes of Darkwing Duck were banned. The most infamous was season 3's "Hot Spells" which only aired once on ABC. The plot line involved Gosalyn trying to gain magic powers like Morgana, and, in the process, selling Darkwing's soul to the devil. Another banned episode was "Aduckaphobia", which was believed to be banned because it parodied Spider-Man.
The first season and syndicated version were released at the same time. Because of this, the nefarious five archenemies appeared in the daily stripped shows before their origin stories appeared in the weekly show. It was several years before the first season was integrated into the syndication schedule.
Much of Liquidator's dialogue is based on advertising slogans.
According to an interview with the show's creator, Tad Stones, Gosalyn was partly based on what he believed his then two-year-old daughter would be like when she grew older.
An earlier version of the show was originally going to be called "Double-O-Ducks". This idea was scrapped, as it turned out that "Double-O" was a copyrighted name, created by Ian Fleming, and owned by Albert R. Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films.
Darkwing Duck's nemesis, Steelbeak, was made with voice actor Rob Paulsen in mind.
Megavolt's original name was going to be "Dim Bulb".
DuckTales and Darkwing Duck spin-off show that never happened called Justice Ducks. The show would have featured Darkwing Duck and Gizmo Duck teaming up with some new heroes.
The Flintstones (1960-1966)
The Flintstones (1960) was at one time the longest-running prime-time animation cartoon weekly series. The record was broken in 1997 by and is still held by The Simpsons (1989). This record lasted for 30 years.
For a full season after Mel Blanc's near-fatal automobile accident on Tuesday, January 24th, 1961, the show was taped in his bedroom where he lay in a full-body cast. Daws Butler, who had voiced both Fred and Barney in the original pilot The Flintstones: The Flagstones (1960) filled in as the voice of Barney for five episodes. Executive Producer, Joseph Barbera did say that as many as 16 people, along with recording equipment, speakers and other items crowded into Mel Blanc's bedroom.
The shows four main characters (Fred Flintstone, Wilma Flintstone, Barney Rubble & Betty Rubble) were originated on the four main characters from The Honeymooners (1955). Jackie Gleason came close to suing Hanna & Barbera studios over The Flintstones (1960)'s resemblance to The Honeymooners (1955) until friends pointed out to him that it might be bad for his image if he became known as 'the man who killed Fred Flintstone'. A Warner Brothers cartoon, Wild Wild World (1960) was also been cited as an additional influence.
The Flintstones' address changed several times as the series went on: from 222 Rocky Way to 345 Stonecave Rd. to 301 Cobblestone Way. The final ("official") address given was 301 Cobblestone Wy., Bedrock 70777. (This is the real ZIP code for Slaughter, LA.)
Like appearing as a guest villain on Batman (1966), doing a guest voice on The Flintstones (1960) animation series was considered, by most celebrities during the 1960s, to be a badge of honor.
Fred and Wilma were originally supposed to have a son, Fred, Jr. This son appears in early press releases and in Little Golden Book, "The Flintstones". However, he was dropped from the cast before the series went into production. Later, when the Flintstones did have a child, it was decided that the baby should be a girl for merchandising reasons, as girl dolls especially Barbie, are supposed to sell better than boy dolls, like G. I. Joe.
Two Betty Rubble voices, Bea Benaderet and 'Garry Johnson (I)', her replacement, both were born on April 4th.
Originally, Fred was to regularly shout "Yahoo!" to express excitement. Alan Reed felt that "Yahoo" sounded too ordinary, and upon improvising came up instead with Fred Flintstone's trademark catchphrase "Yabba-Dabba-Do!"
Pebbles was born at the Rockville Hospital on February 22, 10,000 B.C. at 8:00 P.M. She weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces. Her name originated from phrase, "Chip off the Old Block", which Fred changed to "a pebble off the Flintstone" which became his name.
The famous theme song, "Meet the Flintstones", wasn't introduced until the third season (along with color), no more black & white. The song was first introduced on a children's record, performed by the TV cast, and included verses about Barney and Betty Rubble as well as Dino. The first season used an instrumental piece of music called "Rise and Shine" that resembled the later Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show theme "Overture." When the series went into syndication, a standardized set of opening and closing credits was used for most episodes in order to remove references to first season sponsor Winston Cigarettes, thus all episodes now begin with "Meet the Flintstones". Although "Meet the Flintstones" was not used as the show's theme until several seasons into the show's run. The DVD release of season 1 reveals that the melody of the song was a major part of the show's score as early as the second episode, The Flintstones: The Flintstone Flyer (1960).
Fred Flintstone's boss's name is sometimes Mr. Rockhead, (possibly another stone age character & friend, Joe Rockhead, or his dad) & sometimes Mr. Slate.
The show was broadcast in black-and-white for the first two seasons (1960-1962), although all materials (episodes, Winston cigarette commercials, and opening/closing sequences) were always produced in color (thus the color versions of the "Rise and Shine" opening/closing credits that now air).
The original unaired pilot The Flintstones: The Flagstones (1960) was produced in 1959. It was 1 minute and 42 seconds long. The series was intended to be called "The Flagstones" but the title was changed when the creators of the comic strip "Hi and Lois" (a spin-off of "Beetle Bailey"), about a suburban American family named the Flagstons, threatened legal action.
To capitalize on the then-current craze of "ghoul comedies" such as The Addams Family (1964) and The Munsters (1964), the Gruesomes (Weirdly, his wife Creepella and their son Gobby) were introduced in the fifth season as the Flintstones' new neighbors. But they only appeared in two episodes. They were The Flintstones: The Gruesomes (1964) and The Flintstones: The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes (1965).
The Flintstones' house size, design and furniture change in almost every episode.
Dino's fur/skin color would often change throughout the show, but he was atleast 90% purple.
William Hanna wanted to do a family-style series, but he and Joseph Barbera couldn't agree on the setting or the costuming. Suddenly Hanna exclaimed, "Let's do it in a caveman setting! They won't wear clothes, they'll just wear animal skins!" After that, everything fell into place.
Despite later versions and spin-offs, including both of the live action films, showing that he did, Barney Rubble was never once shown to have worked for the Slate & Co. quarry along side Fred in the original series.
Bamm-Bamm was adopted by the Barney and Betty Rubble, after his true parents abandoned him mysteriously, left on the Rubble's doorstep. The identity of Bamm-Bamm's birth parents remained a mystery and were always kept secret from then on. In for the duration of the series and subsequent animated spin-off projects. His debut was in The Flintstones: Little Bamm-Bamm (1963), on Thursday, October 3rd, 1963, it was 92nd of the 167 weekly episodes which was just the eighth after Wilma Flintstone bore Pebbles Flintstone in The Flintstones: The Blessed Event (1963) on Friday, February 22nd, 1963. The two parental dates Friday, February 22nd, 1963 (Pebbles' birth) & Thursday, October 3rd, 1963, (Bamm-Bamm's left at Rubble's doorstep), differ 223 days (31 weeks & 6 days).
Actress, Jean Vander Pyl was the only voice ("Wilma Flintstone" & "Pebbles Flintstone") that acted spoke in all 167 episodes & original pilot episode, The Flintstones: The Flagstones (1960), Sunday, May 1st, 1960 to Friday, April 1st, 1966 The Flintstones: The Story of Rocky's Raiders (1966). The two dates, Sunday May 1st, 1960 to Friday, April 1st, 1966 differ 2,161 days, equaling 308 weeks and 5 days.
The Flintstones (1960) was at one time the longest-running prime-time animation cartoon weekly series. The record was broken in 1997 by and is still held by The Simpsons (1989). This record lasted for 30 years.
For a full season after Mel Blanc's near-fatal automobile accident on Tuesday, January 24th, 1961, the show was taped in his bedroom where he lay in a full-body cast. Daws Butler, who had voiced both Fred and Barney in the original pilot The Flintstones: The Flagstones (1960) filled in as the voice of Barney for five episodes. Executive Producer, Joseph Barbera did say that as many as 16 people, along with recording equipment, speakers and other items crowded into Mel Blanc's bedroom.
The shows four main characters (Fred Flintstone, Wilma Flintstone, Barney Rubble & Betty Rubble) were originated on the four main characters from The Honeymooners (1955). Jackie Gleason came close to suing Hanna & Barbera studios over The Flintstones (1960)'s resemblance to The Honeymooners (1955) until friends pointed out to him that it might be bad for his image if he became known as 'the man who killed Fred Flintstone'. A Warner Brothers cartoon, Wild Wild World (1960) was also been cited as an additional influence.
The Flintstones' address changed several times as the series went on: from 222 Rocky Way to 345 Stonecave Rd. to 301 Cobblestone Way. The final ("official") address given was 301 Cobblestone Wy., Bedrock 70777. (This is the real ZIP code for Slaughter, LA.)
Like appearing as a guest villain on Batman (1966), doing a guest voice on The Flintstones (1960) animation series was considered, by most celebrities during the 1960s, to be a badge of honor.
Fred and Wilma were originally supposed to have a son, Fred, Jr. This son appears in early press releases and in Little Golden Book, "The Flintstones". However, he was dropped from the cast before the series went into production. Later, when the Flintstones did have a child, it was decided that the baby should be a girl for merchandising reasons, as girl dolls especially Barbie, are supposed to sell better than boy dolls, like G. I. Joe.
Two Betty Rubble voices, Bea Benaderet and 'Garry Johnson (I)', her replacement, both were born on April 4th.
Originally, Fred was to regularly shout "Yahoo!" to express excitement. Alan Reed felt that "Yahoo" sounded too ordinary, and upon improvising came up instead with Fred Flintstone's trademark catchphrase "Yabba-Dabba-Do!"
Pebbles was born at the Rockville Hospital on February 22, 10,000 B.C. at 8:00 P.M. She weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces. Her name originated from phrase, "Chip off the Old Block", which Fred changed to "a pebble off the Flintstone" which became his name.
The famous theme song, "Meet the Flintstones", wasn't introduced until the third season (along with color), no more black & white. The song was first introduced on a children's record, performed by the TV cast, and included verses about Barney and Betty Rubble as well as Dino. The first season used an instrumental piece of music called "Rise and Shine" that resembled the later Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show theme "Overture." When the series went into syndication, a standardized set of opening and closing credits was used for most episodes in order to remove references to first season sponsor Winston Cigarettes, thus all episodes now begin with "Meet the Flintstones". Although "Meet the Flintstones" was not used as the show's theme until several seasons into the show's run. The DVD release of season 1 reveals that the melody of the song was a major part of the show's score as early as the second episode, The Flintstones: The Flintstone Flyer (1960).
Fred Flintstone's boss's name is sometimes Mr. Rockhead, (possibly another stone age character & friend, Joe Rockhead, or his dad) & sometimes Mr. Slate.
The show was broadcast in black-and-white for the first two seasons (1960-1962), although all materials (episodes, Winston cigarette commercials, and opening/closing sequences) were always produced in color (thus the color versions of the "Rise and Shine" opening/closing credits that now air).
The original unaired pilot The Flintstones: The Flagstones (1960) was produced in 1959. It was 1 minute and 42 seconds long. The series was intended to be called "The Flagstones" but the title was changed when the creators of the comic strip "Hi and Lois" (a spin-off of "Beetle Bailey"), about a suburban American family named the Flagstons, threatened legal action.
To capitalize on the then-current craze of "ghoul comedies" such as The Addams Family (1964) and The Munsters (1964), the Gruesomes (Weirdly, his wife Creepella and their son Gobby) were introduced in the fifth season as the Flintstones' new neighbors. But they only appeared in two episodes. They were The Flintstones: The Gruesomes (1964) and The Flintstones: The Hatrocks and the Gruesomes (1965).
The Flintstones' house size, design and furniture change in almost every episode.
Dino's fur/skin color would often change throughout the show, but he was atleast 90% purple.
William Hanna wanted to do a family-style series, but he and Joseph Barbera couldn't agree on the setting or the costuming. Suddenly Hanna exclaimed, "Let's do it in a caveman setting! They won't wear clothes, they'll just wear animal skins!" After that, everything fell into place.
Despite later versions and spin-offs, including both of the live action films, showing that he did, Barney Rubble was never once shown to have worked for the Slate & Co. quarry along side Fred in the original series.
Bamm-Bamm was adopted by the Barney and Betty Rubble, after his true parents abandoned him mysteriously, left on the Rubble's doorstep. The identity of Bamm-Bamm's birth parents remained a mystery and were always kept secret from then on. In for the duration of the series and subsequent animated spin-off projects. His debut was in The Flintstones: Little Bamm-Bamm (1963), on Thursday, October 3rd, 1963, it was 92nd of the 167 weekly episodes which was just the eighth after Wilma Flintstone bore Pebbles Flintstone in The Flintstones: The Blessed Event (1963) on Friday, February 22nd, 1963. The two parental dates Friday, February 22nd, 1963 (Pebbles' birth) & Thursday, October 3rd, 1963, (Bamm-Bamm's left at Rubble's doorstep), differ 223 days (31 weeks & 6 days).
Actress, Jean Vander Pyl was the only voice ("Wilma Flintstone" & "Pebbles Flintstone") that acted spoke in all 167 episodes & original pilot episode, The Flintstones: The Flagstones (1960), Sunday, May 1st, 1960 to Friday, April 1st, 1966 The Flintstones: The Story of Rocky's Raiders (1966). The two dates, Sunday May 1st, 1960 to Friday, April 1st, 1966 differ 2,161 days, equaling 308 weeks and 5 days.
Freakazoid! (1995-1997)
The show was originally going to have a similar serious theme like the 90s "Batman" and "Superman" with comedic undertones.
In the Toby Danger cartoon "Doomsday Bet," Toby Danger and Dr. Vernon Danger are played by Scott Menville and Don Messick, respectively. The characters are spoofs of Jonny Quest and Dr. Benton Quest from "Jonny Quest", who were also respectively voiced by Menville and Messick.
From his two appearances, we can piece together that Lord Bravery's real name is Nigel Skunkthorpe.
The sequence of keystrokes that triggers the bug in the Pinnacle chip responsible for turning Dexter Douglas into Freakazoid is "@[=g3,8d]\&fbb=-q]/hk%fg", followed by DELETE. Also, on Dexter's keyboard, DELETE is in BACKSPACE's usual position and marked in a slanted lower-case font, which is typical of an Apple Computer keyboard for a later Apple II or a Macintosh.
The bug Dexter's computer exhibits is a parody of the FDIV bug that plagued the first run of the Intel Pentium CPUs in the early 1990s, which made headlines when technical users complained about it (and eventually got their CPUs replaced under warranty).
The show did well, attracting many viewers during its initial run, but Warner tried to sell commercial slots on this show on the basis that kids were its main audience. However, it soon turned out that most regular viewers were 14 years or older. It was considered to move the show to prime time but in the end it was just canceled after 24 episodes.
The Lobe's real name and background were never revealed in the series.
Fanboy's name and age were never revealed.
The each of the Douglas family's first names begin with a "D". This includes Douglas, Debbie, Duncan, and Dexter.
The show was originally going to have a similar serious theme like the 90s "Batman" and "Superman" with comedic undertones.
In the Toby Danger cartoon "Doomsday Bet," Toby Danger and Dr. Vernon Danger are played by Scott Menville and Don Messick, respectively. The characters are spoofs of Jonny Quest and Dr. Benton Quest from "Jonny Quest", who were also respectively voiced by Menville and Messick.
From his two appearances, we can piece together that Lord Bravery's real name is Nigel Skunkthorpe.
The sequence of keystrokes that triggers the bug in the Pinnacle chip responsible for turning Dexter Douglas into Freakazoid is "@[=g3,8d]\&fbb=-q]/hk%fg", followed by DELETE. Also, on Dexter's keyboard, DELETE is in BACKSPACE's usual position and marked in a slanted lower-case font, which is typical of an Apple Computer keyboard for a later Apple II or a Macintosh.
The bug Dexter's computer exhibits is a parody of the FDIV bug that plagued the first run of the Intel Pentium CPUs in the early 1990s, which made headlines when technical users complained about it (and eventually got their CPUs replaced under warranty).
The show did well, attracting many viewers during its initial run, but Warner tried to sell commercial slots on this show on the basis that kids were its main audience. However, it soon turned out that most regular viewers were 14 years or older. It was considered to move the show to prime time but in the end it was just canceled after 24 episodes.
The Lobe's real name and background were never revealed in the series.
Fanboy's name and age were never revealed.
The each of the Douglas family's first names begin with a "D". This includes Douglas, Debbie, Duncan, and Dexter.
Futurama (1999- ----)
Bender's apartment door number, 00100100, is binary for the dollar sign $.
One of the more subtle running jokes in the show is that in the future, owls have replaced pigeons and rats as being pests. If you look carefully in many episodes, you can see owls pecking at food on the ground or coming out of mouse holes.
Matt Groening actually bought the rights to use the "30th Century Fox" logo after Fox said they shouldn't use it. A couple months later, Fox said they loved it.
Fry's first name, Philip, is a tribute to Phil Hartman, who was originally cast to do the voice of Zapp Brannigan. After Hartman's murder Billy West decided that the voice of Zapp Brannigan should be reminiscent of Hartman's own voice.
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth is named after the inventor Philo T. Farnsworth, one of the pioneers of television, whose invention was premiered at the 1939 New York World's Fair, along with the Futurama exhibit.
At the beginning of the show, during the opening credits and theme song, there is always something different displayed in text at the bottom of the screen. At the very end of the theme song, there is always something different displayed on the screen before the ship crashes into it. This is reminiscent of Matt Groening's cult phenomenon of The Simpsons (1989), as there are three distinctly varying elements in the intro music as well. (Bart's chalkboard writings, the method of the family sitting down on the couch and Lisa's saxophone solo as she leaves band practice.)
Creator Matt Groening admits to naming Bender the robot after John Bender, a character in The Breakfast Club (1985).
Dr. Zoidberg had teeth in the first few episodes.
Hermes' original name was Dexter, and he was not Jamaican until after the first of his lines were recorded.
Bender's first words were, "Bite my shiny metal ass."
J is Matt Groening's favorite middle initial in tribute to Jay Ward, creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle (Bullwinkle J. Moose) and other classics; hence the J in Philip J. Fry, Hubert J. Farnsworth, Cubert J. Farnsworth, Homer J. Simpson, Abraham J. Simpson, and Bart J. Simpson.
Katey Sagal is the only member of the regular cast not to voice multiple characters.
Bender's antenna has been used as the following: an antenna, a timer button for his internal digital camera, a beer pump lever, a measure of his manhood, a popcorn butter dispenser lever, a pager vibrator, a flushing lever, a cooking timer, an alarm clock snooze button (accidentally by Fry), a voice mail alert light, a voice mail "delete all" button, "little bender", a cap for a beer still, and an audio tape dispenser button.
The sound of the Hypnotoad is a recording of a turbine engine played backwards.
Futurama was the name of the famous General Motors exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair that depicted a futuristic landscape.
Matt Groening named Turanga Leela after Louise Jameson's character in the British science fiction TV series Doctor Who (1963).
The hieroglyphics in the opening titles read: "Tasty Human Burgers". There are also two other examples of that alphabet (one just on the left a few frames after the ship passes through the R, and one
The show was canceled in May of 2002. The last first-run episode of the show aired on August 10, 2003. In 2006, Billy West announced on his website that 26 new episodes had been ordered, but then later retracted the announcement, stating that series co-creator David X. Cohen had corrected him "with a hammer". Instead, four feature-length direct-to-DVD releases were produced. Comedy Central later brought the show back in June of 2010.
Leela's costume choice is inspired by the popular female heroines that have graced famous science fiction films. Starting in the pilot episode, she takes off her jacket to reveal a white tank top underneath. The fashion is believed to have originated with Sigourney Weaver in Alien (1979) and has been copied by Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Carrie-Anne Moss in Red Planet (2000).
Lines of an unknown language, similar to hieroglyphics can be seen in varying locations throughout the intro song. According to Matt Groening, the glyphs *do* mean something, and it's up to loyal viewers to figure them out.
The show's creators said that after the show was cancelled it occurred to them that they should have done a parody of Martin Scorsese's films and called the episode "Gangs of New New York".
Matt Groening modeled the look of Bender after the robot Necron 99/Peace from the 1977 Ralph Bakshi animated post-apocalyptic fantasy film Wizards (1977).
According to Matt Groening, viewers were able to decipher the alien language that is sometimes seen in the background the same night as the pilot episode aired. The only primer for the code in that episode was a sign that read "Drink Slurm". The sign appeared once with the word "Drink" written in the alien code and once in plain English. This resulted in the producers creating a second, more complex alien code to be seen in the background of later episodes.
Zapp Brannigan is based on the "Star Trek" Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner.
In the episode "The Luck of the Fryrish", Fry screams out, "HOWARD STERN IS OVERRATED!" Billy West, the voice of Fry, was a regular on 'Howard Stern' 's radio show for many years.
EASTER EGG: In volume 4, there is an easter egg that can be found by clicking on the robot devil's hands. Doing this will start a table read of the final episode.
Writer/producer David X. Cohen is a Dungeons and Dragons player. References to the game have been included in the show, including a cameo by D&D creator E. Gary Gygax, and 'Al Gore' referring to himself as a "10th level vice-president". At least two D&D monsters have made appearances as well: a Rust Monster at a veterinarian's office, and a beholder appearing as a guard in the bureaucratic building. The third straight-to-DVD Futurama feature film, Futurama: Bender's Game (2008), also uses a lot of D&D references, and is, in fact, hugely based on the game. The credits tribute the film to the memory of Mr. Gygax.
Matt Groening has said that he got the idea for the show from listening to a song by the Incredible String Band called "Robot Blues."
One of Bender's secret fantasies is to be a folk-singer.
Leela's full name is Turanga Leela. This is a reference to French composer Olivier Messiaen's "Turangalîla-Symphonie" (1948), an 80 minute work in ten movements for piano, ondes Martenot and orchestra. The name "Turangalîla" derives from two Sanskrit words which may be translated a number of ways, including "love song".
In one episode it is said that they can translate the second alien language, but only into beta crypt 3, a language so complex that it is even less likely to understand, this is an inside joke, because the second alien language is in fact beta crypt 2 with symbols replacing the initial alphabet.
As the opening credits cut to the final shot, just before the Planet Express Ship crashes, several characters are seen moving through one of the transport tubes. The very first guy to go through is reading a news paper, the headline reads, "Moon pie fight in Mars Bar."
Fry's favorite song is "I'm Walking on Sunshine".
Characters intended for one-time appearances, such as Professor Wernstrom, were brought back because the writers liked them so much.
Crater Face, the mascot of Luna Park, is based on the "moon with a face" from the 1902 film A Trip to the Moon (1902).
Other titles thought of for the show were 'Aloha Mars!' and 'Doomsville'.
The character Cubert (the Professor's clone) was initially conceived as being somebody who would point out all of the show's inconsistencies and plot holes. The idea was that he would be the voice of obsessed fans that paid far too much attention to detail. Unfortunately, the writers couldn't figure out a way to introduce him until Season 2, and aside from his debut episode he never took on his original intended role.
DVD EASTER EGG: Season 4, disc 3. Go into the sub menu for "Where no fan has gone before". Highlight the option "HOME". Press "RIGHT" on the DVD remote to display the Planet Express ship in the menu. Press "PLAY" to start a behind the scenes video.
Billy West auditioned for Bender. He played it like a construction worker.
Zapp Brannigan's portrait in his captain's quarters is based on the famous White House portrait of US President John F. Kennedy. They are both in the same distinctive pose, arms crossed against the chest and solemnly looking downward.
When he started working on Futurama, David S. Cohen (I) joined the Writer's Guild. Since there was already a David S. Cohen in the Writer's Guild, he changed the S to an X because he felt it was more "sci-fi-ish."
According to an interview with Kevin Pollak, Billy West stated that 200 people auditioned for Futurama, including Ryan Stiles who auditioned for Fry.
Billy West was inspired by Lou Jacobi's performance in the Diary of Anne Frank when he was creating the character of Zoidberg. He imagined Zoidberg to have Yiddish mannerisms because of the last name. He also said he was attracted to the idea of a doctor that was poor.
Originally aired on Fox, and canceled in season 5. The last episode aired August 2003. In June 2009, Comedy Central announced that it will revive the show with new episodes. The first episode of season 6 then aired in June 2010.
The show went through only four production cycles, but not all the episodes from cycle four were aired during the fourth broadcast season. These were held over for a fifth season before cancellation took effect. The original DVDs were not released in seasons, but rather according to the production cycles. For this reason, there were only four volumes, though all the original episodes were included.
Some of the show's sound effects are from other science-fiction television series, including The Jetsons (1962) and Star Trek (1966).
The Wong's Mars ranch house is modeled after the Benedict's house in Giant (1956).
The show's cold openings were phased out in the latter part of the series.
John DiMaggio said in an interview with Kevin Pollak that he was channeling 'Slim Pickens' and a drunken boxer among other sources when he created the part of Bender.
Planet Express is a package delivery company; however, very few packages actually get delivered.
Leela's first name is Tauranga. Tauranga is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand.
Bender's apartment door number, 00100100, is binary for the dollar sign $.
One of the more subtle running jokes in the show is that in the future, owls have replaced pigeons and rats as being pests. If you look carefully in many episodes, you can see owls pecking at food on the ground or coming out of mouse holes.
Matt Groening actually bought the rights to use the "30th Century Fox" logo after Fox said they shouldn't use it. A couple months later, Fox said they loved it.
Fry's first name, Philip, is a tribute to Phil Hartman, who was originally cast to do the voice of Zapp Brannigan. After Hartman's murder Billy West decided that the voice of Zapp Brannigan should be reminiscent of Hartman's own voice.
Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth is named after the inventor Philo T. Farnsworth, one of the pioneers of television, whose invention was premiered at the 1939 New York World's Fair, along with the Futurama exhibit.
At the beginning of the show, during the opening credits and theme song, there is always something different displayed in text at the bottom of the screen. At the very end of the theme song, there is always something different displayed on the screen before the ship crashes into it. This is reminiscent of Matt Groening's cult phenomenon of The Simpsons (1989), as there are three distinctly varying elements in the intro music as well. (Bart's chalkboard writings, the method of the family sitting down on the couch and Lisa's saxophone solo as she leaves band practice.)
Creator Matt Groening admits to naming Bender the robot after John Bender, a character in The Breakfast Club (1985).
Dr. Zoidberg had teeth in the first few episodes.
Hermes' original name was Dexter, and he was not Jamaican until after the first of his lines were recorded.
Bender's first words were, "Bite my shiny metal ass."
J is Matt Groening's favorite middle initial in tribute to Jay Ward, creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle (Bullwinkle J. Moose) and other classics; hence the J in Philip J. Fry, Hubert J. Farnsworth, Cubert J. Farnsworth, Homer J. Simpson, Abraham J. Simpson, and Bart J. Simpson.
Katey Sagal is the only member of the regular cast not to voice multiple characters.
Bender's antenna has been used as the following: an antenna, a timer button for his internal digital camera, a beer pump lever, a measure of his manhood, a popcorn butter dispenser lever, a pager vibrator, a flushing lever, a cooking timer, an alarm clock snooze button (accidentally by Fry), a voice mail alert light, a voice mail "delete all" button, "little bender", a cap for a beer still, and an audio tape dispenser button.
The sound of the Hypnotoad is a recording of a turbine engine played backwards.
Futurama was the name of the famous General Motors exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair that depicted a futuristic landscape.
Matt Groening named Turanga Leela after Louise Jameson's character in the British science fiction TV series Doctor Who (1963).
The hieroglyphics in the opening titles read: "Tasty Human Burgers". There are also two other examples of that alphabet (one just on the left a few frames after the ship passes through the R, and one
The show was canceled in May of 2002. The last first-run episode of the show aired on August 10, 2003. In 2006, Billy West announced on his website that 26 new episodes had been ordered, but then later retracted the announcement, stating that series co-creator David X. Cohen had corrected him "with a hammer". Instead, four feature-length direct-to-DVD releases were produced. Comedy Central later brought the show back in June of 2010.
Leela's costume choice is inspired by the popular female heroines that have graced famous science fiction films. Starting in the pilot episode, she takes off her jacket to reveal a white tank top underneath. The fashion is believed to have originated with Sigourney Weaver in Alien (1979) and has been copied by Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Carrie-Anne Moss in Red Planet (2000).
Lines of an unknown language, similar to hieroglyphics can be seen in varying locations throughout the intro song. According to Matt Groening, the glyphs *do* mean something, and it's up to loyal viewers to figure them out.
The show's creators said that after the show was cancelled it occurred to them that they should have done a parody of Martin Scorsese's films and called the episode "Gangs of New New York".
Matt Groening modeled the look of Bender after the robot Necron 99/Peace from the 1977 Ralph Bakshi animated post-apocalyptic fantasy film Wizards (1977).
According to Matt Groening, viewers were able to decipher the alien language that is sometimes seen in the background the same night as the pilot episode aired. The only primer for the code in that episode was a sign that read "Drink Slurm". The sign appeared once with the word "Drink" written in the alien code and once in plain English. This resulted in the producers creating a second, more complex alien code to be seen in the background of later episodes.
Zapp Brannigan is based on the "Star Trek" Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner.
In the episode "The Luck of the Fryrish", Fry screams out, "HOWARD STERN IS OVERRATED!" Billy West, the voice of Fry, was a regular on 'Howard Stern' 's radio show for many years.
EASTER EGG: In volume 4, there is an easter egg that can be found by clicking on the robot devil's hands. Doing this will start a table read of the final episode.
Writer/producer David X. Cohen is a Dungeons and Dragons player. References to the game have been included in the show, including a cameo by D&D creator E. Gary Gygax, and 'Al Gore' referring to himself as a "10th level vice-president". At least two D&D monsters have made appearances as well: a Rust Monster at a veterinarian's office, and a beholder appearing as a guard in the bureaucratic building. The third straight-to-DVD Futurama feature film, Futurama: Bender's Game (2008), also uses a lot of D&D references, and is, in fact, hugely based on the game. The credits tribute the film to the memory of Mr. Gygax.
Matt Groening has said that he got the idea for the show from listening to a song by the Incredible String Band called "Robot Blues."
One of Bender's secret fantasies is to be a folk-singer.
Leela's full name is Turanga Leela. This is a reference to French composer Olivier Messiaen's "Turangalîla-Symphonie" (1948), an 80 minute work in ten movements for piano, ondes Martenot and orchestra. The name "Turangalîla" derives from two Sanskrit words which may be translated a number of ways, including "love song".
In one episode it is said that they can translate the second alien language, but only into beta crypt 3, a language so complex that it is even less likely to understand, this is an inside joke, because the second alien language is in fact beta crypt 2 with symbols replacing the initial alphabet.
As the opening credits cut to the final shot, just before the Planet Express Ship crashes, several characters are seen moving through one of the transport tubes. The very first guy to go through is reading a news paper, the headline reads, "Moon pie fight in Mars Bar."
Fry's favorite song is "I'm Walking on Sunshine".
Characters intended for one-time appearances, such as Professor Wernstrom, were brought back because the writers liked them so much.
Crater Face, the mascot of Luna Park, is based on the "moon with a face" from the 1902 film A Trip to the Moon (1902).
Other titles thought of for the show were 'Aloha Mars!' and 'Doomsville'.
The character Cubert (the Professor's clone) was initially conceived as being somebody who would point out all of the show's inconsistencies and plot holes. The idea was that he would be the voice of obsessed fans that paid far too much attention to detail. Unfortunately, the writers couldn't figure out a way to introduce him until Season 2, and aside from his debut episode he never took on his original intended role.
DVD EASTER EGG: Season 4, disc 3. Go into the sub menu for "Where no fan has gone before". Highlight the option "HOME". Press "RIGHT" on the DVD remote to display the Planet Express ship in the menu. Press "PLAY" to start a behind the scenes video.
Billy West auditioned for Bender. He played it like a construction worker.
Zapp Brannigan's portrait in his captain's quarters is based on the famous White House portrait of US President John F. Kennedy. They are both in the same distinctive pose, arms crossed against the chest and solemnly looking downward.
When he started working on Futurama, David S. Cohen (I) joined the Writer's Guild. Since there was already a David S. Cohen in the Writer's Guild, he changed the S to an X because he felt it was more "sci-fi-ish."
According to an interview with Kevin Pollak, Billy West stated that 200 people auditioned for Futurama, including Ryan Stiles who auditioned for Fry.
Billy West was inspired by Lou Jacobi's performance in the Diary of Anne Frank when he was creating the character of Zoidberg. He imagined Zoidberg to have Yiddish mannerisms because of the last name. He also said he was attracted to the idea of a doctor that was poor.
Originally aired on Fox, and canceled in season 5. The last episode aired August 2003. In June 2009, Comedy Central announced that it will revive the show with new episodes. The first episode of season 6 then aired in June 2010.
The show went through only four production cycles, but not all the episodes from cycle four were aired during the fourth broadcast season. These were held over for a fifth season before cancellation took effect. The original DVDs were not released in seasons, but rather according to the production cycles. For this reason, there were only four volumes, though all the original episodes were included.
Some of the show's sound effects are from other science-fiction television series, including The Jetsons (1962) and Star Trek (1966).
The Wong's Mars ranch house is modeled after the Benedict's house in Giant (1956).
The show's cold openings were phased out in the latter part of the series.
John DiMaggio said in an interview with Kevin Pollak that he was channeling 'Slim Pickens' and a drunken boxer among other sources when he created the part of Bender.
Planet Express is a package delivery company; however, very few packages actually get delivered.
Leela's first name is Tauranga. Tauranga is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand.
Garfield and Friends (1988-1995)
In the episode "Best Of Breed", the paper Garfield holds up reveals that Jon, Garfield and Odie live in Muncie, Indiana. And in the episode "The Pizza Patrol", Jon's street address is revealed to be 357 Shady Grove Lane. Thus, Jon's full address is: 357 Shady Grove Lane Muncie, In 47305 (47305 is Muncie's actual Zip Code). "Garfield" creator Jim Davis is a native of Muncie, Indiana, which is also the headquarters of PAWS, Inc., the company that produces all "Garfield"-related animation and merchandise.
In the first show of the 1992-3 season, Garfield says at the end of the opening theme, "And don't bother checking what's on NBC. They're not running cartoons anymore." In 1992, NBC really stopped broadcasting Saturday morning cartoons.
The last broadcast was on 7 October 1995.
The show had four completely different opening sequences and three theme songs over the course of its run.
At the end of opening theme song, Garfield always says something different.
Dave Coulier would substitute as the voice of Garfield occasionally when Lorenzo Music was ill.
Even though ratings were still respectable, the seventh season (1994-1995) was the last one because CBS wanted to cut the budget. The production company nixed this proposal, so they mutually agreed to cease production.
The US Acres cartoons (known as Orson's Farm in other countries) were based on another comic also drawn by Garfield cartoonist Jim Davis in 1986. It was picked up by a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers by United Features Syndicate (the same comic newspaper publisher that runs the Garfield comics). The comic strip itself didn't do as well as its more-successful counterpart Garfield and only ran from 1986 until its final strip on 15 April 1989. Ironically with the series cancellation in 1995, this means that the US Acres cartoons lasted for 7 years (over twice as long as the original comic strips they were based from). There has however been a recent demand for re-releasing the US Acres comic strip, and in October 2010, the comic strips were re-released as web comics and can be found on the Garfield.com website.
Lanolin (the name of the female sheep from the "US Acres" cartoons) is also the name of an oily secretion found in the wool of sheep.
Creator Jim Davis originally wanted to make a series based on his comic strip "U.S. Acres". But CBS insisted that "Garfield" be made the star of the series with the "U.S. Acres" characters becoming the "Friends" of the title.
In the episode "Best Of Breed", the paper Garfield holds up reveals that Jon, Garfield and Odie live in Muncie, Indiana. And in the episode "The Pizza Patrol", Jon's street address is revealed to be 357 Shady Grove Lane. Thus, Jon's full address is: 357 Shady Grove Lane Muncie, In 47305 (47305 is Muncie's actual Zip Code). "Garfield" creator Jim Davis is a native of Muncie, Indiana, which is also the headquarters of PAWS, Inc., the company that produces all "Garfield"-related animation and merchandise.
In the first show of the 1992-3 season, Garfield says at the end of the opening theme, "And don't bother checking what's on NBC. They're not running cartoons anymore." In 1992, NBC really stopped broadcasting Saturday morning cartoons.
The last broadcast was on 7 October 1995.
The show had four completely different opening sequences and three theme songs over the course of its run.
At the end of opening theme song, Garfield always says something different.
Dave Coulier would substitute as the voice of Garfield occasionally when Lorenzo Music was ill.
Even though ratings were still respectable, the seventh season (1994-1995) was the last one because CBS wanted to cut the budget. The production company nixed this proposal, so they mutually agreed to cease production.
The US Acres cartoons (known as Orson's Farm in other countries) were based on another comic also drawn by Garfield cartoonist Jim Davis in 1986. It was picked up by a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers by United Features Syndicate (the same comic newspaper publisher that runs the Garfield comics). The comic strip itself didn't do as well as its more-successful counterpart Garfield and only ran from 1986 until its final strip on 15 April 1989. Ironically with the series cancellation in 1995, this means that the US Acres cartoons lasted for 7 years (over twice as long as the original comic strips they were based from). There has however been a recent demand for re-releasing the US Acres comic strip, and in October 2010, the comic strips were re-released as web comics and can be found on the Garfield.com website.
Lanolin (the name of the female sheep from the "US Acres" cartoons) is also the name of an oily secretion found in the wool of sheep.
Creator Jim Davis originally wanted to make a series based on his comic strip "U.S. Acres". But CBS insisted that "Garfield" be made the star of the series with the "U.S. Acres" characters becoming the "Friends" of the title.
G.I. Joe (1985-1986)
In one episode, Destro has to recite an ancient incantation to defeat a monster. If the incantation is recorded and played backwards, it says "Anyone listening to this message backwards is a real dweeb."
The line of action figures included one for Zartan the Swamp Master, a villain who was a master of disguise and who could camouflage himself like a chameleon. The action figure had photoreactive "skin" that would turn blue when exposed to direct sunlight, as did his vehicle. In the animated series, Zartan was allergic to sunlight and would be weakened when exposed to it, which also turned his skin blue. However, the figure was taken off the shelves late in 1986.
Larry Hama was also the writer of the file cards written on the back of the packaging of the G.I. Joe toy line. The files where short biographies of both the Joes and Cobra soldiers.
The premise was initially conceived by comic writer Larry Hama as Fury Force, which would have been an ongoing series for Marvel Comics. The original premise had the son of S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury assembling a team of elite commandos to battle neo-Nazi terrorists Hydra. Though Marvel turned down the idea, Hama dusted it off when he learned that Hasbro was resurrecting their G.I. Joe toy line. Marvel issued a comic to help promote the toyline, and Sunbow's animated promotions for the comic paved the way for the ongoing cartoon.
At one point, Cobra was going to be Soviets, but this idea was dropped because it was considered culturally insensitive. Regardless, in "The Great Alaskan Land Rush," the Soviet counterpart to GI Joe, The October Guard, is an antagonist attempting to get an important seal in order for the USSR to reclaim Alaska.
Sergeant Slaughter, a real-life professional wrestler, became a member of the G.I. Joe team during the show's second season. The real Sgt. Slaughter provided the voice for the animated character. The animated Sgt. Slaughter remained a member of the G.I. Joe team in later seasons, even after his real-life counterpart became an anti-American "heel" wrestler, teaming up with an "Iraqi General," General Adnan, against Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VII during the time of the 1990 Persian Gulf War.
Real-life Chicago Bears football star William "The Refrigerator" Perry became a member of the G.I. Joe team in late 1986, with the codename "Fridge." A special edition action figure was issued, but "Fridge" was never featured on the animated series.
Plans were made to have the character Rocky Balboa join the G.I. Joe team in 1987. In fact, Marvel Comics "G.I. Joe: Order of Battle" issue #2 contained a dossier for Balboa and Hasbro designed a prototype figure with Sylvester Stallone's likeness. Additionally, a new character, Big Boa, was added to the Cobra roster, complete with boxing gloves, to act as Rocky's Cobra counterpart and foil. A deal could not be reached to use Stallone's likeness, however, and Marvel wound up retracting the Balboa dossier, instead deciding on Sgt. Slaughter to be G.I. Joe's trainer and "celebrity spokesman".
In one episode, Destro has to recite an ancient incantation to defeat a monster. If the incantation is recorded and played backwards, it says "Anyone listening to this message backwards is a real dweeb."
The line of action figures included one for Zartan the Swamp Master, a villain who was a master of disguise and who could camouflage himself like a chameleon. The action figure had photoreactive "skin" that would turn blue when exposed to direct sunlight, as did his vehicle. In the animated series, Zartan was allergic to sunlight and would be weakened when exposed to it, which also turned his skin blue. However, the figure was taken off the shelves late in 1986.
Larry Hama was also the writer of the file cards written on the back of the packaging of the G.I. Joe toy line. The files where short biographies of both the Joes and Cobra soldiers.
The premise was initially conceived by comic writer Larry Hama as Fury Force, which would have been an ongoing series for Marvel Comics. The original premise had the son of S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury assembling a team of elite commandos to battle neo-Nazi terrorists Hydra. Though Marvel turned down the idea, Hama dusted it off when he learned that Hasbro was resurrecting their G.I. Joe toy line. Marvel issued a comic to help promote the toyline, and Sunbow's animated promotions for the comic paved the way for the ongoing cartoon.
At one point, Cobra was going to be Soviets, but this idea was dropped because it was considered culturally insensitive. Regardless, in "The Great Alaskan Land Rush," the Soviet counterpart to GI Joe, The October Guard, is an antagonist attempting to get an important seal in order for the USSR to reclaim Alaska.
Sergeant Slaughter, a real-life professional wrestler, became a member of the G.I. Joe team during the show's second season. The real Sgt. Slaughter provided the voice for the animated character. The animated Sgt. Slaughter remained a member of the G.I. Joe team in later seasons, even after his real-life counterpart became an anti-American "heel" wrestler, teaming up with an "Iraqi General," General Adnan, against Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VII during the time of the 1990 Persian Gulf War.
Real-life Chicago Bears football star William "The Refrigerator" Perry became a member of the G.I. Joe team in late 1986, with the codename "Fridge." A special edition action figure was issued, but "Fridge" was never featured on the animated series.
Plans were made to have the character Rocky Balboa join the G.I. Joe team in 1987. In fact, Marvel Comics "G.I. Joe: Order of Battle" issue #2 contained a dossier for Balboa and Hasbro designed a prototype figure with Sylvester Stallone's likeness. Additionally, a new character, Big Boa, was added to the Cobra roster, complete with boxing gloves, to act as Rocky's Cobra counterpart and foil. A deal could not be reached to use Stallone's likeness, however, and Marvel wound up retracting the Balboa dossier, instead deciding on Sgt. Slaughter to be G.I. Joe's trainer and "celebrity spokesman".
Goof Troop (1992-1993)
Quackerjack, a villain from Darkwing Duck, makes an appearance in a few episodes such as on Max's watch in one episode
The town of Spoonerville is named after J. Michael Spooner, who designed most of the background layouts for the series.
First Disney television cartoon to be a situation comedy rather than an action or adventure cartoon.
First Disney production to feature Jim Cummings as the voice of Pete.
Quackerjack, a villain from Darkwing Duck, makes an appearance in a few episodes such as on Max's watch in one episode
The town of Spoonerville is named after J. Michael Spooner, who designed most of the background layouts for the series.
First Disney television cartoon to be a situation comedy rather than an action or adventure cartoon.
First Disney production to feature Jim Cummings as the voice of Pete.
He-man and the Masters of the Universe (1983-1985)
Prince Adam is supposed to be a teenager; however, to save on animation costs, he was animated with the exact same design as He-Man.
Executive producer Lou Scheimer was instrumental in developing the concept of He-Man Mattel Toys and D.C Comics. The character had originally appeared in D.C. comics as a Conan the Barbarian-type character living in a post-apocalyptic world. Scheimer called the story "the most vile thing I'd ever read". Taking inspiration from the character Captain Marvel from an earlier Filmation series, Scheimer developed the concept of Prince Adam as He-Man's alter ego, the character of the Sorceress as his benevolent mentor, and Orko as the jester-style comic relief, to make the show more kid-friendly. Despite these changes, the show still came under fire from some groups as too violent, with some even accusing it of having hidden Satanic messages.
Episodes in which the character Skeletor appeared were never broadcast in France. The image of his skull-face was considered too terrifying for television.
Orko's name was originally Gorpo in early concepts for the shows. The character's name was changed to save on animation costs: Animators were able to flip animation cells, thus using them twice, because of the symmetrical "O".
The writers would deliberately give Alan Oppenheimer's characters lines in quick succession, so they could watch him, quite amusingly, switch between characters during recording sessions.
First cartoon to air in the USA on weekday afternoons instead of Saturday Mornings.
The secret of Castle Greyskull was supposed to have been that it contained a collective entity that was the combined consciousness of Eternia's ancient scholars contained in a sphere. This had to be dropped, although references to the secret remain in various episodes of the series. However, the idea was used in the new series from 2002.
Linda Gary's name was sometimes misspelled as "Linda Gray" in the closing titles.
Lou Scheimer provided the voice for Mekaneck in all of his appearances, but used different two different vocal characterizations.
While the show was conceived to help advertise the action figure line, several characters were created for the show and then later made into toys. These include Prince Adam, Orko, King Randor and The Sorceress.
Several action figures which were made in 1986 were added to the cast of She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985) because production on Masters of the Universe had ceased: Rokkon, Stonedar, Snout Spout, Multi-Bot, The Horde Trooper, Rattlor, Tung Lashor, and a character named "Colonel Blast" who appears to have been based on the figure Rio Blast.
At the end of each episode He-Man, Man-at-Arms, Teela and Orko give
Legend has it that Mattell had originally planned to make a line of toys based on the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian (1982), but balked when the finished movie was rated R. (This was before the advent of MacFarlane toys and other action figures aimed at adults.) Instead of scrapping the line, they created He-Man. Most sources agree that, while He-Man was influenced by Conan, there was no direct connection.
Skeletor also had a lesser-known henchman by the name of Jitsu. He only appeared one time during the series. The character design made him look like he was Asian. He had a large golden hand that was used to give karate chops to his enemies.
Even though this series ended in 1985, several "Masters of the Universe" characters (including He-Man, Orko, Skeletor, and Battle Cat) would make occasional guest appearances on the spin-off show "She-Ra: Princess Of Power", which ran from 1985 to 1987. The character of She-Ra was He-Man's sister.
The character of Ram-Man was the only person who came close to realizing that Prince Adam and He-Man were the same person.
The Evil Horde, the antagonists from She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985), make an appearance in one episode, "The Origin of the Sorceress". In that episode during a flashback, we see several reptilian soldiers wearing Horde logos functioning as scouting party before they're chased off.
Prince Adam is supposed to be a teenager; however, to save on animation costs, he was animated with the exact same design as He-Man.
Executive producer Lou Scheimer was instrumental in developing the concept of He-Man Mattel Toys and D.C Comics. The character had originally appeared in D.C. comics as a Conan the Barbarian-type character living in a post-apocalyptic world. Scheimer called the story "the most vile thing I'd ever read". Taking inspiration from the character Captain Marvel from an earlier Filmation series, Scheimer developed the concept of Prince Adam as He-Man's alter ego, the character of the Sorceress as his benevolent mentor, and Orko as the jester-style comic relief, to make the show more kid-friendly. Despite these changes, the show still came under fire from some groups as too violent, with some even accusing it of having hidden Satanic messages.
Episodes in which the character Skeletor appeared were never broadcast in France. The image of his skull-face was considered too terrifying for television.
Orko's name was originally Gorpo in early concepts for the shows. The character's name was changed to save on animation costs: Animators were able to flip animation cells, thus using them twice, because of the symmetrical "O".
The writers would deliberately give Alan Oppenheimer's characters lines in quick succession, so they could watch him, quite amusingly, switch between characters during recording sessions.
First cartoon to air in the USA on weekday afternoons instead of Saturday Mornings.
The secret of Castle Greyskull was supposed to have been that it contained a collective entity that was the combined consciousness of Eternia's ancient scholars contained in a sphere. This had to be dropped, although references to the secret remain in various episodes of the series. However, the idea was used in the new series from 2002.
Linda Gary's name was sometimes misspelled as "Linda Gray" in the closing titles.
Lou Scheimer provided the voice for Mekaneck in all of his appearances, but used different two different vocal characterizations.
While the show was conceived to help advertise the action figure line, several characters were created for the show and then later made into toys. These include Prince Adam, Orko, King Randor and The Sorceress.
Several action figures which were made in 1986 were added to the cast of She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985) because production on Masters of the Universe had ceased: Rokkon, Stonedar, Snout Spout, Multi-Bot, The Horde Trooper, Rattlor, Tung Lashor, and a character named "Colonel Blast" who appears to have been based on the figure Rio Blast.
At the end of each episode He-Man, Man-at-Arms, Teela and Orko give
Legend has it that Mattell had originally planned to make a line of toys based on the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian (1982), but balked when the finished movie was rated R. (This was before the advent of MacFarlane toys and other action figures aimed at adults.) Instead of scrapping the line, they created He-Man. Most sources agree that, while He-Man was influenced by Conan, there was no direct connection.
Skeletor also had a lesser-known henchman by the name of Jitsu. He only appeared one time during the series. The character design made him look like he was Asian. He had a large golden hand that was used to give karate chops to his enemies.
Even though this series ended in 1985, several "Masters of the Universe" characters (including He-Man, Orko, Skeletor, and Battle Cat) would make occasional guest appearances on the spin-off show "She-Ra: Princess Of Power", which ran from 1985 to 1987. The character of She-Ra was He-Man's sister.
The character of Ram-Man was the only person who came close to realizing that Prince Adam and He-Man were the same person.
The Evil Horde, the antagonists from She-Ra: Princess of Power (1985), make an appearance in one episode, "The Origin of the Sorceress". In that episode during a flashback, we see several reptilian soldiers wearing Horde logos functioning as scouting party before they're chased off.
Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats (1984-1987)
Heathcliff and Riff-Raff never appear together in the same clip.
Heathcliff and Riff-Raff never appear together in the same clip.
Inspector Gadget (1983-1986)
Dr. Claw's face was never shown throughout the entire run of the show, though his cartoon face was finally revealed via his action figure release.
Jesse White and Gary Owens were originally considered for the role of Inspector Gadget. Owens created the catchphrase of "Wowsers". But Don Adams read the lines best of all so he was hired.
The recurring MAD agents in the series actually had names. The names were used by the production staff, though none of their names were spoken on air during the series. The following are the names of the MAD agents followed by a brief description of their appearances. Fred: Large, hulking build, low brow, no visible neck. Dick: Tall, thin, wiry limbs, combed-over hair, pointy nose. Pops: Bald, grumpy old man with a big jaw. Jarvis: Fat, balding middle-aged man with no neck. Bruce: Muscular build, large chin. Resembles Buzz Lightyear. Slick: Slicked-back hair with a goatee. Lenny: Tall and lumbering, has a dopey-looking face with a long nose. Squirt: Short and toad-like in appearance.
MAD is known as an acronym for two things: Malevolant Agency [of] Destruction and Mean And Dirty. It has also been speculated as meaning Men Against Dogs.
According to the trading cards of the series, Inspector Gadget is said to have 14,000 gadgets in his body. Other facts include that Inspector Gadget works for INTERPOL (International Police) on worldwide missions and was surgically reconstructed as a bionic man after an accident when he was chasing a villain (presumably Dr. Claw), slipped on a banana peel, and fell down many flights of stairs.
Dr. Claw is based on Blofeld from the James Bond series. Much like Blofeld, his face is usually kept hidden, and only the character's hands can be seen. Another similarity is that he is almost always petting a cat with those visible hands.
Don Adams reused some of Get Smart (1965)'s catchphrases for Gadget's character. These included "Would you believe...?" and "Sorry about that, Chief."
Frank Welker was unavailable to voice Dr. Claw in several episodes (_"Inspector Gadget" (1983) {M.A.D. Trap (#1.20)_, Inspector Gadget: Basic Training (1983), Inspector Gadget: Gadget Goes West (1983) and Inspector Gadget: The Coo-Coo Clock Caper (1983)), so Don Francks instead provided the voice. The difference in voices is quite noticeable. In fact, in "Race to the Finish", Francks provides some of the lines for Claw, while Welker provides the rest of the lines, resulting in the voice switching back and forth, at one point even in mid-sentence. As Francks delivers the line "More trouble than you think, little girl", Welker delivers the laughter that follows and the next line "Bye-bye, Gadget."
Penny's parents are never mentioned.
In the original pilot, Inspector Gadget had a mustache. However, DIC received a letter from MGM that Gadget closely resembled the animated incarnation of MGM's Inspector Clouseau, and infringed on intellectual property. Ergo, DIC decided to remove Gadget's mustache.
Andy Heyward came up with the idea for Inspector Gadget in 1981 while working on Dynomutt Dog Wonder (1978). He wrote the pilot episode script himself, which was produced for television in 1982.
According to Andy Heyward and Michael Maliani on the DVD bonus features, about 150 sketches were made of Inspector Gadget before
Jim Carrey auditioned for the voice of Corporal Capeman.
The theme song seems to be a musical paraphrase of Edvard Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King," a song written for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt.
The first animated TV show whose sound was in stereo.
Dr. Claw's face was never shown throughout the entire run of the show, though his cartoon face was finally revealed via his action figure release.
Jesse White and Gary Owens were originally considered for the role of Inspector Gadget. Owens created the catchphrase of "Wowsers". But Don Adams read the lines best of all so he was hired.
The recurring MAD agents in the series actually had names. The names were used by the production staff, though none of their names were spoken on air during the series. The following are the names of the MAD agents followed by a brief description of their appearances. Fred: Large, hulking build, low brow, no visible neck. Dick: Tall, thin, wiry limbs, combed-over hair, pointy nose. Pops: Bald, grumpy old man with a big jaw. Jarvis: Fat, balding middle-aged man with no neck. Bruce: Muscular build, large chin. Resembles Buzz Lightyear. Slick: Slicked-back hair with a goatee. Lenny: Tall and lumbering, has a dopey-looking face with a long nose. Squirt: Short and toad-like in appearance.
MAD is known as an acronym for two things: Malevolant Agency [of] Destruction and Mean And Dirty. It has also been speculated as meaning Men Against Dogs.
According to the trading cards of the series, Inspector Gadget is said to have 14,000 gadgets in his body. Other facts include that Inspector Gadget works for INTERPOL (International Police) on worldwide missions and was surgically reconstructed as a bionic man after an accident when he was chasing a villain (presumably Dr. Claw), slipped on a banana peel, and fell down many flights of stairs.
Dr. Claw is based on Blofeld from the James Bond series. Much like Blofeld, his face is usually kept hidden, and only the character's hands can be seen. Another similarity is that he is almost always petting a cat with those visible hands.
Don Adams reused some of Get Smart (1965)'s catchphrases for Gadget's character. These included "Would you believe...?" and "Sorry about that, Chief."
Frank Welker was unavailable to voice Dr. Claw in several episodes (_"Inspector Gadget" (1983) {M.A.D. Trap (#1.20)_, Inspector Gadget: Basic Training (1983), Inspector Gadget: Gadget Goes West (1983) and Inspector Gadget: The Coo-Coo Clock Caper (1983)), so Don Francks instead provided the voice. The difference in voices is quite noticeable. In fact, in "Race to the Finish", Francks provides some of the lines for Claw, while Welker provides the rest of the lines, resulting in the voice switching back and forth, at one point even in mid-sentence. As Francks delivers the line "More trouble than you think, little girl", Welker delivers the laughter that follows and the next line "Bye-bye, Gadget."
Penny's parents are never mentioned.
In the original pilot, Inspector Gadget had a mustache. However, DIC received a letter from MGM that Gadget closely resembled the animated incarnation of MGM's Inspector Clouseau, and infringed on intellectual property. Ergo, DIC decided to remove Gadget's mustache.
Andy Heyward came up with the idea for Inspector Gadget in 1981 while working on Dynomutt Dog Wonder (1978). He wrote the pilot episode script himself, which was produced for television in 1982.
According to Andy Heyward and Michael Maliani on the DVD bonus features, about 150 sketches were made of Inspector Gadget before
Jim Carrey auditioned for the voice of Corporal Capeman.
The theme song seems to be a musical paraphrase of Edvard Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King," a song written for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt.
The first animated TV show whose sound was in stereo.
The Jetsons (1962-1988)
An episode of another Hanna-Barbera show, The Flintstones (1960) (The Flintstones: Time Machine (1965)), in which the Flinstones and the Rubbles use a time machine at the Worlds' Fair to travel to the future, features a distinctly Jetson-esque 21st century.
The design of the Jetsons' flying car was inspired by a 1954 Ford concept car, the FX-Atmos, notable for its all-glass bubble canopy, dashboard radar screen, and jet-plane-like tail fins.
The first program ever to be broadcast in color on ABC-TV.
One of the last shows to portrait a future funny, optimist and progressive, before of the 1973's Oil Crisis and the fight for the environment that in the 1970's changed the vision of the future.
Originally ran for only 24 episodes during the 1962-1963 TV season. In 1985 the program was revived, with new episodes designed to syndicate alongside the originals.
The Jetsons' phone number is VENUS-1234.
The Jetson's domestic robot is called Rosie the Robot. It's a reference for the iconic Robbie the Robot appeared in Forbidden Planet (1956).
The character 'George Jetson' was ranked #4 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).
Based on the "Blondie" comic strip and series. Penny Singleton, who played Blondie in the 1940s series, was the voice of Jane Jetson.
The Jetson clan appeared in print ads for Electrasol Dish Washer tabs and were the subject of a series of collectible tins (2004-05) . Jane also appeared in circular coupons
An episode of another Hanna-Barbera show, The Flintstones (1960) (The Flintstones: Time Machine (1965)), in which the Flinstones and the Rubbles use a time machine at the Worlds' Fair to travel to the future, features a distinctly Jetson-esque 21st century.
The design of the Jetsons' flying car was inspired by a 1954 Ford concept car, the FX-Atmos, notable for its all-glass bubble canopy, dashboard radar screen, and jet-plane-like tail fins.
The first program ever to be broadcast in color on ABC-TV.
One of the last shows to portrait a future funny, optimist and progressive, before of the 1973's Oil Crisis and the fight for the environment that in the 1970's changed the vision of the future.
Originally ran for only 24 episodes during the 1962-1963 TV season. In 1985 the program was revived, with new episodes designed to syndicate alongside the originals.
The Jetsons' phone number is VENUS-1234.
The Jetson's domestic robot is called Rosie the Robot. It's a reference for the iconic Robbie the Robot appeared in Forbidden Planet (1956).
The character 'George Jetson' was ranked #4 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).
Based on the "Blondie" comic strip and series. Penny Singleton, who played Blondie in the 1940s series, was the voice of Jane Jetson.
The Jetson clan appeared in print ads for Electrasol Dish Washer tabs and were the subject of a series of collectible tins (2004-05) . Jane also appeared in circular coupons
Johnny Bravo (1997-2004)
Johnny Bravo is based on Elvis Presley. The city where Johnny Bravo lives is Aaron City, named after Elvis Presley's middle name, Aron.
Johnny Bravo's pompadour was based on Brad Pitt's outrageous hairstyle in the movie Johnny Suede (1991).
According to creator Van Partible', the main character was named Johnny Bravo because the name originated from The Brady Bunch: Adios, Johnny Bravo (1973), where Greg Brady was nicknamed "the next Johnny Bravo". The name was also derived from Partible's middle name, Giovanni Bravo, which Giovanni is also an Italian name for Johnny.
In the "Biosphere Johnny" cartoon of episode, Johnny Bravo: The Johnny Bravo Affair/Biosphere Johnny/Spa Spaz (2000), Johnny, unused to being trapped in the biosphere, goes into a low-grade form of shock. When asked by a co-captive what he's doing as he stares at the microwave, Johnny answers with something along the lines of "I'm watching my favorite show: Bowl of Macaroni and Cheese going around and around and around... and Eddy!" This is a reference to cartoon series Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy (1999), which is also a Cartoon Network production.
During the second and third season run of the series, every episode was written from outlines not scripts. The Producers, Writers, and the episode's Director and Storyboard Artist would sit in a room for one day and "Beat-Out" all the jokes while the artist "Roughed-Out" drawings on Post-Its. This was intended to shorten the time back and forth between Writer/Producer/Director/ and Artist and cut down on miscommunication.
Johnny Bravo is based on Elvis Presley. The city where Johnny Bravo lives is Aaron City, named after Elvis Presley's middle name, Aron.
Johnny Bravo's pompadour was based on Brad Pitt's outrageous hairstyle in the movie Johnny Suede (1991).
According to creator Van Partible', the main character was named Johnny Bravo because the name originated from The Brady Bunch: Adios, Johnny Bravo (1973), where Greg Brady was nicknamed "the next Johnny Bravo". The name was also derived from Partible's middle name, Giovanni Bravo, which Giovanni is also an Italian name for Johnny.
In the "Biosphere Johnny" cartoon of episode, Johnny Bravo: The Johnny Bravo Affair/Biosphere Johnny/Spa Spaz (2000), Johnny, unused to being trapped in the biosphere, goes into a low-grade form of shock. When asked by a co-captive what he's doing as he stares at the microwave, Johnny answers with something along the lines of "I'm watching my favorite show: Bowl of Macaroni and Cheese going around and around and around... and Eddy!" This is a reference to cartoon series Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy (1999), which is also a Cartoon Network production.
During the second and third season run of the series, every episode was written from outlines not scripts. The Producers, Writers, and the episode's Director and Storyboard Artist would sit in a room for one day and "Beat-Out" all the jokes while the artist "Roughed-Out" drawings on Post-Its. This was intended to shorten the time back and forth between Writer/Producer/Director/ and Artist and cut down on miscommunication.
The Justice League (2001-2006)
The John Stewart Green Lantern was selected rather than the better known Lanterns, Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner, not only because it would allow for an African-American member of the team, but the producers felt that the character's originally abrasive personality would have more dramatic potential.
Only George Newbern (Superman) and Mark Hamill (the Joker) delivered their lines standing up. All the rest of the cast sat down.
This is the fourth time that Bruce W. Timm and his team redesigned Batman. This version is similar to the classic Bob Kane Batman, which also is similar in design to the Batman Beyond (1999) design. Similarities between the two are the lengths of the ears on the mask, the figure and the boots having heels.
When Developing this show Bruce Timm toyed with the idea of giving the Justice League a uniformed look to their costumes and give Wonder Woman a new hair style. When Timm mentioned it to DC president Paul Levitz he said "Not the Big 3 (Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman). You can do it to Green Lantern, you can do Flash, but not the big 3." The designs were later used for the Justice Lords costumes.
Beginning with the second season, episodes are filmed in widescreen. Any second season episode broadcast as full-screen actually has the sides "cropped".
Though a founding member of the Justice League in the comic books, Aquaman was left out of the cartoon series' line-up in favor of Hawkgirl, thus providing another female character. Aquaman appears only as a guest star.
The producers felt that the early Gardner Fox stories made the characters almost interchangeable and the more recent Grant Morrison stuff was just way too dark and complicated. Therefore (with the exception of "In Blackest Night" which was based on one of Fox's stories), they decided to create their own stories. However, what Timm did use from the Morrison run on JLA was the "dysfunctional family" atmosphere for the League.
Although several actors reprised their voice roles from the shows Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and Superman (1996), conspicuously absent is Timothy Daly, who voiced Superman. He became unavailable after landing the lead role in the TV series The Fugitive (2000). However, this is the fourth consecutive animated series starring Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman: the aforementioned '92 series, The New Batman Adventures (1997) and Batman Beyond (1999) (not including guest appearances on Static Shock (2000) and The Zeta Project (2001)). 4
Was originally to be titled "Justice League of America" after the incredibly popular JLA comic (Revamped by Grant Morrison). However, "Justice League" was favored to give the show a more universal feel.
The character models for some of the characters in the test footage was quite different from the final product. The Superman design used was identical to the models used on Superman (1996). Green Lantern had the same hairstyle and costume as the final design, but still possesses the dark green mask from the Superman draft model. The one with the most significant changes to his design was J'onn J'onzz. In the test footage he appears blockier, with a squarer jaw, a Kirbyesque line detailing his right cheek, and black eyes with red pupils (similar to the Joker's redesign for The New Batman Adventures (1997)). In addition, J'onn's color palate utilizes paler greens, blues and reds, and possesses none of the shiny highlights that have become a trademark of the series. Featured briefly commanding a robot that resembles the Golem (from Batman Beyond: Golem (1999)), Similarly, Lex Luthor had a craggy, Kirby-like detailing on his face, and his design is an early take on the updated purple-and-green jumpsuit uniform, indicating that the creative team was already planning on utilizing the Silver Age "mad scientist" Luthor, rather than the "corrupt industrialist" Luthor, from Superman (1996). Solomon Grundy looked a bit younger that on the final product and Cheetah looked more like her comic counterpart featuring long black hair.
As of season 3's beginning, the show's title changes to Justice League Unlimited, which is the name of the team as seen many years into the future in the series Batman Beyond (1999). With the show's title change, each episode now is only half an hour long and tells a complete story, and utilizes a rotating cast of DC Comics characters.
Though intended to incorporate both the previously aired Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and Superman (1996) cartoon histories, the creative staff initially decided to ignore Superman: In Brightest Day... (1999) so as to not confuse viewers with two different Green Lanterns. This plan was later reconsidered. In "Hearts and Minds", the Green Lantern introduced in the Superman series, Kyle Rayner, is briefly mentioned as being a Green Lantern Corps member and appears in "Hereafter". In "The Return", Rayner is shown in action with the Corps as a speaking part. In "The Once and Future Thing: Part Two: Time, Warped" Chronos' tinkering with space-time causes John Stewart to briefly morph into Hal Jordan, the original comic's Silver Age Green Lantern who was not previously seen in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), _"Batman: Gotham Knights" (1997)_, Superman (1996), or _"New Batman Superman Adventures, The" (1997)_.
When the series was expanded from Justice League to Justice League Unlimited, producers considered adding Batman's sidekicks, Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. However, DC Comics turned them down, because the Robin/Dick Grayson role was being used on Teen Titans.
The Riddler and the Scarecrow are the only villains from the Challenge of the Superfriends series that don't also appear on Justice League.
Many adventures are based in Metropolis, although the city has been redesigned from the futuristic version seen in _"Superman: The Animated Series" (1996)_.
The John Stewart Green Lantern was selected rather than the better known Lanterns, Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner, not only because it would allow for an African-American member of the team, but the producers felt that the character's originally abrasive personality would have more dramatic potential.
Only George Newbern (Superman) and Mark Hamill (the Joker) delivered their lines standing up. All the rest of the cast sat down.
This is the fourth time that Bruce W. Timm and his team redesigned Batman. This version is similar to the classic Bob Kane Batman, which also is similar in design to the Batman Beyond (1999) design. Similarities between the two are the lengths of the ears on the mask, the figure and the boots having heels.
When Developing this show Bruce Timm toyed with the idea of giving the Justice League a uniformed look to their costumes and give Wonder Woman a new hair style. When Timm mentioned it to DC president Paul Levitz he said "Not the Big 3 (Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman). You can do it to Green Lantern, you can do Flash, but not the big 3." The designs were later used for the Justice Lords costumes.
Beginning with the second season, episodes are filmed in widescreen. Any second season episode broadcast as full-screen actually has the sides "cropped".
Though a founding member of the Justice League in the comic books, Aquaman was left out of the cartoon series' line-up in favor of Hawkgirl, thus providing another female character. Aquaman appears only as a guest star.
The producers felt that the early Gardner Fox stories made the characters almost interchangeable and the more recent Grant Morrison stuff was just way too dark and complicated. Therefore (with the exception of "In Blackest Night" which was based on one of Fox's stories), they decided to create their own stories. However, what Timm did use from the Morrison run on JLA was the "dysfunctional family" atmosphere for the League.
Although several actors reprised their voice roles from the shows Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and Superman (1996), conspicuously absent is Timothy Daly, who voiced Superman. He became unavailable after landing the lead role in the TV series The Fugitive (2000). However, this is the fourth consecutive animated series starring Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman: the aforementioned '92 series, The New Batman Adventures (1997) and Batman Beyond (1999) (not including guest appearances on Static Shock (2000) and The Zeta Project (2001)). 4
Was originally to be titled "Justice League of America" after the incredibly popular JLA comic (Revamped by Grant Morrison). However, "Justice League" was favored to give the show a more universal feel.
The character models for some of the characters in the test footage was quite different from the final product. The Superman design used was identical to the models used on Superman (1996). Green Lantern had the same hairstyle and costume as the final design, but still possesses the dark green mask from the Superman draft model. The one with the most significant changes to his design was J'onn J'onzz. In the test footage he appears blockier, with a squarer jaw, a Kirbyesque line detailing his right cheek, and black eyes with red pupils (similar to the Joker's redesign for The New Batman Adventures (1997)). In addition, J'onn's color palate utilizes paler greens, blues and reds, and possesses none of the shiny highlights that have become a trademark of the series. Featured briefly commanding a robot that resembles the Golem (from Batman Beyond: Golem (1999)), Similarly, Lex Luthor had a craggy, Kirby-like detailing on his face, and his design is an early take on the updated purple-and-green jumpsuit uniform, indicating that the creative team was already planning on utilizing the Silver Age "mad scientist" Luthor, rather than the "corrupt industrialist" Luthor, from Superman (1996). Solomon Grundy looked a bit younger that on the final product and Cheetah looked more like her comic counterpart featuring long black hair.
As of season 3's beginning, the show's title changes to Justice League Unlimited, which is the name of the team as seen many years into the future in the series Batman Beyond (1999). With the show's title change, each episode now is only half an hour long and tells a complete story, and utilizes a rotating cast of DC Comics characters.
Though intended to incorporate both the previously aired Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and Superman (1996) cartoon histories, the creative staff initially decided to ignore Superman: In Brightest Day... (1999) so as to not confuse viewers with two different Green Lanterns. This plan was later reconsidered. In "Hearts and Minds", the Green Lantern introduced in the Superman series, Kyle Rayner, is briefly mentioned as being a Green Lantern Corps member and appears in "Hereafter". In "The Return", Rayner is shown in action with the Corps as a speaking part. In "The Once and Future Thing: Part Two: Time, Warped" Chronos' tinkering with space-time causes John Stewart to briefly morph into Hal Jordan, the original comic's Silver Age Green Lantern who was not previously seen in Batman: The Animated Series (1992), _"Batman: Gotham Knights" (1997)_, Superman (1996), or _"New Batman Superman Adventures, The" (1997)_.
When the series was expanded from Justice League to Justice League Unlimited, producers considered adding Batman's sidekicks, Robin, Batgirl, and Nightwing. However, DC Comics turned them down, because the Robin/Dick Grayson role was being used on Teen Titans.
The Riddler and the Scarecrow are the only villains from the Challenge of the Superfriends series that don't also appear on Justice League.
Many adventures are based in Metropolis, although the city has been redesigned from the futuristic version seen in _"Superman: The Animated Series" (1996)_.
The Bugs Bunny Show (1960-1975)
Words to the opening: "Overture, turn the lights! / This is it. The night of nights. / No more rehearsing or nursing a part. / We know every part by heart! / Overture, turn the lights! / This is it. We'll hit the heights! / And oh, what heights we'll hit! / On with the show, this is it! / Tonight what heights we'll hit! / On with the show, this is it!"
Several episodes' bridging sequences (the original animation between cartoon shorts) would be shown as bonuses on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection line of DVDs.
This animated show marks Billy Bletcher's final animation role.
Words to the opening: "Overture, turn the lights! / This is it. The night of nights. / No more rehearsing or nursing a part. / We know every part by heart! / Overture, turn the lights! / This is it. We'll hit the heights! / And oh, what heights we'll hit! / On with the show, this is it! / Tonight what heights we'll hit! / On with the show, this is it!"
Several episodes' bridging sequences (the original animation between cartoon shorts) would be shown as bonuses on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection line of DVDs.
This animated show marks Billy Bletcher's final animation role.
Muppet Babies (1984-1991)
Much like WKRP in Cincinnati (1978) was with popular music, "Muppet Babies" made extensive use of clips from popular movies and Hollywood shorts as part of the effect on the imagination efforts of each Muppet. However, also like WKRP, the royalties and licensing of these clips may make it impossible to ever rerun these shows in syndication or release them on DVD by season in the future.
Skeeter was never made as a real puppet, but she was made for and only seen in the animated version. All other Muppet Babies had a puppet counterpart in the Muppet Show. She was created because the producers wanted another female character in the show though she was voiced by a male actor.
The Muppet Babies were introduced in a fantasy sequence in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), released several months before the series' premiere; the sequence thus served as a preview of the series.
The show started out with a run time of 30-minutes, then was boosted to 60-minutes. It ended up going to 90-minutes when "The Garbage Pail Kids" cartoon ended up not making it to the airwaves, and CBS had nothing else to fill the void.
(Excluding the stock footage) The faces of the non-Muppet human adults were rarely seen.
In the second season, the show was expanded to 60 minutes and the title was changed to "Muppets, Babies, & Monsters". An additional segment titled "Little Muppet Monsters" was added. The segment featured new puppet characters and animated segments. These segments were so unpopular that they were cancelled after two episodes. The remaining half-hour was filled with reruns from the first season. The show's closing theme song was changed to an instrumental version of the "Monsters" theme song and it remained until the end of the show's run.
Much like WKRP in Cincinnati (1978) was with popular music, "Muppet Babies" made extensive use of clips from popular movies and Hollywood shorts as part of the effect on the imagination efforts of each Muppet. However, also like WKRP, the royalties and licensing of these clips may make it impossible to ever rerun these shows in syndication or release them on DVD by season in the future.
Skeeter was never made as a real puppet, but she was made for and only seen in the animated version. All other Muppet Babies had a puppet counterpart in the Muppet Show. She was created because the producers wanted another female character in the show though she was voiced by a male actor.
The Muppet Babies were introduced in a fantasy sequence in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), released several months before the series' premiere; the sequence thus served as a preview of the series.
The show started out with a run time of 30-minutes, then was boosted to 60-minutes. It ended up going to 90-minutes when "The Garbage Pail Kids" cartoon ended up not making it to the airwaves, and CBS had nothing else to fill the void.
(Excluding the stock footage) The faces of the non-Muppet human adults were rarely seen.
In the second season, the show was expanded to 60 minutes and the title was changed to "Muppets, Babies, & Monsters". An additional segment titled "Little Muppet Monsters" was added. The segment featured new puppet characters and animated segments. These segments were so unpopular that they were cancelled after two episodes. The remaining half-hour was filled with reruns from the first season. The show's closing theme song was changed to an instrumental version of the "Monsters" theme song and it remained until the end of the show's run.
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-1991)
After Paul Winchell, who did the voice of Tigger, left the show, Jim Cummings, who already did Winnie the Pooh's voice, took over for him.
John Fiedler (Piglet), Hal Smith (Owl) and Paul Winchell (Tigger) all reprised their original roles from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) for this series.
After Paul Winchell, who did the voice of Tigger, left the show, Jim Cummings, who already did Winnie the Pooh's voice, took over for him.
John Fiedler (Piglet), Hal Smith (Owl) and Paul Winchell (Tigger) all reprised their original roles from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) for this series.
Pinky and the Brain (1995-1998)
In the opening for the show, Brain is writing a complex formula about the Universe Explained (simplified) and the resulting answer is THX 1138 (1971) - the title of the first film by George Lucas.
The Brain's voice is based upon that of Orson Welles. The voice actor portraying Brain is Maurice LaMarche, who also portrayed Orson Welles by dubbing Vincent D'Onofrio's role as Orson Welles in the movie Ed Wood (1994).
Pinky and the Brain's genes were spliced using the Acme Bagel Warmer and Gene Splicer.
Brain's nemesis, Snowball, was named after a character in George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'.
The character Pinky and the brain were unintentionally created by Bruce W. Timm when creating a caricature of the two lead artists of Tiny Toon adventures.
A bootleg tape of a short-tempered (and foul-mouthed) Orson Welles arguing with a recording engineer during a voice-over session has been widely distributed. It was used as the basis for an episode of this show, with The Brain reading cleaned-up versions of Welles' rantings. The episode's title, "Yes, Always", is taken from one of Orson's complaints.
During the song "Meticulous Analysis of History", The Brain flashes two subliminal messages on the screen. They each appear on the screen for only a fraction of a second. They read, respectively: "You see, you are under my power", and "I forced you to use the 'still' button on your VCR".
Originated as a series of segments on Animaniacs (1993) before being spun off to its own show. It was moved to the WB's prime time lineup where it won an Emmy. Then it was moved back to the Kids WB lineup where it was Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998) adding the familiar human character from Tiny Toon Adventures (1990). After a few episodes, it was canceled.
In the opening for the show, Brain is writing a complex formula about the Universe Explained (simplified) and the resulting answer is THX 1138 (1971) - the title of the first film by George Lucas.
The Brain's voice is based upon that of Orson Welles. The voice actor portraying Brain is Maurice LaMarche, who also portrayed Orson Welles by dubbing Vincent D'Onofrio's role as Orson Welles in the movie Ed Wood (1994).
Pinky and the Brain's genes were spliced using the Acme Bagel Warmer and Gene Splicer.
Brain's nemesis, Snowball, was named after a character in George Orwell's 'Animal Farm'.
The character Pinky and the brain were unintentionally created by Bruce W. Timm when creating a caricature of the two lead artists of Tiny Toon adventures.
A bootleg tape of a short-tempered (and foul-mouthed) Orson Welles arguing with a recording engineer during a voice-over session has been widely distributed. It was used as the basis for an episode of this show, with The Brain reading cleaned-up versions of Welles' rantings. The episode's title, "Yes, Always", is taken from one of Orson's complaints.
During the song "Meticulous Analysis of History", The Brain flashes two subliminal messages on the screen. They each appear on the screen for only a fraction of a second. They read, respectively: "You see, you are under my power", and "I forced you to use the 'still' button on your VCR".
Originated as a series of segments on Animaniacs (1993) before being spun off to its own show. It was moved to the WB's prime time lineup where it won an Emmy. Then it was moved back to the Kids WB lineup where it was Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998) adding the familiar human character from Tiny Toon Adventures (1990). After a few episodes, it was canceled.
The Real Ghost Busters (1986-1991)
Lorenzo Music first supplied the voice for Peter Venkman who was played by Bill Murray in the films. Reportedly, Murray did not like that his character sounded like Garfield and the producers replaced Music with Dave Coulier. Music did provide the voice of Garfield until his death. Bill Murray later supplied the voice for Garfield in Garfield (2004).
According to Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters films, he auditioned to voice the character on the cartoon, but the role instead went to Arsenio Hall.
Maurice LaMarche was unable to come up with the right voice for Egon from his usual repertory of voices, so he decided to simply do an impersonation of Harold Ramis. This led Bill Murray to comment that "Harold's guy sounds like him, I sound like Garfield."
The word "Real" was included in the title in order to avoid confusion with Ghostbusters (1986).
In the early promo artwork for the series, the Peter Venkman character was drawn to look more like Bill Murray and Egon Spengler was drawn to look more like Harold Ramis. But the animators changed the look of Peter, and changed Egon's hair color from brown to blonde, in order to avoid lawsuits for using the actors' likenesses without permission. As for Ray Stanz and Winston Zeddemore, their characters were never drawn to resemble Dan Aykroyd or Ernie Hudson, respectively.
The popularity of the "Green Ghost" character from the first Ghostbusters film (and the memorable scene in which he slimes Bill Murray) was such that the producers of the cartoon series decided to include him in the cast and gave him the name, "Slimer". In turn, the popularity of Slimer was such that he was included in the film sequel "Ghostbusters II".
In 1988, the start of the fourth season, the series was part of a one-hour block of Ghostbusters cartoons (it was joined with the newly created "Slimer!" series) known as "Slimer! And The Real Ghostbusters." This title would stick with the series to its very end (season seven in 1991). The title change also rippled through the marketing of the show in toys, cereal, and Ecto-Cooler Hi-C drink. All of these products changed their logos from "The Real Ghostbusters" to "Slimer & The Real Ghostbusters".
The footage during the end credits of the Ghostbusters dancing down the middle of the street, was based on the video for Ray Parker Jr.'s song where he and the actors from the movie were pretty much doing the same thing.
Frank Welker later replaced Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield.
When communicating with the Ghostbusters via the two-way radio in Ecto-1, Janine uses the handle "Spook Central" in reference to the firehouse. (I.E.: "Spook Central calling Ecto-1.") The tag "Spook Central" was used by Ray Stanz in the first Ghostbusters film in reference to Dana Barrett's apartment. ("Your girlfriend lives in the corner penthouse of Spook Central.")
Lorenzo Music first supplied the voice for Peter Venkman who was played by Bill Murray in the films. Reportedly, Murray did not like that his character sounded like Garfield and the producers replaced Music with Dave Coulier. Music did provide the voice of Garfield until his death. Bill Murray later supplied the voice for Garfield in Garfield (2004).
According to Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters films, he auditioned to voice the character on the cartoon, but the role instead went to Arsenio Hall.
Maurice LaMarche was unable to come up with the right voice for Egon from his usual repertory of voices, so he decided to simply do an impersonation of Harold Ramis. This led Bill Murray to comment that "Harold's guy sounds like him, I sound like Garfield."
The word "Real" was included in the title in order to avoid confusion with Ghostbusters (1986).
In the early promo artwork for the series, the Peter Venkman character was drawn to look more like Bill Murray and Egon Spengler was drawn to look more like Harold Ramis. But the animators changed the look of Peter, and changed Egon's hair color from brown to blonde, in order to avoid lawsuits for using the actors' likenesses without permission. As for Ray Stanz and Winston Zeddemore, their characters were never drawn to resemble Dan Aykroyd or Ernie Hudson, respectively.
The popularity of the "Green Ghost" character from the first Ghostbusters film (and the memorable scene in which he slimes Bill Murray) was such that the producers of the cartoon series decided to include him in the cast and gave him the name, "Slimer". In turn, the popularity of Slimer was such that he was included in the film sequel "Ghostbusters II".
In 1988, the start of the fourth season, the series was part of a one-hour block of Ghostbusters cartoons (it was joined with the newly created "Slimer!" series) known as "Slimer! And The Real Ghostbusters." This title would stick with the series to its very end (season seven in 1991). The title change also rippled through the marketing of the show in toys, cereal, and Ecto-Cooler Hi-C drink. All of these products changed their logos from "The Real Ghostbusters" to "Slimer & The Real Ghostbusters".
The footage during the end credits of the Ghostbusters dancing down the middle of the street, was based on the video for Ray Parker Jr.'s song where he and the actors from the movie were pretty much doing the same thing.
Frank Welker later replaced Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield.
When communicating with the Ghostbusters via the two-way radio in Ecto-1, Janine uses the handle "Spook Central" in reference to the firehouse. (I.E.: "Spook Central calling Ecto-1.") The tag "Spook Central" was used by Ray Stanz in the first Ghostbusters film in reference to Dana Barrett's apartment. ("Your girlfriend lives in the corner penthouse of Spook Central.")
Rocko's Modern Life (1993-1996)
In the first two seasons, the diner where the characters always eat is "Chokey Chicken", which has a giant choking chicken as a mascot. In the third season, "Chokey Chicken" became "Chewy Chicken". There are many hidden sexual references in Rocko's Modern Life, and this was one of the more blatant ones. It was changed because the show is designed for a young audience.
Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider, of the band the B52's, perform vocals for the second season opening theme.
Richard Simmons once offered his voice and semi-likeness to an aerobics trainer in an episode during the first season.
Rocko was originally supposed to be colored yellow. The color was changed because a toy marketing company informed Nickelodeon that they were interested in producing a doll, but already had a character that was yellow. The color was changed to beige, and, after the pilot aired, Nickelodeon got rid of the toy deal.
Tom Kenny based the voice of Heffer off his nephew.
In the first two seasons, the diner where the characters always eat is "Chokey Chicken", which has a giant choking chicken as a mascot. In the third season, "Chokey Chicken" became "Chewy Chicken". There are many hidden sexual references in Rocko's Modern Life, and this was one of the more blatant ones. It was changed because the show is designed for a young audience.
Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider, of the band the B52's, perform vocals for the second season opening theme.
Richard Simmons once offered his voice and semi-likeness to an aerobics trainer in an episode during the first season.
Rocko was originally supposed to be colored yellow. The color was changed because a toy marketing company informed Nickelodeon that they were interested in producing a doll, but already had a character that was yellow. The color was changed to beige, and, after the pilot aired, Nickelodeon got rid of the toy deal.
Tom Kenny based the voice of Heffer off his nephew.
She-ra: Princess of Power
According to the creator, She-Ra's name was taken from the Egyptian word for god, "Ra", so that her name would be She-god.
She-Ra's skirt never moves, despite her acrobatic tendencies. Female directors and animators on the show insisted upon this because they found it inappropriate for the lead character's skirt to fly up on a children's television show.
According to the creator, She-Ra's name was taken from the Egyptian word for god, "Ra", so that her name would be She-god.
She-Ra's skirt never moves, despite her acrobatic tendencies. Female directors and animators on the show insisted upon this because they found it inappropriate for the lead character's skirt to fly up on a children's television show.
Smurfs (1981-1990)
The Smurfs came to be on television when then-NBC president Fred Silverman saw how much his daughter liked a Smurf doll she had been given.
The Smurfs made their debut in 1958 in a comic strip drawn by Pierre "Peyo" Culliford in the Belgian magazine Spirou.
In several European countries, including France, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands, the episodes with Johan and Peewit are considered as different TV series and therefore distributed with a different title: "Johan et Pirlouit" (1985). In the Netherlands, the two series were even shown by different broadcasting companies.
Features incidental music from the "Gnomus" movement of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition".
Contrary to popular belief, the phrase that is often described the height of most Smurfs ("three apples high," the direct translation of the French idiom "haut comme trois pommes") was never a precise scientific measurement. It means that something is really small, and an English equivalent would be "knee-high to a grasshopper."
When choked a Smurf turns yellow.
Unlike the cartoon series where Smurfette is a regular character, in the original comics, she appears infrequently from her debut in "The Smurfette" in 1966 until the 1980s.
Out of all the Smurfs in the cartoon and comic book series, Smurfette is the only one with a generic name. "Smurfette" as term refers to any female Smurf, not just Gargamel's creation. For example, in one episode ("Sassette"), Gargamel refers to Sassette several times as a "Smurfette."
Greedy in the cartoon series combines the personalities of two Smurfs found in the original comics: Chef (also called "Cook" in official sources), the village cook; and Greedy, the village glutton and food thief.
Many of the Smurfs made their debuts in the cartoon series, but the following originated in the pre-1981 comics (not in any order): Papa, Brainy, Greedy (combined in the cartoon series with Chef, Baker, and Pastry Chef), Jokey, Hefty, Harmony, Poet, Painter, Lazy, Grouchy, Vanity, Handy, Farmer, Sickly, Weakling, and Smurfette. Out of all the listed Smurfs, only Weakling appeared in one episode ("A Little Smurf Confidence" from Season 3).
Only in the cartoon series does Baby possess magical powers. In the original comics, he does not and lives as a normal Smurfling.
In the "Johan and Peewit" stories, Peewit is an adult dwarf, not a child as depicted in the cartoon series.
The name of Peewit's goat Biquette is French for "nanny goat." Her name is from the childhood pet of Peyo's widow Nine Culliford.
Dame Barbara is called "Lady Barbara" in the "Johan and Peewit" comic stories. Unlike in the cartoon series, she is not Princess Savina's governess as the latter was created by Studio Peyo exclusively for the cartoon series.
Early episodes of Season 1 make reference of Smurfette as "The Smurfette," which is the literal translation of the French "La Schtroumpfette." This how she is always referred to in the French comics, never simply "Schtroumpfette."
Peyo made the decision for the Smurfs to speak their own language (which commonly uses "smurf") so as to differentiate them from his human characters.
Unlike the cartoon series, where the main staple of the Smurfs' diet is Smurfberries, in the comics it is sarsaparilla (smilax regelii), a plant native to the Americas used as an ingredient for soft drinks like root beer. Peyo's partner Yvan Delporte introduced it to the comics because he found the name magical ("salsepareille" in French), and the word seemed so foreign to Peyo he originally believed Delporte made it up.
It was Peyo's widow and personal colorist Janine "Nine" Culliford that suggested that the Smurfs be colored blue.
The origin of the Smurfs came from an animated cartoon that Peyo was working on at a studio he formerly employed in the last 1940s before its closing stopped production.
The blonde version of Smurfette is based on Peyo's daughter Véronique Culliford when she was five-years-old. She heads I.M.P.S., a company formed by her to license Smurf properties.
The French "Schtroumpf" is actually gibberish and has no meaning. Also, the English name "Smurf" originates not from the French "Schtroumpf," but from the Dutch translation "Smurf."
In the original comics, the use of "smurf" was so frequent that in most cases it is found in each sentence a Smurf speaks. However, so as to prevent the dialogue from being nearly unintelligible to a mostly young television audience, the use of "smurf" was used less frequently in the cartoon series.
Smurfs are naturally all males and do not reproduce (which explains why they come to the world by a stork).
All naturally-born Smurfs are bald. Only Smurfette and Sassette, who were created by magic and are female, have hair.
The cartoon series introduces elements that will eventually appear in the comics and the live-action/CGI film "The Smurfs" (2011), such as a heart-shaped tattoo on Hefty, overalls for Handy, and a red jacket with a black tie for Painter. Previously before the debut of the cartoon series, these Smurfs could not be recognized from each other unless addressed by name (with the exception of Painter who was un-named in the comics prior to 1981) or carrying something commonly associated with them (e.g. lifting dumbells for Hefty).
Gargamel's cat Azrael is named after the angel of death in Hebrew and Islamic traditions.
Of the episodes featuring Johan and Peewit, seven of them, including "The Magic Fountain" and "The Haunted Castle," were based on Peyo's albums. The others were specifically written for the series, probably because many of the Johan and Peewit adventures don't feature the Smurfs at all as they were written before they were invented. Similarly, Smurf characters were added to the adaptations of Johan & Peewit stories that were published before the Smurfs introduction.
During Season 9 of show, the writers wrote several episodes with different doppelgangers of Gargamel so that Paul Winchell (who played Gargamel) can play different types of Gargamels in different worlds. This idea was previously applied in Season 8 short "Don Smurfo's uninvited guests." But Paul Winchell was unavailable during Season 9, because he was playing the character of "Tigger" at Disney. So due to the lack of time, Michael Bell (who played Handy Smurf, Lazy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, and other guest characters in this show) "had" to take over and play different doppelgangers of Gargamel in Season 9. So when season 9 episodes were released on television, they got low ratings and this show got canceled.
One of the very first cartoon projects to be dubbed into Icelandic. As a sign of how primitive that work was, the entire cast of characters was dubbed by just one man (Laddi).
The Smurfs came to be on television when then-NBC president Fred Silverman saw how much his daughter liked a Smurf doll she had been given.
The Smurfs made their debut in 1958 in a comic strip drawn by Pierre "Peyo" Culliford in the Belgian magazine Spirou.
In several European countries, including France, Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands, the episodes with Johan and Peewit are considered as different TV series and therefore distributed with a different title: "Johan et Pirlouit" (1985). In the Netherlands, the two series were even shown by different broadcasting companies.
Features incidental music from the "Gnomus" movement of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition".
Contrary to popular belief, the phrase that is often described the height of most Smurfs ("three apples high," the direct translation of the French idiom "haut comme trois pommes") was never a precise scientific measurement. It means that something is really small, and an English equivalent would be "knee-high to a grasshopper."
When choked a Smurf turns yellow.
Unlike the cartoon series where Smurfette is a regular character, in the original comics, she appears infrequently from her debut in "The Smurfette" in 1966 until the 1980s.
Out of all the Smurfs in the cartoon and comic book series, Smurfette is the only one with a generic name. "Smurfette" as term refers to any female Smurf, not just Gargamel's creation. For example, in one episode ("Sassette"), Gargamel refers to Sassette several times as a "Smurfette."
Greedy in the cartoon series combines the personalities of two Smurfs found in the original comics: Chef (also called "Cook" in official sources), the village cook; and Greedy, the village glutton and food thief.
Many of the Smurfs made their debuts in the cartoon series, but the following originated in the pre-1981 comics (not in any order): Papa, Brainy, Greedy (combined in the cartoon series with Chef, Baker, and Pastry Chef), Jokey, Hefty, Harmony, Poet, Painter, Lazy, Grouchy, Vanity, Handy, Farmer, Sickly, Weakling, and Smurfette. Out of all the listed Smurfs, only Weakling appeared in one episode ("A Little Smurf Confidence" from Season 3).
Only in the cartoon series does Baby possess magical powers. In the original comics, he does not and lives as a normal Smurfling.
In the "Johan and Peewit" stories, Peewit is an adult dwarf, not a child as depicted in the cartoon series.
The name of Peewit's goat Biquette is French for "nanny goat." Her name is from the childhood pet of Peyo's widow Nine Culliford.
Dame Barbara is called "Lady Barbara" in the "Johan and Peewit" comic stories. Unlike in the cartoon series, she is not Princess Savina's governess as the latter was created by Studio Peyo exclusively for the cartoon series.
Early episodes of Season 1 make reference of Smurfette as "The Smurfette," which is the literal translation of the French "La Schtroumpfette." This how she is always referred to in the French comics, never simply "Schtroumpfette."
Peyo made the decision for the Smurfs to speak their own language (which commonly uses "smurf") so as to differentiate them from his human characters.
Unlike the cartoon series, where the main staple of the Smurfs' diet is Smurfberries, in the comics it is sarsaparilla (smilax regelii), a plant native to the Americas used as an ingredient for soft drinks like root beer. Peyo's partner Yvan Delporte introduced it to the comics because he found the name magical ("salsepareille" in French), and the word seemed so foreign to Peyo he originally believed Delporte made it up.
It was Peyo's widow and personal colorist Janine "Nine" Culliford that suggested that the Smurfs be colored blue.
The origin of the Smurfs came from an animated cartoon that Peyo was working on at a studio he formerly employed in the last 1940s before its closing stopped production.
The blonde version of Smurfette is based on Peyo's daughter Véronique Culliford when she was five-years-old. She heads I.M.P.S., a company formed by her to license Smurf properties.
The French "Schtroumpf" is actually gibberish and has no meaning. Also, the English name "Smurf" originates not from the French "Schtroumpf," but from the Dutch translation "Smurf."
In the original comics, the use of "smurf" was so frequent that in most cases it is found in each sentence a Smurf speaks. However, so as to prevent the dialogue from being nearly unintelligible to a mostly young television audience, the use of "smurf" was used less frequently in the cartoon series.
Smurfs are naturally all males and do not reproduce (which explains why they come to the world by a stork).
All naturally-born Smurfs are bald. Only Smurfette and Sassette, who were created by magic and are female, have hair.
The cartoon series introduces elements that will eventually appear in the comics and the live-action/CGI film "The Smurfs" (2011), such as a heart-shaped tattoo on Hefty, overalls for Handy, and a red jacket with a black tie for Painter. Previously before the debut of the cartoon series, these Smurfs could not be recognized from each other unless addressed by name (with the exception of Painter who was un-named in the comics prior to 1981) or carrying something commonly associated with them (e.g. lifting dumbells for Hefty).
Gargamel's cat Azrael is named after the angel of death in Hebrew and Islamic traditions.
Of the episodes featuring Johan and Peewit, seven of them, including "The Magic Fountain" and "The Haunted Castle," were based on Peyo's albums. The others were specifically written for the series, probably because many of the Johan and Peewit adventures don't feature the Smurfs at all as they were written before they were invented. Similarly, Smurf characters were added to the adaptations of Johan & Peewit stories that were published before the Smurfs introduction.
During Season 9 of show, the writers wrote several episodes with different doppelgangers of Gargamel so that Paul Winchell (who played Gargamel) can play different types of Gargamels in different worlds. This idea was previously applied in Season 8 short "Don Smurfo's uninvited guests." But Paul Winchell was unavailable during Season 9, because he was playing the character of "Tigger" at Disney. So due to the lack of time, Michael Bell (who played Handy Smurf, Lazy Smurf, Grouchy Smurf, and other guest characters in this show) "had" to take over and play different doppelgangers of Gargamel in Season 9. So when season 9 episodes were released on television, they got low ratings and this show got canceled.
One of the very first cartoon projects to be dubbed into Icelandic. As a sign of how primitive that work was, the entire cast of characters was dubbed by just one man (Laddi).
Space Ghost: Coast to Coast (1994-2004)
Originally created as a Cartoon Network promo. The programmers had been using old cartoon shows and re-engineering them to act as hosts for a day. Each classic cartoon had its own gimmick; Space Ghost's segment was made a late night talk show and, for rhyme's sake, was called "Space Ghost Coast to Coast".
The DVDs for the show have run into problems because some of the interviews weren't licensed for home video.
The guests and the regulars are often asked whether they are getting enough oxygen.
Before any part of the episodes were written, the guests were interviewed by a crew member, sometimes wearing the Space Ghost costume made famous by Andy Merrill in some Cartoon Planet (1995) intros. The interviewer also instructed the guest to address him as "Space Ghost" to maintain continuity. After an interview was done, the writing crew went back over it, taking pieces out of context and out of order, assembling them into the responses to Space Ghost and the rest of the cast. Most of the show's earlier guests assumed they were participating in a relatively straightforward interview. As the series became more popular, however, more and more guests became at least peripherally familiar with what was going on.
In the show's early stages of production, Hervé Villechaize was set to be Space Ghost's sidekick, but these plans were halted when the actor tragically committed suicide.
The first three volume DVDs were released in stores, but volumes four and five were released exclusively at the website. The final volume has yet to be released.
Space Ghost interviewed Tommy Wiseau in a series of bumpers for Adult Swim's April Fools' Day 2010 showing of The Room (2003).
Originally created as a Cartoon Network promo. The programmers had been using old cartoon shows and re-engineering them to act as hosts for a day. Each classic cartoon had its own gimmick; Space Ghost's segment was made a late night talk show and, for rhyme's sake, was called "Space Ghost Coast to Coast".
The DVDs for the show have run into problems because some of the interviews weren't licensed for home video.
The guests and the regulars are often asked whether they are getting enough oxygen.
Before any part of the episodes were written, the guests were interviewed by a crew member, sometimes wearing the Space Ghost costume made famous by Andy Merrill in some Cartoon Planet (1995) intros. The interviewer also instructed the guest to address him as "Space Ghost" to maintain continuity. After an interview was done, the writing crew went back over it, taking pieces out of context and out of order, assembling them into the responses to Space Ghost and the rest of the cast. Most of the show's earlier guests assumed they were participating in a relatively straightforward interview. As the series became more popular, however, more and more guests became at least peripherally familiar with what was going on.
In the show's early stages of production, Hervé Villechaize was set to be Space Ghost's sidekick, but these plans were halted when the actor tragically committed suicide.
The first three volume DVDs were released in stores, but volumes four and five were released exclusively at the website. The final volume has yet to be released.
Space Ghost interviewed Tommy Wiseau in a series of bumpers for Adult Swim's April Fools' Day 2010 showing of The Room (2003).
Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994-1998)
Virtually the entire Marvel Universe was available to be used in this series.
A sixth season was planned for "Spider-Man" which would have had Spider-Man find the real Mary Jane Watson from limbo with the help of Madame Web. Story editor John Semper said in an online interview that it purposefully left unresolved to see Spider-Man find the real Mary Jane because the crew thought they were going to get another season or two of "Spider-Man". However, Margaret Loesch, who was the president of Fox Kids network at that time, hated one of the show's executive producers, Avi Arad, due to the fights they'd usually have over the show and she wanted to put Arad out of business. When the sixty-five episode contract for "Spider-Man" was up, Loesch decided to cancel the show and had permanently shut down Marvel Films Animation, the company that provided the animation for Spider-Man. Loesch and the Fox Kids network had a better relationship with Saban Entertainment, who wanted to do animation for other series for Fox Kids, including ones for Marvel. Instead of continuing "Spider-Man", the Fox Kids network decided to go with a new, unofficial sequel series "Spider-Man Unlimited" with animation done by Saban to garner ratings that were as big, if not bigger, than "Spider-Man". The plan backfired, as fans disliked the new series because it deviated too much from the comics by sticking Spider-Man on a Counter-Earth. The ratings were also much lower than the network had expected, because "Pokemon" aired against "Spider-Man Unlimited" and clobbered it in the ratings. "Spider-Man Unlimited" was quickly pulled from the Fox Kids network after airing only its first three episodes of the thirteen they had made.
Spider-Man only throws a punch three times in this series, once at the Scorpion in the Season 2 finale ("The Final Nightmare"), then again at the Spot in Season 3 ("The Spot") and once again at the Green Goblin ("Turning Point"). Other than those episodes, Spider-Man never punches his enemies, nor does anyone fire a single gun that doesn't fire a beam or projectile instead of bullets.
By the time the Spider-man series came on, there was a lot of censorship at Fox and they were very nervous about violence. Fox had very strict rules about violence and language in the show, including: "When Spider-Man lands on the rooftop, be sure that he doesn't harm any pigeons."
The entire X-Men team were supposed to be included in "Secret Wars", but they were ultimately cut because, according to writer John Semper, it would have been too expensive to get the cast to fly from Canada to Los Angeles to record their dialog for the show. However, Storm was the only one able to appear because Iona Morris was the only X-Men cast member based in California.
Eddie Albert's final series and last acting project.
Spiderman's associates Detective Terri Lee and Dr. Mariah Crawford were created specifically for this series.
The backgrounds seen during a "Spider Sense" are a nod to the backgrounds used during the Ralph Bakshi era of the 1960s Spider-Man (1967) cartoon.
This is the first series to refer to the Connors family (Curt Connors, Margaret Connors, and Billy Connors) by their correct surname. In the 1960's "Spider-Man" cartoon the family is named "Conner"..
A mini-series was actually supposed to take place after the series finale, in which Spider-Man journeys with Madame Web backwards through time to find the missing Mary Jane Watson. He would have ultimately found her in Victorian England with amnesia and she would have been hunted by Carnage, who was also trapped in that time period and was impersonating Jack the Ripper. Once Spider-Man had stopped Carnage and had left with Madame Web and Mary Jane back to the present, Mary Jane would have regained her memory and ultimately admitted to Spider-Man that she had always known he was Peter Parker, which had been hinted at throughout several episodes of the animated series.
When Peter gets the Venom suit, and he's trying out the "outfit switching" ability, he has it turn him into "that guy from Aerosmith." This is a reference to Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, who performs the series theme music.
Peter Parker's character design was originally intended to resemble the one seen in the comics. This design, however, was switched towards the final production of the show to a design clearly patterned after Nicholas Hammond though younger and more contemporary than Peter Parker seemed to look in a lot of the comics and wearing a short-sleeved rugby shirt. The crew ended up revising Peter's wardrobe in season two to make it better than the design they started with and give Peter a cooler look, as well as better hide his Spider-Man costume under his clothes.
Fox aired episode 1.01 "Night of the Lizard", months before the other Season 1 episodes as a special sneak preview.
Anastasia Hardy, the mother of Felicia Hardy, makes her animated debut in this series.
Harry Osborn makes his first animated appearance in this series. Though he never appeared in any prior Marvel shows, Harry was mentioned as Peter Parker's friend and roommate in 1981's "Spider-Man" animated series.
The "Six Arms Saga" from Amazing Spider-Man #100-102 was adapted for the "Neogenic Nightmare" storyline in Season 2. Though in this series, Peter's transformation was not caused by his attempts to remove his powers, but a result of his body mutating further from the original spider-bite.
John Semper got the idea to give the wealthy Armored Spider-Man from a parallel universe a Giant Robot came from the Japanese Spider-Man series Spider-Man (1978).
Electro was supposed to appear in the series before his eventual debut in Season Five's "Six Forgotten Warriors" story arc. Electro was held back from appearing, however, because James Cameron tried for years to write and direct a theatrical "Spider-Man" movie with Sandman as the secondary villain and Electro as the main villain. The legal rights to the "Spider-Man" movie went into limbo for over a decade, with Electro and Sandman still intended to be the villains. However, writer John Semper was able to include him into the series, but not as Max Dillon and he was not an American. Instead, a new character was created for the show. On the animated series, Electro was really Rheinholt Schmidt, the second Red Skull who was the original Skull's son and the step-brother of the Chameleon, none of which was actually in the comics. Rheinholt's real last name was never revealed on the show, though he went by the assumed name of Rheinholt Kragov while the Chief of the Russian Police in the "Six Forgotten Warriors" episodes in season five, and the Red Skull later uses the Doomsday device to turn his own son into the ultimate weapon, Electro.
William Baker, a.k.a. the Sandman, was supposed to appear in several episodes of the cartoon series, but was held back from appearing because James Cameron tried for years to write and direct a theatrical "Spider-Man" movie with Sandman and Electro as the villains. However, the legal rights to the movie went into limbo for over a decade and the character is the only major classic Spider-Man villain to have never appeared on the series.
John Semper admitted in an on-line interview that a storyline with Dormammu and Mysterio was originally planned. However, plans for this were scrapped when the voice of Mysterio, Gregg Berger, had left the series.
According to an on-line interview with John Semper, the reason that the Hobgoblin was added to the show in Season One before the Green Goblin was that plans for the character were being done before he arrived by writers and crew members that were no longer involved. By that time, the Hobgoblin had been made into an action figure for the animated series that was going to be released, so Semper admitted they had to let him stay on the series.
The cast of the Fox Kids cartoon X-Men cross over as their respected roles (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda")
The X-Men voice actors had to be flown to L.A. from Canada, making this and the next episode very expensive to make (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda").
At the end of episode 3.01 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 1: Doctor Strange", Doctor Strange tells Wong that he senses someone whose powers dwarf even his. We see that they are being watched by Madame Web, voiced by Joan Lee, the wife of Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee.
Episode 3.02 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 2: Make a Wish along with episode 3.03 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 3: Attack of the Octobot," episode 3.04 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 4: Enter the Green Goblin," and episode 3.05 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 5: The Rocket Racer," were released on video and DVD called "The Ultimate Villain Showdown" during the run of the Spider-Man movie.
During the middle of the 5th season of Spider-Man, Fox Kids was thinking about keeping the series on a little longer but then Marvel and Fox Kids decided to ended after 5 seasons and show a 2-hour series finale. The reason why Fox Kids and Marvel canceled the show had nothing to do with ratings. The reason was the fact that Saban Entertainment wanted to Marvel's animation for their cartoon series. So after Spider-Man was canceled, Marvel and Saban made another cartoon that continued where Spider-Man left off, the series was called Spider-Man: Unlimited.
Dr. Robert Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk was actually supposed to make several guest appearances on the show, most notably the 3-part "Secret Wars" storyline in season five. However, the Hulk was unable to appear on the series in seasons four and five of "Spider-Man" because of "The Incredible Hulk" animated series on the UPN network. As a result of the Hulk, and later She-Hulk, being unavailable to the crew, the Lizard was written in the Hulk's place in the three "Secret Wars" episodes to make the story more "Spider-Man centric" than the "Secret Wars" comic mini-series. It remains unclear if the crew of "Spider-Man" were able to use the Hulk, yet simply never got around to using him, in the show's first three seasons before the Hulk got his own animated series.
After his initial appearance, Kraven the Hunter is portrayed as an ally to Spiderman. In the comics, Kraven was one of Spiderman's toughest enemies.
Because of the decision not to use Gwen Stacy, many of the stories were changed to the events happening to Felicia Hardy or Mary Jane Watson.
Radioactivity and all uses of the word were removed and replaced on this show with a science called neogenics, including the spider that bites Peter to give him his powers. Ironically, though, Joe Perry's theme music uses the lyric "radioactive spider blood."
Betty Brant was supposed to appear on the "Spider-Man" animated series. Instead of being J. Jonah Jameson's secretary, Betty was supposed to be the assistant of Joe "Robbie" Robertson and fond of Peter Parker. While a model sheet of the character was drawn for the show, the writers did not get the chance to use Betty because they had ran out of new episodes.
John Semper, the story editor/producer for "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", mentioned that a rejected chapter for the "Secret Wars" story line was going to include the entire X-Men team, would have featured Mr. Sinister as the villain, and that Spider-Man would have actually bonded with a new black symbiote costume after his classic red-and-blue costume was torn to shreds. The episode was written, according to Semper, but never used because it would have cost too much to get the entire cast of voice actors from the "X-Men" series to appear again on "Spider-Man".
John Semper, the story editor/producer for "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", revealed in an online interview that Richard Fisk was going to return if the show had been picked up for a sixth season. Semper said that Richard Fisk was going to become the crime lord known as the Rose, like he did in the Spider-Man comic books, and was going to try to frame Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds.
While Doctor Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk never appears on the show in person, the Hulk is seen on a poster in the office of Stan Lee in the series finale of this show, "Farewell, Spider-Man".
Mary Jane Watson's first appearance ("The Return of the Spider-Slayers") is based on her first full comic appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #42. She even says the line famous line, "Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot".
Peter Parker/Spider-Man was actually supposed to marry Mary Jane Watson in the series finale, but story editor John Semper rejected the idea and instead had Peter marry Mary Jane in "The Wedding" episode in season five. Semper was against the two being married for real because he felt Peter Parker should "never get the girl" on the animated series.
The villain Puma was supposed to appear on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Story editor John Semper mentioned in an online interview the character was not used because they had simply ran out of new episodes to produce for "Spider-Man".
David Warner was the original voice for the Red Skull in the season four episode, "The Cat". He was replaced by Earl Boen when the Red Skull would return for multiple episodes in season five.
Martin Landau was the original voice for Mac Gargan, a.k.a. the villain Scorpion. However, after he recorded dialog for the three episodes featuring the Scorpion in the show's second season, Landau had won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "Ed Wood" and was not able to do voice-over acting work anymore. He was replaced by Richard Moll, who provided the voice for the Scorpion in seasons four and five.
Eric Braeden was originally supposed to be the voice actor for the character Herbert Landon. However, Braeden was uncomfortable with voice acting and story editor John Semper said Braeden gave "a very wooden performance" as Landon. David Warner ultimately took the role as Landon.
Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that the Fox Kids network did not allow Spider-Man to punch anyone because other countries, such as Canada, were banning Fox Kids shows that featured fantasy violence like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992). This is why no one is ever punched in the gut or punched on the face on this series. Semper admitted he got lots of fan mail from confused viewers wondering why Spider-Man never threw a punch at his enemies.
Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that three of the Fantastic Four characters were given new voice actors for the "Secret Wars" three-part story line because he did not like the Fantastic Four (1994) animated series that ran on the Fox Kids network. The only cast member to reprise his role from "The Fantastic Four" on "Spider-Man" was Quinton Flynn, who returned as the voice actor of Johnny Storm/the Human Torch.
Linda Gary was the original voice of Aunt May Parker for the first three seasons. Gary would provide the voice for Aunt May for the last time in season four's fourth chapter of the "Partners in Danger" saga, "The Return of Kraven". Julie Bennett took over the role of Aunt May starting with season four's eighth chapter, "The Return of the Green Goblin", when Linda Gary died of brain cancer.
Neil Ross, who provided the voice for Norman Osborn/the first Green Goblin, is the only voice actor to date to voice the same character on two different Spider-Man cartoon series. Ross had previously done the voice of Norman Osborn, but not the Green Goblin, on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981).
The crime lord the Owl appears in the first chapter of season two's "Neogenic Nightmare" saga, "The Insidious Six". He is seated with other crime lords, including Hammerhead and Silvermane, during a meeting with the Kingpin. Though the Owl never speaks in the episode, this is the first and, to date, only time the Owl has ever appeared on a Spider-Man animated series.
Kathy Garver, the voice of Firestar on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981), will appear on several episodes of "Spider-Man". She does the voice for the lizard woman Gila in season four's "The Lizard King" episode and the voice of Madeline Joyce/Miss America in the five-part "Six Forgotten Warriors" storyarc.
John Semper said in an online interview that a proposed sixth season for "Spider-Man" would have had Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, return from limbo and take over the role of the Green Goblin from his son Harry. However, Fox Kids did not order another season and instead created Spider-Man Unlimited (1999).
This series was originally going to have Norman Osborn become the Hobgoblin because, due to a decision made by crew members who ultimately left the "Spider-Man" show, the Hobgoblin was going to make his debut before the Green Goblin. However, Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee, rejected the idea of Norman becoming the Hobgoblin and Norman would instead create the Goblin equipment for the Hobgoblin.
In an online interview, John Semper felt that Carnage should have appeared more on the series because there was so much more potential for him story wise. However, he didn't feel he needed any more episodes devoted to Venom because he felt the character was "starting to show his age" during his two episodes in season three and didn't want to use the character anymore.
While the X-Men, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four would appear on the show as guest heroes on "Spider-Man" at different points in the series, John Semper confirmed in an online interview that Spider-Man was forbidden from appearing on the other super hero series on the Fox Kids network, as well as UPN's "The Incredible Hulk" series later on. However, Spider-Man's hand can be seen shooting a web in part five of the Phoenix saga in season two of "X-Men" and an in-the-shadows Spider-Man can be seen in Bruce Banner's mind during a season two episode of "The Incredible Hulk".
Supervising Producer Bob Richardson said that of all the show's seasons, season five was the most problematic. The mistakes in those episodes, as well as the animation's poor quality and overtly-repeated scenes for season five, were a result in a three-month delay in writing the season five scripts. When the scripts did finally arrive, most of which were written by John Semper, the season five stories were the most complex scripts the "Spider-Man" animated series had. Richardson said the season five scripts "went against everything we were trying to do in an effort to keep the workload on all of the production at a reasonable level", due to the new characters, locations and guest hero and villain powers included. Semper wrote most of the stories in season five himself due to several writers, including Brooks Wachtel and Stan Berkowitz, leaving the series during the three-month delay for season five.
Edward Asner (J. Jonah Jameson) would later supply the voice of Ben Parker, the uncle of Peter Parker/Spider-Man whose murder inspires him to become a superhero, in The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008).
In the comics, the Insidious Six are called the Sinister Six. The Fox Kids network had the name changed to "Insidious Six" because they thought the name "Sinister Six" sounded too menacing for a cartoon series for children. Only two of the members of the Sinister Six make it into the team's roster: Doctor Octopus and Mysterio. Shocker, Chameleon, Scorpion and The Rhino substitute for the Sinister Six's absent members - Sandman (who doesn't appear in the series at all), Electro (named Max Dillon in the comics, but appearing in season five as Rhienholt Kragov, the stepbrother of The Chameleon and the Red Skull's son), The Vulture (who joins the Six to take Mysterio's place in season five) and Kraven the Hunter (the stepbrother of the Chameleon in the comics).
The character Lewald is named after the story editor on the X-Men cartoon (Eric Lewald) (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda").
Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that the villain the Beetle was supposed to appear on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Semper said he had meant to include the Beetle in an episode of the animated series, but he simply never got around to using the character.
Virtually the entire Marvel Universe was available to be used in this series.
A sixth season was planned for "Spider-Man" which would have had Spider-Man find the real Mary Jane Watson from limbo with the help of Madame Web. Story editor John Semper said in an online interview that it purposefully left unresolved to see Spider-Man find the real Mary Jane because the crew thought they were going to get another season or two of "Spider-Man". However, Margaret Loesch, who was the president of Fox Kids network at that time, hated one of the show's executive producers, Avi Arad, due to the fights they'd usually have over the show and she wanted to put Arad out of business. When the sixty-five episode contract for "Spider-Man" was up, Loesch decided to cancel the show and had permanently shut down Marvel Films Animation, the company that provided the animation for Spider-Man. Loesch and the Fox Kids network had a better relationship with Saban Entertainment, who wanted to do animation for other series for Fox Kids, including ones for Marvel. Instead of continuing "Spider-Man", the Fox Kids network decided to go with a new, unofficial sequel series "Spider-Man Unlimited" with animation done by Saban to garner ratings that were as big, if not bigger, than "Spider-Man". The plan backfired, as fans disliked the new series because it deviated too much from the comics by sticking Spider-Man on a Counter-Earth. The ratings were also much lower than the network had expected, because "Pokemon" aired against "Spider-Man Unlimited" and clobbered it in the ratings. "Spider-Man Unlimited" was quickly pulled from the Fox Kids network after airing only its first three episodes of the thirteen they had made.
Spider-Man only throws a punch three times in this series, once at the Scorpion in the Season 2 finale ("The Final Nightmare"), then again at the Spot in Season 3 ("The Spot") and once again at the Green Goblin ("Turning Point"). Other than those episodes, Spider-Man never punches his enemies, nor does anyone fire a single gun that doesn't fire a beam or projectile instead of bullets.
By the time the Spider-man series came on, there was a lot of censorship at Fox and they were very nervous about violence. Fox had very strict rules about violence and language in the show, including: "When Spider-Man lands on the rooftop, be sure that he doesn't harm any pigeons."
The entire X-Men team were supposed to be included in "Secret Wars", but they were ultimately cut because, according to writer John Semper, it would have been too expensive to get the cast to fly from Canada to Los Angeles to record their dialog for the show. However, Storm was the only one able to appear because Iona Morris was the only X-Men cast member based in California.
Eddie Albert's final series and last acting project.
Spiderman's associates Detective Terri Lee and Dr. Mariah Crawford were created specifically for this series.
The backgrounds seen during a "Spider Sense" are a nod to the backgrounds used during the Ralph Bakshi era of the 1960s Spider-Man (1967) cartoon.
This is the first series to refer to the Connors family (Curt Connors, Margaret Connors, and Billy Connors) by their correct surname. In the 1960's "Spider-Man" cartoon the family is named "Conner"..
A mini-series was actually supposed to take place after the series finale, in which Spider-Man journeys with Madame Web backwards through time to find the missing Mary Jane Watson. He would have ultimately found her in Victorian England with amnesia and she would have been hunted by Carnage, who was also trapped in that time period and was impersonating Jack the Ripper. Once Spider-Man had stopped Carnage and had left with Madame Web and Mary Jane back to the present, Mary Jane would have regained her memory and ultimately admitted to Spider-Man that she had always known he was Peter Parker, which had been hinted at throughout several episodes of the animated series.
When Peter gets the Venom suit, and he's trying out the "outfit switching" ability, he has it turn him into "that guy from Aerosmith." This is a reference to Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, who performs the series theme music.
Peter Parker's character design was originally intended to resemble the one seen in the comics. This design, however, was switched towards the final production of the show to a design clearly patterned after Nicholas Hammond though younger and more contemporary than Peter Parker seemed to look in a lot of the comics and wearing a short-sleeved rugby shirt. The crew ended up revising Peter's wardrobe in season two to make it better than the design they started with and give Peter a cooler look, as well as better hide his Spider-Man costume under his clothes.
Fox aired episode 1.01 "Night of the Lizard", months before the other Season 1 episodes as a special sneak preview.
Anastasia Hardy, the mother of Felicia Hardy, makes her animated debut in this series.
Harry Osborn makes his first animated appearance in this series. Though he never appeared in any prior Marvel shows, Harry was mentioned as Peter Parker's friend and roommate in 1981's "Spider-Man" animated series.
The "Six Arms Saga" from Amazing Spider-Man #100-102 was adapted for the "Neogenic Nightmare" storyline in Season 2. Though in this series, Peter's transformation was not caused by his attempts to remove his powers, but a result of his body mutating further from the original spider-bite.
John Semper got the idea to give the wealthy Armored Spider-Man from a parallel universe a Giant Robot came from the Japanese Spider-Man series Spider-Man (1978).
Electro was supposed to appear in the series before his eventual debut in Season Five's "Six Forgotten Warriors" story arc. Electro was held back from appearing, however, because James Cameron tried for years to write and direct a theatrical "Spider-Man" movie with Sandman as the secondary villain and Electro as the main villain. The legal rights to the "Spider-Man" movie went into limbo for over a decade, with Electro and Sandman still intended to be the villains. However, writer John Semper was able to include him into the series, but not as Max Dillon and he was not an American. Instead, a new character was created for the show. On the animated series, Electro was really Rheinholt Schmidt, the second Red Skull who was the original Skull's son and the step-brother of the Chameleon, none of which was actually in the comics. Rheinholt's real last name was never revealed on the show, though he went by the assumed name of Rheinholt Kragov while the Chief of the Russian Police in the "Six Forgotten Warriors" episodes in season five, and the Red Skull later uses the Doomsday device to turn his own son into the ultimate weapon, Electro.
William Baker, a.k.a. the Sandman, was supposed to appear in several episodes of the cartoon series, but was held back from appearing because James Cameron tried for years to write and direct a theatrical "Spider-Man" movie with Sandman and Electro as the villains. However, the legal rights to the movie went into limbo for over a decade and the character is the only major classic Spider-Man villain to have never appeared on the series.
John Semper admitted in an on-line interview that a storyline with Dormammu and Mysterio was originally planned. However, plans for this were scrapped when the voice of Mysterio, Gregg Berger, had left the series.
According to an on-line interview with John Semper, the reason that the Hobgoblin was added to the show in Season One before the Green Goblin was that plans for the character were being done before he arrived by writers and crew members that were no longer involved. By that time, the Hobgoblin had been made into an action figure for the animated series that was going to be released, so Semper admitted they had to let him stay on the series.
The cast of the Fox Kids cartoon X-Men cross over as their respected roles (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda")
The X-Men voice actors had to be flown to L.A. from Canada, making this and the next episode very expensive to make (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda").
At the end of episode 3.01 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 1: Doctor Strange", Doctor Strange tells Wong that he senses someone whose powers dwarf even his. We see that they are being watched by Madame Web, voiced by Joan Lee, the wife of Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee.
Episode 3.02 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 2: Make a Wish along with episode 3.03 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 3: Attack of the Octobot," episode 3.04 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 4: Enter the Green Goblin," and episode 3.05 "Sins of the Fathers Chapter 5: The Rocket Racer," were released on video and DVD called "The Ultimate Villain Showdown" during the run of the Spider-Man movie.
During the middle of the 5th season of Spider-Man, Fox Kids was thinking about keeping the series on a little longer but then Marvel and Fox Kids decided to ended after 5 seasons and show a 2-hour series finale. The reason why Fox Kids and Marvel canceled the show had nothing to do with ratings. The reason was the fact that Saban Entertainment wanted to Marvel's animation for their cartoon series. So after Spider-Man was canceled, Marvel and Saban made another cartoon that continued where Spider-Man left off, the series was called Spider-Man: Unlimited.
Dr. Robert Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk was actually supposed to make several guest appearances on the show, most notably the 3-part "Secret Wars" storyline in season five. However, the Hulk was unable to appear on the series in seasons four and five of "Spider-Man" because of "The Incredible Hulk" animated series on the UPN network. As a result of the Hulk, and later She-Hulk, being unavailable to the crew, the Lizard was written in the Hulk's place in the three "Secret Wars" episodes to make the story more "Spider-Man centric" than the "Secret Wars" comic mini-series. It remains unclear if the crew of "Spider-Man" were able to use the Hulk, yet simply never got around to using him, in the show's first three seasons before the Hulk got his own animated series.
After his initial appearance, Kraven the Hunter is portrayed as an ally to Spiderman. In the comics, Kraven was one of Spiderman's toughest enemies.
Because of the decision not to use Gwen Stacy, many of the stories were changed to the events happening to Felicia Hardy or Mary Jane Watson.
Radioactivity and all uses of the word were removed and replaced on this show with a science called neogenics, including the spider that bites Peter to give him his powers. Ironically, though, Joe Perry's theme music uses the lyric "radioactive spider blood."
Betty Brant was supposed to appear on the "Spider-Man" animated series. Instead of being J. Jonah Jameson's secretary, Betty was supposed to be the assistant of Joe "Robbie" Robertson and fond of Peter Parker. While a model sheet of the character was drawn for the show, the writers did not get the chance to use Betty because they had ran out of new episodes.
John Semper, the story editor/producer for "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", mentioned that a rejected chapter for the "Secret Wars" story line was going to include the entire X-Men team, would have featured Mr. Sinister as the villain, and that Spider-Man would have actually bonded with a new black symbiote costume after his classic red-and-blue costume was torn to shreds. The episode was written, according to Semper, but never used because it would have cost too much to get the entire cast of voice actors from the "X-Men" series to appear again on "Spider-Man".
John Semper, the story editor/producer for "Spider-Man: The Animated Series", revealed in an online interview that Richard Fisk was going to return if the show had been picked up for a sixth season. Semper said that Richard Fisk was going to become the crime lord known as the Rose, like he did in the Spider-Man comic books, and was going to try to frame Daily Bugle reporter Ned Leeds.
While Doctor Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk never appears on the show in person, the Hulk is seen on a poster in the office of Stan Lee in the series finale of this show, "Farewell, Spider-Man".
Mary Jane Watson's first appearance ("The Return of the Spider-Slayers") is based on her first full comic appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #42. She even says the line famous line, "Face it tiger, you just hit the jackpot".
Peter Parker/Spider-Man was actually supposed to marry Mary Jane Watson in the series finale, but story editor John Semper rejected the idea and instead had Peter marry Mary Jane in "The Wedding" episode in season five. Semper was against the two being married for real because he felt Peter Parker should "never get the girl" on the animated series.
The villain Puma was supposed to appear on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Story editor John Semper mentioned in an online interview the character was not used because they had simply ran out of new episodes to produce for "Spider-Man".
David Warner was the original voice for the Red Skull in the season four episode, "The Cat". He was replaced by Earl Boen when the Red Skull would return for multiple episodes in season five.
Martin Landau was the original voice for Mac Gargan, a.k.a. the villain Scorpion. However, after he recorded dialog for the three episodes featuring the Scorpion in the show's second season, Landau had won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "Ed Wood" and was not able to do voice-over acting work anymore. He was replaced by Richard Moll, who provided the voice for the Scorpion in seasons four and five.
Eric Braeden was originally supposed to be the voice actor for the character Herbert Landon. However, Braeden was uncomfortable with voice acting and story editor John Semper said Braeden gave "a very wooden performance" as Landon. David Warner ultimately took the role as Landon.
Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that the Fox Kids network did not allow Spider-Man to punch anyone because other countries, such as Canada, were banning Fox Kids shows that featured fantasy violence like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992). This is why no one is ever punched in the gut or punched on the face on this series. Semper admitted he got lots of fan mail from confused viewers wondering why Spider-Man never threw a punch at his enemies.
Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that three of the Fantastic Four characters were given new voice actors for the "Secret Wars" three-part story line because he did not like the Fantastic Four (1994) animated series that ran on the Fox Kids network. The only cast member to reprise his role from "The Fantastic Four" on "Spider-Man" was Quinton Flynn, who returned as the voice actor of Johnny Storm/the Human Torch.
Linda Gary was the original voice of Aunt May Parker for the first three seasons. Gary would provide the voice for Aunt May for the last time in season four's fourth chapter of the "Partners in Danger" saga, "The Return of Kraven". Julie Bennett took over the role of Aunt May starting with season four's eighth chapter, "The Return of the Green Goblin", when Linda Gary died of brain cancer.
Neil Ross, who provided the voice for Norman Osborn/the first Green Goblin, is the only voice actor to date to voice the same character on two different Spider-Man cartoon series. Ross had previously done the voice of Norman Osborn, but not the Green Goblin, on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981).
The crime lord the Owl appears in the first chapter of season two's "Neogenic Nightmare" saga, "The Insidious Six". He is seated with other crime lords, including Hammerhead and Silvermane, during a meeting with the Kingpin. Though the Owl never speaks in the episode, this is the first and, to date, only time the Owl has ever appeared on a Spider-Man animated series.
Kathy Garver, the voice of Firestar on Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981), will appear on several episodes of "Spider-Man". She does the voice for the lizard woman Gila in season four's "The Lizard King" episode and the voice of Madeline Joyce/Miss America in the five-part "Six Forgotten Warriors" storyarc.
John Semper said in an online interview that a proposed sixth season for "Spider-Man" would have had Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, return from limbo and take over the role of the Green Goblin from his son Harry. However, Fox Kids did not order another season and instead created Spider-Man Unlimited (1999).
This series was originally going to have Norman Osborn become the Hobgoblin because, due to a decision made by crew members who ultimately left the "Spider-Man" show, the Hobgoblin was going to make his debut before the Green Goblin. However, Spider-Man's co-creator Stan Lee, rejected the idea of Norman becoming the Hobgoblin and Norman would instead create the Goblin equipment for the Hobgoblin.
In an online interview, John Semper felt that Carnage should have appeared more on the series because there was so much more potential for him story wise. However, he didn't feel he needed any more episodes devoted to Venom because he felt the character was "starting to show his age" during his two episodes in season three and didn't want to use the character anymore.
While the X-Men, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four would appear on the show as guest heroes on "Spider-Man" at different points in the series, John Semper confirmed in an online interview that Spider-Man was forbidden from appearing on the other super hero series on the Fox Kids network, as well as UPN's "The Incredible Hulk" series later on. However, Spider-Man's hand can be seen shooting a web in part five of the Phoenix saga in season two of "X-Men" and an in-the-shadows Spider-Man can be seen in Bruce Banner's mind during a season two episode of "The Incredible Hulk".
Supervising Producer Bob Richardson said that of all the show's seasons, season five was the most problematic. The mistakes in those episodes, as well as the animation's poor quality and overtly-repeated scenes for season five, were a result in a three-month delay in writing the season five scripts. When the scripts did finally arrive, most of which were written by John Semper, the season five stories were the most complex scripts the "Spider-Man" animated series had. Richardson said the season five scripts "went against everything we were trying to do in an effort to keep the workload on all of the production at a reasonable level", due to the new characters, locations and guest hero and villain powers included. Semper wrote most of the stories in season five himself due to several writers, including Brooks Wachtel and Stan Berkowitz, leaving the series during the three-month delay for season five.
Edward Asner (J. Jonah Jameson) would later supply the voice of Ben Parker, the uncle of Peter Parker/Spider-Man whose murder inspires him to become a superhero, in The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008).
In the comics, the Insidious Six are called the Sinister Six. The Fox Kids network had the name changed to "Insidious Six" because they thought the name "Sinister Six" sounded too menacing for a cartoon series for children. Only two of the members of the Sinister Six make it into the team's roster: Doctor Octopus and Mysterio. Shocker, Chameleon, Scorpion and The Rhino substitute for the Sinister Six's absent members - Sandman (who doesn't appear in the series at all), Electro (named Max Dillon in the comics, but appearing in season five as Rhienholt Kragov, the stepbrother of The Chameleon and the Red Skull's son), The Vulture (who joins the Six to take Mysterio's place in season five) and Kraven the Hunter (the stepbrother of the Chameleon in the comics).
The character Lewald is named after the story editor on the X-Men cartoon (Eric Lewald) (episode 2.04 "Neogenic Nightmare Chapter 4: The Mutant Agenda").
Story editor/producer John Semper said in an online interview that the villain the Beetle was supposed to appear on "Spider-Man: The Animated Series". Semper said he had meant to include the Beetle in an episode of the animated series, but he simply never got around to using the character.
Super Friends (1973)
D.C. Comics actually released a SuperFriends comic book in 1976.
The characters of Plastic Man and Green Arrow made their first animated appearances on this show.
The characters of Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog were introduced to the DC Comics Universe over 30 years later in Geoff John's 'Teen Titans' series around 2006. Marvin would be subsequently killed off (by a rabid Wonder Dog, no less) and Wendy made paraplegic by the writer who took over after Johns left the title two years later.
DC launched a Super Friends treasury sized edition to tie into the cartoon, which included a section, drawn by designer Alex Toth, which explained the animation process for the show. A regular comic series followed, which explained that Wendy was the niece of Batman, though how that was possible was never explained. Wendy and Marvin were later replaced by the Wonder Twins, after their debut in the All-New Superfriends Hour.
D.C. Comics actually released a SuperFriends comic book in 1976.
The characters of Plastic Man and Green Arrow made their first animated appearances on this show.
The characters of Wendy, Marvin, and Wonder Dog were introduced to the DC Comics Universe over 30 years later in Geoff John's 'Teen Titans' series around 2006. Marvin would be subsequently killed off (by a rabid Wonder Dog, no less) and Wendy made paraplegic by the writer who took over after Johns left the title two years later.
DC launched a Super Friends treasury sized edition to tie into the cartoon, which included a section, drawn by designer Alex Toth, which explained the animation process for the show. A regular comic series followed, which explained that Wendy was the niece of Batman, though how that was possible was never explained. Wendy and Marvin were later replaced by the Wonder Twins, after their debut in the All-New Superfriends Hour.
TaleSpin (1990-1991)
The SeaDuck is a Conwing L-16 Heavy Transport with Superflight 100 engines.
The episode entitled "The Ransom of Red Chimp" is an adaptation of O. Henry's famous short story "The Ransom of Red Chief." Much like the O. Henry story, the episode concludes with the kidnappers having to pay a sum of money to the kidnapped's guardians, in exchange for the right to return them.
Jim Cummings did the most male voices for the show with nearly 40 different voices in all.
Many of the main characters in the series (Louie, Baloo, Shere Khan, etc.) are taken from Disney's "The Jungle Book" (1967) with some updating (wearing clothes for example).
While the ABC series Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982) may have been an influence, TaleSpin was much more influenced by the flying scenes from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The series creators wanted an outlet for such flying scenes which they had trouble trying to fit into DuckTales. Ironically, Hayao Miyazaki may have been influenced by TaleSpin when he started work on Porco Rosso a few years later.
Kit Cloudkicker's height is 3' 9".
Launchpad McQuack from DuckTales (1987) was never meant to be the main character per se. Jymn Magon, the series co-creator, always meant to develop a new series featuring Baloo as the main character and he simply welded that onto an unused idea from DuckTales about an air cargo service. The word "Tale" from the title and references to fowl in the aircraft names are a carryover from DuckTales.
According to the series bible (guidelines handed out to episode writers), Don Karnage is based off of Kevin Kline's character in "A Fish Called Wanda." Kit Cloudkicker is based off of the Artful Dodger, Johnny Quest, and the kid from the 1965 film "A Thousand Clowns." Furthermore, Rebecca Cunningham was considered a divorcée but it's implied that it doesn't matter whether she's a divorcée or a widow as long as the love/hate dynamic exists between her and Baloo. It's left to the audience to decide. It is also said that Rebecca inherited the cargo business from her father but this is changed entirely for the series pilot.
According to the series creators, TaleSpin was a rush project in order to fill a gap in Disney's afternoon schedule as well as keep people from being laid off in the television animation department. The concept for the series came in the summer of 1989 with the series being more or less fully developed by August 19, 1989. Voice acting for completed screenplays began in October 1989. The first episode aired, "I Only Have Ice For You," was shown in May 1990 as a sneak preview on the Disney Channel, with the series beginning regular airing in September 1990.
Famed Uncle Scrooge comic writer and artist Don Rosa finished writing his episodes first, and presumably the first episode to get voice acting was Rosa's "I Only Have Ice For You" episode (pay special attention to Baloo - Ed Gilbert gives a different rendition of his voice here.)
Although the Thembrians are an obvious analogy to Stalinist Soviet Union, there is no equivalent of Nazi Germany in the TV series. However, one comic strip story in the magazine, Disney Adventures, had Baloo and Kit facing the Hausers, a dog nationality whose uniforms and military discipline is obviously resembles 1930s German styles.
Many of the planes featured in the series have real-life analogies: the Seaduck is similar to a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, the CT-37 Pirate Fighter is based on the Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster with a second pair of wings and pontoons instead of landing gear, and Louie's mid-air refueling plane is analogous to the Grumman G-21 "Goose".
Originally, the role of Baloo was supposed to go to Phil Harris, who had voiced the character in the original 1967 film, The Jungle Book (1967). However, after one recording session, it was found that Harris, who was by then 85 years old, had aged to the point where he could no longer do the voice successfully and the role was performed by veteran voice actor Ed Gilbert instead.
The SeaDuck is a Conwing L-16 Heavy Transport with Superflight 100 engines.
The episode entitled "The Ransom of Red Chimp" is an adaptation of O. Henry's famous short story "The Ransom of Red Chief." Much like the O. Henry story, the episode concludes with the kidnappers having to pay a sum of money to the kidnapped's guardians, in exchange for the right to return them.
Jim Cummings did the most male voices for the show with nearly 40 different voices in all.
Many of the main characters in the series (Louie, Baloo, Shere Khan, etc.) are taken from Disney's "The Jungle Book" (1967) with some updating (wearing clothes for example).
While the ABC series Tales of the Gold Monkey (1982) may have been an influence, TaleSpin was much more influenced by the flying scenes from Laputa: Castle in the Sky, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The series creators wanted an outlet for such flying scenes which they had trouble trying to fit into DuckTales. Ironically, Hayao Miyazaki may have been influenced by TaleSpin when he started work on Porco Rosso a few years later.
Kit Cloudkicker's height is 3' 9".
Launchpad McQuack from DuckTales (1987) was never meant to be the main character per se. Jymn Magon, the series co-creator, always meant to develop a new series featuring Baloo as the main character and he simply welded that onto an unused idea from DuckTales about an air cargo service. The word "Tale" from the title and references to fowl in the aircraft names are a carryover from DuckTales.
According to the series bible (guidelines handed out to episode writers), Don Karnage is based off of Kevin Kline's character in "A Fish Called Wanda." Kit Cloudkicker is based off of the Artful Dodger, Johnny Quest, and the kid from the 1965 film "A Thousand Clowns." Furthermore, Rebecca Cunningham was considered a divorcée but it's implied that it doesn't matter whether she's a divorcée or a widow as long as the love/hate dynamic exists between her and Baloo. It's left to the audience to decide. It is also said that Rebecca inherited the cargo business from her father but this is changed entirely for the series pilot.
According to the series creators, TaleSpin was a rush project in order to fill a gap in Disney's afternoon schedule as well as keep people from being laid off in the television animation department. The concept for the series came in the summer of 1989 with the series being more or less fully developed by August 19, 1989. Voice acting for completed screenplays began in October 1989. The first episode aired, "I Only Have Ice For You," was shown in May 1990 as a sneak preview on the Disney Channel, with the series beginning regular airing in September 1990.
Famed Uncle Scrooge comic writer and artist Don Rosa finished writing his episodes first, and presumably the first episode to get voice acting was Rosa's "I Only Have Ice For You" episode (pay special attention to Baloo - Ed Gilbert gives a different rendition of his voice here.)
Although the Thembrians are an obvious analogy to Stalinist Soviet Union, there is no equivalent of Nazi Germany in the TV series. However, one comic strip story in the magazine, Disney Adventures, had Baloo and Kit facing the Hausers, a dog nationality whose uniforms and military discipline is obviously resembles 1930s German styles.
Many of the planes featured in the series have real-life analogies: the Seaduck is similar to a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, the CT-37 Pirate Fighter is based on the Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster with a second pair of wings and pontoons instead of landing gear, and Louie's mid-air refueling plane is analogous to the Grumman G-21 "Goose".
Originally, the role of Baloo was supposed to go to Phil Harris, who had voiced the character in the original 1967 film, The Jungle Book (1967). However, after one recording session, it was found that Harris, who was by then 85 years old, had aged to the point where he could no longer do the voice successfully and the role was performed by veteran voice actor Ed Gilbert instead.
Taz-Mania (1991-1993)
The minor character of "Francis X. Bushlad" was a reference to "King of The Movies", 'Francis. X. Bushman'.
All 65 episodes were produced between 1991-1993, but 26 were not aired by Fox until the 1994-1995 season.
The minor character of "Francis X. Bushlad" was a reference to "King of The Movies", 'Francis. X. Bushman'.
All 65 episodes were produced between 1991-1993, but 26 were not aired by Fox until the 1994-1995 season.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987-1996)
In the original comics, all four turtles had red bandanas. For the TV show, they were each given a different color to make it easier to tell them apart.
The Turtle's rival group of ninjas, "The Foot", are a tongue-in-cheek reference to the extremely popular four issue Wolverine limited series by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont. In that series, which had just been published when the Ninja Turtles first appeared, Wolverine was constantly dealing with a group of ninjas called "The Hand".
At the time of its final episode, it was the longest running cartoon in American TV history. However this record was beaten two years later by The Simpsons (1989).
As humans, Bebop was African-American and Rocksteady was blonde.
Rob Paulsen, who voices Raphael, would later voice Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012).
Casey Jones never once took off his mask throughout all of the course of the show. Despite that in the comics and other Ninja Turtle adaptations, he's been seen without his mask on.
Like other cartoon series built around an action premise, TMNT did not escape criticism by parent groups for its violence. In the case of this series, schools began reporting that children began getting into fights during recess and seriously hurting one another in an attempt to mimic the martial arts moves depicted in the show.
Despite The Shredder being the arch villain bent on destroying Splinter and the turtles and sometimes attempting to be a ruthless conquerer, his biggest interest had always been to be a writer. In fact, he has been heard using creative and clever sentences to his pleasure.
In many of the newer episodes, Michaelangelo used a grappling hook as his weapon instead of his traditional nunchucks. This is because nunchucks were outlawed in many countries, due to Bruce Lee's The Chinese Connection (1972), and since the show went international, they changed it for everyone.
The show was re-named "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" for its UK transmission, because it was thought that the connotations of the word "ninja" were too violent.
For Season 4, 28 episodes were produced for syndication and 26 episodes were produced for CBS' "Kid TV" Saturday morning line up. However, 15 of the syndicated episodes never aired in 1990. The "European Vacation" episodes were not seen in the United States until USA Network started showing reruns in late 1993, and the "Awesome Easter" episodes weren't seen until 1991. An easy way to tell that these are Season 4 episodes is: the original intro is used, title cards are used, the closing credits uses the still image that debut that season, and the Technodrome is stuck on an asteroid in Dimension X. The most likely these episodes were delayed was because of animation or schedule problems.
In the original Mirage comic books, the Foot Soldiers are real people, not robots. As such, the comics showed the turtles killing Foot Soldiers in fight scenes. For obvious reasons (issues of violence in children programs), the soldiers were changed to robots and the turtles are never seen killing anyone despite their use of offensive weapons.
When the show aired on CBS, many Public Service Announcements aired on CBS Saturday Morning line up. These PSA's were called "Turtle Tips" and intended to benefit the public interest, by raising awareness of environmental issues.
In the comics, movies and other ninja turtles TV shows, the turtles are often referred to as abbreviated versions of their names Leonardo-Leo Raphael-Raph Donatello- Donny Michelangelo- Mikey. In this series, they are always referred to in full context.
Lotus Blossom bares a resemblance to Karai from the original comics. Which lead fans to believe that she is an alternate animated counterpart to Karai. Despite popular belief Lotus actually first appeared on the show three years before Karai was introduced in the comics.
Jerry Sachs, ad agency executive who assisted in crafting the animated show, referred to the high concept as "Green against brick," referencing the turtles green appearance in an urban environment.
Cam Clarke and Townsend Coleman were the only voice actors to appear in the most episodes throughout the course of the show.
In the original comics, all four turtles had red bandanas. For the TV show, they were each given a different color to make it easier to tell them apart.
The Turtle's rival group of ninjas, "The Foot", are a tongue-in-cheek reference to the extremely popular four issue Wolverine limited series by Frank Miller and Chris Claremont. In that series, which had just been published when the Ninja Turtles first appeared, Wolverine was constantly dealing with a group of ninjas called "The Hand".
At the time of its final episode, it was the longest running cartoon in American TV history. However this record was beaten two years later by The Simpsons (1989).
As humans, Bebop was African-American and Rocksteady was blonde.
Rob Paulsen, who voices Raphael, would later voice Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012).
Casey Jones never once took off his mask throughout all of the course of the show. Despite that in the comics and other Ninja Turtle adaptations, he's been seen without his mask on.
Like other cartoon series built around an action premise, TMNT did not escape criticism by parent groups for its violence. In the case of this series, schools began reporting that children began getting into fights during recess and seriously hurting one another in an attempt to mimic the martial arts moves depicted in the show.
Despite The Shredder being the arch villain bent on destroying Splinter and the turtles and sometimes attempting to be a ruthless conquerer, his biggest interest had always been to be a writer. In fact, he has been heard using creative and clever sentences to his pleasure.
In many of the newer episodes, Michaelangelo used a grappling hook as his weapon instead of his traditional nunchucks. This is because nunchucks were outlawed in many countries, due to Bruce Lee's The Chinese Connection (1972), and since the show went international, they changed it for everyone.
The show was re-named "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" for its UK transmission, because it was thought that the connotations of the word "ninja" were too violent.
For Season 4, 28 episodes were produced for syndication and 26 episodes were produced for CBS' "Kid TV" Saturday morning line up. However, 15 of the syndicated episodes never aired in 1990. The "European Vacation" episodes were not seen in the United States until USA Network started showing reruns in late 1993, and the "Awesome Easter" episodes weren't seen until 1991. An easy way to tell that these are Season 4 episodes is: the original intro is used, title cards are used, the closing credits uses the still image that debut that season, and the Technodrome is stuck on an asteroid in Dimension X. The most likely these episodes were delayed was because of animation or schedule problems.
In the original Mirage comic books, the Foot Soldiers are real people, not robots. As such, the comics showed the turtles killing Foot Soldiers in fight scenes. For obvious reasons (issues of violence in children programs), the soldiers were changed to robots and the turtles are never seen killing anyone despite their use of offensive weapons.
When the show aired on CBS, many Public Service Announcements aired on CBS Saturday Morning line up. These PSA's were called "Turtle Tips" and intended to benefit the public interest, by raising awareness of environmental issues.
In the comics, movies and other ninja turtles TV shows, the turtles are often referred to as abbreviated versions of their names Leonardo-Leo Raphael-Raph Donatello- Donny Michelangelo- Mikey. In this series, they are always referred to in full context.
Lotus Blossom bares a resemblance to Karai from the original comics. Which lead fans to believe that she is an alternate animated counterpart to Karai. Despite popular belief Lotus actually first appeared on the show three years before Karai was introduced in the comics.
Jerry Sachs, ad agency executive who assisted in crafting the animated show, referred to the high concept as "Green against brick," referencing the turtles green appearance in an urban environment.
Cam Clarke and Townsend Coleman were the only voice actors to appear in the most episodes throughout the course of the show.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012-????)
Donatello and Michelangelo's trademark weapons have two forms in this series. Donatello's bo staff also becomes a naginata and Michelangelo's nunchucks double as a kusarigama.
Rob Paulsen's first involvement in a Ninja Turtle related TV series in 16 years. He voiced Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), which ran from 1987-1996, and now voices Donatello in this series.
The ringtone for the Turtles communicators is a midi-style version of the 1987 cartoon theme song.
In the second season, the device the turtles use to locate the ooze canisters is a modified original Nintendo Gameboy. Furthermore, the tone used when the device is activated is the same used when an original Gameboy is switched on.
This is also the second 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' project that Kevin Michael Richardson, the voice of Shredder, has done. He previously voiced General Aguila in the 2007 film, TMNT (2007).
Donatello and Michelangelo's trademark weapons have two forms in this series. Donatello's bo staff also becomes a naginata and Michelangelo's nunchucks double as a kusarigama.
Rob Paulsen's first involvement in a Ninja Turtle related TV series in 16 years. He voiced Raphael in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987), which ran from 1987-1996, and now voices Donatello in this series.
The ringtone for the Turtles communicators is a midi-style version of the 1987 cartoon theme song.
In the second season, the device the turtles use to locate the ooze canisters is a modified original Nintendo Gameboy. Furthermore, the tone used when the device is activated is the same used when an original Gameboy is switched on.
This is also the second 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' project that Kevin Michael Richardson, the voice of Shredder, has done. He previously voiced General Aguila in the 2007 film, TMNT (2007).
Thundercats (1985-1989)
The setting of many of the installments of "ThunderCats" was described as "THIRD Earth." The present day was referred to as "FIRST Earth."
The first season was actually completed in 1983, but was not publicly shown until two years later.
Though Bernard Hoffer composed the incidental music for "ThunderCats," James Lipton--better known as the moderator of "Inside The Actors Studio"--collaborated on the program's theme music with Hoffer; producer Jules Bass wrote the lyrics.
Though Leonard Starr was identified as the Head Writer, the program was described as being "Based On Characters Created By TED WOLF."
Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, whose Rankin-Bass Animated Entertainment produced the program through Telepictures, later a Warner Brothers company, recruited the same character-voice providers and the same teams of animators for "SilverHawks" and an "umbrella" program titled "Comic Strip," whose segment programs were called "Street Frogs," "Karate Kat," and "TigerSharks."
The cartoon was revived in 2011 as a prequel following Lino-O and the Thundercats in their teenage years.
The setting of many of the installments of "ThunderCats" was described as "THIRD Earth." The present day was referred to as "FIRST Earth."
The first season was actually completed in 1983, but was not publicly shown until two years later.
Though Bernard Hoffer composed the incidental music for "ThunderCats," James Lipton--better known as the moderator of "Inside The Actors Studio"--collaborated on the program's theme music with Hoffer; producer Jules Bass wrote the lyrics.
Though Leonard Starr was identified as the Head Writer, the program was described as being "Based On Characters Created By TED WOLF."
Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, whose Rankin-Bass Animated Entertainment produced the program through Telepictures, later a Warner Brothers company, recruited the same character-voice providers and the same teams of animators for "SilverHawks" and an "umbrella" program titled "Comic Strip," whose segment programs were called "Street Frogs," "Karate Kat," and "TigerSharks."
The cartoon was revived in 2011 as a prequel following Lino-O and the Thundercats in their teenage years.
Tiny Toon Adventures (1990-1994)
Wackyland, the bizarre world that Gogo-Dodo comes from, wasn't created for this show; it actually first appeared in a little known Looney Tunes short named _Porky in Wackyland_ (1938), which also featured a dodo that looked and acted exactly like Gogo Dodo from this series.
In the episode "Never Too Late To Loon", Acme Acres is found to be located in Arkansas.
The series had two spin-offs, The Plucky Duck Show (1992) and Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998).
Danny Cooksey, who voiced Montana Max, was the only cast member at the time, who was not an adult.
Tiny Toons won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program three straight years from 1991-1993.
One episode was co-written by 3 then-teenage girls, who just happened to be fans of the series.
The character of Ralph the Warner Bros. studio security guard later appeared as a regular character on another Warner Bros. animated series, Animaniacs.
Fifi Le Fume's perfume of choice is Le Stink.
Tiny Toons was originally planned to be a feature length film for theatrical release, but was later changed to a TV series.
Each episode contained 25,000 animation cels, which was more than double the industry standard at the time of 10,000. This allowed the characters to move more fluidly.
The nonsensical word "narf" which was made famous by Pinky on _"Anamaniacs" (1993)_ made its first appearance in the secret message in the credits of the episode "You Asked for It". The message: "Guy Who Says "Narf" - Eddie Fitzgerald"
This was the first animated series produced by Steven Spielberg and Warner Brothers Animation.
Writer Paul Dini said the original idea for Tiny Toons came from then Warner Brothers President Terry Semel, who said he wanted to inject new life into the animation department.
Voice Director Andrea Romano auditioned over 1,200 actors for the series.
Wackyland, the bizarre world that Gogo-Dodo comes from, wasn't created for this show; it actually first appeared in a little known Looney Tunes short named _Porky in Wackyland_ (1938), which also featured a dodo that looked and acted exactly like Gogo Dodo from this series.
In the episode "Never Too Late To Loon", Acme Acres is found to be located in Arkansas.
The series had two spin-offs, The Plucky Duck Show (1992) and Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain (1998).
Danny Cooksey, who voiced Montana Max, was the only cast member at the time, who was not an adult.
Tiny Toons won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program three straight years from 1991-1993.
One episode was co-written by 3 then-teenage girls, who just happened to be fans of the series.
The character of Ralph the Warner Bros. studio security guard later appeared as a regular character on another Warner Bros. animated series, Animaniacs.
Fifi Le Fume's perfume of choice is Le Stink.
Tiny Toons was originally planned to be a feature length film for theatrical release, but was later changed to a TV series.
Each episode contained 25,000 animation cels, which was more than double the industry standard at the time of 10,000. This allowed the characters to move more fluidly.
The nonsensical word "narf" which was made famous by Pinky on _"Anamaniacs" (1993)_ made its first appearance in the secret message in the credits of the episode "You Asked for It". The message: "Guy Who Says "Narf" - Eddie Fitzgerald"
This was the first animated series produced by Steven Spielberg and Warner Brothers Animation.
Writer Paul Dini said the original idea for Tiny Toons came from then Warner Brothers President Terry Semel, who said he wanted to inject new life into the animation department.
Voice Director Andrea Romano auditioned over 1,200 actors for the series.
The Transformers (1984-1987)
In season one Frank Welker voiced 7 of the 13 original Decepticons. He provided the voices of Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak (screeches), and Ravage (growls). The exceptions were Starcream (Chris Latta), Thundercracker (John Stephenson), Shockwave (Corey Burton), and Reflector (three identical robots with Chris Latta's voice).
The name Megatron was originally rejected by Hasbro for being too scary. Bob Budiansky argued as a villain he was meant to be scary.
Bumblebee was named "Goldbug" in early treatments. When he was re-built in the third season, his name got changed to Goldbug.
In issue 146 of the original Transformers Marvel Comic series, the Dinobot Grimlock writes in response to a letter from the fans that the comics depicted the "true" events of the Transformers mythos, whereas the cartoon series was purely a work of fiction.
The first ever Transformer to appear on the series was Wheeljack, episode The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye: Part 1 (1984).
Voice actor Peter Cullen's voice for Optimus Prime was inspired by John Wayne.
Cliffjumper was originally going to be named "Blow-Out", due to his tendency to suffer from blown tires.
Sparkplug Witwicky's real first name is not revealed in the TV series. In Marvel Comics, sometimes he is called William, and sometimes Irving. The character based upon him in the 2007 live action film, Transformers (2007), played by Kevin Dunn, is named Ron.
In the Marvel coloring book 'Forest Rescue Mission', Sparkplug has a son named Butch. He can be considered as Spike and Buster's third brother, or as an early name for either of their characters.
Because both Bluestreak and Prowl changed into Datsun sports cars and had similar helmets with "devil's horn" crowns, the animators tried to avoid confusion between the two by removing Prowl's shoulder-mounted rocket launchers which were apart of the toy Prowl. However, occasionally animators would accidentally color Prowl grey like Bluestreak.
Although Buzzsaw was part of the first line of Transformer toys, he did not appear until the second season episode The Transformers: Atlantis, Arise! (1985). He appeared only in four episodes of the whole series - unlike Laserbeak, who appeared very frequently. The reason for this contrast was that Buzzsaw's toy was only available packaged with Soundwave, and hence did not need to be advertised via the show.
Episode The Transformers: Autobot Spike (1985) is the last time Reflector speaks.
Skyfire's cartoon appearance is drastically different than his toys. The reason for this is that Jetfire was, at the time, a "borrowed" mould of a previously release toy from the rival company Bandi. To avoid unnecessary legalities, the Skyfire cartoon sketches were heavily modified (The Transformers: Fire in the Sky (1984)).
In season 1, there were 24 autobots [Optimus Prime, Skyfire, Bluestreak, Hound, Ironhide, Jazz, Mirage, Prowl, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, Wheeljack, Cliffjumper, Gears, Huffer, Windcharger, Brawn, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, Sludge, Swoop] and 22 decepticons [Megatron, Soundwave - with 4 casseticons, Reflector x 3, Skywarp, Starscream, Thundercracker, Shockwave, Bonecrusher, Hook, Mixmaster, Long Haul, Scavenger, Scrapper, Bombshell, Kickback, Shrapnel]. In season 2, there were 15 new Autobots [Perceptor, Omega Supreme, Beachcomber, Cosmos, Powerglide, Seaspray, Warpath, Blaster, Grapple, Hoist, Inferno, Red Alert, Skids, Smokescreen, Tracks] and 5 new Decepticons [Dirge, Ramjet, Thrust, Blitzwing, Astrotrain]. In the end of Season 2, 10 new Autobots (The Aerialbots and the Protectobots) and 10 new Decepticons were introduced (The Stunticons and the Combaticons).
The only character not referred to by name in the pilot trilogy is Windcharger, who, unlike all the other characters, does not get anything to do to display him for the audience (The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye: Part 3 (1984)).
The Transformers: War of the Dinobots (1984) was actually set before The Transformers: The Ultimate Doom: Brainwash (1) (1984).
The Transformers: Fire in the Sky (1984) is set before The Transformers: Fire on the Mountain (1984), which is also set before The Transformers: The Ultimate Doom: Brainwash (1) (1984).
If this season had aired its episodes in terms of production order, Windcharger would not be mentioned by name until The Transformers: Fire on the Mountain (1984).
The Autobot Skyfire (who first appears in season one's The Transformers: Fire in the Sky (1984)) was based on a Transformers toy named Jetfire, who in turn was a copy of the design of the SDF Macross/Robotech VF-1S Valkyrie jet/robot (Hasbro had bought the rights to produce copies of the Takatoku/Matsushiro/Bandai Valkyrie toy as part of the Transformers line some months before Robotech aired in the US). The character's name and design were changed to avoid any legal issues.
In The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye: Part 1 (1984), an orange Autobot in the form of a truck crane appears briefly to haul Hound up for repairs. This Autobots only appears in this scene, never speaks or transforms to robot mode, and is referred to as "Hauler" by Cliffjumper. Apparently, this was an early version of the Autobot called Grapple, who later appears in season two.
Many new characters (Triple-Changers, Blaster, Perceptor, etc.) suddenly began to appear during season two, beginning with The Transformers: Dinobot Island I (1985) and The Transformers: A Prime Problem (1985). Their sudden appearance was not explained. In the episodes produced after The Transformers: The Movie (1986), in which Megatron (Frank Welker) became Galvatron (Leonard Nimoy), Frank Welker took over the role of Galvatron, which seems appropriate. The actors who continued the roles they originated in The Transformers: The Movie (1986) for season 3 were: Neil Ross (Springer), Susan Blu (Arcee), David Mendenhall (Daniel Witwicky),John Moschitta Jr. (Blurr), Stan Jones (Scourge), and Roger C. Carmel (Cyclonus, Quintesson).
All of the other characters introduced in the movie were given new voice actors. The Constructicon Mixmaster (a character voiced by Frank Welker) falls into lava in episode The Transformers: Heavy Metal War (1984). In his next appearance (The Transformers: City of Steel (1985)), he acts quite insane. Later, in season 3, Galvatron (Frank Welker) lands in lava and goes insane as a result (episodes 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 3.04 and 3.05 "Five Faces of Darkness Part 1-5".
Ted Schwartz was originally to be the voice for Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime for the post movie episodes. Some of his lines can still be heard in "Five Faces of Darkness" (Episodes 3.01-3.05).
The Decepticon jet Thundercracker never uses his sonic powers in the series (his toy tech specs do say he has them, and he uses them in Marvel Comics). However, in The Transformers: Heavy Metal War (1984), Megatron, using the combined powers of all the Decepticons, does use them.
In season one Frank Welker voiced 7 of the 13 original Decepticons. He provided the voices of Megatron, Soundwave, Skywarp, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak (screeches), and Ravage (growls). The exceptions were Starcream (Chris Latta), Thundercracker (John Stephenson), Shockwave (Corey Burton), and Reflector (three identical robots with Chris Latta's voice).
The name Megatron was originally rejected by Hasbro for being too scary. Bob Budiansky argued as a villain he was meant to be scary.
Bumblebee was named "Goldbug" in early treatments. When he was re-built in the third season, his name got changed to Goldbug.
In issue 146 of the original Transformers Marvel Comic series, the Dinobot Grimlock writes in response to a letter from the fans that the comics depicted the "true" events of the Transformers mythos, whereas the cartoon series was purely a work of fiction.
The first ever Transformer to appear on the series was Wheeljack, episode The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye: Part 1 (1984).
Voice actor Peter Cullen's voice for Optimus Prime was inspired by John Wayne.
Cliffjumper was originally going to be named "Blow-Out", due to his tendency to suffer from blown tires.
Sparkplug Witwicky's real first name is not revealed in the TV series. In Marvel Comics, sometimes he is called William, and sometimes Irving. The character based upon him in the 2007 live action film, Transformers (2007), played by Kevin Dunn, is named Ron.
In the Marvel coloring book 'Forest Rescue Mission', Sparkplug has a son named Butch. He can be considered as Spike and Buster's third brother, or as an early name for either of their characters.
Because both Bluestreak and Prowl changed into Datsun sports cars and had similar helmets with "devil's horn" crowns, the animators tried to avoid confusion between the two by removing Prowl's shoulder-mounted rocket launchers which were apart of the toy Prowl. However, occasionally animators would accidentally color Prowl grey like Bluestreak.
Although Buzzsaw was part of the first line of Transformer toys, he did not appear until the second season episode The Transformers: Atlantis, Arise! (1985). He appeared only in four episodes of the whole series - unlike Laserbeak, who appeared very frequently. The reason for this contrast was that Buzzsaw's toy was only available packaged with Soundwave, and hence did not need to be advertised via the show.
Episode The Transformers: Autobot Spike (1985) is the last time Reflector speaks.
Skyfire's cartoon appearance is drastically different than his toys. The reason for this is that Jetfire was, at the time, a "borrowed" mould of a previously release toy from the rival company Bandi. To avoid unnecessary legalities, the Skyfire cartoon sketches were heavily modified (The Transformers: Fire in the Sky (1984)).
In season 1, there were 24 autobots [Optimus Prime, Skyfire, Bluestreak, Hound, Ironhide, Jazz, Mirage, Prowl, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, Wheeljack, Cliffjumper, Gears, Huffer, Windcharger, Brawn, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Slag, Snarl, Sludge, Swoop] and 22 decepticons [Megatron, Soundwave - with 4 casseticons, Reflector x 3, Skywarp, Starscream, Thundercracker, Shockwave, Bonecrusher, Hook, Mixmaster, Long Haul, Scavenger, Scrapper, Bombshell, Kickback, Shrapnel]. In season 2, there were 15 new Autobots [Perceptor, Omega Supreme, Beachcomber, Cosmos, Powerglide, Seaspray, Warpath, Blaster, Grapple, Hoist, Inferno, Red Alert, Skids, Smokescreen, Tracks] and 5 new Decepticons [Dirge, Ramjet, Thrust, Blitzwing, Astrotrain]. In the end of Season 2, 10 new Autobots (The Aerialbots and the Protectobots) and 10 new Decepticons were introduced (The Stunticons and the Combaticons).
The only character not referred to by name in the pilot trilogy is Windcharger, who, unlike all the other characters, does not get anything to do to display him for the audience (The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye: Part 3 (1984)).
The Transformers: War of the Dinobots (1984) was actually set before The Transformers: The Ultimate Doom: Brainwash (1) (1984).
The Transformers: Fire in the Sky (1984) is set before The Transformers: Fire on the Mountain (1984), which is also set before The Transformers: The Ultimate Doom: Brainwash (1) (1984).
If this season had aired its episodes in terms of production order, Windcharger would not be mentioned by name until The Transformers: Fire on the Mountain (1984).
The Autobot Skyfire (who first appears in season one's The Transformers: Fire in the Sky (1984)) was based on a Transformers toy named Jetfire, who in turn was a copy of the design of the SDF Macross/Robotech VF-1S Valkyrie jet/robot (Hasbro had bought the rights to produce copies of the Takatoku/Matsushiro/Bandai Valkyrie toy as part of the Transformers line some months before Robotech aired in the US). The character's name and design were changed to avoid any legal issues.
In The Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye: Part 1 (1984), an orange Autobot in the form of a truck crane appears briefly to haul Hound up for repairs. This Autobots only appears in this scene, never speaks or transforms to robot mode, and is referred to as "Hauler" by Cliffjumper. Apparently, this was an early version of the Autobot called Grapple, who later appears in season two.
Many new characters (Triple-Changers, Blaster, Perceptor, etc.) suddenly began to appear during season two, beginning with The Transformers: Dinobot Island I (1985) and The Transformers: A Prime Problem (1985). Their sudden appearance was not explained. In the episodes produced after The Transformers: The Movie (1986), in which Megatron (Frank Welker) became Galvatron (Leonard Nimoy), Frank Welker took over the role of Galvatron, which seems appropriate. The actors who continued the roles they originated in The Transformers: The Movie (1986) for season 3 were: Neil Ross (Springer), Susan Blu (Arcee), David Mendenhall (Daniel Witwicky),John Moschitta Jr. (Blurr), Stan Jones (Scourge), and Roger C. Carmel (Cyclonus, Quintesson).
All of the other characters introduced in the movie were given new voice actors. The Constructicon Mixmaster (a character voiced by Frank Welker) falls into lava in episode The Transformers: Heavy Metal War (1984). In his next appearance (The Transformers: City of Steel (1985)), he acts quite insane. Later, in season 3, Galvatron (Frank Welker) lands in lava and goes insane as a result (episodes 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 3.04 and 3.05 "Five Faces of Darkness Part 1-5".
Ted Schwartz was originally to be the voice for Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime for the post movie episodes. Some of his lines can still be heard in "Five Faces of Darkness" (Episodes 3.01-3.05).
The Decepticon jet Thundercracker never uses his sonic powers in the series (his toy tech specs do say he has them, and he uses them in Marvel Comics). However, in The Transformers: Heavy Metal War (1984), Megatron, using the combined powers of all the Decepticons, does use them.
Wacky Races (1968-1970)
This was one of several cartoon shows cancelled during the late-1960s/early-1970's (Hanna-Barbera's "Fantastic Four" was another) due to parental protests about excessive violence in children's programming.
The show was inspired by the film The Great Race (1965). Natalie Wood (playing Maggie DuBois) became Penelope Pitstop (even wearing the same pink racing outfit). Dick Dastardley was based on Jack Lemmon's character Professor Fate and Dastardley's sidekick Muttley was loosely based on Peter Falk's Max Meen.
The racing cars license plates were HB and the number of their car, (ex Dick Dastardly's was 'HB00'), the HB standing for Hanna-Barbera.
There were a total of 11 cars and racers/teams in the Wacky Races, as follows: Car #1 - the Slag Brothers (Rock and Gravel) in the Bouldermobile. Car #2 - the Gruesomes (Big Gruesome and Little Gruesome) in the Creepy Coupe. Car #3 - Prof. Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car. Car #4 - The Red Max in the Crimson Haybaler. Car #5 - Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat. Car #6 - Sgt. Blast and Pvt. Meekley in the Army Surplus Special. Car #7 - The Anthill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb. Car #8 - Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chugabug. Car #9 - Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific. Car #10 - Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzzwagon. Car #00 - Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine.
The members of the Ant Hill Mob, in car #7, were Clyde (the leader), Ring-a-Ding, Willy, Rug-Bug Benny, Mac, Danny, and Kurby.
The show originally was conceived as a game show by Heatter-Quigley Productions in which contestants would bet on the various characters and whose ever character crossed the line first won the game. However Fred Silverman, who was the head of CBS daytime during this period, decided the concept would work better as a Saturday morning cartoon instead of a game show.
This was one of several cartoon shows cancelled during the late-1960s/early-1970's (Hanna-Barbera's "Fantastic Four" was another) due to parental protests about excessive violence in children's programming.
The show was inspired by the film The Great Race (1965). Natalie Wood (playing Maggie DuBois) became Penelope Pitstop (even wearing the same pink racing outfit). Dick Dastardley was based on Jack Lemmon's character Professor Fate and Dastardley's sidekick Muttley was loosely based on Peter Falk's Max Meen.
The racing cars license plates were HB and the number of their car, (ex Dick Dastardly's was 'HB00'), the HB standing for Hanna-Barbera.
There were a total of 11 cars and racers/teams in the Wacky Races, as follows: Car #1 - the Slag Brothers (Rock and Gravel) in the Bouldermobile. Car #2 - the Gruesomes (Big Gruesome and Little Gruesome) in the Creepy Coupe. Car #3 - Prof. Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car. Car #4 - The Red Max in the Crimson Haybaler. Car #5 - Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat. Car #6 - Sgt. Blast and Pvt. Meekley in the Army Surplus Special. Car #7 - The Anthill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb. Car #8 - Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chugabug. Car #9 - Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific. Car #10 - Rufus Ruffcut and Sawtooth in the Buzzwagon. Car #00 - Dick Dastardly and Muttley in the Mean Machine.
The members of the Ant Hill Mob, in car #7, were Clyde (the leader), Ring-a-Ding, Willy, Rug-Bug Benny, Mac, Danny, and Kurby.
The show originally was conceived as a game show by Heatter-Quigley Productions in which contestants would bet on the various characters and whose ever character crossed the line first won the game. However Fred Silverman, who was the head of CBS daytime during this period, decided the concept would work better as a Saturday morning cartoon instead of a game show.
Voltron: Defender of the Universe (1984)
The first season of Voltron was not a straight dub from the Japanese anime series Hyakujû-ô Goraion (1981) (neither was the second from Kikô Kantai dairugger XV (1982)) due to American broadcast standards - "living" beings were never killed on-screen; mechanical creatures, however, were fair game. One of the most noticeable differences involves the character Sven. In the Japanese version, this character died after battling the enemy's witch after six appearances. In the American version, he was seriously injured and left to heal, and returns near the end of the season. In the Japanese version, this was his brother at the end of the series. The third season (second season for the Lion Voltron Force) was created specifically for the American audience.
Pidge, who was a member of the Lion Voltron Force, had a brother named Chip, who was part of the Vehicle Voltron Force. However, the two Japanese inspirations for the show, Hyakujû-ô Goraion (1981) and Kikô Kantai dairugger XV (1982) are not related, up to and including these characters. This is also why the antagonists in both series were known as belonging to one race, the Drules, in the American version; while "Kikô Kantai dairugger XV encountered them only after they began a planet search, the Vehicle Voltron Force were always watching out for them (and the Far Universe inhabitants were mentioned as being a part of their empire in the first season).
There were a total of three "Voltrons": Voltron I of the Near Universe was the "Vehicle Force", and the "Lion Force" of the Far Universe was Voltron III. Voltron II, from the Middle Universe, featured three humanoid robots that combined into one multi-armed fighter; this version was never shown in the US (though toys based on this show were released).
This series was originally planned to be an adaptation of Mirai robo Daltanias (1979). But Toei Animation accidentally sent tapes of Hyakujû-ô Goraion (1981) to World Events Productions. The producers found that they liked "Goraion" better and adapted it into "Voltron".
The third season was originally intended to be an adaptation of Lightspeed ElectroGod Albegas (1983). But World Event Productions decided instead to join with Toei Animation and make new episodes based on_"Hyakujû-ô Goraion" (1981)_. The second season adaptation of Kikô Kantai dairugger XV (1982) was not as popular as the first season "Goraion" episodes.
The first season of Voltron was not a straight dub from the Japanese anime series Hyakujû-ô Goraion (1981) (neither was the second from Kikô Kantai dairugger XV (1982)) due to American broadcast standards - "living" beings were never killed on-screen; mechanical creatures, however, were fair game. One of the most noticeable differences involves the character Sven. In the Japanese version, this character died after battling the enemy's witch after six appearances. In the American version, he was seriously injured and left to heal, and returns near the end of the season. In the Japanese version, this was his brother at the end of the series. The third season (second season for the Lion Voltron Force) was created specifically for the American audience.
Pidge, who was a member of the Lion Voltron Force, had a brother named Chip, who was part of the Vehicle Voltron Force. However, the two Japanese inspirations for the show, Hyakujû-ô Goraion (1981) and Kikô Kantai dairugger XV (1982) are not related, up to and including these characters. This is also why the antagonists in both series were known as belonging to one race, the Drules, in the American version; while "Kikô Kantai dairugger XV encountered them only after they began a planet search, the Vehicle Voltron Force were always watching out for them (and the Far Universe inhabitants were mentioned as being a part of their empire in the first season).
There were a total of three "Voltrons": Voltron I of the Near Universe was the "Vehicle Force", and the "Lion Force" of the Far Universe was Voltron III. Voltron II, from the Middle Universe, featured three humanoid robots that combined into one multi-armed fighter; this version was never shown in the US (though toys based on this show were released).
This series was originally planned to be an adaptation of Mirai robo Daltanias (1979). But Toei Animation accidentally sent tapes of Hyakujû-ô Goraion (1981) to World Events Productions. The producers found that they liked "Goraion" better and adapted it into "Voltron".
The third season was originally intended to be an adaptation of Lightspeed ElectroGod Albegas (1983). But World Event Productions decided instead to join with Toei Animation and make new episodes based on_"Hyakujû-ô Goraion" (1981)_. The second season adaptation of Kikô Kantai dairugger XV (1982) was not as popular as the first season "Goraion" episodes.
X-Men (1992-1997)
The series adopted a number of famous storylines and events from the "X-Men" comics.
Margaret Loesch had been championing for an X-Men show back in the 1980's with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) and "Pryde of the X-Men" (1989)_. Meanwhile, Loesch left Marvel Productions and became head of Fox Children's Network, in charge of all animated shows on the fourth network and now she was in a position to buy an X-Men show for the network. Marvel teamed up with Saban Entertainment to set up 13 episodes X-Men, featuring Marvel's hottest mutants.
The series character designs were based on the artwork of comic book artist Jim Lee's designs from the "X-Men" comics. The X-Men roster comes from the Blue Team (with Storm and Jean Grey replacing Psylocke and Revanche) that was featured in the "X-Men" comic (the second volume) around the time of the series began production. The first issue was ranked by the Guinness Records as the best-selling comic of all time.
After "The Phoenix Saga" aired, the remaining episodes that aired were not in the correct continuity order. Because the bulk of episodes were being animated with many different studios, the writers decided not to continue with linear storylines like the first two seasons, as many would likely air as soon as they became available. Continuity problems became so bad that episode 3.8 "No Mutant is an Island" and episode 3.10 "Longshot" did not air for two years after they should have, thanks to animation quality issues. "No Mutant is an Island" was *supposed* to explain Jean Grey's return, setting up the Dark Phoenix Saga.
Sidney Iwanter, an executive at Fox, originally planned on "ending" the series with a big bang ("Beyond Good and Evil - parts 1-4"). We even had planned to have characters leaving the team at the conclusion, but at the last minute Fox asked for more episodes. Unfortunately, at the time Marvel was filing for bankruptcy and could not afford to produce more episodes, so Saban funded them directly. This explains why the last six episodes looked different than the previous 70. So the show officially "ended" things again with "Graduation Day."
Fox initially had a lot of resistance to the cartoon series before it became a success. They felt that the target audiences, kids under 10, wouldn't be interested in a romantic love triangle between Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine. They also thought kids wouldn't keep up with a show that was serialized.
Stan Lee was not creatively active with Marvel comics at the time the series was being produced so his involvement wasn't particularly big on the series. He gave some producers notes on the first thirteen episodes
David Hemblen (the voice of Magneto in the show) was offered the chance to play Magneto in the X-Men live action movie. Hemblen wanted the role but he was forced to turn down the role due to scheduling conflicts with his show Earth: Final Conflict (1997).
Due to late development for the first season, episode 1.08 "The Unstoppable Juggernaut" aired after episode 1.09 "The Cure" and episode 1.10 "Come the Apocalypse" during the first run. Because of this, a quick animation fix with re-edited footage was created for the original airing of episode 1.09 "Slave Island", showing the X-Men returning home to the Mansion and the Blackbird landing.
The voice actors were largely cast from the Toronto theater scene.
The sound effect used for Magneto's magnetic powers is the same sound effect used for the Klingon cloaking device in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
The series adopted a number of famous storylines and events from the "X-Men" comics.
Margaret Loesch had been championing for an X-Men show back in the 1980's with Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends (1981) and "Pryde of the X-Men" (1989)_. Meanwhile, Loesch left Marvel Productions and became head of Fox Children's Network, in charge of all animated shows on the fourth network and now she was in a position to buy an X-Men show for the network. Marvel teamed up with Saban Entertainment to set up 13 episodes X-Men, featuring Marvel's hottest mutants.
The series character designs were based on the artwork of comic book artist Jim Lee's designs from the "X-Men" comics. The X-Men roster comes from the Blue Team (with Storm and Jean Grey replacing Psylocke and Revanche) that was featured in the "X-Men" comic (the second volume) around the time of the series began production. The first issue was ranked by the Guinness Records as the best-selling comic of all time.
After "The Phoenix Saga" aired, the remaining episodes that aired were not in the correct continuity order. Because the bulk of episodes were being animated with many different studios, the writers decided not to continue with linear storylines like the first two seasons, as many would likely air as soon as they became available. Continuity problems became so bad that episode 3.8 "No Mutant is an Island" and episode 3.10 "Longshot" did not air for two years after they should have, thanks to animation quality issues. "No Mutant is an Island" was *supposed* to explain Jean Grey's return, setting up the Dark Phoenix Saga.
Sidney Iwanter, an executive at Fox, originally planned on "ending" the series with a big bang ("Beyond Good and Evil - parts 1-4"). We even had planned to have characters leaving the team at the conclusion, but at the last minute Fox asked for more episodes. Unfortunately, at the time Marvel was filing for bankruptcy and could not afford to produce more episodes, so Saban funded them directly. This explains why the last six episodes looked different than the previous 70. So the show officially "ended" things again with "Graduation Day."
Fox initially had a lot of resistance to the cartoon series before it became a success. They felt that the target audiences, kids under 10, wouldn't be interested in a romantic love triangle between Cyclops, Jean, and Wolverine. They also thought kids wouldn't keep up with a show that was serialized.
Stan Lee was not creatively active with Marvel comics at the time the series was being produced so his involvement wasn't particularly big on the series. He gave some producers notes on the first thirteen episodes
David Hemblen (the voice of Magneto in the show) was offered the chance to play Magneto in the X-Men live action movie. Hemblen wanted the role but he was forced to turn down the role due to scheduling conflicts with his show Earth: Final Conflict (1997).
Due to late development for the first season, episode 1.08 "The Unstoppable Juggernaut" aired after episode 1.09 "The Cure" and episode 1.10 "Come the Apocalypse" during the first run. Because of this, a quick animation fix with re-edited footage was created for the original airing of episode 1.09 "Slave Island", showing the X-Men returning home to the Mansion and the Blackbird landing.
The voice actors were largely cast from the Toronto theater scene.
The sound effect used for Magneto's magnetic powers is the same sound effect used for the Klingon cloaking device in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984).
Shirt Tales (1982-1984)
Created by greeting card designer Janet Elizabeth Manco, and featured on Hallmark Cards greeting cards.
Created by greeting card designer Janet Elizabeth Manco, and featured on Hallmark Cards greeting cards.
The Yogi Bear Show (1961-1988)
Yogi Bear was named after legendary New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra. Because of this, Berra tried to sue Hanna-Barbera for using his name without his permission. He lost the case.
35 episodes were made.
Yogi Bear made his debut on The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958)
Yogi Bear's voice is an imitation of Art Carney as Norton from The Honeymooners (1955). Yogi even wears a hat with the brim pushed up like Norton.
Yogi Bear was named after legendary New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra. Because of this, Berra tried to sue Hanna-Barbera for using his name without his permission. He lost the case.
35 episodes were made.
Yogi Bear made his debut on The Huckleberry Hound Show (1958)
Yogi Bear's voice is an imitation of Art Carney as Norton from The Honeymooners (1955). Yogi even wears a hat with the brim pushed up like Norton.
Cow and Chicken (1995-2004)
The first Cow and Chicken short had rougher animation than the series that followed and featured much darker themes. In the first cartoon, Chicken goes to hell for smoking cigarettes and is tortured by the devil while he's there. After this harsh episode, the content of the series was significantly toned down, the animation was brightened up, and the devil's name was changed to "The Red Guy".
The episode "Buffalo Gals" was banned after its first airing due to sexual references and lesbian stereotypes. The episode involved a pack of biker girls whom wore buffalo hats (hence the name) busting into Cow and Chicken's house and tearing up the place. The leader takes a liking to Cow and they kidnap her, which means Chicken must go to her rescue.
When making the second season, Cartoon Network wanted David Feiss to keep on making "I. M. Weasel" shorts. David Feiss didn't want to make any more, but agreed he would only if he could start using the Red Guy in the "I. M. Weasel" shorts. Since then, the Red Guy was a regular character in Weasel.
Charlie Adler based the voices of Cow after Ellen Greene and Chicken after himself at age 14.
Was a short on the 'What a Cartoon show'.
Two episodes were written by members of David Feisse's family. "Me an' My Dog" was written by his wife, Pillar. "Black Sheep of the Family" was written by his son, David Feiss Jr. (Though he was uncredited)
It was David Feiss' ex-wife Pillar's idea to have Cow's alter-ego, Supercow speak only in Spanish.
The first Cow and Chicken short had rougher animation than the series that followed and featured much darker themes. In the first cartoon, Chicken goes to hell for smoking cigarettes and is tortured by the devil while he's there. After this harsh episode, the content of the series was significantly toned down, the animation was brightened up, and the devil's name was changed to "The Red Guy".
The episode "Buffalo Gals" was banned after its first airing due to sexual references and lesbian stereotypes. The episode involved a pack of biker girls whom wore buffalo hats (hence the name) busting into Cow and Chicken's house and tearing up the place. The leader takes a liking to Cow and they kidnap her, which means Chicken must go to her rescue.
When making the second season, Cartoon Network wanted David Feiss to keep on making "I. M. Weasel" shorts. David Feiss didn't want to make any more, but agreed he would only if he could start using the Red Guy in the "I. M. Weasel" shorts. Since then, the Red Guy was a regular character in Weasel.
Charlie Adler based the voices of Cow after Ellen Greene and Chicken after himself at age 14.
Was a short on the 'What a Cartoon show'.
Two episodes were written by members of David Feisse's family. "Me an' My Dog" was written by his wife, Pillar. "Black Sheep of the Family" was written by his son, David Feiss Jr. (Though he was uncredited)
It was David Feiss' ex-wife Pillar's idea to have Cow's alter-ego, Supercow speak only in Spanish.
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988-1991)
Most of the original production staff for this show (including producer Tom Ruegger) left the project after the first season. They went to Warner Bros. to restart their long-moribund animation department; their first project there was Tiny Toon Adventures (1990). In an interview with The Nostalgia Critic (2007) in 2010, Ruegger stated that this show was what got him and his team the job.
This series, and the films that feature Freddie Prinze Jr., mark the only times that the character of Freddie Jones has been voiced by someone other than Frank Welker.
Most of the original production staff for this show (including producer Tom Ruegger) left the project after the first season. They went to Warner Bros. to restart their long-moribund animation department; their first project there was Tiny Toon Adventures (1990). In an interview with The Nostalgia Critic (2007) in 2010, Ruegger stated that this show was what got him and his team the job.
This series, and the films that feature Freddie Prinze Jr., mark the only times that the character of Freddie Jones has been voiced by someone other than Frank Welker.
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