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36 Behind-the-Scenes Stories from Beloved Animated Movies and Shows

October 16, 2023

While animation is definitely interesting to look at, sometimes an animated movie or TV show can be just as interesting behind-the-scenes. Such tales also reveal how and why your favorite cartoon is the way that it is. For instance, the concept of bending in Avatar: The Last Airbender was created to allow battles and action to skirt around any flesh-on-flesh contact violence that would have been censored for children’s TV.

More on that and 35 other beloved animated movies and TV shows below…

36

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS ALL OF RICK'S BURPS ARE REAL. Rick Month seel Justin Roiland can't burp on command so he has to sit in a recording booth with a drink and blow air into his stomach to produce the burps. He calls the process disgusting and painful - which is why Rick doesn't burp as much after the first couple of episodes. CRACKED.COM — VICE

35

Tina Belcher was a boy. CRACKED.COM Comedian Dan Mintz played Daniel Belcher in the pilot, but the brass at Fox said the kids were too similar -- -particularly, brothers Gene and Daniel. Nobody wanted to lose Mintz, though, SO they changed his character's name and exactly nothing else. — 15 'Bob's Burgers' Behind-The-Scenes Facts

34

R. Lee Ermey voiced all the Green Army Men in Toy Story 1 and 2... ...but you probably know him best from Full Metal Jacket. Typecast, much? NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — 18 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Toy Story Movies

33

The original actor who voiced Andy quit acting in 2001... ...but the director tracked him down and convinced him to continue the series. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — 18 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Toy Story Movies

32

BENDER BLANCHES. AT THE BINARY 'BEAST. The Honking Bender being terrified of the number 1010011010 is explained by that being 666 in binary. CRACKED.COM — The Infosphere, Binary Code

31

Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Art of the Animated Series)

30

CONNECTION TO ORIGINAL MAGAZINE 'OUNG CRACKED.COM A man is seen wearing a jumper with the word 'Young' on it, giving a subtle nod to 'Young Magazine,' a 300-page anthology manga magazine which initially published the Akira manga. Also in the crowd is a man wearing a jacket that says Adolf, a nod to probably nothing. — ScreenRant

29

THE DUPLA-SHRINKER NAMEDROPS A MATHEMATICAL PARADOX. Benderama BANACH-TARSKI DUPLA-SHRINKER The Banach-Tarski paradox states that you can break up a ball into several pieces, and then rearrange the pieces into two identical copies of the original ball (in theory). CRACKED.COM — Gizmodo, The Infosphere

28

Every major character is just their actor's speaking voice (except for Linda). CRACKED.COM Linda's voice actor, John Roberts, broke into the biz with his YouTube character mimicking his own mother. His impression has also gotten him on Fallon, and collaborations with heavy hitters like David Cross and Bob Odenkirk. — 15 'Bob's Burgers' Behind-The-Scenes Facts

27

Chuck Jones met his wife thanks to Grinch. TV Guide's Marian Dern interviewed him about the special, and they got married in 1981. CRACKED.COM — The Hollywood Reporter

26

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS THE THEME SONG WAS WRITTEN FOR A DIFFERENT SHOW. Rick MORED and The beloved theme was actually created for Dog World- an unsuccessful pilot Justin Roiland developed for Cartoon Network. At first, the theme was USED as a placeholder but it fit SO well with the show that they decided to reuse it. CRACKED.COM — Thrillist

25

Toy Story was pitched as a O-minute sequel to Tin Toy... ...but the President of Walt Disney told them to make it a full length movie. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — RetroJunk

24

Anime Superhero News

23

RECORD SETTING BUDGET CRACKED.COM Akira had a record $10 million budget (or 1.1 billion yen), and put it to good use; new technology and a staff of 70 kept up with a production that put even giants like Studio Ghibli to shame, using 12 to 24 frames-a-second animation that made a much smoother final product. — Empire Online

22

EASTER EGGSTRA SPACE CAM Homer Simpson has a cameo in the movie. Well, the actor who voices him does. During the scene where the Nerdlucks dress up in their Doctor Who ensemble, they take a seat next to Patricia Heaton from Everybody Loves Raymond. Sitting next to her is Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson. Three of the biggest and longest running TV shows represented in one scene. CRACKED.COM — Today

21

‘Yep’

The series ended not with a bang, but with a yep. CRACKED The first and last lines of the series are Hank and the boys exchanging a round of yeps. — 15 Dang Ol' Behind-The-Scenes Facts About 'King Of The Hill,' Man

20

A Goofy Movie

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS The movie was based on a TV SHOW GOOF TROOP CRACKED.COM A Goofy Movie was based on the Disney Channel series Goof Troop. The show introduced Goofy's son as Max Goof, though the character appeared in 1950s cartoon shorts as Goofy Jr. — SyFy

19

CYGNUSX-1 ISN'T SPACE LAS VEGAS. BUTURAM The prisoner of Benda WHAT HAPPENS IN I CYGNUS X-1 STAYS IN CYGNUS X-1 The caption at the start of the episode isn't just a shout-out to the city of vice- - Cygnus X-1 is a black hole, so it's physically impossible for anything not to stay there. CRACKED.COM — The Infosphere, Astronomy Magazine

18

There's an official Bob's Burgers comic book. FROM THE CREATORS SNOW BOB'S BURGERS FROM THE CALATORS OF THE HIT SHOWL BOB'S BURGERS BOB'S BURGERS CRACKED.co It's written and illustrated by the show's staff. Some stories are off-the-walls homages to other mediums, but some are official canon - including regular installments of Tina's Erotic Friend Fiction. — 15 'Bob's Burgers' Behind-The-Scenes Facts

17

The Grinch

The Grinch was made green for the TV special. But the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry! It couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY! In the original book, he was black and white. CRACKED.COM — Vulture

16

Toy Story 4

For Toy Story 4, filmmakers created six billion leaves... ...as well as over a trillion pine needles and 50,000,000 individual dust particles. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Creative Bloq

15

Avatar: The Last Airbender (The Art of the Animated Series)

14

PREDICTED THE 2020 OLYMPICS 30 th 000 TOKYO CRACKED.COM Although created in 1987, you can see Neo-Tokyo building facilities for the upcoming Olympics in the film, accurately predicting Tokyo hosting the 2020 Olympics. What Akira couldn't predict was the 2020 Olympics being rescheduled to 2021 due to a deadly, world wide virus. Maybe they're saving that for the sequel. — Uproxx

13

Looper, Commercials

12

King of the Hill

Hank Hill pitched himself to the network. GRACKED.COM Instead of animating a full pilot, Mike Judge opted to produce a short, no-frills, first-person plea from Hank himself. — YouTube

11

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS -SCENES Director Kevin Lima PLAYED POSSUM CRACKED.COM Among his many duties, Lima also provided the voice for Lester of Lester's Possum Park. Lima cites the scene as one of his favorites, tweeting as you might have guessed, it's a send up of The Country Bear Jamboree! — Twitter

10

Unbelievable Statistics

THE MULTIPLEX SURE HAS A LOT OF SCREENS LOEW'S -PLEX NOW SHOWING: THE 2007 CLASSIC CHARLIE'S ANGELS III THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE'S GOLD NO (aleph-null) is the smallest infinite number (yes, some infinite numbers are bigger than others), implying that Loew's No-plex has an infinite amount of screens. CRACKED.COM — The Infosphere, Wolfram Mathworld

9

They released an official vinyl album. MUSIC ALBUM CRACKED.COM The 112-track album of songs from the show which peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard 200 was described by Clash magazine as at times both smart, sweet and very, very, stupid. — 15 'Bob's Burgers' Behind-The-Scenes Facts

8

All the song lyrics in the movie were written by Dr. Seuss. CAT HAT CRACKED.COM — Vulture

7

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS MR. MEESEEKS WAS CREATED OUT OF BOREDOM. Rick MORE w The concept got its start after Justin Roiland randomly started yelling I'm mister Meeseeks during a writing session for a completely different story - one that he hated for being too complex and boring. CRACKED.COM — Reddit AMA

6

The chracter of Woody was almost a bitter, cynical jerk... ...because the head of Disney tried to rework the script to have more edge to it. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — RetroJunk

5

4

INVENTED NEW COLORS TO USE IN ANIMATION CRACKED.co .COM Since most of the movie takes place in the neon-light-dripping darkness of Neo-Tokyo, a record total of 327 different colors were used. Of those 327 colors, 50 were exclusively created for the film. — Geek Tyrant

3

Space Jam

EASTER EGGSTRA SPACE I AM Larry Johnson references his famous '90s commercial. Johnson featured in a series of Converse commercials titled Grandmama in the '90s. When the NBA players lose their skills to the Nerdlucks, Johnson remarks: My grandmother played better than I do. CRACKED.COM

2

BEHIND-THE-SCENESEACT FACTS Powerline's singing comes from TEVIN CAMPBELL CRACKED But probably not his dancing. They had me do some dance moves and I doubt if they based any of Powerline's dance moves off of me, says Campbell. I was more of a dancer back then, but I was nothing like Powerline. — Forbes

1

The writers all had to read a law professor's book on government overreach. CRACKED.co Writers were required to read The Death of Common Sense, a book by Georgetown Law professor Philip K. Howard. The book explains a very Hill-ian philosophy that bureaucracy causes common sense to atrophy. — LA Times

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