When the truth is found to be lies...
Yet another "no one actually cares about this kind of stuff" journal. This one doesn't really have a "theme", it's just random stuff that I'm writing as a short break from trying to get 1000 on the jump-rope minigame in Final Fantasy IX.
The Lord of the Rings is not a trilogy, or a series, or anything of the sort - it's a single book, subdivided into six volumes and published in three parts initially because the publishers couldn't afford to publish it as a single book. It was initially intended to be a SHORTER sequel to The Hobbit, but as J. R. R. Tolkien famously said, "the tale grew in the telling" and we ended up with the epic we have today.
Speaking of The Lord of the Rings, pipe-weed is not marijuana - it's the Middle-earth counterpart of tobacco. In fact, in early versions of The Hobbit (made before Tolkien decided to tie that book into his Middle-earth mythology) it was actually called tobacco. He changed the name because "tobacco" is a non-English loanword (it comes from Portuguese "tabako", meaning "cigarette"), and he felt that it wouldn't be appropriate for characters who weren't speaking English in the first place.
J. K. Rowling has no middle name - her full name is Joanne Rowling. She took the K from her grandmother's name, Kathleen, after her editor suggested using her initials in order to appeal to male readers. Her last name is properly pronounced "rolling", not "rau-ling" like a lot of people think.
Rowling hid a very subtle bit of foreshadowing in the first Harry Potter book. In Harry's first Potions class, Snape asks him what adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood would make. In Victorian flower language, asphodel is a type of lily that means "my regrets follow you to the grave", and wormwood means "absence" and symbolises bitter sorrow. When combined, the interpretation can be "I bitterly regret Lily's death".
J. K. Rowling based the dementors from the books on her depression. She claimed that depression left you feeling like your soul had been sucked out of you and that you would never be happy again, which is the effect the dementors have on people in the books.
Fake psychic and Divination teacher Professor Sybil Trelawney's great-grandmother's name is Cassandra. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a seer who was given the ability to see the future by the god Apollo, but then cursed so that no one would ever believe her prophecies.
In order to avoid information being leaked to the public early, the Harry Potter movies went by codenames early in development, such as "Candlelight" and "Champion", among others.
Although never shown in the books, J. K. Rowling revealed that Ron's Patronus (a spell used to fight off dementors that often takes the form of an animal symbologically significant to the caster) is a Jack Russell terrier, which are known to chase otters in real life. Ron's eventual girlfriend Hermione's Patronus happens to be an otter.
In an effort to help them (and himself) understand their characters better, the director of the Harry Potter movies gave Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione) a homework assignment - write an essay about their characters. True to form, Emma Watson wrote a sixteen-page, detailed essay, Daniel wrote a one-page summary and Rupert never turned his paper in.
In the Harry Potter world, boggarts are shapeshifters that take the form of the greatest fear of anyone looking at them. J. K. Rowling revealed that if Voldemort ever found a boggart, it would transform into his own corpse, since death is his greatest fear.
The T at the end of Voldemort is meant to be silent. His name comes from the French "vol de mort", which means "flight from death".
J. K. Rowling admitted she wrote the character of Severus Snape with Alan Rickman in mind, even before he was chosen to play the role in the movies. Also, while not having her in mind specifically, Rowling has said that Evanna Lynch perfectly resembles how she pictured Luna Lovegood.
Dumbledore's homosexuality is not at any point mentioned in the books, and was only revealed when the director of the sixth film wanted to add a subplot about Dumbledore having a relationship with a young girl in his past, only for Rowling to write "He's gay" on the script. She later "outed" him in an interview that took place after the final book had been released.
Contrary to rumour, J. K. Rowling did not write the first Harry Potter book on napkins. She did do it in a coffee shop, but she did it the normal way. Reportedly, on hearing the rumour, she laughed and said people will be saying she wrote it on teabags next.
Also, contrary to rumour, Rowling never called Harry/Hermione shippers "delusional". It was the interviewer who described them as such, and Rowling's response was simply to laugh before diplomatically steering the conversation towards more neutral ground.
Rowling has admitted that Gilderoy Lockhart is based on her ex-husband, and Severus Snape is loosely based on a chemistry teacher she once had.
The werewolf character Remus Lupin's name can be rearranged to spell "Primus Lune", which means "full moon".
Some of the spells in Harry Potter are actual real (and grammatically correct) Latin. For instance, "Expecto Patronum" literally translates to "I await a guardian". "Accio" (the Summoning Charm) means "to call in", "Crucio" (the Cruciatus Curse) means "to torment" and "Nox" (the spell to put a lit wand out) means "night". However, the Killing Curse, "Avada Kedavra", actually comes from Aramaic "Abhadda Kedhabhra", which means "Disappear like this word".
J. K. Rowling once took an online Sorting Hat quiz. She was sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Dumbledore" is the Old English word for a bumblebee. Rowling has said she gave him that name because she imagined him walking around humming to himself.
The name Hermione is Greek and means "earthy".
Before settling on Longbottom, J. K. Rowling considered "Sidebottom" and "Puff" as surnames for Neville.
Hermione was originally going to have a younger sister, but Rowling couldn't find a way to fit her in. She would have been introduced in the fifth book and sorted into Slytherin, and act as a sort of rival for Hermione (a role fulfilled by Pansy Parkinson in the books, who Rowling described as "the anti-Hermione").
Hermione's last name was originally going to be Puckle.
The scene in the fourth book in which Hermione teaches Viktor Krum how to pronounce her name ("Her-my-oh-knee") was written because Rowling got an alarming number of letters from fans asking her how to pronounce it, as well as hearing people consistently mispronounce it (usually as "Hermy-own", which is how Krum also pronounces it initially). She mentioned once hearing a fan pronounce it as "Hermy-one" (as in the number one), which she said amused her so much she briefly considered making it the official pronunciation. This is again parodied in the next book, where Hagrid's giant half-brother Grawp calls her "Hermy" due to his diminished faculties and limited grasp of English.
When filming, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson's nicknames were "Do-It-Again Dan", "Re-do Rupert" and "One-Take Watson" respectively.
Names Rowling considered for the final book in the series included Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.
Rowling admitted that she hated Pansy Parkinson because she was "every girl who ever teased me at school".
J. K. Rowling was asked to play Lily Potter in the first film, but declined because she felt she wasn't cut out for acting.
Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, turned down the role of Dumbledore because he felt that playing one legendary wizard was enough for him. The fact that his acting had been criticised by Richard Harris, Dumbledore's original actor, may have also played a part in his refusal.
Richard Harris initially refused the role of Dumbledore, but later accepted it after his granddaughter said she would never speak to him again if he didn't take it.
Although Dumbledore avoided the question when Harry asked him what he saw in the Mirror of Erised (a mirror that shows your deepest desire), Rowling revealed he saw the same thing Harry saw - himself happy and reunited with his family.
If you look carefully at Hermione in the movie of Chamber of Secrets, you can see a cast under the sleeve of her robes from when Emma Watson broke her wrist during filming. Also, take a good look in Dumbledore's office in the same movie to spot a picture of Gandalf the Grey on the walls.
Because Harry Potter's dancing was supposed to be awkward and unnatural, Daniel Radcliffe was only given four days of dancing lessons before filming the Yule Ball scene in Goblet of Fire, while everyone else was given three weeks of lessons.
The Spanish translation of the books rather hilariously mistranslated Neville's pet toad as a turtle. Yes, Neville had a turtle that liked to JUMP from its owner's hand.
Although Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series, its corresponding movie is the shortest of all the movies.
During the shooting of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the part of Dobby the House-Elf was played by an orange ball on a stick. Dobby was added in digitally later on.
Rowling's grandfathers are named Ernie and Stan, the same as the drivers of the Knight Bus in the books.
Most of the characters in The Lion King have names that are real words in some African language. "Simba" literally means "lion" in Swahili, but has the secondary meaning of "courageous warrior". "Nala" means "gift", "Rafiki" means "friend", "Pumbaa" means "simpleton", "Mufasa" means "king". Timon is the odd one out, as his name is an actual Greek given name.
Though the movie depicts hyenas as scavengers, in real life hyenas are one of the top predators in Africa. In fact, in real life a lion would be more likely to scavenge a hyena's kill than the other way around.
Adolf Hitler loved the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and made it a requirement for all members of the German army to watch it. He even made some fanart of the movie.
Disney originally wanted to include Mario and Luigi in Wreck-It Ralph, but couldn't think of a good way to include them in the movie. They have said that if there is ever a sequel, Mario and Luigi will be included. It was not, contrary to rumour, because Nintendo demanded too high a price for using them. To compensate for their absence, Mario is mentioned by name, when Felix thinks Mario is ringing the doorbell at his birthday party (when it's actually Ralph).
South Park holds the world record for most swearing in an animated series.
Originally, Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to call the movie "South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose!", but the network wouldn't let them put the word "hell" in the title. They changed it to "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut", a subtle penis joke, as a retaliation.
Despite being mostly unintelligible, Kenny's muffled speech is actually real and relevant dialogue, produced by Matt Stone talking into his sleeve.
The pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", was made with paper cutouts. Every episode since then used computer animation.
Because of its simplistic animation, an episode of South Park typically takes about five days to make.
The Terrence & Phillip show was created in response to complaints Parker and Stone got that South Park was nothing but "bad animation and fart jokes".
In the precursor shorts Jesus vs. Frosty and Jesus vs. Santa (collectively known as The Spirit of Christmas), the character who would later become known as Cartman is called Kenny, and the character who would later become known as Kenny is not named. Furthermore, both characters end up getting killed.
In Ape Escape, four monkeys are named Stan, Kyle, Cratman and Kenny, referencing the four main characters of South Park (though Cartman is misspelled as Cratman).
The character of Mr. Hankey is a parody of Mickey Mouse, with his white gloves and high-pitched voice. The character originated from Trey Parker's childhood - he had a habit of not flushing the toilet, so his father told him that if he didn't, his poop would come to life and eat him.
Swedish Youtube gamer and celebrity Felix Kjellberg, a.k.a. PewDiePie, is known for his signature greeting "My name is PeeeewDiePie!" It's possible he may have been (at least subconsciously) inspired by South Park in this, as Mr. Hankey's uses a greeting of "Hiiiii-de-ho!" with a very similar tone of voice. When Pewds played South Park: The Stick of Truth, his reaction upon hearing Mr. Hankey's greeting seemed to confirm this.
PewDiePie explained the origin of his rather bizarre name in one of his "Friday with PewDiePie" weekly videos. It originated from his childhood playing games - "Pewdie" was the sound of a laser firing, and when he signed up to YouTube, he added the "pie" because the name "Pewdie" was already taken. PewDie's real name is Felix, which is Latin for "happy" or "lucky" (as PewDiePie pointed out himself in his "Draw My Life" video).
PewDiePie currently lives with his girlfriend in the UK, though is careful not to reveal exactly where for obvious reasons.
Although Steamboat Willie is often said to have been the first cartoon to feature Mickey Mouse, in actual fact there were three other cartoons featuring Mickey and Minnie that were made before it, but never aired. The first of these was titled Plane Crazy, a silent cartoon. Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon to use sound, which set it apart from others and helped make it popular.
Mickey himself did not speak until The Karnival Kid, released in 1929, where he initially had a deep, gruff voice (provided by composer Carl Stalling), before Walt Disney took over the voice and gave us the iconic shy, falsetto voice we all know today.
Walt Disney's full name is Walter Elias Disney. His rather unusual surname is an Anglicisation of a French name, "d'Isigny" (pronounced roughly "Dee-see-nee"). He founded The Walt Disney Company along with his brother, Roy Oliver Disney, and originally called it the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.
Disney's (the person, not the company) first film was a live-action short entitled Alice's Wonderland, a short silent film which featured child actor Virginia Davis visiting an animation studio and interacting with the animated characters. This would become the first in a series of short films known as the Alice Comedies, which aired from 1923 to 1927. This series was the first appearance of the character Pete (later known as Peg-Leg Pete, Big Bad Pete or Black Pete), who appeared in the 1925 short Alice Solves the Puzzle.
Mega Man, star of the games of the same name, wasn't originally called Mega Man, and his Japanese name Rock Man wasn't his original name either. Battle Kid, Mighty Kid and Knuckle Kid were all considered, and Capcom even initially considered including the word "rainbow" in the title. The first Mega Man game was once titled "The Battle Rainbow Rock Man", most likely because of Mega Man changing colours whenever he equipped a different weapon.
Mega Man's blue colour came from the NES having a slightly larger selection of blues in its colour palette than any other colour. Keiji Inafune, the creator of the series, wanted the most detailed sprite possible, and later said "The Blue Bomber is really blue because of the Nintendo, nothing else". Ironically, though, Inafune didn't actually create Mega Man. The initial design for the character was created by Akira Kitamura, and was later refined by Inafune.
When work began on the spinoff series Mega Man X, Inafune was given the opportunity to design his own version of Mega Man, but the design he initially came up with was the one that would become the character Zero. Inafune realised that fans might not take kindly to such a drastic change in design, so Zero was reworked as a side character and the current design of Mega Man X was created. Inafune later got his wish to have Zero as a main character when the Mega Man Zero games were developed.
Mega Man X3 ends with the cryptic message "To save mankind, [X] must destroy Zero." This prophecy was fulfilled in the ending of Mega Man X5, which Inafune intended to be the last in the series. However, popular demand forced him to continue the series, which meant bringing the character of Zero back somehow. The first game in the Mega Man Zero series follows on from the end of Mega Man X5, and represents Inafune's true wishes for the series and the character.
The character Vile is named VAVA in the Japanese games, an allusion to the Star Wars character Boba Fett, who Vile bears a visual similarity to. In Japanese, "VAVA" is pronounced like "Boba", as Japanese lacks a V sound.
Apparently, the character's name was changed from Rock Man in Japanese to Mega Man in the US because "rock" was 80s slang for cocaine. The Robot Master in Mega Man II who uses tack mines has been variously translated as Crash Man or Clash Man, but it's actually supposed to be Crush Man (all three words are written "Kurasshu" in katakana). The Japanese games write it as Clash Man, while the English games use Crash Man (both versions of the game, like all other games in the series, use English text).
A scene in Mega Man X5 features X apologising for what happened to someone called Octopardo. This left many fans wondering "Who the heck is Octopardo?" It turned out that this was referring to the boss Launch Octopus from the first Mega Man X game, using a mistranslation of his Japanese name, Launcher Octopuld.
In the American version of Mega Man X5, the boss names are references to the band Guns N' Roses (listed below are the boss names with Japanese name first, followed by American name).
Crescent Grizzly - Grizzly Slash (Saul Hudson, a.k.a. Slash, lead guitarist)
Volt Kraken - Squid Adler (Steven Adler, drummer)
Shining Hotarunicus - Izzy Glow (Izzy Stradlin, rhythm guitarist)
Tidal Makkoeen - Duff McWhalen (Duff McKagan, bass guitarist)
Spiral Pegasion - The Skiver (Michael Monroe, lead singer of Finnish glam punk band Hanoi Rocks who collaborated with Axl Rose many times and whose band heavily influenced Guns N' Roses's sound. Michael's nickname among Guns N' Roses band members was "High in the Sky", which is where "Skiver" (a portmanteau of "sky" and "diver") comes from.)
Spike Rosered - Axle the Red (Axl Rose, lead vocalist)
Dark Necrobat - Dark Dizzy (Dizzy Reed, keyboardist)
Burn Dinorex - Mattrex (Matt Sorum, drummer after Steven Adler left)
Ironically, Capcom had nothing to do with this - the names were given by Alyson Court, who put them in for her husband, who was a fan of the band. She admitted knowing nothing about Mega Man X and just happened to put a musical reference into a series that was already full of them.
Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wily are named after Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein respectively and even share some likenesses (though Dr. Light's design was apparently based on Santa Claus). Ironically, Thomas Edison is the one often considered to be on moral shaky ground, due to allegations of animal experiments and inventing the electric chair, while Einstein was a pacifist who once said "War is a disease". One of the theories for why the villain is based on Einstein is that Einstein was the one who created the formula for developing the atomic bomb that later devastated Japan after World War 2.
In the Japanese versions of the games, Dr. Light was called Dr. Right, and his logo was a giant R. The logo was finally changed to an L in the English release of Mega Man 9. In the intro for Mega Man X, the opening text is English in both versions of the game and reads exactly the same, with only one difference - in the US and European versions of the game, the text is signed "T. Light", whereas in the Japanese version, the signature reads "T. Right". Capcom later addressed this translation ambiguity in the RockMan.EXE series, known as Mega Man Battle Network outside of Japan, where main character Lan (Netto in Japanese)'s grandfather is named Tadashii Hikari, which roughly translates to "Right Light" in Japanese.
In Japanese, the characters Lan and Mayl are known as Netto and Meiru, which are Japanese pronunciations of the English words "Net" (as in internet) and "Mail" (as in email). Netto's name was changed to Lan in English as a pun on LAN (Local Area Network), while Meiru's name was anglicised in a way that kept the original pun. The English dub of the anime, Mega Man NT Warrior, somewhat ruined the pun, however, as it had to call her "Maylu" in order to match the mouth flaps.
Boomer Kuwanger was the only boss in the first Mega Man X game that kept his original Japanese name.
In Mega Man X8, one of the bosses is referred to as Gigavolt Man-O-War in dialogue, but the boss intro splash screen before his stage reads Gigabolt Man-O-War. This is again due to B and V being pronounced the same in Japanese, as Japanese lacks a distinct V sound.
In the end of Mega Man 7, after destroying Wily's robot, Mega Man points his Mega Buster at Wily, intending to finish him off. Wily retorts that as a robot, Mega Man must follow the first law of robotics, that being that a robot must not injure a human being. Mega Man replies "I am more than just a robot! Die, Wily!" This line was actually added to the American version of the game and did not exist in Japanese - in that version, Rock Man says nothing after Wily's line, indicating his realisation that Wily was telling the truth.
Bass's name is mispronounced "Bass" like the fish in the English release of Mega Man 8. The intended pronunciation was "Base", as his partner was named Treble and in keeping with all the musical references in the characters' names. In Japanese, the character was called Forte and his partner was called Gospel. The voice acting in the English release of Mega Man 8 was so bad that there were rumours of Capcom using the Japanese voice actors due to not being able to afford separate English ones. As well as the standard lack of emotion and awkward delivery, there were also unprofessional mistakes such as actors starting to say one thing and then correcting themselves (one line has Dr. Light say "You must recover the energy immediately, W- uh, Mega Man!").
This also happened in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). An NPC's voice actor's flub of one line and subsequent correction was left in the game for some reason. During Shadow's story, one of the GUN soldiers mistakenly says "Head to the Wave Ocean". A voice is heard in the background saying "Head to Wave Ocean", and then the GUN soldier re-reads the line as "Head to Wave Ocean" (omitting the definite article).
Super Mario Galaxy 2's disc ID is "Super Mario Galaxy More", which could indicate it was originally meant to be an expansion pack rather than a true sequel. This could be why Mario only shouts "Super Mario Galaxy!" on the title screen, omitting the "two".
The Lord of the Rings is not a trilogy, or a series, or anything of the sort - it's a single book, subdivided into six volumes and published in three parts initially because the publishers couldn't afford to publish it as a single book. It was initially intended to be a SHORTER sequel to The Hobbit, but as J. R. R. Tolkien famously said, "the tale grew in the telling" and we ended up with the epic we have today.
Speaking of The Lord of the Rings, pipe-weed is not marijuana - it's the Middle-earth counterpart of tobacco. In fact, in early versions of The Hobbit (made before Tolkien decided to tie that book into his Middle-earth mythology) it was actually called tobacco. He changed the name because "tobacco" is a non-English loanword (it comes from Portuguese "tabako", meaning "cigarette"), and he felt that it wouldn't be appropriate for characters who weren't speaking English in the first place.
J. K. Rowling has no middle name - her full name is Joanne Rowling. She took the K from her grandmother's name, Kathleen, after her editor suggested using her initials in order to appeal to male readers. Her last name is properly pronounced "rolling", not "rau-ling" like a lot of people think.
Rowling hid a very subtle bit of foreshadowing in the first Harry Potter book. In Harry's first Potions class, Snape asks him what adding powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood would make. In Victorian flower language, asphodel is a type of lily that means "my regrets follow you to the grave", and wormwood means "absence" and symbolises bitter sorrow. When combined, the interpretation can be "I bitterly regret Lily's death".
J. K. Rowling based the dementors from the books on her depression. She claimed that depression left you feeling like your soul had been sucked out of you and that you would never be happy again, which is the effect the dementors have on people in the books.
Fake psychic and Divination teacher Professor Sybil Trelawney's great-grandmother's name is Cassandra. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a seer who was given the ability to see the future by the god Apollo, but then cursed so that no one would ever believe her prophecies.
In order to avoid information being leaked to the public early, the Harry Potter movies went by codenames early in development, such as "Candlelight" and "Champion", among others.
Although never shown in the books, J. K. Rowling revealed that Ron's Patronus (a spell used to fight off dementors that often takes the form of an animal symbologically significant to the caster) is a Jack Russell terrier, which are known to chase otters in real life. Ron's eventual girlfriend Hermione's Patronus happens to be an otter.
In an effort to help them (and himself) understand their characters better, the director of the Harry Potter movies gave Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione) a homework assignment - write an essay about their characters. True to form, Emma Watson wrote a sixteen-page, detailed essay, Daniel wrote a one-page summary and Rupert never turned his paper in.
In the Harry Potter world, boggarts are shapeshifters that take the form of the greatest fear of anyone looking at them. J. K. Rowling revealed that if Voldemort ever found a boggart, it would transform into his own corpse, since death is his greatest fear.
The T at the end of Voldemort is meant to be silent. His name comes from the French "vol de mort", which means "flight from death".
J. K. Rowling admitted she wrote the character of Severus Snape with Alan Rickman in mind, even before he was chosen to play the role in the movies. Also, while not having her in mind specifically, Rowling has said that Evanna Lynch perfectly resembles how she pictured Luna Lovegood.
Dumbledore's homosexuality is not at any point mentioned in the books, and was only revealed when the director of the sixth film wanted to add a subplot about Dumbledore having a relationship with a young girl in his past, only for Rowling to write "He's gay" on the script. She later "outed" him in an interview that took place after the final book had been released.
Contrary to rumour, J. K. Rowling did not write the first Harry Potter book on napkins. She did do it in a coffee shop, but she did it the normal way. Reportedly, on hearing the rumour, she laughed and said people will be saying she wrote it on teabags next.
Also, contrary to rumour, Rowling never called Harry/Hermione shippers "delusional". It was the interviewer who described them as such, and Rowling's response was simply to laugh before diplomatically steering the conversation towards more neutral ground.
Rowling has admitted that Gilderoy Lockhart is based on her ex-husband, and Severus Snape is loosely based on a chemistry teacher she once had.
The werewolf character Remus Lupin's name can be rearranged to spell "Primus Lune", which means "full moon".
Some of the spells in Harry Potter are actual real (and grammatically correct) Latin. For instance, "Expecto Patronum" literally translates to "I await a guardian". "Accio" (the Summoning Charm) means "to call in", "Crucio" (the Cruciatus Curse) means "to torment" and "Nox" (the spell to put a lit wand out) means "night". However, the Killing Curse, "Avada Kedavra", actually comes from Aramaic "Abhadda Kedhabhra", which means "Disappear like this word".
J. K. Rowling once took an online Sorting Hat quiz. She was sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Dumbledore" is the Old English word for a bumblebee. Rowling has said she gave him that name because she imagined him walking around humming to himself.
The name Hermione is Greek and means "earthy".
Before settling on Longbottom, J. K. Rowling considered "Sidebottom" and "Puff" as surnames for Neville.
Hermione was originally going to have a younger sister, but Rowling couldn't find a way to fit her in. She would have been introduced in the fifth book and sorted into Slytherin, and act as a sort of rival for Hermione (a role fulfilled by Pansy Parkinson in the books, who Rowling described as "the anti-Hermione").
Hermione's last name was originally going to be Puckle.
The scene in the fourth book in which Hermione teaches Viktor Krum how to pronounce her name ("Her-my-oh-knee") was written because Rowling got an alarming number of letters from fans asking her how to pronounce it, as well as hearing people consistently mispronounce it (usually as "Hermy-own", which is how Krum also pronounces it initially). She mentioned once hearing a fan pronounce it as "Hermy-one" (as in the number one), which she said amused her so much she briefly considered making it the official pronunciation. This is again parodied in the next book, where Hagrid's giant half-brother Grawp calls her "Hermy" due to his diminished faculties and limited grasp of English.
When filming, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson's nicknames were "Do-It-Again Dan", "Re-do Rupert" and "One-Take Watson" respectively.
Names Rowling considered for the final book in the series included Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.
Rowling admitted that she hated Pansy Parkinson because she was "every girl who ever teased me at school".
J. K. Rowling was asked to play Lily Potter in the first film, but declined because she felt she wasn't cut out for acting.
Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, turned down the role of Dumbledore because he felt that playing one legendary wizard was enough for him. The fact that his acting had been criticised by Richard Harris, Dumbledore's original actor, may have also played a part in his refusal.
Richard Harris initially refused the role of Dumbledore, but later accepted it after his granddaughter said she would never speak to him again if he didn't take it.
Although Dumbledore avoided the question when Harry asked him what he saw in the Mirror of Erised (a mirror that shows your deepest desire), Rowling revealed he saw the same thing Harry saw - himself happy and reunited with his family.
If you look carefully at Hermione in the movie of Chamber of Secrets, you can see a cast under the sleeve of her robes from when Emma Watson broke her wrist during filming. Also, take a good look in Dumbledore's office in the same movie to spot a picture of Gandalf the Grey on the walls.
Because Harry Potter's dancing was supposed to be awkward and unnatural, Daniel Radcliffe was only given four days of dancing lessons before filming the Yule Ball scene in Goblet of Fire, while everyone else was given three weeks of lessons.
The Spanish translation of the books rather hilariously mistranslated Neville's pet toad as a turtle. Yes, Neville had a turtle that liked to JUMP from its owner's hand.
Although Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series, its corresponding movie is the shortest of all the movies.
During the shooting of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the part of Dobby the House-Elf was played by an orange ball on a stick. Dobby was added in digitally later on.
Rowling's grandfathers are named Ernie and Stan, the same as the drivers of the Knight Bus in the books.
Most of the characters in The Lion King have names that are real words in some African language. "Simba" literally means "lion" in Swahili, but has the secondary meaning of "courageous warrior". "Nala" means "gift", "Rafiki" means "friend", "Pumbaa" means "simpleton", "Mufasa" means "king". Timon is the odd one out, as his name is an actual Greek given name.
Though the movie depicts hyenas as scavengers, in real life hyenas are one of the top predators in Africa. In fact, in real life a lion would be more likely to scavenge a hyena's kill than the other way around.
Adolf Hitler loved the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and made it a requirement for all members of the German army to watch it. He even made some fanart of the movie.
Disney originally wanted to include Mario and Luigi in Wreck-It Ralph, but couldn't think of a good way to include them in the movie. They have said that if there is ever a sequel, Mario and Luigi will be included. It was not, contrary to rumour, because Nintendo demanded too high a price for using them. To compensate for their absence, Mario is mentioned by name, when Felix thinks Mario is ringing the doorbell at his birthday party (when it's actually Ralph).
South Park holds the world record for most swearing in an animated series.
Originally, Trey Parker and Matt Stone wanted to call the movie "South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose!", but the network wouldn't let them put the word "hell" in the title. They changed it to "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut", a subtle penis joke, as a retaliation.
Despite being mostly unintelligible, Kenny's muffled speech is actually real and relevant dialogue, produced by Matt Stone talking into his sleeve.
The pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", was made with paper cutouts. Every episode since then used computer animation.
Because of its simplistic animation, an episode of South Park typically takes about five days to make.
The Terrence & Phillip show was created in response to complaints Parker and Stone got that South Park was nothing but "bad animation and fart jokes".
In the precursor shorts Jesus vs. Frosty and Jesus vs. Santa (collectively known as The Spirit of Christmas), the character who would later become known as Cartman is called Kenny, and the character who would later become known as Kenny is not named. Furthermore, both characters end up getting killed.
In Ape Escape, four monkeys are named Stan, Kyle, Cratman and Kenny, referencing the four main characters of South Park (though Cartman is misspelled as Cratman).
The character of Mr. Hankey is a parody of Mickey Mouse, with his white gloves and high-pitched voice. The character originated from Trey Parker's childhood - he had a habit of not flushing the toilet, so his father told him that if he didn't, his poop would come to life and eat him.
Swedish Youtube gamer and celebrity Felix Kjellberg, a.k.a. PewDiePie, is known for his signature greeting "My name is PeeeewDiePie!" It's possible he may have been (at least subconsciously) inspired by South Park in this, as Mr. Hankey's uses a greeting of "Hiiiii-de-ho!" with a very similar tone of voice. When Pewds played South Park: The Stick of Truth, his reaction upon hearing Mr. Hankey's greeting seemed to confirm this.
PewDiePie explained the origin of his rather bizarre name in one of his "Friday with PewDiePie" weekly videos. It originated from his childhood playing games - "Pewdie" was the sound of a laser firing, and when he signed up to YouTube, he added the "pie" because the name "Pewdie" was already taken. PewDie's real name is Felix, which is Latin for "happy" or "lucky" (as PewDiePie pointed out himself in his "Draw My Life" video).
PewDiePie currently lives with his girlfriend in the UK, though is careful not to reveal exactly where for obvious reasons.
Although Steamboat Willie is often said to have been the first cartoon to feature Mickey Mouse, in actual fact there were three other cartoons featuring Mickey and Minnie that were made before it, but never aired. The first of these was titled Plane Crazy, a silent cartoon. Steamboat Willie was the first cartoon to use sound, which set it apart from others and helped make it popular.
Mickey himself did not speak until The Karnival Kid, released in 1929, where he initially had a deep, gruff voice (provided by composer Carl Stalling), before Walt Disney took over the voice and gave us the iconic shy, falsetto voice we all know today.
Walt Disney's full name is Walter Elias Disney. His rather unusual surname is an Anglicisation of a French name, "d'Isigny" (pronounced roughly "Dee-see-nee"). He founded The Walt Disney Company along with his brother, Roy Oliver Disney, and originally called it the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.
Disney's (the person, not the company) first film was a live-action short entitled Alice's Wonderland, a short silent film which featured child actor Virginia Davis visiting an animation studio and interacting with the animated characters. This would become the first in a series of short films known as the Alice Comedies, which aired from 1923 to 1927. This series was the first appearance of the character Pete (later known as Peg-Leg Pete, Big Bad Pete or Black Pete), who appeared in the 1925 short Alice Solves the Puzzle.
Mega Man, star of the games of the same name, wasn't originally called Mega Man, and his Japanese name Rock Man wasn't his original name either. Battle Kid, Mighty Kid and Knuckle Kid were all considered, and Capcom even initially considered including the word "rainbow" in the title. The first Mega Man game was once titled "The Battle Rainbow Rock Man", most likely because of Mega Man changing colours whenever he equipped a different weapon.
Mega Man's blue colour came from the NES having a slightly larger selection of blues in its colour palette than any other colour. Keiji Inafune, the creator of the series, wanted the most detailed sprite possible, and later said "The Blue Bomber is really blue because of the Nintendo, nothing else". Ironically, though, Inafune didn't actually create Mega Man. The initial design for the character was created by Akira Kitamura, and was later refined by Inafune.
When work began on the spinoff series Mega Man X, Inafune was given the opportunity to design his own version of Mega Man, but the design he initially came up with was the one that would become the character Zero. Inafune realised that fans might not take kindly to such a drastic change in design, so Zero was reworked as a side character and the current design of Mega Man X was created. Inafune later got his wish to have Zero as a main character when the Mega Man Zero games were developed.
Mega Man X3 ends with the cryptic message "To save mankind, [X] must destroy Zero." This prophecy was fulfilled in the ending of Mega Man X5, which Inafune intended to be the last in the series. However, popular demand forced him to continue the series, which meant bringing the character of Zero back somehow. The first game in the Mega Man Zero series follows on from the end of Mega Man X5, and represents Inafune's true wishes for the series and the character.
The character Vile is named VAVA in the Japanese games, an allusion to the Star Wars character Boba Fett, who Vile bears a visual similarity to. In Japanese, "VAVA" is pronounced like "Boba", as Japanese lacks a V sound.
Apparently, the character's name was changed from Rock Man in Japanese to Mega Man in the US because "rock" was 80s slang for cocaine. The Robot Master in Mega Man II who uses tack mines has been variously translated as Crash Man or Clash Man, but it's actually supposed to be Crush Man (all three words are written "Kurasshu" in katakana). The Japanese games write it as Clash Man, while the English games use Crash Man (both versions of the game, like all other games in the series, use English text).
A scene in Mega Man X5 features X apologising for what happened to someone called Octopardo. This left many fans wondering "Who the heck is Octopardo?" It turned out that this was referring to the boss Launch Octopus from the first Mega Man X game, using a mistranslation of his Japanese name, Launcher Octopuld.
In the American version of Mega Man X5, the boss names are references to the band Guns N' Roses (listed below are the boss names with Japanese name first, followed by American name).
Crescent Grizzly - Grizzly Slash (Saul Hudson, a.k.a. Slash, lead guitarist)
Volt Kraken - Squid Adler (Steven Adler, drummer)
Shining Hotarunicus - Izzy Glow (Izzy Stradlin, rhythm guitarist)
Tidal Makkoeen - Duff McWhalen (Duff McKagan, bass guitarist)
Spiral Pegasion - The Skiver (Michael Monroe, lead singer of Finnish glam punk band Hanoi Rocks who collaborated with Axl Rose many times and whose band heavily influenced Guns N' Roses's sound. Michael's nickname among Guns N' Roses band members was "High in the Sky", which is where "Skiver" (a portmanteau of "sky" and "diver") comes from.)
Spike Rosered - Axle the Red (Axl Rose, lead vocalist)
Dark Necrobat - Dark Dizzy (Dizzy Reed, keyboardist)
Burn Dinorex - Mattrex (Matt Sorum, drummer after Steven Adler left)
Ironically, Capcom had nothing to do with this - the names were given by Alyson Court, who put them in for her husband, who was a fan of the band. She admitted knowing nothing about Mega Man X and just happened to put a musical reference into a series that was already full of them.
Dr. Thomas Light and Dr. Albert Wily are named after Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein respectively and even share some likenesses (though Dr. Light's design was apparently based on Santa Claus). Ironically, Thomas Edison is the one often considered to be on moral shaky ground, due to allegations of animal experiments and inventing the electric chair, while Einstein was a pacifist who once said "War is a disease". One of the theories for why the villain is based on Einstein is that Einstein was the one who created the formula for developing the atomic bomb that later devastated Japan after World War 2.
In the Japanese versions of the games, Dr. Light was called Dr. Right, and his logo was a giant R. The logo was finally changed to an L in the English release of Mega Man 9. In the intro for Mega Man X, the opening text is English in both versions of the game and reads exactly the same, with only one difference - in the US and European versions of the game, the text is signed "T. Light", whereas in the Japanese version, the signature reads "T. Right". Capcom later addressed this translation ambiguity in the RockMan.EXE series, known as Mega Man Battle Network outside of Japan, where main character Lan (Netto in Japanese)'s grandfather is named Tadashii Hikari, which roughly translates to "Right Light" in Japanese.
In Japanese, the characters Lan and Mayl are known as Netto and Meiru, which are Japanese pronunciations of the English words "Net" (as in internet) and "Mail" (as in email). Netto's name was changed to Lan in English as a pun on LAN (Local Area Network), while Meiru's name was anglicised in a way that kept the original pun. The English dub of the anime, Mega Man NT Warrior, somewhat ruined the pun, however, as it had to call her "Maylu" in order to match the mouth flaps.
Boomer Kuwanger was the only boss in the first Mega Man X game that kept his original Japanese name.
In Mega Man X8, one of the bosses is referred to as Gigavolt Man-O-War in dialogue, but the boss intro splash screen before his stage reads Gigabolt Man-O-War. This is again due to B and V being pronounced the same in Japanese, as Japanese lacks a distinct V sound.
In the end of Mega Man 7, after destroying Wily's robot, Mega Man points his Mega Buster at Wily, intending to finish him off. Wily retorts that as a robot, Mega Man must follow the first law of robotics, that being that a robot must not injure a human being. Mega Man replies "I am more than just a robot! Die, Wily!" This line was actually added to the American version of the game and did not exist in Japanese - in that version, Rock Man says nothing after Wily's line, indicating his realisation that Wily was telling the truth.
Bass's name is mispronounced "Bass" like the fish in the English release of Mega Man 8. The intended pronunciation was "Base", as his partner was named Treble and in keeping with all the musical references in the characters' names. In Japanese, the character was called Forte and his partner was called Gospel. The voice acting in the English release of Mega Man 8 was so bad that there were rumours of Capcom using the Japanese voice actors due to not being able to afford separate English ones. As well as the standard lack of emotion and awkward delivery, there were also unprofessional mistakes such as actors starting to say one thing and then correcting themselves (one line has Dr. Light say "You must recover the energy immediately, W- uh, Mega Man!").
This also happened in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). An NPC's voice actor's flub of one line and subsequent correction was left in the game for some reason. During Shadow's story, one of the GUN soldiers mistakenly says "Head to the Wave Ocean". A voice is heard in the background saying "Head to Wave Ocean", and then the GUN soldier re-reads the line as "Head to Wave Ocean" (omitting the definite article).
Super Mario Galaxy 2's disc ID is "Super Mario Galaxy More", which could indicate it was originally meant to be an expansion pack rather than a true sequel. This could be why Mario only shouts "Super Mario Galaxy!" on the title screen, omitting the "two".
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