I Learned Something Today

[Zorak Masaki]

The first four seasons of Futurama were released on VHS in region 2:

 

[Spacething7474]

Plants vs. Zombies was intially planned to be an Insaniquarium sequel (one of its many prototype names even being "Insaniscareium!").

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

BBC Choice's rebrand as BBC Three was originally going to happen before BBC Knowledge's rebrand as BBC Four but it was postponed in late 2001 due to concerns over the original plans as the British government feared that it would be too similar to Sky One, ITV2 and E4.

 

[harry580]

South Park was envisioned to be a x files inspired show before that idea was dropped in favor of the South Park we know today

 

[Zorak Masaki]

South Park was envisioned to be a x files inspired show before that idea was dropped in favor of the South Park we know today

That explains the more science fiction oriented episodes early in the run.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

The only Cold War car brands to not have a presence in the UK are Trabant and Oltcit.

 

[Mandouga]

In "Machine Robo: Revenge of Cronos", all of the "Renegades" were "Guardians" (if you know what Machine Robo is called outside Japan...), with the monster Machine Robos as the only bad guys on the show (all of the vehicles were good guys).

 

[Mandouga]

Bumping ths thread since it's been more than a week since the last post:

Many people may know "James Hound" as a James Bond parody from Arthur (the PBS series), but "James Hound" is also the name of a "Terrytoons" character...who is also a James Bond parody.

EDIT (11-3-25):

Mousercise (a Disney album from 1982, and one of The Disney Channel's very first shows when it launched in 1983*) had a very short revival in Japan in 2016 as 3 DVDs, plus another ballet themed one. Oddly, these DVDs come from Walt Disney Records.

*In the 2000s, Disney also released a completely different album called "Mousercise".

 

[Mandouga]

Once again, it's been more than a week since the last post:

To congratulate them on their 100th anniversary, Bandai teamed up with Disney to make a Kamen Rider-style "transformation belt"/"driver" with a vault theme called the "Imagination Belt". It has an LCD screen which turns on when one of 10 keys is used. They're based on Mickey, Minnie, Snow White, Woody (Toy Story), Simba (The Lion King) Tiana (The Princess and the Frog), Elsa (Frozen [sigh...]), Moana, and two non-Disney franchises that Disney now happens to own: Iron Man (Marvel Comics), and Grogu (Star Wars/The Mandalorian).

On a personal note, when I first heard about it, I thought it was just a fan creation. It was only just yesterday that I found out it was a real thing. Also, and this is just my opinion, I think that all ten keys should have just been based on Disney characters or movies. Disney may own Marvel Comics and Star Wars, but they are still their own thing, and are still non-Disney creations.

Oh, and predictably, it's intended for the "adult collector", which is exactly what's wrong with it...

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Today I learned Rogue's name in France is "Malicia."

It's undeniably a better name, even if she's not particularly malicious.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

The Roald Dahl Plass' Water Tower is also known as the Torchwood Tower due to its presence in the Doctor Who spinoff series.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

There were plans to expand New Coke outside the United States but the drink's reception upon its 1985 launch nixed those plans.

 

[PinkieLopBun]

Monster Mash had a Christmas follow up called Monster’s Holiday.

 

[Mandouga]

"Lindsay Sidney Greenbush" from Little House on the Prairie is actually two twin girls; Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush, but the show made it look like Carrie Ingalls was being played by one girl.

 

[Mandouga]

Bumping this thread since it's been almost a month since the last post.

While it's known that the ESRB's E rating was originally called "K-A" ("Kids to Adults"), it turns out that they wanted to call it the E rating in the first place, but they couldn't because of trademark problems. They made the change in March 1998, just in time for the release of Yoshi's Story (Nintendo 64), making it the first game to have the E rating.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Leslie Nielsen reprised his role from Police Squad and The Naked Gun as Frank Drebin in a series of four UK TV ads for Red Rock Cider in the early Nineties.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

While Holden never had a presence in the UK outside of imports, some of their cars were rebadged as Vauxhalls in the country.

 

[Spacething7474]

Ellen's Acres had a pitch pilot dating back to late 2001 where it was targeted towards older kids (and according to Lost Media Wiki it was more faithful to the book then the final show was, but I haven't found anything related to said book).

EDIT: A reply on an upload to this pitch pilot said the book is Ellen's 11-Star Spectacular Super-Deluxe Hotel.

 

[Low Spark of Lyman]

Melanie Watson Bernhardt (1968-2025), the actress who played Kathy Gordon on Diff'rent Strokes, was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, aka brittle bone disease, which has various other symptoms and varies in severity.

Watson Bernhardt was also a founder of Train Rite, a charity focused on training service dogs.

 

[Red Arrow]

In the Arabic dub of Detective Conan / Case Closed, Shinichi and Ran are engaged and Ran is thus called his fiance.