Remember Norville Rogers? Now you may be shaking your head and saying, “I don’t know who that is," but you do! That distinguished gentleman is better known as Shaggy from Scooby Doo. The voice of Shaggy was played by Casey Kasem.
While that’s not a huge secret, it's interesting to note that Shaggy developed some trendy eating habits. Shaggy became a vegan because Kasem was a vegan in real life and wouldn’t play the role without that caveat. Makes you wonder what flavor those Scooby Snacks were.
[1] Amanda Edwards/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images [2] (Image via IMDB)
It’s true! The voice of big Autobot Optimus Prime is everyone’s favorite depressed donkey, Eeyore.
Take a moment to YouTube it, and you’ll hear the remarkable difference between a powerful, patriotic shape-shifting robot and the world’s most lovable, yet extremely pessimistic Pooh companion. The question “Why was Eeyore such a downer?” has never been fully explained.
Mario started his journey as a mallet wielding, barrel jumping, 8-bit character. So beloved by the gaming community, it was only a matter of time until he came to life for television.
As hard as it is to believe, famed wrestler Captain Lou Albano (Cyndi Lauper’s “dad” in the music video for "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun") voiced and acted as Mario in live action segments, proving that Mario has muscle behind his might.
This Cartoon Network trio started fighting crime in a student film out of CalArts. But why, you ask? Chemical X was added to their ingredients, which was able to pack a punch.
The cartoon became popular, but obviously the name had to be changed to become rated G to air on a kid's network. Interestingly, the Powerpuff girls were also modeled after the 3 fairies in Sleeping Beauty. Talk about a small world after all.
One of Disney’s most beloved cartoon films had some pretty quirky requirements for their furry friends. Each animated Dalmatian has exactly 32 spots--which seems biologically impossible given the randomness of their breeding.
That’s 3,232 spots in total. No wonder Cruella wants a coat so badly. She would be in the “spotlight”. (Yes, a bad pun indeed).
As part of the fab five at Disney, one of the biggest mysteries in life is why Donald Duck doesn’t wear pants with his sailor top. It’s like he’s perpetually half-dressed, which can seem a bit gross, to be honest.
All the other characters have their bottoms covered. However, there’s ONE occasion where he does don bottoms, and it’s ironic. Donald wears swimming trunks in the pool. Think about that for a hot minute.
Oh goodness, what a delightful show. A dude and his puppy figure out tiny mysteries with the help of a letter and a thinking chair. Yes, Steve leaving almost caused a riot when he “left for college,” but his little brother Joe was right there to pick up the pieces.
However, what people always seem to forget is that Blue was a girl pup and not a boy puppy. Maybe that’s why she was so good at figuring out clues!
You may remember Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, and those fabulous jewels that the ladies wore.
But you might be surprised that the show was originally sponsored by Winston Cigarettes, and Fred and Barney even showed up, cigarettes in hand, in some of their commercials. All I can say to that is, "Yabba Dabba Doo!"
This awesome show features Finn and his trusty canine sidekick stepbrother, Jake, as they have some wild adventures together.
However, there's a third regular character, and he’s been in every episode all along, hidden in a scene and waving directly at the camera, breaking the fourth wall. The famous hidden snail has been there as long as Jake and Finn, you just have to find him.
Sonic was another wildly popular video game/TV crossover about an incredibly fast blue hedgehog. Sonic has a unique voice, one that sounds suspiciously like a kid who used to say, “Did I do that?”
Yep, Sonic was voiced by Jaleel White, who most famously played the nerdy and annoying Steve Urkel on Family Matters. Thank goodness we never saw Sonic with his pants hitched up under his armpits!
[1] Fotos International/Archive Photos/Getty Images [2] (Image via IMDB)
The Wild Thornberrys is a weirdly drawn cartoon full of mischief and mayhem. Maybe that’s why it was the perfect fit for the character of Donnie--played by Michael Peter Balzary.
And who’s that? I promise you know him. His stage name Flea, and he's the iconic bad boy rocker from The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Who knew that Flea did voice overs for kids programming?
[1] Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic/Getty Images [2] (Image via IMDB)
So much debate about the downfall of society was had over these two teenage, crudely drawn boys. Mike Judge’s dynamic duo, Beavis and Butthead, were actually based on specific people from his childhood.
Bobby Beavis was a “kind of an athletic kid,” while Butthead was inspired by a 12-year-old nicknamed “Iron But” because he claimed it didn’t hurt when he got kicked in the butt. Seems appropriate for two dudes lost in the throes of heavy metal and ignorant commentary.
You’ve seen them all your life but probably never questioned the origin. Why in the world does Mickey wear gloves? The answer is oddly unsettling.
The reason why Mickey wears gloves is that Walt Disney thought that normal mouse hands were too violent for kids. I’m not even sure how to react to that. This is replicated in some of the most well known cartoons where animators have an easier job of animating gloves versus joints that belong to the characters.
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Spongeboy! Somehow, it doesn’t have the same peppy kick to it, but it almost happened. The original working title for the show was SpongeBoy Ahoy.
However, the name was already trademarked for--wait for it--a mop. So creators had to start over, but Stephen Hillenberg was adamant about using Sponge in the name.
Every character from The Simpsons has four fingers, which seems about right for Springfield and their nuclear power plant. However, there was one character shown with 5 fingers--The Simpsons' version of God, which viewers really latched onto.
Was everyone supposed to have five fingers, and the characters were affected by radiation? Or were they just imperfections like we see in ourselves daily? And why was God evil? These are questions that will keep you up at night.
