History Trivia / TheLittleMermaid

** Music/SasakureUK's "Little Cry of The Abyss" is based on the fairy tale. The music video includes the original Danish text of the fairy tale.

!!The Disney film
[[Trivia/TheLittleMermaid1989 See here.]]

** A revised version of the musical that was first played in the Netherlands cuts several songs:

*** Ursula's song "I Want To The Good Times Back" was replaced with "Daddy's Little Girl". The new song reveals that Ursula [[SiblingMurder murdered her all siblings]], except for Triton.

** ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' had an obligatory FracturedFairyTale GenderFlip spoof where Shin-Chan and his pig sidekick, Buriburizaemon, finds a mer''man'' stranded on land, and must help him obtain a leg-growing magical potion to impress a princess who ''hates fishes''. Early on, the duo finds said merman lying on a beach face down, causing Buriburizaemon (who mistook him to be a mermaid because of his long hair) to excitedly urge Shin-Chan, "quick, flip her over! She must be gorgeous!"... only to pull a fingersnap in dismay after finding out he's actually a merman.

* ReferencedBy: Music/SasakureUK's "Little Cry of The Abyss" is based on the fairy tale. The music video includes the original Danish text of the fairy tale.

!! The TV series
* TheDanza: In the Greek dub, Áriel Konstantinídi voices Ariel.
* DisownedAdaptation: [[http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-327/ Many animators who worked on the original film disliked the television series]], as they felt all their work was being trivialized.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: When it comes to the TV series, only about half of the series is available on VHS (plus three as part of the Disney Princess DVD line). The rest went unreleased. In 2018, however, the complete series was released on [=iTunes=].
* TheOtherDarrin: Due to AuthorExistenceFailure, Ben Wright was unavailable to play Grimsby. He was replaced by another veteran character actor, Kay E. Kuter, in the TV series and ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea''.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: An episode centering around how Ariel's mother died was pitched, but was rejected for being too dark. The script would later become ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning''.

* TheOtherDarrin: Due to AuthorExistenceFailure, Ben Wright was unavailable to play Grimsby. He was replaced by another veteran character actor, Kay E. Kuter, in the TV series and ''Disney/TheLittleMermaidIIReturnToTheSea''.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: An episode centering around how Ariel's mother died was pitched, but was rejected for being too dark. The script would later become ''Disney/TheLittleMermaidIII''.

!!The Disney movie
* AscendedMeme: The "Hipster Ariel" image macro got turned into a officially licensed Disney toy.
* AuthorExistenceFailure: Divine, the famous drag queen who Ursula’s design was based on, was originally announced as the voice of Ursula. However, he succumbed to an enlarged heart on March 7, 1988, so Pat Carroll replaced her.
* CreatorBacklash:
** James Baxter was embarrassed by most of his animation of Ariel, particularly the scene where she says "Daddy I love him!"--in his own words, he said he made her look like a fish eyed freak and apologized to her head animator Creator/GlenKeane for drawing her too OffModel.
** Animator Will Finn enjoyed working on ''The Little Mermaid'', but he stated on his Small Room blog that he was not happy with his animation of Grimbsy, saying there are only one or two scenes he did that don't make him cringe today.
* CrossdressingVoices:
** Flotsam and Jetsam, both male eels, are voiced by Paddi Edwards. Averted in the Japanese dub, where they're voiced by Shūichirō Moriyama.
** In the Latin American Dub Ursula was voiced by Ángel Garza, who was credited under Serena Olvido. Ironically enough, he is an actual DragQueen.
* CutSong: Eric's "Her Voice", pieces of which can be heard throughout the score as sort of his theme. The musical puts it back in. "Silence is Golden" was an early song for Ursula, cut because the creators didn't like it. The musical has this trope in spades "Where I Belong" (Eric, later restored as part of "Fathoms Below" in the revised production) and Ursula's reprise of "Her Voice" were cut after the tryout in Denver. The post-Broadway revision cut "Human Stuff" and the reprises of "The World Above" and "Sweet Child", and replaced "I Want the Good Times Back" with "Daddy's Little Angel". 3 cut songs that still got to the public, via leaked demo tape are: "Wasting Away", "All Good Things Must End" and an alternate version of "Poor Unfortunate Souls (Reprise)". There are several the public has never heard, such as "That Oughta Show Her" and a reprise for it, and "Ursula's Incantation II".
* DawsonCasting: Creator/JodiBenson was in her mid-twenties voicing the sixteen-year-old Ariel. However it's an aversion for Creator/ChristopherDanielBarnes, voicing Eric, as he actually was sixteen at the time.
* DeletedScene:
** The "Fathoms Below" number ran longer and revealed that Ursula was actually Triton's sister, making her Ariel's aunt.
** A scene just before the concert where Sebastian discovers that Ariel is missing.
** An extra bit of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" explaining why Ursula was banished.
** More of Sebastian getting lost in Eric's castle.
** Sebastian giving Ariel even more advice.
** The original climax was slightly different. Ariel would have knocked the Trident out of Ursula's hands to prevent her from attacking Eric, Flounder and Sebastian, but would have been knocked unconscious in the process. Ursula would then fight Eric (in normal size) and Eric would defeat Ursula by obtaining the Trident from Sebastien and using it to impale her. Ursula's shell would then fall to the sea floor, restoring Ariel's voice and bringing her back to life.
** In addition, after Ursula's defeat, Ariel would have had a short scene where she she apologizes to Triton.
** Ariel transforming into a human at the end would have her walking on the beach singing a TriumphantReprise of "Part of Your World", which then segues into the wedding.
* DevelopmentHell: Creator/WaltDisney himself commissioned an early storyboard that hedged much closer to the Andersen original, which the crew of the final version eventually discovered. You can see these sketches on the DVD.
* DuelingMovies:
** Released just a few days before ''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', and unlike the last [[Disney/TheGreatMouseDetective Walt]] [[Disney/OliverAndCompany Disney]] vs. [[WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail Don]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime Bluth]] matchups, the Disney film would be the most successful.
*** An interesting point of {{Irony}}: ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' ends with Charlie B. Barkin having lost his chance of getting into heaven, and nevertheless sacrificing himself to save Anne-Marie, but then that selfless act actually gets him into heaven. Thematically, this is more in the spirit of Andersen's fairy tale than the Disney film that's actually based on it.
** In 1997, ''The Little Mermaid'' again entered a competition against Creator/DonBluth, when it returned to theaters on the same day that ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'' premiered. ''Anastasia'' earned a higher gross.
* DuelingDubs: In some countries, such as Finland, France, Germany and Greece, the film has been dubbed twice with the original dubs being released in 1990 and redubs in 1998.
* EnforcedMethodActing: Creator/JodiBenson had the lights in the studio dimmed while recording "Part of Your World" in order to help imagine she was underwater.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Jeffrey Katzenberg caused the animators and others working on the film quite a bit of grief. One memorable instance was his insistence that the whole "Part of Your World" sequence be excised from the film, saying that he found it "boring" and also because he saw a child drop a box of popcorn and then struggle to clean it up during that moment in a test screening. Animator Glen Keane eventually persuaded Katzenberg to let them test the film again with a more adult audience and that scene intact, and the positive response convinced Katzenberg to leave it in. He admitted in a 2006 interview that the whole experience was "deeply embarrassing."
* FakeNationality: Samuel E. Wright, the voice of the Rastafarian crab Sebastian is actually from South Carolina.
* ImageSource:
** MagicallyBindingContract
** OurMermaidsAreDifferent (left side)
** SeashellBra
** WiseOldFolkFacade
* TheOtherDarrin:
** Flounder has been replaced various times during the franchise, due to being (most of the time) voiced by a real kid. Jason Marin played him in the first film. Edan Gross played him for the first half of the television series, and was replaced with Bradley Pierce. Courtland Mead voiced him for merchandise released in the `90s (including the Animated Storybook CD-ROM, as well as a few toys), Cam Clarke voiced him in the sequel (due to him being an adult), and Parker Gloris played him in the prequel and the ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' series.
** Buddy Hackett did not return as Scuttle for the TV series, so Creator/MauriceLaMarche filled in.
** In the Norwegian dub, Sissel Kyrkjebø received wide acclaim for her performance as Ariel, but she was replaced by Guri Schanke both in the sequels and the TV series.
* TheOtherMarty: The first choice for Ursula went to drag performer Divine, fresh off of his role in ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'', however, he died of an enlarged heart before he could record any lines. Broadway performer Elaine Stritch was chosen next, but due to constant clashes with the crew members, she was replaced with Pat Carroll.
* PromotedFanboy: Pat Carroll had longed to voice a Disney character and being chosen as Ursula was a "dream come true" for her.
* ThrowItIn:
** Ursula's "Pathetic." from her VillainSong lyrics aside to Flotsam and Jetsam was actually ad-libbed by Howard Ashman while he was coaching Pat Carroll.
** According to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lamckbRmbH4 this interview]], Samuel E. Wright attempted to do this in the initial recording for Sebastian, only to be chided for doing so and told "You're not Creator/RobinWilliams." Soon after, Disney had a change of heart and invited Wright back to perform a special recording session where he was told to [[HarpoDoesSomethingFunny go wild with Sebastian however he pleased]]. As a result, much of his unscripted material made it into the final film.
* TroubledProduction: Because of how labor intensive it would have been. Disney sent the animation of the bubbles to a [[Creator/PacificRimAnimation Chinese-based facility]], which just so happened to be located near Tiananmen Square ''just'' as the Beijing student uprising occurred. Everything ultimately went according to plan, but the labor was what convinced the studio to make the full transition to Creator/{{Pixar}}'s CAPS digital ink-and-paint for future films.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/MelissaFahn read for the role of Ariel, but her voice was considered "too young" for the character.
** Creator/MatthewBroderick and Creator/JimCarrey auditioned for the part of Prince Eric before the casting of Creator/ChristopherDanielBarnes.
** After Divine's death, directors John Musker and Ron Clements approached Bea Arthur to voice Ursula, but her agent turned it down. Then, the directors briefly considered Creator/RoseanneBarr and [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]] before they eventually selected Charlotte Rae. Meanwhile, Howard Ashman unsuccessfully convinced Disney to hire Joan Collins to play Ursula, so Ashman went with Elaine Stritch. After having Rae and Stritch sing "Poor Unfortunate Souls", the directors and Ashman selected the latter to play Ursula. Due to her alcoholism and clashing with Ashman, however, Stritch was ultimately dismissed.
** Creator/BillMaher and Creator/MichaelRichards were considered to voice Scuttle before the casting of Creator/BuddyHackett.
** Ursula's design was going to be based off a lion fish or rockfish in the original stages of development. Another idea was for her to have a snake-like appearance. When the artists saw a documentary on octopi, they realised the tentacled appearance worked much better for the character they were trying to create. Saleen, a villain from the ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' TV series, is based off Ursula's old concept art.
*** In fact, they [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ea/1a/55/ea1a556e9f4885233b481b79ecbb09d9.jpg went]] [[https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/2/28/Ursula-Character-Design-the-little-mermaid-18860271-305-551_%281%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130507130151 through]] [[https://cdn.d23.com/cdn2015/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/780x463-102716_villains_book_2.jpg several]] [[https://i.pinimg.com/736x/17/48/82/17488226505f3b631a254558895a81d8--disney-concept-art-disney-art.jpg designs]] before deciding on the octopus.
** A deleted draft detailing an alternate version of the ending had Ariel and Flounder trying to rush to the wedding barge only for Glut (the shark from earlier in the film who got stuck in an anchor ring) to ambush them, causing Flounder to gain a second wind, deliver an already exhausted Ariel to the ship, and bait Glut into chasing him with the barrel still lassoed onto his back (hint: it's actually a gunpowder barrel), causing Glut to bite the barrel and get caught in an explosion (reminiscent of how The Shark died in ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' [[note]] directed by Katzenberg's future business partner Steven Spielberg [[/note]]).
** Ariel was imagined as a blonde early on, but the animators didn't want to be seen as ripping off ''Film/{{Splash}}'' too closely.
** During the production of ''Ariel's Beginning'': [[https://lh3.ggpht.com/_IJ2eVnEWWdA/S-xy8q-OnzI/AAAAAAAAABY/jlfrbKMdMgo/s1600/storyboard.jpg a storyboard]] from the film was presented. It appears that someone has Eric, Ariel and Sebastian hunting for a white whale and Sebastian isn't happy about it. There's also a woman in the storyboard who gets seasick like Grimsby in the beginning of the first film. It's implied that some talking parrot character will not get along with Sebastian and it's also stated that Ariel and Sebastian are "still angry with Eric". This was intended for another idea called [[http://animatedviews.com/2008/disneytoon-studios-and-the-sequels-that-never-were-with-tod-carter/ "Ariel’s Undersea Adventures".]]
** Ariel was originally going to lose her SeashellBra after first being transformed into human, and sport GodivaHair for the rest of the sequence. For whatever reason[[note]] Potential Fanservice issues, difficulty animating, budgetary constraints (Katzenberg was doing some severe editing with everything including schools of fish to keep the movie underbudget)[[/note]], this idea was abandoned.
** Ariel's mother had a different backstory. [[http://www.peterdavid.net/2004/10/29/portrait-of-life/ One concept created by Peter David]] had her called Atlanta, and while she would've had some resemblance to Ariel, was going to have brown hair (young Triton had red hair, just like in the show). She befriended a human artist Duncan, and once he starts painting her, becomes famous. His rival Kole, jealous of his fame and discovering the mermaid, tries to kill him by pushing a boulder above him. But Atlanta performed a [[Main/HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]] and pushed him out of the way. Triton kills Kole and spares Duncan, but takes his painting. After a week of solitude (that a 6 year old Ariel convinces him to get out of) his hair turned gray, and now has a hatred of humans.
** Vanessa's role went through a few radical changes. She would originally only lightly hypnotise Eric and merely persuade him to choose her over Ariel - as opposed to her outright mind control in the final film. Eric would introduce her to Ariel, and would actually try to comfort her as she runs away crying, but Vanessa would kiss him to distract him (she would also wear a scarf to hide her necklace from Ariel). At the wedding, she would be more wary of fighting back - afraid of blowing her 'sweet little girl' cover. And in this case she would be busted by her true reflection being shown in sea water that some of the creatures had brought on board. For some reason in this version, Ariel doesn't get her voice back until the end of the film.
** Vanessa and Eric's wedding was originally scripted to happen in the castle, with Ariel watching from upstairs. Presumably they changed it to the boat to add a sense of urgency.
** Ursula's death was supposed to have her getting impaled by the trident itself - essentially what happens to her in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' (which is based on the original storyboard). This was apparently changed because the animators saw ''Film/DieHard'' and got inspired. She was also not originally supposed to have remorse for accidentally killing Floatsam and Jetsam. Ariel would also die during this ending, and Triton would use the trident to resurrect her.
** Sebastian was written to have an English accent at first. However they decided to make him Jamaican, so as to have a calypso-themed song in "Under the Sea".
** The original version of "Part of Your World" had Ariel specifically naming several objects, but Ashman and Menken realized this wouldn't make sense alongside the gag of Scuttle's ridiculous explanations of them, and replaced the words with the likes of "gadgets and gizmos."

** After Divine's death, directors John Musker and Ron Clements approached Bea Arthur to play the role of Ursula, but her agent turned it down. Then, the directors briefly considered Creator/RoseanneBarr and [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]] before they eventually selected Charlotte Rae. Meanwhile, Howard Ashman unsuccessfully convinced Disney to hire Joan Collins to play Ursula, so Ashman went with Elaine Stritch. After having Rae and Stritch sing "Poor Unfortunate Souls", the latter was selected to play Ursula. Due to her alcoholism and clashing with Ashman, however, Stritch was ultimately dismissed.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Divine, the famous drag queen who Ursula’s design was based on, was originally announced as the voice of Ursula. However, she died on March 7, 1988 of an enlarged heart, so Pat Carroll replaced her.

** Creator/MelissaFahn read for the role of Ariel before Creator/JodiBenson was cast. However, Fahn was turned down due to her voice being considered "too young" for the character.

** After Divine's death, Creator/BeaArthur, Creator/RoseanneBarr, [[Film/TheatreOfBlood Coral Browne]], [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]], [[Series/TheFactsOfLife Charlotte Rae]], Creator/JenniferSaunders, Creator/SylviaSidney, [[Series/ThirtyRock Elaine Stritch]], and [[Film/TheMeteorMan Nancy Wilson]] read for Ursula before [[Film/FreedomWriters Pat Carroll]] was eventually cast.

** Creator/BeaArthur was the original choice for Ursula, but declined because of filming commitments to ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''.
*** Creator/RoseanneBarr, [[Film/TheatreOfBlood Coral Browne]], [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]], [[Series/TheFactsOfLife Charlotte Rae]], Creator/JenniferSaunders, Creator/SylviaSidney, [[Series/ThirtyRock Elaine Stritch]], and [[Film/TheMeteorMan Nancy Wilson]] read for Ursula as well before [[Film/FreedomWriters Pat Carroll]] was eventually cast.

** Creator/BeaArthur was the original choice to play Ursula, but declined because of filming commitments to ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''.
*** Creator/RoseanneBarr, [[Film/TheatreOfBlood Coral Browne]], [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]], [[Series/TheFactsOfLife Charlotte Rae]], Creator/JenniferSaunders, Creator/SylviaSidney, [[Series/ThirtyRock Elaine Stritch]], and [[Film/TheMeteorMan Nancy Wilson]] read for Ursula as well before Pat Carroll was eventually cast.

** Creator/BeaArthur was the first choice for Ursula before [[Film/FreedomWriters Pat Carroll]] was cast, but turned down the offer due to filming commitments to ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''.
*** Creator/RoseanneBarr, [[Film/TheatreOfBlood Coral Browne]], [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]], [[Series/TheFactsOfLife Charlotte Rae]], Creator/JenniferSaunders, Creator/SylviaSidney, [[Series/ThirtyRock Elaine Stritch]], and [[Film/TheMeteorMan Nancy Wilson]] read for the role of Ursula as well before the casting of Carroll.
** Creator/BillMaher and Creator/MichaelRichards were considered for the part of Scuttle before the casting of Creator/BuddyHackett.

** Creator/JimCarrey and Creator/MatthewBroderick auditioned for the part of Prince Eric before the casting of Creator/ChristopherDanielBarnes.

*** Creator/JenniferSaunders, Creator/RoseanneBarr, [[Series/TheFactsOfLife Charlotte Rae]], [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]], Creator/SylviaSidney, [[Film/TheMeteorMan Nancy Wilson]], [[Film/TheatreOfBlood Coral Browne]], and [[Series/ThirtyRock Elaine Stritch]] read for the role of Ursula as well before the casting of Carroll.

** Creator/MelissaFahn auditioned for the role of Ariel before Creator/JodiBenson was cast. However, Fahn was turned down due to her voice being considered "too young" for the character.
** Creator/JimCarrey and Creator/MatthewBroderick read for the part of Prince Eric before the casting of Creator/ChristopherDanielBarnes.

*** Creator/JenniferSaunders, Creator/RoseanneBarr, [[Series/TheFactsOfLife Charlotte Rae]], [[Series/TheSopranos Nancy Marchand]], Creator/SylviaSidney, [[Film/TheMeteorMan Nancy Wilson]], and [[Film/TheatreOfBlood Coral Browne]] auditioned for the role of Ursula as well before the casting of Carroll.

** Ursula was originally intended to be played by Creator/{{Divine|Actor}}, [[AuthorExistenceFailure who died on March 7, 1988 before he could record the role]] (notice that the character's final design was [[InkSuitActor based on her]]). Creator/BeaArthur turned down the role because she was busy with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', and Creator/JenniferSaunders auditioned but didn't get the role.
** Creator/MelissaFahn ([[Anime/DigimonTamers yes]], [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim that]] [[WesternAnimation/OKKoLetsBeHeroes Melissa]] [[Franchise/{{Neptunia}} Fahn]]) was originally supposed to play the role of Ariel, but was beat out by Jodi Benson.
** Creator/JimCarrey auditioned for the role of Prince Eric. Creator/MatthewBroderick was also considered.
** Creator/BillMaher and Creator/MichaelRichards were considered for the role of Scuttle the Seagull.
** Creator/RoseanneBarr auditioned for Ursula and Carlotta (the maid), but was ultimately dropped for both.
** Creator/PatrickStewart turned down the role of King Triton due to conflicts with ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''.

** Ursula was originally intended to be played by Creator/{{Divine}}, [[AuthorExistenceFailure who died on March 7, 1988 before he could record the role]] (notice that the character's final design was [[InkSuitActor based on her]]). Creator/BeaArthur turned down the role because she was busy with ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', and Creator/JenniferSaunders auditioned but didn't get the role.

** In the Latin American Dub Ursula was voiced by Ángel Garza, who was credited under Serena Olvido.