History Trivia / TheRockafireExplosion

* ChildrenVoicingChildren: Shalisa Sloan was 11 when she was hired to voice Mitzi. She continued voicing Mitzi into her adulthood.

** As mentioned above, Fechter originally voiced Beach Bear and Mitzi, and is the current voice of Fatz after original actor Burt Wilson left the group in 2007 due to a salary dispute.

** Amid disputes with Creative, [=ShowBiz=] looked into replacing the band with licensed characters. Before they decided on [[WesternAnimation/YogiBear Yogi Bear and Boo Boo]], they considered [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spider-Man]], [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Superman]], and [[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} Garfield]].

* CrossdressingVoices: Aaron Fechter originally voiced Mitzi Mozzarella; this was derived from when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVA1GIrXU8 a version of the Wolf Pack 5 show]] was quickly put together for the first [=ShowBiz=] Pizza Place as a placeholder show, and at the request of Showbiz Pizza the character Queenie Fox (who, contrary to earlier claims, was voiced by an actual woman, a female CEI employee) be retooled into Mini Mozzarella, a female mouse, to go with the pizza motif. In addition to recording new announcer spiels and Wolfman dialogue, Aaron also re-recorded Queenie's songs (most notably "Dragstrip in the Sky") in a more high, shrill-sounding voice that would better fit a girl mouse. When the Rockafire Explosion finally debuted in July 1980, Aaron initially continued to voice Mini's successor Mitzi, until 1982 when an actual female, Monique Danielle, took over the role briefly, before the then 11-year-old Shalisa Sloan (now Shalisa James), [[TheOtherDarrin took over as the voice of Mitzi]], a character she still voices to this day.

** One reason why Fechter refused to hand his characters over to [=ShowBiz=] Pizza Time, Inc. (in addition to the company offering little-to-no monetary compensation) was because he was planning a cartoon series based on the band. As of January 2021, it’s unlikely to happen.

** The characters appeared twice during the ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' Kickstarter telethon in 2021: the first time had them perform "Guitarzan" from the 1983 Fatz for President showtape with a new opening and closing from Billy Bob, and the second time had them perform the Jonah-era ''[=MST3K=]'' theme song.

* CrossdressingVoices: Aaron Fechter originally voiced Mitzi Mozzarella; this was derived from when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVA1GIrXU8 a version of the Wolf Pack 5 show]] was quickly put together for the first Showbiz Pizza Place as a placeholder show, and at the request of Showbiz Pizza the character Queenie Fox (who, contrary to earlier claims, was voiced by an actual woman, a female CEI employee) be retooled into Mini Mozzarella, a female mouse, to go with the pizza motif. In addition to recording new announcer spiels and Wolfman dialogue, Aaron also re-recorded Queenie's songs (most notably "Dragstrip in the Sky") in a more high, shrill-sounding voice that would better fit a girl mouse. When the Rockafire Explosion finally debuted in July 1980, Aaron initially continued to voice Mini's successor Mitzi, until 1982 when an actual female, Monique Danielle, took over the role briefly, before the then 11-year-old Shalisa Sloan (now Shalisa James), [[TheOtherDarrin took over as the voice of Mitzi]], a character she still voices to this day.

* TheDanza: Duke Chauppetta as Dook [=LaRue=]. While spelled differently (though it was spelled the same way pre-1981), it’s still pronounced the same way.

* CrossdressingVoices: Aaron Fechter originally voiced Mitzi Mozzarella; this was derived from when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVA1GIrXU8 a version of the Wolf Pack 5 show]] was quickly put together for the first Showbiz Pizza Place as a placeholder show, and at the request of Showbiz Pizza the character Queenie Fox (who, contrary to earlier claims, was voiced by an actual woman, a female CEI employee) be retooled into Mini Mozzarella, a female mouse, to go with the pizza motif. In addition to recording new announcer spiels and Wolfman dialogue, Aaron also re-recorded Queenie's songs (most notably "Dragstrip in the Sky") in a more high, shrill-sounding voice that would better fit a girl mouse. When the Rockafire Explosion finally debuted in July 1980, Aaron initially continued to voice Mini's successor Mitzi, until 1982 when an actual female, Monique Daniella, took over the role briefly, before the then 12-year-old Shalisa Sloan (now Shalisa James), [[TheOtherDarrin took over as the voice of Mitzi]], a character she still voices to this day.

* DescendedCreator: Aaron Fetcher, owner of Creative Engineering and creator of the Rock-afire Explosion, also voices Billy Bob, Looney Bird, Rolfe [=DeWolfe=] and Earl Schmearle. He also used to voice Beach Bear and Mitzi Mozzarella in the earlier shows, and also currently voices Fatz Geronimo.

* ColbertBump: The band gained wider recognition from modern audiences following the release of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys''.
** In recent history the band (or at least some of its characters) have appeared in various films such as ''Film/JustGoWithIt'', ''{{Film/Keanu}}'', and even had their own documentary in 2008 ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTmhS6hcY-A/ Viewable in its entirety on Youtube]])
** Mitzi, Billy Bob and Fatz (though not named) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DdsSOwXNF4 appear in one of the commercials for Deadpool 2's Blu-Ray release]] coinciding with their appearance at 2018's San Diego Comic-Con, which has greatly improved their visibility in the last few years. Aaron Fechter has...mixed feelings; on one hand, he doesn't like that Fox used them without permission, but at the same time, loves the free publicity.

** When Uncle Klunk was introduced, [=ShowBiz=] didn’t like him, so they forced CEI to change him. This resulted in his failure.

** As stated above, Fechter wanted Queenie Fox to be a member of the Rock-afire.

* RoleReprisal: For the WesternAnimation/YogiBear showtape, Creator/DawsButler and Creator/DonMessick reprised their resepctive roles as Yogi and Boo-Boo. For Butler, it would be one of the last times he voiced Yogi, as he passed away the following year.

** The voice actors for the [=ShowBiz=]-produced tapes are not the actors from CEI’s tapes. The only known voice actor is Joe Conti as Rolfe.

** In the early 1980s, Creative Engineering was developing second-generation animatronics. During the Colander Head Telethon in 1983, Aaron Fechter showcased the G2 Mitzi, who had a wider range of movement in her arms and hips, allowing her to dance rather than simply flailing her pom-poms around. G2 versions of Dook and Beach Bear were also planned: G2 Dook would have had articulated arms and wrists that would allow him to actually play his drumset, and G2 Beach Bear would have been able to stand up. At the same telethon, Aaron stated that eventually, they were going to develop animatronics that could ''walk around''. Budget cuts at [=ShowBiz=] saw the second-gen animatronics never being installed.

** As mentioned above, Fechter originally voiced Beach Bear and Mitzi, and is the current voice of Fatz.

* CrossdressingVoices: Aaron Fetcher originally voiced Mitzi Mozzarella; this was derived from when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVA1GIrXU8 a version of the Wolf Pack 5 show]] was quickly put together for the first Showbiz Pizza Place as a placeholder show, and at the request of Showbiz Pizza the character Queenie Fox (who, contrary to earlier claims, was voiced by an actual woman, a female CEI employee) be retooled into Mini Mozzarella, a female mouse, to go with the pizza motif. In addition to recording new announcer spiels and Wolfman dialogue, Aaron also re-recorded Queenie's songs (most notably "Dragstrip in the Sky") in a more high, shrill-sounding voice that would better fit a girl mouse. When the Rockafire Explosion finally debuted in July 1980, Aaron initially continued to voice Mini's successor Mitzi, until 1982 when an actual female, Monique Daniella, took over the role briefly, before the then 12-year-old Shalisa Sloan (now Shalisa James), [[TheOtherDarrin took over as the voice of Mitzi]], a character she still voices to this day.

* CrossdressingVoices: Aaron Fetcher originally voiced Mitzi Mozzarella; this was derived from when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVA1GIrXU8 a version of the Wolf Pack 5 show]] was quickly put together for the first Showbiz Pizza Place as a placeholder show, and at the request of Showbiz Pizza the character Queenie Fox (who, contrary to earlier claims, was voiced by an actual woman, presumably a female CEI employee) be retooled into Mini Mozzarella, a female mouse, to go with the pizza motif. In addition to recording new announcer spiels and Wolfman dialogue, Aaron also re-recorded Queenie's songs (most notably "Dragstrip in the Sky") in a more high, shrill-sounding voice that would better fit a girl mouse. When the Rockafire Explosion finally debuted in July 1980, Aaron initially continued to voice Mini's successor Mitzi, until 1982 when an actual female, Monique Daniella, took over the role briefly, before the then 12-year-old Shalisa Sloan (now Shalisa James), [[TheOtherDarrin took over as the voice of Mitzi]], a character she still voices to this day.

** Amid disputes with Creative, [=ShowBiz=] looked into replacing the band with licensed characters. Before they decided on [[WesternAnimation/YogiBear Yogi Bear and Boo Boo]], they considered [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spider-Man]], [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Superman]], and [[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} Garfield]].

* CrossdressingVoices: Aaron Fetcher originally voiced Mitzi Mozzarella; this was derived from when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsVA1GIrXU8 a version of the Wolf Pack 5 show]] was quickly put together for the first Showbiz Pizza Place as a placeholder show, and at the request of Showbiz Pizza the character Queenie Fox (who, contrary to earlier claims, was voiced by an actual woman, presumably a female CEI employee) be retooled into Mini Mozzarella, a female mouse, to go with the pizza motif. In addition to recording new announcer spiels and Wolfman dialogue, Aaron also re-recorded Queenie's songs (most notably "Dragstrip in the Sky") in a more high, shrill-sounding voice that would better fit a girl mouse. When the Rockafire Explosion finally debuted in July 1980, Aaron initially continued to voice Mini's successor Mitzi, until 1982 when an actual female, the then 12-year-old Shalisa James, [[TheOtherDarrin took over the voice of Mitzi]], a character she still voices to this day.
* DescendedCreator: Aaron Fetcher, owner of Creative Engineering and creator of the Rockafire Explosion, also voices Billy Bob, Looney Bird, Rolfe [=DeWolfe=] and Earl Schmearle. He also used to voice Beach Bear and Mitzi Mozzarella in the earlier shows, and also currently voices Fatz Geronimo.
* TheOtherDarrin: The voice actors for the [=ShowBiz=]-produced tapes are not the actors from CEI’s tapes. The only known voice actor is Joe Conti as Rolfe.

** In the early 1980s, Creative Engineering was developing second-generation animatronics. During the Colander Head Telethon in 1983, Aaron Fechter showcased the G2 Mitzi, who had a wider range of movement in her arms and hips, allowing her to dance rather than simply flailing her pom-poms around. G2 versions of Dook and Beach Bear were also planned: G2 Dook would have had articulated arms and wrists that would allow him to actually play his drumset, and G2 Beach Bear would have been able to stand up. At the same telethon, Aaron stated that eventually, they were going to develop animatronics that could ''walk around''. Budgets cuts at [=ShowBiz=] saw the second-gen animatronics never being installed.

* DescendedCreator: Aaron Fetcher, owner of Creative Engineering and creator of the Rockafire Explosion, also voices Billy Bob, Looney Bird, Rolfe [=DeWolfe=] and Earl Schmearle. He also used to voice Beach Bear and Mitzi Mozzarella in the earlier shows, and also currently fills in as the voice of Fatz Geronimo when his regular voice actor is unavailable.

** In the early 1980s, Creative Engineering was developing second-generation animatronics. During the Colander Head Telethon in 1983, Aaron Fechter showcased the G2 Mitzi, who had a wider range of movement in her arms and hips, allowing her to dance rather than flail her pom-poms around. G2 versions of Dook and Beach Bear were also planned: G2 Dook would have had articulated arms and wrists that would allow him to actually play his drumset, and G2 Beach Bear would have been able to stand up. At the same telethon, Aaron stated that eventually, they were going to develop animatronics that could ''walk around''. Budgets cuts at [=ShowBiz=] saw the second-gen animatronics never being installed.

** Mitzi, Billy Bob and Fatz (Though not named) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DdsSOwXNF4 appear in one of the commercials for Deadpool 2's Blu-Ray release]] coinciding with their appearance at 2018's San Diego Comic-Con, which has greatly improved their visibility in the last few years. Aaron Fechter has...mixed feelings; on one hand, he doesn't like that Fox used them without permission, but at the same time, loves the free publicity.

* DescendedCreator: Aaron Fetcher, owner of Creative Engineering and creator of the Rockafire Explosion, also voices Billy Bob, Looney Bird, Rolfe [=DeWolfe=] and Earl Schmearle. He also used to voice Beach Bear and Mitzi Mozzarella in the earlier shows, and also currently fills in as the voice of Fatz Geronimo when his regular voice actor is unavailable.

** Mitzi, Billy Bob and Fatz (Though not named) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DdsSOwXNF4 appear in one of the commercials for Deadpool 2's Blu-Ray release]] coinciding with their appearance at 2018's San Diego Comic-Con, which has greatly improved their visibility in the last few years. Aaron Fechter has...mixed feelings; on one hand, he doesn't like that Fox used them without permission, but at the same time, loves the free publicity.