Trivia / The Magic Roundabout (2005)

• Bad Export for You: In North America, the film was infamously re-cut as Doogal.
• Box Office Bomb: The movie cost $20 million to make but only made $19 million. However, the original version made far more money at the box office compared to the Doogal recut, which made only $7 million.
• Creator Backlash:
  • If Jon Stewart ever gets too big for his britches, reminding him of his role in Doogal is a surefire way to bring him back down. Best demonstrated by Roger Ebert in this infamous clip from The Daily Show. The making-of special feature also reveals that he was forced to accept the role of Zeebad in fear of Harvey Weinstein.
  • Much of the people hired by the Weinsteins to rewrite Doogal don't look fondly back on the project. Butch Hartman claimed that the film "could not be fixed" and that 80% of what he'd written was re-written anyway. Screenwriter Cory Edwards hailed the film to be "a Frankenstein's monster", claiming that the film's many re-writers caused clashes between other writers vision for the film, and that the All-Star Cast felt forced in, calling it "the dark side of celebrity casting" (Edwards own film Hoodwinked! also experienced similar re-casting, but much of that film remained the same.).
• Executive Meddling: Butch Hartman, as stated, rewrote the script to the US version. How much of said script was accepted into the movie? 3%.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: Kevin Smith ad libbed all of his dialogue. He openly admitted that he had no idea what the movie was actually about, just that he was voicing a moose.
• Kids' Meal Toy: KFC has 8 toys of the British version, while McDonald's has 8 toys of the American dub "Doogal".
• The Other Darrin: When the movie was released in the US as Doogal, a vast majority of the cast was replaced with actors more recognizble to American audiences.
  • Doogal's voice changed from Robbie Williams to Daniel Tay.
  • Ermintrude's voice changed from Joanna Lumley to Whoopi Goldberg.
  • Dylan's voice changed from Bill Nighy to Jimmy Fallon.
  • Brian's voice changed from Jim Broadbent to William H. Macy.
  • The Train's voice changed from Lee Evans to Chevy Chase.
  • Zeebad's voice changed from Tom Baker to Jon Stewart.
  • Soldier Sam's voice changed from Ray Winstone to Bill Hader.
  • Only Florence and Zebedee's actors returned for the re-dub due to Kylie Minogue and Ian McKellen already gaining international recognition beyond their home countries (although Minogue re-dubbed her lines as Florence).
• What Could Have Been:
  • A sequel to original cut of the film was announced to be in development, with the voice cast expected to reprise their roles. However, Action Synthese closed their doors in 2013, effectively ending any chances of a sequel being made.
  • In order to make the Same Language Dub make a little more sense, Butch Hartman proposed giving it a live-action Framing Device a'la The Princess Bride of it being a bedtime story being read to a child. Harvey Weinstein approved, but then rescinded at the last minute.
  • Originally, Kevin Smith was cast as Doogal in the American redub; he notably voiced Doogal in the film's trailer. Eventually, the role was recast to Daniel Tay, with Smith playing the moose instead.
• Working Title: For the American version The Magic Carousel and The Lord of the Springs.

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