Trivia / Wishfart

• Casting Gag: It's pretty evident that when the creators cast Christian Potenza as Neptune, they had Chris McLean and Jude Lizowski in mind, given that he shares the former's narcissism, the latter's Surfer Dude attitude, and both characters' chill demeanor and Totally Radical speaking patterns.
• Cross-Regional Voice Acting: While Wishfart's cast is almost entirely Toronto-based, with many having appeared in previous Nelvana shows, it also has Brian Drummond of The Ocean Group in Vancouver as the voice of The King of the Underworld.
• Fake Nationality: Canadian actors Samantha Weinstein and Kathleen Laskey and English actor Craig Warnock as Irish-accented Finnuala, Emer and Clooney respectively.
• He Also Did: Stephany Seki (who voices Akiko) also plays bass and cello for the Alternative Rock band, A Primitive Evolution. Meanwhile Craig Warnock (the voice of Dez's dad Clooney) was the kid in Time Bandits.
• No Budget: While Canadian Series in general (both animated and live-action) tend to have lower budgets than American shows for a variety of complex reasons, Wishfart’s budget was shockingly low, costing a total of 7 million dollars, or about 175 thousand per 11-minute episode. For comparison, most American cartoons cost 1-2 million dollars per 22-minute episode (sometimes upwards of 5-6 million). This might be due to the fact the show’s creators actually had zero experience with animating cartoons (they didn't even have a single concept sketch when they pitched the show to Teletoon^note an unusual move in Canadian animation, as creators pitch their ideas to animation/television studios instead of networks, who move in to pick up the show after the studio greenlights the project); they’ve described producing the show as a big learning experience for them.
• No Export for You: The series has never aired in the United States.
• One-Book Author: This is the only work Wishfart Productions Inc. has produced. While it is somewhat justified by the fact it was established specifically to create the show, they've never done anything since, with creators John Hazlett, Lienne Sawatsky and Dan Williams, having moved on to other projects. However, it is worth noting that Wishfart Productions Inc. isn't an actual studio, but rather a trademark set up by the series' creators for production purposes. As a result, the show isn't owned by Nelvana, despite their involvement in its creation, but rather by Hazlett, Sawatsky and Williams themselves.
• Permanent Placeholder: According to this Twitter post, Wishfart was meant to be the series' Working Title, but it stuck because the production crew ended up liking the title that much.
• Screwed by the Network: While CITV in the UK was kind to the show (and still is), the country's feed of Cartoon Network wasn't as kind. When they had been given the rights to air the show in June 2018, they dumped it in their New Fridays block at 4pm, with the only re-runs being at 7:30pm of the same episodes. After the block was cancelled just a month and a half later, Wishfart left the network completely without any further word.
• Short Run in Peru: The entire first season aired in the UK before it even debuted in Canada.
• Throw It In!: Most of Akiko's Gratuitous Japanese is ad-libbed by her voice actress, Stephany Seki.
• What Could Have Been: The series' progenitor concept was a live-action show about a man dressed in green who granted wishes using his enormous wealth (basically, he was a leprechaun in everything but name). The creators however decided that it was a lame idea, so they refined the concept further to instead make a kids' cartoon about a non-traditional leprechaun who was a leprechaun only in name and powers.
  • Dez's first design gave him a scruffier appearance that made him look a bit like Shaggy Rogers. Later concepts aimed for a much youthful-looking boy of shorter statue before the final results came in
  • This Concept Art reveals some interesting early designs.
    • Fireball Cat was originally going to be much smaller, colored blue with purple stripes, and wore overalls. Additionally, there was a suggestion to have his fur slowly shift in color throughout an episode.
    • Dez's parents were originally much shorter, more stereotypical-looking leprechauns. Clooney would have had a large mustache and a hat, while Emer had bushy hair, a scarf, and shades.
  • According to this Twitter post, Tsuni was originally named Coral, but the writers changed it because they felt it was a cliche name for a mermaid.
  • According to the creators, the anthropomorphic Sphynx cat seen working as the mayor's assistant in "Baby Seal Thingy" was written in the script as a mythological sphinx, but a misunderstanding from the animators' part led to the character being designed the way she is. However, they liked it enough that it stuck.
  • There were plans from the video-on-demand service Kabillion to pick up the series for an American release, but for unknown reasons, this was cancelled.
  • As part of a deal with Cartoon Network, the show was going to air in Israel (most likely on Arutz HaYeladim since they had the rights to shows produced/distributed by them at the time), however the show ended up not airing in the country at all for unknown reasons.
• Working Title: "Does This Please the Jigmaster?" was "A Clockwork Green" while "Chopstick Jab" was "Couchaclysm".
• Write What You Know: According to a Tweet from the show's official account, Puffin was inspired by one of the creators' regular visits to Elliston, Newfoundland, which is well known for its population of Atlantic puffins (which are also the provincial bird of Newfoundland). This is referenced by the screensaver on Puffin's computer, which is a picture of Elliston's Bird Island, a well-known puffin nesting spot.
• Written by Cast Member: Doug Hadders (who voices Howie the centaur and Samuel the yeti) co-wrote a number of episodes, including "Let's Ditch Dorkus", "Why Don't We All Have Capes?", and "Warmer Pants for the King".

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