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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Magical Mystery Tour | The White Album | Yellow Submarine | Abbey Road | Let It Be
Past Masters | The Beatles Anthology | The Beatles: Get Back
- Accent Depundent: The following pun only worked thanks to Ringo Starr's Liverpool accent:Ringo: Hey, I wonder what would happen if I pulled this lever.
Old Fred: You mustn't do that.
Ringo: Can't help it. I'm a born lever-puller. - Contractual Obligation Project: The Beatles only agreed to the project in the hopes that it would fulfill the three-picture deal they'd signed with United Artists in late 1963. The band had no interest in participating the film's actual production, as they were too busy experimenting in the studio, studying transcendental meditation in India and desperately trying not to break up, especially since it was being produced by the same team who had made the Saturday morning Band Toon, which they hated (they were impressed enough by the finished film to make a cameo at the end). It's never been confirmed whether or not this film fulfilled the contract, as the band didn't actually star in it and their final film, Let It Be, despite being released by United Artists, was not part of the original contract.
- Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: It's quite amazing how many people think that the Beatles are living in London during the film's early stages — even though Ringo's first line is about how Liverpool can sometimes be a lonely place.
- Creator's Apathy: The reason the film was made into an animated feature was because The Beatles didn't want to make another movie since they weren't happy with their previous one, but by having it animated they could exploit a loophole in their contracts (which said they had to star in another movie, yet didn't specify that it actually had to be them on screen) which, other than a live action appearance at the end, would allow them to continue touring India while their animated counterparts were voiced by sound-alikes instead. It wasn't until they saw the finished film that they fell in love with it, and in the years after their breakup, the surviving band members still consider it to be one of their favorite projects to be involved with.
- DVD Commentary: By production supervisor John Coates, with clips from interviews with Heinz Edelmann.
- The Merch: There was a considerable amount when the film was originally released, most notably a comic book adaptation and a few toys. Unfortunately, because they were all released before the script was finished, they either looked nothing like the finished film or contained story points and that were cut out. A new line of more accurate vinyl toys was produced in 1999 by Todd MacFarlane to coincide with the film's release on DVD. The 2012 blu ray similarly had a digital storybook and a more faithful comic adaptation released alongside it.
- Non-Singing Voice: Save for Paul briefly singing "Any Old Iron" and John reciting the "you're such a lovely audience" part of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," all of the Beatles' singing comes from the original recordings, while all their dialogue comes from the actors.
- Reality Subtext: There are few trivial references to the individual Beatles' personal lives.
- When the sub's motor breaks down, George comments that he "knows something about motors." He would, as George Harrison's brother was a mechanic.
- The aforementioned Contrived Coincidence.Lord Mayor: Your faces...Paul: They're quite cute, really.note
- Aged-down Ringo crying "I want me mum!" Ringo was known to be very close with his mother.
- The Other Darrin: Peter Batten, the one-time actor who voiced George, was in reality a deserter from the British Army, unbeknownst to the staff of the movie. When he was arrested for deserting, Paul Angelis, the voice of Ringo and the Chief Blue Meanie, stepped in to finish the rest of George's lines.
- Screwed by the Lawyers: The original home video release in 1987 was pulled after a couple of years due to a lawsuit between MGM/UA and Subafilms (who produced the film) over the rights. Music rights issues were also said to be a factor, as the VHS release lacked the "Hey Bulldog" musical number (though that wasn't in the US theatrical release, either). The parties eventually settled and the VHS was put out again in 1999 via a new restoration, with the "Hey Bulldog" number restored.
- Stillborn Franchise: According to the book The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made by Chris Gore, a sequel called Strawberry Fields Forever was being worked on at one point and planned as the first computer-animated feature. Ten minutes of footage allegedly exist, but have never been publicly released.
- Throw It In!: The animators claimed that the multiplane pan-down of Liverpool at the beginning of "Eleanor Rigby" was an accident and that they had no idea how to recreate it.
- What Could Have Been: In 2009, Disney and Apple Corps announced a 3-D computer animated remake, with Robert Zemeckis as director. Motion capture would be used, as with Zemeckis' previous animated movies. Disney planned the movie for a summer 2012 release, to coincide with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Peter Serafinowicz would voice Paul, Dean Lennox Kelly would voice John, Cary Elwes would voice George, and Adam Campbell would voice Ringo. David Tennant was in talks to play the Chief Blue Meanie. California-based Beatles tribute band Fab Four was cast to do the motion capture performance for The Beatles. If the movie had been successful, it would have spawned a Broadway musical and a Cirque de Soleil show. Disney shut down Zemeckis' digital film studio, Image Movers Digital, in May 2010 due to the successful yet unsatisfactory performance of A Christmas Carol (2009), and pulled the plug on the project in 2011 due to the massive failure of Mars Needs Moms. Criticism of motion capture technology was a factor. Zemeckis tried to pitch the project to other studios, but ultimately lost interest. He later said "That would have been a great one to bring the Beatles back to life. But it's probably better not to be remade. You're always behind the 8-ball when you do a remake."
- Writing by the Seat of Your Pants:
- The film began production without an ending and was produced in only 11 months.
- The song "Hey Bulldog" was basically just a John Lennon work-in-progress that he hurriedly finished up because the promo film for "Lady Madonna" was going to show them recording at Abbey Road, and they needed a song they could actually be recording (preferably with a piano, since "Lady Madonna" features the instrument prominently) while they were being filmed.
