History Trivia / TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea

* ChannelHop: Originally a Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox project, Fox studio manager Sid Rogell personally sold the film rights to Creator/WaltDisney, who apparently returned the favor by having some scenes filmed on Fox's backlot. This became HarsherinHindsight when Disney acquired Fox in an August 2020 merger between the two companies.

* ChannelHop: Originally a Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox project, Fox studio manager Sid Rogell personally sold the film rights to Creator/WaltDisney, who apparently returned the favor by having some scenes filmed on Fox's backlot. This became HilariousInHindsight when Disney acquired Fox in an August 2020 merger between the two companies.

** In 1880, only ten years after the novel was released, Spanish engineer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Peral Isaac Peral]] deployed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_submarine_Peral first prototype]] of a war submarine with electric propulsion and capability to launch torpedeos, actually performing a successful test attack on a cruiser by night without being noticed. As of the 1890s, the Navy of Verne's homeland, France, had also [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Narval_(Q4) built]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Morse_(Q3) at least]] 4 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gustave_Z%C3%A9d%C3%A9_(1893) functional]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gymnote_(Q1) submarines]] with similar electric propulsion, out of which ''Gustave Zédé'' could successfully fight large surface vessels with torpedoes.

* ReferencedBy: {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er Wrestling/SharkBoy was originally billed as hailing from [[PartsUnknown "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea."]]

* ExecutiveMeddling[=/=]WhatCouldHaveBeen: Verne originally wrote Nemo as a Polish nobleman, who lost his family to the Russians. Verne's publisher was wary of portraying the Russians (France's ally at the time) in a negative light, and didn't want to lose sales in Russia, so he persuaded Verne to make Nemo's nationality a mystery [[note]]at least until the sequel novel, ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'', where Nemo is revealed to have been an Indian prince who lost his family to the British[[/note]]. Also an example about [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]]: Revealing Nemo's BackStory left him only a menace against a single nation, but leaving Nemo's nationality anonymous not only defines him (Nemo means Nobody) but also makes the reader realize that any nation, even the reader's nation, [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene could have committed the alleged crimes against Nemo and his family]]. Even more, [[AnyoneCanDie it implies that no ship of any nationality was safe for navigation]]. The new backstory also approved to modern readers more interested on racism and cultural diversity and lent Nemo more sympathy, so recent adaptations have pretty much embraced the image of Nemo with a turban and an awesome beard.

** The first tests for the final battle took place against a beautiful sunset, on a calm sea. The first Giant Squid had stuffed tentacles held up on wires; these grew heavy and hard to control as they took on water, and the bright sunset made the wires painfully obvious. Disney himself was appalled at this first footage, and demanded a reshoot. This, and a fully redesigned giant squid, ''nearly forced the studio out of business'', but proved worthwhile when the film earned a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.

* ChannelHop: Originally a Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox project, Fox studio manager Sid Rogell personally sold the film rights to Creator/WaltDisney, who apparently returned the favor by having some scenes filmed on Fox's backlot. This became HilariousInHindsight when Disney acquired Creator/TwentyFirstCenturyFox in August 2020.

* ChannelHop: Originally a Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox project, Fox studio manager Sid Rogell personally sold the film rights to Creator/WaltDisney, who apparently returned the favor by having some scenes filmed on Fox's backlot.

** The North Pole is placed in the Arctic Ocean. The South Pole is placed in Antartica, a sheet of ice thousands of feet thick, and most of it on a solid continent. The ''Nautilus'' could have reached the North Pole[[note]]and indeed, the USS Nautilus (America's first nuclear sub and namesake of the vessel in this book) did reach the Pole by travelling under the Arctic Ocean[[/note]], but not the South Pole.

** ''Most'' of the high-level taxonomic terms used by Aronnax to describe Nemo's marine-life collection and the species they encounter are obsolete, e.g. we now know that ''humans'' are more closely related to echinoderms than corals are, and that sponges are as distantly akin to all-of-the-above as life can get while remaining an "animal" at all.

* FakeNationality: Arronax is French, and Paul Lukas is Austrian-Hungarian-born. The same goes for the German Peter Lorre, who plays the Flemish Conseil.

** Creator/WaltDisney originally considered making this film as an animated feature; the detailed pre-production sketches by artist Harper Goff, as well as Goff's enthusiastic suggestion that it be done as live action feature, convinced him otherwise.
** Creator/GregoryPeck auditioned for Captain Nemo. He would go on to bring another literary [[Film/MobyDick mad sea captain]] to life on-screen two years later.

** The ''Nautilus''' primary armament being a ram was typical of naval thinking at the time: this was right after ''Monitor'' versus ''Merrimack'', and it was thought that since ironclads could not hurt each other with cannon fire, the only option would be ramming one another. At this point breech-loading heavy guns were new and untested, nobody had yet worked out how to fire a high-explosive, high-velocity shell without blowing it up, and nobody had fired a self-propelled torpedo in combat. It would not be until World War I that the submarine's role as a torpedo-carrier was cemented.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: It is speculated that Verne got its inspiration from the real life ''Nautilus'', a diving bell presented by American inventors Samuel Hallett and Henry Sears in 1858 in France. Its tests were covered by the ''Le Musée des Familles'' magazine, in which Verne worked at the time.

** Creator/GregoryPeck auditioned for Captain Nemo.

** In 1880, only ten years after the novel was released, Spanish engineer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Peral Isaac Peral]] deployed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_submarine_Peral first prototype]] of a war submarine with electric propulsion and capability to launch torpedeos, actually performing a successful test attack on a cruiser by night without being noticed. As of the 1890s, the Navy of Verne's homeland had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Narval_(Q4) built]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Morse_(Q3) at least]] 4 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gustave_Z%C3%A9d%C3%A9_(1893) functional]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gymnote_(Q1) submarines]] with similar electric propulsion, out of which ''Gustave Zédé'' could successfully fight large surface vessels with torpedoes.

** In 1880, only ten years after the novel was released, Spanish engineer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Peral Isaac Peral]] deployed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_submarine_Peral first prototype]] of a war submarine with electric propulsion and capability to launch torpedeos, actually performing a successful test attack on a cruiser by night without being noticed. As of the 1890s, the French Navy had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Narval_(Q4) built]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Morse_(Q3) at least]] 4 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gustave_Z%C3%A9d%C3%A9_(1893) functional]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gymnote_(Q1) submarines]] with similar electric propulsion, out of which ''Gustave Zédé'' could successfully fight large surface vessels with torpedoes.
** In 1898, the inventor of the first truly functional American submarine, Simon Lake, was caught in a storm, and recalled a moment in ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'' where the ''Nautilus'' dives a few feet underwater to avoid the storm. He then repeated the technique and survived, and sent Verne's great grandson a telegraph thanking him.

** The inventor of one of the first truly functional submarines, Simon Lake, was caught in a storm, and recalled a moment in ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'' where the ''Nautilus'' dives a few feet underwater to avoid the storm. He then repeated the technique and survived, and sent Verne's great grandson a telegraph thanking him.
** As of the 1890s, the French Navy had [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Narval_(Q4) built]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Morse_(Q3) at least]] 4 [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gustave_Z%C3%A9d%C3%A9_(1893) functional]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Gymnote_(Q1) submarines]] with electric propulsion, out of which ''Gustave Zédé'' could successfully fight large surface vessels with torpedoes.

* ExecutiveMeddling[=/=]WhatCouldHaveBeen: Verne originally wrote Nemo as a Polish nobleman, who lost his family to the Russians. Verne's publisher was wary of portraying the Russians (France's ally at the time) in a negative light, and didn't want to lose sales in Russia, so he persuaded Verne to make Nemo's nationality a mystery [[note]]at least until the sequel novel, ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'', where Nemo is revealed to have been an Indian prince who lost his family to the British[[/note]]. Also an example about [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]]: Revealing Nemo's BackStory left him only a menace against a single nation, but leaving Nemo's nationality anonymous not only defines him (Nemo means Nobody) but also makes the reader realize that any nation, even the reader's nation, [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene could have committed the alleged crimes against Nemo and his family]]. Even more, [[AnyoneCanDie it implies that no ship of any nationality was safe for navigation]]. The new backstory also approved to many readers, lent Nemo more sympathy and recent adaptations have pretty much embraced the image of Nemo with a turban and an awesome beard.

** The inventor of the first truly functional submarine, Simon Lake, was caught in a storm, and recalled a moment in ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'' where the ''Nautilus'' dives a few feet underwater to avoid the storm. He then repeated the technique and survived, and sent Verne's great grandson a telegraph thanking him.

* FakeNationality: Arronax is French, and Paul Lukas is Austrian-Hungarian-born.
** The same goes for the German Peter Lorre, who plays the Flemish Conseil.

** The book is famous for also inspiring Ernest Shackleton, William Beebe, Robert Ballard and Jacques Costeau.

* ExecutiveMeddling[=/=]WhatCouldHaveBeen: Verne originally wrote Nemo as a Polish nobleman, who lost his family to the Russians. Verne's publisher was wary of portraying the Russians (France's ally at the time) in a negative light, and didn't want to lose sales in Russia, so he persuaded Verne to make Nemo's nationality a mystery [[note]]at least until the sequel novel, ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'', where Nemo is revealed to have been an Indian prince who lost his family to the British[[/note]]. Also an example about [[TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]]: Revealing Nemo's BackStory left him only a menace against a single nation, but leaving Nemo's nationality anonymous not only defines him (Nemo means Nobody) but also makes the reader realize that any nation, even the reader's nation, [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene could have committed the alleged crimes against Nemo and his family]]. Even more, [[AnyoneCanDie it implies that no ship of any nationality was safe for navigation]]. The new backstory also approved to many readers, lent Nemo more sympathy and recent adaptations have pretty much embraced the image of Nemo with a turban and an awesome beard.

* ExecutiveMeddling / WhatCouldHaveBeen: Verne originally wrote Nemo as a Polish nobleman, who lost his family to the Russians. Verne's publisher was wary of portraying the Russians (France's ally at the time) in a negative light, and didn't want to lose sales in Russia, so he persuaded Verne to make Nemo's nationality a mystery [[note]]at least until the sequel novel, ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'', where Nemo is revealed to have been an Indian prince who lost his family to the British[[/note]]. Also an example about TropesAreNotBad: Revealing Nemo's BackStory left him only a menace against a single nation, but leaving Nemo's nationality anonymous not only defines him (Nemo means Nobody) but also makes the reader realize that any nation, even the reader's nation, [[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene could have committed the alleged crimes against Nemo and his family]]. Even more, [[AnyoneCanDie it implies that no ship of any nationality was safe for navigation]]. The new backstory also approved to many readers, lent Nemo more sympathy and recent adaptations have pretty much embraced the image of Nemo with a turban and an awesome beard.