Trivia / Clifford the Big Red Dog

• Acting for Two:
  • Grey DeLisle is Emily Elizabeth, her mother Caroline, and her teacher Ms. Carrington.
  • Cree Summer voices not only Cleo but also her owner Mrs. Diller.
  • Cam Clarke is Emily Elizabeth's father Mark and Jetta's dog Machiavelli a.k.a. Mac.
  • Kath Soucie voices both Jetta and her mother.
• Banned Episode: The 2019 reboot episode "The Big Red Tomato / Dogbot" was banned from Alabama Public Television because the latter segment introduced Samantha's lesbian mothers.
• Channel Hop: The Movie based on the TV series was released in theaters by Warner Bros.. When the film rights to the property were picked up by Universal, Scholastic licensed them the distribution rights to the animated feature as well, reissuing it on a Vanilla Edition DVD. The rights to make a live-action Clifford film eventually ended up with Paramount, as mentioned below.
• Content Leak: The live-action film's designs were revealed via a promotion from Hardee's and Carl's Jr.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: As mentioned above, Lara Jill Miller is Clifford as a puppy.
• The Danza: Frankie from "Little Big Pup" is voiced by Frankie Muniz.
• Delayed Release Tie-In: In December 2020, Hardees and Carl's Jr. had a kids' meal promotion based on the live-action Clifford movie. This was the intended release date for the film in question.
• Development Hell: Universal and Illumination Entertainment were planning to do a film based on Clifford for a 2016 release, but nothing came out after the announcement. By the time said year came around, it was clear Universal no longer wanted anything to do with the film anymore, as it was revealed their rights had expired. The project eventually moved to Paramount, and it was released in November 2021.
• Dueling Dubs: The 2000s series (as well as its spin-off), had a Same Language Dub in the UK with British actors.
• Dueling Works: The 2021 movie dueled with PAW Patrol: The Movie, another film based on a famous preschool franchise involving dogs. Both movies were successful, and have had sequels announced, but PAW Patrol ultimately grossed more in theaters.
• Fake American: Uncle Casey is played by British actor-comedian Jack Whitehall. It’s especially odd because Emily Elizabeth’s mother is British.
• He Also Did: The music composer for the show, Josh Mancell, is also well-known for his work on the Crash Bandicoot games.
• Invisible Advertising: The 2021 movie's trailer was released two months before the film's release date. In addition, the only other advertising the film had was kids' meals at Carl's Jr. and Hardees, but that happened before the film was officially announced.
• In Memoriam: The 2021 film was dedicated to then-Scholastic CEO Richard Robinson who died on June 5th of that year.
• I Want You to Meet an Old Friend of Mine: One episode of the series has T-Bone's old friend Hamburger visiting Birdwell Island. Hamburger is voiced by Kenan Thompson.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • The 1980s direct-to-video series has never been re-released in any other form.
  • The same goes for "Clifford's Sing Along Adventure", although the fan base doesn't seem to mind.
• Kids' Meal Toy:
  • Subway sold a set of four toys in 2000. There was the Doghouse Keeper, a picture frame, and two different posable figures of Clifford, one of which rode atop a fire engine.
  • Wendy's had kids' meal tie-ins in 2002 and 2004.
  • Carl's Jr. and Hardee's had a kids' meal promotion based on the 2021 live-action movie in December 2020. This was the intended release date for the film in question, which would later be released in November 2021.
  • In Summer 2021, Burger King sold the Clifford: The Stormy Day Rescue book as part of their set of four Scholastic children's books, which also included The Magic School Bus Gets Recycled and two I Spy books; I Spy a Penguin and I Spy a Balloon.
• Licensed Games/Edutainment Games/iOS Games: About a dozen or so titles for PC/Macs. One for the iPhone (with a separate, HD version for the iPad, and an iPad-exclusive title). Also one title for the Leapfrog Leapster console. And that's not counting the platforms that are technically not gaming devices.
• No Budget: The 2000s animated series was pretty obviously made on a low budget, as if the voice actors playing multiple characters, with some exceptions such as John Ritter as the titular character, and the music score, which is comprised solely of synthesizers and an emulated clavinet, wasn't a big enough hint.
• No Export for You: The iOS/iPadOS games are this to South America and Asia, as are the releases on the LeapFrog consoles. Most of the toys, however, are North America only, especially those that are not made by Scholastic themselves.
  • The 2019 series is at the moment not available over the Prime Video Global service. Probably this was due to global broadcasters picking up the show.
• The Other Darrin:
  • They did not replace any of the characters on the show in the strictest sense, but in the original 1980s specials, Emily Elizabeth was voiced by Alyson Court. On the 2000s series, she was voiced by Grey DeLisle. Possibly also Lampshaded by the fact that both had a vastly different narrative structure and art style from each other.
  • The Phonics computer game has Ogie Banks voicing Charley in place of Gary LeRoi Gray while Oren Williams did the role for Really Big Movie.
  • While John Ritter's passing meant the character had to be re-cast with Adam Saunders for the 2019 series, the reboot also re-cast Emily Elizabeth(going from Grey DeLisle to Hannah Levinson) and her parents (Grey DeLisle and Cam Clarke to Alison Brooks and John Cleland) due to switching production from America to Toronto.
• Outlived Its Creator: Norman Bridwell passed away on December 12, 2014, although two books were published posthumously and an animated reboot premiered in December 2019. The movie, which had originally been announced for 2016, was released in 2021.
• The Pete Best: Before John Ritter in the 2000 Animated Adaptation, Clifford was voiced by Brent Titcomb in the '80s videos.
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: It was said that the reason the 2000 animated series was spun off to Clifford's Puppy Days instead of getting a third season was because of John Ritter's untimely passing. However, Ritter died less than two weeks before Puppy Days premiered, and production on the 2000 show already ended by then.
• Production Posse: Cam Clarke, a frequent voice in the show (mainly as Mac), would later go on to voice the titular character of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002); that show was also a Mike Young production.
• Queer Character, Queer Actor: In the reboot, one of Samantha's moms, Dr. Mulberry, is voiced by Maggie Cassella, an openly lesbian actress.
• Recursive Adaptation:
  • Inevitable. Books that were based on the TV show were published once the show became popular. Given that the show is based on books in the first place, yeah.
  • The Paramount film is set to have a graphic novel based on it released a month before the film itself premieres. The graphic novel is a book based on a film based on a book series.
• Release Date Change: The live-action movie originally targeted a November 13, 2020 release, but as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic it was pushed back to November 5th, 2021. It later shifted forward to September 17, 2021, then was pulled from the schedule. (A planned premiere at the 2021 TIFF Film Festival was also canceled.) It then moved back to November 2021, this time on November 10, with simultaneous availability on Paramount+.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Co-ownership issues between Nelvana and Scholastic is a likely reason why the 80s series has remained out of print.
• Screwed by the Network: Compared to the original 2000 series' treatment, this is happening to the 2019 reboot on PBS, likely because the show is an Amazon Studios original and it only airs periodically to entice viewers to get Prime to watch the rest of the show, similar to how they air Esme & Roy on the 24/7 channel. It doesn't help that PBS premiered another new animated series, Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum, around the same time as the Clifford reboot that they promoted more.
  • Even Amazon is doing a poor job offering the show, as it's only available on Prime Video in certain countries and isn't even on Prime Video Global.
• Those Two Actors: Kenan Thompson and Alex Moffat, known for being in Saturday Night Live together, and who play in quite a lot of movies and TV shows together along with many of their other SNL cast castmates from time to time, appear in the film in minor roles. Alex Moffat is one of Zack Tieran's Lyfegro employees, and Kenan Thompson plays the veterinarian they take Clifford to.
• Viewers Like You: The funding credits. "Clifford is funded in part by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you. Thank you."
• Vindicated by Reruns: Despite the 2000 series running for only two seasons of 66 episodes, PBS aired it in reruns for more than two decades, mainly on the PBS Kids 24/7 channel that launched in 2017. In most markets, it was the oldest defunct PBS Kids program still airing in reruns, until reruns of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood nationally returned in the early 2020s. PBS Kids continued running the 2000 series, alongside the 2019 series, until October 2022.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In Clifford's Really Big Movie, Shackleford was originally going to play James Brown's "I Feel Good" on the stereo when the group arrives at the penthouse, but it was replaced with an original song called "Party Time", probably to avoid paying royalties.
  • In early animation tests for the 2019 series, Emily's outfit was similar to her outfit in the books, but in yellow instead of pink.
  • In the live-action film, David Alan Grier was initially announced as doing Clifford's vocal effects but the big red dog is mute in the film.

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