Trivia / Robots

• All-Star Cast:
  • Greg Kinnear, Jim Broadbent, Amanda Bynes, Jennifer Coolidge, Stanley Tucci, Drew Carey, Mel Brooks, Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams, Jay Leno, Halle Berry, and James Earl Jones (who makes an appearance via stock Darth Vader audio, yet still gets his name in the credits) all have major roles in the film.
  • The cast for the Swedish dubs consist largely of this; Robert Gustafsson, often dubbed Sweden's funniest comedian, voices Fender; a group of other famous comedians, like Henrik Hjelt and Mikael Tornvig voices some of the main characters; Piper is voiced by A-Teens star Marie Serneholt; Rodney and Ratchet are voiced by the brothers in the Wahlgren family (often cited as the Swedish equivalent of the Kardashians in fame); Bigweld is voiced by 60's singer Svante Thuresson.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Latin American Spanish dub has "Un Héroe Real/A True Hero", which was performed by Rodney's VA, Aleks Syntek.
• Billing Displacement: The end credits list the voice actors alphabetically by last name, placing Rodney's credit somewhere in the middle while Madame Gasket's is near the top, with the first credit being taken by Paula Abdul who voices one of the counterfeit watches who only appear in a single scene.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: In the Latin American Spanish dub, Rodney is voiced by pop singer Aleks Syntek.
• Creator Backlash: Chris Wedge and William Joyce felt that they needed more time to work on the film.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Jim Broadbent plays the female Madame Gasket; this is carried over to most foreign releases. Lampshaded in the movie itself, by Fender and Crank, during the Final Battle.
• Deleted Scene:
  • Rodney has an extended conversation with Tim. His cruelty to Rodney in the final version of the film is justified as orders he received to "keep out the losers". He doesn't say who from, but he's obviously referring to Ratchet.
  • Lug and Diesel play a ball game and the ball turns out to be a little robot.
• Descended Creator:
  • Director Chris Wedge voices Wonderbot and a phone booth.
  • As one of the film's screenwriters, Lowell Ganz voices Ratchet's father in the U.S. version.
• Development Gag: Has several. The robot with the jet pack seen waiting in line on Big Weld's TV show is an early design for Rodney, and Jack Hammer, the owner of the hardware store Rodney and his friends visit was originally a director from an early treatment. Scenes from early test footage with the director character appear as photos on Aunt Fanny's home.
• Director's Cut: According to the director and producer commentary, there's a director's cut of the movie somewhere, with never seen before material. Between those includes more information about Cappy and some alternative sequences. Some people on Twitter are demanding to see that version of the movie.
• DVD Commentary:
  • First commentary with director Chris Wedge and production designer/producer William Joyce.
  • Second commentary with lead technical director (effects) Tim Speltz, lead technical director (materials) Michael Eringis, lead technical director (layout) Kevin Thomason, layout supervisor Robert Cardone, animation supervisor James Bresnahan, animation technical lead Matthew D. Simmons, and lighting supervisor David Esneault.
• Early Draft Tie-In: The video game has introductory scenes for each level taken from scenes in the movie with Herb Copperbottom narrating, but the cross-town express scene shows Rodney sharing a pod with a knitting old woman instead of Fender.
• Executive Meddling: Original pieces of score were replaced with pop songs, for example:[1]
• Fake American:
  • Scottish Ewan McGregor fakes an American accent for his role as The Hero Rodney Copperbottom.
  • Holton cum Beckering-born (that is to say, English) Jim Broadbent does the same as Madame Gasket.
• In Memoriam: A dedication of David Boyd Brown, a former Blue Sky president, appears in the ending credits.
• Kids' Meal Toy: Got trading cards bundled with light-up figurines at Burger King. Europe features a different set of 6 action toys.
• The Other Darrin: In the video game, a majority of the film's cast members were replaced with soundalikes except for Jennifer Coolidge, Jansen Panettiere, Stanley Tucci, and Harland Williams as Aunt Fanny, Young Rodney, Herb Copperbottom, and Lug respectively.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Sex symbol Jennifer Coolidge as an elderly grandmother-type with a comically oversized rear.
  • Stanley Tucci, who usually plays bad guys, criminals, or slimy, unscrupulous liars, as Rodney's loving, devoted, but laidback father.
• Preview Piggybacking: The first trailer for Ice Age: The Meltdown and the final trailer for Revenge of the Sith (which also featured Ewan McGregor) were attached to screenings of the film.
• Real-Life Relative:
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, real-life sisters Sylvia and Rocío Garcel play Aunt Fanny and Mrs. Copperbottom, respectively. Interestingly enough, Rocío's husband, Jorge Roig, voiced Madame Gasket.
  • In the Swedish dub, the voice actors for Rodney and Ratchet are brothers in real life.
• Stillborn Franchise: Remains the first Blue Sky feature to have no future installments to date.
• Those Two Actors: Ewan McGregor and Jim Broadbent previously starred in Moulin Rouge! (also from Twentieth Century Fox).
• What Could Have Been:
  • According to this article announcing the movie, D.L. Hughley, Jamie Kennedy, and Sofía Vergara were originally part of the voice cast.
  • A couple of characters were scrapped from the final version of the film:
    • There was originally a minor villain named Dr. V. Needle, who is rumored to be voiced by Tony Jay, and who was originally supposed to perform a lobotomy (robotomy?) on an unconscious Bigweld as planned by Madame Gasket and Ratchet. Not much is known on this character or why he was scrapped (he only appears in two officially released early clips of the movie), but it is often theorized that this is the original reason why Bigweld acts so loopy during the climactic chase.
    • Another minor character named Hacky, who actually appears in the Aunt Fanny’s Tour of Booty short, was meant to have at least one scene in the movie (shown in one of the deleted scenes), but was ultimately cut.

---