Whether we’re talking about books, movies or cartoon, we’re pretty sure you’ll be amazed by these 5 things you did not know about fictive pets. Do you find yourself looking down at your kitten wishing it would start talking all of a sudden? Or do you day dream about your dog turning out to be a super hero in disguise, and find yourself getting ready to see it grow wings and fly away to fight crime? If you do that once in a while, you’ll enjoy reading about these fictional pets that once only existed in someone’s mind.
1. Dino from “The Flintstones”
This Snorkasaurus that was the most adored pet in “The Flintstones” didn’t start off as a dog-like dino at all. In fact, the first episode of season one contains a flash back from when Fred and Barney met with Dino. Back then Dino was able to talk, to clean the house and wash the dishes and could even answer the phone. Unfortunately for him, this was the first and only episode when Dino was able to talk. After this, he returned to his more boring tasks of acting like a dog, not being able to talk. Dino’s color also went through some changes, swinging back from black to white, but mainly staying purple.
2. Hedwig from “Harry Potter”
Most likely you didn’t know this, but Hedwig, the cute owl pet of Harry was the first character that was cast for the sorcery movies series. The female owl (yes, Hedwig is a girl) is described in Rowling’s books as impeccable white, which proved a little troublesome for the casting team, since females have darker feathers. As a consequence, Hedwig was played by several male owls, chosen for their white plumage. As a bonus, male Snowy Owls are lighter than females, making it easier for Radcliff to carry his pet around.
3. Gizmo from “Gremlins”
The voice for Gizmo was provided by Howie Mande, who also hosted “Deal or no Deal”. But for Gizmo’s famous staple song, the producers decided to go with a thirteen year old girl, since it would’ve been way too hard for Howie to do it. Gizmo was so popular in the 90s that it inspired Hasbro to make a toy after him. The firm got in trouble with Warner Bros and were force to pay a settlement, as well as change the aspect of their toy.
4. Pikachu from “Pokémon”
If you thought “Pikachu” was just a name, think again. According to Pokemon’s inventor the name is actually made up of the sound “pika”, which is used in the Japanese language for the sound of an electric spark and “chu” that stands for the sound made by a mouse. If we add the two together we can get the rough equivalent of “electric mouse”. But the electric mouse wasn’t intended to become the main character of the cartoons. However, it quickly became popular at the expense of Clefairy, who was the initial mascot of Pokemon.
5. Ghost from “Game of Thrones”
Saying that dire wolves are fictional is not entirely accurate. They were living creatures approximately two hundred thousands years ago, but I doubt they were kept as pets. Their extinction happened after the last Ice Age. Initially, the dire wolves in Game of Thrones were played by Northern Inuit dogs, but producers soon changed their mind and started using CGI for the second season. This measure was meant to make the wolves look bigger and more threatening. Another fun fact is that seventeen year old Sophie Turner who plays Sansa Stark on the HBO fantasy series adopted the dog that played Lady, her character’s dire wolf.
Leave a Reply