43 Behind The Scenes Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Your Favorite '90s Nicktoons

Tommy Pickles' original name was Ollie Pickles.

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1) Most of the original Nicktoons animators did not want a full-time career in TV animation because they felt their shows were mainly used to sell toys.

2) As Told By Ginger was one of the first animated shows in which the characters changed their clothes and aged from year to year.

3) Michael Bell, who voiced Chaz Finster on Rugrats, had to record the emotional speech about the death of Chuckie’s mom twice because everyone in the studio cried through the first take.

4) E.G. Daily, the voice of Tommy Pickles in Rugrats, went into labor while recording lines for an episode, though she insisted on staying to finish before going to the hospital.

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5) The character of Tommy Pickles was partly based on John Wayne.

6) Craig Bartlett, the creator of Hey, Arnold!, and Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, are brother-in-laws.

7) The original funding for Nicktoons ($40 million) was the most money Viacom had ever spent on programing at that time.

8) John Kricfalusi, the creator of Ren & Stimpy, was the original voice of Ren.

9) Kricfalusi was later fired from the show after continually failing to meet Nickelodeon’s deadlines.

10) Mark Mothersbaugh, frontman for the '80s rock band Devo, wrote the theme song for Rugrats.

11) Jim Jenkins, the creator of Doug, saw Connie Shulman in a mayonnaise commercial and immediately offered her the role of Patti Mayonnaise.

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12) The Wild Thornberrys was originally described as a “Discovery-esque world done [with a] tongue-and-cheek [sic] aspect that parents could appreciate."

13) Oh Yeah! Cartoons originally aired The Fairly OddParents as a six-minute, one-off short before it got picked up as its own series.

14) As Told By Ginger got picked up after Emily Kapnek, the creator of the show, entered the script into a screenwriting competition when she was 25.

15) Craig Bartlett always thought of Hey, Arnold! as a Charlie Brown special, but set in an urban environment.

16) Vanessa Coffey described the original Nicktoons block of programing as a meal: “Your broccoli was Doug, Rugrats was SpaghettiOs, and then dessert was Ren & Stimpy."

17) Doug Compton credits Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for making animation popular again.

18) The first original Nicktoon was a 1988 holiday special called Christmas in Tattertown.

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19) Donnie in The Wild Thornberrys is voiced by the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Flea.

20) Wanda from The Fairly OddParents originally had blue hair as opposed to pink.

21) Thinking the show would fail, Simpsons artists condescendingly nicknamed Rugrats “That Baby Show.”

22) Tommy Pickles’ original name was Ollie Pickles, but the name was changed after co-creator Paul Germain named his newborn son Tommy.

23) Mike Klinghoffer, vice president of production at Nickelodeon, said that the three best Nicktoons were Ren & Stimpy, Doug, and Rugrats.

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24) Jim Jenkins, the creator of Doug, revealed that Doug and Patti don’t stay together. His reasoning was that “people just don’t end up with their first love.”

25) Arlene Klasky, co-creator of Rugrats, said the idea for the show came from wanting to understand “the logic that drove tiny humans to desperately want to stick their hands in the toilet.”

26) CBS, NBC, and ABC all turned down Ren & Stimpy.

27) Paul Germain came up with the name "Rugrats" after the show had already been animated. He saw the babies crawling around on the rug and thought it was funny.

28) The original pilot for Hey, Arnold! played in movie theaters before the film Harriet the Spy.

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29) Rugrats won four Daytime Emmys, five Primetime Emmys, and seven Kids Choice Awards, and it even has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

30) Craig Bartlett came up with Arnold’s iconic football-shaped head after talking with Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who told him to “design characters that can be easily recognized from far away or in silhouette.”

31) Doug's name was changed from Brian because Jim Jenkins thought it sounded too fancy.

32) The Fairly OddParents was originally just called "Fairy Godparents."

33) Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo, co-creators of Rugrats, continually fought with the studio to give their adult characters more meaningful roles.

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34) Billy West is the only voice actor to have appeared in every episode of Ren & Stimpy.

35) Voice actor Cheryl Chase did voices for both Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy but did not want to do Doug because she said it “seemed boring.”

36) Vanessa Coffey, vice president of animation at Nickelodeon, originally hated the name “Nicktoons.”

37) One of the co-creators of Rugrats did not like Angelica’s character and actually left the show because of it.

38) Hey, Arnold! used child voice actors to make the show feel more authentic.

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39) Craig Bartlett has stated definitively that Arnold and Helga are soulmates.

40) All of the babies on Rugrats were voiced by women.

41) On Doug, Mr. and Mrs. Dink’s name is actually an acronym for “Dual Income, No Kids.”

42) Tim Curry was the voice of Nigel Thornberry.

43) And finally, Hey, Arnold! The Movie wasn't originally supposed to get a theatrical release.