"Weird Al" Effect: Difference between revisions

** ''Zero Hour!'' was itself based on a CBC television movie, ''Flight into Danger'', written by [[Arthur Hailey]], of ''Airport'' fame.

* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', the villain Hedley Lamarr is always correcting people who call him "Hedy." There are fewer people today who know Hedy Lamarr than who know ''Blazing Saddles'' -- or who know Hedy LaRue in ''[[How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying]]'', a more direct takeoff on Lamarr.

*** In fact, ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' may be the foremost reason the 15-21 demographic knows who Hedy Lamarr is currently.

** The page quote for [[Retired Gunfighter]] is taken from a ''[[Twilight Zone]]'' episode. Said quote will be immediately familiar to any fan of Brooks' movie, as the Waco Kid's quote about his past is a very closely drawn parody of the (forgotten) original.

* ''The William Tell Overture'' is far better known as the Lone Ranger's theme music.

* A case of [[Tropes Are Tools|Tropes Are Not Good]], Hervé Roy's "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uk49gxS2L8 Lover's Theme]" is known nowadays as [[Soundtrack Dissonance|the background music for]] ''[[Shock Site|Two Girls, One Cup]].'' If you want to talk about intellectual vandalism...

* When hearing Bill Haley and the Comets music to "Rock Around the Clock," do you expect to hear: "Sunday, Monday [[Happy Days]]"?

* There was once a Russian musical piece called "Days of our life". They had to stop playing it because whenever they did, ''everyone was laughing at remembering the parody''. Today, the music is recognizable, and most people at least remember the first lines of the parody ('''A large crocodile lady was walking on the streets''').

** Its parody of the [[H.P. Lovecraft]] mythos, "The Crank Call of Cthulhu", must go over the heads of most young viewers as well.

* The Cuddle Buddies from ''[[Kim Possible]]'' are on the surface send-ups of Beanie Babies. But if you dig further, you'll note their unmistakable resemblance to ''[[The Wuzzles]]'', a slightly obscure 1980's kids' show also produced by Disney. ''[[The Wuzzles]]'' was also [[Merchandise-Driven]]; when that show was current, store shelves did have boxes with stuffed Wuzzles on/in them. Disney remembers that aspect...

* The "Log" song from ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'' is a parody of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdjNH34a2l4 classic Slinky commercials].

* The classic schtick of two characters trying to out-polite each other "After you. No I insist after you." has been done innumerable times in ''Goofy Gophers'' and ''[[Heckle and Jeckle]]'' cartoons. Both of these are parodies of a much older comic strip routine involving two guys named Alphonse and Gaston. The only way a non-historian would have heard those names would be at a baseball game. (An "Alphonse and Gaston" is when two guys chase a fly ball and simultaneously pull up so it drops between them.) And then you need an announcer who loves the classics.