Eight Things You Didn't Know About The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine"

The Beatles' 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine has been released for the first time on Blu-Ray and i-Tunes. The trippy cartoon has The Fab Four battling The Blue Meanies in the magical, mythical world of Pepperland, with one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time accompanying them.

There are plenty of interesting stories behind the making of this animated classic--especially since The Beatles didn't want to make it in the first place. Here's some trivia about Yellow Submarine:

1. The Beatles had to participate in the film. It was part of their three-picture deal with United Artists. A Hard Day's Night (1964) was first, followed by Help! (1965). That's the reason the Fab Four make a non-animated appearance at the end;

2. The Beatles did sing all of the songs, but other actors portrayed their voices in the film;

3. Paul Batten provided the voice of George for the first half of the film. While recording his role one day, he was arrested for being a British army deserter. Another actor had to take over the role;

4. The look of the movie was wrongly attributed to psychedelic pop artist Peter Max. Max had nothing to do with the film; credit for the hip look goes to the film's art director, Heinz Edelman;

5. The villians were The Blue Meanies--deliberately meant as a sly reference to the police;

6. In 1969, the film was nominated for a Hugo--a prestigious science-fiction/fantasy award. Previous Hugo winners included Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury;

7.  A number of writers worked on the screenplay, including Erich Segal, who, two years later, wrote the smash hit Love Story;

8. In the film, The Beatles run up against a multi-headed Meanie dog, and sing "Hey Bulldog!" This sequence was cut from the American release, and has been restored on Blu-Ray and DVD.

To order Yellow Submarine on Blu-Ray, click here: