This Week in Nerd History | Aug. 7 – 13

Nerd culture is a vibrant tapestry of events, releases, and milestones that have shaped the entertainment landscape. From iconic movies to groundbreaking games and significant literary contributions, this article takes a trip down memory lane to explore the notable nerd culture events that occurred from August 7th to August 13th in history. Let’s celebrate these cherished moments that have left an indelible mark on the hearts of fans around the world.

Photo Credit: D23

August 7, 1992 | 3 Ninjas

On this day, 3 Ninjas premiered. This martial arts comedy film is about three brothers who learn ninjutsu from their grandfather and use their skills to foil a kidnapping plot by a criminal mastermind.

Nerdy Fact: The movie was inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, which was very popular in the early 1990s. The producers wanted to create a similar concept with human kids instead of mutant turtles.

Photo Credit: Fortress of Solitude

August 8, 2014 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

On this day, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered. This movie is a reboot of the popular franchise that follows four mutated turtle brothers as they team up with reporter April O’Neil to stop the evil Shredder and his Foot Clan from taking over New York City.

Nerdy Fact: ILM developed a new motion capture technology for the movie, which allowed the actors to wear helmets with cameras attached to their faces. This captured their facial expressions and movements in real time, and then transferred them to the digital models of the turtles. This made the performance more natural and authentic, as well as easier to edit.

Photo Credit: Pocket Tactics

August 8, 2014 | Five Nights at Freddy’s

On this day, Five Nights at Freddy’s released. This horror video game series challenges the player to survive five nights in a pizza restaurant haunted by murderous animatronic animals.

Nerdy Fact: The creator of the game, Scott Cawthon, was inspired to make Five Nights at Freddy’s after his previous game, Chipper & Sons Lumber Co., received negative feedback for having creepy-looking characters. He decided to embrace the horror genre and create a game that would intentionally scare people.

Photo Credit: The Belcourt Theatre

August 9, 1985 | Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure

On this day, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure premiered. This hilarious and whimsical comedy film follows the eccentric and childlike Pee-Wee Herman (played by the late Paul Ruebens) as he embarks on a cross-country quest to find his stolen bicycle, encountering various obstacles and characters along the way.

Nerdy Fact: Tim Burton, the director of the movie, made an unrecognizable cameo as one of the thugs who steals Pee-Wee’s bike. He wore a fake beard and sunglasses to disguise himself.

Photo Credit: The Daily Scythe

August 10, 2016 | Scythe

On this day, Scythe released. This strategic and immersive board game is set in an alternate-history 1920s Europe, where players compete to lead their factions to victory by exploring, expanding, exploiting, and exterminating.

Nerdy Fact: Scythe was one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns for a board game, raising over $1.8 million from more than 17,000 backers in 2015. The game also won several awards, including the Golden Geek Award for Board Game of the Year in 2016.

Photo Credit: Teen Vogue

August 11, 1991 | Rugrats

On this day, Rugrats premiered. This popular and award-winning animated series follows the adventures and imaginations of a group of babies and toddlers as they explore the world around them with their parents and pets.

Nerdy Fact: Rugrats is the second-longest running Nicktoon of all time, with 172 episodes. It’s second only to SpongeBob SquarePants. The show also has its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which it received in 2001 as part of its 10th anniversary celebration. It’s the only Nickelodeon show to have that honor.

Photo Credit: Insider

August 11, 1991 | Doug

On this day, Doug premiered. This classic and influential animated sitcom follows the everyday life, challenges, and fantasies of a young boy named Doug Funnie, who moves to a new town and makes friends with a diverse group of characters.

Nerdy Fact: Doug’s skin color was white because he was the first character to be drawn, before Jinkins decided to experiment with different colors for the other characters. He said he would have made Doug magenta if he had thought of it earlier.

Photo Credit: Rock paper Shotgun

August 11, 2008 | Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People

On this day, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People released. This humorous episodic adventure game was based on the Homestar Runner web cartoon. The player controls Strong Bad, a self-proclaimed cool guy who likes to prank his friends and enemies.

Nerdy Fact: The game features many references and Easter eggs from the Homestar Runner web cartoon, such as the Cheat Commandos, Limozeen, Trogdor, and more. Some of these references are hidden and require the player to explore the game world or use certain items to trigger them. For example, in the first episode, if the player uses Strong Bad’s cell phone to call Marzipan, they will hear a message from Homestar Runner pretending to be Marzipan’s answering machine.

Photo Credit: IMDb

August 11, 2021 | What If…?

On this day, What If…? premiered on Disney+. This creative and captivating animated series explores the infinite possibilities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where each episode showcases a different scenario where a major event from the films changes, leading to new and unexpected outcomes for the heroes and villains.

Nerdy Fact: The series has a different animation style for each episode, reflecting the different genres and tones of the stories. For example, the episode “What If… Zombies?!” has a darker and more realistic style, while the episode “What If… Thor Were an Only Child?” has a brighter and more cartoonish style. The animation was done by several studios around the world, such as Squeeze Animation in Canada, Blue Spirit Animation in France, and Flying Bark Productions in Australia.

Photo Credit: GoCollect Blog

August 12, 1969 | The Prowler

On this day, The Prowler first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #78. The Prowler is a superhero who wears a green and purple battle suit with a cape and clawed gauntlets, who first appeared as an adversary to Spider-Man, but later became his ally and friend.

Nerdy Fact: The Prowler is also the alias of Aaron Davis, the uncle of Miles Morales, who is another Spider-Man in an alternate universe. Aaron Davis is voiced by Mahershala Ali in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Photo Credit: PCMag

August 12, 1981 | IBM Launches the First PC

On this day, the first Personal Computer was released by IBM. Also known as the IBM Model 5150, the first PC was a revolutionary microcomputer that used an Intel 8088 processor, Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system, and an open architecture that allowed third-party peripherals and software.

Nerdy Fact: The first IBM PC had a distinctive sound when it was turned on, which was generated by the speaker on the motherboard. The sound was composed of three tones: a low-pitched tone of 440 Hz for 300 milliseconds, followed by a silence of 100 milliseconds, followed by a high-pitched tone of 880 Hz for 300 milliseconds. This sound sequence was designed to indicate that the power supply and the speaker were working properly. However, some users found the sound annoying or alarming, and some even tried to disable it by cutting the speaker wires or covering them with tape.

Photo Credit: Comics Beat

August 12, 2017 | DuckTales Quacks Again

On this day, the DuckTales reboot premiered. This witty and adventurous animated series follows the exploits of Scrooge McDuck and his family as they embark on various quests around the world and uncover the secrets of their past, inspired by the classic Disney comics and the original 1987 show.

Nerdy Fact: The voice actors for Huey, Dewey, and Louie are Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, and Bobby Moynihan, respectively. They are all known for their roles in comedy shows such as Community, Parks and Recreation, and Saturday Night Live.

Photo Credit: CNN

August 13, 1991 | Super Nintendo

On this day, the Super Nintendo released. This 16-bit home video game console featured many popular games such as Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and Donkey Kong Country.

Nerdy Fact: The Super Nintendo had a feature called Mode 7, which was a graphical technique that could rotate and scale backgrounds to create a pseudo-3D effect. This feature was used in games such as F-Zero, Pilotwings, and Super Mario Kart.

Photo Credit: WIRED

August 13, 1991 | Super Mario World

On this day, Super Mario World premiered. This classic platform game was released alongside the Super Nintendo and introduced Yos3 ninhi, a friendly dinosaur who can eat enemies and gain special abilities.

Nerdy Fact: The game has a secret ending that can be unlocked by completing all 96 exits in the game. This will change the appearance of some enemies and objects in the game, such as Bullet Bills becoming Pidgits, Goombas becoming Mask Koopas, and Piranha Plants becoming Pumpkin Plants.

Photo Credit: Cultured Vultures

August 13, 1991 | F-Zero

On this day, F-Zero was released for the Super Nintendo. This futuristic racing game featured fast-paced gameplay, challenging tracks, and a mode that allowed the game to create a 3D-like effect.

Nerdy Fact: An F-Zero jazz album was released on March 25, 1992, in Japan and features twelve songs from the game on a single disc composed by Yumiko Kanki and Naoto Ishida, and arranged by Robert Hill and Michiko Hill.

Photo Credit: Alpha Coders

August 13, 2010 | Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

On this day, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World premiered. This quirky and colorful comedy follows a young musician who must fight his way through his new girlfriend’s seven evil exes, each with their own unique abilities and personalities, in order to win her heart.

Nerdy Fact: The movie was filmed in Toronto, Canada, where the story is set. Many of the locations used in the movie are real places that appear in the graphic novels, such as Lee’s Palace, Pizza Pizza, and Honest Ed’s.

Photo Credit: Den of Geek

August 13, 2021 | Free Guy

On this day, Free Guy premiered. This hilarious and action-packed movie follows the adventures of a video game NPC who gains self-awareness and decides to become the hero of his own story, while also falling in love with a real player.

Nerdy Fact: Free Guy was originally set to premiere over a year earlier on July 3, 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was rescheduled for December 11, 2020, however was delayed again as the pandemic began to swell once more heading into 2021.