Toonami/Trivia

• Creator Backlash/Old Shame: Jason DeMarco famously called Swayzak "dumb shit" when asked by a fan when he was going to return in September 2016, and was against revealing his (and Sara 2's) voice actor awhile later. Because of this, many Urban Legends have circulated surrounding Swayzak.
• Hey, It's That Voice!:
  • Optimus Prime was the voice for many a Toonami promo whenever TOM or SARA weren't speaking. That alone made you not want to skip the commercials.
  • And, of course, Steve Blum as TOM v.2-4.
  • And don't forget Sonny Strait as Tom v.1!
  • Cowboy Sally from The Rudy and GoGo World Famous Cartoon Show voiced Sara until 2004.
    • Then, Red Dwarf actress Samantha Robson took over the role. For a while, it was not known who was the voice of Sara 2 because Jason DeMarco wanted her to remain anonymous. But since Robson listed the role on her website, we now know.
  • We are convinced that Swayzak was voiced by the same guy who voiced Zurg in the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command video game, Bob Amaral.
• Name's the Same:
  • TOM shares his name with another robot from a British children's series called Bertha and the original pre-show host of The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter.
  • Sara shares her name with a character from The Jetsons Meet The Flintstones.
  • Swayzak is not to be confused with the British electronic duo. Or the character from Backdraft. Or the other virus named Swayzak. (The last one is actually a Fan Nickname for that character, inspired by the cameo Swayzak made when Toonami reviewed Rez.)
• The Other Darrin:
  • TOM was originally voiced by Sonny Strait (Usopp) before being voiced by Steve Blum (Spike Spiegel.) Strait made a return as the voice of TOMtruder in The Intruder II.
  • Sara was initially voiced by Sally Timms, but then in 2004, switched to Samantha Robson. When she made her return on the block in 2013, she became voiced by Dana Swanson.
  • Swayzak from the Trapped in Hyperspace event was voiced by Bob Amaral on-air, but online, he was voiced by an unknown New Zealander who did not treat the staff kindly. And THEN in the Rez review, he has ANOTHER, higher-pitched voice (C. Martin Croker doing a Dudley Do-Right impersonation!) How many voices did this guy go through?!
• Urban Legends: Lots, mainly surrounding Swayzak.
  • A common urban legend is that Trapped in Hyperspace was a promotion for Rez, featuring the game's main character, Swayzak. This is not true for two reasons - if you watch old broadcasts from the era, then you'll find out the event was sponsored by Super Mario Sunshine, and the main character of Rez is named Hacker, only being referred to as Swayzak by fans after Swayzak from Trapped in Hyperspace appeared in Toonami's review of the game.
  • The other urban legend surrounding Trapped in Hyperspace (Swayzak originally intended to be an anti-hero, as mentioned below) has a few holes in it - Cartoon Network was worried that the TIE would be too dark, yet they aired Courage the Cowardly Dog with no problems (in fact, the episode that aired the week of Hyperspace was "Windmill Vandals," featuring villains with much more intimidating designs than Swayzak's), and they greenlighted Hoss Delgado from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, who was in fact a badass anti-hero. Whatever the story truly is, it's certain that Swayzak was the result of Executive Meddling.
  • Another common myth is that Swayzak was voiced by Michael Dorn (Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as fellow Cartoon Network property I.M. Weasel.) This was deconfirmed in an email to an animator who worked on Trapped in Hyperspace. Even the voice actor listed as voicing Swayzak on this site, Bob Amaral, hasn't been proven to be his voice actor yet.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Toonami was originally going to be hosted by an AI and a teenage girl after Moltar stepped down from his position as host, according to a writeup on the history of Toonami published on its 20th anniversary.
  • The higher-ups wanted Freddie Prinze Jr. to voice TOM, because of celebrity recognition. Beau Billingslea was also considered for the part, and he ended up voicing "Booger" in The Forge. Eventually, Sonny Strait was chosen for the role.
  • Swayzak from Trapped in Hyperspace was originally going to be a much more different character; a badass Anti-Hero similar to Spawn, with a visual motif inspired by Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. However, Cartoon Network said no to this, worried that it was going to be too dark for a kids' audience (according to most versions of the story, it was because of TOM 1's death in The Intruder, and it was also the reason Endgame was an online comic instead of an on-air event), and forced Jason DeMarco to change him into an Evil Is Hammy Emperor Zurg/Dark Laser snowclone. DeMarco has not confirmed whether this story is true or not (and probably doesn't want to.)
  • A TIE for 2003 with four one-minute episodes and a five-minute final episode was announced, but instead, the staff chose to do IGPX. One could assume that this was the result of Executive Meddling during production on Trapped in Hyperspace.
  • A Toonami comic that was intended to be published on the website in the mid '00s was revealed on the Toonami Tumblr in 2013. It would have involved TOM and Sara joining a rebellion against a villain named General Grey. Such a concept of a rebellion was later re-used in The Forge.
  • TOM 4's original design had him much closer to the previous TOMs, instead of his "Thomas the Choo-Choo Train" look he ended up with.
  • TOM getting his arm rendered useless in The Intruder II was originally intended to look even more unintentionally hilarious; in the storyboard for episode 4 posted on YouTube, TOM is flailing his arm round in panic.