MovieChat Forums > Toy Story 4 (2019) Discussion > WHY "Duke Caboom"? WHY NOT "Evel Knievel...

WHY "Duke Caboom"? WHY NOT "Evel Knievel"?

posted 5 years ago by [deleted]
7 replies | jump to latest

In Toy Story 4, the Duke Caboom stunt biker toy replicates a real-life toy me and my sister had as children, based on Evel Knievel who was a real stunt performer who rode his motorcycle over obstacles. I vividly remember the toy because of the distinctive sound the wind-up accelerator made on the bike launcher: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evel_Knievel

Why Pixar couldn't have used the actual toy itself, I do not know. All I know is that Duke Caboom as he is now, reminds me of Duke Nukem, and as I recall, that guy didn't do any motorcycle stunts whatsoever.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

They do that with all the toys.

[–] sarahb2 (69) 5 years ago

My guess? They wanted to do all the Canada jokes. I did appreciate that they made his kid French-Canadian, that was a nice touch.

[–] Duck6 (425) 5 years ago

That's the joke though.

[–] Sandman81 (1509) 5 years ago

I think the point was that it was a cheap knock off of Evel Knievel, which is why it didn't work the way it was supposed to and the kid was unimpressed.

[–] HAL 9010 (906) 5 years ago

No, the commercial made it clear it was Duke Caboom.

[–] PaladinNJ (21509) 5 years ago

I think what he means is Duke Caboom is supposed to be a knock off. It's also possible they couldn't get the rights to Evel Knievel.

[–] HAL 9010 (906) 5 years ago

Rather, the way it was told is that the kid got disappointed because the toy did not perform like in the commercial. Like they never did, to be honest. Commercials are always unjustly perfect.

The toy was fine. The boy's expectations were just unrealistic.

And he was Duke, and the commercial was of Duke.

Had they used Knievel, we would have gotten the same story, I think. Either they did not have the rights, or they chose a strong parallel like Duke - which, I believe, the Toy Story movies generally did with the several toys they gave life to.