re: expensive typos

One of the lesser-known expensive typos in entertainment history involved a legendary unbroadcast pilot produced for UPN.  The story, as it is told, goes that an unnamed UPN executive was interested in getting a pilot made for a potential US version of the 1991-92 German TV series "The Jolly Joker".  Unfortunately, the memo, which must have been scant on other details, supposedly instead gave the green light to the production of a pilot for "The Jolly Joiker".  Thus was spawned a late '90s pilot starring a gentleman of Sami ancestry.  The pilot, which is alleged to have cost $250,000, was set in LA, and was a sort of twist on Manimal, in which its star could, by singing a Sami _joik_ about any given animal, summon up that animal to ward off evil.  The pilot allegedly culminated in a reindeer goring an evil business executive who was involved in predatory real estate deals.

Skepticism about this story is well-warranted - those small bits seeming to confirm the story, such as script pages, could well be easily faked.  One knows how well urban legends proliferate in the Internet age.

Apparently more well-documented is the story of the secretly female video game character predating Metroid's Samus Aran.  This character, Toby "Kissy" Masuyo, was the star of a 1985 Namco arcade game.  Wikipedia also claims that, in the "Mr. Driller" series of games, "Kissy" is the ex-wife of Taizo Hori, better known as "Dig Dug", and is accordingly an antagonistic character in that series of games.