Monday, September 28, 2009

Animaniacs



For years, every time I saw that glimmering Warner Brothers logo at the beginning of a TV show or movie, I was certain that the brothers Warner in question were none other than Animaniacs stars Yakko and Wakko. I was fairly positive. I mean, they came out the logo-emblazoned tower in the intro, right? Obviously they were the masterminds behind this multimillion dollar corporation. Really, who else would it be?

How was I to know of Polish immigrants Harry, Jack, Sam, and Albert Warner (nee Hirz, Itzhak, Szmul, and Aaron Winskolaser) whose pioneering exhibition work in the early 20th century earned them a rightful place in movie-making history? The only Warner Brothers I'd ever heard of were Yakko and Wakko, and of course the Warner sister, Dot. TV wouldn't lie to me. Would it? After all, these guys claimed to be animaney, totally insaney, in a show that's maney. Sounded pretty credible to me.



Animaniacs provided 90s children with an endless array of slapstick humor and sight gags sure to encourage all sorts of danger imitative behavior. Immediately on the heels of the success of Tiny Toon Adventures and character cameos in the full-length feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, the studio released this animated variety show intended to pay homage to many of the early animated greats. Not unlike Tiny Toons, the characters were crafted after the classic animated stars from the genre's earliest era. Wakko, Yakko, and Dot were ambiguous in species and resembled the stars of bygone black and white cartoons.

The premise of Animaniacs was undoubtedly complex for a cartoon, not too mention confusing for even the savviest of seven-year olds. Either way, I'll do my best to recount it as I recall, with a fair bit of research filling in the admittedly vast mental blanks. The title Warner brothers and sister were supposedly created in the 1930s to add a bit of spice to the traditional Looney Tunes fare. They managed to become veritable cartoon all-stars despite the fact that their show was both unconventional and completely insane. '

The trio was so crazy and wreaked so much havoc on the studio that the Warner Bros studio authorities eventually locked them in a studio water tower. In the 90s, however, the three managed to escape and continually sneak back into their hidden home. The studio unleashed upon them a Dr. Otto Scratchansniff to allegedly dezanitize the crazy group. A Warner Bros Studio security guard, Ralph, was also charged with reconfining the siblings after each subsequent escape. Pretty complex for a kid's cartoon, I'd say. I still don't totally understand it, though it was rather entertaining.

In the spirit of preceding cartoon variety shows, Animaniacs featured a number of recurring sketches and characters. While the series had a host of minor and lesser stars, let's explore our major animaniacal players:


Hello Nurse!

Not so much a skit but a running gag, "Hello Nurse!" was not only a well-worn Animaniacs catchphrase but also specifically denoted the presence of the vixen blonde studio nurse. Typically when in her presence, the boys would shout, "Helllllllloooo Nurse!" and jump into her arms. The gag was also used with a variety of other characters, such as in the presence of a hefty muumuu-ed lady to which Yakko exclaims, "Hellllloooo large nurse!" See, it works so many ways. How versatile.





Pinky and the Brain

This sketch gained such popularity and such an intensely loyal following that it was later spun off into its own animated show. The Brain is aptly named for his smarts, whereas his sidekick Pinky is not much more than a moronic lackey kept around to do the grunt work involved in taking over the world. The Brain would usually ask Pinky, "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" only to be subjected to an utterly imbecilic and muddled response. Needless to say, their attempts to take over the world were less than fruitful, though they did provide a good deal of satire and entertainment.


See, it's educational!



Rita and Runt

These two put on a whole lot of show-stopping musical numbers through a veritable array of historical settings. Rita was a street savvy New York-accented cat and Runt was a dim-witted Rain Man-esque dog. The catch was that Runt hated cats with a deep fervor but was generally too slow to realize that his best friend Rita was indeed of a feline persuasion. The musical numbers were fairly impressive, largely due to the fact that Rita was voiced by Bernadette Peters. Due to the financial strain of maintaining Peters on cast and the mounting issues surrounding creating original musical numbers for each episodes, the two faded from the Animaniacs repertoire somewhere around mid-run.






The Goodfeathers

Goodfeathers...Goodfellas. Pure comedic parody gold, right? Okay, so the pun is a tad groan-inducing, but the shorts were pretty cute. A takeoff of the movie Goodfellas, the Goodfeathers were a gang of New York pigeons just trying to make it. Oh, and fighting their rival sparrow gang. And courting Girlfeathers. All in all, not awful satire. Kids weren't all that likely to get it, but at least it gave their parents something to chuckle over.





Buttons and Mindy

The premise of Buttons and Mindy was incredibly simple and formulaic. Mindy's anonymous parents ("Lady" and "Mr. Man") would leave dog Buttons to care for their daughter. Sounds responsible, right? Mindy (voiced by Nancy Cartwright of Bart Simpson fame) was forever wandering off and causing trouble, to which Buttons would rush to her rescue and bear the brunt of the responsibility. I really just loved Mindy for her coinage of the phrase, "Okay, I love you, buh-bye!" She gave kids everywhere the verbal ammunition necessary to forever irritate their parents.





Slappy Squirrel

Uncommon for a kid's cartoon, this short's star featured an elderly star. Slappy was a anthropomorphic octogenarian squirrel living with her chipper nephew Skippy. Slappy skits utilized a lot of well-worn comedic territory such as the Vaudeville-esque skit below, thus introducing an entirely new generation of children to some very old but still funny bits.




Animaniacs ran a couple of seasons on FOX and finished off the remainder of its seasons on the burgeoning but now-defunct WB network. The show was not-only long-running but also aired in syndication for quite awhile following the end of the show, meaning a serious cache of kids grew up on this stuff.

There was also one direct-to-video movie release, Wakko's Wish, which can still occasionally be seen playing on TV sometime around Christmas time. While you can catch the first two and a half seasons on TV (with the remaining episodes pending release to DVD), feel free to use up all that pent up 90s childhood energy to campaign for DVD release of the full-length film.

That's all I got for you today, folks. In the ever-wise words of one Mindy Sadlier, "Okay, I love you, buh-bye!"

23 comments:

  1. Lol, I used to watch this all the time! ;)

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  2. I hated the Animaniacs...I don't know what. I just didn't get it. And what kind of animals were they?

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  3. I was never into the Animaniacs but I had a friend who loved them!

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  4. I loved Animaniacs! I loved the "We're Late" and State Capitals and Countries songs.

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  5. An open question to the blogger or posters: Does anyone remember a cartoon riff on The Honeymooners? I swear they were a part of the Animaniacs line up, but maybe I'm wrong. Am I nuts, or does anyone else remember this?

    Thanks for the blog. I love it!

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  6. Ooo Awesome!!!!!! I was addicted to this show. Every Saturday morning I would watch it. I love Dot! I think she is absolutely adorable!! Steven Spielberg???? Really??? I had NO IDEA!! Woa ya learn something new everyday. What a fun post!! =)

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  7. I still love this show...they NEED to release the last volume of episodes on DVD! Also, I was an adult before I realized that the voice of Rita is Bernadette Peters.

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  8. Definitely one of my favorite cartoons ever! I've indoctrinated my kids and they're spreading the love to various neighbors. We've got our own little mini-cult of Animaniacs lovers in the neighborhood. It's awesome! In addition to the DVDs, we have 4 of the audio CDs for those long car rides. :)

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  9. That show was awesome; I loved the Minerva Mink segments and Katie Kaboom and Good Idea/Bad Idea cracked me up!

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  10. Good times had by all! I love reading your blog sweetie so I get my blast from the past with a good dose of sarcasm! Stop by today for a slice of San Francisco..

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  11. I LOVED the Animaniacs!! *sigh* This brings back such happy memories of grade 7 and 8... and Pinky and the Brain was an amazing show. I miss old cartoons. *sigh*

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  12. Loved this show! I actually introduced the kiddos I babysit for to it!

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  13. Boy does this bring back memories!!! Love it.
    XX Kate

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  14. Animaniacs!! Loved that show, stinky and the "brain, brain, brain, brain, brain" was awesome too. What a great nostalgic blog you've got going here!!

    Other great shows of youth: saved by the bell, home improvement (with JTT!) haha!

    Will definitely be back to check further posts!

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  15. Awesome. Thanks for the memory!

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  16. Pinky and the brain was always my personal favorite :)

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  17. While the old WB cartoons are still the best, IMHO, I thought Tiny Toons and Animaniacs at least caught that cool spirit of cartoon anarchy. Goodfeathers was pretty hilarious...

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  18. to this very day, i still say `helloooo nurse!` and `okay lady love you buh bye!`

    yay!

    some might say a 25 year old is above those things. i disagree

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  19. I LOVED this show! Thanks for the flashback.
    Why can't my kids watch this show instead of Yo Gaba Gaba?

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  20. طريقة العزل المائي للمسابح:
    القيام بالتنظيف الجيد للأرضية الخرسانية وإزالة أي شوائب بها.
    إضافة طبقة دهان ووترمين بارد عن طريق دهان الأرضية بها.
    القيام بإضافة طبقة البيتومينات ولحامها ولصقها بأرضية حمام السباحة ولصقها ببعضها من خلال التسخين بالكي.
    القيام بعمل طبقة تداخل بين الشريحتين المتجاورتين لا تقل عن ٢٠ سم.
    القيام بإضافة باقي طبقات لفائف البيتومين ولحامها ولصقها جيدا حتى يتم العزل المائي جيدا لأرضية وجدران حمام السباحة وخروج الطبقات عن جدران حمام السباحة بما لا يقل عن ٢٠ سم.
    القيام بعمل طبقة حماية للعزل المائي من الخدوش والثقوب عن طريق عمل طبقة لياسة من الأسمنت فوق طبقات العزل المائي.
    القيام بمعالجة اللياسة ثم تركها من يومين لثلاث أيام ليتم تجهيز اللبشة المسلحة.
    شركة إنشاء مسابح بالدمام
    شركة تنظيف مسابح بالدمام
    عزل مسابح

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