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If you're a child of the
nineties, you'll remember that back then, animated
series had texture. They weren't like today where it
was colorful and filled with characters with no
basic coherent storyline. Back then animated series
had stories, arcs, brains, and influence. Gems like
"Talespin", "Captain Planet", and "Mighty Max" were
what made animation so incredible. But they were
intimidating, and that's why networks sought out to
bring them down and cancel them.
Such is the case for "Animaniacs",
which was so influential, the network sought out to
sabotage its presence by dumbing down its clever and
sharp gags and historical references, and forcing it
to include educational interludes that never fit
with the program and talked down to its audience.
With dumb skits like the naming of states and
planets, and the creation of the Declaration of
Independence, "Animaniacs" suffered a death under
the hand of parental counsels who demanded it
include some educational context, which was then
replaced with the inferior "Hysteria" which featured
much of the same sensibilities of "Animaniacs" but
was entirely educational.
The networks were
intimidated by shows like "Animaniacs" because it
brought a lot to the table. It was smart, it was
hilarious, and it was too clever for its censors to
understand. Who can blame them with the wildly funny
and ahead of its time parody of the adult "Goodfellas"
with a kiddy geared, but utterly multi-faceted
parody named the "Goodfeathers" about three mafioso
pigeons surviving the outskirts of New York? "Animaniacs"
was educational but never as the parental counsels
wanted. |
They featured people like Ernest Hemingway,
Orson Welles, Beethoven, and Abraham Lincoln while
spoofing pop culture like "Apocalypse Now", Hercule
Poirot, and Jerry Lewis films; Yakko and Wacko, were
essentially takes on Groucho and Harpo Marx, and
Dot, the comediennes of the golden era of comedy. Most cartoons of the
nineties had the same influence on its audience
providing healthy entertainment without a bad
influence, and they were diminished in exchange for
idiotic mind numbing fare.
The fantastic
"Gargoyles" was replaced with "101 Dalmations: The
Series", "Freakazoid!" and "Road Rovers" were
cancelled quickly, and further on until we were left
with filth like "Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force
Go!" and "Pokemon". "Animaniacs" and "Pinky and the
Brain" are surely mementos of my childhood and of a
past where animated programs were about something.
"Animaniacs"
had the pleasure of featuring some of the funniest
animated skits of all time. Mime time, Good Idea Bad
Idea, Chicken Boo, The Wheel of Morality, and the
disgruntled Slappy the Squirrel, a bitter retired
cartoon character who fought back at her idiotic
nemeses with explosions and insults.
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The new DVD
sets of both separate series "Animaniacs" and its
spin-off "Pinky and the Brain" are veritable gold
mines for animation buffs such as myself, and for
anyone seeking a break from the crappy animated
series who want to show their children animation can
have substance. One of the ahead of its time skits
from "Animaniacs" was "Pinky and the Brain" which
involved two genetically altered laboratory mice who
were so intelligent they felt they deserved to take
over the world. Well, Brain did, Pinky really just
helped, and enjoyed the simple pleasures
in life.
The great Maurice LaMarche who coined The
Brain as an impression of Orson Welles, and Rob
Paulsen as the utterly clueless Pinky. Though it
eventually spun off with its own series, as many had
guessed, "Pinky and the Brain" ended up being the
more structured but basically weaker of the two,
even though "Animaniacs", which was basically "Monty
Python" for children, excelled in pure brilliance
and humor in spite of the fact that it was basically
just a string of comedy sketches, parodies and
musical numbers. |
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Little known fact:
Maurice LaMarche who has made a career of voicing
dignified characters is well known for his talents
for enormously loud belching, which results in the
great Wakko's belching opera, a constant hilarious
skit which appears in "Animaniacs". A few caveats
though is that the boxed sets are really barebones
with only one or two real extras to it. I would have
enjoyed interviews with the cast, or a documentary
about the making of the show, but alas, nothing here
really hits its stride, while "Pinky and the Brain"
fans will take umbrage to the fact that the boxed
set is only just a collection of random episodes,
and not a season. This would stem from the fact that
the show only lasted four seasons and jumped the
shark when it became "Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain",
and then the show died.
"Pinky and the Brain" is
a more grandiose epic series chronicling basically
The Brain's efforts to take over the world while
contending with assorted characters, villains, and
love interests, while Pinky works around him and
discovers himself. In one episode Pinky attempts to
get the world for The Brain for his birthday by
inviting world leaders to a party, and Pinky becomes
the president. "Pinky and the Brain", while
completely different from "Animaniacs" works because
it's completely different. Repetitive no?
Fact is, both shows are
mementos of a decade where animation was animation,
and not just crap. And the sets are well worth the
money. And I'm not just saying that because we're
advertising for the company that promotes it. We
really mean it. Now, if we only had a "Freakazoid"
set, I'd be chillin' like Matt Dillon.
-
Felix Vasquez Jr.
7/25/06
My hero with his creations!
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