Animaniacs Reboot in the Works

[tomalak301]

As much as I wouldn't want the show to lose it's adult edge, it wasn't all "Hello Nurse" and "Goodnight, everybody!" I also would hate to see it lose the segments that were so entertainingly educational. Here are three of my favorite bits...

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I once had the pleasure to have a brief conversation with Rob Paulson, and he told me that after rehersing in the mirror for weeks, he nailed Yakko's World in ONE TAKE!

And just because, here is Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulson reading from the script of Pulp Fiction as Pinky and the Brain...

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There were times when I felt like I learned more from watching Animaniacs than actual school.

 

[JD]

Though a different studio and property, but I can't help thinking about the "PowerPuff Girls". Ms. Bellum, Mayor Mayer's Jessica Rabbit-esque personal assistant was dropped from the current version of the series. Given the current political climate, I'm concerned the "sly edge" that made the original Animaniacs distinctive will be excised. Meaning, no Minerva Mink, no Hello Nurse, no innuendo.

They could always do it on Adult Swim.

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I would love to see an updated version of this with Bush II, Obama, and Trump. OOOOhhhh the things they could do with Trump.

I once had the pleasure to have a brief conversation with Rob Paulson, and he told me that after rehersing in the mirror for weeks, he nailed Yakko's World in ONE TAKE!

Wow, that is very impressive.
What year did that come out? I noticed they had Czechoslovakia instead of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The Powerpuff Girl continuation lacked the je ne sais quoi of the original. I loved the original, but gave up after a couple of episodes of the new; I don't even recall new episodes starting off with "The City of Townsville."

 

[Turtletrekker]

I would love to see an updated version of this with Bush II, Obama, and Trump. OOOOhhhh the things they could do with Trump.

Wow, that is very impressive.
What year did that come out? I noticed they had Czechoslovakia instead of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

I think that "Orangutan Don" would make a great addition to the Pinky and the Brain mythos.

"Yakko's World" is from 1993.

 

[urbandefault]

A reboot/remake/jumpstart must include Pinky and the Brain.

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[kirk55555]

It will be interesting to see how the voices will be if this gets made. These reboots usually drop the old voice actors (even if they're still around and getting a lot of work, like the Powerpuff Girls voice actors), with the only exception being Scooby Doo because Frank Welker will probably continue voicing basically every animated adult version of Fred until he dies (which isn't a bad thing). The only other exception I can think of is Teen Titans Go, and that show has a huge amount of problems that having the old voice actors not only doesn't fix, but honestly makes worse.

Since many of the old Animaniacs voice actors are still around and working, I can't imagine a reboot going over very well by picking new people. Hearing Brain without the voice of Maurice LaMarche or Pinky and Yakko without Rob Paulson, for example, is something that I honestly don't think could succeed, even if they somehow had writing that wasn't terrible.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I liked Animaniacs, but I think I liked Tiny Toons even more, which was also Spielberg, and possibly a spinoff?. Out of Animaniacs, I thought Pinky & The Brain really came into their own, and I think it eclipsed the original show at some point.

 

[Christopher]

I liked Animaniacs, but I think I liked Tiny Toons even more, which was also Spielberg, and possibly a spinoff?.

Tiny Toon Adventures wasn't a spinoff, except in the sense that its characters were meant to be the "next generation" of Warner Bros. characters with the original Looney Tunes as their mentors. However, Animaniacs was sort of an indirect spinoff of TTA. There's a TTA installment where Buster and Babs come across WB's very old '30s black-and-white characters Bosko and Honey (redesigned without the minstrel-show blackface elements of their original look) and help them make a comeback. I think that was the first draft of the concept that evolved into Animaniacs.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I don't know if a reboot is a Good Idea or a Bad Idea.

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[Owain Taggart]

Tiny Toon Adventures wasn't a spinoff, except in the sense that its characters were meant to be the "next generation" of Warner Bros. characters with the original Looney Tunes as their mentors. However, Animaniacs was sort of an indirect spinoff of TTA. There's a TTA installment where Buster and Babs come across WB's very old '30s black-and-white characters Bosko and Honey (redesigned without the minstrel-show blackface elements of their original look) and help them make a comeback. I think that was the first draft of the concept that evolved into Animaniacs.

Ok, I guess my memory is playing tricks on me, because I thought those characters first started appearing on Animaniacs in their own segments, or maybe I'm thinking of something different. I know there was at least a 3rd group of characters that came out of these shows.

Those along with Muppet Babies were my favourite cartoons while growing up.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The only time that any of the Animaniacs characters interacted with any of the Tiny Toons characters that I can recall was the dreadful "Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain" show that spun out of "Pinky and the Brain".

 

[Christopher]

Ok, I guess my memory is playing tricks on me, because I thought those characters first started appearing on Animaniacs in their own segments, or maybe I'm thinking of something different.

No, Tiny Toon Adventures was the first WB/Spielberg show, from 1990-92 (plus a couple of specials in 1994), while Animaniacs ran from 1993-98.

I know there was at least a 3rd group of characters that came out of these shows.

There was a short-lived Tiny Toons spinoff, The Plucky Duck Show, which ran for 13 episodes in '92. Aside from the first episode ("Batduck," a superhero parody in the vein of Chuck Jones's Daffy-as-inept hero cartoons), it was mostly just a repackaging of Plucky shorts from TTA.

The full list of "Steven Spielberg Presents" Warner Bros. animated series includes:

Tiny Toon Adventures
The Plucky Duck Show
Animaniacs
Pinky and the Brain
Freakazoid!
Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain

Other non-Spielberg-produced shows from Tom Ruegger, the creator or co-creator of most of the above, include Taz-Mania, Road Rovers, and Histeria! Ruegger also had a hand in developing Batman: TAS.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Freakazoid! I'd totally forgotten about that one. Ahh, they were a good batch of shows. Was Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain a retooling of sorts? Thanks for making me relive the memories

Yeah, looks like my chronology was a bit off

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Freakazoid! I'd totally forgotten about that one. Ahh, they were a good batch of shows. Was Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain a retooling of sorts? Thanks for making me relive the memories

More of a sequel to both Tiny Toons and Pinky and the Brain. The ACME Labs burned out, making Pinky and the Brain homeless, and they were adopted by Elmyra. So the Brain's schemes had to contend with no longer having access to ACME's equipment as well as Elmyra treating him like a pet.

Personally, I didn't think it really worked.

 

[urbandefault]

Rob Paulsen can still do the "Nations" song on demand.

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[Christopher]

Was Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain a retooling of sorts?

Yes, a network-mandated revamp to make it more sitcom-like, a change that the producers hated. A couple of later P&tB episodes actually mock the retool proposals that were around at the time rather viciously, like the one where they suddenly, randomly have a third character named Larry hanging out with them and the whole cartoon pointedly underlines how totally useless and intrusive a third character is to the format. And the P,E&tB theme lyrics actually include the line "It's what the network wants; why bother to complain?" Not since Galactica 1980 has a sequel series been so loathed by the very people making it.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Hah yeah, come to think of it, Pinky & The Brain really worked better on their own. And now I'm starting to remember Elmyra. She was like a carebear, often hugging the characters to death. It's all flooding back now.

RE: Christopher, wow, I had no idea. That's a rather bizzare change

One of my favourite Pinky & The Brain episodes that I still remember fondly to this day is the Bubba Bo Bob Brain episode, in which Brain concocts a scheme by posing as a country music star. The imagery of him on stilts captured my imagination.

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[Christopher]

And now I'm starting to remember Elmyra. She was like a carebear, often hugging the characters to death. It's all flooding back now.

Yeah... All the Tiny Toons were counterparts to classic Looney Tunes characters, and Elmyra Duff was the counterpart to Elmer Fudd -- but updated for the times and for kids' TV. So while Elmer endangered animals by hunting them, Elmyra killed them with kindness, loving animals to excess but being totally oblivious to their needs and safety. I suspect that, despite being Elmer's counterpart, she was somewhat inspired by the Abominable Snowman who almost hugged and squeezed and loved Bugs and Daffy to death in The Abominable Snow Rabbit -- and he, of course, was based on Lon Chaney Jr.'s Lenny in Of Mice and Men, a mentally disabled strongman who just wanted to hold and pet soft animals (and women) but didn't know his own strength and thus killed them. (That's why the Abominable Snowman -- and other WB cartoon characters that had the same voice and persona -- referred to everyone as "George" -- because that was Lenny's friend in the novel, played by Burgess Meredith in the movie.)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

...like the one where they suddenly, randomly have a third character named Larry hanging out with them and the whole cartoon pointedly underlines how totally useless and intrusive a third character is to the format.

I absolutely love the "Pinky and the Brain... and Larry!" sketch. It's dumb and over-the-top.

However, that episode predates Pinky Elmyra, & the Brain by a year. It was a criticism of Kids WB, though; the network did want more cast members, the producers were resistant, so so they did a send up to show why it wouldn't work. Larry, by the way, was voiced by Billy West, using his Stimpy voice.

 

[Christopher]

Larry, by the way, was voiced by Billy West, using his Stimpy voice.

Rather, he was voiced by Billy West doing an imitation of Larry Fine from The Three Stooges, because that's who the cartoon Larry was obviously based on (note the curly hair and the fact that he's the "also-ran" in a group of three). West became known in the '90s for his Larry Fine impression as a Howard Stern Show cast member, and West has said that he based his Stimpy voice on an "amped-up" Larry Fine.