Zany to the Max

The thing with most 90's cartoons (or really most cartoons… actually, any kid show in history, cartoon or not) is that you have to have grown up with them to appreciate them because let's be honest, most of them are pretty stupid. For example: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cat-Dog, Sailor Moon, Ed Edd and Eddy, Pokemon, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Wild Thornberries, and so on. The animation is cheap, the stories are lame (borderline ridiculous), the voice-acting is terrible, I mean it's all just silly. But as a kid, we ate it all up and loved every minute of it. Then as an adult, that nostalgic feeling takes over as we revisit those shows and we still love it. It's exactly the same as it was 20 years ago with the bad effects, cheesy music, and so on, but the child inside emerges as we revisit the joy of our childhood.

The one cartoon show I can think of that I can still laugh out loud at now (and not just out of nostalgia) is Looney Tunes. And it's not even a 90's show! Well, I mean Looney Tunes has been going on for years and is still going on today. But I'm talking about the original wise-cracking, slapstick, Mel Blanc stuff. They were like cartoons geared mainly towards adults. With the smart humor, wit, and occasional pop culture references, but then kids could also enjoy the slapstick of it if nothing else (which I mostly did, at least when I was really young).

So this brings me to the point of my whole post… Animaniacs. When I was a kid, I remember seeing this show around, but I didn't really watch it. Sometimes I saw it at other people's houses, hotel rooms, etc., and occasionally I would watch it if I ever flipped the channel over to Cartoon Network or something other than the like two channels I ever watched. But I was not an avid viewer of it. The point is I was aware of its existence and I had seen it, but not enough to consider it a "childhood TV show".

Recently, however, I've gradually started seeing it around once again. I can't recall exactly when or how it started. Well, internet obviously, but other than that. I just know that at first it was only pictures and stuff, then it was clips on YouTube, then eventually I started actually watching some episodes… Remember I said that the thing with 90's cartoons was that you kind of had to grow up with them in order to appreciate them? Well this show is the exception! I fell in love with it!

It's set up sort of like a variety show with a bunch of different characters and their cartoons. There'll be like two or three different cartoons per episode, usually with a small segment in between (a song, a poem, an introduction the the next cartoon, etc). But it mainly follows the Warner brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and their sister, Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca III, but you can call her Dot (but call her Dottie and you die). They're three cartoon characters who were created in the thirties, but they proved to be too zany so they were locked away in the water tower on the Warner movie lot… until they escaped.

I love the show because it manages to stay true to the old cartoon spirit that Looney Tunes had. It reminds me a lot of the tone the old Daffy Duck cartoons set, like the really old ones. You know where he just crazily slides away over the water laughing "hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" like a complete nutcase.

The thing with Animaniacs is that it's a kids' show with some adult humor instead of the other way around. This is the first time in forever that someone has tried to make a cartoon for kids AND adults and succeed (at least in my opinion). This was back before the censors went all crazy on kid shows like "oh no you can't show the main character dropping an anvil on the antagonist's head! That might give kids the wrong idea! They might go out and start dropping anvils on people's heads!", or "no! You can't show the character being grumpy! That might encourage kids to be grumpy!", or "this needs to have a blatantly obvious moral that needs to be shoved down the kids's throats!", stuff like that. This is why old kids shows are so much better than they are now. I think people underestimate kids' intelligence. When I was a kid watching toons whacking others with a mallet, blowing them up with dynamite, dropping pianos on their heads, etc., my first thought wasn't to go do that to someone else when I was provoked (another reason I love this show, it makes fun of the censors a lot). Anyways, I digress…

There's a lot of pop culture references, spoofs, and so on that I KNOW kids won't catch onto, which is why it is funny to adults as well, but kids can easily be entertained by the slapstick, the funny voices, and overall wackiness of it.

(Left to Right) Yakko, Wakko, and Dot

I mostly only watch it for the Warner siblings, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. They're a great trio. Yakko's like the fast talking smart-alec (he kind of reminds me of Groucho Marx), the one who confronts the "special friend" (as they refer to the antagonist) and confuses them with many words, jokes, etc. He also breaks the fourth wall a lot by talking to (and waggling his eyebrows at) the audience. Then Wakko… how do I explain him? He eats everything. Like literally. He also has a gag bag that he carries around with him that he will pull out basically anything to fit a situation even if it defies physics (like a Mary Poppins bag, but more extreme). He's also the center of the most crude jokes (burping, butt jokes, etc.). And then Dot is the cute one. She uses her cuteness and apparent innocence to manipulate and torment those around her.

"Gee, Brain. What're we gonna do tonight." "Same thing we
do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!"

I'm not a huge fan of any of the other characters. Well, Pinky and the Brain are great, but they got their own spin-off show, so I can just go watch that some other time. Slappy the Squirrel was kind of funny sometimes, but she did kind of grate after a while. Then everything else was just waring or flat out annoying. I despised the Goodfeathers. So annoying. And whatever that stupid chicken's name was who pretended to be a person… Chicken Boo! Argh! Stupidest idea ever and it was just the same exact thing over and over and over again. Also he was way too realistic looking, like not cartoony at all. He was the worst. And then Mindy and poor Buttons. Seriously, constant physical abuse is only funny if the character has it coming. Buttons was not only innocent, but tried so hard to protect stupid Mindy and then was PUNISHED for all his hard work! And Rita was OK, but not Runt. Just SHUT UP already!

Now those are just the major characters I have a problem with (which I guess is a major problem), but they're easy to skip, unless you're watching on TV. I love all the minor characters though, like the mime, Skull-head, Dr. Scratchansniff, Hello Nurse, Pip, the CEO what's-his-name?… Mr. Plotz!, and so on.

It's very quick, witty writing, fun, crazy, with lots of slapstick and pop culture. But then they also put in an effort to educate. There are many songs and segments dedicated to teaching different subjects (like long multiplication, US presidents, states and capitals, etc.), kind of a School House Rock style. The most famous being 'Yakko's World (The Nations of the World)', where Yakko names all of the countries in the world in under two minutes. Many people have tried memorizing this song and many have failed. I'm trying my hand at it, and let me tell you, it is definitely a challenge.

Anyways, this turned out longer than I expected, but what can you do? I think it's a cute, fun show. (And it's produced by Steven Spielberg.) Anyway, it's great! Two thumbs up!

Yakko's World (Nations of the World)

This is a short example the humor of a typical episode (from one of my favorites, "King Yakko" where Yakko is made king of the small kingdom of Anvilania. It kind of pays homage to the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup"). I mean seriously, I cannot stop laughing at it! Just joke after joke after joke. You have to watch it a couple times to catch them all. "This is the uniform of a great man!" "Does he know you're wearing it?"XDD

Here's one of the cartoons. It gets cut off right at the end… But after watching it, I'm sure you can guess what's inside the box XD (I really wanted to put up one of my favorites, "Chairman of the Bored", which has the siblings facing an unbelievably boring character named Pip. Ben Stein talks through almost the entire cartoon. But I couldn't find it! *tear*)