Back in Style

Back in Style is a segment from Animaniacs. It first aired September 8, 1997.
== Plot ==
When Termite Terrace the original Warner Bros. Animation studio originally closed in 1962, the stars of Looney Tunes are ordered to leave the cartoon studio.  Bugs Bunny tells Daffy Duck that there‘s a flavored drink commercial waiting for them in Hollywood.  A caricature of Friz Freleng walks out of the studio and erases a Bugs Bunny drawing to create a Pink Panther knockoff, whom has Bugs Bunny’s body, a wolf head and a feline tail, and is colored lavender. Friz gloats in a Yosemite Sam-esque voice to a Chuck Jones caricature on how he's got a new idea entitled The Gray Panther, and takes off, to which the real Yosemite Sam comes out of the studio and comments of how he loves the way Friz talks. Treg Green says it’s grim that 29 years they were there turning the great poop but now the bunch of them have been tossed around the heap. Now that the animation department is no more, the Warner siblings are permanently sealed into the Warner studio tower. But then the Warner Bros. studio is being desperate for cash since their biggest budget live action film yet is a disaster (starring Chicken Boo as Youngblood Squawk).  So Thaddeus Plotz loans out the Warner siblings to two cartoon producers Phil and Schmoe, obvious parodies of Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, working in the field of limited television animation. The first instance of Yakko, Wakko and Dot appearing in one of these "Hanna-Barbera" shows is in a Yogi Bear expy, Calhoun Capybara and his sidekick Lew-Lew a Boo Boo parody. Similar to Yogi Bear swiping picnic baskets, Calhoun likes to take lunchboxes, especially from schoolyards. The Warner siblings are not amused by this, and they are animated in their fuller style, which makes for a fun contrast with the limited H-B -esque animation of Calhoun Capybara. They manage to make the best of him, like they do with most people they come across.
Up next is a Scooby-Doo parody: "Uhuru, Where Are You?" The parodies of Fred, Velma/Daphne (named Phoebe) and Shaggy (named Bristly) are investigating a haunted house. Bristly says "Zink!" when startled or scared (obviously parodying Shaggy's "Zoinks”), and a Shaggy imitation for Bristly. Here they're all calling "Uhuru, where are you?” The Warners harrassing the titular dog, Uhuru. Unlike Scooby-Doo, he doesn't talk here; he just howls, but it still sounds a lot like Scooby's voice. After the Warners and Uhuru end up colliding with the human "Mystery Inc. gang"... Yakko begins to strum on an electric guitar and breaking the strings. This leads to a parody of those silly bubblegum pop songs that accompanied the chase sequences in the second-season "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" episodes. After that, Phil and Schmoe get rid of the Warner siblings for the chaos they caused. And once again, Warner Bros. is in need of money... Plotz checks "Variety" for the ratings for Saturday morning TV shows of the era. With the exception of "Riddsville," which parodies the live-action Krofft series "Lidsville," and "Thunderdog," which is a parody of Total Television's "Underdog“. Along with the other titles parody Hanna-Barbera shows; in order, they're spoofing “The Perils of Penelope Pitstop," "Hong Kong Phooey," "Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch!" and "The Funky Phantom. 
So he sends the Warner siblings to guest-star on "Thunderdog!". It's basically pretty much a full-blown "Underdog" parody, complete with the villain Simon San Simeon (parodying "Underdog" parody Simon Bar Sinister) and Sweet Polly Dognose (a parody of Sweet Polly Purebred). But of course, the Warners screw everything up. And then it's off to Phlegmation for them! Obviously, Phlegmation is a parody of Filmation, a cartoon studio that was known for producing cartoons even cheaper than Hanna-Barbera did! This Phlegmation employee explains how they never did cartoons like the Warner siblings usually did. "At Phlegmation, they had rules! Everything had to happen off stage. They heard, 'Oh boy, a comet just fell on his head!' But they never saw the comet!" The Warner brothers and sister get placed in a parody of one of Filmation's hottest properties, "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids”. Here they get Obese Orson. Except for the Warners, the animation now gets REALLY limited and choppy, and it's so funny! And here's the rest of the "junkyard gang," including Todd A.O, and Hooknose Harold, their parody of Weird Harold. He's fond of sucking on his nose. They also get a parody of the Beatles' animated cartoon show. The Warner siblings join in the "Day Tripper" parody, wearing blond mop-top wigs!
But then the Warner studio is rich again, which meant Plotz hasn't told the Warners, but when they hear of the news in the Beatles cartoon parody, they ditch it go back to the WB water tower and kick out Chicken Boo, whom had been living there and said they wouldn’t come out until they had their own network.
== Notes ==
* It's about a year off; the studio actually closed in 1963.
* Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Yosemite Sam appear in the beginning being out of jobs. 
 
Category:Animaniacs
Category:Animaniacs Shorts
Category:1997