Animaniacs (1993 TV Series)

***Animaniacs*** is a cartoon that aired from 1993 to 1995 on Fox Kids and later on Kids' WB! from 1995 to 1998. A revival has aired on Hulu since November 20, 2020, with the same voice cast.

## Plot

The series focused on the Warner Brothers and Warner Sister, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, three cartoon siblings were very crazy and caused mayhem on the Warner movie lot in the 1930s until they were captured. Their films, which made absolutely no sense, were locked in a studio vault never to be released while the siblings were locked in the water tower also never be released. It then cuts to the 90s when the siblings escaped. Free of the water tower, the crazy family goes on various adventures in the studio lot, around the world and even through time.

The show features various other segments focusing on other characters, like Pinky and the Brain, the Goodfeathers, Slappy Squirrel, Rita and Runt, Buttons and Mindy, Minerva Mink, Chicken Boo, the Hip Hippos and Katie Kaboom.

## Why It Rocks

1. Memorable soundtrack, especially the catchy theme song.
2. Great voice acting, with veteran actors such as Rob Paulsen as Yakko and Pinky, Jess Harnell as Wakko and Walter Wolf, Tress MacNeille as Dot, and Maurice LaMarche as Brain being standouts.
3. Very well written humor, with clever running gags such as the guard chasing the Warners always failing to capture them, so the Warners do it themselves.
4. Hidden adult jokes that kids wouldn't find out about until adulthood. Whenever one of these jokes occurred, Yakko would shout out, "Good night, everybody!"
5. Numerous pop culture references for the time that are fun to point out and aren't shoved down your throat, such as *The Godfather*, despite the characters of the Goodfeathers, is an trio of Italian American pidgeons.
6. Very good character designs, especially for Brain, Squit, Slappy, and the Warners themselves.
7. Good and colorful animation and backgrounds since it was done by TMS, Wang, Akom and/or Startoons.
8. It often makes fun of history in often hilarious ways, including the Medieval Times.
9. It has parodied several celebrities, including Jerry Lewis, and the widely mocked Barney the Dinosaur, that even the Warners are afraid of.
10. As stated in the plot, there are numerous segments, which offered a very wide range of likable characters, each of which has so many great things going for them, some of them include Pinky and the Brain, The Good Feathers, Rita and Runt, Buttons and Mindy, Slappy and Skippy Squirrel, and especially the Warner Trio.
11. Memorable characters.
12. Several catchy and great musical numbers, such as "Yakko's World", "The Anvil Song" and "Wakko's America".
13. It's a great throwback to the Golden Age of Animation such as the works of Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Max and Dave Fleischer, and Tex Avery.
14. Due to its smash hit success, it spawned other standalone shows, such as *Freakazoid!* (a parody of superhero shows at the time such as *Batman: TAS*), and *Pinky and the Brain*, which was incredibly popular.
	* All of the characters appears as guest stars in the *Pinky and the Brain* series finale *Star Warners*, as well some characters of *Freakazoid!* that appearing in cameo.
	* In *Freakazoid!*, Wakko, Pinky, Brain and the Mime appear in some episodes.
	* The character Freakazoid from the animated series of the same name appears in a cameo in the episode *This Pun for Hire*.
15. Lots of funny gags, slapstick comedies and interesting episodes with various memorable characters like the Warner Trio, Pinky and the Brain, The Good Feathers and Slappy and Skippy Squirrel.
16. There are various characters from *Looney Tunes* and *Tiny Toon Adventures* that appear as guest stars or cameos in the series.
17. Some characters, such as Pinky and the Brain and The Good Feathers, are considered the most loved by fans.
18. Funny misfortune gags focusing The Mime and Mr. Skullhead.
19. The revival can be just as good as the original, with clean animation and catchy songs.

## Bad Qualities

1. Overuse of innuendos and sex jokes (albeit cleverly hidden), despite it being a kids' show (especially the "fingerprints" joke).
2. Some of the humor and pop culture references haven't quite aged well.
	* There are also some toilet humor here and there, especially for the "Potty Emergency" scene.
3. Mr. Plotz is a very unlikable character, mainly due to his mean-spirited nature to the Warners.
	* Some other characters can also be unlikable, such as Flavio and Marita, Minerva Mink, and especially Katie Ka-Boom.
	* While most of the Warners' humiliation towards antagonists are usually justified, they some times attack other characters even at the slightest provocation or if they didn’t do anything to the Warners.
4. While the animation was decent, only a few studios provided consistent animation.
	* The worst of these animators has to be the Freelance animators, as they constantly go off-model.
	* Akom has also done pretty ugly animation most of the time due to how stiff the animation is. They were fired in the final season due to this.
	* While Wang Film Production's animation for the show may be passable most of the time, the way they draw the Warners can be a little flatulent and awkward at times (mostly in the Kids' WB episodes, where their animation quality was starting to slip), and it looks like that they gave the Warners wrinkles and eyebrows.
	* While TMS Entertainment usually provided solid animation, they made a few mistakes in episodes like "H.M.S. Yakko" and "Roll Over, Beethoven", which were far more off-model than their usual work.
5. A lot like Chuck Jones' directed cartoons from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, some scenes just come to a halt and there are just characters making expressions.

## Reception

The popularity of *Animaniacs* along with *Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and Batman: The Animated Series* helped make Fox Kids a well-known name for kids in the era of 90s Saturday Morning programming, as the opening scene from the 2020 revival ended up being viral as some of them uploaded to YouTube as a remix and the first part and the last part of the theme "It's time for..." and "We're Animany, totally Insaney." ended up became an internet meme.