Line #17 Recap/AnimaniacsEpisode5


1	[[quoteright:488:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2024_05_13_85834_pm.png]]
2
3	'''Airdate:''' November 5th, 1993
4
5	Opening line: "The rain in Spain-y"- Dot
6
7	The Warners have been invited to a party—but first, Dr. Scratchansniff must teach them good manners.
8
9	!!Taming of the Screwy contains examples of:
10	* AmbiguousSyntax:
11	-->'''Yakko and Wakko:''' We’re the Warner brothers!
12	-->'''Michelle Pfeiffer:''' Like the studio?
13	-->'''Yakko:''' Not very much, but we don’t have a choice.
14	* BilingualBonus: During Yakko's short conversation with the Japanese executive, he makes a subtle joke in Japanese about how crowded Tokyo is.
15	* BrickJoke: When Scratchy says there's bad news, Yakko guesses that Bea Arthur is putting out a swimsuit calendar. Later at the party, Arthur tells Danny [=DeVito=], "I'm putting out a swimsuit calendar."
16	* TheCameo:
17	** Slappy, Rita and Runt appear at the party.
18	** Mr. Director also briefly appears as one of the forms of Dot's pet, and reuses some audio from "Hello, Nice Warners" ("Oh, monster!").
19	* CartoonCreature: No one knowing what the Warners actually are is lampshaded by Plotz and Scratchansniff in this episode:
20	-->'''Plotz:''' I can’t have those…those…what are they?
21	-->'''Scratchansniff:''' I don’t know.
22	** This is revisited later when Plotz calls the Warners “you…you…whatever-you-ares!”
23	* CirclingBirdies: Stars spin around Wakko’s head when a punching bag falls on him when he and Yakko are training for the party.
24	* CoveredInKisses: Dot covers Scratchansniff’s face in kisses and asks if he’s married when Yakko says he may have [[GoldDigger won ten million dollars]].
25	* CuckooFingerTwirl: As the episode ends with Plotz chasing after the Warners to get his check from them, Scratchansniff turns to the camera and makes this gesture.
26	* DigitalDestruction: There is a lot of dust on this episode. It is especially noticeable in the below-mentioned {{Rimshot}}.
27	* EarlyBirdCameo: During the long pan down the hallway to Plotz's office, one of the co-workers can be heard saying, "He was a chicken, I tell you. A giant chicken.", which would become one of the catchphrases heard in the "Chicken Boo" segments.
28	* FoodShoveGag: When Plotz and Scratchansniff are chasing the Warners, they accidentally send food flying everywhere. Steve Urkel asks if anyone's got any cheese right before a large block of it gets shoved in his mouth. He then grins and gives the audience a thumbs-up.
29	* FormalFullArrayOfCutlery: Parodied. Scratchansniff recites a long list of all the obscure cutlery the Warners will encounter at the gala dinner.
30	* FrenchMaidOutfit: Hello Nurse wears the stereotypical french maid outfit when teaching the Warner siblings table manners. There really wasn't a reason other than RuleOfSexy.
31	* HammerspaceHideaway: At one point, Dot shows Dr. Scratchansniff her pet which is a giant {{Oculothorax}} with claws that jumps out of a tiny little box.
32	** It’s seen again later at the party but this time as Mr. Director, which is so scary that it scares a [[Franchise/{{Alien}} Xenomorph]] away.
33	* HighDiveHijinks: Scratchansniff says it’s time to “plunge” into the next topic and then the Warners are shown jumping off a tall diving board into a kiddie pool, the splash from which provides the [[IdiosyncraticWipes Idiosyncratic Wipe]] for the next scene.
34	* HighPressureEmotion: Mr. Plotz’s face turns red and steam comes out of his ears when the Warners get his one billion dollar check.
35	* JabbaTableManners: Unsurprisingly, the Warners eat like a bunch of animals.
36	* LampshadedDoubleEntendre: When Scratchansniff tells them to stop playing with his bust, Yakko makes an AsideGlance, blows a kiss, and says “Good night, everybody!”
37	* LiteralMetaphor: While playing poker, Wakko says he has a full house and shows his cards which, when put together, make up a picture of an actual house.
38	* LiteralMinded:
39	-->'''Plotz:''' One billion dollars! Do you know what that means?
40	-->'''Scratchansniff:''' Ja, that’s a one lots und lots of zeros after it.
41	* LiterallyShatteredLives: Played for laughs. Yakko tells Hello Nurse to take him away, but to be gentle because he’s fragile, and then shatters into pieces.
42	* LookBehindYou: Yakko distracts the musicians at the party by pointing and saying “Hey, is that Music/BarryManilow?” in order for him and his siblings to take their spots to hide from Plotz and Scratchansniff.
43	* MissXPun: This joke:
44	-->'''Dr. Scratchansniff:''' You're misinterpreting!\
45	'''Yakko:''' ''[with a beauty pageant model]'' No, ''this'' is Miss Interpreting!\
46	'''Wakko:''' ''[also with a model]'' This is Miss Understanding!\
47	'''Dot:''' And I'm Miss Terious.
48	* MoneyFetish: Plotz starts drooling when he tells Dr. Scratchansniff that they could be getting one billion dollars if they impress their investors.
49	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: We hope you like caricatures of celebrities, because this episode has quite a few of them. Among the celebrities that appear are:
50	** Creator/RobertPatrick (in-character as [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay the T-1000]])
51	** Creator/GeenaDavis and Creator/SusanSarandon (in-character as Film/ThelmaAndLouise)
52	-->"Finally, we landed!"
53	** Creator/SpikeLee
54	** Creator/AnnetteBening
55	** Creator/BeaArthur
56	** Creator/MichaelKeaton, Creator/DannyDeVito, and Creator/MichellePfeiffer (in-character as [[Film/BatmanReturns Batman, the Penguin, and Catwoman]], respectively)
57	** Creator/MikeMyers and Creator/DanaCarvey (in-character as [[Film/WaynesWorld Wayne and Garth]])
58	** Creator/WhoopiGoldberg
59	** Creator/BillyCrystal (in-character as [[Film/CitySlickers Mitch Robbins]])
60	** Creator/MelGibson
61	** Creator/DannyGlover
62	** Creator/JoePesci
63	** Creator/SigourneyWeaver (in-character as [[Film/Alien3 Ellen Ripley]])
64	** Creator/JackPalance
65	-->'''Palance''': Hey, Slappy, ever see one of these? ''(does a one-armed pushup)''
66	-->'''Slappy''': Save it for the Jack [=LaLanne=] story, ''[[YiddishAsASecondLanguage bubbele]]''.
67	** Creator/LukePerry
68	-->'''Slappy''': Y'know, [[YouRemindMeOfX you remind me of a very mature]] WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest.
69	** Creator/{{Gallagher}}
70	** Music/{{Madonna}}
71	-->"C'mon, you guys. It's time to play truth or dare."
72	** Creator/JaleelWhite (in-character as [[Series/FamilyMatters Steve Urkel]])
73	-->"Anybody got any cheese?"
74	* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: Dr. Scratchansniff asks the Warners if they know why they’re here, meaning in his office. However, Yakko then starts trying to explain the meaning of life, as in why they’re here on this earth.
75	* PieInTheFace: When the Warners start [[FoodFight throwing food]] at the party, Plotz and Scratchansniff both get hit in the face with pies.
76	* {{Rimshot}}: When Scratchansniff asks the Warners how they avoid bad elocution, Yakko replies, "Stay inside during a thunderstorm", followed by a rimshot from Wakko. This footage of Wakko doing the rimshot would be reused in a lot of shorts.
77	* RuleOfSexy: Pretty much the only explanation as to why Hello Nurse dresses as a French maid to serve the Warners' food.
78	* SelfFulfillingProphecy: Despite Scratchensniff successfully training the Warners to behave, the moment they have finished talking to his clients, Mr. Plotz kicks them out of the banquet regardless, because he doesn't trust them ''not'' to screw things up for any longer than that brief amount of time. Snubbed and insulted, the Warners return to the banquet and ruin it in their usual KarmicTrickster fashion. In a nutshell, if Mr. Plotz had just let them stay since they were behaving, the entire thing would have gone off without a hitch.
79	* ShoutOut:
80	** The title is a mangled version of ''Theatre/TheTamingOfTheShrew''.
81	** The plot itself, however, owes a lot to ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}'' and ''Film/MyFairLady''. Dot lampshades this in the [[CouchGag variable verse]] in the theme song:
82	---> '''Dot:''' ''[dressed as Eliza Doolittle]'' The rain in Spain-ey!
83	** At one point, Dr. Scratchensniff says he has a headache "THIS BIG", holding his hands far apart. This is a reference to an old Excedrin commercial from the mid-1980s.
84	** Creator/RobertPatrick enters the party in a policeman's uniform, until Ralph tells him it's a Black Tie affair. At which point he liquid-metal-shifts into a tux, as a reference to ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''.
85	** Creator/SusanSarandon and Creator/GeenaDavis landing at the red carpet in a falling car is a reference to ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise''.
86	** Creator/MichellePfeiffer in her Catwoman costume from ''Film/BatmanReturns''. Yakko tells her there's something(or rather, some [[Film/TheAddamsFamily Thing]]) in her milk saucer. Creator/MichaelKeaton also appears in full Bat-costume and Creator/DannyDeVito in his Penguin costume, eating whole raw fish, which he [[SpitTake spits out in disgust]] when Creator/BeaArthur says she's putting out a swimsuit catalogue.
87	** Creator/DannyGlover complaining that he's [[Film/LethalWeapon "Too old for this [shit]"]] at Creator/MelGibson's antics.
88	** Creator/SpikeLee begging [[Film/ShesGottaHaveIt "Please, baby!"]]—to an actual baby.
89	** When they meet Michelle Pfeiffer in her Catwoman costume, they say “[[Franchise/HelloKitty Hellooooo, Kitty]]!”
90	** Creator/JackPalance doing a one-arm push-up is a reference to when he did it while accepting his Oscar for his role in ''Film/CitySlickers''.
91	** When the dance floor abruptly fills, the force of all the newcomers sends [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle and the Beast]] flying.
92	* SpoofAesop: Yakko says there's a lesson to be learned from this. He doesn't know what it is, but it is apparently worth one billion dollars.
93	* SupermodelStrut: When Hello Nurse is walking up to the Warner's table dressed in a French Maid Outfit, she does so strutting with an exaggerated sway to her hips.
94	* ThreeStoogesShoutOut: When Yakko sees [[Film/Alien3 Sigourney Weaver with her shaved head]], he asks, “Couldn’t Moe and Larry make it?”
95	* TheTriple: In "The Taming of the Screwy" when the Warner Siblings are excited about getting to meet famous actors:
96	-->'''Yakko:''' Creator/MichellePfeiffer! \
97	'''Dot:''' Creator/MelGibson!\
98	'''Wakko:''' Creator/DonKnotts!
99	* VisualPun: Wakko tells Michelle Pfeiffer that there’s “a thing” in her milk, then Thing from ''Franchise/TheAddamsFamily'' comes crawling out of it.
100	* WellThisIsNotThatTrope: When Mr. Plotz won't let the Warners stay...
101	-->'''Yakko:''' Well, I know when we're not wanted. I know when we should just—''go home''! ''[{{Beat}}]'' ''Now''... is not one of those times.\
102	''[They climb back down.]''
103	* WheelOFeet: Seen from both Plotz and the Warners when the former is chasing the latter through the studio.
104	* WingdingEyes: Yakko and Wakko’s eyes turn into hearts when they see Hello Nurse in her French maid outfit.
105	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Mr Plotz only invites the Warners because foreign investors want to meet all of the workers at the Warner Bros. studio. The moment they have finished their hellos and impressed the potential clients, Mr. Plotz kicks the Warners out of the banquet, not wanting to deal with them a moment longer than he has to.
106	----

Context Recap / AnimaniacsEpisode5