Release date: November 5, 2021
Opening line: "Baby Brain-y!"
80's Cats: The Warners take on a retro look.
All About The Benjamin: The Warners work as Benjamin Franklin’s apprentices.
23 and WB: The Warners take a DNA test, only to find out they’re related to the CEO.
General Trivia:
- This is the first episode in the Animaniacs reboot to end on a cliffhanger.
- The original Animaniacs episode "Hooray For North Hollywood (Part 1)" and the first two parts of the Pinky and the Brain three-parter "Brainwashed" also ended on cliffhangers.
General Tropes:
Tropes found in "80's Cats":
- Cartoon Creature: Double Subverted in that this segment refers to them as cats and their spotlight symbol looks like a silhouette of the Warner's heads with cat ears (and wearing Kamina's shades), but that this is not a confirmation of them being cats.
- Shout-Out: The entire thing is a heavy nod to a number of 80's-based franchises... and some a little further ahead.
- The Warners are all based off of the heroes of Thundercats 1985 with Yakko as Lion-O, Wakko as a fusion of Panthro and Snarf and Dot as a fusion of Tygra and Cheetara.
- The signal that lights up is a picture of Yakko donning Kamina's shades, resembling the Gurren-Dan logo. Also counts as a Call-Back to last season's "Bun Control".
- Ralph resembles an odd fusion of Voltron and Mazinger Z.
- The Warners combining their weapons is a nod towards Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, though not to the extent the Warners did.
Tropes found in "All About the Benjamin":
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Unlike most depictions in which he's usually a Nice Guy, here, Benjamin Franklin is an unpleasant, stuck-up, short-tempered, credit-hogging jerk.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Franklin puts on a Sia wig while playing the violin.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: To the song "All About the Benjamins".
- Rewriting Reality: The Warners are able to manipulate the weather by altering Franklin's farmers' almanac. Franklin decides to stop it by burning the almanac but he ends up burned as a result.
- Stealing the Credit: Franklin steals the ideas for the Franklin stove, bifocals, and "Haste makes waste" from the Warners.
- Take That!: The Warners got rejected by the blacksmith, silversmith, and locksmith. However, they rejected the Sam Smith.
- Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: The Warners argue with Franklin about claſſified vs. classified.
Tropes found in "23 and WB":
- Cliffhanger: A surprise first for the "Animaniacs (2020)" series. It ends with Ralph, who's been chasing Yakko, Wakko, and Dot all these years, becoming CEO of Warner Bros, leaving them feeling troubled about the sudden turning point in their already intense life. Also lampshaded by Dot and Yakko.Dot: So Ralph runs Warner Brothers now? What a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger!Yakko: [to the fourth wall] How will we get out of this sticky wicket?
- Existential Horror: Downplayed. Dot states that the problem of dealing with Ralph being the new CEO of Warner Brothers is a problem for the next season, only to realize that she has no idea if there will be another season. Yakko then states that they'll just wait there until they make new episodes and Wakko wonders if they will dream during the wait.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Flora Norita is based on Mexican telephone magnate Carlos Slim
. - Shout-Out: The Warners are ready for the competition to be a chocolate factory tour or just The Hunger Games.
- It does turn out to be the chocolate factory one: the household staff sings like the Oompa Loompas.
- Special Edition Title: Somehow, with the series just being zany all the way, downplayed. The closing theme for "Animaniacs" plays with your typical timelapse sequence as if nothing happened.
- Spit Take: Yakko grabs a cup of coffee so he can deliver one.
- Take That!:Flora: I watch a lot of Tucker Carlson, so I am very gullible.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Ralph, usually a Chew Toy antagonist, gets a rare happy ending here as he's discovered to be Flora Norita's long-lost nephew and is made the new CEO of Warner Brothers. Though his movie ideas are terrible, Nora predicts his leading style will bankrupt the studio and the Warners are surprised that the season ends on a cliffhanger, it is one of the few times we get to see Ralph unambiguously happy.
- Wham Episode: Ralph turns out to be related to Nora Rita Norita and becomes the CEO of Warner Brothers. The siblings ponder this new change in the status quo while wondering if there will be a season 3.
