History WesternAnimation / PinkyandtheBrain

An AnimatedSeries about a super-intelligent, genetically-altered lab mouse who enlists his halfwit roommate (read: the other mouse in his cage) into his endless quest to TakeOverTheWorld. Each episode saw The Brain devise an elaborate, improbable scheme for world domination, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption only be foiled in the end]] due to some unforeseeable twist of fate, Pinky's bumbling or occasionally his own blundering arrogance. On one or two occasions he actually succeeded in taking over the world, but with some kind of unacceptable side-effect that sent him back to the drawing board. By contrast, many episodes had his schemes barely even getting off the ground, and the story centered around his attempts just to get the first step going.

** Creator/GarryMarrshal played TheDevil in the HalloweenEpisode.

'''Brain''': "The same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to TakeOverTheWorld!"

* MalevolentMice: The Brain is an evil little rodent with a genetically-enhanced brain who plots schemes for WorldDomination on a regular basis.

* MayTheFarceBeWithYou: The final episode of the show was a ''Franchise/StarWars'' parody featuring the cast of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', the show that it spun off from.

-->'''Pinklett''': Um, when does this scene start to animate, Brainie?
-->'''Brainie''': It already has, Pinklett.

* ItMakesSenseInContext: In the episode from Pinky's POV, we see the train of thought that leads to one of his "pondering" non-sequiturs. So when he asked about fitting the Hippo into a thong, he actually was picturing that in his head.

* BorrowingTheBeatles: In "All You Need is Narf", Pinky's SimpleMindedWisdom has him confused for a guru when he and Brain are in India to collect sandalwood. They become especially popular with The Feebles, a Beatles {{Expy}} that Pinky happens to be a fan of. When they begin to get in the way of the plan by booking a 6-month sit-in, Brain meets the tone-deaf singer Yoko Nono and pairs her with Jim Lemon, the John Lennon stand-in, leading to the band's break-up.

* RealityEnsues: Brain's plan to steal all the gold from Fort Knox failed because a pair of mice just aren't strong enough to lift a heavy gold ingot. It was one of the few episodes when neither Pinky nor Brain did anything especially self-defeating.

* AnimalTesting: Pinky and the Brain are themselves a product of testing and research, and act with levels of freedom ranging from 'escaping every night' to 'practically running the labs'. AnimalTesting here is more of the back story; it can become a rare plot device, an artifact of the backstory, or what they're doing in the story itself. They also end up encountering an AnimalWrongsGroup and vainly try to tell them that they're genuine lab mice--as in not able to survive in the wilderness. Notably, at least one of the animals to have had their intelligence increased (a cat) expresses bitterness at having her old life taken away. Pinky, the Brain and Snowball, however, seem fine with it.

* ThemeTuneCameo: At the end of "Mice Don't Dance", after their usual "What're we gonna do tomorrow night?" exchange, Pinky plays the ending theme on his comb, but the Brain interrupts before the last note, asking for the comb and breaking it apart.

** The Brain's voice and many of his mannerisms were inspired by Creator/OrsonWelles. One of his aliases is "Harold Foster Brain", a ''Film/CitizenKane'' ShoutOut. Also, in the episode "What Ever Happened to Baby Brain", which is set in the past, The Brain (voiced by Creator/MauriceLaMarche) and Orson Welles (voiced by Creator/JimCummings) meet; they have exactly the same voice, and happen to simultaneously declare "Things will be different when I take over the world!" before introducing themselves to each other: "Welles, Orson". "Brain, The."\\\
The similarity is further played with in "[[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3298687852098553750 Yes, Always]]", which recreates, almost word for word, the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_Peas Frozen Peas]] audio clip with the Brain in the role of Orson Welles.
*** Averted at one point, during a ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' spoof with Christopher Walken as Christopher Robin.

* ChainedToARailway: Parodied in "Cinebrainia", where Brain's first attempt at filmmaking had Pinky play a villain tying a doll to railroad tracks.

* FunnyForeigner: Mr. Sultana Sultana is very eccentric and speaks with an accent.

* AnimalWrongsGroup: In "Welcome to the Jungle", a group of them "liberate" the duo and return them to their "natural habitat", the jungle, by throwing them out of a plane, [[CriticalResearchFailure because mice can fly]].

* VileVillainLaughableLackey: While neither one is very threatening physically (what with being lab mice and all), the Brain, with his serious demeanor and great intellect, is far more of a threat than the spastic, dimwitted Pinky, [[MinionWithAnFInEvil who isn't even aware that he's a villain]].

Alas, due to ExecutiveMeddling, the show was eventually [[ReTool turned into]] ''WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain'' -- curiously premiering when several episodes of the original still had yet to air and thus briefly airing concurrently. See that page for more information.

** "I have made you use the freeze-frame button on your VCR."

The duo returned in 2020 as part of Creator/{{Hulu}}'s ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs|2020}}'' revival series.