Animaniacs

Or she simply retires

You might be onto something there.

Someone recorded a Halloween commercial from Hulu.

Considering the things that terrify them I can only imagine what Pennywise will become.

Wakko is already terrified of clowns, it's just that terror throws him into violent frenzies. If the writers remember that, Pennywise's... probably better off not showing himself to him that way...

So they're visiting Hell again? Uh, wonder if they'll reference last time they were there.

Is that director supposed to be someone's parody? He kinda looks familiar for some reason, but can't put a name on him.

He looks vaguely like Jerry Lewis who was the basis of Mr. Director in the original series. However, the designs are very different so I dunno.

The film they're doing is probably based on Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein with the Marx Brothers swapped in.

I stumbled upon this long-abandoned Tumblr that tried to list in detail each and every reference made in the show. There's a huge amount of stuff and most of it will flew above most people's heads (in part because they were decades-old things no kid could ever recognize). I wonder if they will keep this style in the new show and how will it blend with the completely different pop culture landscape we have now. For example, they loved to mock over-enthusiastic fans so I wonder if they will ever tackle things like "stan culture" and hashtag feuds.

Thanks to that I discovered that Donald Trump was referenced in the classic series. It was in "No Place Like Homeless", a Runt/Goodfeathers segment in the "Animaniacs Stew" episode where they mixed up the characters.

Even the preview has them doing the Marx Brothers, so I think yeah, they're certainly doing old references. But the black light gag also has them keeping current.

Edited by alanh on Nov 6th 2020 at 11:17:26 AM

A month before the pandemic, Maurice La Marche mentioned how he attended a music session for the series. There's also a sneak peek (albeit blurred) at the new Pinky And The Brain music. He said in the comments that he didn't know he caught some of this.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MAURICELAMARCHE/status/1326905470385348614

Canadians have the benefit of watching the new season via Teletoon on November 20th at 7PM, the same day as its US premiere on Hulu. It'll be a marathon of four new episodes.

Epic.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-features/animaniacs-hulu-revival-review-creator-interview-1088188/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

A review for new Animaniacs (which also doubles as an insight into the original series and other details) was recently posted. While I won't mention many specifics, I'll still put a spoiler tag.

The review says the new show is a mixed bag. While the Pinky And The Brain segments were praised, the stuff with Yakko, Wakko, and Dot is more mixed. The main criticism, from I can gather, is that it's trying too hard to get in on the joke with the adult humor being forced rather than naturally integrated, and the Warners being more like victims continually annoyed with things rather than good natured wacky characters who go after huge jerks. There's also some stuff from Tom Ruegger where he talks about some elements he would've used if he revived Animaniacs.

I found a very negative review.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/hulu-s-animaniacs-reboot-is-nostalgic-for-all-the-wrong-1845635489

Edited by jessicadicicco610 on Nov 16th 2020 at 1:23:29 AM

Not good news. I hope the Tiny Toon Adventures reboot manages to step it up.

https://www.slashfilm.com/hulu-animaniacs-reboot-review

There is a more positive reception in this review.

Well, I never had any doubt the humor of Pinky and the Brain would be easier to adapt to the present day than the Warners'. It always was more timeless to begin with.

Starbox and Cindy kinda sounds like the Spiritual Successor of sorts to Buttons and Mindy, down to the name even, but at least gives the suffering character a better reason to be the Butt-Monkey.

I also always expected the Pinky and the Brain segments to be better than the Warner segments. The Warners were never a very adaptable concept, and they've got the problem of being somewhat memetic in their adult humor and such now - so writers in part are compelled to satisfy that even though it's not quite what they were about.

Meanwhile PATB have a stronger initial concept in the first place, and never really gravitated away from it.

One adult joke per 5 episodes please.

Here are 2 AV Club videos for the show. One is an interview with Wellsley Wild, where he talks about Hello Nurse not being in the show, as well as talking about Dot. The other video is with Rob Paulsen , Jess Harnell , and Maurice LaMarche talking about returning to the show.

Oh, that first video is bad news for Fifi in the Tiny Toon Adventures reboot...

Fifi got cut even before the original series was done.

By now, I won't be shocked if the Tiny Toons revival cast is literally just Buster, Babs, Hamton and Plucky.

I wonder if they didn't learn anything from Wabbit, where Bugs as a single lead couldn't keep the whole show and so they had to retool it into New Looney Tunes only to find out it was too late.

These franchises literally lived and made their fame by being multiple ensembles. The more you trim them down the poorer they become.

Edited by AmazingSpiderHam on Nov 19th 2020 at 4:35:38 AM

I think it could work if Buster, Babs, Hamton, and Plucky were the core, and the other characters were around as supporting players. That's essentially what happened by the end of the original series. Heck, they had characters with whom so little was done you could be forgiven for forgetting they were even there. Characters like Little Beeper, Merrie Melodie,and Barky Marky (there was even a joke in one of the "viewer request episodes" where a "fan" asks for more exposure for Barky Marky; cut to Babs tricked out as a casting agent, who asks "Who's Barky Marky?")

I was around for the original Animaniacs, and as I recall the reviews were never particularly good. Most critics thought it was just chaotic silliness. I do think the only characters who deserved to be leads were the Warners themselves and Piny and the Brain; some of the others were good as supporting characters, but others were just lame. The worst was Chicken Boo, which was exactly the same one-note joke, which wasn't particularly funny to begin with, every time; you got it in the first 5 seconds and then they just kept beating it to death for the rest of the cartoon. Hard to believe Chicken Boo and Pinky and the Brain were created by the same guy.

Edited by Robbery on Nov 19th 2020 at 9:34:51 AM

A massive chunk of the Tiny Toon Adventures fanbase is gonna rage and immediately dismiss the reboot if Fifi isn't in it.

Edited by CookingCat on Nov 19th 2020 at 5:59:46 AM

Pardon my lateness, but there's an official Twitter stream of the first episode of 2020's Animaniacs right now. It started at 9pm EST, and will last until 12am EST.

Edited by XMenMutant22 on Nov 19th 2020 at 9:22:21 AM

The rest of the old Animaniacs cast minus Hello Nurse and Plotz make an appearance in Episode 5, even Minerva.

Edited by CookingCat on Nov 20th 2020 at 4:10:13 AM