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Episode 27
You Risk
Your Life
Among the many different old school comedy actors that
inspired the creation of the Warners are the Marx Brothers. I have seen very little of their work, but
from what I can tell, the real life actors and aforementioned cartoon characters are much alike.
Yakko especially brings Groucho to mind with his fast-paced witty
comebacks and oddball mannerisms. I
bring this up because this sketch is a play on an actual game show Groucho used
to host called You Bet Your Life.
Prior to writing this review, I watched a clip of that show which featured Groucho asking questions to various
contestants. A duck would come down to give contestants $100 every time they
uttered a “secret word” all while working in a witty comment during the
game. It may have been a short clip, but
it certainly sells the show as something interesting.
As for the sketch, it plays to the
humor-based tone of the original game show. It shows right at the start with Yakko making
a creative entrance by cutting a hole in a curtain and bowing face-first into
the floor. The atmosphere of the game
show is further established with frequent cuts to stock footage of a
live-action audience clapping. Also, in
the place of a duck giving money coming down, the secret word signal is Wakko
suspended from a rope coming to hit the contestant who said the secret word
with a mallet. In this case, the secret
word is the simple affirmative response, “yes.” To make the outcome even
funnier, out of the contestants, an average woman and philosopher
Aristotle, it’s Aristotle who keeps saying the secret word and keeps
getting hit. The joke does overstay its
welcome when it happens a few more times even though it’s easy to see coming
after the first time.
Even so, the idea
of the game show is captures so well, you can’t help but wish it lasted a
little longer than a little over two minutes.
At least this is still an entertainingly absurd sketch that
pays tribute to a rarely discussed element of the career of one
of the Warners’ biggest influences.
A
I Got Yer
Can
Making a good cartoon can be a great way to let out any
frustrations you may have about life to entertaining effect. One of those things is running into difficult
people who give you a hard time about something incredibly minor you did that
ticked them off. It’s not always pleasant
and is usually annoying. This cartoon shows what could happen if we had the
power to get those difficult people to lighten up.
The star is Slappy Squirrel, someone who is
frequently annoyed with the world around her when all she wants to do is enjoy
her retirement. She goes about her
business drinking soda on her way to the store, and puts the can in someone
else’s recycle bin when she’s done.
That’s when she meets Candie Chipmunk, an uptight neighbor who badgers
Slappy about throwing the can in there.
This is a perfect example of dealing with people who get worked up over any
minor inconvenience. Plus, Candie’s
shrill voice and demeaning dialog add to how much of a nuisance people like her
can be.
The big thing about what happens
is that it’s based on personal experience from this cartoon’s writer and voice
of Slappy, Sherri Stoner. According to a
bonus feature on this DVD, Sherri herself was also told off for putting her
diet soda can into her neighbor’s recycle bin when she was just taking a
walk. This gives the cartoon more value
and credibility than normal with clear inspiration from real life which turns
out to be great advice for potential cartoon writers in general.
The inspiration also stands out for
it’s expanded upon with Slappy’s humorous retaliations towards Candie Chipmunk
most people wouldn’t be able to get away with.
They start off with a few light-hearted tricks with disguises Slappy and
Skippy pull to attempt to land the can with Candie. They’re funny in their own way, but they
mostly to build to a much bigger moment at a game show Candie competes in. It's worth noting that her wearing an ear of corn on her head to the show humorously symbolizes how crazy and
ridiculous she’s being over a can. Her
irrationality builds when she explodes after betting away all her luxurious prizes for the can.
From this overly dramatic rage,
the tone of Candie’s role her drastically shifts. She gets way too
defensive and untrusting of anyone who comes to her door should they really be
Slappy with the can, even harmless people like charity nuns and Santa
Claus. Occasional creepy and
overly-detailed drawings sell how demented the situation has rendered her. It’s amusing to see Candie react this much
over a can, but at the same time, it does feel like things are going a little
too far despite her needing to lighten up.
Maybe the sting wouldn’t seem so apparent if it wasn’t implied that
Candie remains this paranoid for about a year.
Eventually she sees sense and accepts the can as a baby bundle
while looking pale and ready to snap. This can be seen as a funny conclusion or a
disturbing end showing that Slappy destroyed her neighbor’s mental state.
The good and the bad of Slappy’s actions make
it difficult to determine how strong this cartoon is. However, it’s still
entertaining and makes a point to teach people not fuss over little details
and has the benefit of coming from personal experience. Enough elements work
to make for a good watch.
A-
Jockey for
Position
Pinky and the Brain cartoons may be of the formulaic kind,
but each one stands out from the other. They always feel fresh and new while also
offering distinctive world domination schemes.
In the case of this cartoon, the focus is not on the scheme itself, but
on how the mice attempt to make the money they need. The plan is to effect
the Earth’s rotation to fling all of the population off while they duct tape
themselves to a tree. How they can
possibly get the money opens to just about any path imaginable, and here it's by competing in the well-known national horse race, the Kentucky
Derby.
One impressive thing about this
approach is how it shows that Brain has the steps all planned out to get the
prize money. This is noteworthy because
when looking back on most cartoons starring these characters, the failures of
most of the plans amount to Brain overlooking a crucial detail. You'd be surprised how often failures aren't caused by Pinky's lack of intelligence like most would expect. Brain carefully observes the horses to deduce
which one is the fastest and knows that very
horse gives the best performance since as a jockey, he doesn’t weigh much. This means
little to no weight can hold the horse back.
Heck, even the other members of the Derby see him as the perfect jockey,
so it shows that Brain truly did something right with this plan. It gives an impression that things could be
different with this scheme.
The one
potential thing that could stand in the way of success is unexpected, thus
working in an absurd yet effectively funny plot twist. One of the horses named Phar Fignewton
doesn’t look as strong, fast, or as smart as the other horses. In fact, she’s big-eyed and in her own little
world. For these reasons, she not only
gets along well with Pinky, but they both fall for
each other at first sight. You’d think
that Pinky developing a crush on a horse would only be taken as a one-off joke,
but the cartoon doesn’t leave such an outrageously compellingly concept stand on the side.
The actual Kentucky Derby the cartoon was building up to is
an exciting set piece with an atmosphere that effortlessly sucks you into the
action. All the horses racing with a
triumphant orchestration that breaks to a
more lax piece to depict how slow Phar Fignewton is compared to the others,
especially Brain’s horse. Brain’s in the clear to win, but that’s when
the earlier crush becomes relevant. Pinky falls onto the racetrack and is
unable to get out of the way of the oncoming horses. His love for Phar Fignewton is returned when
his situation inspires her to run like never before and rescue him, surprising
everyone by actually winning the Derby. This has got to be one of the most effective
world domination failures most wouldn’t see coming. If that’s not enough, Pinky’s love for the
horse remains relevant through getting brought up a few times in other cartoons
here and in the Pinky and the Brain spinoff
series. However, Phar Fignewton herself only has one other major appearance
after this. It’s ridiculous, yet
impressive for how it makes itself relevant.
Along with a classy setting, a well-utilized cast, and exciting staging,
the plain may fail (again) but this cartoon is
one of Pinky and the Brain’s most winning entries.
A+
Cartoon Ranking
- Jockey For Position
- Sir Yaksalot
- Potty Emergency
- Babblin’ Bijou
- I Got Yer Can
Miscellaneous Ranking
- Testimonials
- You Risk Your Life
The next Animaniacs review puts the Warners in the story of Moby Dick, Mindy and Buttons in Prehistoric times, and Chicken Boo in a literal spaghetti western.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Star vs the Forces of Evil episode, "Face the Music."
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