If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:
Episode 50
Slipping on
the Ice
For this episode, we open with a short parody of the song
“Singin’ in the Rain” only the setting is very icy. It’s one of those songs existing in the name
of fun as the Warners simply sing about slipping around and doing slightly
comedic pratfalls. There’s nothing all
that special about how they fall, but it’s certainly an interesting subject to
make a musical number out of.
At the
very least it’s a nice short song for anyone with the slightest interest in
physical comedy.
B+
‘Twas the
Day Before Christmas
Like in the previous Christmas episode, this episode features
an adaptation of a famous story about the holiday, in this case ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. Its approach to this poem about the
anticipation of Christmas and the arrival of Santa Claus is nicely tailored to
the framework of the series. The story
is told more uniquely than the average cartoon and makes good use of the huge
cast of characters.
Leading into the
story is a wholesome tone reminiscent of what it’s like to read a nice
Christmas story in general. Skippy
Squirrel, like most little kids on Christmas Eve, is too excited to sleep, so
Slappy reads him a story where the bulk of the cartoon takes place.
The basic story follows the general idea of
the original poem, but it stands out through utilizing a vast majority of
characters who offer many unique approaches.
Also like the original poem, all the characters follow a rhyme scheme
which gets creative with explaining key events.
The rhymes don’t just describe the Warners preparing for Santa’s
arrival, but also elements original to this adaptation. This mostly involves the studio heads needing
someone to play Santa and deliver presents to the Warners in accordance with a
contract clause.
With this situation
told in rhyme, there’s a more entertaining edge to it than it would if the
characters talked normally. The rhymes
also feel natural to the idea of the conversations and it doesn’t feel like
they’re there because they have to be.
Even more impressive is how the rhymes work for smaller moments in the
background like Ralph the Guard greeting people leaving the studio which lands
him the role of Santa.
In addition,
minor subplots like Rita and Runt looking for food on the studio lot and Pinky
and the Brain trying to steal Santa’s sleigh are presented with this creative
writing style. It kind of suggests that
the story is a separate universe where everyone talks in rhyme. Combined with the show’s talent of wit and
entertaining banter between characters, it’s successfully investing as an
alternate reality as well as a comedic change of pace.
While the use of other characters allows the
cartoon to stand out as an adaptation, the main focus is still faithful to the
original story. This is seen through the
story’s second half as the Warners await Santa on the actual night before
Christmas. Still, the show’s distinctive
mark on the story is very much apparent.
There are many humorous spins on some original lines. The Warners hang their stockings for Santa to
“leave a big load.” Creatures actually
are stirring including mice, i.e. the aforementioned Pinky and the Brain. Wakko literally eats sugarplums dancing in
his head. They immediately wake up after
nestling in their beds.
The spins
continue through Ralph arriving as Santa in a flimsy sleigh pulled by pigeons
with antlers including the Goodfeathers.
Ralph commanding the pigeons to fly meshes well with the Goodfeathers
complaints about his weight in the rhyme schemes. There are also solid laughs as Ralph dropping
off the presents and attempting to fly off again with the worn out pigeons work
in references to how fat and dumb he is.
It’s all in the name of playful banter though. For all the focus on comedy in this version
of the story, it means a lot that by the time it’s over, you’re still left with a
sentimental feeling of Christmas.
This is
a Christmas story that leaves many positive impacts through use of rhymes,
successfully using a lot of characters at once, and top-notch comedy. Above all, it works extremely well as a
Christmas cartoon by itself and as a funny yet endearing expansion on ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
A+
Jingle Boo
It’s hard to believe how something as formulaic as Chicken
Boo still manages to feel fresh and new every time. It’s like each cartoon finds a way to twist
something around to make it stand out from the rest. While this one mostly follows the same beats
as the others, it’s pretty endearing that the thing that sets it apart is the
spirit of Christmas itself.
Speaking of
Christmas, Chicken Boo’s disguise this time is of a mall Santa Claus. He’s clearly a big hit winning over the
parents through how authentic he looks, and impressing the kids through getting
them exactly what they want. I have to
question why he would present them with gifts now and what this means for
Christmas morning, but maybe it’s just a practice I don’t fully
understand.
The one kid who calls him
out for being a giant chicken isn’t one who heard it, but one who sees him for
himself. Considering that he bears a
strong resemblance to a kid in bumpers telling about bizarre stories about his
pal, Randy Beaman, it makes sense that he’d see him as a chicken. Instead of Chicken Boo’s disguise coming off,
this one kid takes it off by pulling on his Santa beard in front of
everyone. This cartoon is also a time
when everyone turning on Chicken Boo makes sense for germ reasons, though
refusing to come to the mall again because of this feels a bit too
extreme.
That’s when the most pleasing
subversion to the formula happens. After
Chicken Boo is kicked out of the mall, he’s caught by the real Santa Claus
flying by giving him a happy ending this time because it’s Christmas. This alone makes the cartoon something
special for Chicken Boo through getting some kindness even though he’s a
chicken. After all, being a day
dedicated to the goodness of humanity, Christmas is perhaps the worst time for
everyone to be a jerk to someone.
That
said, how is being caught by Santa’s sleigh after being kicked out any
different from getting kicked out to a lonely path out of town? It’s honestly not all that easy to see any
improvement. Still the cartoon’s ending
is a nice one full of Christmas cheer which is a good change of pace
considering Chicken Boo’s usual treatment.
As it stands, this is among the better cartoons starring this giant
chicken.
A
The Great
Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert
If you recall how the last Great Wakkorotti concert went,
then you’ll have a good idea of what this one is like. It’s the same humorous mix of highbrow
settings and lowbrow humor as Wakko belches to a musical piece complete with
many of the exact same scenes.
Yet the
redundancy doesn’t feel like much of an issue as it did that other time mostly
through what Wakko belches to. Rather
than a classical work, he instead does it to the popular Christmas tune “Jingle
Bells”. With this entire episode
following a clear theme of Christmas, any form of spreading the spirit is
welcome. Considering the very concept of
the Great Wakkorotti, I can certainly say this is an interesting way of getting
into the Christmas spirit.
It still
loses points for redundancy, but it can fortunately be enjoyed for what it
means for the holiday. Plus, as
repetitive as all the three previous Great Wakkorotti concerts were, they’re
more enjoyable than the one time a concert changed things around. That, however, is for another day.
B
Toy Shop
Terror
The Warners are characters driven by the nature of animation
as seen through their jokes and attitudes.
For this reason, they’re just the characters to star in a cartoon with
minimal dialog that’s heavily reliant on animation and music. This cartoon is just that.
The story is very basic with the Warners
popping in on a toy shop at night and play with everything while the owner
thinks they’re burglars and unleashes a security robot on them. However, little weight and focus on plot work
to this cartoon’s advantage with more room left for focus on entertainment.
The music piece the cartoon follows is the Powerhouse theme by Raymond Scott which is commonly used in Warner Bros cartoons,
particularly in factory scenes. What we
see proves that any music piece has potential to work for virtually any idea
imaginable, just like anything animated.
The animation perfectly matches the tempo of the music and is
practically synonymous with the idea of excitable kids running through a toy
shop. Likewise, the music is nicely in
time with bigger moments like the owner activating the robot.
That said, when the Warners take on the
robot, the gags they pull on it don’t mesh nearly as well with the music. That’s disappointing considering how well
timed the cartoon was up to this point.
We do at least get a lot of clever visual gags. There’s the Warners
hiding under pails to confuse the robot, forcing a saddle on it for Wakko to ride it like a cowboy, and
roller-skating it back into its box.
It’s after the latter visual gag where the robot breaks out and chases
the Warners, and the action once again matches the Powerhouse theme. It’s an amazingly fun continuation of the
earlier high-energy antics from when the Warners first appeared in the toy
shop. Ending the chase is one last
highly creative gag where the kids use a more modern toy, a chemistry set, to
blow the robot up and blow it to dust.
After all that excitement solely from music and antics, the last scene
where the Warners speak to the owner about the robot not suitable for them is
humorously impactful.
At this point, you
have to wonder if bringing the robot to deal with the Warners was
appropriate. That move was a tad too
extreme, but the Warners were trespassing and the owner had the right to defend
his shop. Then again, the kids weren’t
doing anything bad apart from playing with the toys and seemed pretty innocent
when talking to the owner. Basically,
it’s a bit confusing as to who the really sympathetic one is in this case.
Nevertheless, this is a fun exciting cartoon
built around sounds and visuals with nearly perfect timing and a tone that fits
this show.
A
Yakko’s
Universe
One thing I’d like to note about this episode is that it’s
the only one of the series to flat-out reuse an entire segment from an earlier
episode. Technically, this is a cheap
move just to make a short episode long enough, but given what this episode is
repeating, I can’t complain.
I already
gave my full thoughts on this song in my review of Episode 3, so there’s no
need to repeat myself here or even add it to the ranking. All I will say is that since its wintery
setting is reminiscent of Christmas and it’s my favorite song in any animated
TV show, I welcome its inclusion with open arms. It’s overall an amazing end to an amazing
Christmas special, and by extension, this DVD volume.
Cartoon Ranking
- Chairman of the Bored
- A Christmas Plotz
- Hot Bothered and Bedeviled
- Bubba Bo Bob Brain
- Baghdad Café
- In the Garden of Mindy
- Video Review
- Critical Condition
- ‘Twas the Day Before Christmas
- O Silly Mio
- Phranken-Runt
- Puppet Rulers
- The Three Muska-Warners
- Clown and Out
- Mobster Mash
- Little Drummer Warners
- …And Justice for Slappy
- Jockey For Position
- Sir Yaksalot
- Potty Emergency
- Toy Shop Terror
- Turkey Jerky
- Survey Ladies
- General Boo-Regard
- Puttin’ on the Blitz
- Raging Bird
- Windsor Hassle
- Of Nice and Men
- Wild Blue Yonder
- Dough Dough Boys
- The Big Kiss
- Jingle Boo
- Draculee Draculaa
- Babblin’ Bijou
- Fair Game
- When Mice Ruled the Earth
- No Place Like Homeless
- I Got Yer Can
- Spell-bound
- Smitten With Kittens
- Astro-Buttons
- Boot Camping
- Moby or Not Moby
- The World Can Wait
- Noah’s Lark
- Skullhead Boneyhands
- The Good, the Boo, and the Ugly
- Hiccup
- Icebreakers
- Moon Over Minerva
- Broadcast Nuisance
- White Gloves
- Katie Ka-Boo
- Mesozoic Mindy
- Hollywoodchuck
- Kiki’s Kitten
- Can’t Buy a Thrill
- What a Dump
Miscellaneous Ranking
- Animaniacs Stew
- Testimonials
- Buttermilk It Makes a Body Bitter
- Alas Poor Skullhead
- Cartoons in Wakko’s Body
- You Risk Your Life
- Casablanca Opening
- Carol Burnett Show Parody
- Mary Tyler Dot
- The Slapper
- The Great Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert
- The Great Wakkorotti: The Summer Concert
- Animator’s Alley
- Useless Facts
Song Ranking
- The Senses Song
- Lake Titicaca
- Slipping on the Ice
- The Planets
Final Thoughts
Needless to say, animated greatness strikes again with the
second DVD volume to Animaniacs. From the 25 featured episodes, the strengths
of the series are still in full swing more than living up to the hype set by
the previous 25 episodes. Sure, not
every cartoon or bridging segment turns out great, but the good ones are not
just amazing, but very impactful to the medium of TV animation.
A large factor to the works of this show being as great as
they are has to do with the clear sense of imagination. After all, one of its defining traits is that
it gets creative with animation, and this has been the case ever since the
beginning. However, this strength makes
itself clearer with at least one cartoon in every following episode. These are the types of works that take any
simple idea that comes to mind and turns it into sheer entertainment anyone
would be hard-pressed to forget. Some of
them are the madcap antic-driven escapades par for the course at this
point. They include comedic medieval
adventures, extreme gags against monsters and jerks, or songs with a fun way of
educating. By the way, as enjoyable as
the songs are, it’s interesting to note that we’re light on them for this
volume. It’s kind of hard to believe
since this show is famous for them.
Anyway, many of the best works in this episode batch are the ones with
creative premises many of which seem lackluster on paper. A cartoon about Wakko needing to use the bathroom is made hilariously relatable through innumerable standout drawings
and line reads. Country music is given a
fun spin with Brain the genius lab mouse making it big with a ridiculous image
on flimsy stilts, a lackluster song, and a subliminal message. The subject of handling criticism is made to
put the critics in the wrong for using criticism to relentlessly slam Slappy
Squirrel cartoons instead of help improve them.
However, the best creative premise of all is one that mines
entertainment out of a really boring man and his never-ending story. The ultimate catch is that it’s the Warners,
characters who are usually wild, crazy, and masterminds of being pests, who are
unable to escape him. With hilarious
reactions to being trapped with him and the story being nice to listen to despite
its drabness, that cartoon is the ultimate case of making something out of
nothing. In fact, just these
standout cartoons alone are enough to get you to see what the whole volume has
to offer.
Truth be told, the impressiveness of what’s on this DVD don’t
stop there. Many other works have
significant ways of leaving a strong impact for a comedy show. Some follow in the footsteps of older Warner Bros cartoons to respectful yet still distinguishable effect. Others have interesting inspiration whether
it be from little known historical facts or personal stories from the writers. That said, the latter only
makes the cartoons stand out more if you were to learn about the writers’ recounts. Luckily the DVD’s bonus feature can help you
with that. As for other standout
cartoons, some impress with how well they do with more dramatic and sentimental
cartoons. They include a cartoon with
clear respect for the harsh effects of war taking place in World War II Poland,
and an endearing yet exciting tale of a bluebird looking for his mother. Technically, these are out-of-place for the
tone of the series, but that just makes how genuine the cartoons’ sentiment
feel all the more remarkable. Even full
episodes express how this show could and would do anything it wanted. One episode has a funny framing device of all
the featured cartoons being pulled from Wakko’s body building up to a solid
conclusion. It’s kind of like a mini
joke-fueled story within a bunch of cartoons.
One of my favorite episodes here dares to mix up the characters for allthe cartoons. Every part of it features
clear variety to the shakeups not just from who’s paired with who, but how they
reach to being out of their comfort zone.
Some encounters are accepted with no problem making for enjoyable
temporary groupings. Others are met with
mixed reception. However, the ending
pokes great fun at how ridiculous the idea is overall. Ironically, that to me is that episode’s best
moment. Lastly, I’d like to discuss how
this show’s sense of imagination translates to holidays, which in this case
cover the three big ones, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. The works for the former two holidays are
standard gag-driven cartoons which, while overall great, are still par for the
course. Christmas on the other hand
allows for some of the show’s most amazing experiences. Their Christmas
Carol adaptation that dares to subvert the usual narrative setup and even
provide endearing character development.
There’s acknowledgement to the Nativity story that gave the holiday its
existence told through traditional carols.
Another adaptation has the cast strictly stick to the original poem’s
rhyme scheme to amusing effect. There
was clearly a favorite holiday amongst the crew behind this show, but the final
results are thoroughly entertaining regardless.
Being able to craft so many high-tier animated works easily put this
show beyond the standards of your average comedy show more than ever before
with what we have here.
Speaking of favoritism, looking into the consistently amazing
material of this DVD volume, I have to mention that preferences for certain
characters becomes pretty obvious. This
isn’t the biggest complaint to give, but I can’t help but wonder that if not
much care was going to go into certain characters, why were they created to
begin with? I mean, certain characters’
cartoons turn out far stronger than those of others. The Warners are just as amazing as before and
continue to deserve their status as the greatest cartoon characters ever. Slappy Squirrel continues to astound with
using old school cartoon violence to easily solve problems in modern day. Pinky and the Brain also turn out greatness
on a regular basis with one of their cartoons taking up a whole episode paving
the way for their spinoff two years later.
Rita and Runt provide much of the showy and sentimental ones and like I
mentioned earlier, it’s astounding that the tone feels turns out so genuine on
a show like this. This leads me to the
characters with significantly lower ranking material. Some of them feature less imagination than
most of the series, with characters like Mindy and Buttons and Chicken Boo
continuing to be so formulaic. These
cartoons aren’t necessarily bad and Chicken Boo does keep finding ways to
remain fresh, but they’re still far from the high standards other characters
set. Other cartoons like the
Goodfeathers aren’t formulaic, but their stories usually are far from the
funniest or most interesting things ever.
To say nothing about the Hip Hippos who still offer next to nothing
without a more interesting character to work off of. Even Rita and Runt fall into weaker material
when the story is unpleasant or frustrating.
It’s basically whenever their cartoons aren’t theatrical or
emotional. Lastly, the characters
introduced into starring roles are among some of the weakest. Minerva Mink has a lot of charm and genuine
beauty, but her judgmental character traits don’t make her a compelling lead,
at least for her starring role featured here.
Charlton Woodchuck has a fully unlikable ego yet still gets
disproportionate punishment for it. Then
there’s Katie Ka-boom, the most formulaic, and probably least enjoyable
character of all. Her sole appearance in
these episodes is all right as it is, but through becoming monstrous and
causing genuine torture for her family, needless to say she gets worse. At least that’s not the case for all of the
other weaker characters I mentioned. In
fact, in time, they’d star in material up there with the early works of the
best characters, but that’s to be discussed for another day. While we do have some noticeable below
average works, they do nothing to devalue the great stuff and are enjoyable to
some extent. If that’s my biggest
complaint with these episodes, the show must be doing something right.
Volume 2 of Animaniacs
convinces me further that this is the best TV animation has ever offered. With one great cartoon after another, it’s
still the show that feels like it was made to show just what the medium could
do. It’s another must-own for cartoon
DVD collectors for sure, but I’ll once again be putting talks about it on hold
until further notice. However, there’s
sure to be more animated greatness to behold when I do return to it, so I’ll
see you then. And remember: Yakko spelled backwards is okay!
Highly Recommended
That wraps up another set of Animaniacs reviews. Here's the new schedule for reviews to come:
- Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays: Rocko's Modern Life Season 2
- Tuesday and Thursday: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 (only 2 episodes left)
- Saturdays and Sundays: Steven Universe Season 3
Also, as we're entering into December, be sure to look out for a few reviews of standalone Christmas specials. As always, until then:
Stay Animated Folks!
