Friday, November 30, 2018

Slipping on the Ice/'Twas the Day Before Christmas/Jingle Boo/ The Great Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert/Toy Shop Terror/Yakko's Universe (Animaniacs Vol 2 Part 25) - 'Toon Reviews 22


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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
  1. Chairman of the Bored
  2. A Christmas Plotz
  3. Hot Bothered and Bedeviled
  4. Bubba Bo Bob Brain
  5. Baghdad Café
  6. In the Garden of Mindy
  7. Video Review
  8. Critical Condition
  9. ‘Twas the Day Before Christmas
  10. O Silly Mio
  11. Phranken-Runt
  12. Puppet Rulers
  13. The Three Muska-Warners
  14. Clown and Out
  15. Mobster Mash
  16. Little Drummer Warners
  17. …And Justice for Slappy
  18. Jockey For Position
  19. Sir Yaksalot
  20. Potty Emergency
  21. Toy Shop Terror
  22. Turkey Jerky
  23. Survey Ladies
  24. General Boo-Regard
  25. Puttin’ on the Blitz
  26. Raging Bird
  27. Windsor Hassle
  28. Of Nice and Men
  29. Wild Blue Yonder
  30. Dough Dough Boys
  31. The Big Kiss
  32. Jingle Boo
  33. Draculee Draculaa
  34. Babblin’ Bijou
  35. Fair Game
  36. When Mice Ruled the Earth
  37. No Place Like Homeless
  38. I Got Yer Can
  39. Spell-bound
  40. Smitten With Kittens
  41. Astro-Buttons
  42. Boot Camping
  43. Moby or Not Moby
  44. The World Can Wait
  45. Noah’s Lark
  46. Skullhead Boneyhands
  47. The Good, the Boo, and the Ugly
  48. Hiccup
  49. Icebreakers
  50. Moon Over Minerva
  51. Broadcast Nuisance
  52. White Gloves
  53. Katie Ka-Boo
  54. Mesozoic Mindy
  55. Hollywoodchuck
  56. Kiki’s Kitten
  57. Can’t Buy a Thrill
  58. What a Dump


Miscellaneous Ranking
  1. Animaniacs Stew
  2. Testimonials
  3. Buttermilk It Makes a Body Bitter
  4. Alas Poor Skullhead
  5. Cartoons in Wakko’s Body
  6. You Risk Your Life
  7. Casablanca Opening
  8. Carol Burnett Show Parody
  9. Mary Tyler Dot
  10. The Slapper
  11. The Great Wakkorotti: The Holiday Concert
  12. The Great Wakkorotti: The Summer Concert
  13. Animator’s Alley
  14. Useless Facts


Song Ranking
  1. The Senses Song
  2. Lake Titicaca
  3. Slipping on the Ice
  4. 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:
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!


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