Friday, November 16, 2018

Useless Facts/The Senses Song/The World Can Wait/Kiki's Kitten (Animaniacs Vol 2 Part 19) - 'Toon Reviews 22


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Episode 44

Useless Facts (A: Termites)

Technically these in-between segments are of the same nature as those normally used to pad out episodes like “Good Idea Bad Idea”, “Mime Time” and so forth.  I’d normally gloss over them since they’re really short and don’t stand out from each other, but since these segments only appear in this episode, I think they’re worth discussing.  It could be possible that they were meant to be regular in-between segments but then it was decided they weren’t good enough.  To be honest, if this was the case it makes sense. 
The idea of these segments is that Yakko pops up to state random information that has nothing to do with anything.  This could work comedy-wise through how awkward things can get if people were to say a random fact in real life.  However, the final results feel just as awkward in the realm of the segments as they are in real life. 
For the first one, Yakko says that termites can live to be 50 years old and is accompanied by a visual of a grandpa termite telling a story to termite children.  Normally, a visual to go with a statement would be funny, but this visual is just a direct depiction of the fact without any sign of comedy. 
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much going to be the case with the rest of the Useless Facts in this episode.  For now, here’s something I “sense” you’ll really like…

The Senses Song
The most impactful songs of the series are those that put certain subjects to lively music.  This one is no exception for while the subject is simpler than others made into a song, its presentation leaves a very entertaining impression. 
It’s just the Warners dancing around as they sing about senses which sounds simplistic and bare bone, but is still very thrilling to watch.  Just the way they move their bodies to the beat leaves shows how much fun can be had with one little thing.  Adding to the fun is how fast yet smoothly the Warners go to different senses to sing about.  Each one is highlighted by appropriate expressions and visual gags sometimes involving other cast members perfectly in time with a respective verse. 
In addition to making the informative part of the song enjoyable, this collection of depictions easily demonstrates what a wondrous art form animation is.  This really shows as the Warners take the song beyond just the five senses.  They first simply bring up the often neglected psychic Shirley MacLaine sixth sense.  Then the entire second half of the song is an exercise of different ways to use the word “sense” which comes with even more great visualizations of the verses.  With this direction, the song continues to inform, and entertain through how the Warners breathe enjoyment into anything they talk about. 
Speaking of enjoyment, as a grand finale, the Warners close the song the way they started it with lively body movement to the music.  Their dancing around matching the timing of the music is a particularly fun way to finish things off. 
Along with the general subject, the song is one of the best examples of this show’s talent with music through crafting something fun and memorable out of any little thing. You might say it brings a sense of entertainment.
A+
 
Useless Facts (B: Eskimos)
After an exciting song filled with appealing visualizations of information tidbits, we’re back to mediocre visualizations.  In accordance with the featured fact that Eskimos have many words for ice but none for hello, Yakko just says hello to an Eskimo who says nothing in return.  Without any slight comedic edge, this scene is as awkward in animation as it would be in real life.
The World Can Wait


Formulaic cartoons on this show rarely subvert the customs.  This cartoon is one of the rare exceptions to the rule, only it’s subverting the formula for Pinky and the Brain which is already actually pleasing. 
Instead of being about the mice taking over the world, it’s instead about Brain falling in love with another lab mouse named Billie.  The cartoon is very charming and develops Brain to make him feel more relatable and more than just a power-crazed megalomaniac. 
For Billie herself, it’s clear that Brain is mostly into her for appearance reason as is the case with most romances in media.  As a character, she’s largely of “simple folk”, the kind of mice that tend to get on Brain’s nerves.  In fact, this aspect of her personality makes it no wonder that she’s far more interested in Pinky who describes Brains intellectual tokens of affection in his own nonsensical ways.  Still, Brain is unmoved by Billie’s quirks and makes his goal for the night winning her over while still showing disdain for Pinky’s antics.  Through this disdain, Billie further impresses as a character by being vocal about her true feelings, having none of Brain’s objection. 
Nevertheless, the direction adds to the twist of the main dynamic with Pinky seeming more capable of fulfilling plans through friendliness and desire to have a good time.  Brain, figuring out that Billie is far more interested in Pinky, has to turn to him for advice on how to talk to his crush.  This results in some mild humor where Brain forces himself to swallow his pride and compliment Billie at Pinky’s lead, no matter how disgusted he is by what Pinky has in mind.  For all the lack of genuineness in the tone of what Pinky dictates to him, Brain actually succeeds in winning Billie over.  It does feel kind of shallow that Billie suddenly gets into Brain even though his attempts to talk like Pinky fail to hide that it’s all an act.  If that’s all it takes for her to be interested in Brain, it seems like anyone can win her over.  It kind of devalues any potential for interesting traits she may have had earlier. 
However, even though his mind’s not set on world domination, Brain still can’t achieve what he wants.  Just as he’s about to get together with Billie, scientists from Acme Labs show up to run tests on her.  Although she’s all right physically afterwards, she shocks Brain through becoming much more intellectual as a result.  While it’s humorous to hear such smart statements and complex equation answers from such a ditzy voice, Brain is moved to go back to world domination because of this.  Now it’s Brain who feels shallow for ending his romantic pursuit because of a threat to his goals.  I mean, he’s into Billie when she’s dumb, but when she’s smart and probably much easier to win over, Brain calls off the attempts.  At least he’s still very much in love with her. 
This change to the formula may not have the best character moments or most interesting moments, but the featured characters bring a decent play on familiar romance tropes.  All the same, as fine and charming as the cartoon is, it make sense why Pinky and the Brain rarely needed to subvert their formula.
B+
Useless Facts (C: Shrimp)



Another one of these Useless Facts appear between cartoons, but there’s at least some attempt at comedy.  Yakko meets a shrimp holding his head after saying a shrimp’s heart is in its head.  Yakko asks if he has a headache, but the shrimp actually has heartburn.  I see it as a play on expectations, but the humor ends up falling flat, especially since Yakko just said a shrimp’s heart is located on the head.  Shouldn’t he already know that a headache is not the shrimp’s ailment?

 

Kiki’s Kitten
Cartoons starring Rita and Runt are at their best when they embrace their emotional and theatrical undertones and have plenty of the titular characters together.  This really shows with this cartoon that has none of those things and ends up being the weakest of all their works. 
It’s about two scientists, one with a bizarre ape-like design, running a gorilla institute.  One gorilla, Kiki, is very wild and destructive, so they try to find a way to sooth her anger.  This is where Rita and Runt first come in, just outside the institute minding their own business. 
Admittedly, their role doesn’t start off so bad.  Rita entertains through doing her thing while also providing her ever enjoyable musical stylings, turning a spat with another alley cat over a garbage can into a fun musical banter.  While the subject of the song is an outlier to the earlier stuff with the scientist and the gorilla institute, the actual song becomes relevant when Kiki hears it and takes a liking to Rita. 
However, this is where the cartoon really takes a turn for the worse.  The scientists gang up on Rita and throw her into Kiki’s section of the institute setting her up for the unpleasing display of undeserved torment.  Adding the sting is that even though Runt is present, he sleeps for the whole cartoon, completely unaware of what’s happened.  Not only does this make the cartoon devoid of heart from the main friendship that makes these cartoons work, but it doesn’t do justice for Runt.  He’s proven many times to be a loyal friend capable of sensing danger and saving the day.  For him to be in his own world and never notice any sign of trouble makes him look as dumb as he seems even though the show has established that he’s better than that.  
Without any hope of Runt to save her, Rita is subjected to painful, humiliating, and unappealing activities with Kiki against her will.  She’s force-fed chewed up leaves, has her arms stretched out to act like an ape, forced to dress up for a tea party, and constantly endures ape slobber.  Given Kiki’s already known attitude and how she roars at Rita whenever the cat objects to her demands, this is just like a normal nice guy being with a spoiled brat.  That is one of the worst setups imaginable which make Kiki an unappealing antagonist leaving little to no joy as she forces Rita into all these humiliations.  As I mentioned earlier, these torments are undeserved since Rita did nothing wrong prior to being kidnapped, further killing any chance for enjoyment from the scene.  Also, to make things crueler, the scientists admit the possibility of Kiki tearing Rita’s head off as a result of her roughhousing, but do nothing about it. 
While the crux of the cartoon isn’t good, there are a few things to make it slightly tolerable.  Rita is fully aware of how bad her situation is, and her snarky remarks to what she’s put through are fun to hear.  Also, for how unfair and undeserving what Rita gets is, it concludes well.  Rita successfully escapes from Kiki when the gorilla tries to put her in a diaper, though this does mean she could’ve and should’ve escaped much sooner.  Justice also wins out as Kiki instead grabs the jerk ally cat from earlier, the scientists get run over, and Runt wakes up with one funny closing line. 
On the whole, this cartoon is one of the show’s most unpleasing with a character who did nothing wrong put through unfair torture and no one caring enough to help her.  That said, if it wasn’t for a few good lines and a satisfying conclusion, it could’ve been much worse.
D+
Useless Fact (D: Starfish)
The final Useless Fact is on the fact that starfish have no brains and comes with one unable to help Yakko find the beach.  The only interesting thing about this one is how it makes sense that a certain starfish character from a certain popular Nickelodeon show is so dumb.  However, this segment is about six years before the time.
Needless to say, these Useless Facts are basically useless segments.  It feels like they were created as regular bridging segments, rejected during development, and taken off the cutting room floor to pad out this one episode. 
The potential for comedy is there as a play on people saying random facts out of nowhere, but the visualizations of the random information has no creative or funny edge.  They’re very blunt with what’s stated and instead of making fun of how awkward the fact is, they just end up being awkward. 
For the show’s sake, it’s no huge loss that Useless Facts never appeared again, but it’s disappointing that they weren’t as well-executed as they could’ve been.  They’re harmless to sit through when all is said and done though.
C-
Cartoon Ranking
  1. Chairman of the Bored
  2. Hot Bothered and Bedeviled
  3. Bubba Bo Bob Brain
  4. Baghdad Café
  5. In the Garden of Mindy
  6. Critical Condition
  7. O Silly Mio
  8. Phranken-Runt
  9. Puppet Rulers
  10. The Three Muska-Warners
  11. Clown and Out
  12. Jockey For Position
  13. Sir Yaksalot
  14. Potty Emergency
  15. Survey Ladies
  16. General Boo-Regard
  17. Puttin’ on the Blitz
  18. Raging Bird
  19. Of Nice and Men
  20. Dough Dough Boys
  21. The Big Kiss
  22. Draculee Draculaa
  23. Babblin’ Bijou
  24. Fair Game
  25. No Place Like Homeless
  26. I Got Yer Can
  27. Spell-bound
  28. Smitten With Kittens
  29. Astro-Buttons
  30. Boot Camping
  31. Moby or Not Moby
  32. The World Can Wait
  33. Noah’s Lark
  34. Skullhead Boneyhands
  35. The Good, the Boo, and the Ugly
  36. Hiccup
  37. Moon Over Minerva
  38. Broadcast Nuisance
  39. White Gloves
  40. Katie Ka-Boo
  41. Mesozoic Mindy
  42. Hollywoodchuck
  43. Kiki’s Kitten
  44. Can’t Buy a Thrill
  45. 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. The Slapper
  9. The Great Wakkorotti: The Summer Concert
  10. Animator’s Alley
  11. Useless Facts
Song Ranking
  1. The Senses Song
  2. The Planets
The next Animaniacs review features the Warners mess with the Queen of England while Slappy Squirrel nonchalantly goes on a biased trial.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews introduces "The New Lars" in Steven Universe.

If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

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