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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 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
- Chairman of the Bored
- Hot Bothered and Bedeviled
- Bubba Bo Bob Brain
- Baghdad Café
- In the Garden of Mindy
- Critical Condition
- O Silly Mio
- Phranken-Runt
- Puppet Rulers
- The Three Muska-Warners
- Clown and Out
- Jockey For Position
- Sir Yaksalot
- Potty Emergency
- Survey Ladies
- General Boo-Regard
- Puttin’ on the Blitz
- Raging Bird
- Of Nice and Men
- Dough Dough Boys
- The Big Kiss
- Draculee Draculaa
- Babblin’ Bijou
- Fair Game
- 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
- 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
- The Slapper
- The Great Wakkorotti: The Summer Concert
- Animator’s Alley
- Useless Facts
Song Ranking
- The Senses Song
- 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.
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