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Episode 64
Lookit the Fuzzy Heads
Characters from the sister series of Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, have
been making cameo appearances since the early days. However, they were mostly just there to
populate the background or, in the case of Baby Plucky, add in their popular
running joke suitable for the moment.
This time, one of the original Tiny
Toons characters is a major character in an Animaniacs cartoon, and that’s Elmyra. She’s the ever divisive animal-loving girl
whose gimmick is over-bloated patronizing lovey-dovey talk when handling small
animals. In a way, she’s killing them
with kindness. Having watched a good
amount of Tiny Toons on Hulu not long ago, I’m kind of split on Elmyra. She’s
very annoying with her voice and mannerisms as well as the fact that there are
a good number of times where she comes out on top in the end. Other characters are also too scared to stop
her, and seeing a lot of that plays a part in devaluing the classic cartoon
feel Tiny Toons goes for. Then again, there are times when she can be
legitimately entertaining in what she does, and the times when she does get
comeuppance are always satisfying.
These
strengths are at play when the Warners learn at Elmyra is joining their therapy
appointment with Dr. Scratchansniff. The
usually confident zany cartoons are just as frightened of Elmyra’s presence as
all the animals who have come across her.
It’s hard to tell if it’s good that they have a legit fear they can’t
easily beat with their antics or disappointing that even these highly animated
kids don’t do what they do best. I mean,
one scene during their session shows a key difference between their antics. The
Warners have total awareness of what they’re doing and their crazy mannerisms as a fun
way of interacting, never causing intentional harm. Even when one of their antics here involves
hitting Dr. Scratchansniff’s hand in a sock puppet with a mallet, they’re aware
that it was wrong, showing it was part of their act. With Elmyra, she’s showing affection without
even noticing she’s hurting Dr. Scratchansniff.
That’s a sure sign of danger with her and why creatures would be
terrified around her. She’s painful and
she doesn’t even know it.
Running away
from Elmyra is indeed the smart thing for the Warners to do with all this in
mind, but you can’t help but feel they could take her on better than this. Making up for this are all the fun ways
Elmyra pops in on them no matter where they run. They include showing up in the randomly
changing interior of their water tower and inside a movie theater where she
straight-up hugs a dinosaur animatronic’s head off. Not only are these surprise appearances good
for a laugh, but they keep up a fun fast pace for the chase.
The Warners even end up having a smart way of handling
Elmyra, making good use of their constant running through other characters’ cartoons
in the process. As if they know
the nature of supporting characters, they set up a distraction for Mindy to
follow which in turn attracts Elmyra’s attention and she follows this cute
“little girl head.” As the cartoon ends
with Elmyra enduring the pain usually reserved for Buttons when he chases
Mindy, it’s a great cathartic collection of laughs. The Warners are safe from the aggressive
animal caretaker, and the pain from the chase for Mindy goes to someone who
deserves it for once.
Ultimately, for
the sake of fun comedy and fine use of characters, quick as this cartoon goes,
it’s a lively watch of cartoonish antics from shows old and new.
A
No Face Like Home
This Slappy Squirrel cartoon starts
off like it has a clear plot, goes in the usual gag-driven direction, and then
just ends. It’s kind of a sloppy
structure, but the results are still highly humorous and have a special way of
making a point.
To start off, Slappy’s
main goal in the cartoon is one with a lot of merit to it. It makes for a very blunt commentary on how
sappy and overly reliant on morals many cartoons on kids networks can be. A clip parodying those shows with characters
acting unnaturally happy and friendly to each other while preaching sappy
morals is enough to sell Slappy’s concerns for the media. She wants to get back into show business to
make a name for cartoons as a tool for comedy like they used to be. However, she’s under the impression that she
has to completely change her appearance to do it as a result, so she goes to a
plastic surgery clinic.
Right away, we have attention given to a legitimate problem with the
entertainment industry that feels like something Slappy would want to do
something about. Maybe she’s
overthinking things by wanting to change her appearance, but it could be argued
that it’s a case of doing what’s necessary for a cause.
However, we don’t get to see any of that
further explored as Walter Wolf suddenly appears when Slappy is ready for
surgery. Since this is one of Slappy’s
longtime enemies we’re talking about, just him showing up is enough to prepare
oneself for an onslaught of cartoonish physical violence from here. With all the measures taken to ruin Slappy’s
face while she’s out, Walter truly goes all out with villainous intents to ruin his
rival’s cartoon career the worst way possible. As you could
guess, Slappy’s wise to Walter’s motives and how corny his overdramatic dialog
is. While pretending to be out, she
intentionally slides along her cot, making for overly forceful blows from
Walter capped by loud clanging sounds.
There’s also a good use of electrocution whether Walter is knocked into
an overhead lamp or touched by a defibrillator.
That said, one of them features Slappy’s own corny line on how what you
can get away with in cartoons is shocking as the electrocution happens. There’s also a good use of constant
references to a golf course at the clinic where they build up to one last pain
gag. A golf ball lands on Walter’s nose,
a doctor hits it hard, and the nose is hurt so bad, he needs plastic
surgery. With a little help from Slappy,
Walter’s appearance is altered into another person. The only hint I’ll give is that it’s a good
cause for him to steer clear from Yakko and Wakko.
As for Slappy’s plastic surgery, she suddenly
decides against it via an intentionally cheesy moral preach common to after
school specials. While this is yet
another funny jab at corny moralistic cartoons, it makes Slappy’s decision very
sudden without any thought put into it.
It’s a waste of an interesting plot just for the sake of pain gags
against some hapless fool trying to ruin her.
Then again, that may be the point given that Slappy loves using cartoon
violence for the fun of it.
In the end,
this might not be the best cartoon for a compelling story since it spends so
much time building up one only for it to go nowhere. Still, it’s a winning enough entry of showing
why cartoons should be allowed to be cartoons no matter how old and grey they
may be.
A
Cartoon Ranking
1. Baloney and Kids
2. Ragamuffins
3. Frontier Slappy
4. Woodstock Slappy
5. Wakko’s Gizmo
6. The Warners and the Beanstalk
7. Brain Meets Brawn
8. Meet John Brain
9. Yes, Always
10. Drive Insane
11. Lookit the Fuzzy Heads
12. Karaoke Dokie
13. Witch One
14. Of Course, You Know This Means Warners
15. No Face Like Home
16. Meet Minerva
17. The Chicken Who Loved Me
18. Scare Happy Slappy
19. Smell Ya Later
20. A Gift of Gold
21. Ups and Downs
22. The Helpinki Formula
23. Les Boutons et le Ballon
24. Gold Rush
25. Up a Tree
26. Cranial Crusader
27. Mermaid Mindy
28. Katie Ka-Boom: The Driving Lesson
29. With Three You Get Eggroll
30. Kung Boo
31. The Brave Little Trailer
32. Girlfeathers
33. Super Buttons
34. Katie Ka-Boom: Call Waiting
Song Ranking
1. Schnitzelbank
2. I’m Cute
3. Dot’s Quiet Time
Miscellaneous Ranking
1. Branimaniacs
2. Macbeth
3. Oh, Oh, Ethel
4. Spike
The next Animaniacs review is a very special retrospective on reaching 65 episodes and documenting the brilliantness of the Warner Brothers and the Warner Sister.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Pool Hopping" from Steven Universe.
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