Sunday, August 25, 2019

Previously on Animaniacs / Deduces Wild / Rest in Pieces / U.N. Me (Animaniacs Vol 3 Part 22) - 'Toon Reviews 32

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Episode 72

Previously on Animaniacs
Some shows are known to have recaps of previous episodes to prepare the audience for what’s going down in the current episode.  They’re typically seen on action shows or soap operas.  The goal of this parody intro is to poke fun at how over-the-top those types of shows can be. 
It’s an entire montage of scenes that weren’t actually part of any previous episode and the only substance they have is really just the abundance of explosions and forced drama.  Characters are seen doing things you’d never expect them to do like going into battle, having tense confrontations with a court, getting caught in violent crashes, and more.  Keeping in the show’s tone, there’s plenty of room for humor. For instance, there’s Yakko being called out for doing something insane which is nothing new for him, and Dr. Scratchansniff breaking up with his hand puppet.  Even some dramatic bits like a court case and Wakko as a cancer patient invoke a laugh for being overdramatic and coming from funny cartoon characters.  The action also makes for a successful running gag with random explosions happening whenever some guy tries to say “Oh my God” with the last part cut off.  The funny part is that something so serious happens so regularly, or maybe the opener’s self-aware that these things do happen regularly in action shows. 
As the montage ends with the Warners’ water tower getting blown up, they easily shake it off saying they’ll rebuild it to look exactly like the old one.  The perfect response is cutting immediately to the theme song with zooming in as always on the tower intact.  Sometimes the dramatic parts of life just need to be made fun of, and this opener provides plenty of that.
A+
 
Deduces Wild


This cartoon features the Warners in the setup that perfectly suits them.  They’re featured doing a random activity, and pop in on a random moment whether it’s their home time period, a moment in history, or a pop culture scene.  They’re annoying to who they come across but successfully funny to the audience, thus bringing a winning formula of entertainment. 
For this cartoon, the random activity is a scavenger hunt with roles on Baywatch as a prize that lands them in the home of Sherlock Holmes who’s in the middle of the case.  As far as portrayals go, he has a hilarious ego and attitude problem driving him all throughout.  All his deductions and spurts of frustration bring about an explosive showing of character where even if he’s not the nicest person, he’s a thrill to watch regardless.  Plus, he has a perfect foil in his assistant Watson who’s much more cheerful albeit somewhat of a dope who’s constantly out of Holmes’ cases.  Regarding his case, he’s gotten reports of thefts from one of his rivals Mariachi, a Mexican mariachi man who wears a Scottish kilt and flies around in his makeshift gyrocopter. 
When the Warners show up on their scavenger hunt, there’s plenty of annoyance and frustration-based comedy from Holmes.  His explosive tempers are at their most dynamic as the Warners ask him for crazy items, misinterpret his requests to leave, and keep coming back when he throws them out.  As for the latter annoyance, I’m surprised the tables are never surprisingly turned with Holmes being thrown out instead like what’s happened in the past.  I suppose it works for the gag of Wakko learning the meaning of the word “keister.”  The frustration does make sense given Holmes’ concentration on the case, but it’s hardly a detriment to the cartoon.  Every way the Warners find a way back inside and the witty comeback lines they have for what Holmes has to say when belittling them and wanting them gone. 
The annoyances have believable after effects too, for when the Warners mock and interrupt Holmes so much, he eventually breaks down and helps the Warners with their scavenger hunt.  Here’s the big twist to all of this though.  You may think that Holmes turning away from his case for something total strangers want is a huge detriment, but that’s not so.  The very thing the Warners are up to has a surprisingly huge tie to Holmes’ pursuit to Mariachi.  The things they’ve picked up are mostly pop culture references, but some of them are the same things he’s stolen.  This means he’s on the same scavenger hunt and makes for a pretty fun climax where the next thing to find is a fat chubby sidekick, i.e. Watson.  Granted it’s sudden when we go from the Warners in Mariachi’s sack to retrieve Watson to them back inside while Mariachi grabs Holmes and the police.  Then again, that’s the point for comedy’s sake as we end with the old Holmes reference that the reason for the sudden change is just elementary.  Given what the Warners are like, it can also amount to good old cartoon logic where anything goes with them. 
It’s that very elementary and logic that make this another strong show of comedy and character banter from this one-of-a-kind animated series.
A+
Rest in Pieces

It’s often said that violence should never go too far or else it could result in the ultimate consequences such as death.  This is truer for real life and shows that are grounded in reality, but in a series of wacky cartoons where anything goes, that’s just it.  Characters in cartoons can do whatever they want to each other, and it comes off as extreme reactions or comedic shapes from physical impacts.  Of course that depends on how the reaction is executed, but that’s going into a little too much detail. 
This is why it’s a shock that there’s a cartoon where Slappy Squirrel is informed that all her years of blowing up her cartoon nemesis Walter Wolf has gotten him killed.  It doesn’t take a lesson on cartoon violence from Slappy to figure that something’s up with this.  Walter and his cartoon villain cronies have gotten beaten up by Slappy many times and have turned out fine.  It just doesn’t make sense that he’d get killed now.  There turns out to be a logical explanation with the whole thing being an act from Walter to ruin Slappy’s reputation as well as blasted as she’s saying the eulogy.  It’s no surprise that Slappy knows the truth too given her inherent knowledge of how cartoonish physical violence is supposed to work.  It’s practically pointless to catch Walter in the act just before entering for the eulogy.  
One thing working against this setup is how no one notices the holes in logic from Walter’s supposed demise.  Everyone attending his funeral is an anthropomorphic cartoon animal, so they should have an understanding that extreme gags don’t kill beings like them.  They’re so quick to blame Slappy for the death and even have major sympathy for Walter, but why?  If he’s the antagonist in cartoons, his death shouldn’t mean much to them.  I suppose murder is murder which is the only excuse I can think of for Skippy to turn on his aunt as well.  Fortunately, for Skippy’s sake, he’s not totally against her and acts more of a guide for her to be respectful to Walter during the eulogy. 
During that part of the funeral, Slappy does her great self-aware thing of every trick Walter has set up, mostly bombs and booby traps set to go off.  She frequently names them as mementos to mark the great things Walter was known for in life, and insists he’d like to be buried with them constantly.  As much justice as this does for her character, it’s concerning that the funeral attendees still don’t see anything up with obviously rigged bombs set up all around her.  At least when Walter finally snaps and exposes himself everyone isn’t dense enough to see sense, so while easily blaming Slappy is a problem, its sting is not huge at all.  We then close with one last reiteration that there’s no dying in cartoons which would spoil the push for comedy just in case it wasn’t obvious to the average viewer.  An explosive gag that blows up Beanie Bison into a grave only for him to pop his head out alive later proves this. 
This may not be a perfect story, but I admire the credit it gives to one of the key things to remember should someone tackle cartoon comedy.
A-
U.N. Me

The songs just keep coming with these Kids WB episodes, and they continue to bring interesting topics to cover.  It’s a big showstopper set to the traditional tune “Down by the Riverside” only this case it’s down by the East riverside with the United Nations being set in New York. 
Like most educational songs, it packs in a lot of interesting details about the topic in such a fast tune, yet it’s all so easy to understand.  There’s mentions of basic information like how many countries meet there, what they discuss, and the general assembly leader at the time, Boutros Boutros Gali. 
This is just at the beginning though as everything after that covers the more tourist pleasing elements of the place.  Descriptions of the gift shop, pastries at the cafeteria, and Japanese tour guides turn the educational angle on its head for just a humorous escapade.  I mean through all the singing about what the U.N. has to offer, we’re seeing the Warners just messing around there before getting kicked out for spilling soda on Brazilian art.  Then there’s a ridiculous scene at the end with the foreign representatives fighting with liverwurst. 
Now whether you look at this as a funny recount or an educational song, both tones are successful at doing what they set out to do.  However, it feels like two topics of the U.N. merged into one without really finding common ground.  At first it wants to be educational then it suddenly wants to be a funny Warners cartoon set at the U.N. portrayed in song.  It just feels inconsistent. 
Nevertheless, the tune is still fun, the information you get is presented way better than it would from a lecture or reading in a book, and it’s a musical experience that really sticks.  With that, we may not have one of the musical highlights of the series here, but still a fun energetic musical number on a topic you wouldn’t expect to see put to music.  You can kind of factor it as finding musical potential in just about anything.
A-

Cartoon Ranking

1.      The Warners’ 65th Anniversary Special

2.      Super Strong Warner Siblings

3.      Baloney and Kids

4.      Ragamuffins

5.      Frontier Slappy

6.      Woodstock Slappy

7.      Deduces Wild

8.      Wakko’s Gizmo

9.      The Warners and the Beanstalk

10.  Brain Meets Brawn

11.  Morning Malaise

12.  Meet John Brain

13.  Yes, Always

14.  Drive Insane

15.  Lookit the Fuzzy Heads

16.  Take My Siblings Please

17.  Wakko’s New Gookie

18.  Karaoke Dokie

19.  Nutcracker Slappy

20.  Witch One

21.  Of Course, You Know This Means Warners

22.  No Face Like Home

23.  Meet Minerva

24.  The Chicken Who Loved Me

25.  Scare Happy Slappy

26.  Bingo

27.  Smell Ya Later

28.  A Gift of Gold

29.  Ups and Downs

30.  Rest in Pieces

31.  The Helpinki Formula

32.  The Mindy 500

33.  Les Boutons et le Ballon

34.  Bad Mood Bobby

35.  Whistle Stop Mindy

36.  Three Tenors and You’re Out

37.  Gold Rush

38.  Up a Tree

39.  Cranial Crusader

40.  Mermaid Mindy

41.  Katie Ka-Boom: The Driving Lesson

42.  With Three You Get Eggroll

43.  Kung Boo

44.  Pigeon on the Roof

45.  The Brave Little Trailer

46.  Girlfeathers

47.  Super Buttons

48.  We’re No Pigeons

49.  Miami-Mama Mia

50.  Fake

51.  Katie Ka-Boom: Call Waiting

52.  Katie Ka-Boon: The Blemish

53.  Katie Ka-Boom: The Broken Date

Song Ranking

1.      A Quake! A Quake!

2.      Variety Speak

3.      Schnitzelbank

4.      I’m Mad

5.      I’m Cute

6.      U.N. Me

7.      Dot’s Quiet Time

8.      Coo

Miscellaneous Ranking

1.      Branimaniacs

2.      Previously on Animaniacs

3.      Macbeth

4.      Oh, Oh, Ethel

5.      Spike

 
The next Animaniacs review features a Beatles parody, Slappy Squirrel enduring action movies, and a commercial spot that can relate to obsessive fanboys of today.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Escapism" from 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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