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Episode 66
Take My Siblings Please
In the spirit of “The Warners and the Beanstalk” this cartoon once again places the Warners in a fairy tale. The thing is that this time, they don’t need
to change their appearances for a time period or even work in the conventions
of another story. The cartoon is just
the Warners doing what they do best by applying a highly animated antic-fueled
approach to just living their lives.
The
featured fairy tale subjected to parody is “Three Billy Goats Gruff” though the
Warners bear no resemblance to goats. They’re just the funny cartoon characters
as we know them taking a literal approach to the story direction. The most hilarious example of this is taking
the story direction of romping about as an energetic conga line. It’s only when each sibling gets tired of
constantly romping when they follow the route of the original fairy tale and go
pick flowers in the forbidden meadow.
Also in line with the original story being parodied, the only way there
is across a bridge guarded by a troll who eats anyone daring to cross.
While this sounds like a basic retelling and
nothing more, the comedic undertones are quite prevalent and make this version
stand out. The Warners seem aware of how
overdramatic the threats of the troll are.
Just to play to it, they go way overboard with playing an organ whenever
the troll is mentioned as a way to break the fourth wall when it comes to
background music. This also applies to
actively showing crew members behind the cartoon. An assistant director gets
injured when Wakko throws the organ away and an off screen director tells the
kids to get back to romping when the scene cuts back to them. These are just some ways to keep the parody
element of this fairy tale parody prominent.
The encounters with the troll also have a good share of laughs. They’re the most in line with the original
fairy tale out of all of the Warners’ roles, but each character makes their
encounter all their own. Dot is more frightened by the troll’s unstylish
haircut than the fact that he wants to eat her.
Wakko uses contractual obligations to get out of being eaten. However, their bits with the troll pale in
comparison to Yakko. For starters, he’s
the one most willing to romp, right down to using a line of hot chorus girls
when his siblings bail. In fact, Yakko’s
still willing to do so when they get tired themselves, although he’s still
willing to join his siblings as the cartoon nears the end. As for his run-in with the troll, he doesn’t
need to say anything. Yakko just cuts to
the chase, hits him with a mallet, and is done with it. That’s perhaps the smartest use of animated
antics one can utilize, especially when it brings such funny results.
It’s still a fairly basic fairy tale
retelling overall, but the cartoonish approach, in my perspective, makes all
the difference.
A
The Mindy 500
This cartoon is yet another round of
Mindy and Buttons shenanigans with just about everything easily predicted
beforehand. Despite that, what we get
actually turns out kind of fun, especially if you’re into racecars. It even has a bit of an exploration of
Mindy’s capabilities.
We first see her
tied up in her harness as usual, but also driving around in a kiddie car. Then she catches sight of an interesting cute
distraction, a clown car meant to be used in a race at the local stadium. Deciding she wants to drive the clown car,
Mindy impressively drives herself out of the yard by driving around the tree
and landing on the truck carrying the vehicle to the race. As usual, Buttons
goes after her and the same old formula unfolds at the stadium.
Now, unlike other Mindy and Buttons chases,
this one takes place solely in one location, the stadium. While this may allegedly hurt the appeal and
fun of what we get, this move works because of exactly what this one location
is. A racecar stadium is a place that
always has something fast, lively, and exciting going on. Even if it’s just a bunch of cars going in a
circle, nothing is ever truly boring.
Buttons has to be careful of when to cross the racetrack to get to
Mindy, making for fast motions to get away from the cars. Then when a car finally hits him, it’s a
high-speed push of excitement. There’s
also one of the more clever visual gags as Buttons disguises himself as a tire,
making for a funny design as he’s actually applied to a racecar. The pain he may feel is further quelled by
acknowledgement that the applied tire is actually a dog instead of him being
ignored for the whole race.
As for
Mindy’s pursuit of the clown car, it actually becomes meaningful when she
actually gets to it. Instead of just
following it like she does with every cute thing she sees, she actually drives it, and has a pretty decent handle on it for a child. In fact, Buttons, who’s more competent and
aware of the danger of the situation, has more trouble driving given that he
has no opposable thumbs. He would
probably be better off leaving Mindy to the car instead of taking control where
they really drive all crazy like. Still,
the final race in the clown car to the finish line and beyond is a really fun
watch. They get to the winner circle to
get something to show for their fun with the vehicle, and there’s an even more
exciting race back home.
The fun is
spoiled somewhat by Buttons’ scolding, but for more pressing reasons than
usual. Yes, he did destroy the rose beds,
but he clearly won a trophy for his efforts.
Why would Mindy’s mom just brush it off as junk and not be proud of what
they did? It’s a sure fire way to
devalue a good amount of excitement that’s typically hard to find in Mindy and
Buttons cartoons.
Other than that and
this still technically being the same old thing, this is still one of the few
times where watching what these characters get up to is legitimately fun.
A-
Morning Malaise
I believe that you can’t expect to
create something funny simply by insulting people. It just makes you come off as an all-out
selfish jerk which begs a lot of questions about what you’re like when you’re
not pulling any media stunts. That’s why
it’s great to get a cartoon of the Warners facing a radio talk show host who
specializes in insulting callers considering that retaliating against jerks is
what they do.
Actually, it’s another
case of the show getting creative with its references, in this case Howard
Stern. I don’t know much about him in
real world, but I get the basic guidelines that he’s a jerk radio host with a
lot of controversy. Upon recent
research, I’ve also learned that he’s done some pretty despicable things and his
routine has been the cause for bad occurrences among innocent people.
In this cartoon, he’s portrayed as Howie
Turne a stork alongside his co-host Robin, an actual robin bird modeled after
one of Stern’s real life co-hosts Robin Quivers. After a short sequence of Howie insulting
callers and Robin attempting to reason with him, the Warners suddenly show up
in defense of everyone he’s offended.
Rather than getting actively upset over this, the Warners are laid-back
and nonchalant all throughout. They know
how to bring this jerk host down a peg and the results are glorious. Everything Howie does to one-up them, the
Warners can simply do anything he does better.
They’re so good, even Howie’s own co-host is unable to side with him and
find more legit humor in the competition.
To cap it off is a battle of witty comebacks between Howie and Yakko,
making for a clash between Howie being intentionally hurtful and Yakko just
knowing how to counteract him. The stuff
he’s able to use against the stork is quite demonstrative of how good animation
and good comedy is versatile if you have an open mind. Howie shows he doesn’t have the mind for such
versatility as he runs out of comeback lines and straight-up explodes as a
result. It’s a random outcome yes, but
that’s what happens when you deal with characters with a random mindset like
the Warners. They even show it as they
make a speech of being there to defend the media from jerk hosts like Howie and
end it saying they’ll be there quicker if they’re holding candy.
This cartoon may not have an effect on real
jerks in the media, but it sure is fun to watch what some people may wish they
could do to them. It all unfolds in one
of the smartest written retaliations of recent episodes.
A+
Cartoon Ranking
1. The Warners’ 65th Anniversary Special
2. Baloney and Kids
3. Ragamuffins
4. Frontier Slappy
5. Woodstock Slappy
6. Wakko’s Gizmo
7. The Warners and the Beanstalk
8. Brain Meets Brawn
9. Morning Malaise
10. Meet John Brain
11. Yes, Always
12. Drive Insane
13. Lookit the Fuzzy Heads
14. Take My Siblings Please
15. Karaoke Dokie
16. Witch One
17. Of Course, You Know This Means Warners
18. No Face Like Home
19. Meet Minerva
20. The Chicken Who Loved Me
21. Scare Happy Slappy
22. Smell Ya Later
23. A Gift of Gold
24. Ups and Downs
25. The Helpinki Formula
26. The Mindy 500
27. Les Boutons et le Ballon
28. Gold Rush
29. Up a Tree
30. Cranial Crusader
31. Mermaid Mindy
32. Katie Ka-Boom: The Driving Lesson
33. With Three You Get Eggroll
34. Kung Boo
35. The Brave Little Trailer
36. Girlfeathers
37. Super Buttons
38. 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 all about the Goodfeathers, though their Miami cartoon and musical parody are honestly pretty disappointing.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the amazing marvel from Steven Universe "A Single Pale Rose."
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