Saturday, August 3, 2019

The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special (Animaniacs Vol 3 Part 15) - 'Toon Reviews 32

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Episode 65

The Warners’ 65th Anniversary Special



Back in the day, shows reaching 65 episodes was seen as a big deal.  Before innumerable cable channels were on the rise, shows would be put in syndication at this amount of episodes.  This means a show is eligible for airing on several TV networks instead of being confined to one allowing for more ways to watch a show, and more revenue for the creators.  Most shows would just mark the occasion with whatever episode is 65th in the line-up, usually nothing out of the ordinary.  Then you have the occurrence when the occasion is marked with something special such as this 65th episode of Animaniacs.  What we have here isn’t just special.  It’s also an immersive retrospective on cartoon characters who know how to embrace their zany nature, the Warner Brothers and Warner Sister, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.  With humorous takes to the conventions going into documentaries, this look at the background of these cartoon characters goes all out to stand as such a grand experience. 


Although it’s been said that the Warners were created in the past and locked away for being too zany for the outside world, it’s great to see the details on established history.  Each key subject of their history takes up its own act in the retrospective.  The first act is on their creation and how they got started in show business.  There’s background on their often-mentioned favorite director, Weed Memlo, and a funny scene of the animator who drew them going crazy, winding up in the asylum. 
We also have interesting references delving into one of the lesser known Warner Bros cartoons, Buddy.  I’ve only seen one of his cartoons, but from that, I can agree with the consensus of how devoid of edge and standout characteristics he is, mostly just smiling and believing all is well. 
The Warners, who star alongside him in this retrospective, showing up to smash him is honestly the most enjoyable thing with him.  Too bad this isn’t the case in real life. 

Their time in the Buddy cartoons leads to the second act highlighting their solo career and why their films were so looked down upon by the studio.  It comes with even more solid laughs from the Warners’ antics and relationship with the staff.  They had a chicken as an agent, tendencies to go off the script so much the director would scream at them while filming, and directed their own bizarre films.  Even if this is meant to educate on where the Warners came from, it’s still filled with the hilarious nature of their standard cartoons.  The material they starred in may have been locked away, but their lives are the true cartoons.  The second act also consists of the origins of their running around the studio and driving the actors crazy after their contract was cancelled. The culmination was them being sealed in the water tower as we all know.  Even so, the third act also consists of a small aside of the Warners needing to be let out for a day for maintenance reasons.  This makes for many hilarious encounters in post 1930s historical events be they youth fads like pop rock and disco, or more obscurely World War 2’s aftermath and the Berlin Wall.  I’m always excited to hear more to the stories behind interesting characters, and this anniversary special really has a lot of that. 
It also goes all out with a light-hearted take on documentaries.  We have a fun use of celebrities to open up the affair like a delightfully cheesy Liza Minelli number, and posing as a host complete with his need to look at cue cards, Bob Hope.  The interviews also make up the great appeal of the retrospective not just by highlighting the studio staff and human actors, but the actual Looney Tunes as well.  That’s a smart move to give weight and authenticity to the Warners’ cartoon careers.  They even have their own share of laughs from blunt reactions to their ridiculous histories with the Warners to getting paid over saying how good the sponsored cereal is. 
Out of this background and comedy from the retrospective setup is a touch of darkness unfolding for the Warners.  Even then, this turns out to be in the name of laughs coming from the big-eyed, high-pitched Buddy wanting revenge on the kids for stealing his career.  Not only that, but the Warners are wise to his plan where they praise Buddy in their big anniversary speech at the end, but also set it up so have him get smashed like old times.  It gives the foe what he deserves, pays tribute to how the Warners got started, plays to the kids’ character strengths, and ends the whole thing with a bang.  Well, this and smashing the encore of that cheesy Liza Minelli number.

Syndication episodes don’t always come off as special events, but you can tell that a lot of thought went into this one.  The history of who may be the best characters TV animation has to offer is interesting and expansive.  The documentary tone is mined for a plethora of comedy.  The historical lengths of classic cartoons are huge and unusual.  This is hardly even enough to describe how big of a masterpiece this work is.  It must be seen to be believed as a great animated work that enriches you with a fascinating background and delivers top-notch hilarity all at once.

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.      Meet John Brain
10.  Yes, Always
11.  Drive Insane
12.  Lookit the Fuzzy Heads
13.  Karaoke Dokie
14.  Witch One
15.  Of Course, You Know This Means Warners
16.  No Face Like Home
17.  Meet Minerva
18.  The Chicken Who Loved Me
19.  Scare Happy Slappy
20.  Smell Ya Later
21.  A Gift of Gold
22.  Ups and Downs
23.  The Helpinki Formula
24.  Les Boutons et le Ballon
25.  Gold Rush
26.  Up a Tree
27.  Cranial Crusader
28.  Mermaid Mindy
29.  Katie Ka-Boom: The Driving Lesson
30.  With Three You Get Eggroll
31.  Kung Boo
32.  The Brave Little Trailer
33.  Girlfeathers
34.  Super Buttons
35.  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
Now we’re 3/5s through this DVD set.  We’ll be moving onto Disc 4 next time, mainly consisting of four episodes consisting of leftover material originally created for the first 65 shows.  It’s an understandably economic measure,  but how well does using the originally scrapped cartoons turn out? See you tomorrow to find out.
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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