'Toon Reviews 14: Animaniacs Vol 1 Part 18: Pavlov's Mice/Chicken Boo-Ryshnikov/Nothing but the Tooth

Episode 18

Pavlov’s Mice

The cartoons composing this episode are given a Russian flare, and it all kicks off with another outing with Pinky and the Brain in another attempt at world domination. 

This time around, the mice are lab animals in the lab of Ivan Pavlov, a scientist known for his experiments on conditioned reflexes, mainly with how a dog drools when offered food at the sound of a bell.  In this cartoon’s case, which is a far more exaggerated version of Pavlov’s experiments, the mice’s conditioned reflexes have Brain dancing as a teapot at the sound of a gong, and Pinky dancing an entertainingly energetic trepak at the sound of a bell.  It’s an interesting comedic take on one of history’s most noteworthy science experiments, and it adds in a bit of an edge to the featured plan to take over the world. 

Brain plans to take advantage of an upcoming lunar eclipse by using his newest invention known as the Vacuuminator to suck up the crown jewels while the Czar and the guards are watching the eclipse.  Apparently, all you need to control Russia are the crown jewels.  I’m not sure how that works, but there’s most likely a logical explanation that I’m just not aware of.  Anyway, this plan actually seems like it has everything set in place to succeed.  Brain has his invention, and with no opposing forces to guard what he’s after, the crown jewels should easily be his. 

That’s where the conditioned reflexes become a hindrance to the plan.  As Pinky and Brain make their way towards the palace, little things end up sounding like a gong or a bell and get them to do their silly gestures.  At first, it just happens for laughs, but then it becomes an issue when it makes the mice’s efforts to get a ride to the Czar’s palace harder than it has to be.  Then when they finally make it to the crown jewels, they appear to be perfectly situated to get what they came for.  Suddenly, out of pure bad luck, their respective trigger sounds are heard and they go into an incurable dance sequence which prevents the jewels from getting sucked up by the Vacuuminator, and they end up sucked up instead, as well as, through the force of Pinky’s dance, right out of the palace as the eclipse ends. 

The interesting thing about all this is that the main reason the plan fails is because of something out of both characters’ control.  It wasn’t by Brain’s big ego or Pinky’s simplemindedness, but rather by the natural forces lingering in their psyche put there by Ivan Pavlov.  It’s a fine way to shake up the way these cartoons usually work and a great example of how each of them can stand out even if they’re all mostly the same thing every time.  However, the whole cartoon goes by pretty fast, so there aren’t many standout elements apart from the usual banter and great amusing personality clashes from the main characters.  The whole watch just kind of comes and goes and makes you wish you could stay around longer.  At least things really pick up whenever the conditioned reflexes come in, and they make for a great big finish when the tune of Pinky’s trepak combines with the ending theme. 

For what we have though, it’s still great solid fun with an interesting twist to the formula featuring the one and only genuine world domination mice duo. 9/10

Chicken Boo-Ryshnikov

With this episode, we get the first of many short cartoons featuring a character simply known as Chicken Boo.  These cartoons are another set that falls under the formulaic category. 

They feature Chicken Boo making it big as a star of any given field imaginable while wearing a flimsy disguise, and only one person claims that he’s a giant chicken.  Then once the disguise comes off, everyone freaks out about his true identity kicking him clean out of the scene, after which, he walks off into the distance.  It’s basically the same thing every time they come up, but even at that, it’s still easy to enjoy them, and this cartoon here is no exception. 

Each Chicken Boo cartoon may feature the same thing happen, but stand out for the different scenarios the titular chicken is placed in.  Each role he takes up is combined with the comically absurd idea. Here, everyone’s praising Chicken Boon for being such a great ballet dancer, and even though all he’s wearing to disguise himself is a wig, crown, and jumpsuit, the one person who calls the chicken out is berated.  As for the standout moment of this particular cartoon, it honestly isn’t much to make a big deal over.  Chicken Boo dances to a moving orchestral rendition of “Swan Lake” at the ballet, and the one person who called him out earlier is proven right when the wig comes off and his identity is revealed. 

While it is humorous to watch a big, cross-eyed chicken dance ballet and the ways the audience negatively react to his true identity by throwing cooked chickens as well as fruit, the whole thing mostly comes off as a basic look of what to expect from this character, so it’s not all that special.  Also, I get that people would be freaked out that an actual, disease carrying animal is in their presence, but apart from the dancer he’s performing with, no one’s too close to him, so their reaction to the big dance star being a chicken is kind of harsh.  Fortunately, the reactions to the reveal make more sense in many cartoons to come. 

Plus, it helps form an underlying theme for these cartoons in general.  The parts of Chicken Boo being famous while disguised represent dreams many people have to become famous in certain fields and the reactions to who he really is show the reality of something standing in the way of achieving those goals we have to overcome.  It amounts to an honest look at the difficulties of achieving the American Dream. 

As it stands, despite merely showing what we’re in for with Chicken Boo, it’s still a solid introduction that never overstays its welcome and shows off a perfectly ridiculous yet inventive and relatable setup. 8/10

Nothing but the Tooth

We’re so used to Warners helping historical figures create their big breakthrough in cartoons where they meet one, but this one shakes up the formula by having what they do to him face his downfall in power. 

In this case, it’s Rasputin, the royal advisor of Czar Nicholas II, and history has already painted him in an antagonistic light since he’s been known to have some controlling influence over the Czar, though certainly not through hypnosis as the cartoon shows.  This isn’t a knock against the cartoon though since, while it has educated in a lot of interesting subjects, 100% accuracy shouldn’t be expected since this series is designed to entertain first. 

As a result, after Rasputin’s hypnosis powers are established, a comedic plot surrounding him is able to form when he gets a toothache, and the Warners come in as his dentists.  As is to be expected with these kids, the Warners absolutely shine in their roles as Rasputin’s dentist.  They clearly give him a hard time, right down to outright freaking him out with Yakko claiming that dentistry is mostly just a hobby for them, but it never feels like they’re trying to be malicious towards their patient.  It just feels like what they’re doing is part of their routine, and they really put effort into what they’re doing, unethical as it is.  Even if it wasn’t the case, Rasputin feels completely open to the torment the kids provide given his villainous actions.  That’s not even mentioning the air of hilarity to everything the Warners do while tending to his toothache such as casually bringing up a painful drill, and using a little Anastasia to ease the pain which it truly is an “obscure joke” referring to the 1956 live-action film.  The more popular animated film from Don Bluth wouldn’t be out for another four years. 

However, the most effective comedic moment from the Warners comes in when they decide to use string to get Rasputin’s bad tooth out, and he eventually has enough, running away scared with a string tied to his tooth while the Warners chase after him in small yellow cars around the palace halls.  It’s not just a fun little chase scenes fitting for characters big on cartoon antics, but it’s also a great follow-up to the earlier comment on how the Warners are more of Shriners than dentists.  This fun, fast-paced chase is the real standout moment of the cartoon and a thoroughly entertaining way to end Rasputin’s time with the Warners as well as lead to him getting him fired. 

Just as before, it doesn’t even matter that how he got fired is far less accurate and drastic to how it happened in real life.  True it’s not as exciting or interesting as real life, but it works in the context of the cartoon.  Plus, the ending of Yakko commenting on how nothing but good things will happen for the Czar with Rasputin gone and the scene cutting to the Czar now being hypnotized by Rasputin’s puppy who now has his teeth really works in more ways than one.  After all, there might not have been a hypnotizing puppy, but it’s well-known that Czar Nicholas II was the last czar via a nasty execution of him and his family. 

Even if this cartoon does have a lot of moments that can only happen in the realm of cartoons, you’d be surprised how well it can connect to the real events.  For that, as well as general humor, while this isn’t the best cartoon of the show, it’s still a solid one with many fun and interesting moments to look forward to. 9/10

Cartoon Ranking

1. King Yakko
2. Hello Nice Warners
3. Slappy Goes Walnuts
4. H.M.S. Yakko
5. Hooked on a Ceiling
6. Temporary Insanity
7. Bumbie’s Mom
8. Les Miseranimals
9. Space Probed
10. West Side Pigeons
11. Battle for the Planet
12. When Rita Met Runt
13. De-zanitized
14. Win Big
15. Taming of the Screwy
16. Chalkboard Bungle
17. La La Law
18. Nothing but the Tooth
19. Piano Rag
20. Pavlov’s Mice
21. Cookies for Einstein
22. The Big Candy Store
23. Garage Sale of the Century
24. Wally Llama
25. Where Rodents Dare
26. Roll Over Beethoven
27. Hurray for Slappy
28. Cat on a Hot Steel Beam
29. Operation: Lollipop
30. No Pain No Painting
31. Chicken Boo-Ryshnikov
32. Goodfeathers: The Beginning
33. The Cat and the Fiddle
34. La Behemoth

Song Ranking

1. Yakko’s Universe
2. Yakko’s World
3. The Monkey Song
4. What Are We?
5. Little Old Slappy from Pasadena

Miscellaneous Ranking

1. The Great Wakkorotti: The Master and His Music
2. Gilligan’s Island Parody
3. Nighty-Night Toon
4. Flipper Parody

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Warner siblings cartoon featured adds in a heartfelt element of the kids striving to stick together even in the face of Death, and we get the introduction cartoon of the Hip Hippos even though it's the second one to air.

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'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 17

House Music
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s one element that makes this cartoon stand out from the ones we’ve covered so far.  Lincoln isn’t the major focus of this one.  That’s right, we’re actually having one of the sisters take the spotlight here, and I’m pleased to say that it’s no one other than Luna, and this cartoon does a great job at further expanding her character.  At the start, Luna shows off how awesome she is by offering her family meaningful music advice as they form a band set to perform at the upcoming fair.  They may not have the same musical skills, but Luna reminds them that all you need to do with music is have fun, and never worry about sounding good and those are true words to live by.  The cartoon also shows off how relatable Luna is at the moment when she learns that her idol, Mick Swagger, is coming to the fair, and she obsesses over impressing him so much that she forgets her own advice resulting in her becoming a jerk to her family which includes firing her own dad.  Regarding Dad, this cartoon is another example of getting a lot of character out of him without showing his face from presenting his history of getting fired from bands, and his immense distraught when his own daughter does that to him.  As for Luna’s portrayal, some might not be keen on it, but to me it seems very believable to anyone trying to impress their idols.  Plus, this moment goes on to further showcase Luna’s great trait of realizing when she messes up and strives to fix things and does so in an interesting way.  When going solo from her family to work on a song to impress Mick, Luna finds herself unable to write a good one and grows miserable in the process.  Then after a talk with a seemingly random old man at a diner, Luna is then reminded of what she herself said about having fun with music which gets her to realize that she does have fun with music when she’s with her family.  Sure enough, once Luna makes up with her family and makes Dad feel better by getting him back in the band, she and the family put on a good show by having fun and not feeling the pressure of impressing anyone.  What we see throughout the second half of the cartoon nicely demonstrates how the entire Loud family is a big influence on Luna’s talents so much so that the reveal is just as big of an impact on the audience as it is to Luna herself.  Now, while this cartoon might not have the same amazing status as “For Bros About to Rock,” it still does a lot of good with its humor, message, and the many ways it proves that Luna is the most interesting of the Loud siblings. 9.5/10

A Novel Idea

 

 

 

 

 

At times, I feel that it must be hard for Lincoln to cope with being the only boy in a big family with a bunch of sisters.  This is one of the cartoons that emphasizes this, specifically with him not being allowed to join them for Take Your Daughter to Work Day at Dad’s office where they all have such a fun time.  He does get something to make up for being left out of the day when Mom decides to make today Take Your Son to Work Day at the dentist’s office she works at.  Much of the first cartoon goes on to really capture the feeling of waiting around in a boring environment for a long time and struggling to keep yourself entertained which is something everyone young or old can relate to.  As a result, when you see Lincoln get up to many creative moments of using his imagination, only to realize that he just can’t make Mom’s workplace as fun as Dad’s, I bet you can probably see yourself in him.  Things get a lot more interesting when you consider Mom’s side of the story.  If you like the show’s decision to never show the faces of the Loud parents this season, you’ll really appreciate this cartoon for giving us a lot of moments where Mom shows off a lot of character solely from body language, most notably through hand movements.  Her character is really felt when she invites Lincoln to her office, suggests things to do to keep himself entertained, and when she talks about a personal desire to Lincoln.  She has a notebook where she writes down ideas of a potential novel that she hopes to get published someday, and you can really sense how excited she is about it, not to mention that this aspiration adds a bit to her character.  Because you end up getting how Mom feels about her novel, it’s easy to sense Lincoln’s urgency when he ends up losing Mom’s notebook.  For much of the second half, we’re treated to an awesome sequence of Lincoln encountering a lot of crazy obstacles as he tries to get the notebook back which is easily the most entertaining part of the cartoon.  Even though the notebook ultimately gets destroyed right when Lincoln is about to return it to Mom, we do get a nice moment between mother and son to wrap everything up.  After Lincoln explains what happened, instead of getting mad at him, Mom sees the positive side of what Lincoln did and comes up with a better idea for a novel inspired by him.  This ending is strong proof that the show can bring out heart in any family member and not just Lincoln and the sisters which really attributes to how good its craftsmanship is.  Thanks to the fun sequences including the climax, the relatable premise, development for one of the parents, and a nice family bond at its center, this is a good cartoon to watch when you want to prevent boredom. 9/10

The Ranking

1.      For Bros About to Rock

2.      Undie Pressure

3.      Project Loud House

4.      Space Invader

5.      Driving Miss Hazy

6.      Left in the Dark

7.      Toads and Tiaras

8.      Picture Perfect

9.      House Music

10.  Save the Date

11.  Sleuth or Consequences

12.  Hand-Me-Downer

13.  No Guts No Glori

14.  Attention Deficit

15.  Changing the Baby

16.  Along Came A Sister

17.  A Novel Idea

18.  Sound of Silence

19.  Butterfly Effect

20.  A Tale of Two Tables

21.  Cover Girls

22.  It’s A Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House

23.  Overnight Success

24.  In Tents Debate

25.  Out on a Limo

26.  Linc or Swim

27.  The Sweet Spot

28.  Heavy Meddle

29.  Get the Message

30.  Ties that Bind

31.  Making the Case

32.  Chore and Peace

33.  Two Boys and a Baby

34.  The Green House

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Louds enter a minefield of pranks as Luan proves that "April Fools Rules," and Lincoln goes on a shopping spree to get a special cereal while his sisters become "Cereal Offenders."