Episode 15
Space
Probed
If you would like to check out other Animaniacs reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
One of the best qualities of the Warners is how calm and
level-headed they are even in serious situations. This time around, they’re abducted by aliens,
making for a space-themed cartoon, which is not uncommon to find in many
animated series.
Regarding space
cartoons, it makes perfect sense why so many shows resort to them. Space is a
setting that fits the animation medium to a tee. We have no idea what goes on in space,
so the best we can do is come up with our own interpretation, and since animation
helps visualize people’s imaginations, it’s the best medium to express one’s
interpretation. Through throwing in the
ever zany Warners, you can guess that this particular cartoon will turn out
enormously entertaining with a particularly strong comedic edge, and that’s
just what happens.
Much of the entertainment
comes from my earlier statement on how calm the Warners are despite getting
abducted and later slated to be dissected and inspected by the alien
leader. You’d expect most characters in
such peril to be scared, mad, serious, or ready to fight the kidnappers, but
through following victims who are predominantly goofy and love to joke around,
we’re given a unique perspective to the ordeal.
The Warners have no problem using their cartoonish antics to get out
of trouble. They approach the aliens
innocently and comment on their features like their many eyes and gold robes,
mess around with the aliens’ subtitles to fit their liking resulting in some of
the most hilarious jokes, and casually slipping out of their confinements
before their bodies are inspected.
Once
the Warners are free, they easily gain the advantage of the encounter by being
true to themselves. Even
better about this is that the kids split up which allows them to show off their
comedic style which makes them stand as their own characters. Dot gets caught by a group of aliens who
attempt to read her thoughts, and she gets out of the mess by thinking of
good-looking men causing her to melt with infatuation, and then casually put
the mind-reading helmet on the aliens where their infatuations with another
alien end up distracting them long enough for Dot to escape. Wakko, the most childishly innocent of the
trio, misinterprets how the alien leader wants him to run on a treadmill, and
when the leader demonstrates how, Wakko unknowingly pulls the lever making it
go too fast, capped off by an appropriate Jetsons
reference. Yakko mostly has fun through
casually walking around the ship while playing tag with the aliens while
stopping to make witty comments on the clever additions to space this cartoon
shows. They include how other alien
prisoners are long-missing people like Elvis, Amelia Earhart, Bigfoot, and
Jimmy Hoffa, and the alien’s official leader, a big talking toe, whom Yakko
gives a makeover as if he were a beautician.
The Warners simply astound for how they deal with such dangerous
extraterrestrial creatures through comedy.
It’s all capped off with them wildly taking control of the ship to get
back to Earth while the alien leader is knocked around, and then he flies the
ship far away from the planet.
In
addition to an interesting setting and creative intergalactic ideas like that
giant toe, this is an out of this world cartoon that stands out for how great
the Warners are with comedy together or separate, even at times most people
wouldn’t think to be funny. For how
great this cartoon is, you’ll probably be glad to know this wouldn’t be the
last time they’d mess around in space. 10/10
Battle for
the Planet
This Pinky and the Brain cartoon offers a lot of interesting
references to the mice’s usual world domination plans. It involves pirating the TV airways to
convince the world that aliens are taking over the planet, so that they can
take over while the planet’s entire population panics.
The interesting part is the historical
context of the bulk of the plan which Brain explains at the start of the
cartoon. It’s on the 1938 radio
broadcast of War of the Worlds which
also made people believe aliens were invading, and oddly enough, this isn’t the
first time a cartoon relating to this media event was reviewed on this
blog.
Anyway, the plan is basically an
updated version of the event where Brain not only plans to have the world hear
about an alien invasion, but see it through with this generation’s advances of television. On the surface, it sounds like a well-thought
out plan, and it’s especially appealing for not just its historical background,
but also through the use of the three-camera shooting technique that’s actually
been in place since the earliest TV sitcoms as the cartoon also explains.
However, there is an ultimate downfall of the
plan albeit one that’s fitting for the character and further defines the twist
to the nature of Pinky and Brain. While
Brain has the knowledge on how the plan should work as well as actual
historical events to back it up, the fatal flaw to any form of success is that
he is no director. The actual alien for
the news report is clearly Pinky wearing a rubber glove, and you can clearly
see his face in the center which takes away the illusion right then and there
and that’s not even counting the clearly fake spaceship and city background. Not only that, but the acting is laughably
lackluster with Brain failing to produce a convincing suspenseful tone when
watching the alien wreak havoc and Pinky, despite going appropriately crazy as
the alien, frequently misses his cues and further ruins the illusion by messing
up the set. However, Brain doesn’t see
anything wrong with the performances and even compliments Pinky’s recklessness
showing that he truly does know nothing about what convincing acting is
like.
To be fair, it doesn’t seem to
matter at first when certain people watching appear convinced anyway. Because of that, it's shocking
when just as Pinky and Brain leave to start taking over, they find out that the
world populace really did come to their senses, saw that what was on screen
wasn’t real, and praised it as a comedy smash.
In other words, this is another example where Brain’s intellectual
strength becomes the major downfall as opposed to just Pinky’s lack of
intelligence, even if that is technically a small part of the failure. It makes for some fascinating plays on what
most people would expect from a team-up like this.
That along with the strong comedy from the mice’s
performance, interesting historical tidbits for the background, and a message
fitting for anyone who wants to get into the entertainment business make this
one of the strongest Pinky and the Brain offerings. 10/10
Cartoon Ranking
- King Yakko
- Hello Nice Warners
- Slappy Goes Walnuts
- H.M.S. Yakko
- Hooked on a Ceiling
- Temporary Insanity
- Bumbie’s Mom
- Les Miseranimals
- Space Probed
- West Side Pigeons
- Battle for the Planet
- When Rita Met Runt
- De-zanitized
- Win Big
- Taming of the Screwy
- La La Law
- Piano Rag
- Cookies for Einstein
- The Big Candy Store
- Garage Sale of the Century
- Wally Llama
- Where Rodents Dare
- Cat on a Hot Steel Beam
- Operation: Lollipop
- No Pain No Painting
- Goodfeathers: The Beginning
- La Behemoth
Song Ranking
- Yakko’s Universe
- Yakko’s World
- The Monkey Song
- What Are We?
- Little Old Slappy from Pasadena
Miscellaneous Ranking
- Gilligan’s Island Parody
- Nighty-Night Toon
- Flipper Parody
We’re now
3/5 done with the Vol. 1 set, and next time we'll continue with the 4th and
penultimate disc starting with the Warners facing off against an unbelievably strict teacher, Slappy Squirrel teaching about the role of cartoon villains, and the first concert starring belching virtuoso, The Great Wakkorotti.
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