As Ryan Scott of TVWeb tells it, the Animaniacs are coming back for a revival this fall and they’re bringing Pinky and the Brain with them. The most excited of fans will likely be saying “Narf, point!” in their best Pinky voice at this time since the mismatched duo have been a common staple of the Animaniacs since it came to TV back in the 90s. Pinky and the Brain did get their own show in the mid-90s as well but it’s fair to say that it didn’t do as well since their short stories on the core show were far more entertaining since they got to the point quickly and didn’t rely on the two to hold up an entire show. They’re definitely funny and Brain’s many different ideas to take over the world are often diffused just enough by Pinky’s brainless ramblings to make for great comedy, but when paired with the rest of the show’s characters and taken as a part of the larger picture the pair are a lot more effective in the opinion of some folks. Right now the best thing to hear is that they’re coming back and we’ll be able to sit down and tell our kids that this was what was popular when we were younger. Hopefully that means the younger generation will at least want to take a look considering how many options there are out there. Seriously, has anyone looked at all the options that streaming networks give kids these days? You could go your whole life and not really get into more than a couple cartoons without missing the rest.
I could go on and say that ‘back in our day we had just a few cartoons and we were glad to have ’em!’ but that wouldn’t be realistic since those of us that were still technically kids in the 90s had a pretty wide array of animated shows to pick from as well. The Animaniacs was one among many that was just crazy enough to take over for something like Looney Tunes when the original show wasn’t around all the time, and it was definitely edgier than Tiny Toons and many other programs that were on at the same time. It had a trio of pigeons that took after Goodfella’s for crying out loud, and a character named Slappy the Squirrel. Some of the jokes were definitely more adult in nature and went right over the heads of many kids while some of the skits were a little risque but still made a lot of kids laugh. In short, this was one cartoon that was kind of out there in a big way but it was still successful in that it was able to get kids laughing and wanting to watch more. It even featured guest stars from time to time to spice things up a bit as they came in as extras for various stories.
From a personal standpoint, Pinky and the Brain were pretty high on my list but never quite my favorite since Pinky was easy enough to enjoy in all his moronic wonder while Brain was easy to root against sometimes as he always played the character that was so hell bent on getting his way that he suffered from both an inflated ego and from severe tunnel vision that didn’t allow him to think of the many things that could go wrong with any given plan. The pair were fun to watch, but it usually became insanely funny when Brain’s plans went south and he and Pinky were eventually forced to head back to their cage where Brain would start cooking up another plan to take over the world, and Pinky would just stare off into the distance as he went along with anything that Brain happened to say. For my own personal list, Wakko definitely topped the bunch since he was by far the craziest of the Animaniacs and definitely appeared to be the most carefree and likely to do just anything and everything off the wall whenever the moment struck him. Pinky was kind of like that, but he relied a lot on Brain throughout most of their time together and didn’t really take the initiative as much. In short, he was kind of a lackey that was best kept as a sidekick but definitely couldn’t be relied on continuously.
Seeing that they’re coming back makes it easy to wonder how long it’s going to last and whether or not they’re going to be as well-received as they were initially. On the plus side Pinky and the Brain are coming back with the rest of the cast, so there’s no high expectation on the characters to round out their own show. On the downside though they’re from the 90s and this speaks more of a need for nostalgia as many things have lately. Hopefully it will go well.
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