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Post by Belchic on Feb 19, 2013 11:48:38 GMT -5
I loved this show as a kid. Today, it's now being shown on the Hub, and after watching several episodes, I gotta say, it's still just as awesome as its ever been. Trey hates this show, but here's what I gotta say about the different segments of the show.
The Warner Kids - This was the segment I always loved the best, probably because it was the funniest.
Pinky and the Brain - This was the most popular segment of the show, but it's a shame it later got removed from the show to become its own spinoff.
Slappy Squirrel - Trey's personal favorite. This one had clever writing and a clever concept. Although Skippy was really annoying.
The Goodfeathers - My least favorite segment. This sketch was boring and unfunny in so many ways. I can do without this.
Buttons & Mindy - This was my brother's least favorite sketch. This one was mediocre, but it's repetitive and predictable.
Rita and Runt - I actually like this one pretty well. Runt is funny, and Rita's singing numbers are pretty good even if they are unnecessary.
The Hip Hippos - Another segment I can do without, but at least this one is slightly more tolerable than the Goodfeathers.
Chicken Boo - Kind of funny, but I fail to see the point.
Minerva Mink - Doesn't occur much, so not much to comment on.
Katie Kaboom - A very underrated sketch that should get more attention.
Anyone else have thoughts on this show they'd like to share?
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Post by The Huntsman on Feb 26, 2013 21:52:18 GMT -5
I mostly missed it when I was a kid. I preferred Tiny Toons. I've been watching most of the re-runs on The Hub, but in rapid succession, some of the shorts get old quick. I stopped watching The Goodfeathers after about two weeks, and I've never been a big fan of Buttons & Mindy or Katie Kaboom.
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Post by Trey_Vore on Feb 27, 2013 13:22:46 GMT -5
I don't hate this show. I just don't think it was really all that it was cracked up to be.
Anyway, for those who haven't read my article expressing my thoughts on this show, I'm going to give my thoughts on the sketches:
The Warners - The show's main sketch, I consider it the 3rd best sketch. Hardly classic, but it works.
Pinky and the Brain - Artistically the best sketch on the show. But it was probably a bad idea to have them get their own series; it further signaled its decline (it's like why when Fox decided to do a Family Guy spin-off. Why would they use a character like Cleveland instead of someone like Quagmire? Because if Cleveland got his own show, you might get two successful shows, but if Quagmire, one of the most popular characters, got his own show, you'd likely have a new hit series but Family Guy's ratings would take a hit).
Slappy Squirrel - Yep, my favorite. Maybe this should have been the spin-off.
Side note is when I wrote my article on this series the adminstrator of the site commented, saying he thought Sherri Stoner (Slappy's VA) was the series' best writer. But when she left the writing staff (though she continued to voice Slappy until the end) he thought the show kind of died.
The Goodfeathers - An ultimately uneven sketch; I doubt we need yet another spoof of the Mafia.
Buttons and Mindy - Another sketch that felt extraneous, no one I know cared for it largely because any differences were purely cosmetic.
Rita and Runt - I didn't like this one either because the humor is about pet abuse. Normally Rita and Runt get adopted by someone that doesn't have pets for a reason; that's exactly why Elmyra was such a hated character on Tiny Toon Adventures.
This is what the ASPCA stands against.
Chicken Boo - Are you sure this is a sketch? It's not a big glorified running joke?
The Hip Hippos - Nothing but a waste of time.
Minerva Mink - There is a cult surrounding Minerva, but I don't think it fits on this show. They couldn't use her that much because this is supposed to be a kids' show, but it's usually about sex and she's not really a good role model for the little girls watching (well, she uses men for her own needs, she doesn't care about tangible aspects of men AND she's completely vain and shallow. Did I mention this character is the hero?).
Sorry Minerva. I like Fifi La Fume a lot better.
Katie Kaboom - They dropped this sketch early on for no reason other than she simply lacked potential as a character. Her few cartoons are so rigidly formulaic and by-the-numbers they are almost indistinguishable from each other.
Randy Beaman stories, Useless Facts, Dot's Poetry Corner, Good Ideas/Bad Ideas and musical numbers - These can be uneven as well, but if I'm looking forward to a quick filler more than a sketch... is it wrong?
Another little thing I don't like is the fact the show doesn't seem to grow with you; I mean when I was a kid I thought it was brillantly funny and cutting edge, but revisiting it from a mature viewpoint I can appreciate the more mature humor better, but I can't shake the feeling I get that it just feels stale, childish and kinda stupid.
Then there's also the way the series can be overly nasty to its fans; I mean a reason why Tiny Toon Adventures stays popular is because that show was not simply funny but also friendly. There was an episode called "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian" which was written by three girls who were in high school and were seriously giant fans.
What does Animaniacs do to say thanks to its fans?
Do you feel the mutual love here? They're saying get off your butts and get a life. It's a virtual bird flip.
I don't hate the show but it's far from a favorite. But I will say I thought Tiny Toon Adventures was a better show in retrospect.
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Animaniacs
Feb 27, 2013 13:41:20 GMT -5
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Post by Belchic on Feb 27, 2013 13:41:20 GMT -5
I decided not to talk about the mini shorts and just cover the main sketches. Although, in what you said, Trey, you forgot one: Mime Time, which is kinda similar to the Good Idea/Bad Idea. The latter was probably my favorite of the mini skits because they were so gosh darn hilarious!
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Post by Trey_Vore on Mar 7, 2013 12:17:45 GMT -5
I remember on TV Tropes there is a defunct subjective trope called "Missed Moment of Awesome".
I happened to discover it when I was reading about the 2003 live-action/animation dud Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
I doubt the movie would have been any more successful even if this did happen, but in addition to the Looney Tunes they go and joke about Batman and Scooby-Doo, so that would suggest other WB animation properties can be utilized. What happens is...
What they called the "Missed Moment of Awesome" is early in the movie there is a sequence where Daffy Duck crashes the Batmobile into a leg supporting the WB water tower, which comes down, splashing water all over the lot... and yet somehow, Yakko, Wakko and Dot don't come tumbling out of it.
There is one person who offers an explanation for how highly the WB regards this series:
"The WB has a knack for acting like they never existed."
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Post by Flowgli on Mar 7, 2013 13:09:37 GMT -5
I remember watching this show as a kid, and I still watch the show on the Hub when I can. This show is known for its humor that most people didn't get when they watch it as kids but finally got after they grew up.
There are a few of those moments in which I already understood the humor as a kid when I watched the show. One is when Yakko, Wakko, and Dot were singing a song about Lake Titicaca; years before I saw that, I already knew that "caca" is another word for "poop", so I guessed that the song was just an excuse to have the word "caca" mentioned on the show.
Another was when Yakko said to Pablo Picasso, "Did you know there's 'P.P.' on your smock?", and Wakko and Dot were disgusted about that, which means that when Yakko mentioned "P.P.", it sounded as if he was mentioning "pee-pee" instead of Picasso's initials.
After mentioning all this, I wonder if there's anyone who would like to add on to this comment?
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Post by Belchic on Mar 7, 2013 14:22:17 GMT -5
This show had a lot of naughty jokes. The Nostalgia Critic made a video of a lot of them. One I remember that he didn't list was in one episode, Wakko eats Mr. Plotz's paperweight, he tells Wakko to give it back, and Wakko responds: "Okay, but you'll have to wait a while."
Also, Yakko's catchphrase, "Good night everybody!" is always said whenever he senses an inappropriate joke coming on.
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Animaniacs
Mar 11, 2013 11:13:28 GMT -5
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Post by Belchic on Mar 11, 2013 11:13:28 GMT -5
This might be interesting to discuss here. To all fans of this show, what is your favorite sketch on this show BESIDES THE WARNER KIDS AND PINKY AND THE BRAIN? The reason I am ruling those out is because the Warner Kids are the show's main sketch, and Pinky and the Brain is the most popular one that everyone knows. So I just want to know, which one of the other sketches do you enjoy the most? Mine would have to be...Rita and Runt.
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Animaniacs
Mar 27, 2013 12:30:01 GMT -5
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Post by Belchic on Mar 27, 2013 12:30:01 GMT -5
I just discovered another naughty joke on this show!
In an episode where the Warners were working with a James Bond type of character, there's a scene where they are taking a secret entrance to an enemy base. It's through a porta potty. When Bond goes in and calls the Warners to follow him, Dot responds: "No thanks. We prefer one at a time."
I can't believe NC missed that one!
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Post by RaceFanX on Mar 27, 2013 21:27:03 GMT -5
I've been watching a bit of this show lately because it's on from 7-8 a.m. on the Hub which is when I get up and get ready for work. That said I must admit that watching it as an adult there are a lot more jokes you get but many of them are very, very dated. The show, like Tiny Toons to an extent, is very much a product of its time but many of the plots really played up the 1990s and haven't aged well. The 'Hip Hippos' competing on an American Gladiators knockoff or Brain's evil plot being becoming a very famous country singer (the genre was huge in the mid-1990s with a lot of crossover into the mainstream) aren't really that relevant anymore. One thing that has held up mostly is the Slappy bits since "she's old" was always her MO and the pop culture references were older and typically hold up. Most people remember Looney Toones or Roger and Ebert, compare that to the Goodfeathers' constant "G-rated Goodfellas" bit with that movie long since giving way to "The Sopranos" for pop culture Mafia stuff. Her nephew Skippy's bits haven't aged as well though (How many kids today would recognize his halloween costume as Buster Bunny when Tiny Toons last aired in like 2004 on Nick). She did have a moded first-gen Dodge Viper though... www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFhgW6bnz6Q...Granted that also dates the show a bit, those Vipers still look cool but newer ones would eat it alive. That's the risk of using the coolest anything of the modern era, more modern stuff comes along.
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Post by RaceFanX on Mar 27, 2013 21:28:25 GMT -5
*Siskel and Ebert
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Post by Trey_Vore on Mar 29, 2013 3:20:59 GMT -5
There's another good joke/bad joke that I noticed.
One good joke is in the Slappy Squirrel cartoon "Bumbie's Mom", what was the source of humor was seeing Skippy's reaction to an obvious parody of the famous death sequence of Bambi's mom. It's something that has been in the public's mind for 60+ years and it's pretty iconic; it reminds us of how Walt Disney originally had the idea that the audience can find it in their hearts to sympathize with an animated character.
One bad joke is in one other Slappy Squirrel episode, Slappy tries a full-blown soda that Skippy is hooked on and because it's too sweet for her, she can't tolerate it. Slappy then says "No wonder you like that Bonkers show!" This is, well, a joke on the same year-release cartoon series Bonkers. It's not necessarily a good joke because, for older viewers, Bonkers isn't really a show with a lot of nostalgic value; many people considered it to be the start of the decline of the Disney Afternoon. For kids watching it for the first time, they likely won't get it because Disney probably won't be airing on television due to the problems it had and it isn't truly smart by any means--they won't have many opportunities to see it beyond maybe a curiousity glance on YouTube.
Thoughts?
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Post by Belchic on Mar 29, 2013 9:42:34 GMT -5
Yeah, I caught myself laughing at the Warners' Sherlock Holmes episode, when they said one of the things they were looking for on their scavenger hunt was "a funny episode of Bonkers". I was like, "...really?"
Now, you say all the episodes of Bonkers are on YouTube? That's pretty interesting. Makes me wonder why 101 Dalmatians is the only Disney show that gets taken down for copyright.
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DalFox
New Pup
Eadem Mutata Resurgo
Posts: 9
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Post by DalFox on Apr 13, 2013 6:34:53 GMT -5
We're Aaaaanimaaaaaaaniacs and we're zany to the max So just sit back and relax, You'll laugh 'til you collapse We're Animaaaaaaaniacs!
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Post by Belchic on Apr 25, 2013 9:21:29 GMT -5
To make you guys feel better about 101D, I think this show is getting the same treatment on the Hub as 101D is on Disney Junior. This show had 99 episodes, and from what I saw, they haven't shown them all and are already repeating episodes. At least they're not editing them down though (which Cartoon Network did).
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