Pinky And The Brain Theme
Pinky and the Brain Also known as Presents Pinky and the Brain Genre Created by Voices of Theme music composer Opening theme 'Pinky and the Brain' performed by and Composer(s) Steven Bernstein Julie Bernstein Carl Johnson Country of origin United States No. Of seasons 4 No. Of episodes 65 Production Executive producer(s) Producer(s) Charles M.
Pinky and the Brain - Intro Theme (closed captions) - Duration: 0:59. Cartooninpictures 825,109 views. Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering.
Peter Hastings Running time 7, 11, or 22 min (depending on the episode) Production company(s) Distributor Release Original network Picture format: (broadcast/ release): 16:9 Audio format Dolby Digital Original release September 9, 1995 ( 1995-09-09) – November 14, 1998 ( 1998-11-14) Chronology Preceded by Followed by Pinky and the Brain is an American. It was the first animated television series to be presented in and the fourth collaboration of with his production company, and produced. The characters first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on. It was later picked up as a series due to its popularity, with 65 episodes produced. Later, they appeared in the series,.
Pinky and Brain are who reside in a cage in the research facility. Brain is self-centered and; Pinky is good-natured but. In each episode, Brain devises a new plan to which ultimately ends in failure: usually due to Pinky's idiocy, the impossibility of Brain's plan, Brain's own arrogance, or just circumstances beyond their control. In common with many other Animaniacs shorts, many episodes are in some way a of something else, usually a film or novel. Contents.
Premise Many of the Pinky and the Brain episodes occur in the 1990s at Acme Labs, located in some large American city underneath a. Several episodes take place in historical times, with Pinky and the Brain in the laboratory of some scientifically-minded person, including, and. There is very little between episodes outside of the common fixtures of the mice, though some plans for world domination from early episodes are subsequently referred to in later seasons (for example, Brain's 'human suit' used in 'Win Big' reappears when Brain faces his rival Snowball in 'Snowball').
The bulk of every episode involves one of Brain's plans for world domination with Pinky's assistance and the ultimate failure of that plan, with some exceptions. One centers on Snowball's plan to take over the world using Microsponge (a parody of ). Another episode features Brain's single day where he tries to do anything but take over the world: in the end, a group of people vote that he should take over the world on the one day he does not want to. Both Pinky and the Brain, white mice kept as part of Acme Labs' experimentation, have undergone significant; per the show's title lyrics, 'their genes have been ' which gives the two mice amplified intelligence over that of a typical mouse, the ability to talk to humans, and. 'Project B.R.A.I.N.' Suggests that the gene splicing occurred on September 9, 1995, which is coincident to the first full episode of Pinky and the Brain. The episode 'Brainwashed' states that the gene splicing was done by, along with Snowball the hamster and Precious the cat, using the Acme 'Gene Splicer, Warmer, and Steamer.'
Although Pinky and the Brain plan to conquer the world, they do not show much. In a special Pinky even wrote to Santa that Brain had the world's best interests at heart. Episodes. The Brain (voiced by ) looks and sounds a little like. In 'What Ever Happened to Baby Brain', Brain actually crosses paths with Welles (voiced by ), who is working as a busboy in a Hollywood restaurant; they find themselves inadvertently yelling in unison, 'Things will be different when I take over the world!' In 'Project B.R.A.I.N.'
Brain's name is the for the eponymous project: 'Biological Recombinant Algorithmic Intelligence Nexus'. —he often uses it to pick the lock of the cage—and his head is large and wide, housing his abnormally large brain. He is highly intelligent and develops complex plans for using politics, cultural references, and his own inventions toward his goal. He seems coldly unemotional, speaking in a snarky deadpan. Nevertheless, Brain has a subtle sense of humor and has even fallen in love; with Trudie in the episode 'The Third Mouse' and with Billie in 'The World Can Wait'. Due to his stature and megalomania, Brain has been compared to and a pop culture depiction of. Brain sees his inevitable rise to power as good for the world, and not mere.
In, he said to Pinky 'We're on our way to fame, fortune and a world that's a better place for all.' Many of the Brain's plots had the endgame of winning over the people's hearts and having them make him their ruler. However, his motives are not pure.
In one episode, Brain finds himself hypnotized by a psychologist he had planned to manipulate for one of his schemes, who turns out to be none other than. There Brain reveals that he originally lived with his parents in a tin can at the base of a tree in a large field. When he was young, ACME researchers captured Brain and took him from his home, and the last he saw of it was a picture of the world on the side of the can. Freud speculates that Brain's hunger to take over the world is misplaced, and that all he really wants is to go back home to his parents.
According to the creators, Brain wants to take over the world not for the sake of being a dictator, like his rival Snowball, but because he believes that he could do a much better job of it than the people currently in charge. Brain has even helped save the world by doing everything in his power to prevent Snowball's evil schemes, knowing that a world under Snowball's rule would be the worst-case scenario. Pinky (voiced by ) is another genetically modified mouse who shares the same cage as Brain at Acme Labs.
Although intelligent in his own right, Pinky is an extremely unstable and hyperactive mouse. He has several verbal, such as 'narf', 'zort', 'poit', and 'troz' (the last of which he started saying after noticing it was ' zort in the mirror'). Pinky's appearance is the complete opposite of Brain's—while Brain is short, has a crooked tail and pink eyes, and speaks in a deeper, more eloquent manner, Pinky has a straight tail, blue eyes, and a severe overbite, is taller than the Brain, and speaks in a higher pitched voice with a. Pinky's name was inadvertently given to him by Brain himself: when insulting the two scientists responsible for their gene splicing while talking to himself, Brain claimed the scientists had 'less knowledge in both their heads than I do in my. Pinky then responded with 'Yes?' , believing Brain was referring to him.
Pinky is more open-minded, kinder, and happier than the Brain. Troubles never ruin his day, arguably because he is too scatter-brained to notice them. He steadfastly helps Brain toward world domination, even though Brain usually berates, belittles, and abuses him. Pinky actually seems to enjoy this, laughing after he is hit. He is obsessed with trivia, spending a lot of time watching television in the lab and following fads. Sometimes Pinky even finds non-rational solutions to problems.
An entire episode (entitled 'The Pinky P.O.V.' ) even shows a typical night of attempted world domination from his point of view, showing his thought process and how he comes to the strange, seemingly nonsensical responses to the Brain's famous question, 'Are you pondering what I'm pondering?' Pinky often points out flaws in the Brain's plans, which the Brain consistently ignores. The issues Pinky brings up can ironically lead to the downfall of the given night's plot. He is also arguably Brain's and only real friend. When Pinky sold his soul to get Brain the world in 'A Pinky and the Brain Halloween', Brain saved him because he missed him and the world was not worth ruling without him.
Pinky also has shown signs of intelligence despite his supposed childish stupidity. In 'Welcome to the Jungle', Pinky was able to survive using his instincts and become a leader to Brain, who, despite his intelligence, could not survive in the wild on his own. And in 'The Pink Candidate', when Pinky became President, he later began citing various constitutional amendments and legal problems that would bar Brain from his latest plot to take over the world. When Brain attempted to pressure him into helping, Pinky refused, claiming that the plan 'goes against everything I've come to stand for.'
Other recurring characters. Snowball the (voiced by ) is Brain's former friend who was also made intelligent by gene splicing and has a similar desire for world conquest (though far more malevolent than Brain's) which Pinky and the Brain are sometimes forced to stop. Billie (voiced by ) is a female mouse and another result of gene splicing. She is smarter than Brain and also has the goal of world domination. Though Brain loves her, she fancies Pinky. In the episode 'You'll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town Again', it is revealed that Brain is married to Billie (who in real life is Sheila, and hates playing Billie), who pretty much only agreed because he's famous, and eventually kicks him out and makes Brain live in his restaurant.
It is later revealed that the events were just a dream. Pharfignewton (voiced by ) is a racing, with whom Pinky falls in love. Larry (voiced by ) is a white mouse who was created as a response to demands from executives to include additional characters on the show. His presence is sporadic as the writers of the show believed that including an additional character would ruin the chemistry between Pinky and The Brain, as they worked best as a comedy, and a third character would therefore be out of place and unnecessary to the plot. To further drive this point home, Larry's first appearance was marked by a modified version of the theme song with the name 'Larry!'
Shoehorned in between existing lyrics. Other characters that have appeared on the show have included both of Brain's and Pinky's parents and the pair's 'child', 'Roman Numeral I' (Romy for short) who was a result of a cloning mistake. Episodes also include recurring caricatures of celebrities, including both and,.
From, and, as was common on other Animaniacs cartoons. Creation and inspiration.
Caricatures of Minton (left) and Fitzgerald (right) from 'The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special' Pinky and the Brain was inspired by the peculiar personalities of two producers of 's colleagues, artist Eddie Fitzgerald and, respectively. Ruegger wondered what would happen if Minton and Fitzgerald tried to take over the world.
Fitzgerald (who has also worked on and ) is said to have constantly said 'Narf' and 'Egad' around the Tiny Toons production office. The gag credit for the Tiny Toon Adventures episode 'You Asked For It' credits Eddie Fitzgerald as 'Guy Who Says 'Narf'. Series producer Peter Hastings described Eddie by saying, 'He always greeted you like you were wearing a funny hat – and he liked it.' The Fitzgerald/Minton connection to Pinky and the Brain is shown in the episode 'The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special'. Two characters shown as writers for Pinky and the Brain cartoons within the short are caricatures of Fitzgerald and Minton.
While Ruegger initially based The Brain after Minton, the Welles connection came from Maurice LaMarche, a big fan of the actor/director, who had supplied the voice for in the 1994 movie. LaMarche stated that on coming in to audition for the character of the Brain, he saw the resemblance to Welles and went with that for the voice, and he was given the role on the spot. LaMarche describes Brain's voice as '65% Orson Welles, 35% '. Brain's similarity to Orson Welles was made explicit in the episode 'Yes, Always', which was based upon an from one of Welles', colloquially known as, in which he ranted about the poor quality of the script.
This cartoon was described by writer Peter Hastings as 'a $250,000 inside joke': LaMarche used excerpts from it as sound check material before recording episodes, and Hastings took it to its logical conclusion. The series also alluded to Welles with an episode in which Brain took on the mind-clouding powers of a radio character called 'The Fog': a parody of, a popular radio character for which Welles once provided the voice. Other Welles allusions included the episode 'The Third Mouse', a parody of in which the Brain played the part of Welles' character Harry Lime (with Pinky as Holly Martins), and 'Battle for the Planet', in which Brain, inspired by Welles' infamous radio broadcast and the hysteria it provoked, stages an alien invasion on television. A caricature of Orson Welles appears in a late episode of the series ('What Ever Happened to Baby Brain'), echoing a rant of the Brain's and introducing himself afterwards. Paulsen had already been selected to voice Pinky as he was already voicing Yakko Warner for Animaniacs. Paulsen, taking inspiration from British comedies such as, and, gave Pinky a 'a goofy whack job' of a British accent for the character. The episode 'Win Big' was the very first Pinky and the Brain segment.
It was developed for, written by Ruegger with a script by Peter Hastings, and directed. According to Ruegger, most of the elements that would become part of Pinky and the Brain can be found in Hastings's original script. It held many dialog bits that became conventions of the entire series, including Brain's 'Are you pondering what I'm pondering?' , Pinky's 'Oh.wait no' in response to a plan, and Pinky's final question, 'What are we doing tomorrow night?'
Production Producers As with Animaniacs, Steven Spielberg was the executive producer during the entire run, Tom Ruegger was the senior producer, Jean MacCurdy was the executive in charge of production, and Andrea Romano was the voice director. Peter Hastings, and Liz Holzman produced the show when it was spun off from Animaniacs, as well as the season it ran primetime on the WB. After the first season Hastings left the show and Mills took over as the supervising producer.
Writing The original Pinky and the Brain shorts on Animaniacs were written primarily by Peter Hastings. Upon moving into its own show, the writing staff included Gordon Bressack, Charles M. Howell IV, Earl Kress, Wendell Morris, and Tom Sheppard. Comedian was also a staff writer, years before her fame on and. Classic Warner Bros. Cartoon director also wrote for the show.
Voice actors. And together at the red carpet. Pinky and the Brain were voiced by Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, respectively. The series also used the work of many of the same voice actors for Animaniacs including, and. Celebrities such as, and have all performed guest voice work for the series as well.
Has also voiced characters in Pinky and the Brain and reprised her role as Elmyra during Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain. Music As with Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain was scored by a team of talented composers, led by Emmy-Award-winning composer Richard Stone. This team included and, who also orchestrated and sometimes conducted the 40-piece orchestra. The recordings were done on Stage A on the Warner Bros lot, the same stage (and with the same piano) where recorded his Looney Tunes music. The theme music for Pinky and the Brain was composed by Richard Stone with lyrics by Tom Ruegger.
Two versions of the opening sequence and theme, with slightly different lyrics, were used during Animaniacs shorts. In the first version, (voiced respectively by Paulsen, Harnell, and MacNeille) popped up in the lab and sang the theme while letting the two mice out of their cage. The second, later version had the singers off-camera as the Brain picked the lock on the cage door with a small needle to free himself and Pinky. On the Pinky and the Brain show, the theme gained an additional two verses and was sung by Gene Paul, mind and others. The score sometimes includes references to classical music.
For example, in the episode where the Brain builds a new Earth, the theme from the 2nd and 4th movements of 's ' can be heard throughout the episode. The episode Napoleon Brainaparte makes frequent reference to the French anthem, while in the episode in which Pinky becomes the artist 'Pinkasso' 's can be heard. Animation Like Animaniacs, most of the original Pinky and the Brain shorts used a variety of animation studios, including, Freelance Animators New Zealand, and. The bulk of the episodes created outside of Animaniacs (seasons 2 and beyond) were produced by, Wang Film Productions and AKOM. The only episode that was animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha on the spin-off was A Pinky and the Brain Christmas. Main article: Pinky and the Brain first appeared as a recurring segment on the animated series Animaniacs, another show produced by Steven Spielberg.
On September 3, 1993, Pinky and the Brain premiered on television in the episode Win Big, which aired on the network. On September 9, 1995, Pinky and the Brain were spun off onto their own half-hour series on, with each episode consisting of one or more segments, including some of the segments from Animaniacs. The first season of the show was scheduled in a slot from September 10, 1995 through July 21, 1996 as part of the new WB network lineup, with episodes also being repeated within the Saturday morning cartoon block.
It had been envisioned for the cartoon to be WB network's answer to, at that point in its 7th season, which was running on the Fox network. The standalone show tended to have more jokes and humor aimed to adults rather than children.
Due to poor ratings following the first season, primarily due to running against, subsequent seasons were moved to Saturday mornings as part of the Kids' WB! Programming block. Even though they had their own show, they still had several shorts in Animaniacs after they got the show, they still appeared in the shows intro, and often appeared in cameo appearances. On Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain. Main article: Around 1997, the overall structure within the WB Network changed, including the placement of as head of the Kids WB programming. Along with this came pressure on the writers of the show to back off on the idea of world domination and to include more characters on the show.
The episode 'Pinky & the Brain. And Larry' was a response to this pressure, attempting to show the heads that the show was fine as it was and that Pinky and the Brain worked together as a comedy - each balancing each other out with their flaws and personalities- and a third character (or any extra characters at all) would be out of place and unnecessary to the plot. At this point, Peter Hastings, a key writer for the series, decided to quit the show, with his last script being, 'You'll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town, Again' directly addressing the issue of networks trying to retool shows that otherwise work already. Following the production of the episode, the network backed off from forcing the new character into the show. With increased pressure from the WB network, the series was retooled on September 19, 1998 into Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, in which Pinky and the Brain were owned by character; the unusual change in format was even sarcastically noted in the altered title song, with lyrics such as 'It's what the network wants, why bother to complain?' The decision was not well received by the existing crew.
Pinky And The Brain Theme Song
For one, according to Paulsen, Spielberg had stated that the Tiny Toons and Animaniacs/ Pinky and the Brain universes were to be kept separate. Further, the chemistry between the characters were altered; by introducing Elmyra who tended to be more dense than Pinky, it shifted Pinky to become the useless 'Larry' of this series, as described by Paulsen. The show lasted for 13 episodes, 6 of which were shown whole and 7 of which were split up into segments and aired as part of. The characters' final appearance was in (1999). Cancellation and syndication After Pinky and the Brain was canceled from, the show aired on from January 1998 to 2000. Nickelodeon began airing re-runs on September 4, 2000.
The show continued to air on Nickelodeon's sister network, Nicktoons TV, from 2002 to 2005. It was later aired on 's block from October 2007 until September 2008. On February 15, 2009, Pinky and the Brain was returned on weekend late nights at 3:00AM ET/2:00AM CT on, but was taken off the channel on June 15, 2009. During 2006, Pinky and the Brain, among other Kids' WB! Shows, was broadcast on the AOL broadband channel, In2TV.
By 2007, Pinky and the Brain was no longer a featured series on the site. On January 4, 2018, acquired the streaming rights to Pinky and the Brain along with, &. In Canada, Pinky and the Brain aired on starting from 1996 to 1999 and again on September 3, 2007, then on from 2002 to 2005.
In the UK, Pinky and the Brain first aired on along with Animaniacs and later aired on Cartoon Network again with Animaniacs and on the on its own in 2006. Reruns began airing on UK channel in 2010. In Australia, Pinky and the Brain first aired on along with Animaniacs as part of their Warner Bros. Based wrapper programme, then it went onto air on Cartoon Network on its own and later aired on from 21 December 2009 to 18 June 2010 along Animaniacs once again. The series returned to GO! In August 2011, continuing to March 2012.
In Ireland Pinky and the Brain once again along with Animaniacs was broadcast on as part of their biggest children's lineup. Animaniacs reboot announced plans to reboot Animaniacs in association with Amblin and Warner Bros. In January 2018 with two season planned to be released sometime in 2020. The announcement affirmed that Pinky and the Brain will be recurring characters alongside the Warner siblings for the reboot.
Merchandise. This section does not any.
Unsourced material may be challenged and. (January 2009) Pinky and the Brain, along with Animaniacs, aired coincident with the formation of chain across the United States, and, as a result, numerous, coffee mugs, animation, and original artwork from the show were available through these outlets. Other merchandise included comic books, computer games, and video tapes. When Warner Brothers acquired the animation properties in 1998, there was a significant decrease with such merchandise through the store. By the time the series was canceled, very little merchandise was available. VHS releases Four collections of Pinky and the Brain episodes were released in 1996 and 1997, each with approximately 2 to 4 episodes that included shorts from Animaniacs and their own show. These collections are now out of print.
Title Release Date Content A Pinky and the Brain Christmas August 13, 1996 ( 1996-08-13). 'A Pinky and the Brain Christmas'. 'That Smarts' World Domination Tour August 13, 1996 ( 1996-08-13). 'Pavlov's Mice'. 'Brain Meets Brawn'. 'Where Rodents Dare'.
'Tokyo Grows' Cosmic Attractions November 4, 1997 ( 1997-11-04). 'Fly'. 'Around the World in 80 Narfs' Mice of the Jungle November 4, 1997 ( 1997-11-04). 'Snowball'. 'Brainstem'.
'Welcome to the Jungle' DVD releases has released all 65 episodes on DVD in Region 1 in 3 volume sets. DVD Name Ep # Release Date Additional Information Volume 1 22 July 25, 2006 ( 2006-07-25) This four-disk box set includes the first 22 episodes from the series.
Contains 'Pinky and the Brain: Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?' — Featurette with Tom Ruegger, Peter Hastings, Rob Paulsen, Maurice LaMarche, Andrea Romano as they discuss why they had so much fun working on the show. Volume 2 22 December 5, 2006 ( 2006-12-05) This four-disk box set contains the next 22 episodes from the series. Contains 'The Return of World Dominating Extras' – Featurette with Mark Hamill and as they answer a casting call to do the voices of Pinky and The Brain and get coached by Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen. Volume 3 21 June 19, 2007 ( 2007-06-19) This four-disk box set contains the last 22 episodes of the series. Contains the featurette, 'It's All About the Fans' – Rob Paulsen (Voice of Pinky) and Maurice LaMarche (Voice of the Brain) pay tribute to their fans.
This section does not any. Unsourced material may be challenged and. (January 2009) Pinky and the Brain were also regulars in the Animaniacs comic book published. From July 1996 through November 1998, they starred in their own comic book also published by DC Comics, which ran for 27 issues before cancellation. Following the cancellation of the Pinky and the Brain comic, the mice later starred in stories that took up half of the later Animaniacs issues, which, starting at issue #43, was retitled Animaniacs featuring Pinky and the Brain, and ran for another 16 issues before cancellation. Video games There are two video games based on Pinky and the Brain.
The first, a PC game called Pinky and the Brain: World Conquest, was produced by SouthPeak Games and distributed by Warner Bros. The second was Pinky and the Brain: The Master Plan for the Game Boy Advance. The game was produced by Warthog, and distributed by SWING! Entertainment in 2002. A third game, titled simply Pinky and the Brain, was announced for the in 1996, but was later cancelled.
The characters have also appeared in several of the Animaniacs games, such as. In the computer game the character may encounter an albino mole-rat that calls himself 'The Brain'. 'The Brain' created a cult that attempts to restore the humanity of the ghoul characters (humans that were badly damaged by radiation), by a process referred to as 'Renewal'. By doing so 'The Brain' hopes to take over the world. The player can engage in dialogue with 'The Brain', with one of the dialogue possibilities being, 'Big plans for an oversized rat'. Rob Paulsen (2012-12-30).
Retrieved 2012-12-30. 'Spellbound'. 'When Mice Ruled The World'.
'Pavlov's Mice'. ^ 'Win Big'. ^ 'Snowball'. 'Brain's Night Off'.
^ 'Project B.R.A.I.N.' .
'Brainwashed: Wash Harder'. ^ 'A Pinky and the Brain Christmas'. ^ 'The World Can Wait'.
'The Mouse of La Mancha'. ^ 'Napoleon Brainaparte'. 'Leggo My Ego'.
'Jockey for Position'. ^ 'Pinky and the Brainand Larry'.
^ 'The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special'. Platypus Comix. Retrieved 2006-06-16. 'The Visit'. 'The Family That Poits Together, Narfs Together'. ^ Jeff (1995-04-05).:.
Retrieved 2007-06-30. 'You Asked For It'.
Will, Ed (1996-06-11). 'BRAIN POWER: Pinky, genius pal to resume plotting in 1997'. The Denver Post.
takinek (2006-12-19). Retrieved 2007-06-24. ^ Burns, Ashley; Schildhause, Chloe (2015-12-30).
Retrieved 2016-01-04. Arseneau, Adam (2006-07-25). Retrieved 2007-06-24. 'Yes, Always'.
'Pinky and the Fog'. 'The Third Mouse'. 'Battle For the Planet'. Retrieved 2007-06-25. 'It's Only a Paper World'.
'Pinkasso'. 'The Megalomaniacal Adventures of Brainie the Poo'. 'Brainwashed: Brain, Brain Go Away'.
'Brainwashed: I Am Not a Hat'. 'Cheese Roll Call'. 'Brainstem'.
'A Meticulous Analysis of History'. 'Around the World in 80 Narfs'. Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen (2007-06-19). 'It's All About the Fans' extra on 'Pinky and the Brain Volume 3' (DVD).
Andy Gavin (February 3, 2011). All Things Andy Gavin. Retrieved December 7, 2011. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
'Inherit the Wheeze'. Retrieved 2007-07-05. Archived from on 2007-06-30.
Retrieved 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2007-06-29. Rooster Teeth.
'You'll Never Eat Food Pellets In This Town, Again!' Retrieved 2016-04-12.
TimeWarner Newsroom. Retrieved 2007-06-29. Petski, Denise (4 January 2018). Retrieved 4 January 2018. Otterson, Joe (January 4, 2018). Retrieved January 4, 2018. ^ ' McCormick, Moira (1997-10-04).
'Elmo Haunting Shopping Malls'. access-date= requires url=.
Lambert, David (2006-03-29). Retrieved 2007-06-15. Lacey, Gord (2006-08-16). Retrieved 2007-06-15. Lacey, Gord (2007-02-28). Retrieved 2007-06-15. 'Pinky and the Brain'.
Dembowski, Pawel (June 19, 2006). Retrieved 2009-08-27. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to:. on.
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When I discovered that Pinky and the Brain had spun off from Animaniacs and received their own show (the first step towards world domination, no doubt), I was thrilled. The show quickly became a favorite of mine.
Now that I have it on DVD many years later, I realize just what a spectacular piece of work it really is. Children can watch this show, sure.
They'll think Pinky's ridiculous remarks, physical humor, and nonsensical catch phrases like 'poit!' And 'narf' are hilarious. Sometimes they are. Yet I am amazed that so much of the humor is for adults. There are multiple references in every episode to pop culture (I just watched an episode with a sly Pulp Fiction allusion), politics (the same episode included caricatures of Bill and Hilary Clinton), and general observations about the world that will definitely go over kids' heads. It just makes the show all that much funnier to me now. It's definitely an experience with multiple layers.
Not to mention the people writing Brain's dialog have done some research. His vocabulary is years beyond what grade school children comprehend, let alone use. Sure, there's lots of fuzzy science just for the sake of making him sound smart, but many times there are legitimate uses of math, physics, chemistry, astronomy, anatomy, etc. Heck, there's even a song that tells you the parts of the human brain. The show's downright educational. Don't let that scare you, though. It's also consistently zany.
There's plenty of the comic falling and maiming that comes standard in most cartoons. Of course a good portion of the humor comes from the concept of Pinky's stupidity as a foil for Brain's genius, and Pinky's unwittingly stumbling on the best ideas. Yet, for me, the comedy in this show comes mostly from Brain. I love the way he vents his frustration with his dense but loyal accomplice, and the way he flatly tells people his mission knowing they will never believe him. 'Actually I am lab mouse involved in an elaborate scheme to take over the world' is usually greeted with laughter from the unsuspecting buffoons that populate his universe. Well animated and superbly voiced, Pinky and The Brain entertains with the fearless abandon of the classic toons and the sharp wit of a modern satire.
I highly recommend this for kids, but even more so for older teens and young adults.