Meet Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner. They are three innocent yet mischievous children who look something like a cross between dogs and monkeys. They were actually created as cartoon characters in the 1930s but were so out of control that they were locked away in a water tower. Needless to say, incarceration only contributed to their insanity.
"Animaniacs" was a great show. There was always a heaping helping of the kind of in-your-face, subversive humor that flourished in the Looney Tunes cartoons of the Tex Avery era - so much so, in fact, that the show even included a curvy blonde bombshell of a nurse whose presence invariably caused Yakko and Wakko to exclaim, "Hell-looo, nurse!" (obviously a play on Archie Bunker's catchphrase from "All in the Family").
Each Warner sibling had a distinct - and extremely colorful - personality. Yakko was the backbone of the trio, delivering the most scathing insults and excelling at repartee. His sharp inflection (voiced by Rob Paulsen and eerily reminiscent of Groucho Marx) conveyed both cynicism and sheer comic menace. Wakko was the most vulgar and hedonistic of the three, serving up the lion's share of the show's zany slapstick and eating everything within arm's reach. And Dot? Well, she was the self-proclaimed "cute one." Even her brothers sometimes found her to be a real pain.
Most of the shorts on the half-hour program followed a basic formula: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are so sickeningly endearing that they annoy the living daylights out of everyone they meet. If you remember Bill Murray's neurotic mental patient character from WHAT ABOUT BOB?, they were kind of like that. Every cartoon would have them pestering a respectable "straight man" - often an eminent historical figure like Albert Einstein or Ludwig von Beethoven - by means of corny puns, daring double entendres, and even a bit of subdued bathroom humor (belching, drooling, etc.). These trademark antics tended to have catastrophic effects; in the very first episode, the Warner kids drove their psychiatrist, Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff, so completely bonkers that he tore out all his hair and became totally bald!
And that was just the tip of the iceberg. There was a truly extensive menagerie of supporting characters filling out the "Animaniacs" roster, both human and animal. They included Thaddeus Plotz, the WB studio's tyrannical CEO; Ralph, a dimwitted security guard with a potbelly and perpetual five-o'clock shadow; The Brain, a stentorian-voiced lab mouse obsessed with world domination; Pinky, his dopey partner in crime; The Goodfeathers, a gang of Central Park pigeons with the mannerisms and attitudes of characters in a Martin Scorsese movie; Buttons, a well-meaning dog who always screwed up; Rita and Runt, a cat-and-dog team known for their soaring songs; two refined hippos named Flavio and Marita; and so on ad infinitum.
The show ran for five seasons, so to catalogue all the little quirks that made the show so unique and magical would be a daunting task. Suffice to say that "Animaniacs" was a cartoon show unlike any other, with universal appeal and engaging characters. A wonderful show; I, for one, am still awaiting a big-budget "Animaniacs" movie.
"Animaniacs" was a great show. There was always a heaping helping of the kind of in-your-face, subversive humor that flourished in the Looney Tunes cartoons of the Tex Avery era - so much so, in fact, that the show even included a curvy blonde bombshell of a nurse whose presence invariably caused Yakko and Wakko to exclaim, "Hell-looo, nurse!" (obviously a play on Archie Bunker's catchphrase from "All in the Family").
Each Warner sibling had a distinct - and extremely colorful - personality. Yakko was the backbone of the trio, delivering the most scathing insults and excelling at repartee. His sharp inflection (voiced by Rob Paulsen and eerily reminiscent of Groucho Marx) conveyed both cynicism and sheer comic menace. Wakko was the most vulgar and hedonistic of the three, serving up the lion's share of the show's zany slapstick and eating everything within arm's reach. And Dot? Well, she was the self-proclaimed "cute one." Even her brothers sometimes found her to be a real pain.
Most of the shorts on the half-hour program followed a basic formula: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are so sickeningly endearing that they annoy the living daylights out of everyone they meet. If you remember Bill Murray's neurotic mental patient character from WHAT ABOUT BOB?, they were kind of like that. Every cartoon would have them pestering a respectable "straight man" - often an eminent historical figure like Albert Einstein or Ludwig von Beethoven - by means of corny puns, daring double entendres, and even a bit of subdued bathroom humor (belching, drooling, etc.). These trademark antics tended to have catastrophic effects; in the very first episode, the Warner kids drove their psychiatrist, Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff, so completely bonkers that he tore out all his hair and became totally bald!
And that was just the tip of the iceberg. There was a truly extensive menagerie of supporting characters filling out the "Animaniacs" roster, both human and animal. They included Thaddeus Plotz, the WB studio's tyrannical CEO; Ralph, a dimwitted security guard with a potbelly and perpetual five-o'clock shadow; The Brain, a stentorian-voiced lab mouse obsessed with world domination; Pinky, his dopey partner in crime; The Goodfeathers, a gang of Central Park pigeons with the mannerisms and attitudes of characters in a Martin Scorsese movie; Buttons, a well-meaning dog who always screwed up; Rita and Runt, a cat-and-dog team known for their soaring songs; two refined hippos named Flavio and Marita; and so on ad infinitum.
The show ran for five seasons, so to catalogue all the little quirks that made the show so unique and magical would be a daunting task. Suffice to say that "Animaniacs" was a cartoon show unlike any other, with universal appeal and engaging characters. A wonderful show; I, for one, am still awaiting a big-budget "Animaniacs" movie.