'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' did sound very curious in concept. It does sound like two different ideas merging together that don't sound like they would go, but there are shows and such that do wonders with concepts that sound odd on paper. While still a fan of 'Tiny Toon Adventures' and especially 'Pinky and the Brain' (the two shows that the characters come from, 'Animaniacs' is also fantastic), 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' never did it for me as a child.
While it was slightly better on rewatch, 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' still does little for me and none of the episodes are better. The best episodes were merely average and could have done so much more with their concepts (some of the concepts as said in previous reviews were pretty promising). When the show was at its worst, it was downright bad. "Hooray for Meat", the worst episode since "How I Spent My Weekend" in my view, is one of the downright bad episodes.
"Hooray for Meat" is not entirely unwatchable. Brain is very entertaining and wonderfully deadpan, the show on the most part was a disaster when it came to character writing and interaction but somehow managed to get Brain spot on. It was a genius move having Maurice LaMarche back and he voices Brain perfectly. The voice acting has always been pretty good actually on reflection considering what the voice actors were given.
Some of the animation is pretty decent, with some nice colour. Interesting to see another character take the downhill and one that is unexpected.
On the other hand, so much does not work. While the animation was never terrible on 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain', it did always lack the polish and vibrancy as well as the imagination seen in the visuals of 'Animaniacs', 'Pinky and the Brain' and 'Tiny Toon Adventures', which is generally the case here. There is nothing dynamic or infectious about the music and the theme song has always grated. The show always varied when it came to parodying, and the parodying here is a failure. Too forced.
While Brain is a great character, Pinky isn't anywhere near on his equal. Here he is pretty bland as the show did dull down his personality while taking his dim-witted-ness to "bang head on the wall" extremes. In this episode, he doesn't register other than towards the end and is pretty pointless and his previously dynamite chemistry with Brain is disconnected and underused here. Rudy is also with too little personality and Vanity is at her worst (too pushy), but Elmyra fares worse. Any episode that has Elmyra in a big role is already dreaded, and everything that was annoying about her on this show (all negative characteristics taken to extremes and with no real redeeming merits to her).
Furthermore, she really doesn't work well with Pinky and the Brain, the chemistry is not just disconnected but it also doesn't make sense. The writing in "Hooray for Meat" is overly simple and childish, nothing funny, sophisticated or witty about it. The story is not just simplistic and predictable (especially the very overused payoffs), with little energy, it is also ridiculous to credibility straining degrees (the scene in the pound is far fetched beyond belief), lacks energy and the love triangle is very hard to swallow. Nowhere near enough is done with everything to do with the meat, it's never exciting or imaginative and some of it even isn't that tasteful.
Concluding, weak. 3/10.
While it was slightly better on rewatch, 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain' still does little for me and none of the episodes are better. The best episodes were merely average and could have done so much more with their concepts (some of the concepts as said in previous reviews were pretty promising). When the show was at its worst, it was downright bad. "Hooray for Meat", the worst episode since "How I Spent My Weekend" in my view, is one of the downright bad episodes.
"Hooray for Meat" is not entirely unwatchable. Brain is very entertaining and wonderfully deadpan, the show on the most part was a disaster when it came to character writing and interaction but somehow managed to get Brain spot on. It was a genius move having Maurice LaMarche back and he voices Brain perfectly. The voice acting has always been pretty good actually on reflection considering what the voice actors were given.
Some of the animation is pretty decent, with some nice colour. Interesting to see another character take the downhill and one that is unexpected.
On the other hand, so much does not work. While the animation was never terrible on 'Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain', it did always lack the polish and vibrancy as well as the imagination seen in the visuals of 'Animaniacs', 'Pinky and the Brain' and 'Tiny Toon Adventures', which is generally the case here. There is nothing dynamic or infectious about the music and the theme song has always grated. The show always varied when it came to parodying, and the parodying here is a failure. Too forced.
While Brain is a great character, Pinky isn't anywhere near on his equal. Here he is pretty bland as the show did dull down his personality while taking his dim-witted-ness to "bang head on the wall" extremes. In this episode, he doesn't register other than towards the end and is pretty pointless and his previously dynamite chemistry with Brain is disconnected and underused here. Rudy is also with too little personality and Vanity is at her worst (too pushy), but Elmyra fares worse. Any episode that has Elmyra in a big role is already dreaded, and everything that was annoying about her on this show (all negative characteristics taken to extremes and with no real redeeming merits to her).
Furthermore, she really doesn't work well with Pinky and the Brain, the chemistry is not just disconnected but it also doesn't make sense. The writing in "Hooray for Meat" is overly simple and childish, nothing funny, sophisticated or witty about it. The story is not just simplistic and predictable (especially the very overused payoffs), with little energy, it is also ridiculous to credibility straining degrees (the scene in the pound is far fetched beyond belief), lacks energy and the love triangle is very hard to swallow. Nowhere near enough is done with everything to do with the meat, it's never exciting or imaginative and some of it even isn't that tasteful.
Concluding, weak. 3/10.