Animaniacs

[Goldstar]

I saw. Don't they also have Pinky & the Brain?

No P&tB as of yet, but The Hub does air Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS and Batman Beyond, primarily because all of these shows had toy lines which were made by (guess who?) Hasbro.The Hub also airs (or did air at one time) Men In Black: The Series. Animaiacs will be the 1st comedy cartoon from Kids' WB to air on The Hub.

[Daikun]

I really hope this leads to Freakazoid.

[Silverstar]

If The Hub did/does pick up Freakazoid!, I imagine it would have to air weekly rather than daily, since there were only 26 episodes. Perhaps The Hub could launch a comedy cartoon block (sort of like the comedy equivalent to HuBoom!) and Freakazoid! could air on Fridays only, like how the Legend of Zelda cartoon did on The Super Mario Brothers Super Show!.

[Avaitor]

Here they are, 20 years later. Even if the last batch of episodes weren't so strong, isn't it nice to have the whole show out on DVD now?

[Daikun]

Well, the final episode just aired yesterday on the Hub, completing the show's 99 episode run.

Did anyone tune in these past few months to watch it all?

I certainly did. There were several episodes that I hadn't seen from the show's Kids' WB! days (I grew out of cartoons for a brief period during my teen years), so it was interesting to see the latter episodes for the first time.

[Goldstar]

I saw some of the Animaniacs episodes on The Hub. I didn't watch it ritually, since I already own the DVDs, but I caught them every so often. It was interesting seeing the Kids WB episodes for the 1st time since their brief run on Cartoon Network and their even briefer run on Nicktoons TV.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Been catching some episode of this show on the HUB. I've seen almost all of these episodes before, and the ones I've always really liked I still really like, while the ones I only thought were okay are now often irritating to me. Even so, the animation and jokes in this show, for the most part, are top-notch and it's a shame we don't have this sort of quality in most children's animated series today. I'd say Tiny Toonsstill holds up better to me, and I would love for the HUB to air that and the other 90's Warner Bros. animated comedy shows as well.

[Daikun]

Out of curiosity, what did you guys think of each characters' segments?

Animaniacs: Funny as always, although looking back on them 20 years later, they're much bigger jackasses than I remember them to be. They bother people who really don't deserve it; they tend to create slapstick fights with people who really did nothing bad to them beforehand. It makes them seem superficial in that regard. It doesn't really hurt the shorts, though; they were consistently brilliant.

Slappy Squirrel: I would say as good as the main trio, if not better. They tried to get the rights to Screwball Squirrel from MGM, but couldn't, so they just reinvented the character in their own way. She pays a great tribute to Tex Avery by taking classic cartoon gags to the next level. Skippy was kinda bland, though. He was always overshadowed by his aunt and he seemed superfluous most the time. He was...there, but he didn't do much.

Pinky & the Brain: They deserved their own spinoff show, and for good reason: They really are that well-written! Their clashing personalities bounce off each other really well and they're the most complex of the Animaniacs cast. It also helps to have a villain for a protagonist, a rarity in kids' shows.

Goodfeathers: Eh... Not too fond of these. These guys do have great dialogue and they're a great homage to Martin Scorsese, but that's really all they have going for them. If you're not familiar with Scorsese's films (a.k.a. most kids, whom this show was created for), who in the target audience would get the joke? They're also a victim of the "once an episode" scripting that most of the other Animaniacs segments fall prey to. The Goodfeathers are tasked with something simple and mundane, they get hit by vehicles (A LOT), the Godpigeon fixes their problems, Squit offends Pesto and gets beaten up while Bobby laughs, fade to black. Bada-bing, you have all the episodes.

Mindy & Buttons: I like these segments a lot, and yet I feel so terrible for it at the same time. "Once an episode" applies here and I feel terrible for Buttons (that's the point of these shorts), yet the slapstick is really good. I can't bring myself to hate these segments just for that alone, even if they are same-y.

Rita & Runt: I'm going to be honest: I fast-forwarded past these shorts on my DVR. I thought I'd watch the first of them just to see if I could reevaluate it, and it just doesn't click with me. Rita's dialogue is great and the songs are well done (just like any other musical number in Animaniacs), but the shorts are tonally detached from the other segments on the show, mainly due to Rita. Runt is okay, but he's just dumb, not really wacky, and it's not enough to balance out Rita's seriousness. I feel like they should have been on a different show; they feel out of place here.

Hip Hippos: Talk about characters who were underutilized. Throughout the entire show's run, they only had about five (I believe?) segments where they had starring roles, and it's not hard to see why: There isn't much you can do with these characters. They're a source of fat jokes and they're barely developed beyond two rich snobs looking for excitement. It felt like they were rejects from Taz-Mania who were somehow transferred to Animaniacs--a couple of characters who were okay, but neither great nor memorable.

Minerva Mink: Another character who was also sadly underutilized. (From what I heard, they stopped using her due to parents' complaints. I'm not sure how much of that is true.) The few shorts she was in, though, were great. She was funny and her slapstick antics were wonderfully executed. They should have used her more often before they had to pull the plug.

Chicken Boo: Again, slave to "once an episode" scripting. I felt this character was better utilized when he WASN'T the star of his shorts. It was fun watching him manipulate the characters in other segments from offscreen. I remember the episode where the Warners were loaned out to other studios in the 60s and Chicken Boo was masquerading as a superstar to Mr. Plotz just to take up free rent in the water tower. Brilliant! They should have made him an antagonistic force to other characters' segments rather than giving him a starring role. It was more fun that way.

Colin: Okay, so this one time, Randy Beaman's friend ran out of his house and told us a funny story about his friend Randy Beaman who may or may not exist and the delivery was fast-paced and darkly comedic. Ok, bye.

The Flame: Should I really count these? I don't think the writers even wanted to make them; I think these were an FCC mandate just to add in some education and please the network execs. Regardless, they're still pretty good shorts; they're just better suited for PBS.

Good Idea/Bad Idea: Hit or miss. A lot of the Bad Ideas can be really funny, but other times, you can predict the Bad Ideas coming from a mile away.

Mime Time: Lame. Too predictable. You can see what's going to happen in each segment.

Katie KaBoom:

[Silverstar]

I would love for the HUB to air (Tiny Toons) and the other 90's Warner Bros. animated comedy shows as well.

Ehhh, I kind of hope that doesn't happen. While I agree that it would be nice to see some more animated comedies on The Hub which aren't toy-based, I'd rather see them gain more original comedy cartoons and newer or first-run comedy acquisitions. I'd rather The Hub carve its' own niche for itself rather than just resurrecting the zombies of Kids' WB!. Plus, most of the Silver Age WB stuff is already on DVD, and not all of them have aged too well (Tiny Toons in particular practically screams 90's) so I don't necessarily need for The Hub to pick them all up.

I hate myself for noticing this, but some of A!'s animations look kind of clunky now, particularly the Kids' WB! eps. The TMS segments were the best animated of them all; pity TMS couldn't have done the entire series.


As for the segments themselves, the best ones IMO are still the Warners and Slappy. Seeing them again, I notice that the Warners come off as assholes a lot, particularly when they're paired with Dr. Scratchansniff, but they're still consistently funny and the good concepts work.

Slappy was the character I wanted to see get a spinoff, honestly. Slappy was one of those characters like Daffy Duck that I consider to be my alter ego; to this day I find myself droning things like "This...is sad" in my daily life. Yeah, Skippy was kind of vanilla, but he was necessary; Slappy needed a patient, sane, rational character to talk to and bounce her quips off of. Several old-school comedians required a straight man.

Pinky & the Brain were OK, but IMO they should have stayed on Animaniacs. They were good once in a while, but on their own show with no other recurring segments the limitations of the premise became all too obvious.

Goodfeathers: some funny moments, but if you've seen one short, you've pretty much seen them all.

I agree that Rita and Runt seemed like they belonged on another show. Their segments reminded me more of some leftover from The Disney Afternoon than something from Warner Bros.

Mindy & Buttons is the 1 segment that I always have to fast-forward past on my DVR. It's the same thing every time and I feel bad for Buttons.

Hip Hippos: yeah, they're just walking fat jokes, plus they didn't have appealing nor deep enough personalities to compensate. Not much to see here. Move along.

I can't sum up Katie Ka-Boom any better than Chad Rocco (CR!) did on his Familiar Faces series, so I would just say check out his review.

[Goldstar]

Been catching some episode of this show on the HUB. I've seen almost all of these episodes before, and the ones I've always really liked I still really like, while the ones I only thought were okay are now often irritating to me. Even so, the animation and jokes in this show, for the most part, are top-notch and it's a shame we don't have this sort of quality in most children's animated series today. I'd say Tiny Toonsstill holds up better to me, and I would love for the HUB to air that and the other 90's Warner Bros. animated comedy shows as well.

I tend to think that The Hub acquiring Tiny Toon Adventures would be taking a step back, not forward. Don't get me wrong; I loved TTA back in the day, and Babs Bunny rocked the planet, but the show's constant spouting out of "Hey-hey, it's the 90s!" makes the show seem horribly dated now.

If The Hub were to acquire Freakazoid!, that'd be a hoot, but overall, I likewise would prefer it if The Hub found it's own voice and become it's own thing rather than just become the Kids' WB Leftovers Channel.

[Avaitor]

I've always taken the Warners to be a tribute to the Marx Brother's Paramount-era films, where they'd mercilessly attack anyone who is a part of the system because they don't understand how to conform.

It may make them seem like jackasses, but IMO, it worked a lot of the time.

[Avaitor]

DarthGonzo started up an Animaniacs blog.

[Kiddington]

Interesting. I always wondered when he'd show up again.

You know, Animaniacs sure does get a lot of love; none of the other Silver Age stuff even comes close for most people. I think, given the 20th anniversary of the series and all, it's about time I give it a fair shake again. Maybe a full-scale rewatch is what I need to see what everyone else sees (you already know my feelings about it by now).

[Silverstar]

You know, Animaniacs sure does get a lot of love; none of the other Silver Age stuff even comes close for most people.

Yeah, a lot of the people on That Guy with the Glasses (including Doug Walker himself) are nuts about Animaniacs. You'd think Tiny Toon Adventures would've been the favorite Silver Age WB show, since it more or less started them all (the comedies, anyway), but A! is clearly the favorite among the Silver Age crowd. I would have loved it if it had just been the Warners, Slappy, Pinky & the Brain, and maybe Chicken Boo and Minerva Mink, as those were the ones which I found consistently funny and the least repetitive with the fewest hiccups. The other segments I could take or leave.

[Avaitor]

The funny thing is, the last time I checked, Darth agreed with a lot of you guys that Tiny Toons holds up better. I think he went with Animaniacs because the whole series is now available, while we're still waiting for the last TTA set, and yeah, it's the 20th anniversary.

Maybe he'll get to TTA afterwords, or during its 25th anniversary.