Animaniacs

[Dr. Insomniac]

I'd say the show gets much better by the fifth episode and it's smooth sailing there, though the riffs on the political climate at the time of the show's writing are a little much. I get it. Tucker Carlson and Russia suck. The show doesn't need to remind me of that.

[Avaitor]

I finally got around to watching the whole first season, and it's not bad, although I don't think it has quite the same energy as the original series. I feel like it tries a little too hard to get the audience to laugh at its political and fourth wall breaking jokes, when neither were the original series' strong suits to begin with. The animation also comes off as mostly lifeless, especially on the human's side. The designs on the core characters are the perfect compromise between reverent to the original, and enough of their own thing to justify the show's place, but the characters move in weird shadow puppetry that just does not gel. But it can be funny, and the music is great. It's at its best when it lets the characters (the few we're allotted to see, anyway) be themselves.

But wow, Rob Paulsen just can't voice Yakko anymore, can he? It's like he can't find those high notes anymore, even though he can still do Pinky and Scratchnsniff just fine.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I didn't notice much off with Paulsen's performance. Just accounted most of it to age and his bout with cancer.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, I thought everyone sounded about the same from what I remembered.

I liked the show, but the Pinky & the Brain segments were so much stronger than the Warners' on average that I kinda wish it'd just be a P&B revival exclusively, especially since they got rid of the other characters that made the show what it was like Slappy and Rita & Runt anyway. Not to say the Warners segments were bad by any stretch, there was a lot I really liked, but the P&B's had more interesting and humorous plots, and even when I was enjoying the Warners stuff a part of me was just counting the minutes until they switched segments.

While I never found the animation lifeless - I think it's REALLY expressive and full of character, and the show looks more consistent than the old one by a mile - there was a sense of uncanniness I felt recognizing parts were they used puppeted animation versus traditional hand-drawn techniques, along with the obvious physical difference of the show now being drawn digitally versus pencil on paper creating a completely different aesthetic feel that also felt off. The show's human designs also veered into being more grotesque and caricatured, probably owing to the fact a lot of Spumco proteges worked on this show, and their designs didn't really feel like they meshed perfectly with the rounder and softer shapes and stylization that was used for characters in the old show. I think you can readily tell an old Animaniacs character from a new one pretty easily in a way that was sorta distracting, though I also don't think it's a big deal either. It's just... different.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, the animation was a little like if someone overused CGI instead of practical effects in a live-action film, or if someone used an air blower to make the leaves dance from a tree instead of using natural wind. Not to say the animation was bad, just uneven.

There was also too much talk-show humor for my liking. Despite the revival mocking Seth Meyers, it delves into that same level of surface-level political riffs and celebrity jokes that don't say anything everyone hasn't already said. I mean, I liked the Russia episode and found it pretty funny, but it's hard to disagree with some detractors that it's mostly a regurgitation of the same Putin jokes we've heard for years.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, the show didn't really bring anything new to the table in its topical episodes. The P&B ones about government surveillance, McCarthyism, and the election were great because those characters are primed to explore those topics considering Brain's megalomaniacal motivations, but the Warners have a habit of just messing with people just because so most attempts at satire using them feel kinda shallow because they don't ever feel like they genuinely represent or believe in anything. Plus the jokes and commentary themselves are pretty basic, like the point of the buns episode never amounting to much more than "guns are bad and we should follow Australia's example and get rid of them" which is fine but hardly an insightful take on the issue. I also didn't care for the Russia episode since it leaned so heavily into Cold War-era stereotypes of Russian people to feel irrelevant, and honestly kinda racist.

[Dr. Insomniac]

but the Warners have a habit of just messing with people just because so most attempts at satire using them feel kinda shallow because they don't ever feel like they genuinely represent or believe in anything.

Pretty much. The Warners can be molded to say or do anything the writers want within their shorts, which makes them useful when you want to do whatever, but weak when you want to make a genuine point with them. Watching them talk about gun control or Dot singing about voting rights has the same hollow pathos as watching Alvin and the Chipmunks tell you drugs are bad.

[Daikun]

Third season greenlit.

[Daxdiv]

Hopefully they deliver on adding back more classic characters to the show,

[Commode]

honestly think this incarnation of the show is rather poor despite the positive reception it received, but I do think much of the reason is lack of variety.  The original show suffered from some of its variety being weak(Hip Hippos etc), but this version gets old just having the Warner siblings and PATB.  Needs some of the stronger supporting characters , like Slappy etc.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I can't remember the exact interview, but I think one of them implied that because Ruegger wasn't hired back, Sherri Stoner wasn't interested in returning either, resulting in no Slappy. And I guess the new producers didn't care about any of the other characters. They couldn't even bring back the Goodfeathers even when a brand new Scorsese mafia movie had just come out they could've parodied, and even if they do now, they'll have to recast Pesto. And that wouldn't be bad on its own, but then the reboot has no faith in its new characters to give them more than minor bit parts, like the one about the gnome and that one with the little girl. If they were short on good enough rotational characters, maybe they should have cannibalized Freakazoid or some of the Tiny Toons and brought them back to lead their own skits.

[Avaitor]

I do like the idea of bringing back Freakazoid and Tiny Toons characters. Especially because I have a sinking feeling that the new Tiny Toons show may be just Buster and Babs...

[Commode]

Wondering if maybe they aren't able to use the Tiny Toon characters, since Animaniacs is being produced for Hulu and the new Tiny Toons is CN/HBO Max.  Was hoping for more cameos than the one in the song Dot sang.

And I'm kind of dreading the new Tiny Toons show, was my favorite of the old Ruegger shows but they really seem like they are cheaping out on it.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I'm pretty curious what exactly happened between Ruegger and WB that he has no input in these shows, or why he hasn't had a successful show in the last 20 years. He has BTAS, Animaniacs, and Tiny Toons in his resume, and his latest credits have been a forgotten Seven Dwarfs show and a Pac-Man thing?

[Commode]

All I know is he wasn't even contacted about the new show, and didn't find out about it until the WB press release.