Animaniacs

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I checked his Wiki and Imdb, and it looks like Welker is still fairly active. It might be possible that he can't hit the same notes required for characters like Ralph and Runt anymore, but it's still weird to see him MIA here.

But okay, I have been wondering about how much of the characters will be returning. For a while, it's been sounding like we would just be getting the Warners and Pinky & the Brain, which of course were the best, but a whole show of just them could easily get tiresome. Not every character needs to return- no one's hankering for more Katie Kaboom or the hippos- but I'd be highly disappointed if Slappy doesn't come back.

Granted, Slappy's shtick comes from the audience's familiarity with classic cartoon violence, which has been largely absent for this generation. I think that's the big reason why Tiny Toons doesn't have any plans to come back- with Bugs, Daffy and co not being nearly as prevalent as they once were, Buster and Plucky probably won't land as well with today's generation. Still, there are other directions to take Slappy in, and either way, it's still funny to see a character have an anvil fall on their head.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Yeah, Slappy's niche will have to be retooled. Not only are audiences familiar with a more different form of cartoon violence than back in the 90s, a grumpy former cartoon star brings to mind certain other characters these days, and the show's never been a stranger to parodying relatively recent pop culture. An Animaniacs take on Bojack will likely come off as either reactionary or shallow.

[Daikun]

The reboot premieres November 20.

[Daikun]

Finally, a clip of the new show!

[Dr. Insomniac]

So it's just the Warners, Pinky and the Brain, and Ralph in the reboot? I'm sure a surprise appearance might pop up, but if they actually had any decent screentime, they'd have popped up in the marketing by now. Because while some characters like Buttons or Katie Kaboom aren't any loss, I'm a little disappointed if Slappy doesn't show up, which seems to be the case since Tom Ruegger's son said none of the old writers were contacted to work on the new show, and Slappy's VA was one of the writers.

[Daxdiv]

A part of me hopes they do the Ducktales route of waiting another season before going all out on older characters appearing, even if it is just a "Wink, wink, nudge, nudge" appearance. But the fact that it does appear to be the Warner Siblings and Pinky and the Brain is a bit concerning, but understanding since they were the most consistently funny shorts on the show. Shame about Slappy not appearing.

[Dr. Insomniac]

But with Ducktales, it kind of worked because they were more focused on an overarching narrative and introduced new characters of their own, while Animaniacs doesn't work that way. Or at least shouldn't. You need a wide variety of rotational characters because spending too much time on the Warners makes them annoying, and if you fall back on Pinky and the Brain too much, then you leave the audience asking why they didn't just bring back their show instead.

[Avaitor]

I understand wanting the new series to stand out on its own, but Sherri Stoner wasn't always a writer for Animaniacs- after a couple of seasons, she stuck to just voicing Slappy. Most of the rest of the original characters can stay stuck in the 90's- even the Goodfeathers, which were better than many, how many kids today will get the Scorsese references behind it? How many got them back then?- but if it's just the Warners and P&TB, that'll get old fast. Both series of shorts had already shown signs of wear after a while, already.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Found a tweet thread about the upcoming episodes, and the worries that every episode will just be Warners and P&TB became well-warranted. Plus some political jokes that are already outdated even before the show can glimpse the light of day.

Both series of shorts had already shown signs of wear after a while, already.

I'll admit I didn't like Pinky and the Brain as much when they got their own show. They certainly deserved a spin-off more than the other recurring segments, but they still worked better in 6 minute spots than a full series. You can only run the camera on these characters for so long before they grow stale or uncomfortable to watch. Same thing whenever an episode of Animaniacs spent too much time on one segment, like that time Slappy suffered from dementia and that consumed all the airtime. And as mixed as many of the other shorts were like the Hippos, Katie, or that fucking flame who narrated American history, you need them to give the show breathing space and a sense of variety.

[Daxdiv]

I've seen the review of the revival/interview with Tom Ruegger making the rounds on Twitter today, so I'd thought to post a link here for posterity.

From the review side, I did see RS saying that the Pinky and the Brain segments were the better part, while the Warners are a bit hit or miss. As for the interview part with Rueggar, he does mention what he would have done differently, like have Slappy with an aged up Skippy, maybe not call the show Animaniacs if you're using 2 segments due to how the term "Animaniacs" is mostly an umbrella term for all the characters from the original.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Surprised/disappointed that Sherri Stoner never had many other voice roles outside of Slappy, her only other voice role happening over a decade later in another one of Ruegger's shows. I know she's a writer first and actor second, but she could've done both. She had the chops for it.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Found this show Tom Ruegger was working on a decade ago, that CN apparently loved and was about to greenlight before Register vetoed it. It's... something.

[Daikun]

Watch episode 1 on Twitter!

[Dr. Insomniac]

Eh, the first episode could have been worse. A lot of the jokes are too boomer-y for my taste, such as Brain finding out what memes are or the Warners singing about the nature of reboots, but I didn't hate it.

Then I watched more of the show, and it grows on you.

[Avaitor]

So far I've seen the first two episodes, and they've been pretty hit or miss to me.

Kind of like the original itself, right? I mean, yeah, but the animation is even more lifeless and jarring here than when they'd send the show over to Akom. That tends to be my biggest issue, but the writing rarely matches the high of the original show. There's a couple of good jokes throughout, but they do add some things that don't work on any level, like a Leroy Jenkins callout.

What I do like is the music. There are some nice original songs, and the score is terrific. I also like getting to hear the classic VAs again, even though some have aged better than others. Rob Paulsen's Yakko is a little off, but his Pinky is fine. Tress MacNeille can still do a good job with Dot, but you can tell that she can't really go as high as she used to, especially when she sings. No complains from Jess Harnell, Maurice LaMarche, or Frank Welker, though.