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"Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?" Pinky & The Brain return....

Started by Feralkid, November 14, 2005, 04:35:34 PM

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Feralkid

Not sure if anyone else remembers this unsung US cartoon series from the mid-90s but, after having been hacked about on Saturday morning telly by ITV it's now been bought by the Beeb.

The show always walked an odd line between Simpsons style kidult entertainment and just plain silly kids jokes, presumably because it was originally devised as a kids show then hastily repackaged as a prime time series for the WB's launch back in 95.  

At any rate there were some very amusing episodes of it before the whole enterprise went bad.  Next week's episode Monday 4.05pm BBC1 is the wonderful "Of Mouse and Man" which features some great Christopher Walken mockery and a guest appearance from Jeffrey Tambor.


Feralkid

Yeah, given the show's general unavailability on shiny disc myself and Mrs Feral are seriously considering buying a DVD recorder just to tape this one.  Totally delighted that they're back on the air.

At its best it was one of the funniest American shows of the 90s.  Though the least said about the spin off "Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain" the better....

So anyone got a favourite episode?  "The Braininia" one where they form a false country always does it for me.  Though the one where Pinky becomes President is probably my fave...I especially love Brain's line in that one "Be a man Pinky, like Eleanor Roosevelt!"

Squidy

Excellent stuff. Eric Idle was in one, you know.

Quote from: "[url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4474TVShowsOnDVD.com[/url]"]It's been two weeks exactly since we broke the news that Pinky and the Brain is headed to DVD in 2006.  Fans of the classic animated cartoon have been going wacko, bombarding us with questions and asking for more information...and we've got it for you!  We've found out that this show, along with the series it spun off from, Animaniacs, is tentatively penciled in for July 25, 2006 on Warner Home Video's release schedule.  Now be careful, because that date is EXTREMELY subject to change, but it ought to give you an idea of just how far off these are from release.  The studio doesn't want them to slip too far past that date, though, because they would like to get "Volume 2" sets for both shows out to stores in time for Christmas 2006.  We don't mind a bit!

Our deep, dark, secret industry sources tell us to expect these to be in "Volume" sets, in order by the original airdate, similar to the way Batman: The Animated Series has been released by Warner.  The goal is to put 22 half-hour installments onto 4 DVDs for each set.  So that there is no redundant content between the two releases (in other words, Warner isn't forcing you to buy the same cartoon shorts twice if you purchase both shows), the Pinky and the Brain DVDs are planned to NOT include the half-hour shows which were made up of PatB material taken from Animaniacs (something the show did in the early days of the spin-off in order to have more "episodes" in short order).

This ought to answer the majority of the initial questions we've been bombarded with about these releases since our scoop a couple of weeks ago.  We doubt we'll have much more to say for the next few months, while Warner finalizes their plans and gets production of these DVDs together.  For now, let's categorize everything you've just read as "rumor mill" stuff, and take it with a grain of salt.  But stay tuned, and just as soon as we have confirmation from the studio, or some new information to update you with, we will let you know!

jimmy jazz

I remember, in one episode, there was plaque saying "The Top Secret Nuclear Defence Centre (We're Open!)" or something along those lines, and I laughed for about an hour and 45 minutes.

Mister Six

Quote from: "Feralkid"So anyone got a favourite episode?  "The Braininia" one where they form a false country always does it for me.  Though the one where Pinky becomes President is probably my fave...I especially love Brain's line in that one "Be a man Pinky, like Eleanor Roosevelt!"

Probably the one with Chia World. Or the one where they decide to steal all the gold in Fort Knox.

Oh, for the days when kids' cartoons were funny. Freakazoid! was tremendous, too.

Feralkid

Well in my household "World domination, walnut shell" is an everyday expression.

That's terrific news about the box sets.  I'm suddenly deliriously happy.  Hopefully there'll be some decent extras.  I've heard on the grape vine that writer Peter Hastings' departure from the show wasn't voluntary and I'd always thought his eps were among the best.

Anyone else remember the country & western episode?  Hysterically funny that one.  Or the one where Brain makes Pinky as smart as he is?  Anyone else ever catch the massively subversive gay parenting episode where they have a son?

I especially loved the one where they're pitching a sit-com to a studio exec.

BRAIN: We'd mostly sit on a sofa exchanging witty gen-x banter.
PINKY(Giddy with joy): And I have a monkey!!!!

Or Brain's attempts to flatter Tom Hanks.

"Why you're like Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart all wrapped up in a tight little ball.  Not that that ever happened...."

And damn.  I nearly forgot all about Snowball.

Squidy

Quote from: "Feralkid"Anyone else remember the country & western episode?  Hysterically funny that one.
"Don't tell my head, my empty hollow head, I just don't think it'll understand...".

There was one based on the quiz show episode of The Honeymooners, the twist being that in this version the phrase Brain had to guess was a catchphrase from The Honeymooners which Pinky had been repeating much to Brain's annoyance throughout the entire episode. How far over the target audience's head is that?

Feralkid

Or what about during the President Pinky one where Brain suggests something which would violate the law of the land...

PINKY: But wouldn't that be unconstitutional Brain
BRAIN: Yes but afterwards you can always  get Gerald Ford to pardon you.

And speaking of going waaaay over kids' heads what about their Winnie The Poo spoof where "pinklet" and "Brainy the Poo" meet their friend the boy Christopher Walken who then more or less repeats Walken's suicide by driving spiel from Annie Hall.

difbrook

"Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?"
"Um, I think so, Brain - but burlap chafes me so..."

oh, God... where to start? So many tremendous episodes, and moments of joy.

The Pinky P.O.V - Brain's latest plan involves taking over the world by Grunge, so he heads off for Seattle in the guise of lead guitarist for "Frog the Dry Widget" (!) - the entire episode is seen through Pinky's eyes - we only ever see him reflected in shiny surfaces, and it's all filtered through his perceptions, so everytime Brain gets technical the dialogue runs "blah-blah-blabbidy-blah, really big word, blabbidy blah blah blah". And at one point, where Pinky is really impressed by something, the word "Narf" swells up on screen in huge bubble writing and is then punctured by an arrow in the shape of the word "Poit"!

It's Only a Paper World, in which Brian builds "Chia-Earth" out of mounds of recycled magazines, which culminates in the line "today, a recycling problem. Tomorrow... the world!!!!!"

A Pinky and the Brain Christmas, complete with special festive version of that bombastic theme tune "By the dawning of the sun, their plan will be unfurled... they'll take over the earth and bring JOY TO THE WORLD"... with the aid of the noodle-noggin Brain-replica doll. Features a moment of supreme strangeness as the boys hitch a lift with an Amelia Earheart type over the North-Pole, having placed an unconvincing dummy in the passenger seat to convince her that she's carrying a normal human -

"You don't say much, do you? You remind me of my first husband. He never said anything... 'course, turned out that he was just a propane tank." <sigh> "I miss him..."

The Third Mouse - Cotten, Welles, et al in twelve and a half minutes, including *that* alleyway reveal, and a great sight gag where no-one comments on the fact that as a result of the experiment where Brain "died", the police outline of his body on the floor is missing a head - if you look carefully in the background, you'll see the outline of his head halfway up the wall...

You'll Never Eat Food Pellets in this Town Again - falling ratings force Pinky and the Brain to retool their show with terrible results, and Brain is trapped in a failing marriage to "Billie", his love interest from the early episodes...

The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special - the lads reunite, one last time...
"Yawn... if you want me, I'll be over here, Brain. Erm, Narf, poit or summing stoopid like that..."
"You're probably an idiot, Pinky... now, let us get on with my latest scheme. Although five'll get you ten it's a stinker like all the others."

Probably my favourite of the lot is Yes, Always, in which a redubbing session for an episode of Animaniacs goes horribly wrong when Brain throws a prima-donna fit - the dialogue is an *exact* re-enactment of the Orson Welles Birdseye Fish-Fingers commercial outtakes reel! One minor adjustment - we now have "tell me how to say that, and I'll... make cheese for you". But apart from that, it's identical all the way, even down to the studio interjections.

Fantastic musical numbers, too -

"Brainstem", in which Brain teaches you the parts of the brain to the tune of the Camptown Races is probably my favourite, but "Cheese Roll Call" - sung by Pinky to Sousa's Semper Fidelis runs it close. Then there's "Meticulous History", "Brain Acres", "The Really Great Dictator", "The Impossible Scheme", and tons of others.

It all falls apart when it turns into Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, but even that's got an entire episode done in the style of Poe's "The Raven" which for my money is better than the Simpson's take on it by virtue of having their regular target of Christopher Walken in it...

there's another episode which deserves a posting of its own. I'll sort that out in a minute!

Goldentony

ive been watching and taping these, marvellous stuff, though ive yet to see my favourite episode which involved the two in medievil times and pinky constantly playing greensleeves with varying lyrics.

difbrook

Quote from: "Goldentony"ive been watching and taping these, marvellous stuff, though ive yet to see my favourite episode which involved the two in medievil times and pinky constantly playing greensleeves with varying lyrics.

That's Spellbound.

"Charlie Sheen, Ben Vereen, Shrink to the size of a lima bean..."

difbrook

I hope this doesn't qualify as a spoiler, but I had to share it.

As a result of this thread, I've just watched "Brainwashed Part 1 - Brain, Brain Go Away".

and I'd completely forgotten about this...

as Pinky and the Brain get embroiled in another plan by Brain's arch-enemy Snowball (Roddy McDowall, in fine form) to take over the world by means of a pointless dance known as the Schmeerz-gehooven, they are trapped in a room and gassed into unconsciousness. Brain wakes up the next morning, and steps out into a world that looks like this...




he is informed that from this moment on he is no longer The Brain - everyone here is identified by the type of hat they wear. He runs into "Straw Boater"...





who fills him in on what is going on.





Brain vows furiously to escape, and the episode ends like this...






the next episode is subtitled "I am not a hat"...

Brutus Beefcake

"What are we gonna do tomorrow night Brain?"

"The same thing we do every night Pinky..."


Brilliant.

dan dirty ape

This and 'Animaniacs' were surely never really intended for kids. They were incredibly dense with esoteric cultural references, the latter taking it to ridiculously in-joky degrees that were possibly only funny to the staff that worked on them. People always say the Simpsons works on 'so many different levels' ie. appeals to kids and adults,and you can say that about Pinky and the Brain but I remember watching some episodes of 'Animaniacs' on CITV and thinking "there's nothing in this a child would give a shit about, it's all jokes about studio policy and the Marx Brothers."

Isn't Sherry Gunther who worked on these something to do with Family Guy now? You could tell early to mid 90s Warner Bros TV cartoons were straining at the leash to be 'adult' in a kid's format.

purlieu

Quote from: "Goldentony"ive been watching and taping these, marvellous stuff, though ive yet to see my favourite episode which involved the two in medievil times and pinky constantly playing greensleeves with varying lyrics.
Oh man. First episode I ever saw. I don't think I'd ever laughed so much up until that point in my life.

difbrook

Quote from: "Feralkid"
That's terrific news about the box sets.  I'm suddenly deliriously happy.  Hopefully there'll be some decent extras.  I've heard on the grape vine that writer Peter Hastings' departure from the show wasn't voluntary and I'd always thought his eps were among the best.


if that's true, that's a shame. Hastings was always the most inventive of the scriptwriters - you'll never see Brain clonking Pinky on the head with anything in his stories, as he felt that was too much of an easy laugh and too cruel - he always preferred to go for a more subtle approach. Although he did apparently keep a life-size replica of Brain's "Man-Suit" in his office.

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I do remember stumbling across comments somewhere regarding Animaniacs - the story goes that about three-quarters of the way through the run someone in the US Government tuned into an episode with his kids and was appalled at what he saw as the lack of educational standards. Presumably he'd tuned into one of the ones with "The Great Wakkarotti", where Wakko slugs a bottle of fizzy drink and belches out a great classical piece in front of an orchestra.

This official is supposed to have *insisted* on the removal of all the for-the-hell-of-it jokery and the insertion of stories which were educational and improving - which may be one reason for the sharp decline in quality towards the end of the series.

I'd always put it down to burn-out, meself. It's a good story, but I can't believe it's any more than that.

Besides which, it doesn't explain why Chicken Boo made it all the way through to the end of the series - although I'm glad he did. If you've never seen the sight of a Giant Chicken pretending to be James Bond, you haven't lived.

Feralkid

Well Animaniacs had some very, very dense studio politics gags.  Anyone eversee the ep where they ruthlessly took the piss out of  Warner's recent animated features Space Jam and Quest for Camelot?  The joke had Warners make an appallingly bad  hip hop Arthurian basketbal movie called Jam-a-lot instead of an Animaniacs feature...

Or what about the time they revealed that Chicken-Boo was one of the 47 writers on The Flintstones movie.  

The one that always cracks me up is the on where Studio Psychiatrists Dr Scratchensniff tries to psychoanalyse the Warners.   "If you knew Max you'd be laughing..."

On the injoke front the Animanicas "Get a life foundation" certainly has gags that are only intelligible only to the production staff.

Can't believe I missed that Prisoner parodying Pinky & Brain ep.  All the more reason for me to invest in the box sets.

Speaking of P&B script writers, John Patterson's were always top notch too.

weekender

"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but if they called them "Sad Meals", kids wouldn't buy them!"

I used to fucking love Pinky and the Brain.  Thus ends my critical analysis for the day.

A Passing Turk Slipper

Quote from: "weekender""Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"I think so, Brain, but if they called them "Sad Meals", kids wouldn't buy them!"
Haha, yeah I think I remember that line. I haven't seen the show in ages, I too used to love it though.

Little Hoover

I think I still have some old Animaniacs VHS Tapes I wanted when I was Kid somewhere, and I saw some of the film that was on channel 5 recently, and still enjjoyed it, what a great show it was, though there were some real dud characters.

My main memory is of the incredibly boring guy telling this really long anecdote that ended with him coming back round to Bob Barker eating a cheeseball and baloney sandwhich.

Ignatius_S

Quote from: "difbrook"

The Third Mouse - Cotten, Welles, et al in twelve and a half minutes, including *that* alleyway reveal, and a great sight gag where no-one comments on the fact that as a result of the experiment where Brain "died", the police outline of his body on the floor is missing a head - if you look carefully in the background, you'll see the outline of his head halfway up the wall...

!

Got such a soft spot for this one as The Third Man is my fav film - here's waiting for the DVD...

Feralkid

Well the whole show was full of Orson Welles references.  What with maurice la marche using his Orson voice for Brain.  I remember when I showed my folks Tim Burton's ed Wood film in which La Marche providedI the voice for Vincent D'onofrio's Orson Welles only to have everyone in the room start doing Pinkyisms when Ed met Orson....

My favourite Pinky response to the pondering question is probably

"Um,  I fink so Brain but me and Pippi Longstocking?  I mean what would our children look like..."

So where the Hell did Pinky's voice come from anyway?  Was he supposed to sound sorta English?  

There were certainly a few dud characters on Animaniacs.  Buttons and Rita?  Was that the name of the lil girl and her dog?  They didn't quite work.  Ditto those Hippos - and was it my imagination or were they supposed to be like Paul Bartel and Mary Waranov in eating Raoul?

Goodfeathers was a solid idea but just hard to repeat.  The initial gag not really stretching too far...

Slappy Squirrel had her moments mind you


difbrook

Quote from: "Feralkid"

So where the Hell did Pinky's voice come from anyway?  Was he supposed to sound sorta English?  


Here's yer answer!

Denver Post -- "BRAIN POWER"   "Pinky, genius pal to resume plotting in 1997"  (June 11,
1996)

Tuesday's Denver Post featured a clever article about that daring pair, Pinky & The Brain.  
Following Warner Bros. announcement that the lab mice will not be returning to The WB
Network's primetime lineup until 1997, Ed Will (Denver Post Staff Writer) went to the source
for more information.

Will first interviewed Warner Bros. spokesperson Cathy Cruse who cited several reasons for
the popularity of "Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky & the Brain."  Among them were the
numerous web sites on the Internet as well as the TV Guide article choosing P&TB as one of
the "Ten Hottest New Faces of '95."  Also mentioned was the large college and high school
age following the show attracts.

Just to reassure the fans of Pinky & the Brain, Ed Will mentioned that the new version of the
show will still be under the supervision of "The two men most responsible for bringing Pinky
and Brain to life: Tom Ruegger, executive producer of Warner Bros. Television Animation...
and Peter Hastings, producer 'Pinky and the Brain.'"  Will discussed the creation of the show
and the characters with the two producers.  This is what they had to say:


"Among those brainstorming ideas (for the show) were two writers named Tom Minton and
Eddie Fitzgerald, and they were the inspiration for the mice.

"Eddie had a personality and a look not unlike Pinky, and Tom Minton had a personality and
look not unlike Brain," Ruegger said.  "I was sitting there with Peter one day and I said, 'What if
Eddie and Tom Minton were trying to take over the world?'  That was pretty much the dawn of
the idea.  Eddie and Tom and Pinky and the Brain are sort of an odd combination in
personalities, and I think that is where a lot of the fun comes from."

The idea took on more shape when Ruegger grabbed caricatures of Fitzgerald and Minton
that had been drawn by Bruce Tim, a producer of "Batman" and "Superman" series.

"I took the caricatures of Eddie and Tom and quickly traced over them, added mouse ears and
big bulbous noses and little mouse bodies.  Very primitive, early versions of Pinky and the
Brain.  From there, other artists put their stamp on the drawings.  They slowly evolved into
more detail and elaborate characters that do not look so much like Tom and Eddie anymore."

The final, and Ruegger says most important, steps were Hastings' writing and casting of Rob
Paulsen as the voice of Pinky and Maurice LaMarche as the Brain.

"For me, it was one of those rare and joyful writing experiences where it sort of takes on a life
of its own as you go along," Hastings said.  "There were many things in that first script that I
didn't even give that much thought to that ended up real staples of 'Pinky and the Brain.'"


The two producers went on to tell Ed Will that the two lab mice are the "classic smart-guy,
dumb-guy duo."  "Hastings said he also receives inspiration from a more modern source.

"I don't know if it comes out directly in the show, but there is a certain quality of things like
Monty Python that I respond to a lot," Hastings said.

"There is a certain sensibility of serious people in silly situations.  Here you have Pinky and the
Brain who are serious about what they are doing, which is kind of a typical Monty Python deal
where a few guys are dead serious talking about a dead parrot.  As opposed to the tradition of
the Marx Brothers or Warner Bros. 'Animaniacs,' who are silly people in serious situations."

Feralkid

Well the Monty Python influence makes sense.  Their subsistence on SPAM during their long sea voyage in the Braininia episode is presumably a homage.  

So was anyone able to stomach much of the final series, the dreaded "Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain.."  I seem to recall reading that throwing a third character into the mix was Spielberg's idea.

difbrook

Quote from: "Feralkid"Well the Monty Python influence makes sense.  Their subsistence on SPAM during their long sea voyage in the Braininia episode is presumably a homage.  

So was anyone able to stomach much of the final series, the dreaded "Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain.."  I seem to recall reading that throwing a third character into the mix was Spielberg's idea.

I've only ever seen two episodes. With the exception of the pisstake of the Raven, it's not good. There *are* moments - Christopher Walken is in it as a recurring shady figure working for the FBI (he's called "Wally" here). Everytime he appears in one episode he's accompanied by a sinister choral song in gibberish - "Dominoas, Prelatorus, Lac-Tose!" or somesuch. There's a nifty little supporting character by name of "Crickety Joe", who always turns up saying things like "You kids shouldn't be walkin' on the pavement! Used to be you could walk on the pavement, but nasty kids turned up and ruined it for everybody"... he seems to have one aim - to force the kids to eat improving foods, which leads to Pinky exclaiming "He made us eat beans. YUMMY!".

Elmyra (an import from Tiny Toons Adventures, apparently) pretty much ruins it, with her constant cries of "Mousie!!!", and her insistence on dressing her new pets up in doll's clothing (something which Pinky, of course, enjoys) and the animation's taken a massive drop in quality. Budget cuts between series, presumably.

But oh, the title sequence... the theme song (still the melody line from the original series) comments on the new changes - "Now Pinky and the Brain/have found a new domain/It's what the network wants, why bother to complain?", while our heroes are catapulted out of ACME labs at high speed, to land at Elmyra's feet, who gives them a "what can you do?" shrug.

The last shot of the titles is Brian being smothered in affection by Elmyra, and as the camera pulls back rapidly to the outside of the house we hear him saying in a very peevish voice, "I deeply resent this."

Nice to know the production team were aware of the constraints they were working under...

Lt Plonker

Quote from: "sick as a pike"Someone was very interested in your comments.

(picture)

I simply must get one of those for my room.



Every discussion based around The Animaniacs and Pink & The Brain simply must turn to the songs at some point. They're utterly clever. I've managed to learn the US States and their capitals just from listening to that one song!

Feralkid

I love the Brainstem song

http://www2.umdnj.edu/~neuro/studyaid/song.htm

And from Animaniacs I was always very partial to their song about the Universe

"It's a great big universe and we're all really puny.  Just tiny li'l specks about the size of Mickey Rooney..."

Re: Pinky, Elmyra and The Brain.  The one episode I did manage to watch was scripted by John Patterson and did at least have one great Spielberg referencing physical gag.

Brain shone a torch on the wall and told Elmyra that the light was a portal to a magical interdimension petting zoo.  He then urged her to "run to the light" a la that moment in Poltergiest.  She then bashed her head on the wall...obviously.

I'm sure I saw a pinky and the brain once where one of them kept saying "whats the story? morning glory." - it seemed very odd to me at the time.

It seems a relatively passable viewing fare to me but I think the same kind of thing I think when people tell me excitedly about spongebob squarepants that 'its a show for kids but theres a wealth of material for adults to enjoy under the surface.'... which is 'you know what else has a wealth of material for adults to enjoy? adult shows!'