Today we discuss Pinky and the Brain an Award Winning cartoon that centered around two genetically engineered lab mice who try to take over the world. As you probably already know, the show was a spin off from Animaniacs (another awesome cartoon I intend to cover on this page at some point).
As the theme song informs us, one is a genius while the other is insane. Some people seem to think that Pinky is actually the genius, and Brain is the insane one, but anyone who's watched the show knows that the descriptions match who you think they are supposed to.
The comedy in the show thrives on great dialogue and a classic comedy duo schtick. Brain is the straight man who acts as a foil to Pinky's wackiness.
Even now, the humor still holds up. It's a show that can be enjoyed by adults as much as kids. There are pop culture references aplenty as well as a fair amount of slapstick humor. It's goofy and silly, but that's what makes it so fun to watch.
Normally, taking over the world is a job reserved for villains, but the formula is mixed up as this is the goal of the heroes in this show. The idea is even lampshaded in an episode that parodies James Bond when the spy points out that, since they are trying to take over the world, they must be villains. We do see that Brain has a benevolent streak and believes that the world will truly be a better place under his rule, and we see that his goals are strangely altruistic. This point is illustrated more clearly with the introduction Snowball, Brain's old friend, former cagemate and newfound nemesis; who underwent similar experiments and has the same goals, but with a more malicious intent. Snowball was awesome, he had an awesome musical leitmotif and Roddy McDowall's voicework was superb. He only showed up in a few episodes, but he always made for a great episode.
There are a few episodes that take place in different time periods, which admittedly don't make a lot of sense considering their talking is explained by genetic engineering which didn't exist back then, but it's one of those instances where the MST3K rule applies.
This show is an animated gem. It's widely loved by many, but with things like this, you can never promote it too much. It's too bad that the show had to go out with a whimper thanks to executive meddling, which added Elmyra to the cast in an attempt to revamp the series. From what I can gather, those episodes will never be released on DVD so we can enjoy the classic episodes of the show back when it was in its prime.
Even to this day, people will reference this show. Whenever someone asks someone else what they plan on doing tonight, it's not surprising to get some mention of taking over the world as a response. One can not forget the classic "are you pondering what I'm pondering" gag which lead to several of the shows most memorable quotes.
This was one of the defining shows of my generation and that's with good reason. If you've never seen it before, I highly recommend it. If you have, feel free to go back and enjoy your favorite episodes as it's always time well spent. The show holds up over time and is just as enjoyable to me now as it was when it was first on the air.
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