It isn't often that one gets to look back fondly on Saturday morning programming and be able to write loving tributes to those shows. While it differs for most, I grew up in the mid-90's with limited access to cable. For the sake of entertainment, the WB and ABC line-ups that played early on in the afternoon were my source of entertainment. Few shows were as addictive and important to me as Animaniacs and the subsequent series: Pinky and the Brain. In the case of the latter, today marks the 20th anniversary since the series first took its plunge into uncharted territories with a Das Bus parody episode called "Das Mouse." If nothing else proves the impressiveness of these cartoon mice, let it be their references that proved not only that the show could maintain its impact without the Warner Brothers (and Warner Sister), but it could be the smartest kids show of the 90's not hosted by Bill Nye.
To summarize the appeal of Pinky and the Brain is to first dissect Animaniacs. The series, which premiered in 1993, was one of the early onslaught of shows produced by Steven Spielberg and was in its own sense a throwback to Looney Tunes and Spielberg's own career. He was consistently lampooned on the series, from visual cameos to direct film satires. The rest was a rather subversive update of 1930's slapstick in the disguise of a variety show-esque program that rivals The Simpsons for number of background gags. Even if the titular characters were the central characters, the appeal came in segments that themselves were inspired by throwbacks. There was Mindy & Buttons: a sadistic satire of Lassie. There was Rita & Runt: a loving tribute to musicals. There was Good Feathers: an ode to gangster movies.
Then there was Pinky & The Brain: a tribute to dictatorships. With many considering the two to be direct parodies of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, it seems like they were always going to be the hardest to love. In fact, it was quite the opposite as the laboratory mice were so beloved, they got their own show. What started off as five minute routines in which the two would attempt to take over the world in hackneyed fashions quickly began to eat into the show's other segments. There were clever gadgets galore and Pinky (Rob Paulsen) was the funniest dimwit on the show's roster - lovable and clumsy in manners that often lead to the plot's destruction.
The simple way to summarize Pinky & The Brain's impact is to say that they outgrew the show. As Animaniacs pushed forward, the show's variety was almost too limitless, with whole episodes dedicated to singular stories and other segments being pushed almost out of circulation, such as the droll Hip Hippos. While Spielberg's animated universe managed to impressively feature tons of crossovers with the likes of Tiny Tune Adventures and Freakazoid!, it wasn't enough to have the two laboratory mice just keep walking around in the background. There were writers smart enough to realize that yes, people out there love the mice and want to see more stories. It was with this logic that they eventually got their own show that earned them a Daytime Emmy.
It could just be that they were more than novelty supporting players on Animaniacs. To imagine Mindy & Buttons or Rita & Runt sustaining an entire series is laughable. But Pinky and The Brain was something else. Their episodes needed time to unfold and reveal the plot. We could handle there being a little more of everything from the shorts. Even as the show developed, it found new characters such as Brain's nemesis Snowball that brought a nice touch to the series. Even if the show skated by on continual jokes that a mouse was trying to take over the world - and that was somehow "believable" - it never lost its appeal.
Probably what makes the show special in particular is that while Animaniacs was a variety show throwback, this new show was a different monster entirely. Yes, it was still about evil doers doing evil. However, they were now set inside parodies of classic cinema and film noir. Even if Animaniacs hinted at this type of satire, they never did direct parodies of properties like The Manchurian Candidate, Green Acres, Broadway Melody, Hoop Dreams, or most impressively The Third Man. The show also had the benefit of being a time travelling show, throwing its characters into various periods for an episode to pull off their crazy schemes.
While these ideas may go over most people's heads, it was reflective of the show's universal appeal. Yes, Pinky was a silly nincompoop. He said wacky things. However, the show was layered and complex, with just as much focus on the humor as there was the gadgets and satirical execution. Nothing was really sacrificed when blended together, thus producing something wholly satisfying. Even if just enjoyed for entertainment value, Pinky and The Brain was a show that accurately asked the question: is it better than Animaniacs? It's a debate that likely will keep 90's kids pondering for some time, especially since it's almost a "chicken or the egg" argument, with one needing the other to first exist.
I don't know if any of these Saturday morning cartoons have longevity for audiences absent from those mornings, especially now that they're gone entirely. I do know that thankfully nostalgia has kept the WB shows alive not because they were just cartoons, but because they were complicated and diverse in topics. You remember them fondly because the creators put so much effort into not only the jokes, but the craft. I don't know if Pinky and The Brain would resonate today, but it definitely deserves some more recognition for being able to be on point satire that had an impact. While thankfully its legacy hasn't been ruined by the unfortunate spin-off that followed and killed the Spielberg universe Pinky, Elmyra & The Brain, one can only wonder children's cartoons without it. I doubt it would be as fruitful or exciting.
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