As you might expect, I’ve been spending some joyous time
with everyone’s favorite “Horrible Little Puppy Children”, Yakko, Wakko, and
Dot, on the new DVD set ANIMANIACS Volume 4.
See THIS POST for more, and pay close attention to the part
concerning the riotous episode “Back in Style” (1997), and our friend Top Cat
James’ comment that draws very valid parallels to its “predecessor-in-subject-matter”,
“Don’t Touch That Dial”, a 1988 episode of MIGHTY MOUSE: THE NEW ADVENTURES.
No, we’re not gonna do the comparison here, though it might turn
up as a future post, but both were magnificent spoofs of the gloried and
not-so-gloried past and the then-present of the TV animation industry.
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| Hey, hey... HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE! |
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| Doesn't look a THING like me, Boob! |
Just like the Moose and Squirrel, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot also find a message in a bottle. But, we’ll just let the dialogue take over…
WAKKO: “I think we’re
lost!”
DOT: “Look, a MESSAGE
IN A BOTTLE!”
WAKKO: “Fan mail from
some flounder?”
YAKKO: “No, it’s from
some ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER… We should have never STOLEN THIS BIT!”
DOT: “At least we
didn’t steal the NEXT CARTOON!”
YAKKO: “That’s what
YOU think!”
 |
| ...Now, it's what we KNOW! |
Now, “Don’t Touch That Mouse!” (not Mighty Mouse), because
we will very likely have another Animaniacs Volume 4: Update coming soon. Stay tuned… or blogged… or logged-on, or
whatever…
4 comments:
You're doing a great sell job on this one, Joe. Even though it's been years since I watched "Animaniacs" this series of reviews is getting me interested again.
Also you made some great choices for pictures. Each one really captures the essence of the characters in the shot. I especially like the Yogi Bear still and the R & B still. I'd forgotten how much the Animaniacs parodied just about everything in sight. Hopefully, the pop cultural references will hold up as the years go by, but even if the references are forgotten, the humor still remains. Even when I wasn't familiar with the source material, I still found the Animaniacs parodies very funny.
Ya’d think by now, fer all that sellin’, Warner Bros. would throw a freebee my way, Scarecrow?
No matter, as you can tell, I’m REALLY enjoying this set, and am glad WHV decided to finally complete the series. Indeed, you don’t need to have the other three… just get this one and have fun. These might be my best remembered episodes (even though it’s been close to 15 years since I’ve seen ‘em), because they were the ones I saw on weekend Kids WB, as opposed to weekday afternoons when I was never home.
And, thanks for noticing, I really do try hard to find suitable illustrations for my posts and, as I’ve learned from too many years of watching Irwin Allen productions, tend to use ‘em over again whenever the situation allows.
I’d expect at least one more update on Animaniacs Volume 4 before I slam shut the Water Tower door. Possibly more...
I did not write the intro to "Back in Style," though I did write the cartoon itself. I can't say for certain who did write that intro but those rather do seem like the words of Animaniacs producer Tom Ruegger.
Tom Minton
Mr. Minton:
Thank you very much for the information! And, you should know that “Back in Style” was (and remains) one of my most favorite individual cartoons of the ‘90s! Given that the ‘90s was such a great decade for cartoons, that’s really something!
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