by Jake Bourgeois
I can’t tell you the last time I anticipated a reboot as much as the Hulu revival of the Animaniacs.
As a kid of the ‘90s, I grew up on the antics of the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister), as well as the rest of the zany characters making up the colorful cast. So, there wasn’t really anything they had to do to convince me to watch it. Having said that, the genius marketing campaign boosted my already high expectations.
When I sat down to start my binge, the second the theme song started, I was singing right along. What followed, was one of the strongest overall episodes of the season. The first episode addresses the 22 years that the Warners have been away and all the insanity they’ve missed—summed up brilliantly in perhaps the best song of the season. The Pinky and the Brain segment, where Brain’s scheme for world domination focuses on weaponizing meme culture on social media, is also one of their best entries.
From there, the episodes (13 in total) got more conventional. Most episodes follow the Warner trio for a short sketch, Pinky and Brain for one, and ending with some other short or a song. Some of my favorite original Animaniacs episodes were those aping historical figures/events (see “Hooked on a Ceiling” and “Cookies for Einstein”), or episodes that at least see our characters set outside of modern times. That’s true of the reboot, too. Segments that rank highly for me include a parody of The Odyssey and Pinky and the Brain’s trip to medieval times.
With the update, there are some things that are different about the show now compared to it in the ‘90s. With the exception of our favorite laboratory mice, the rest of the supporting cast that would pop in to their own segments on occasion, miss out. They do make brief cameos in one episode, leaving the possibility open for season two. I missed certain characters more than others. I would’ve loved to have seen Slappy’s take on 2020, but it’s not the end of the world.
The theme song—while mostly untouched—does get some tweaks.
The new iteration also seems more political than the previous season. Not that the show didn’t ape political figures before, but they seemed to be a more pervasive target. Not that I minded. Along with some general political jokes, Donald Trump, Russia, and the NRA get put more specifically in the writers’ crosshairs. I suspect the shift is due to audience members like me. A large chunk of the audience checking out the series—much like the audiences for long-awaited Pixar films—I would guess is laced heavily with adults that remember the series from their childhood. Much like the original series, the jokes here are almost more for the adults watching than the kids, though it masquerades as an animated show for children.
Aside from the political jokes, the new series is crammed full of pop culture and self-referential jokes. At times, the fourth wall-breaking can get a little too cutesy, but these kind of jokes are to be expected and largely hit their marks. Pinky and the Brain even get in on the references. The not-so-veiled shots at Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain were one of my favorite running gags.
Not every segment is a winner. The shorts as a whole seemed to be the weakest part of the run—I would’ve killed for a quick “Wheel of Morality” segment. Aside from the opening song and the one that ends the series, the musical entries were a bit lacking.
As a whole, I enjoyed the first half of the season slightly more perhaps than the second half, but I wouldn’t say there are any absolute stinkers. Each entry has something that made me laugh or a clever spoof or reference I appreciated.
Admittedly my fandom may be affecting how much I enjoyed this one, but that’s largely the draw for this one anyway, right? If the theme song is to be believed, we’ve got at least one more season to look forward to, and I will be hankering for its arrival more than Wakko is his next meal.
Grade: A-