We're Zany to The Max! (Animaniacs)

[on:]

Hey, since PEEL is back up and running, I've been dying to know your thoughts on the recent Animaniacs reboot! I personally loved it. Not every segment was a homerun, and hey, that's okay. The original show was the same exact way. I really liked the Pinkie and The Brain segments particularly. Maybe it's because the sour taste of that Elmyra show hasn't fully gone away yet, but I feel as if the most heart and effort went into their segments during this reboot so far. Almost every single P&B segment was really, really good imo. I'm surprised at the quality of this reboot, genuinely surprised. Sure it stinks alot of the other cast couldn't return just yet, but I'm satisfied with what we got. What are your thoughts?

On an unrelated note, I also heard Tom Rugger (Former showrunner/creator of the show) didn't like the reboot since it apparently go the way he had hoped.

[Reply #1 on:]

More Pinky and the Brain is always good, and there were definitely some fun moments in the rebooted season. But, honestly, I don't think 100% of the original magic formula is there.

It won't be there, in fact, until they come up with a few more songs that aren't talking about current events. I really loved the Presidents song, the Magellan song, and the Countries song when they were originally aired - they're quasi-educational, not pop-culture jokes that will be dated in a decade, and they're fun.

When we get more of that, and less of a commentary on the state of the world (I know it's crumbling into shit. Part of why I watch TV is to escape from that, if only briefly), then we will have the reboot that we deserve. Or, maybe, they could make the commentary a little less ham-fisted and slightly more subtle than being beaten with a surgical two-by-four.

The original series felt far more subtle, and their jabs at celebrities and politicians were funnier and less self-dating for it.

With that said, I did thoroughly enjoy it. I just can't help bitterly complaining about everything I love because I'm struggling to find joy in even the purest moments due to being enslaved by global consumer capitalism, trapped on a dying planet, and barraged constantly by media which is trying to make me participate harder in consumerism whilst at the same time blaming the minimal amount of participation I  am forced to engage in to survive for the impending cessation of our biosphere's ability to sustain us.

If that weren't such a looming cloud on the horizon, perhaps I'd enjoy everything a little more and stop being quite so picky about things like the reboot of a long-dead cartoon series not being perfect and being only quite good instead.

But taking into account all the above, I can't give it more than a 7/10 for what's been offered so far.

[Reply #2 on:]

But taking into account all the above, I can't give it more than a 7/10 for what's been offered so far.

That's fair, I respectfully agree totalnerduk. The original show was definitely much more subtle with their innuendos and pop-culture references. However, I would actually argue that the original show definitely has it's fair share of dated jokes as well. While the songs of the original series may not reflect that, there were many jokes from the course of the original show including those ones with the Clintons which in my opinion are quite dated. I find both shows to be fun in their own respect worth enjoying. But yeah, the original show and hell possibly even that Yakko's Wish movie did have a more coherent grasp of the Animaniacs formula that we all grew to love. It definitely does feel pretty silly talking on a forum board on Christmas of all days (merry xmas btw!) about a cartoon series. But I personally was expecting this reboot to flop because there were former Family Guy writers writing episodes for this reboot. They did a much better job than I had anticipated with what I've seen so far, and wondered if anyone felt the same way. That being said, I do hope that they focus less on staying trendy when the second season comes around. I want to believe that the first season was intentionally just trying to catch itself up to speed with things like how Futurama did with Season 6. (And look at how that turned out.... lol) They covered alot of bases in this first season alone; what more could they do in the second season? Aside from parody covid-19 and/or 5g conspiracy theorists. Like, I truly do believe that the current writing crew has the potential to make the reboot almost as good as the original show was. But I'm not going to hold my breath, since Futurama disappointed me with Season 7. (In case you were wondering, I really grew to hate that season over time save a good 5-8 episodes)