Six Days a Week - An 'Animaniacs' Retro Recap: 'De-Zanitized'

​Written by Mike Cervantes

Ah Animaniacs, the show that every kid in the ‘90s has such fond memories of, and why not? It was on 6 days a week…

Created by Warner Bros. animation and executive produced by Steven Spielberg, (He’d reportedly read the scripts while on the set of Schindler’s List, among other films.) The show had a simple concept: take a studio full of talent acquired from Spielberg’s previous animated venture, Tiny Toon Adventures and see if they can add to the legacy of original animated characters that Warner Bros. set forward with Bugs Bunny, Sylvester and Tweety, and the Road Runner. This was still at a time when Warner had a need to actually CREATE cartoon characters, instead of simply buying them off DC Comics or Turner Broadcasting.

The end result was something of a mixed bag, but a mixed bag to which people attribute very fond memories to. Some of these characters are memorable to the point that their exploits are legend. Others that are not as well remembered, but in hindsight are still very entertaining, and a few characters that seem like episode filler even when they were created.

This is also a series that has one hell of a first season episode list: 65 episodes, one-after-another, doled out since its premiere of 1993. The hefty first season was a necessity, as they hoped to run this as a staple of weekday afternoon network programming for kids. (Remember when that was a thing?) Later seasons only existed in order to help promote the overall series in key moments, such as its move from the Fox network to the WB, now known as the CW. Those first 65 episodes, however are the ones that people most fondly remember. 
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We’ll explore how successful this experiment in free form weekday afternoon animation was, point by point as we review the episodes, but first, as with the series proper, we have to begin with The Warner Brothers, and the Warner Sister.

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Episode 1:
De-Zanitized
The episode begins with “Newsreel of the Stars,” a pre-episode bumper that explains the origins of the series’ anchor characters: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. This bumper was re-used in so many first season episodes that the regular watchers of the series can recite the entire the entire thing from memory. “Dateline: Hollywood, 1930. The Warner Bros. studios…” To make a long story short, Warner Bros. (studio) created the Warner Brothers (retro cartoons of indiscriminate species), who instantaneously jumped off the page and went on zany shenanigans, until it was ordered that they be captured, and locked away in the landmark Warner Bros. (studio) water tower, where they can’t cause anymore trouble. They supposedly remain quiet for decades until they escape again in the ‘90s, and now you know the plot.

Almost immediately as this concept is introduced, a lot of inconsistencies show up, to the point the premise itself gets patched up and retconned in later episodes. But for now, this is what we’re going with as the first cartoon introduces us to Dr. Otto Von Scratchansniff. The Elmer Fudd to the Warners’ Bugs Bunny, Scratchansniff is a pseudo German/Swiss accented psychiatrist hired by the studio to provide psychoanalysis to many celebrities. In his opening narration, which he tells to another unseen psychiatrist, he admits that he used to love his job, until The Warners escape and he’s made into their lead caretaker. The rest of the cartoon is made up of mostly verbal and visual gags, as the Warner siblings run circles around Scratchansniff, forcing him to pull out what’s left of his male-patterned grey hair, until he’s completely bald. Once he rends himself of his last follicle, we return to the psychiatrist’s couch, where it is revealed he’s been telling all this to the Warners all along. He freaks out, runs through a wall, end of cartoon.

Almost instantly, the audience can pick up something odd about the premise: The Warners aren’t actually psychotic, just hyperactive, inquisitive, and physically exhausting, like most normal kids are. They’re also a lot smarter than Scratchansniff, possibly a by-product of them being around since the ‘30s. Add into that the fact that they’re cartoon characters, capable of multiple feats of “rule of funny” cartoon zaniness, and you find that logically bonded characters are never any match for them.

Except….Nobody ever tries to understand them. If Scratchansniff were TRULY a good therapist, he’d take the time to try to engage them on their level, instead of trying to fit them into a polite box that they don’t belong in. Of course, reasonable psychology, and well behaved kids don’t make for very funny cartoons, so let's move right along to some of the musical highlights and some of the adult themed jokes we find in this episode, starting with...

The Monkey Song
The Monkey Song is a staple of traditional reggae, most popularly interpreted by Harry Belafonte. Like most reggae songs, it combines a subtle, easy going, beat with lyrics that are supposed to induce dancing in a crowded hall of people. The Animaniacs version prefers pan flute, steel and conga drums, and has lyrics about The Warners further harassing Scratchansniff, Ralph the Guard, and Hello Nurse. Scratchy’s level of annoyance with the Warners is a bit more justified in this short: they’re literally running around annoying everyone, putting bugs down his pants, and flushing him down the toilet. There’s also a mass of cameos from every other character set to appear in the upcoming episodes: the Goodfeathers fight over a pan flute, Pinky and the Brain get caught in a mouse trap, The Hip Hippos play steel drums, Buttons chases Mindy, and Slappy doles violence upon a mime. You get a very small idea of the function every one of these characters before you’ve even seen any of their cartoons.

Nighty Night Toons
To round out the cast-introducing first episode, here’s a spoof of the popular children’s book “Goodnight Moon,” with narration by Jim Cummings impersonating Sterling Holloway. A lot of rhymes are really awkward and reaching. “Room” rhymes with “Log Flume,” the Brain resents being called a rat, but it rhymes better. “A big baboon,” is actually Ralph the Guard. Don’t know why they put two character-introducing skits in the same episode, but thankfully Rita and Runt are added in here. We also get the first “under the radar” moment, when Yakko ends the sketch by reciting “and goodnight Wakko’s Underwear.”

Adult jokes and Neat Moments:
Porky Pig drives through the studio gate. He’s voiced by Rob Paulsen, who really CAN’T imitate Porky, but it works for a cameo.
-One of Scratchansniff’s early patients is a young Ronald Reagan. (Well, I keep having this dream where I’m the president.)
-In regards to Hello Nurse, one of the lines in “The Monkey Song" (as sung by the Nurse then Yakko) is “I don’t know what to say the monkeys won’t do/for a nickel I’ll give you a clue.” Smooth, Yakko. 

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