Six Days a Week - An 'Animaniacs' Retro Recap: 'Yakko's World'

Written by Mike Cervantes

Episode 2:
So, the first episode does its damndest to introduce us to The Warner Brothers, The Warner Sister, and a few of the supporting cast members. Where can we possibly go from there? In what would become the show’s rich tradition of throwing a monkey wrench into your expectations, we get a song about geography.

Yakko’s World
I’m understandably cranky about having to summarize this. Not just because it’s just a list of every nation of the world, circa 1993, to the tune of a Mexican hat dance, but…C’mon. You know this one! Everyone knows this one! It’s practically what the whole series is known for! Go to a panel featuring voice actor Rob Paulsen, he’ll do it on demand! As for behind the scenes stuff, this is the song that cemented comedy writer Randy Rogel’s status as a songwriter for kid’s cartoons, so there’s that. Which is nice. Moving on.

Cookies for Einstein
This sets up another standard formula for a Warners cartoon: the one where they go to the home of a famous or historical figure, and pester them, inevitably helping them create the one thing they were most known for. Overall, it is silly and funny enough, but this sets up another unspoken rule for our three eager young cartoon cadets: the smarter or more benevolent a person is, the harder it is for the Warners to actually mess with them. Einstein is understandably frustrated, because he can’t figure out the theory of relativity. The Warners have the ulterior motive of trying to sell scout cookies, but that sub-plot does nothing for this cartoon. In the end, Wakko misspells “ACME” as “E=MC2,” and Einstein is willing to share with them the Nobel Prize.

Win Big
Finally, we get to discuss Pinky and the Brain! Okay, interesting story: Pinky and the Brain are both based on former animators of Tiny Toon Adventures, Tom Minton and Eddie Fitzgerald. Tom was an incredibly stoic, serious and technically minded individual, while Eddie Fitzgerald was silly, nerdy, and weird, and actually had a tendency to shout “Narf!” “Poit!” and “Egad!” Despite their differences, they were always a team, and went from working on Ralph Bakshi’s “Mighty Mouse,” to “Tiny Toons,” before jumping ship to work with John Kricfalusi on “Ren and Stimpy.” That didn’t stop an animator from drawing them as a pair of mice, and in lieu of the ambition of being great cartoonists they decided to make them try take over the world.

So, in this short, The Brain wants to create a “super-kinetic infindibulator,” a device which magnetically glues people to the ground by their pocket change. (That’s not how magnets work, Brain.) As is common in many of his plots, he lacks the money to do so. Now for all of The Brain’s genius, he seems to be a pretty poor planner. You’d think over time he’d make a checklist: step 1, earn money, step 2, take over the world.

The Brain is naturally annoyed by Pinky’s obsession with the TV, represented by his viewing of Honeymooners re-runs and the game show Gyp-Parody. The Brain has the idea of building a human-sized robotic suit, entering the game show, and winning the cash to fund his plan, but the final question has to do with Ralph Kramden, Pinky’s current obsession, so he loses it all.

The outcome of this plot doesn’t really make any sense: Pinky told him the answer, so why can’t Brain, in his infinite wisdom remember something Pinky told him a day or even an hour ago? To further confuse the issue, The Brain correctly answers a question about Regis Philbin.

Wheel of Morality
Moral #2: If at first you don’t succeed. Blame it on your parents.

Adult jokes and Neat Moments:  
-The pocket Fisherman…comes with potty. (He may be small but he eats.)
-Pinky: Oh wait, what if they take off their pants? The Brain: Then we shall have to take over the world QUICKLY!
-A roundabout question in the Gyp-Parody section: Kings named Moshuhu for $300. He ruled Lestho in 1863. Who is King Moshushu the first?

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