Danielle Solzman
The Animaniacs are back for a new season on Hulu and they’ve brought back all their friends including fan-favorites Pinky and the Brain.
Before there was 30 Rock or Community, the Animianacs were the most meta series in existence. They are so self-aware that they blow the two broadcast comedies out of the water. Over twenty years later, the start exactly where they left off albeit with a Jurassic Park twist. As an FYI, the Jurassic Park actors did not voice Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, Dr. Malcolm, or attorney Martin Gennaro. Instead, other actors did including series regulars Rob Paulsen voicing Gennaro and LaMarche voicing Malcolm. This doesn’t make the clip less funnier because the scene itself never gets old.
The series wisely uses the first episode to catch up on the last 22 years. Naturally, there’s the “Catch Up” song after Yakko swallows a tablet. The episode ends with “Reboot It.” In between, we see what are good friends, Pinky and the Brain, are up to. Suffice it to say, the Brain is still obsessed with world domination. Luckily, technology has advanced to the point where he takes advantage of the new opportunities at hand.
Yakko hits Hollywood’s problem in the money at the end of the first episode. “All joking aside, reboots are symptomatic of a fundamental lack of originality in Hollywood. A creativity crisis fueled by terrified executives clinging to the past like rats to the debris of a sinking ship.”
But hey, the Warner siblings are aware that they are selling out!
The series is as topical as things can get for writing the new episodes in 2018. Only five episodes were available for review and I quickly devoured all of them just before Election Day. There’s no shortage of material when it comes to jokes about Russia. The series even has an election special that is on the money–it’s a basic bit that satires what we see on cable news. Although, there’s no Steve Kornacki in sight and that’s rather disappointing. But if this is the only letdown about it, I can’t complain! All in all, there is no shortage of satire in the five episodes made available for review.
Where the original episodes ran about 22 minutes to account for commercials, Hulu adds on another two minutes. Every episode gets kicked off with the opening theme song, which is new for the reboot. No opening is alike because they always change up the last line of the song.
The Animaniacs are back and this is one of the greatest gifts possible in 2020.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Steven Spielberg, Wellesley Wild, Justin Falvy, Darryl Frank, Sam Register
CAST: Jess Harnell, Maurice LaMarche, Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen
