Animaniacs: November 1995
Cover
Drawn by: Allen Helbig
Dr. Scratchansniff is seated in Plotz' office, in a straitjacket. He's finally gone around the bend, as his goofy expression shows. Yakko is standing next to him, wearing glasses, a lab coat, and a goatee; he tells Scratchy "Take two nurses and call me in the morning." Wakko is standing on the back of the chair, looking up Scratchy's nose, saying "FABOO! I can see all the way up your nose..." Dot, also dressed in a lab coat, is holding two bottles of nail polish next to Scratchy's bare foot, saying "I see you in an athlete's foot green..." Ralph and Plotz are tied up and hanging from the ceiling in the corner behind Scratchy.
Credits
Synopsis
Another day on the Warner Bros. lot, and the Warners are up to their usual tricks. A crucial board meeting has been called in Plotz' office. The Warners see this as an opportunity to see executives in their natural habitat, and watch the meeting from the outside. This disrupts the deliberations, of course. Plotz sends Dr, Scratchansniff to run them off, but instead they run into the boardroom. The directors run for their lives. When Plotz complains about Scratchy's failure, he snaps, acting like a Warner himself, and is finally taken away in an ambulance.
Plotz hires a new p-sychiatrist, Dr. Bananibal Phrewtkupp, to get the Warners in line. He is a strict disciplinarian, even more so than Ms. Flamiel; he assigns them chores, lessons, and homework to keep them busy, has them eat only green vegetables until they behave, and gives them plaid uniforms to wear every moment. Naturally, the Warners can't deal with this, so they run out of the office, and hatch a plan to get Scratchy back.
They go to the Bates Institute for the Pathetically Twitchy, introduce themselves, and ask to see Scratchy. The staff has heard all about them, however, and they are quickly whisked away to get the help they so obviously need. Yakko jokes about a figure of speech, to which the p-sychiatrist doing their evaluation replies, "Shame on you, young man!" Wakko gets the shame off of Yakko's hand into a jar, and then feeds it to Dot's pet. The p-sychiatrist has seen enough, and has security toss the Warners, in straitjackets, into a padded room.
The Warners wait until the p-sychiatrists leave, then escape their straitjackets using the standard toon spinning trick and resume their search for Scratchy. After spotting Elvis, who's watching an old Slappy cartoon, they locate him in a room with "mad as a hatter" on the door. They take umbrage at this mislabeling, and burst in, offering to rescue him. He freaks out, and refuses to go with them; reluctantly, and in tears, they start to leave. Scratchy can't stand seeing them cry, and they make up and head back to the lot.
There's a loose end that needs to be tied up: Phrewtkupp is still the studio p-sychiatrist. Scratchy and the Warners return to find Phrewtkupp trying to get Plotz to eat his Brussels sprouts. They capture him and carry him off, and Scratchy is rehired. His first task: Get the Warners under control...
Did You Notice...
Sternecky uses multiple highlights in the Warners' eyes to show sadness. This is the same device the animation studio Tokyo Movie Shinsha uses in the cartoons.- Wakko's gloveless hands are drawn correctly; in particular, the Warners have no discernible fingernails. See the cartoon White Gloves for confirmation.
- Dot's pet has a tattoo.
- Elsa Kvetch is a reference to CNN fashion reporter Elsa Klensch.
- Pinky and the Brain are in the Bates Institute lab, and there's a sign on another door: "Boo, C.: Thinks he's the President".
- Scratchy has a Buster Bunny doll.
Technical nits
Like the previous issue, the pages aren't numbered. I hope this isn't a trend.- Wakko's right arm is missing in the last panel on page 1. (RO)
- Once again, Scratchy's glasses are drawn with blue edges, instead of the standard black.
- Coloring errors: Dot's skirt isn't colored in one panel on page 10, and she appears not to be wearing underwear on page 14. Also, Dot's torso and one orderly's hand aren't colored in on page 8. (RO), (AM)
- Wakko's "I gonna miss that room!" is out of character: he may sound funny, but his grammar is usually flawless. (page 10)
- Since when does tapping someone on the shoulder make a "poit"? (page 16)
- If we're doing German, it should be "Das Ende", not "Der End". (page 16)
Credits
Synopsis
Mr. Director has wandered away again, and he's needed in Plotz' office within 24 hours. The Warners are the only ones screwy enough to track him down, so they get the assignment. Dot and Wakko turn into bloodhounds to perform the search, and before we know it, they've tracked him down. He's in a small village in France. The Warners mistake the province name on a sign, Quiche Lorraine, for a menu; as they're trying to order lunch, Mr. Director happens by.
Mr. Director thinks the Warners want autographs, and tells them to run along and play. They play with him a bit, then tell him that they're there on Plotz' orders to take him back. He doesn't want to go; the Pootezvousians, the inhabitants of the village of Pootezvous, are his audience, and they love him. The Warners insist - after all, they have their orders - and he tries to enlist the aid of a passing policeman. The Warners turn into magicians, and make Mr. Director disappear, then rush away - but he gets tired of hiding under Wakko's hat, and jumps out, insisting that he's rooted to that spot. The Warners water and fertilize him, then make their escape ahead of an angry mob of fans.
They travel back to the lot with Mr. Director and deliver him to Plotz' office. Plotz is glad to see them, as Mr. Director has ten minutes to get to the airport. He's flying to a film festival, as WB's guest of honor, in a little French village...
Did You Notice...
- Mr. Director is shown in this story as he was in the cartoon Hearts of Twilight, instead of the more common representation seen in the other Animaniacs cartoons. His drawing here is a better portrayal than in the cartoon; it's more detailed and more realistic. He is, of course, a parody of Jerry Lewis.
- The nonsense words Mr. Director uses, such as "freunlaven", are just that: they are not real words in any language. They were invented by Animaniacs series writer (and, now, Freakazoid! writer and producer) Paul Rugg, who provided the voice for Mr. Director in the cartoons, simply as funny words. Except for "freunleven", which Rugg spelled that way when signing an autograph, they also have no accepted standard spelling, so I won't complain about it.
- Quiche Lorraine isn't a French province, of course; it's a type of food. The scenery, however, is pretty close to the real province of Alsace-Lorraine.
Technical nits
- This is penciller Cosme Quartieri's first work on this series. He does a reasonable job with the Warners, and, as noted above, quite a good one with Mr. Director. He has some problems with the highlights in the Warners' eyes (see, for example, the fourth panel on page 24), and in the first panel on page 25, he adds eyebrows - or wrinkles - seen nowhere else. He does an excellent job with their angry/determined faces, though.
- Wakko mysteriously grows a pair of pants between pages 25 and 26.
- Dot's tail is missing in the third panel on page 26.
- Dot's tail passes beneath her skirt in a number of places.
- Dot's ears aren't colored in in the second panel on page 19, and Dot and Wakko's legs bend in ways they shouldn't while running, immediately below that. (RO)
- The red eyes in the silhouette on page 30 were a nice idea, but don't work for the Warners' nonstandard eyes.
Other items:
There are two one-page fillers in this issue:
- Useless Facts
- Three useless facts about cats. (Actually, one is not so useless if you have a cat; anything to help understand them is a Good Idea...)
- Untitled maze
- The Warners must avoid Dr. Scratchansniff and Hello Nurse on the way to the guard shack and freedom.
Jay Maynard, jmaynard@phoenix.net
Last updated 27 November 1995