Being a lifelong animation from a very early age (always will do), with Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry being the earliest and among the biggest influences/examples, there wouldn't be any question of seeing anything animated regardless of the studio, director, style, how old it is and its critical reception, having always made a real effort to be fair and open-minded. Still love it to this day as a young adult and even more so actually.
Have said quite a few times about thinking very highly of 'Animaniacs'. Love 'Pinky and the Brain' even more, with it having all the things that makes 'Animaniacs' such a great show while making them even better and its merits are even more in quantity and even bigger in quality. It has always been one of my favourite shows, extremely well made, cute at times and very funny and actually hilarious frequently as a child. As an adult even more so with more knowledge of animation and understanding the humour more. Same with animation in general. 'Pinky and the Brain' is like 'Animaniacs', it has something for everybody and children and adults alike will love it, it is so much more than "just another kiddie show" and should never be dismissed as such.
Yet another wonderful episode, none of the previous episodes proved to be bad (all actually good to outstanding) but this, both segments, is for me in the top half. Don't know which is the better one of the two segments, loved how Pinky was written in "Pinky Suavo" but found the premise in "T.H.E.Y" a little more imaginatively executed.
There is nothing to criticise the animation quality for. The characters designs have no stiffness (personally think they have a little more refinement than those in 'Animaniacs'), the backgrounds are very detailed and the colours are a mix of vibrant and atmospheric.
Music is also great. The scoring is dynamic and composed in a way that is always adding to the actions, expressions and gestures and doing what good music scores in animation should do in enhancing them. Absolutely loved Pinky's song in "Pinky Suavo", very catchy with clever lyric writing.
'Pinky and the Brain' throughout its too short run was always superbly written. It is such smart writing, riotous at its best. There is zaniness, wit and surprising intelligence and has references that will delight adults especially as they are more likely to get them, while having some educational parts for children. It achieves a perfect balance of never being too simplistic or too convoluted.
While somewhat formulaic (all the stories in 'Pinky and the Brain' are, but in structure, the concept was actually very original), this is a not so common example of formulaic not being a bad thing and not mattering at all, because of the cleverness, creativity and idea variety of the writing and storytelling which are nowhere near as silly or confined as one would think looking at the premise. One worries about the episode being repetitive, no worries are needed because there is a lot of freshness and variety to stop that from happening. Some of the content here is outrageous, but in a way that endears (the outrageousness and creativity of Brain's plan was part of the show's charm and intentional, as is not being surprised by the outcome of Brain's plan), but it is from start to finish constantly engaging, lively in pace, clever and always structured coherently, it's easy to understand for younger audiences but adults will find it still intelligent and with some degree of complexity. It's easy to follow while not being childish, and although "T.H.E.Y's" story is ambitious and with potential to be too complicated it manages to still be accessible and also one of the show's mature. 'Pinky and the Brain' always excelled when it came to references and spoofs, and there is no exception here. 'The Exorcist' one was quite hilarious and an example of one that went over my head when younger, having not seen 'The Exorcist' at the time, but got with no problem as an adult.
Alongside the writing, especially good are the characters. Pinky and Brain were two of the best characters on 'Animaniacs', Brain especially stole the show whenever he appeared and elevated already very good to great episode to a better level, and more than deserved their own show. For me they are even more interesting and defined than in 'Animaniacs' and one can see that here. It is hard not to endear to Pinky and his inane comments and actions, he is very stupid and one can see why he frustrates Brain. But he is one of the finest examples of stupid not falling into the trap of being obnoxious, a trap often fallen into. Pinky instead is very funny and often hysterically so and simply adorable, one has to admire his spirit and perseverance. "Pinky Suavo" though also sees a different side to him, it is hard to picture Pinky as suave but he is here and it is so intriguing and entertaining to watch.
Do find Brain the slightly more interesting character in the show, though Pinky is slightly more interesting here because of seeing this different unusual side to him. He is the infinitely smarter one of the two, a genius in fact, although also the meaner and more intricate one, a very large contrast. Somehow though he is still very lovable, it is impossible not to fall in love with his scheme in "T.H.E.Y" and how he goes about it, nor is it impossible not to love his deadpan personality and dark sarcasm. Actually rooted for him somewhat here.
One of the biggest strengths of 'Pinky and the Brain' is, and always has been, the relationship/chemistry between Pinky and Brain and that is obvious in both segments, but in especially "T.H.E.Y". The duo's always compelling personalities never come over as false, and there is more depth to their contrasting personalities and relationship than one might think. The chemistry between the two is just a delight, fun and sometimes antagonistic but there is more substance to it than all of that. It is essentially the heart of the show, it was essential for it to work and it does brilliantly.
Cannot imagine anybody else voicing either Pinky or Brain other than Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, two of the best and most prolific voice actors around that time and in the voice acting business overall, both flawless. Particularly adore LaMarche. The life and depth they bring to the characters has always been, and always will be, loved by me, their voices suiting the characters and their personalities perfectly. The bond between them throughout 'Pinky and the Brain' has always been present and never been lost.
All the other voice actors do splendidly too, Frank Welker (another prolific and multi-talented voice actor) in particular.
To conclude, wonderful episode. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Have said quite a few times about thinking very highly of 'Animaniacs'. Love 'Pinky and the Brain' even more, with it having all the things that makes 'Animaniacs' such a great show while making them even better and its merits are even more in quantity and even bigger in quality. It has always been one of my favourite shows, extremely well made, cute at times and very funny and actually hilarious frequently as a child. As an adult even more so with more knowledge of animation and understanding the humour more. Same with animation in general. 'Pinky and the Brain' is like 'Animaniacs', it has something for everybody and children and adults alike will love it, it is so much more than "just another kiddie show" and should never be dismissed as such.
Yet another wonderful episode, none of the previous episodes proved to be bad (all actually good to outstanding) but this, both segments, is for me in the top half. Don't know which is the better one of the two segments, loved how Pinky was written in "Pinky Suavo" but found the premise in "T.H.E.Y" a little more imaginatively executed.
There is nothing to criticise the animation quality for. The characters designs have no stiffness (personally think they have a little more refinement than those in 'Animaniacs'), the backgrounds are very detailed and the colours are a mix of vibrant and atmospheric.
Music is also great. The scoring is dynamic and composed in a way that is always adding to the actions, expressions and gestures and doing what good music scores in animation should do in enhancing them. Absolutely loved Pinky's song in "Pinky Suavo", very catchy with clever lyric writing.
'Pinky and the Brain' throughout its too short run was always superbly written. It is such smart writing, riotous at its best. There is zaniness, wit and surprising intelligence and has references that will delight adults especially as they are more likely to get them, while having some educational parts for children. It achieves a perfect balance of never being too simplistic or too convoluted.
While somewhat formulaic (all the stories in 'Pinky and the Brain' are, but in structure, the concept was actually very original), this is a not so common example of formulaic not being a bad thing and not mattering at all, because of the cleverness, creativity and idea variety of the writing and storytelling which are nowhere near as silly or confined as one would think looking at the premise. One worries about the episode being repetitive, no worries are needed because there is a lot of freshness and variety to stop that from happening. Some of the content here is outrageous, but in a way that endears (the outrageousness and creativity of Brain's plan was part of the show's charm and intentional, as is not being surprised by the outcome of Brain's plan), but it is from start to finish constantly engaging, lively in pace, clever and always structured coherently, it's easy to understand for younger audiences but adults will find it still intelligent and with some degree of complexity. It's easy to follow while not being childish, and although "T.H.E.Y's" story is ambitious and with potential to be too complicated it manages to still be accessible and also one of the show's mature. 'Pinky and the Brain' always excelled when it came to references and spoofs, and there is no exception here. 'The Exorcist' one was quite hilarious and an example of one that went over my head when younger, having not seen 'The Exorcist' at the time, but got with no problem as an adult.
Alongside the writing, especially good are the characters. Pinky and Brain were two of the best characters on 'Animaniacs', Brain especially stole the show whenever he appeared and elevated already very good to great episode to a better level, and more than deserved their own show. For me they are even more interesting and defined than in 'Animaniacs' and one can see that here. It is hard not to endear to Pinky and his inane comments and actions, he is very stupid and one can see why he frustrates Brain. But he is one of the finest examples of stupid not falling into the trap of being obnoxious, a trap often fallen into. Pinky instead is very funny and often hysterically so and simply adorable, one has to admire his spirit and perseverance. "Pinky Suavo" though also sees a different side to him, it is hard to picture Pinky as suave but he is here and it is so intriguing and entertaining to watch.
Do find Brain the slightly more interesting character in the show, though Pinky is slightly more interesting here because of seeing this different unusual side to him. He is the infinitely smarter one of the two, a genius in fact, although also the meaner and more intricate one, a very large contrast. Somehow though he is still very lovable, it is impossible not to fall in love with his scheme in "T.H.E.Y" and how he goes about it, nor is it impossible not to love his deadpan personality and dark sarcasm. Actually rooted for him somewhat here.
One of the biggest strengths of 'Pinky and the Brain' is, and always has been, the relationship/chemistry between Pinky and Brain and that is obvious in both segments, but in especially "T.H.E.Y". The duo's always compelling personalities never come over as false, and there is more depth to their contrasting personalities and relationship than one might think. The chemistry between the two is just a delight, fun and sometimes antagonistic but there is more substance to it than all of that. It is essentially the heart of the show, it was essential for it to work and it does brilliantly.
Cannot imagine anybody else voicing either Pinky or Brain other than Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, two of the best and most prolific voice actors around that time and in the voice acting business overall, both flawless. Particularly adore LaMarche. The life and depth they bring to the characters has always been, and always will be, loved by me, their voices suiting the characters and their personalities perfectly. The bond between them throughout 'Pinky and the Brain' has always been present and never been lost.
All the other voice actors do splendidly too, Frank Welker (another prolific and multi-talented voice actor) in particular.
To conclude, wonderful episode. 10/10 Bethany Cox
