Pinky and the Brain

Pinky and the Brain
Created by	Tom Ruegger
Starring	Maurice LaMarche Rob Paulsen
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	65 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer	Steven Spielberg
Running time	11 min or 22 min (depending on the episode)
Original release
Network	The WB
Release	September 9, 1995 – September 28, 1998

Pinky and the Brain (sometimes abbreviated PatB or P&tB) are cartoon characters who have starred in the American animated television series Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky and the Brain, and Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.

Pinky and the Brain first appeared in 1993 as a recurring segment on the show, Animaniacs. From 1995 to 1998, Pinky and the Brain were spun-off into their own the Emmy-award-winning show on The WB Television Network, Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky and the Brain, with 65 episodes produced by Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animation. Later, they appeared in the unsuccessful series, Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.

Pinky and Brain are genetically enhanced laboratory mice who reside in a cage in the Acme Labs research facility. In each episode, Brain devises a new plan for the two mice (led by Brain) to take over the world, which ultimately ends in failure. In common with many other Animaniacs shorts, many episodes are in some way a parody of something else, usually a film or novel. The cartoon's famous tagline is:

Pinky: "Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?"

The Brain: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky—Try to take over the world."

Background

Premise

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Acme Labs

Most of the Pinky and the Brain episodes occur in the present time at Acme Labs, located in some large American metropolitan city, presumably Los Angeles as to tie in with Animaniacs and the Warner Brothers studio lot. However, several episodes took place in historical times, with Pinky and the Brain under the laboratory care of some scientifically-minded person, including Merlin, H.G. Wells and Ivan Pavlov. The bulk of every episode involves one of Brain's plans for world domination with Pinky's assistance, and the ultimate failure of that plan. One centers on his rival Snowball's plan to take over the world using Microsponge. Another episode features Brain's single day where he tries to do anything but take over the world, but in the end, a group of people vote that he should take over the world on the one day he is not wanting to. There is very little continuity on the show outside of the common fixtures of the mice, though some plans for world domination from early episodes are subsequently referred to in later seasons (for example, Brain's "human suit" used in "Win Big" reappears when Brain faces against Snowball in "Snowball".)

Both Pinky and the Brain, white mice kept as part of Acme Labs' experimentation have undergone significant genetic alteration; as per the show's title lyrics, "their genes have been spliced" which gives the two mice amplified intelligence over that of a typical mouse, the ability to talk to humans, and anthropomorphism. "Project B.R.A.I.N." suggests that the gene splicing occurred on September 9, 1995, coincident to the first full episode of Pinky and the Brain. The episode "Brainwashed" states that the gene splicing was done by Dr. Mordough, along with Snowball the hamster and Precious the cat, using the Acme "Gene Splicer and Bagel Warmer".

Although Pinky and the Brain plan to conquer the earth, they do not show much antagonism; in a Christmas special Pinky even wrote to Santa that Brain had the world's best interests at heart.

Characters

The Brain

The Brain looks and sounds like Orson Welles. He is highly intelligent and develops plans for global domination. His tail is bent like a staircase -- he often uses it to pick the lock of the cage -- and his head is large and wide, supposedly housing his abnormally large brain. In one episode he gains the ability to make humans freeze up at the sound of his voice. He appears to be coldly unemotional and speaks in a deadpan manner. Nevertheless, Brain has a very subtle sense of humor, and has even fallen in love once, with Billie.

Intellectually, Brain sees his inevitable rise to power as beneficial to the world rather than mere megalomania. In one episode, when Brain finds himself under the influence of hypnosis by a psychologist he had planned to manipulate for one of his schemes (none other than Sigmund Freud), it is revealed that Brain lived in a can with his parents when he was young. The researchers took him from his home, and the last he saw of it was a picture of the world on the side of the can. The psychologist speculates that Brain's hunger to take over the world stems from needing to get his world back. This may be another allusion to Orson Welles as it is very similar to an important plot point in Welles' movie Citizen Kane.

The Brain's characteristics might seem more suited for an antagonist than a protagonist, but the series presents him as a quixotic fellow striving for greatness against the odds, evoking sympathy from the audience and causing viewers to like him, despite his plans for world domination. Such a thing is typical of an anti-hero, which many consider Brain to be. The absurdity of a normally insignificant creature hungering for world dominance adds to the comical effect, and one senses a Napoleon complex within him, despite the gravitas of his Wellesian diction — highlighted when other characters inadvertently become as smart as or smarter than he. Unfortunately for the Brain, his schemes are inevitably doomed to failure by reason of one or more of a few common mishaps: Pinky doing something idiotic to ruin the plan, Brain gravely under/overestimating the masses' intelligence, or, simply, bad luck. Sometimes, Brain's plans fail because he failed to take a critical fact into account until it is too late. For instance, to steal the gold of Fort Knox, he develops a way to immobilize the human population, but fails to realize that gold is too heavy for two mice to carry off until they are crushed after attempting to lift a single ingot.

It may be that Brain overthinks his plans; in "Brain's Night Out", when Brain doesn't even try to take over the world, he manages to cause many people to want to follow him as their leader. In many of Brain's plans, he plainly says to one of the people he is trying to fool that he is actually a genetically altered lab mouse bent on world domination, but the person usually takes it as a joke. That habit has been the reason one of his plans failed. A possible reason he keeps doing this is that he is testing the humans' intelligence. Brain rarely seeks to do anybody direct harm, and in many episodes he rescues Pinky and other mice from being killed. He has, on numerous occasions, worked to defend the world from others who seek world domination. Though he rarely admits it, due mainly to his immense sense of pride, Brain actually cares for Pinky deeply as a friend, which is probably the only reason he has not abandoned him for his incessant incompetence. Brain states on one occasion that he wanted to take over the world in order to make it a better place, after saving the world from his arch-rival, Snowball the Hamster.

Brain's name is revealed in "Project B.R.A.I.N." to result from the acronym for "Biological Recombinant Algorithmic Intelligence Nexus".

The Brain is voiced by Maurice LaMarche.

Pinky

Pinky is another genetically modified mouse who shares the same cage at Acme Labs, but is substantially less bright. He speaks with an exaggerated Cockney English accent. He frequently uses nonsensical interjections, such as "narf", "zort", "poit", and "troz" (the last of which Pinky started saying after noticing it was "zort in the mirror"). He also used "fjord" (which he started saying after Brain named an area of water in Branainia 'The Fjord of Pinky'.) and "gnurf" on rare occasions, and "natch" in an episode set in the film noir era, as well as "hark" in an episode that was partly set in the medieval era.

Although Pinky is also an albino lab mouse like the Brain, he has a straighter tail, a severe overbite, and is taller than the Brain. Pinky is more open-minded than the Brain (evidenced best, perhaps, by his crush on a similar-looking horse named Pharfignewton), and much more up-beat. He doesn't let troubles ruin his day, mostly because he's too scatter-brained to notice them. Pinky also works with Brain not withstanding the fact that Brain insults him constantly and often beats him over the head. However, Pinky actually seems to enjoy this, laughing after every hit. Pinky is just happy spending time with his best friend.

Pinky has a number of unusual special abilities, something like 'magic', but caused by his genetic engineering. Most notably, he occasionally levitates, and also is apparently capable of telekinesis, as seen when he levitated a fruit in a bowl. He also has been known to come up with insights in a manner more typical of Brain, contrasting with his otherwise stupid appearance. This was also demonstrated in "The Pinky POV" where viewers get a 'Pinky-Vision' of one of the typical night's activities (i.e. taking over the world), and discover that Pinky is in fact extremely intelligent, but in a totally unexpected way — he actually has a great imagination coupled with a very highly developed degree of extrapolation. His seemingly random statements actually arise from an observation, tempered by a whimsical imagination, which then is extrapolated to an absurd conclusion. For instance, on seeing the Brain in a distorting mirror, he imagines him fatter, and then the query 'what if the Brain looked like a Hippopotamus?' leads to thoughts about the "unmentionables" that a Hippopotamus would wear, and finally to the utterance — 'Yes Brain, but what if the Hippopotamus won't wear the thong?' Pinky also tends to take things very literally, for example when Brain ends a sentence with "…and there the genius lies!" and Pinky responds, "Having a nap is he?"

Another example of his hidden intelligence was demonstrated in "The Maze" when the two mice were placed into an elaborate maze by a group of scientists. One particular obstacle the pair had to overcome was a holographic projector that would tempt them by showing them whatever they most desired, initially showing them the piece of cheese marking the exit, which would then burst into flames when approached. Pinky amazed the Brain by approaching the device, against the Brain's advice, says thats he wishes they had a map, and at which point the hologram displayed a complete map of the maze — as Pinky's most pressing desire was to wish for a map that would lead them to the maze's exit.

Pinky's name is given to him by Brain, thinking that Brain was calling to him when in fact Brain was referring to his pinky digit.

Pinky is voiced by Rob Paulsen.

Snowball

File:Pinky and the brain snowball.png

Snowball (left) and the Brain

A recurring character in the series is Snowball the Hamster, Brain's former friend. The two were both subjected to genetic splicing, and thus both became super-intelligent. In the self-titled introductory story, Snowball builds a gigantic robotic body (similar to the Brain's robotic body, except Snowball's robot body has a mask), Bill Grates, and takes control of Microsponge. Snowball uses Microsponge to buy 51 percent of the world and its institutions, and thus, to Brain's limitless horror, Snowball actually succeeds in taking over the world. Brain retaliates by reactivating his own robot body, and fights Snowball. In the process, Snowball's robot body, i.e. Bill Grates, explodes, resulting in the downfall of Microsponge and the end of Snowball's reign.

It has been speculated that Snowball is a direct allusion to George Orwell's character in Animal Farm. This speculation is supported by Brain's juxtaposition to Napoleon Bonaparte, whose namesake is Snowball's rival in the novel.

While Brain's wish to rule the world is more or less benign (he seems to think he can run the world better than it currently is), Snowball's desire to rule the world is dangerous and if he were to gain long-lasting dominion over the planet, he would probably destroy it. When Brain derailed Snowball's attempt to take over the world via the Microsponge plan, Brain actually considered this "saving" the world.

Snowball is also truly notable in that he is the only Warner Bros. cartoon character to be permanently "killed off" onscreen; during the series finale "Brainwashed", he accidentally runs through the mutation machine, causing him to lose his own intelligence and ending up as a normal hamster.

Snowball was voiced by the late Roddy McDowall.

Other notable characters

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Billie Mouse

Billie

A female mouse who seems to have the traits of Pinky, yet is actually very intelligent, introduced in "The World Can Wait". Both Brain and Snowball are in love with her because of her intellect (Brain actually loved her before she became intelligent); however, she has a crush on Pinky because she likes his easygoing personality. She ponders why Pinky remains loyal to Brain and tries to separate Pinky from him. While Billie's shrill voice and manner of speech was thought to be a play on the Susan Alexander character from Citizen Kane as a complement to Brain's Orson Welles-like portrayal, Billie is actually a reference to the character of the same name from the film and stage play Born Yesterday as played in both by Judy Holliday. The character is a dimwit who falls for her brainy tutor played by William Holden. Although initially stupid like Pinky, after experiments she became even smarter than the Brain. He gives up trying to date her so he can conquer the world before she beats him to it. In the episode "You'll Never Eat Food Pellets in this Town Again", her name is revealed to be Sheila. Voiced by Tress MacNeille.

Pharfignewton

A mare version of Pinky introduced in "Jockey for Position". Pharfignewton is a race horse with a long losing record and is the underdog at the track. When Brain races as a jockey to raise money for one of his plans, he decides to ride the top-rated horse in the race after getting rid of its jockey. However, Pinky chooses Pharfignewton as the racing horse of choice, much to Brain's annoyance. Nevertheless, after being motivated to rescue Pinky from being trampled after falling on to the track, Pharfignewton wins the race. Pharfignewton's name is a pun on "Fahrvergnügen", Volkswagen's marketing slogan of the 1980s, as well as a reference to the racehorse Phar Lap, and the well-known US cookies Fig Newtons. She made two cameos in the Animaniacs movie Wakko's Wish, during which Dr. Scratchansniff referred to her as "Pharfignewton horsie girl." Played by Frank Welker.

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Larry, Brain, and Pinky try to get out of a Three Stooges-type situation

Larry

A white laboratory mouse featured in the episode "Pinky and the Brain…And Larry", and makes a cameo in "The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special". He is an obvious parody of Larry, one of the Three Stooges — they share similar hair styles, and like his human counterpart, he acts as a middle man between the Brain's intellect and Pinky's stupidity. There's also an original theme song for the group which has Larry's name hastily spliced into key parts of the show's normal theme — for example, "They're Pinky and The Brain (and Larry), yes Pinky and The Brain (and Larry), one is a genius, the other's insane (and the other one's Larry)", with Larry singing the added portions (Rob Paulsen). The recurring theme of the episode is the acknowledgment (or lack thereof) of Larry's existence, just like in real life, where Larry is deemed the most underrated of the Three Stooges. Absolutely no explanation is given for Larry's presence — Pinky and the Brain act as if he has always been there, even though the viewer has never seen him before (and will never see him again), which could be another reason why his existence is constantly being pointed out. His lines consisted solely of greetings and reminders that he is a part of the episode. At the end of the episode, when the Brain realizes that they don't actually need Larry, Larry decides to change his name to Art (a reference to Art Garfunkel, whose hair is similar to that of the Three Stooge's Larry) and start a new career as a folk singer, singing "The Smells of Loudness" (a parody of The Sounds of Silence) with Paul Simon. Just as the Brain declares that he and Pinky will continue to attempt to rule the world without Larry, they are almost immediately joined by a mouse named Zeppo (a parody of Zeppo of the Marx Brothers), and the episode's closing song splices in Zeppo's name like it did with Larry in the opening theme. Larry is never seen onscreen after that beyond one cameo appearance. Larry's appearance seems to parody adding new characters to an already established cast. It also foreshadows Elmyra seemingly being forced into the show in the final season. Voiced by Billy West.

Roman Numeral One (Romy)

Brain attempted to clone himself in the episode "Brinky" to create an army of Brains to take over the world. However, an errant toenail clipping from Pinky got into the machine’s tissue sample. As such, the resulting mouse ended up as a mix of both Brain's and Pinky's traits; he possessed Brain's somewhat large head and a good portion of his intellect, but he also had Pinky's teeth and propensity to utter "Narf" and "Poit". Effectively the offspring of both mice, Brain calls him "Roman Numeral One" (implying that more clones were to follow), which Pinky shorts to "Romy" (pronounced ROH-mee). (Later in the episode, Brain occasionally refers to him simply as Roman.) While Brain continues to try to groom Romy to assist him in taking over the world, Pinky overly mothers him in Pinky's own ways (including following the advice of Dr. Spock and reading to him from Pat the Bunny); the "parenting" conflict causes Romy to run away to become a ventriloquist and "to follow the Grateful Dead" for a year. In that episode, Romy also gets a human girlfriend named Bunny, possibly due to subliminal influence of Pinky's reading choice of "Pat the Bunny". Voiced by both Maurice LaMarche (baby Romy) and Rob Paulsen (teenaged Romy).

Brain's Parents

In The Visit, Brain's parents are average non-anthropomorphic white field mice in the wild; when Brain realizes that he has found his parents through DNA testing during part of a plan, he creates a special wearable intelligence device called the Pensamplivex (Pensa is Latin for "thoughts" Ampli is "to make loud", and Vex means "voice".) He then places it on his parents, and they become anthropomorphic and gives them the ability to communicate. They turn out to have somewhat Midwestern accents and are highly critical of Brain's position and lack of success in life, though they dote on Pinky and his friendship with Brain. Voiced by Ernest Borgnine and Tress MacNeille.

Pinky's Family

In The Family That Poits Together, Narfs Together, Pinky and Brain find and bring Pinky's family (Pinky's mother, father and "sister" – his sister is in actuality an empty spool of thread) back to Acme Labs in accordance with Pinky's wishes to meet his family, and so that Brain can use their reunion on national television to secure funding for his latest plan. Using the same device that gave himself and Pinky their intelligence, Brain sends Pinky's parents through the machine. Pinky's parents turn out to have a heavy English accent, and generally share the same wit and nonsensical humor that Pinky does. Surprisingly (or not) to Brain, Pinky and his parents all seem to be able to communicate with Pinky's "sister", though the spool does not ever move or act on its own. Both voiced by Eric Idle.

Precious

A genetically enhanced cat. In the three-part Episode "Brainwashed" she tries to take over the world, a move that Brain initially mistakes as the work of Snowball. Voiced by Nora Dunn.

Bobby Bob Yokel

A character who appeared in the three-part episode "Brainwashed". He along with Pinky was one of the few people not to be affected by a song dumbing down the world, a parody of the Macarena. Voiced by Townsend Coleman.

Mr. Sultana Sultana

Mr. Sultana is neighbor to Acme Labs, and is a packrat and a loner. In order to obtain a package for himself but left at Mr. Sultana's house, Brain is forced to dress Pinky and himself up as a married couple, with Pinky as the housewife. From that point, Mr. Sultana seems to have a small crush on Pinky in his housewife costume. Voiced by Paul Rugg.

Maurice

A carrot brought to life by the Brain in a Frankenstein style experiment. He was named by Pinky. The Brain wished him to be a soldier to help him take over the world, however he instead he took after Pinky. He went with Pinky and the Brain while they went to start a farm to grow an army of giant vegetables (Called Brain Acres). The person who owned the farm next to Brain Acres realized that Brain's vegetables would beat his at the county fair, so he stole the Brain's vegetables. As a counterstrike the Brain used the same experiment that brought Maurice to life to bring the stolen vegetables to life. Unfortunately the controller the Brain was using to control the vegetables was damaged and the vegetables went on a rampage. However, the heat started to make the vegetables wilt, including the Maurice. The Brain realizes that the only way to save Maurice was to plant him in the soil and such he does. He was voiced by Frank Welker

The Devil

Appeared in A Pinky and The Brain Halloween. Taking on the form of a human man named Mr. Itch (an opposite of the word Scratch as in Old Scratch which is one of the names of the Devil), he tried to convince the Brain to sell his soul in exchange for world domination. The Brain refused as doing this would prove that he was a failure in taking over the world with out super-natural assistance. However, Pinky sold his soul to the Devil in order to allow his best friend to get what he has always wanted, and The Brain was made king of the world. Pinky was taken down to Hades where he was to be tortured for all eternity. At first the Brain accepted this, however eventually he started to miss Pinky though he would not admit it to anyone else. Instead he told everyone that he just wanted to ask Pinky were he kept the food pellets. Snowball gives the Brain a map to Hades (directly under a department of motor vehicles building). While Brain makes his trek to Hades, Snowball steals his position as king of the Earth. In the end the Brain challenges the devil to a challenge of rhythmic gymnastics. In the end the Devil cheats and justifies it to the Brain by saying that no where in the contract did it say that it had to be a "fair" competition. However, Pinky comes across a loophole accidentally in the original contract in which he sold his soul. Pinky asked in his contract that he was to have a device for all eternity which the devil did not have knowledge of (due to the fact that Pinky most likely made it up or at least came up with his own name for it) so the devil could not provide it thus voiding the contract. This made the Devil angry and he changed into his beast like form, and started to chase Pinky and the Brain. However, the two mice managed to escape to the surface. Since the contract that gave the Brain the world was voided, Snowball's power which he stole from the Brain was also voided. In the end the Brain promises to attempt to take over the world tomorrow night, without supernatural assistance. voiced by Garry Marshall.

Creation and inspiration

Caricatures of Minton (left) and Fitzgerald from "The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special"

The inspiration for Pinky and the Brain are based on the unique personalities of two of producer Tom Ruegger's Tiny Toon Adventures colleagues, Eddie Fitzgerald and Tom Minton, respectively. Ruegger thought of the premise of Pinky and the Brain when he wondered what would happen if Minton and Fitzgerald tried to take over the world. Fitzgerald (who has also worked on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and Ren and Stimpy) is said to have constantly said "Narf" and "Egad" around the Tiny Toons production office. Series producer Peter Hastings described Eddie by saying, "He always greeted you like you were wearing a funny hat – and he liked it." The Fitzgerald/Minton connection to Pinky and the Brain is parodied further in the episode "The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special" in which two cartoon writers within the short that write for Pinky and the Brain are caricatures of Fitzgerald and Minton, and which themselves they reflect in the Pinky and the Brain cartoons that they write.

While Ruegger initially based The Brain after Minton, the Welles connection came from LaMarche, who is a big fan of the actor/director, and had supplied the voice for Orsen Welles in the 1994 movie Ed Wood. LaMarche describes Brain's voice as "65% Orson Welles, 35% Vincent Price". Brain's similarity to Orson Welles was made explicit in the Animaniacs episode Yes, Always, which was based upon an outtake from one of Welles' television commercials, colloquially known as Frozen Peas, in which he ranted about the poor quality of the script. This cartoon was described by writer Peter Hastings as "a $250,000 inside joke": LaMarche used excerpts from it as sound check material, and Hastings took it to its logical conclusion. Strengthening the Welles connection was an episode in which Brain took on the mind-clouding powers of a radio character called "The Fog": a parody of The Shadow, a popular radio character for which Welles once provided the voice. Other episodes alluding to Welles included an episode entitled "The Third Mouse", a parody of The Third Man in which the Brain played the part of Welles' character Harry Lime (with Pinky as Holly Martins), and an episode, "Battle for the Planet", in which Brain, inspired by Welles' infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast and the hysteria it provoked, stages an alien invasion on television, believing that this will cause humanity to erupt in mass panic, allowing him to seize power. A caricature of Orson Welles even appears in a late episode of the series ("What Ever Happened to Baby Brain"), echoing a rant of the Brain's and introducing himself afterwards.

The episode "Win Big" was the very first Pinky and the Brain segment. The story was by Tom Ruegger, the script was by Peter Hastings, and it was developed for the Animaniacs series. According to Ruegger, most of the elements that would become synonymous with Pinky and the Brain can be found in that original story. "Win Big" contained many dialog bits that became conventions of the entire series, including "Are you pondering what I'm pondering", Pinky saying "Oh wait…but no…" in response to a plan, and ending every story with "What are we doing tomorrow night? (etc.)" among others.

Production

Producers

As with Animaniacs, Steven Spielberg was the executive producer during the entire run, Tom Ruegger was the senior producer, Jean MacCurdy was the executive in charge of production, and Andrea Romano was the voice director.

Writing

The original Pinky and the Brain shorts on Animaniacs were written primarily by Tom Ruegger and Peter Hastings. Upon moving into its own show, the writing staff included Gordon Bressack, Charles M. Howell IV, Earl Kress, Wendell Morris, and Tom Sheppard.

Voicing

Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche together at the 34th Annual Annie Awards red carpet.

Pinky and the Brain were voiced by Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche, respectively. The series also used the work of many of the same voice actors for Animaniacs including Tress MacNeille, Jess Harnell, Frank Welker, and Jeff Bennett, as well as Paul Rugg, Billy West, and Jim Cummings. Celebrities such as Roddy McDowell, Nora Dunn, Townsend Coleman, Ernest Borgnine, Eric Idle, Dick Clark, Ed McMahon, Steve Allen, Joyce Brothers, Gavin MacLeod, John Tesh, Michael McKean, Garry Marshall, Mark Hamill, and James Belushi have all performed guest voice work for the series as well.

Cree Summer reprised her role as Elmyra during Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain.

Animation

Like Animaniacs, most of the original Pinky and the Brain shorts used a variety of animation studios, including Tokyo Movie Shinsha, StarToons, Wang Film Productions, Freelance Animators New Zealand, and AKOM. However, the bulk of the episodes created outside of Animaniacs (seasons 2 and beyond) were produced by Rough Draft Studios and Wang Film Productions.

Humor

See also: Hallmarks of Animaniacs

Like Animaniacs, much of the humor in Pinky and the Brain was aimed at both adult and younger audiences. Parodies of pop culture icons were quite common on the series, more so during the original episodes developed for the WB prime time slot. Notably, these episodes included political figures such as then-President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary and other world leaders at the time, and actors such as Christopher Walken.

Some episodes including more complete parodies similar to those in Animaniacs. The episode "The Megalomaniacal Adventures of Brainie the Poo" parodies Winnie The Pooh. "Cameos" include Jagger instead of Tigger and Al Gore instead of Eeyore. Al Gore is "full of hot air", floating like a balloon. Other parodic elements include Christopher Walken in place of Christopher Robin and the "Brainie the Poo" book appears to have been authored by "A.A. Meeting." The three-part "Brainwashed" episode included several allusions to The Prisoner television show, though everyone in The Village was identified by the hat they wore, and not by number.

Another similarity with Animaniacs was the presence of a gag credit in the closing credits; specifically, each show featured an uncommon English word, typically appropriate for the theme or some aspect of the episode, along with its definition. For example, "Around the World in 80 Narfs", where the mice are foiled by trying to speak "cabbie" and end up going in circles, the gag credit word was "anophelosis" defined as "morbid state due to extreme frustration."

Response

Popularity

The creation of the Pinky and the Brain series was a result of the popularity of the characters from Animaniacs. The show continued attracting many of the same fans as Animaniacs along with the rise of the availability of the Internet. Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen appeared on voice actor tours around the Warner Bros. Studio Stores.

In an interview on the 3rd DVD volume, LaMarche and Paulsen noted that Roy Langbord (vice-president of Showtime), Al Franken, and Barenaked Ladies are fans of the shows.

Nominations and awards

Pinky and the Brain has won several Emmy and Annie Awards. In 1996, the series won a Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program" for the episode "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas". Rob Paulsen won the Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for "Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Television Program Production in 1996 and 1997, while Maurice LaMarche won the same in 1998. Paulsen also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for his role as Pinky subsequently in 1999. The series itself won the 1999 Daytime Emmy for "Outstanding Special Class Animated Program".

The episode "Inherit the Wheeze", in which Brain was subject to the effects of smoking by a tobacco company, won a PRISM Award for its anti-smoking message.

Allusions in other media

The phrase "The same thing we do every night, Pinky," was spoofed in one episode of The New Batman Superman Adventures by Batgirl/Barbara Gordon while talking to Bruce Wayne/Batman.

The Rice University Neologism dictionary includes not only "narf" as a random sound or nonce word, but also "narfed" as a verb to mean "to be struck completely" with some embarrassment or folly, much as Pinky would be hit on the head by Brain after his follies ruined Brain's plan. Both words are directly attributed to Pinky and the Brain. The International Dictionary of Neologisms includes the word "narfistic" as "an idea or concept that works fine when you think about it – but is very difficult to express to someone else", as a result of Pinky only saying "Narf!" after Brain elaborates on one of his extensive plans.

Pinky and the Brain were alluded to in The Incredible Hulk #438 as two white mice, kept by Omnibus. One of the realistically drawn mice had an enlarged cranium, and when their cage was destroyed the sound "narf" is indicated. Omnibus claims that he is being haunted by The Leader, but once the mice have escaped their cage, the "ghost" of the Leader is silenced and Omnibus is robbed of his brilliant schemes for world domination.

The Virgin New Adventures Doctor Who novel, "Death and Diplomacy" by Dave Stone includes two characters repeating the "Are you pondering…" lines, and near the end, two of the fallen villains in the story recover, one telling his comrade that they must prepare for tomorrow night when they will take over the universe.

There is a heavy metal band in Niagara Falls, New York called thinksobrain.

In Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode 907, Hobgoblins, Pearl Forrester calls her sidekicks Professor Bobo and Observer "Pinky" and "Brain," respectively.

The computer game Fallout 2 contains a megalomaniac mouse named "The Brain".

History

On Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain

Main articles: List of Pinky and the Brain episodes and Animaniacs

Pinky and the Brain first appeared as a recurring segment on the animated series Animaniacs, another show produced by Steven Spielberg. On September 14, 1993, Pinky and the Brain premiered on television in the episode Win Big, which aired on the FOX Kids Network.

On September 9, 1995, Pinky and the Brain were spun off onto their own half-hour series on Kids' WB, with each episode consisting of one or more segments, including some of the segments from Animaniacs. The first season of the show was scheduled in a prime-time slot from September 9, 1995 through May 12, 1996 as part of the new WB Network lineup, and as a result, tended to have more jokes and humor aimed to adults rather than children. However, due to poor ratings, subsequent seasons were moved to Saturday mornings as part of the Kids' WB programming block.

On Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain

Main article: Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain

Around 1997 the overall structure within the WB Network changed, including the placement of Jamie Kellner as head of the Kids WB programming. Along with this came pressure on the writers of the show to back off on the idea of world domination and to include more characters on the show. The episode "Pinky and the Brain and ...Larry" was a response to this pressure.

With increased pressure from the WB network, the series was retooled on September 1, 1998 into Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain, in which Pinky and the Brain were owned by Tiny Toons character Elmyra Duff. The show lasted for 13 episodes, 5 of which were shown whole and 6 of which were chopped into segments and aired as part of The Cat&Birdy Warneroonie PinkyBrainy Big Cartoonie Show.

Cancellation and syndication

After Pinky and the Brain and Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain were canceled from the Kids WB, Cartoon Network aired Pinky and the Brain from 1998 to 2000. Nickelodeon then acquired syndication rights to broadcast all 65 episodes of Pinky and the Brain on both Nickelodeon, and later Nicktoons Network, beginning on September 4, 2000. While the episodes aired unchanged, Nickelodeon altered the opening sequence, masking various items such as beakers with the orange Nickelodeon logo in the same shape and the Acme Labs sign changing into a Nickelodeon logo (this garnered a lot of negative criticism from fans). During 2003, Pinky and the Brain aired on Boomerang with the theme song unaltered. It continued to air on Boomerang and Nicktoons Network until 2005 when it was taken off both channels. It can now be found on Toon Disney, weeknights at 9:30 Eastern Standard Time.

During 2006, Pinky and the Brain, among other shows, was scheduled to be broadcast on the AOL broadband channel, In2TV. However, as of 2007, Pinky and the Brain is no longer a featured series on the site.

In Canada, Pinky and the Brain is currently airing on YTV having started on September 3, 2007. The theme song has been unaltered.

Merchandise

Pinky and the Brain, along with Animaniacs, aired coincident with the formation of The Warner Bros. Studio Store chain across the United States, and, as a result, numerous t-shirts, coffee mugs, stuffed animals, animation cels, and original artwork from the show were available through these outlets. Other merchandise included comic books, computer games, and video tapes. When Warner Brothers acquired the Hanna-Barbera animation properties in 1998, there was a significant decrease with such merchandise through the store. By the time the series was canceled, very little merchandise was available.

VHS releases

Five VHS collections of Pinky and the Brain episodes were released from 1993 to 1995: A Pinky and the Brain Christmas, Cosmic Attractions, Mice of the Jungle, World Domination Tour, and You Will Buy This Video!, each with approximately 4 episodes that including both Pinky and the Brain shorts from Animaniacs and their own show. These collections are now out of print.

DVD releases

The entire 65 episode run of Pinky and the Brain shows are now available in DVD sets through Warner Home Video. The sets divide the series by 21 or 22 episodes in chronological order instead of following the season breakdown due to the imbalanced size of each season.

DVD Name	Ep #	Release Date	Additional Information
Volume 1	22	July 25 2006	This four-disk box set includes the first 22 episodes from the series. Contains "Pinky and the Brain: Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?" — Featurette with Tom Ruegger, Peter Hastings, Rob Paulsen, Maurice LaMarche, Andrea Romano as they discuss why they had so much fun working on the show.
Volume 2	21	December 5 2006	This four-disk box set contains the next 21 episodes from the series. Contains "The Return of World Dominating Extras" – Featurette with Mark Hamill and Wayne Knight as they answer a casting call to do the voices of Pinky and The Brain and get coached by Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen.
Volume 3	22	June 19 2007	This four-disk box set contains the final 22 episodes of the series. Contains the featurette, "It's All About the Fans" – Rob Paulsen (Voice of Pinky) and Maurice LaMarche (Voice of the Brain) pay tribute to their fans.

Print

Pinky and the Brain were also regulars in the Animaniacs comic book published by DC Comics. From July 1996 through November 1998, they starred in their own comic book also published by DC Comics, which ran for 27 issues before cancellation. Following the cancellation of the Pinky and the Brain comic, the mice later starred in stories that took up half of the later Animaniacs issues, which, starting at issue #43, was retitled Animaniacs featuring Pinky and the Brain, and ran for other 16 issues before cancellation.

Pinky and the Brain also had a cameo appearance in the second issue of the Marvel vs. DC miniseries.

Computer games

There has been one computer game dedicated to Pinky and the Brain, called Pinky and the Brain: World Conquest for the PC, produced by SouthPeak Interactive and distributed by Warner Bros. However, the characters have appeared in several of the Animaniacs games, such as Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt.

Music

The theme music for Pinky and the Brain was composed by Richard Stone with lyrics by Tom Ruegger. The theme during Animaniacs shorts were sung by Yakko, Wakko, and Dot (that is, Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, and Tress MacNeille). On the Pinky and the Brain show, the theme gained an additional verse and was sung by unidentified male voices.

While Pinky and the Brain does not feature as many songs as Animaniacs, some of the music from the show can be found across the three Animaniacs CDs. An expanded version of the episode "Bubba Bo Bob Brain" presented in a radio drama or audiobook fashion was released as a CD in 1997 by Rhino Entertainment. As was Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain was scored primarily by Richard Stone, with assistance from Steve and Julie Bernstein who also orchestrated and sometimes conducted the 40-piece orchestra. The recordings were done on Stage A on the Warner Bros lot, the same stage (and with the same piano) where Carl Stalling recorded his Looney Tunes music.

There have been three notable songs similar to "Yakko's World" in how they play on existing music with new lyrics. "Cheese Roll Call" is sung by Pinky to the march "Semper Fidelis" by John Philip Sousa and praises his love for all cheeses from around the world. "Brainstem" is sung to "Camptown Races" with Brain listing out all the major parts of the human brain, with Pinky jumping in at the chorus to shout "Brainstem! Brainstem!". "A Meticulous Analysis of History" is set to "When I Was a Lad" from Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, and sung by both Brain and Pinky, with Brain reciting the rise to power of famous historical leaders such as Napoleon and Cleopatra, while Pinky mentions how they all fell from power.

The musical score for Pinky and the Brain will frequently contain veiled musical references — for example, in the episode where the Brain builds a new Papier-mâché Earth, the theme from the 2nd and 4th movements of Dvorak's 'New World Symphony' can be heard throughout the episode. The episode Napoleon Brainaparte makes frequent reference to the French anthem, La Marseillaise, while in the episode in which Pinky becomes the artist "Pinkasso" Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition can be heard.

See also

• List of Pinky and the Brain episodes

External links

• The official DVD website
• The Complete Pondering List, by Richard Watanabe – A collection of answers to Brain's running gag question: "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"