Animaniacs Season 1 (1993)
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Animaniacs Season 1 Review
Animaniacs is a musical comedy television series from the 90s by Warner Bros. Animation. It is a pretty good, albeit decidedly mixed in quality show.
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“Boy. The stuff they’re getting away with on kids shows these days“
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The first season premiered in 1993 and it consists of whopping 65 episodes. Most are either solid or good with only a few being excellent or weak which makes the show pretty consistent, but rarely truly exciting.
So it’s a variety show with various skits, comedy sketches and it consists of at least two or three segments per episode which are not connected at all and which feature various characters, some more interesting than others. I liked the format quite a bit, although it definitely led to many uneven episodes in terms of the enjoyment and the overall quality.
Yakko, Wakko and Dot are a lot of crazy, goofy fun together. They are an excellent team and I really liked their backstory and how they were created and started causing chaos. But individually, they aren’t as well developed with Dot actually being the most memorable, funniest and sweetest personality of the three.
Dr. Otto is forgettable, but Pinky and the Brain are honestly fantastic. In my opinion, their segments are the absolute best as it was a lot of fun and very funny following their great chemistry and many misadventures. I also really liked Slappy Squirrel afterwards as she was initially uninteresting.
Rita and Runt are the most forgettable characters here including their segments, Minerva Mink is also uninteresting and Buttons and Mindy are very endearing, but obviously too kid friendly for this show. Easily the best after Pinky and the Brain are the Goodfeathers who are hilarious and a perfect, sophisticated parody of Italian Americans in gangster movies.
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Animaniacs has pretty good animation for television standards and the character design is pretty enjoyable. Everything looks solid, if far from great. The voice acting is actually the strongest aspect of the show, especially with Goodfeathers. The score is excellent with the opening theme being very catchy and a lot of fun. The humor is a mixed bag for me as sometimes it can be pretty effective and sophisticated (making fun of Buddy in the last episode was genius), but sometimes it can be too childish and obviously intended for children.
Overall, the first season is pretty good. There are some weak episodes here and there and some great ones, but for the most part the episodes are either pretty good or just solid. The highlights are easily the Goodfeathers segments and Pinky and the Brain who always steal the show.
Worst Episodes: You Risk Your Life/I Got Yer Can/Jockey for Position and Ups and Downs/The Brave Little Trailer/Yes, Always.
Best Episodes: King Yakko and The Flame/Four Score and Seven Migraines Ago/Wakko’s America/Davy Omelette.
