Animaniacs is an American animated comedy musical television series produced by Amblin Television label in collaboration with Warner Bros. Animation. It is the second animated series created by Tom Ruegger, developed during the animation renaissance of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Animaniacs first aired on Fox Kids from 1993 to 1995 and new episodes later appeared on The WB from 1995 to 1998 as part of its Kids' WB afternoon programming block. The series had a total of 99 episodes and one film, titled Wakko's Wish.
Animaniacs is a variety show, with short skits featuring a large cast of characters. While the show had no set format, the majority of episodes were composed of three short mini-episodes, each starring a different set of characters, and bridging segments. Hallmarks of the series included its music, character catchphrases, and humor directed at an adult audience.
The Warner siblings and the other characters lived in Burbank, California. However, characters from the series had episodes in various places and periods of time. The Animaniacs characters interacted with famous persons and creators of the past and present as well as mythological characters and characters from modern television. Andrea Romano, the casting and recording director of Animaniacs, said that the Warner siblings functioned to "tie the show together," by appearing in and introducing other characters' segments. Each Animaniacs episode usually consisted of two or three cartoon shorts. Animaniacs segments ranged in time, from bridging segments less than a minute long to episodes spanning the entire show length; writer Peter Hastings said that the varying episode lengths gave the show a "sketch comedy" atmosphere.
Animaniacs had a large cast of characters, separated into individual segments, with each pair or set of characters acting in its own plot. The Warners, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, were three cartoon stars from the 1930s that were locked away in the Warner Bros. water tower until the 1990s, when they escaped. After their escape, they often interacted with Warner Bros. studio workers, including Ralph, the security guard; Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, the studio psychiatrist, and his assistant Hello Nurse. Pinky and the Brain are two genetically altered laboratory mice who continuously plot and attempt to take over the world. Slappy Squirrel is an octogenarian cartoon star who can easily outwit antagonists and uses her wiles to educate her nephew, Skippy Squirrel, about cartoon techniques. Additional principal characters included Rita and Runt, Buttons and Mindy, Chicken Boo, Flavio and Marita (The Hip Hippos), Katie Ka-Boom, a trio of pigeons known as The Goodfeathers, and Minerva Mink.
Cast[]
Songs[]
| Image | Character | USA | Ven | Jap | Bra | Bra(2) | Ger | Fran | Ita | Pol | Hun | Swe | Fin | Cro | Den | Por | Gree(1999) | Cze(VHS) | Cze(2000) | Russ(2003) | Gree(2012) | Neth(2013) | Russ(2014) | Kor | Chin | Hong | Isr | |||||||||
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Rita | Bernadette Peters | Elena Prieto | Emi Shinohara | Carmen Sheila | Beate "Bea"Tober | Nadja N'Guyen | Simona Patitucci | Małgorzata DudaKozera | Pápai Erika | Petra Karjalainen | Birgitte Raaberg | Carla deSá | Christína Alexíou | Dalit Shahaf | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Minerva Mink | Julie Brown | Lilo Schmid | MiriamFicher | Melise Maia | Virginie Ogouz | Georgia Lepore | Christína Alexíou | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| LiviaMéndez | LinaRossana | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Character Gallery[]
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