It Was Twenty Years Ago Today: The Premier of "Pinky & the Brain"

That's "Pinky & the Brain" the primetime series, which premiered at 7pm on Sunday night, September 10, 1995 on The WB.  After their success on "Animaniacs," the two lab mice broke into primetime with their own show.  The title of the first episode:  "Das Mouse," written by Peter Hastings, directed by Liz Holzman and Al Zegler, produced by Peter, Rusty Mills, me and Mr. Spielberg, and starring the vocal performances of Rob Paulsen as Pinky and Maurice LaMarche as the Brain.  

And, now it's 20 years later, and since the world is not yet in the Brain's control, we must assume that Pinky & the Brain have spent the last 7305 nights attempting to take over the world -- without success.  

But there's always tomorrow night.

"Why, what are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?"

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky -- try to take over the world." 

"They're dinky, they're Pinky & the Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain." 

"Narf" forever!    

"Animaniacs" Recording Session: April 11, 1995

I doodled the faces of Yakko, Wakko and Dot during the voice recording (and singing) session for "The Big Wrap Party" segment of Animaniacs at Monterey Post in Burbank, California, back on April 11, 1995.  Hard to believe it was 20 years ago!   

I tend to draw during almost every recording session, so these sketches aren't unusual.  What's unique about this set of doodles is that I had everyone at the session sign it.  

So, scattered around these notepad drawings of Yakko, Wakko and Dot are the signatures of just a few of the people who gave voice and sound to the "Animaniacs" series:  engineers Harry Andronis and Patrick Rodman; recording assistant Kelly Foley; casting director Leslie Lamers;  voice director Andrea Romano;  series composer and music director Richard Stone; and the voices of Yakko, Wakko and Dot, namely Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell and Tress MacNeille.  What a group!  I feel very fortunate to have worked with these great talents, and so glad to continue working with Rob, Jess and Tress, among others, on Disney's "The 7D." 

Hello Nurse and Dr. Scratchansniff

As they appear in the Animaniacs full-color main model line-up, circa 1993:  Hello Nurse and Dr. Otto Scratchansniff.  

Tiny Toon Adventures on DVD: How I Spent My Vacation

Coming August 14, 2012, on DVD:  Tiny Toon Adventures' How I Spent My Vacation. 

Above:  On the left, the new artwork for the 2012 DVD cover.  To the right, the artwork on the VHS cover, when "How I Spent My Vacation" was first released in 1992 as the first direct-to-video original animated feature.  

Back then, the folks at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment were dedicated to the notion that short movie titles were the only way to go, so they insisted that we change our original title, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," to the insignificantly shorter title that omitted the word "summer."   

These are the same marketing geniuses who demanded that we change the title of the Animaniacs direct-to-video feature from "It's a Wakko Wakko Wakko Wakko Wish" to "Wakko's  Wish."  

I much prefer our original titles on both.  

As for the cover art, new and old, above  --  what can I say?   It's like the current regime at Warner Bros. isn't even trying.    

"Talking Toons with Rob Paulsen" -- Episode 14

Hey!

Rob Paulsen, the extraordinary Emmy award-winning actor who gave us the unforgettable voices of Yakko Warner, Dr. Scratchansniff, Pinky (of Pinky and the Brain fame), Mr. Opportunity, 50% of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and countless others characters, has his own website where he posts an informative and funny podcast each week.  

In this week's episode, Rob tests the patience of his fans by inviting me to share the microphone with him.  Is this the tragic end of Rob's heretofore wildly successful podcast career?   "Toon in" and find out here.

"HISTERIA!" Animating Crew Photos -- #2

Here's the second pair of "animating" crew photos from the "Histeria!" series.  Flip the two photos back and forth to create "the illusion of life" -- and to see members of the cast make funny faces.   These two photos feature some of the wonderful voice actors who performed regularly on "Histeria!"  Can you name them all? 

"While Visions of Sugar-Plums Danced in Their Heads"

Yakko's Christmas Dream...from "Animaniacs."

Animaniacs: "Little Drummer Warners"

One of my favorite shorts of the series, "Little Drummer Warners" casts Yakko, Wakko and Dot as shepherds "abiding in the field at night" in this rendition of the Christmas story that offers up a jazzy swing version of "Little Drummer Boy."  Many thanks to Richard Stone, Steve Bernstein and Julie Bernstein for making the music work so well.  This cartoon was beautifully directed by Lenord Robinson.  Earl Kress and I worked on the script, and the vocal performances by Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, Tress MacNeille and Jim Cummings, among others, are outstanding.

The Last "Pinky and the Brain" Script: "Star Warners"

Here's the cover page from the last "Pinky and the Brain" script:  "Star Warners."  You can see that it was quite the group effort.  At the recording session, I asked the cast and crew members on hand to sign my script...for posterity.

A Tiny Toons Character Who Didn't Make the Cut

Initially, a younger version of Foghorn Leghorn was going to play a role on Tiny Toons...

...but no one could muster much enthusiasm for the character.  Ultimately, we came up with the foul-mouthed character named Fowlmouth, who seemed to carry on a bit of the blustery spirit of Foghorn, if not the design.  Fowlmouth, voiced by Rob Paulsen, made his biggest impression as the loud-mouthed movie patron in "Tiny Toons' How I Spent My (Summer) Vacation."  

Cast Members from "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Animaniacs"

In the mid-90's, we made a few "Tiny Toon Adventures" primetime specials while we were producing the "Animaniacs" series.  This photo was taken during a day when we were recording segments from both "Tiny Toons" and "Animaniacs."  Many of the voice actors performed roles on both shows. 

1st row, left to right:   Maurice La Marche (Dizzy Devil, Squit, the Brain),  Sherri Stoner (Slappy Squirrel, series writer, producer),  Nate Ruegger (Baby Plucky, Skippy Squirrel),  Andrea Romano (voice director),  me.  

2nd row:  Paul Rugg (voice of Mr. Director, series writer), K.C. (Sound Castle engineer),  Kelly Foley (recording editor), John Kassir (Buster Bunny).  

3rd row:  Jeff Bennett (Baloney, Charlton Woodchuck),  Jess Harnell (Wakko Warner, Walter Wolf),  Jim Cummings (Narrator, Daniel Boone),  Tress MacNeille  (Babs Bunny, Dot Warner),  Rob Paulsen  (Fowlmouth, Yakko Warner, Pinky). 

Back row:  Rich Freeman (production associate),  Harry Andronis (engineer),  Leslie Lamers (casting director),  Frank Welker (Furrball, Little Beeper, Ralph the Guard, Runt, Chicken Boo).