I know it's probably been discussed to death by point, but as someone who's only just now caught up on this revival, why DID they drop so many of the original characters? With three segments per episode it would have been perfect for Warners, P&tB, and Slappy.
I assume they either had no faith in the source material, in their writers' ability to handle a variety of totally different cartoons (When was the last time ANY show did that?), or both
Let's be real too, at least a third of the original segments were dull as wishdaughter. Buttons and Mindy was cute, but you basically just watched it to see the dog in peril and hear the Bart girl say cute things. The Goodfeathers just did the same fricking routine over and over where Pesto's on his period and Bobby's just laughing at his abuse of Squitt. Their plots were all really boring movie references. the Hip Hippos were just 'we are unpleasant and fat, haha, listen to us talk in kind-of-italian accents'
and katie kaboom was funny the first fricking time, that was it. Chicken Boo at least kept finding CREATIVE places to insert a chicken, even if ... it was the same gag over and over
the only really good ones are rita and runt (expensive, gotta rehire bernadette), slappy and skippy (At least there you get a built in quality writer in sherri stoner), minerva mink (no way she'd fly now), the flame (ditto for opposite reasons), mr. skullhead, and the mime.
>the flame
To this day I don't understand why people talk about the Flame like he was one of the main characters. He was in one of those weird unrelated "sentimental" cartoons, like the golden wrapping paper where Jim used his Winnie the Pooh voice for some reason. But fans and even the show itself talk like he was a member of the main cast. I don't get it.
I guess because he showed up more than once. Yeah not often, but enough to be part of the main ensemble. he's the Chief o'Brien of Animaniacs. and just as adorable.
the golden wrapping paper was a one-off, though that was cute too. That's more uh... memorable, than main.
>I guess because he showed up more than once.
Did he? I know he had the occasional joke cameo here and there, but did he actually have a starring/major role in more than one cartoon? Because if he did, I don't remember that at all.
He had 3 cartoons, so more than Minerva Mink did
Damn, I don't remember him being so prevalent. I remember the Paul Revere cartoon and that's all.
The Flame shorts weren't very popular back then; among other things, they felt like the kind of thing Animaniacs would usually be mercilessly making fun of instead of playing straight. Didn't help either that it was yet another another Ruegger kid playing him.
>first one
he helps tommy jeff write the deck of pence
>second
he helps a long fellow write paul reverse
>third
he helps frankkey write the poem that would become the stars pangle
>like the golden wrapping paper where Jim used his Winnie the Pooh voice for some reason
I remember him doing that for their Goodnight Moon parody as well, but it felt really fitting there.
>dull as wishdaughter
That's a new one
>minerva mink (no way she'd fly now)
Minerva's episodes didn't even make it through intact back then; she was quickly reduced to a supporting cast member and background filler.
>To this day I don't understand why people talk about the Flame like he was one of the main characters.
The Flame had a handful of appearances but also had an entire half hour episode where he was the focus since he appeared in every segment and, if I remember right, was also pretty heavily pushed in the media back them as Emmy-bait.
So there were plenty of characters that had more episodes but less total screentime and focus than he did.
>the breaking bad episode
>the sopranos one
>some dark knight shit
>CSI/Law&Order
>tarantino shit
is actually easier to make The Goodfeathers episodes now.
How the frick did you forget about Pinky and the Brain?
Most of them were shit, frankly
Most of them, sure, but Slappy and Chicken Boo alone deserved to come back, and Rita & Runt, the Goodfeathers, and Mindy & Buttons were debatable.
>why DID they drop so many of the original characters?
Like said, most of them were just one note and not that funny even during the first couple of skits. There's a reason most people only remember the Warners and Pinky and Brain.
It doesn't matter whether you didn't like them, they were crucial for providing the variety that was sorely missing from the reboot. Without the other sketches spacing the Warners/P&TB out and making their skits look better in comparison, even their skits quickly get monotonous.
It's like saying a revival of The Muppet Show would work with just Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Rizzo. Sketch/variety shows are nothing without their massive cast.
>It's like saying a revival of The Muppet Show would work with just Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Rizzo.
No Pigs In Space. No Muppet Labs. No Electric Mayhem. No At the Dance. No Swedish Chef. No Rowlf playing piano. No Lew Zealand throwing boomerang fish. No Sam demanding content with more 'socially redeeming value.' No Wayne and Wanda trying (and failing) to get through a single musical act. No Statler and Waldorf heckling the acts on stage. No Scooter telling the guest star "15 seconds 'til curtain." And after three seasons of fans begging the showrunners to bring these characters and skits back, all we get is one two minute sketch of Rowlf telling us "Stop bothering me, I'm retired."
this 100% contributed to it. It was always
>oh God its another not the trio or pinky and brain episode again, time to watch something else.
even back then as a kid.
It was a complete mess, this show cannot exist post perverted old israelite era, because its too tame, its too clean, and sanitated and Hollywood lost its grip on films. Hazbin showed that even a flawed indie cartoon can succeed and get more views, as there is demand for this, but not for megacorpo crap or a beanface whimsical adventure which millenials slurp up.
For example that woman who is their boss is so irrelevant I completely forgot her name, or what character she is. The new animaniacs is just so extremely mediocre and forgettable. The only way it would be relevant if it gone actually offensive, but without being desperate.
I agree with you, although I was only looking at the show's visuals and the lack of other cast members.
The fact the writing was as unfunny as it was means that the slimmed down cast was actually a blessing. They didn't get fricked up. The Goodfeathers weren't turned into anti-police activists, Runt didn't become differently abled, and we didn't need to sit through a Chicken Boo PSA about anxiety. Cup half full and all that.
Visually the show is uninteresting as frick as its very bare bones shading. Also the color choice is just boring, the animation is stiff. Back then it helped that the animation was smooth too, the inbetweens and the keyframes were good too, and the colors were vibrant, where the CRT added that visual appeal too.
The modern is just way too tame visually. Its very noticeable when an animation studio tries to play it safe and the animators don't have a veteran overseer. I dunno which one was there but the modern animaniacs is just so sanitized. It didn't help it that it came out in the worst time possible, as being offensive = demonetization.
Maybe...
A reboot...
Could have...
Retooled them...
Or something?
Wow, crazy I know. Also some of the shorts they dropped were fan favorites, most notably Slappy who was EASILY the best-received out of the original run outside of Pinky and the Brain and the Warner Bros. Minor comedy segments like Good Idea/Bad Idea and Chicken Boo were also pretty popular, and Minerva Mink has always been considered a missed opportunity even all of the furry shit aside.
>in their writers' ability to handle a variety of totally different cartoons
Yeah that's the weirdest thing because it feels like the reboot is still trying to be a variety show with its one-off sketches like the gnome mouth thing.
But yeah, I guess it's similar to how New Looney Tunes started off focusing solely on Bugs before bringing back the other Looney Tunes.
I don't get why they got rid of The Wheel of Morality, The Great Wakkarotti, Dot's Poetry Corner, and Good Idea/Bad Idea. You didn't even need the other characters for those - The first three were all centered around the Warners and they could've easily reworked GI/BI to involve the Warners, or Pinky & The Brain, or Norita, or Ralph, or Dr. Scratchansniff, or the Mouth Gnome, or Cindy & Starbox (or all of them).
They made a short that explain it in the last season. The execs only want new characters and the greatest hits to optimize views
and how did that turn out?
>the greatest hits
They missed one.
>They missed one.
Nope the made an episode dedicated to Slappy fans, even got the VA back, No Skippy though
Anon, I'm not sure 90 seconds of "STFU about Slappy" counts as 'an episode dedicated to Slappy fans.'
Yeah, not to mention ONE episode over the course of three seasons
Once again, the greatest enemy of WB is the WB executives.
I still can't wrap my head around the fact that a Looney Tunes movie is coming out in theaters and it's being released by not-Warner Bros. Like how the frick? That's like a Mickey Mouse movie coming out from someone other than Disney. Pre-Steamboat Willie entering the public domain, obviously.
>They made a short that explain it in the last season
and you believed them?
>muh execs
oh yes the usual excuse, an external force, i guess i should believe them those poor animators and writters did their best!
The silver lining to how badly the Animaniacs reboot used the old characters is that the Tiny Toons reboot went in the exact opposite direction. Bring back as many as they can, but don’t even try to pretend they’re the same versions as the old series.
It's cool that nuTT got to use nuAnimaniacs as its blueprint when original Tiny Toons served as that for the original Animaniacs.
>Bring back as many as they can, but don’t even try to pretend they’re the same versions as the old series.
But then what's the point of bringing them back at that point? It's just as cynical as the former option.
It's pretty much that they saw it as viable to only bring back three segments (Warners, P&TB, Slappy) since that's all people really care about, and Slappy was nixed because they wanted back all original VAs, which the four cover all five of the first two, but for Slappy not only would they have to get back two more they'd need to get back Ruegger's son to voice Skippy (who they entirely did this reboot behind Ruegger's back) so Slappy was out as well
>they'd need to get back Ruegger's son to voice Skippy
Only if they planned on making him an adult. If they were going to keep Skippy a kid they'd have to recast him anyway, even if the entire cast and crew of the original show came back.
Honest to God, if they wanted to compromise and still do something new, I could see them giving Slappy a Grandniece/Grandnephew. Maybe Skippy had a kid of his own that he left in Slappy's care.
Based on this angle you'd definitely see up Dots skirt. The old animators would be professional enough and confident enough to draw a pantty shot. It's such a small thing but it highlights evetythig wrong with A-Nu Man-iacks
Internet was not a thing back then and they didn't know how many perverts were out there. I do not think same people would do it in the same circumstances but knew how many sickos are gonna twist their creation.
Half of the time Dot is on screen her panties are flashed one way or another
There are any number of plausible reasons, from writers not being familiar with the original, not liking the original, potentially problematic characters, to keeping the number of voice actors under control. But my personal pet theory is that based on what I've seen, the show heavily references, if not directly copies frames from the old original. If they had to do that to build rigs for all of the characters, that would have been exceedingly time-intensive.
To be more blunt, they probably could not draw all the characters well enough in the time they were given to learn/produce it.
>potentially problematic characters
Pesto peppering his rants with nationalist rhetoric is still funny.
>To be more blunt, they probably could not draw all the characters well enough in the time they were given to learn/produce it.
I dunno, maybe in the first season, but surely they could've managed it by Season 2 and 3. And if they were really that pressed for time on extra characters, then why/how did we get the Mouth Gnome and Cindy & Starbox?
>then why/how did we get the Mouth Gnome and Cindy & Starbox?
It's not that they can't design new characters themselves, the problem is specifically with getting the look of the original. They were aiming to recreate the look of one particular animation studio among several, and trying to build character "banks" only from their episodes is pretty difficult, and in fact impossible for some characters, as the studio did not animate any episodes at all for some of the characters. I'm inclined to believe this because there is actually a still shot of most of the original cast in season one, and that was directly traced (somewhat poorly, I might add.)
>surely they could've managed it by Season 2 and 3
Sure, but remember this is a modern show. No matter what they claim, the show was animated on rigs. They'd had to have all of it made at the start. Animaniacs has over a dozen regular skits, so in order to replicate it all, you'd have to make the main characters for each of those, plus the regular supporting characters. It's a ridiculous number and a logistic nightmare.
If Skippy came back as an adult he would have been prime porn material
I figure that skipping out on Slappy Squirrel was because she hates nu-cartoons. Knowing modern writers, having a girlboss who hates modern cartoon writing would create some cognitive dissonance.
I think that Slappy could have had a chance in the reboot more than any of the others but if you did her in the current era you'd inevitably have to start getting into gender politics (and also probably some comedy/commentary on metoo considering her history as a female cartoon star from the golden era) and that might be to touchy a subject.
Minerva and Hello Nurse were dropped mainly because of “sexist archetypes” even though they could easily be reinvented. In reality I think that decision was done by Katie Rice and Gabe Swarr because they thought it reminded them of their former “boss” too much and how he drew women. (Minerva Mink’s character design in particular was copied from Madame Marsupial of Mighty Mouse: TNA fame, a show John K worked on)
As for the rest, characters like Slappy were voiced by writers of the original series and WB didn’t want to bring them on board for the revival. So they were either mute background characters or showed up very late in the series’ run. Slappy didn’t appear until the final episode and was only given a 20 second cameo. If the show had gone on for longer, I doubt the legacy characters still would’ve appeared.
Animaniacs 2020 was more of a “deconstruction” on the original show rather than a genuine continuation. The original show’s humor relied on cheesy celebrity jokes and cheap gags like Anvils. The reboot was just Ren & Stimpy + Family Guy with a coat of Animaniacs paint slapped onto it in terms of humor. This makes sense once you realize the crew consisted of Ex-Spumco staff and former Family Guy writers. Two groups of people who would’ve absolutely hated Animaniacs back when it was airing. The reboot was definitely written with more malice rather than appreciation and a lot of fans could tell that. Hence why it didn’t gain any subsequent popularity after it premiered. Hulu only ordered three seasons and it bombed.
Will Animaniacs be brought back in the future? Probably but it won’t be with Tom Ruegger’s original crew or the 2020 staff.
I'm re-watching the original series right now so it's fresh in my mind and I can tell you that other than the Warner siblings and Pinky and the Brain, most of the other segment characters are very one note and rely on slapstick to make you laugh. It's like Chicken Boo, "He's a big chicken". Goodfeathers, the Joe Pecsi one always does the "You think I'm funny" bit and starts a fight.
The only one that would have been interesting is bring back Bernadette Peters as Rita but they probably don't have access to her at this point.
>Slappy: "President Trump, eh? Thank goodness. It's about time we finally had a toon president. Oh, somebody stop me, I'm dyin'."
They weren't funny
Ruegger won at the end, Animaniacs was inducted in the National Academy of Telelvision, given to shows that are seen as “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”.
>If we say reboots are creatively bankrupt cash grabs it will make our reboot something other than a creatively bankrupt cash grab.
Also women aren't funny.
Idk bro Dot and Slappy were pretty funny in the 90s