Animaniacs: December 1996
Cover
Drawn by: Omar Aranda and Horacio Ottolini
A movie poster, almost recapping James Dean's career: Dot as the troubled youth, in leather jacket and pink skirt, with a lollipop sticking (the wrong way) out of her mouth; Yakko as the oil tycoon, in Stetson hat, Western shirt, and vest, as well as his usual tan pants; and Wakko as the down-home sausage, with face, arms, and legs sticking out of a huge pink sausage skin.
Dot is dressed as Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause, and Yakko is dressed as the young Jett Rink from Giant.
Credits
Synopsis
We join filming of the 1955 Hollywood classic Rebel Without a Cause. A handsome young actor drives his car toward a cliff, and jumps out and rolls away at the last moment - and, in the prcess, reveals himself as Chicken Boo. Of curse, nobody will work with a giant chicken, so a replacement actor is needed right away. An emergency call goes out to Schwab's Soda Fountain, and the hand of fate reaches out and touches a young, good-looking teenager to be the next teen idol.
He arrives on the set and meets the director, then looks over the new car his character gets to drive. As he's looking, the Warners pop out of the engine compartment. Dot leaps on him immediately. Wakko's more interested in eating the transmission. Dot has found her love of the moment, though, and tries her best to attract the actor's interest, with about her usual level of success. Meanwhile, her brothers are looking for the giant chicken who's supposed to be making the movie, though Wakko's interest is culinary instead of cinematic. The actor manages to remove Dot - and his pants, in the process - and runs away.
The actor runs into a back alley, thinking he's escaped, but Wakko pops out of a trash can complete with a bucket of biscuits. Just as the actor gets angry, Ralph shows up, only to be driven off by a barrage of biscuits. The actor escapes in the confusion and runs into his suburban home, with the Warners in hot pursuit. They are distracted by the sight of the actor they know from TV as Mr. Howell, and seize upon him, until Wakko notices the actor getting away. They chase him into an old abandoned mansion and split up to search for him. Dot finds the actress playing the movie's love interest, and introduces her to her pet. Yakko finds another young actor and discusses the end of the world with him. Wakko strikes pay dirt: he's waiting in a trunk as the actor crawls inside to hide.
The Warners chase the actor into the neighborhood police station. While the Warners harass the police officers, the actor hides in an office, only to find the Warners popping out of a desk to bother him some more. He finally reaches the heights of rage, and yells at the sibs to leave him alone. The director tells the actor that that's just what he's looking for, and the actor achieves the stardom he's destined for. As we leave, the Warners explain The Watertower Method of acting to a new prospect...
Did You Notice...
Though his name is never given, the young actor is obviously James Dean.- Schwab's Soda Fountain is legendary as a place unknowns are found and lifted to stardom.
- Frankie Avalon and Fabian were both teen idols of the '50s. Fonzie and Potsie were both characters on the series Happy Days, which was about the '50s.
- "Look out, Wakko! He's got your buns!" refers to a joke in the cartoon No Pain, No Painting, from Animaniacs episode 11.
- Mr. Howell was a character (full name: Thurston Howell III) on the TV series Gilligan's Island, played by Jim Backus. Backus was a comedian whose career spanned several decades; while Howell was by far his best-known role, he also provided the voice for the Mr. Magoo cartoon character, as well as several other comic roles. Backus' one dramatic role - which he carried off well - was as Dean's father in Rebel Without a Cause. All of the jokes in the first panel on page 6 are Gilligan's Island references as well.
- Carolan on the "*", as the Warners meet Backus: "It's a convention we adopted from some underground comics we read; it's akin to lightning bolts and random characters for cussing, or a scribble for "fuming". It signifies the state of being completely unsure of how to deal with what you're faced with. Sort of a frozen moment before you actually react."
- "Dobie" refers to '50s sitcom character Dobie Gillis. Heaven only knows where Wakko came up with that one.
- Dot's "You're getting some sick thrill out of this, aren't you?" is one of the most Dot-like lines in the entire series of comics.
- The "cone of silence" refers to a recurring gag in the TV series Get Smart. Located in the Chief's office, it supposedly guaranteed freedom from observation, while in practice made conversation impossible.
- Officer Krupke was a policeman in the musical West Side Story.
- The Watertower Method refers to the Method school of acting, which was current in the '50s. It was a bit more serious than the Warners' approch, of course. Slappy took it apart in Methods to her Madness, in Animaniacs episode 74.
- "I'm not worthy" is a well-known line from the movie Wayne's World.
Technical nits
Aranda's facial expressions on the Warners are improving, and aren't always showing some sort of violent emotion. There's even a neutral face or two, though only about that many. His humans and Chicken Boo are all quite accurate.- Dot's underwear varies a little: it has frills around the legs in a couple of panels. Even when they're there, though, they're not overpowering.
- The Warners' coloring in deep shadow - as in the interior of the suburban house - tends to be a bit inconsistent and uncertain of where the light really is coming from. The best example is the bottom left panel on page 5.
- The color registration appears to be just a little off on page 11. There's also some doubling of ink lines.
Credits
Synopsis
Skippy Squirrel is at Slappy's house, watching a first-run episode of Beany and Cecil, when the power goes out. In a fit of niceness, Slappy decides to actually pay the power company instead of bombing it to get it turned back on. She sees an ad for an acting job in Variety, and decides to pursue the part to earn some money. The part is as an embittered old crank, playing opposite a handsome, rebellious youth.
Slappy arrives at the auditions for the film East of Eden, to find the handsome young actor promised - and Walter Wolf, who is trying to beat him out for the part. Walter, of course, sees nothing but opportunities in the situation. The first scene is called, and Slappy quickly rejects the young actor because his emoting unnerves her. Walter steps in, and immediately uses a prop as a subterfuge to hand Slappy a bomb. She hands it back to him in time to blow him across the lot, and the director points out that Slappy's action doesn't happen until much later in the script. Twice more, Walter prepares bombs for Slappy; twice more, she breaks the script to turn the tables on him, the last with the help of respected actor Raymond Massey.
After the audition, as they're walking away, Skippy asks Slappy if she got the part. Slappy tells him that she didn't, but she landed a better job: she's property master, which means that she gets to handle the explosives. Walter is the stunt double, and finds himself at Slappy's mercy as she schedules many, many rehearsals, each one involving high explosives...
Did You Notice...
- According to the software package AutoMap, Pasadena really is 14 miles east of Burbank. Carolan checked before writing. (Perhaps that's because I was kidding him about keeping a close eye on him as he was writing this...JM)
- Beany and Cecil was a '50s kid show done by comedian Stan Freberg. The coonskin cap in the cereal box is a '50s icon, popularized by the TV series Daniel Boone. Yakko is on the front of the box, dressed as Boone and holding a rifle.
- On the cover of Slappy's Variety: Ralph and Hello Nurse, with the caption "Lovers?"; on the back cover is a pinup of Minerva, in a bikini.
- The bits of the movie script we see, as well as the descriptions, faithfully follow the film.
- Stanislavsky was the leader of the Method school of acting.
- Raymond Massey played Dean's father in the film, among many, many dramatic roles.
- Pinky and the Brain are walking through the set while Massey and Slappy are talking.
Technical nits
- Batic still has a little trouble showing Slappy directly facing the reader in her asides on pages 14 and 18. His Dean isn't as realistic as Aranda's, either.
Credits
Synopsis
It's Bald Psychiatrists Day, and the Warners are out to get Dr. Scratchansniff a present. Wakko asked him what he wanted, but he misremembers "Pachabel's Cannon in D Minor" as "tacos, bells, and cannons from Elmyra". Instead of going to Elmyra's Bell and Cannon Emporium, they decide instead to go to Manny's Tacopolis to get him a big greasy bag of tacos. Once there, they discover that the proprietor is the Taco Tyrant, who serves his delectable fare with an extra helping of attitude: anyone who talks or fidgets while in the (long) line gets summarily refused service. Of course, the Warners last about ten seconds before the Taco Tyrant tosses them out on their butts. They decide to retaliate.
Wakko, in a fit of enthusiasm, convinces his siblings to destroy the Taco
Tyrant by beating him at his own game: not only will they sell tacos, but
better ones than the Tyrant. They build a storefront, but Wakko realizes
they still need to make tacos better than the Tyrant's. His secret is his
incredible salsa, so Wakko goes digging for his own supply to put on Dot's
tacos-on-a-stick.
The Tyrant finds out, and declares war. The Warners get in
the first shot with an anvil; the Tyrant retaliates by trying to drench
their taco shells, but they re-crisp them - and the Tyrant, in the process.
He tries to get a bunch of roaches to infest their taco stand, but Yakko
talks them out of it. The Tyrant tries to scare off the crowd of customers
out front by saying the Warners' tacos are unsanitary, being made by
"some...things", but that only lasts until Yakko points out that the Tyrant
uses mice (Pinky and the Brain, of course) as fry cooks. Enraged, the Tyrant
starts to throw a stick of dynamite into the Warners' stand. Wakko grabs it
before he can and uses it to blow a hole in the ground - and strikes salsa.
The Tyrant goes off to New York to sell soup recipes, while the Warners are
bought out by three celebrities who want to open a whole chain. They go off
in search of a good present for Scratchy.
Did You Notice...
- Unlike the other two stories in this issue,
this one bears only a minor resemblance to the Dean movie it refers to, in
this case Giant. That's probably a Good Idea, as the movie was
over two and a half hours long, and downright boring when it wasn't being
deliberately offensive to Texans. The only plot element lifted directly from
the movie was Wakko's digging for salsa. (Yeah, I'm a Texan. So
what?...JM)
- Grit was a company in the 50s and 60s that
promised kids nifty prizes if they sold greeting cards and gifts to their
family, friends, and so on. The prizes required so much sales, though, that
few kids actually got the really good stuff.
- Carolan on the "Pachabel" misspelling: "We came up with the improper spelling, and checked to see if there were any references to it on the Web. As it turns out, there are a convincing number of pages on the Web that feature the incorrect spelling, rather than the correct one. I blame this rapidly changing language of ours."
- "Reading is fundamental" was an ad slogan in
a campaign to get kids to read in the 70s and 80s.
- The Taco Tyrant refers to a character in one
episode of the TV sitcom Seinfeld, the Soup Nazi. People would
tolerate the guy's attitude because the soup was so good. He was finally undone when an angry would-be customer accidentally acquired his recipes and sold them to competing restaurants. The line at the end of the story about going to sell soup recipes makes the link explicit. (Me? I'd tell the guy what he could do with his soup, with an attitude like that...but then, as noted above, I'm not from New York...JM)
- The line about "better, stronger, faster
than his" refers to the opening of the TV series The Six Million
Dollar Man.
- "Red gold! Mexican tea!" refers to the
opening of the TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.
- The stars who buy the stand are Danny
DeVito, Bruce Willis, and Arnold Schwartzenegger. Whether they actually like
tacos is not recorded.
- Carolan on the selection of the stars buying out the taco stand: "We decided to leave [Sylvester] Stallone out of it. (Willis, Schwarzenegger, and Stallone own Planet Hollywood, which started the whole trend of superstars buying theme restaurants.)"
- No, deep-fried turkey is not as silly as it
sounds. It's a common method of preparation in the southern US, and those
who prefer it that way say that it makes a juicier dish.
Technical nits
- Wakko's shirt tends to vary from the
standard light blue; in some panels it's blue-green, in others it's a medium
blue, and sometimes on the same page - for example, see page 26.
- Aranda's idea of taco shells seems
backwards: the curved edge is open, not closed, normally.
- There are a couple of commas missing that
would make the wording a bit clearer: the middle of page 29, and the top
right panel on page 32.
Jay Maynard, jmaynard@phoenix.net
Last updated 19 January 1997