Wednesday, November 18, 2009

"Star Warners" (1998)

long before Robot Chicken and (ugh) Family Guy did their "homages" to Star Wars, one of the greatest cartoons ever did theirs- "Pinky and the Brain".  I wasn't sure if this was actually an Animaniacs episode, but everything I've seen says it was the series finale to "PATB".  anyone with more info is invited to share it here.



it's pretty much the first movie with bits of the second and third one thrown in here and there (fortunately the last three hadn't been inflicted upon us yet).

we see Brain2-Me2 and 3-Pinkyo escaping the Mega Star.  for more cast info go here, as I am not familiar at all with most of the Animaniacs crew.  I believe they are all present, except maybe a few.

Brain2-Me2 is constantly being referred to as a trashcan, a toaster oven, a mini-fridge, you know, much the same stuff we said about R2-D2 back in the day.  this time he is plotting to take over the galaxy by using the Mega Star.

it's funny, at the beginning of the series they were still using 3 3/4" floppy discs, but by 1998 had graduated to actual CDs.

the rest of the characters from Star Wars are here as well, in various forms, some are quite funny, such as Chewbooboo, whom only Pinky-o realizes is actually a chicken.  I think that's the running gag for his entire bit on the other series, isn't it?  inquiring minds want to know (somewhere, maybe).

surprisingly, the emphasis here is on comedy, and not space opera.  there are no lightsabers, but there are some form of light mallet.   the learning to use it leads exactly where everyone watching it knows it will go.

all I'll say is I bet "Wakk" is the first against the wall when Brain2 takes over the galaxy, eventually.

I had never seen this episode before.  it's presented on volume 3 of Pinky and The Brain, a DVD set well worth owning for many many reasons.  there may be funnier parodies out there of Star Wars, but I haven't seen them.

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