The Animaniacs References General Handbook -- Episode 1
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Well, nobody seems to be making any additions to the CRGA/NACRG these
days, so I guess I'll do my own! Sheesh, if you didn't know any better,
you'd get the idea that after thirteen years there weren't any more
undiscovered details to discuss!
(I've previously posted the notes about the opening theme, but I haven't
seen any mention of the other points before.)
ANIMANIACS EPISODE #1
<http://animaniacs.info/transcripts/TRESS
1.html>
Newsreel of the Stars
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(Incidentally, who forgot to colour in Charlie Chaplin's hair and
moustache in the opening montage??)
One of the last people seen fleeing the Warners looks remarkably like
Alfred Hitchcock (who was making films in England at the time) -- it's
the same model used for the director in "The Boids", episode 20.
Theme Song
==========
Animaniacs starts with a shot of the Warner Bros. shield zooming towards
you, accompanied by a rising pitch... just as theatrical WB cartoons
began for decades.
Dr. Scratchansniff is sitting in a dentist's chair, surrounded by
horrific-looking instruments of mass dentition. This is because his
character was originally inspired by Alfred Gimeno's dentist. (Which
would also explain why he has a nurse and wears that white coat.)
When the cast is waving their contracts about, the floor is moving faster
than the wall.
Dezanitized
===========
When Scratchy is brushing up on his child p-sychology before Dot's
session, we see lots of books scattered on the floor. Prominent in the
foreground is a pile containing "Psycho Active Children", "Knowing Kids",
and "Wild Child"; then a second pile with "Kid Games", and underneath
that a tome by "Dr. Spook" (after Benjamin Spock, the famous
pediatrician-psychoanalyst, of course).
The book Scratchansniff is reading is "Understanding Children".
The Monkey Song
===============
DYN: Old Mother Scratchansniff's picture hanging on the wall as Scratchy
runs past into the bathroom.
Nighty-Night Toon
=================
The room as depicted in this short closely follows the model given by
the original book, though not literally (e.g. the old-fashioned phone is
replaced with a more modern model). There are two particular differences
worth pointing out (especially since nobody seems to have noticed them in
the past 13 years):
The "three little bears sitting in chairs" from the original have been
replaced with a portrait of the Three Bears (from Chuck Jones's cartoons
(from the bedtime story (ooh, we've come full circle!))) on the left side
of the room, although in the original the bears hang over the bed (where
the picture of the three Goodfeathers hangs in the cartoon).
Also, the "little toy house" has become a little toy replica of Acme
Looniversity from Tiny Toons.
The Hippo's tick birds look different in this cartoon from their
appearance elsewhere. They have pointy crests, and Flavio's bird has a
blue head and white body, rather than a blue body and white face as in
most other cartoons.
NIT: the track for the flume magically morphs during this cartoon: when
the sibs enter, it comes down from the right into the water; then later
it drops Ralph straight down into the water; and finally, it carries
Scratchy away out the left side of the room.
-David "Animaniacs forever" Green
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