Say Neverbot, what do you want to do this morning? Thanks for asking everyone, let me tell you. The same thing we do every Saturday morning, watch cartoons and attempt to hold on to a small piece of our ever receding childhoods as we march unwillingly and relentlessly toward oblivion. Oh my god, is that another gray hair? I look more and more like Gandalf every day I swear to The Valar. You know what… let’s just start the episode.
“Pinky and the Brain” Episode 1.1 “Das Mouse” (8 out of 10). Created by Tom Ruegger; Starring Marice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen; Written by Peter Hastings; Directed by Liz Holzman and Al Zegler.
“Pinky and the Brain” was the result of a collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. The characters were born in the related series “The Animaniacs” and their popularity spurred their own spin-off. “Pinky and the Brain” ran from 1995 to 1999, the last two years being in conjunction with another spin-off “Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain.” More importantly, the series introduced the word “narf” and the phrase “Are you pondering what I’m pondering?” to the lexicon. There are few greater contributions from the world of animation.
Each episode follows essentially the same formula, with a few exceptions, wherein Brain hatches a complex plan to gain control over the world and Pinky tries, and fails, to help. The two titular characters are genetically modified, as the lyrics to the theme song point out “Their genes have been spliced” as well as “One is a genius, the other’s insane.” There has been some debate on the internets that the song doesn’t explicitly state which one is a genius and which one is insane. There is some speculation that in fact Pinky might be the genius, brilliantly thwarting the nefarious plans of the criminally insane Brain. Most fans of the show however accept the more obvious implication that it’s the other way around, though personally I like the genius Pinky hypothesis, it makes the show more interesting.
In this particular episode Brain plans to enslave a large portion of the human population by mixing the hypnotic toxins of a frog with the rare meat of crabs that inhabit the sunken Titanic and feeding it to them. Pinky suggests a free pancake jamboree. I don’t know about you but Brain’s plan sounds pretty crazy to me, and Pinky’s idea is absolutely brilliant, pancakes are delicious.
The pair have access to the toxic frog here in the lab but in order to get the rare crab meat they have to commandeer a submarine and raise the world’s most famous ship wreck. There are only two problems, a tracking signal on the sub and the locked steering wheel making it impossible for them to maneuver in any direction other than right. Pinky is told to change the tracking signal randomly while Brain plots a spiraling course toward the Titanic. Pinky’s choice of the code NARF gathers the attention of the CIA and civilian Jack McGuire who are on the alert for a fabled cold war mission known as the Nuclear Attack Readiness Formation.
While the CIA begin their misguided chase toward Pinky and Brain in their stolen submarine, Brain attempts and fails to hide the taste of the toxins in the pancake batter. Pinky offers his services and Brain accepts. Sadly Pinky also struggles to hide the taste of the toxins and approaches Brain for help, but Brain being too busy with the rest of his plan emphatically asks Pinky to cut it out, and leave him alone.
Despite the best efforts of McGuire and his CIA escort, the two mice escape their grasp and reach the wreckage on the ocean floor. Using a large inflatable, they raise the wreckage, and by popping the balloon they propel it toward the city stopping just short of their home at ACME Labs. With the final ingredient in hand, Pinky makes the pancakes and more than 10,000 people show up including McGuire and the CIA escort.
When Brain asks how Pinky was able to hide the bitter tastes he says “I did like you said Brain and cut it out.” In the end, like always, Brain’s plan for world domination failed and humanity is safe, at least until tomorrow night.