Two Mice and a Baby/The Maze is the 9th episode of the 2nd season of the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series and the 22nd overall. It originally aired on February 1, 1997.
Two Mice and a Baby[]
Animation by Rough Draft Studios, Inc.
Plot[]
Pinky and Brain take in a powerful child from a recently-destroyed alien planet and try to raise him to advance Brain’s ambitions for world domination.
Crew[]
- Story by Shaun McLaughlin
- Written By Shaun McLaughlin and Charles M. Howell IV
- Directed By Kirk Tingblad
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- The title is a spoof of the film Three Men and a Baby.
- This cartoon is a parody/adaptation of the origin story of Superman.
- This cartoon would mark the first time the mice are presented as parents as they try to care for baby Kal-El/Clark Kent, who calls Brain "Da-Da" at the very end of the cartoon.
- The Salad Spinner is a reference to the Salad Shooter, a kitchen utility that spits out what it slices.
- "G.I. Jack" is a parody of Hasbro's G.I. Joe franchise.
- Baloney returns from Animaniacs, once more parodying the edutainment character Barney the Dinosaur.
- Two "nun"-oriented references occur in this cartoon: The Singing Nun, a singer-songwriter; and the 1967 sitcom The Flying Nun.
The Maze[]
Animation by Akom Film Production
Plot[]
Pinky and the Brain venture through a maze to obtain a chip vital for Brain’s latest plan. They don’t have a lot of time, as they need it to take advantage of the impending convergence of the planets which occurs for 15 seconds every 5,000,352,099.7 years.
Crew[]
- Written By Wendell Morris, Tom Sheppard, Charles M. Howell IV and Earl Kress
- Directed By Kirk Tingblad
Trivia[]
- Brain's "a superior intellect is an appalling object to squander" is a reference to the UNCF slogan "A mind is a terrible thing to waste" (which was also referenced in the "Put A Brain In The White House" campaign on Kids WB).
- The matrix-chip being composed of Dilithium is a nod to the element from the Star Trek franchise.
- Pinky briefly expresses excitement for a Banana Splits reunion tour. The Banana Splits are a band of anthromorphic animal characters originally created by Hanna-Barbera and Sid and Marty Krofft. Since this cartoon aired, the Banana Splits have received four "comebacks" of sorts - a Web Premiere Toons mini-series for Cartoon Network in 2000, a 2008 revival campaign with new shorts and performances, a gritty horror-comedy movie in 2019, and recurring roles in the 2021 animated series Jellystone!
- The recurring Animaniacs line "I am the king!" is quoted in this cartoon by Pinky, which in turn parodies the slogan spoken in the LA-centric Paul "the King of Big-Screen" TV commercials.
- The item which Pinky desires most is a doll of Vinnie Barbarino, a character portrayed by John Travolta in the 1975 sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
- The room in the maze with the twisted stairs is a nod to M. C. Escher's 1951 painting House of Stairs.
- One of the labels in Brain's 8-track is "Steppenwolf," a nod to the band of the same name.
Storyboards[]
Production Notes[]
- This is the first episode of the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series to have two different studios handle the animation (in this case, Rough Draft and Akom).
Cast[]
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Rob Paulsen | Pinky, Additional Voices |
| Maurice LaMarche | The Brain, Additional Voices |
| Tress MacNeille | Baby Clark/Kal-El, Lara, Martha, Scientist #1 |
| Pat Musick | Scientist #2 |
| Jeff Bennett | Baloney, Jor-El, Jonathan |
References[]
Special thanks to Brian Norman's "Bunches of References Accumulated In a Nutshell" (B.R.A.I.N) reference guide for aiding in documenting this episode's references.