Leave It to Beavers/Cinebrainia is the first episode of season 3 of the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series and the 26th episode overall. It originally aired on September 8, 1997.
Leave it to Beavers[]
Animation by Akom Film Production
Plot[]
After a malfunction in an experiment, Pinky is able to communicate with beavers. The Brain then exploits this skill and enlists the help of beavers in his latest plan to take over the world by flooding it. He intends to accomplish this with their dam-building skills, but negotiations with the beavers are somewhat difficult.
Crew[]
- Written by Wayne Kaatz and Charles M. Howell IV
- Directed by Liz Holzman and Russell Calabrese
Trivia[]
- This episode's title is a reference to the classic sitcom, Leave It to Beaver, obviously in a literal sense here.
- A portion of Gioachino Rossini's 1817 opera "La gazza ladra" ("The Thieving Magpie") plays throughout this cartoon in select scenes where Pinky speaks the beaver language.
- Brain's comment: "I shall return," references the famous quote spoken by U.S. General Douglas MacArthur following his escape from the Philippines.
- The ending chorus is grunted by the beavers.
Goofs[]
- Electrons are fired from a cathode-ray tube, not photons.
Cinebrainia[]
Animation by Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd.
Plot[]
Pinky and The Brain try to capture the adoration of the world by becoming movie stars. Their plan changes course when the world considers them comedic geniuses and experience and unprecedented success. At the height of their comic-fame, Brain being Brain manages to sabotage it all with his boring foray into drama- The Emperor Brain.
Crew[]
- Written by Wendell Morris and Tom Sheppard
- Directed by Liz Holzman and Russell Calabrese
Trivia[]
- The title is a reference to Microsoft Cinemania, a computer CD-ROM reference of films, actors/actresses and the movie industry published annually from 1992-1997.
- Thomas Edison's film is based off the 1903 silent film The Great Train Robbery. There is an urban legend around the film that the people ran out of the theater when the train appeared on the screen (spoofed in this cartoon by the audiences and Pinky thinking the train on-screen was headed towards them).
- The character of Hal Slug is a caricature of real-life silent film producer Hal Roach.
- The title of Pinky and the Brain's movie, The Day the Clowns Cried, is a parody of the unreleased Jerry Lewis film The Day the Clown Cried (previously parodied in the Animaniacs cartoon "Hearts of Twilight").
- The creation of Hal Roach's Our Gang/Little Rascals is satirized when the mice quit Hal Slug's studio.
- A caricature of Little Rascals star Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer enters the studio, and is referred to by Pinky as a "little rascal."
- At the end of the cartoon, Brain laments how no mouse will "ever make a lasting impression" on the silver screen. Just then, cartoonist in the audience is seen drawing a mouse into a sketchpad after seeing Brain's silhouette on the screen. This of course, is a nod to Walt Disney and his creation of Mickey Mouse.
- Brain's "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille" bit is a nod to a line spoken by Norma Desmond to (who she believes to be) director Cecil B. DeMille at the end of the 1950 film, Sunset Boulevard.
- The ending chorus is instrumentally played on a honky-tonk piano as the globe rolls off to the distance, followed by an iris out.
Goofs[]
- When the audience walks out of The Emperor Brain; the film footage briefly clips out of the projector screen (particularly Brain's ear).
Gallery[]
Pinky and the Brain's Movies[]
Production Notes[]
- Unused footage from "Cinebrainia" was later repurposed for the cold open of the episode "This Old Mouse."
Cast[]
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Maurice LaMarche | The Brain |
| Rob Paulsen | Pinky |
| Tress MacNeille | Woman |
| Frank Welker | Beaver |
| Townsend Coleman | Hal Slug |
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.