Draculee, Draculaa/Phranken-Runt is the 29th episode of the original Animaniacs. It originally aired on October 29, 1993.
All of the segments in this episode are animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., Ltd.
Theme Song
Last line
Wakko: Where's Lon Chaney?
Draculee, Draculaa
Plot
The Warners head towards their ancestral home of Pennsylvania (since their parents are pencils). Unbeknownst to the three of them, they've actually arrived in Transylvania. They decide to take shelter in a dark and foreboding castle instead of more sensible options. During the night, when Wakko hits the bell with his head, the front door opens and the vampire man exits a car driven by a skeleton. He asks who
they were, while the most mischievous steals his pocket watch. Then the count lets them pass but they close the door in his face. When they enter the place, the count becomes angry at them because the Warners mistake Dracula for an Amish farmer. Luckily, Yakko has seen Witness twice. The count transforms into a vampire but also Wakko, using his hands, flies in the air and, with a baseball bat, he hits him, making him fall to the ground. When he gets up very dizzy, he takes them to their rooms.
Count Dracula shows them the place where Dot was going to rest, but it is completely full of horrible things like:
- Snakes
- Creatures under the bed
- Skull
- Spider webs
- Monster statues
- Campfire with the face of a creature
Soon Dot goes to bed already sleeping, suddenly Dracula is about to stick his fangs to remove blood but Yakko appears and asks him if he is going to bite her. The count is thinking, for when he is about to do it, she hists with his hands and later using a brush and toothpaste she brushes his teeth. He tries again when Dot goes back to sleep, but Wakko arrives as a dentist and removes all his teeth. Then Dot wakes up, puts them in her hair, and asks if she looks like Sheena Easton. A slumber party breaks out, and the humiliated vampire finds himself in a nightgown and covered in make-up. He flees to the safety of his coffin but, fearing he'll suffocate, the Warners cut it open with a chainsaw. He tells them that their lives have ended. Yakko agrees, since by now the sun has come up, which he reveals by opening a boarded-up window. Even as the count grows weaker, the Warners refuse to leave him alone, blowing a bugle in his ear and shoving an alarm clock into his head. Dracula explodes in anger, which succeeds in destroying his entire castle. The Warners escape with their lives, and finally figure out that they never made it to Pennsylvania to begin with. They try again, but this time end up in Tasmania, where a hungry Wakko scares away the Tasmanian Devil. They now have to find a new map.
Crew
- Written by John P. McCann
- Directed by Michael Gerard and Byron Vaughns
Trivia
- The title is a parody of either the line 'valderi, valdera' from the song "The Happy Wanderer" or the Italian song "Funiculi, Funicula."
- In the end, the Warners end up in Tasmania and meet the Tasmanian Devil. The Taz-Mania theme music is heard in the background during his appearance.
- In the beginning, the Warners burrow to Transylvania while Yakko looks at a map and says, "I know we're not rabbits, but it's a Warner Bros. tradition." This is a reference to the way Bugs Bunny traveled, who would always end up in somewhere other than his destination just because he took a wrong "toin at Albukoikee."
- Dot's full name, Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fana Bo Besca III, is revealed in this episode.
- This was John P. McCann's first script for Animaniacs. It led to his being hired to the show as a series writer.[1]
- The fourth wall is broken in this episode, when Yakko says to the viewer "We're not that stupid, we just know the plot."
- When Dot introduces herself, you can hear Mindy's theme in the background.
- When Dracula introduces himself, Yakko asks "Didn't you used to teach math on Sesame Street?", mistaking him for Count von Count from the hit PBS Kids/HBO series, Sesame Street.
- The voice of Count Dracula is Dan Castellaneta, who voices Homer Simpson on The Simpsons, Grandpa Phil from Hey Arnold, Earthworm Jim from Earthworm Jim, the Robot Devil from Futurama, and Hulk Jimmy from The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
- Yakko mentions Batman.
- When Wakko hits Dracula with a baseball bat, the baseball bat has a face and bat wings. According to the writers, this was the only way this violent gag would get past standards and practices.
Phranken-Runt
Plot
Dr. Phrankenstein, an evil mad scientist, has intentions to destroy the village off the coast from her castle with her creation, a monstrous dog named Scout. When Phrankenstein finally gets Scout on his way to the village, his circuits get damaged by lightening before he has left the castle, which leads to Phrankenstein in search of a dog brain. The solution comes shortly after.
Rita and Runt are wandering in a night storm. They had been thrown out of another home due to Runt causing an accident. They wait at the doorstep of Phrankenstein’s castle. Runt is sucked up into the castle, while Rita is locked out. She finds a way in and gets the idea that Runt is in trouble.
She makes it up into the laboratory to see Runt strapped to a table and about to have his head sawed open. Phrankenstein notices the cat. Using the table, Rita just manages to slam the scientist into an instrument panel, which electrocutes her.
Rita and Runt are chased through the castle by Phrankenstein’s pet rat, Mr. Squeak. The chase leads to a balcony and with no option, the two strays jump into the sea. Dr. Phrankenstein and Mr. Squeak are angry with Scout most of all and break Scout's toy ball to prove a point, which leads to Scout attacking them.
On shore, Runt wants to jump off the castle again, leading to Rita to remark that Phrankenstein "couldn’t have wanted him for his brain."
Crew
- Written by John P. McCann
- Directed by Michael Gerard
Songs
- Let's Try For Two (Rita)
- Use Your Brain (Rita, Runt and Dr. Phrankenstein)
- A Hands-On Kinda Girl (Dr. Phrankenstein)
- Let's Try For Three (Rita)
Trivia
- This, along with Les Miseranimals and Home on De-Nile, were the only episodes of Rita and Runt animated at Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Ltd..
- The voice of Dr. Phrankenstein is modeled after Madeline Kahn's impression of Marlene Dietritch. She is voiced by series creator Tom Ruegger's ex-wife Adrienne Alexander.
- When we first see Rita and Runt, Runt remarks that they just got kicked out of Dracula's Castle. This signifies that this segment may have taken place before Draculee, Draculaa.
- One of the tombs says, "Here Lies a Pooch With a Brain So Small, It Wasn't Any Use At All". This rhyming epitaph was most likely a reference to similar ones seen at the Haunted Mansion at Disney Parks.
- The Warners cameo as the floor waxers when Dr. Phrankenstein notices how slippery the floors are.
Gallery
Production Notes
- In some episode guides, this episode's numbering is swapped with Episode 30.
- Both "Draculee, Draculaa" and "Phranken-Runt" use the same title card background.
- The stinger in this episode is the third stinger to be a callback to a segment featured in this episode
Cast
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Rob Paulsen | Yakko Warner |
| Jess Harnell | Wakko Warner |
| Tress MacNeille | Dot Warner |
| Dan Castellaneta | Count Dracula |
| Frank Welker | Runt, Scout, Mr. Squeak |
| Jim Cummings | Tasmanian Devil |
| Adrienne Alexander | Dr. Phrankenstein |
| and Bernadette Peters as Rita | |
Transcript
References