Very Special Opening/In the Garden of Mindy/No Place Like Homeless/Katie Ka-Boo/Baghdad Café is the 35th episode of the original Animaniacs. It originally aired on November 5, 1993. This episode is themed around experimental combinations between characters.
Very Special Opening
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Ltd.
Plot
Today is a very special episode of Animaniacs. What makes it so special? Wakko's not wearing any pants!
Trivia
- The opening logo, "An Animaniacs Special Presentation", is a parody of the logo historically used by CBS for their special presentations.
- In some non-US prints of this episode, Wakko's ending line was "It's especially stinky!" with a different animation to go with the line (it can be heard here). Eventually, those alternate visuals would later be used in the series finale's special opening, with Wakko now saying "It actually doesn't stink!" A restoration of the alternate ending can be viewed in the gallery below (and here).
- More than one alternate punchline was recorded for this opening as well.[1]
Gallery
Theme Song
Last Line
Yakko: Miss Cellany...
Animaniacs Stew
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
In the Animaniacs Test Kitchen, Yakko, Wakko and Dot are cooking up something. Yakko sings that the ingredients are all the stars of the show. Then, the Warners look in the cauldron to see what they have come up with.
Songs
In the Garden of Mindy
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
In a spin-off of Pinky and the Brain (Mindy and the Brain), Brain, replacing Buttons, tries to prepare a plan for world domination, all the while watching over Mindy's mischief. However, this does not go well as planned for Brain as he ends up bruised, dizzy (due to being played with by Mindy), and smelling rather horrible (due to falling in manure). Brain also is reprimanded by Mindy's mother (for "allowing Mindy to feed him old cheese") rather than Buttons. Brain remarks in a deadpan manner how he hates being chided and tomorrow he will make another world domination plan, ("but first, a bath"), as he puts on a shower cap and gets into a bowl of soapy water.
Crew
- Written by John P. McCann
- Directed by Greg Reyna
Songs
Trivia
- This is one of the few times TMS got to animate a full cartoon starring Mindy (rather than just a cameo or intro sequence).
- Buttons does not appear in any other cartoon featured in this episode.
Gallery
Pinky and the Cat
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
In another spin-off of Pinky and the Brain (Pinky and the Cat), Rita is in the Acme Labs cage with Pinky, but she eats him up. She declares that this is, so far, her favorite episode. Surprisingly, Pinky says that he likes it in Rita's stomach, saying there's "roomy accommodations".
Songs
Trivia
- The shot of Pinky making faces in a dish bowl was later used in the theme song for the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series.
- The theme's reason for Rita's eating Pinky was because he's a rat and she's a "cat, cat, cat, cat, cat".
- This is one of the few times Rita does not sing, arguably because of the very short timeframe of the episode.
Quotes
- Pinky: What do you want to do tonight, Rita?
- Rita: I don't know. Eat you for supper? [Rita eats Pinky] So far this is my favorite episode.
- Pinky: (in Rita’s stomach) Narf! Oh, roomy accommodations, Rita.
Gallery
We've Been Mixing Up the Scripts
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
The Warners are at a conveyer belt in their Test Kitchen singing, to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad", about how they are mixing up all the scripts.
Songs
Trivia
- This song contradicts the theme song, which proclaims that Animaniacs doesn't work on scripts.
No Place Like Homeless
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
Runt, who has been paired with Pesto, drift outside the inner city until they reach the suburbs. Runt finds a place to live with a kind old woman, however she hates pigeons. She also has a pet parrot named Crackers, who hates other pets and tries to instigate Runt. In the end Pesto saves Runt in his usual manner, by beating up the parrot. This causes Runt to be banished from the old lady's house, who believes both Pesto and Runt were involved in a conspiracy to harm "her precious Crackers". Back out on the street, Runt says that Rita always sang to him to cheer him up. Pesto agrees to do that, humming an Italian song.
Crew
- Written by John P. McCann
- Directed by Greg Reyna
Trivia
- Pesto is far more blunt than Rita, telling Runt they will have to keep soldiering on, but agrees to act like Rita near the end.
- When Runt asks Pesto when they'll find a home, Pesto irritably asks if Runt thinks he's Donald Trump or works for Century 22. These are references to Century 21, a real estate megacorporation, and that Donald Trump was well known for making his fortune in real estate.
- Bobby and Squit do not appear in any cartoons featured in this episode.
Katie Ka-Boo
Ladies and gents, we have a major recurring character debut!
Animation by Akom Film Production
Plot
Katie Ka-Boom brings home her new boyfriend to her family, C.B., who happens to be none other than Chicken Boo. As expected, she explodes when her family tries to convince her that her boyfriend is actually a giant chicken.
Crew
- Written by Nicholas Hollander and Deanna Oliver
- Directed by Greg Reyna
Songs
Trivia
- Unusually, this is the first Katie Ka-Boom cartoon to premier.
- This episode starts out in the usual manner, where one person in a trio realizes Chicken Boo is a chicken and the other two are in denial; in this case the parents telling Tinker to stop making childish jokes about Katie's boyfriend being a chicken. However, this is one case where everyone (except for Katie) is astute enough to realize all facts; in that Mr. and Mrs. Ka-Boom realize he is a chicken while he still is wearing clothes.
- At the beginning of the episode when the Warners were tossing the characters into the pot to mix up the scripts, neither Chicken Boo nor Katie Ka-Boom were seen being tossed in.
- This is the only short in the episode not animated by TMS, which most likely explains why Katie and Chicken Boo weren't seen in the "Animaniacs Stew" prologue.
- The frame of Boo panicking after his disguise comes off has been used on official Animaniacs shirts since 2020, such as the one pictured below.
We Found This Old Computer
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
The Warners bring a broken computer from a junkyard to the Test Kitchen, repair it and mix all the characters into it.
Songs
Dottie the Squirrel
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
A prologue to "Baghdad Cafe" where Dot takes the place of Slappy. Yakko and Wakko (and Dot) are singing offscreen "This short cartoon features Dottie the Squirrel". Dot brusquely responds that her name is Dot; "Call me 'Dottie' and you die". The songs finishes with "That's Dottie!" Dot says "I warned you" and throws a bomb at the camera. The song is a remake of the original one of Slappy Squirrel.
Songs
Trivia
- Skippy briefly appears near the beginning to introduce the short.
- This is an instance where Dot actually punishes someone for calling her "Dottie".
- Despite being featured in the cartoon itself, Dot can still be heard singing the intro along with her brothers.
Baghdad Cafe
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
Plot
Slappy finds herself involuntarily taking the place of Dot in a cartoon where the Warners mistake an Iraqi palace for the Baghdad Café. The dictator, named "So Darned Insane", a takeoff of Saddam Hussein, tries to convince them this is not a restaurant. The dictator also thinks they make an unlikely pair of siblings, as it was evident "Slappy is 10,000 years older than sand", to which Yakko ad libs a line saying "She is adopted". Slappy asks for Skippy Squirrel, but instead sees Flavio Hippo saying "Aunt Slappy!". She quickly realizes Flavio is not her nephew and sends him away. After several confused attempts at Dot's catchphrases, she just ends the cartoon by putting dynamite down the dictator's pants. Outside in her hotrod, she says to the viewers, "Next time, I'm gonna ask for script approvals."
Crew
- Written by John P. McCann
- Directed by Lenord Robinson
Songs
Trivia
- Slappy exits the cartoon driving her car which debuted in "Little Old Slappy from Pasedena."
Goofs
- When Flavio appears in place of Skippy, some channels' closed-captions misspell "Aunt Slappy" as "I'm sloppy".
Wheel of Morality
Animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha
The moral of the story is: "You can teach an old dog new tricks, but you can't teach Madonna to act." (Ouch.)
Cast
Soundtrack
- Home Sweet Home
- Sonata No. 16 in C Major
- Chicken Reel
- Shortnin' Bread
Transcript
References
- ↑ Ron "Keeper1st" O'Dell - Lost Animaniacs Clips: "Very Special Opening." Retrieved September 10, 2021.