This cartoon features parodies of various songs from the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas H.M.S. Pinafore and Pirates of Penzance. "We Surf the Sea" is sung to "With Cat-Like Tread" and "I Am the Very Model of a Cartoon Individual" is sung to "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General," both from Pirates of Penzance. " "I Am the Evil Pirate Captain Mel" is sung to "I Am the Captain of the Pinafore" and "We Should Run and We Should Flee" is sung to "Never Mind the Why and Wherefore," both from H.M.S. Pinafore.
Captain Mel is named after legendary voice actor Mel Blanc.
Yes, Brothers Warner We is a parody of "With Cat-Like Tread" from Pirates of Penzance, which served as the inspiration for "Hail Hail, the Gang's All Here".
The first full segment to be animated by the U.S.-based studio StarToons (along with the Slappy Squirrel intro).
Slappy takes a dig at the Disney Afternoon show Bonkers, which she would take another jab at in the cartoon "Rest in Pieces." Bonkers debuted a week before Animaniacs. The Animaniacs crew presumably heard stories in the industry about the troubled production of that series: the entire staff of the show (including Andrea Romano) was fired after twenty episodes had been finished, and a new crew was brought in to redesign the main character and create an entirely new supporting cast.
The xylophone gag is the same gag used in the classic cartoons Ballot Box Bunny, Show Biz Bugs, and Rushing Roulette. This time, the explosion immediately strikes the villain the moment the hero hits the C-note key.
The Wonderful World of Walnuts video is a parody of the kids' 60's cartoon anthology television program, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
As Slappy prepares to watch "The Wonderful World of Walnuts," she remarks that Buddy Hackett was "very good" in the video. Hackett himself would later appear in the final Slappy Squirrel cartoon, "The Christmas Tree," as the CEO.
In the second take on the xylophone gag, Slappy calls Doug the Dog "Lionel Hampton", who was a jazz vibraphone player most famous for his time in the Benny Goodman Quartet.
Strangely, the joke "This frisky little feller likes to hide his nuts in the most unusual places...where the sun don't shine on them..." was not originally in the Fox Kids airing of this cartoon, but was put back into the Kids' WB! and all other syndicated airings.
Quotes
Slappy: [watching one of her cartoons] Wild take #32. Regular as clockwork! [belches] Wish everything was regular as clockwork.
Slappy: Look, you've seen all my old cartoons, right?
The song parodies Eric Idle's "Galaxy Song" from Monty Python and the Meaning of Life, albeit with a slightly more upbeat ending message.
The song's second verse was originally about all the planets, but when Rogel was informed that Paul Rugg was already writing another song about the planets, he changed it.
Footage from "The Planets" is also used during the third verse of this song.
The song's lyrics underwent many rewrites, as detailed by writer Randy Rogel on "Keeper"'s web page. The chorus originally ended on the line, "It's a small world after all!" but Rogel was forced to change this due to fears of a lawsuit from Disney.
This is the first segment to not feature any spoken dialogue. This would be the case again with U.N. Me.
Footage of the sun with the planets would later be used in the intro of the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series.
