Operation Sea-Lion/You've Said A Mouseful is the 21st episode of season 3 of the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series and the 46th episode overall. It originally aired on November 14, 1997. Both cartoons in this episode are animated by Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd..
Operation Sea Lion[]
Plot[]
The mice settle in the Aquatic Mammal Training Facility in San Francisco, California, for Brain's latest plan. After mastering the language of sea lion, Brain communicates with a sea lion named Winny to help him command an army of aquatic mammals and other creatures. He schemes to have his army blockade all harbors and ports and disable oil tankers by tangling the propellers with seaweed; and saving his army from harm as nobody could harm an army that cute. Brain then intends to take command of the world following a resulting disruption in the energy supply chain. Throughout the planning, Pinky swoons over Winny while attempting to (poorly) communicate with her with a language book.
Crew[]
- Written By John P. McCann
- Directed By Kirk Tingblad
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- Pinky and Brain set up base at a different laboratory, the Aquatic Mammal Training Facility in this episode. This episode is named after a WWII-era German codename for a planned invasion of the United Kingdom.
- Much like the beaver-language routine in "Leave it to Beavers," a portion of Gioachino Rossini's 1817 opera "La gazza ladra" ("The Thieving Magpie") plays throughout this cartoon in select scenes where the mice speak in the language of sea lion.
- The "Aquatic Mammal Marines" song is set to the tune of the "Marines' Hymn."
- Pinky's attempts to secure a relationship with Winnie the Sea Lion implies that he is no longer dating Phar Fignewton.
- This is the first instance we see Pinky get his heart broken when his attempts at an interspecies romance did not work out. Additionally, this is the first time we see Brain console a heartbroken Pinky.
- The Pinky, Elmyra, and The Brain episode "Teleport a Friend" has Pinky feeling dejected when the pig he pined for did not return his affections and Brain comforts Pinky after the fact.
- The Animaniacs (2020) episode "Bride of Pinky" ends with Pinky in tears after his monster bride Drusilla left him for another monster, and Brain attempts to console Pinky by trying to hug and kiss him and then by giving him a thimble of tea and assuring him that the relationship would not have worked out since the lifespan of a laboratory monster is about three months at best.
Goofs[]
- The spelling of Winnie's name is inconsistent throughout the episode. The closed-captions have her name spelled as Winnie, while the ending credits have it spelled as Winny. This wiki uses the former spelling.
Gallery[]
You Said a Mouseful[]
Plot[]
What would have been an ordinarily outlandish plan, which involves altering the manufacturing of the popular Kicky Sack! shoes, becomes complicated when Pinky and the Brain go to see the Hackensack Socko Kicky-Sack Sack Kicker Factory as Japanese industrialists Kawasaki and Hayasaka (or "Turkey-Lurky"). After gaining intel from senior supervisor Kurt Sackett, the mice scheme to infiltrate the factory (while also having to avoid the factory's security specialist Peggy Babcock). Unfortunately, things become even more complicated when Brain suffers a head-injury that hinders his ability to speak properly, making it even harder to understand the tounge-twister instructions.
Crew[]
- Written by Gordon Bressack
- Directed by Kirk Tingblad
Trivia[]
- The title of this cartoon is a play on the phrase "You said a mouthful."
- This episode has been regarded as a highlight of Gordon Bressack's work. Maurice LaMarche in particular has gone on record to praise Gordon's work on this episode; while also joking at Dragon Con 2020 about how he had to record Bressack's difficult tounge-twisters. LaMarche had also considered sending this episode to the Emmy committee to highlight his performance in this series, but couldn't due to the full half-hour requirements.[1]
- The title card contains an illustration of this episode's Kicky Sack! toy.
- Kurt Sackett is voiced by John Moschitta Jr., who is well known for his rapid speech delivery (which makes him the perfect guest-star to appear in this particular episode).
- In the end, the chorus sings the usual closing lines, "They're dinky, they're..." except they start indulging in tongue twisters themselves and go completely off track.
- The ending chorus flubbing the song with their own mix-ups and jokes was genuine improv between Rob Paulsen, Tress MacNeille and Maurice LaMarche. There was no note in the script for to them to banter during the chorus.
Scrapped Content[]
The following information comes from Ron "Keeper1st" O'Dell’s Lost Animaniacs Clips Reference Documents
- The original title was "Tongue Tied."
- Initially, Pinky's remark about Earth being heavy would've been different. He was initially going to say. "That's brilliant Brain! And it's so simple! Um, no, wait... Isn't the Earth really, really heavy? I think I read that somewhere." Brain would've responded "As unlikely as that seems, you are correct, Pinky. The only way my plan can be successful is for the Earth to suddenly lose weight.". In the final version of the cartoon, Pinky's remarks about struggling to lift up the Earth are slightly altered while Brain's line is altered to say "Actually, Pinky, in your naïveté, you have stumbled upon a slight snafu. The only way the Axis Shift-A-Tron can successfully change the Earth's axis is if the Earth suddenly loses weight!"
- The "Pondering" bit was also altered; originally Pinky would reply "I think so, Brain, but she'll never leave Mickey."; referring to Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Brain would then angrily scold back "I thought we agreed never to discuss that!". In the final episode Pinky responds "I think so, Brain, but then my name would be Thumb-y."; to which Brain responds "In a perfect world, your name would be Dumb-y.". Despite the change; it seems the scene was still animated to the original scrapped lines as evidenced by Pinky putting a comforting hand on Brain's shoulder, as well as Brain's overly angry physical response to Pinky.
- The scrapped line was actually an idea by Keeper1st himself. He had spoken an earlier version of the line to Maurice LaMarche during a signing at the Warner Bros. Studio Store. Keeper later received an email from Gordon Bressack inquiring about the line, and gave him permission to use it. Despite both private and public disclaimers to any rights, the crew feared that using the line would ignite a domino effect of quote suggestions without disclaimers that could legally not be used. This stemmed from a fear of how many fans would instantly recognize it after it had been posted in an alt.tv.animaniacs post about favorite "Pondering Lines", potentially leading to said domino-effect.
- Pinky's incorrect alias name in the factory was initially going to be "Sourkaki" and not "Turkey Lurkey". The scene was even animated to this original line.
- Pinky was initially going to recognize Peggy Babcock from Monday Night Wrestling, and remark how she looked better in a mask. This scene was also initially animated to the scrapped lines.
- One final bit of scrapped dialogue, this was cut before it could be animated. Pinky would've responded to Brain's delirious pleas to pull-the-plug with "I wasn't going to do any of those things, Brain. I was going to pluck the sock, though."
Gallery[]
Cast[]
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Rob Paulsen | Pinky, Additional Voices |
| Maurice LaMarche | The Brain, Additional Voices |
| Tress MacNeille | Sammy, Additional Voices |
| Frank Welker | Commander |
| Jennifer Hale | Winnie |
| Steve Bernstein | Singer #2 |
| Mike Villani | Announcer |
| John Moschitta Jr. | Kurt Sackett |
See Also[]
- The section for "You Said a Mouseful" on the "List of Deleted Scenes" article
References[]
- ↑ Maurice LaMarche's post on alt.tv.animaniacs - Moe here, & I need your help. Posted March 23, 1998. Retrieved July 28, 2022.