The Cutening/Close Encounters of the Worst Kind/Equal Time is the sixth episode of the Animaniacs reboot.
Synopsis[]
Dot discovers a recipe for cuteness. Aliens don’t share Brain’s goals. Odd political ads.[1]
Theme Song[]
Variable Verse[]
Wakko: Part Great Dane-y!
The Cutening[]
Animation by Titmouse, Inc.
Plot[]
Dot wakes up to a horrible, ugly morning, and is disgusted by her brothers. Dot gets out a strange, cute, sentinent cupcake and eats it to make herself look really cute. Dot becomes a kawaii style of cartoon and decides to do it on her brothers as well. Dot decides to use her cute powers on the whole world, and it becomes a whole new cute cartoon (The Cutening). Four weeks later, the Warners have become insane, and can't stop singing. Dot notices a gross pigeon and wonders if they do gross things, they'll change back. The Warners decide to lick the pigeon and vomit, changing the world back to normal, except for the Warners being half-pigeon.
Crew[]
- Written by Jess Lacher and Andrew Barbot
- Directed by Brett Varon
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- The Cutening’s title parodies M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening".
- The opening footage was used for the "Friday the 13th" TV spot.
- Similarly to "Reboot It!" from "Suspended Animation: Part Two," voice doubles take over for the Warners in some singing portions.
- This is the first appearance of Dr. Scratchansniff in the reboot outside of the intro, though it was a non-speaking cameo.
- The transition of "28 days later" is a reference to a horror movie of the same name.
Close Encounters of the Worst Kind[]
Animation by Snipple Animation Studios
Plot[]
Brain makes a recording to contact with aliens asking them to take over the world and allow him to rule it. At the end of the recording, it changes to Pinky singing "Limbs Fall Off". Brain is angry that Pinky taped over his message, and contacts the aliens quickly so he can meet them in the woods. Once the two aliens arrive they greet Brain happily, the leader introducing herself as Gabriella (the other is named Meredith). Brain wants them to take over the world, starting with the mall.
At the mall, instead of wrecking havoc, all they do is eat food and sing karaoke with Pinky, particularly the song "I Wanna Dance." Brain takes Pinky out of the karaoke center and goes to the spaceship and tries to go to the planet in search of others who share his goals. The spaceship crashes, and scientists take Pinky and Brain thinking that they are the aliens. They are taken in by the government and experimented by them. Pinky notices that Gabriella is singing on TV, while Brain plots his next scheme to take over the world.
Crew[]
- Written by Greg White, Jess Lacher, and Andrew Barbot
- Directed by Brett Varon
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- The title "Close Encounters of The Worst Kind" parodies "Close Encounters of The Third Kind".
- Pinky and the Brain were previously captured by the government in the alien-centric spin-off episode "Plan Brain from Outer Space".
- Pinky breakdances like Curly Howard while singing karaoke.
- When greeting the aliens, Pinky does the Vulcan salute made famous by Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame.
- The mall that the characters go to is called the ”Cloverfield LN Mall". This is a reference to the 2016 Cloverfield film 10 Cloverfield Lane.
- A cut line from this episode is Gabriella introducing her friend, Meredith.[2]
- See below for Phone Number Controversy.
Gallery[]
Episode Screencaps[]
Storyboards By Karl Hadrika[]
Equal Time[]
Animation by Titmouse
Plot[]
The Warners are hosting the 2020 elections, with Dot reporting from Iowa, which is boring, and Wakko with the electoral map, who tries to sing "Wakko's America" to spice things up, but it's the same. The Warners decide that they should show other electoral candidates' ads for what they'll do, because the main ones are too boring. One ad is if Jean Gravy is elected president, she will make all private pools public. If Ed Ortiz is elected president, he will jump out at people, and say his ideas. Another party ad is about to play, but is hacked by a Russian party trying to run for president in America, the candidate being Johnny Thanksgiving, a robot. Yakko knows that it's not the right ad, and Wakko has been replaced by Johnny Thanksgiving denying that he did it. Yakko believes Johnny, while suddenly, it malfunctions. Yakko asks Johnny if he's okay, while the Russians look into the camera wondering if the US will allow the election of a robot. Another Russian said he's more human than the last guy, as they laugh.
Crew[]
- Written by Jess Lacher, Andrew Barbot, and Wellesley Wild
- Directed by Brett Varon
Songs[]
Trivia[]
- When the Russians say "more human than the last guy", they are referring to Donald Trump.
- In the episode you can see the 2019 Warner Bros. logo designed by Pentagram in the bottom-left corner.
International Releases[]
- Canada: November 28, 2020 (Teletoon)
- Latin America: August 14, 2021 (HBO Max)
- Australia: September 1, 2021 (Stan)
Phone Number Controversy[]
- This episode was originally pulled from Hulu on November 23rd, 2020 due to some viewers discovering that Brain’s phone number in "Close Encounters of the Worst Kind" would lead to a real-life sex hotline. This was not intentional, but rather an unfortunate coincidence. The episode would be revised (twice) and later relisted:
- The first revision removed all text from the scene.
- The second and final revision, which came a few hours later after the first revision, restored the text while featuring a different phone number.
Comparison[]
Cast[]
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
|---|---|
| Rob Paulsen | Yakko Warner, Pinky |
| Jess Harnell | Wakko Warner |
| Tress MacNeille | Dot Warner |
| Maurice LaMarche | The Brain |
| Lauren Lapkus | Gabriella, Cupcake |
| Rachael MacFarlane | Jean Gravy, Boss |
| Carlos Alazraqui | Ed Ortiz, Grandson, Tuck Buckerson |
| Danny Jacobs | Russian Tech |
| Kimberly Brooks | Audience Member |
| Nancy McKeon | Additional Vocals |
References[]