Napolean Brainaparte is the seventh episode of the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series. It originally aired on November 19th, 1995.
Napolean Brainaparte[]
Animation by Wang
Plot[]
In Paris, 1805, the emperor Napolean Bonaparte is returning. Brain plans to capitalize on the celebrations by altering the formula of the popular delicacy Crêpes Suzette with nutmeg to become highly explosive. He and Pinky host a cooking class to sneakily teach the students the formula. Though the class goes horribly wrong when the food is lit and explodes, he inspires their revolutionary sides. Meanwhile, the French government is planning to make everything perfect for his return. This means clearing the streets of rabble-rousers, revolutionaries, and anybody who looks "really weird" (except for one of Napoleon's men).
Pinky and Brain are then arrested for looking "really weird." When the mice arrive to the palace, Brain is mistaken to be infamous dictator due to his hat's now distorted shape and his short stature. With Pinky at his side, Brain then eases into the role of emperor easily and goes mad with power. Little does he know that the dictator's "loyal" subjects are plotting his downfall.
Crew[]
- Written By Peter Hastings and John Loy
- Directed By Audu Paden and Al Zegler
Trivia[]
- In the beginning of the cartoon, the British patriotic song "Rule, Britannia!" is mistakenly played as the French setting is introduced. The orchestra quickly catches on, and hastily begins to play the correct French anthem "La Marseillaise."
- Madame de Jambom inquiring that three months is "too soon" to wait to wash her hair is a joke on a stereotype that French people do not bathe often.
- Napoleon Bonaparte in this episode is portrayed as a Marlon Brando caricature who shouts out "Josephine!" in the same manner Brando shouts "Stella!" in the 1951 film adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire. Brando also portrayed Napoleon in the 1954 film Désirée.
- One of Brain's student chefs, Francois, uses the same character model as the French actor who appeared in the drive-in film during the Animaniacs cartoon "Drive-Insane."
- The Brain unintentionally recites lyrics from the hit 1985 charity single, "We Are the World" (which Pinky catches onto). After Brain declares that "...we are the world!", Pinky inquires "Are we the children?"- further referencing the song's lyrics.
- Talleyrand plotting against Brain and protesting his unreasonable demands is a nod to how the actual Talleyrand opposed Napoleon's renewed wars against Austria, Prussia, and Russia. In this cartoon, he goes as far as to try to kill him and gets arrested. In reality, he resigned from being foreign minister for the empire in 1807 while retaining Napoleon's trust (and later conspiring to undermine his plans).
- The ending chorus is sung with French accents, and is the same one used in the Animaniacs cartoon "Don't Tread on Us" (which aired 8 days prior to this episode).
Cast[]
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Maurice LaMarche | The Brain, Additional Voices |
| Rob Paulsen | Pinky, Additional Voices |
| Frank Welker | Napoleon, Hair Stylist, Additional Voices |
| Richard Libertini | Talleyrand |
| Tress MacNeille | Madame de Jambom, Additional Voices |
| Larry Cedar | Jacques |
| Joe Lala | Francois |
| John Mariano | Head Gendarme |
References[]
Special thanks to Brian Norman's "Bunches of References Accumulated In a Nutshell" (B.R.A.I.N) reference guide for aiding in documenting this episode's references.
External links[]
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0821354/?ref_=ttep_ep7