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"They lock us in the tower, whenever we get caught!"
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner - Animaniacs theme song

The Warner Bros. Water Tower, located at the WB studio lot, inexplicably houses the Warner brothers (and the Warner sister), when they choose to live there or when they’re locked away.

Often, they attempt to escape or return to it in various silly scenarios. Located ahead of the studio gates when entering, it is a recognizable icon in the Burbank skyline.

Description

The Warners have full living quarters within the tower, including a sleeping area with beds, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It apparently also has a log flume and a roller coaster. A fun joke is that the Water Tower is somewhat like a "T.A.R.D.I.S." because it's "bigger on the inside" than it is on the outside. At one point in time, Chicken Boo lived in the tower while filming movies on the lot.

As seen in "Super Strong Warner Siblings," the tower is capable of transforming into a giant, combat-ready mech utilizing a boardroom table as a sword and a WB sign as a shield.

The Warner Bros. Tower returns in the 2020 Animaniacs revival. It seems that between the events of "The Scoring Session" and the first episode of the revival, the Warners had left it decrepit for a while. It is gradually restored with furniture, paint and various toys.

Balloon Incident

To promote the September 1993 premiere of Animaniacs, a giant balloon replica of Yakko Warner sat atop the real Water Tower at the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank. Then-CEO Robert A. Daly was unaware that this was taking place, and reacted in terror when he saw the Yakko balloon atop the tower. He thought Yakko looked too much like Disney's Mickey Mouse.

Due to this incident, whiskers were added to Yakko and Wakko's designs in order to differentiate them from Mickey. Entire episodes had to be re-edited to accommodate the changes (though some shots were left unaltered, including one in "Hello Nice Warners"). [1] [2]

Photos

Photos courtesy of Tom Ruegger and Paul Rugg

Trivia

  • The Warner Bros. Tower received a repaint in 2019 with a 2D version of the WB shield without any extra banner around the shield. Ironically, it has a greater resemblance to how it looked on Animaniacs even more than it did back when the original show was airing. The only difference is the realistic Water Tower uses a white paint scheme while the animated version uses yellow and red colors.
  • Very rarely is any water normally seen in the tower, such as in "Chalkboard Bungle."
  • The real Warner Bros. water tower has also been empty for several years. Unfortunately, there are no vintage, zany, anthro-looking, cartoon siblings living inside of it.
  • The overall design creatives of the Animaniacs tower and studio lot influenced the Kids' WB! studio lot branding creatives, with some slight design differences (such as a Kids WB! shield adorning the tower). These creatives would remain even long after the Animaniacs franchise left the network.
  • The tower can very briefly be seen in the intro of Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain during the "it's what the network wants" verse.
  • The WB Tower makes a cameo appearance in the Pinky and the Brain spin-off episode "Brain Drained."
  • The Water Tower appears in the Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem July 2021 Space Jam promotional event featuring a design similar to its Animaniacs revival incarnation. It also appears in Space Jam: A New Legacy, decked out in some of its Animaniacs colors, but featuring a different shield color.

Gallery

General

Real Life

References

  1. Ruegger, Tom. "Yakko on the Warner Bros. Studio Water Tower -- 1993. Cartoonatics. Published June 20, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  2. Tweet by Paul Rugg. Published and Retrieved March 20, 2021.
Locations
Animaniacs (1993-1998)
Warner Bros. | Warner Bros. Studios | Water Tower | WB School | Termite Terrace | Acme Labs | Slappy's House | Mindy's House | Ka-Boom Household | Flaxseed's Totality of Candy | Anvilania | Dunlikus | Space-Probed UFO | Fort Knox | RMS Titanic | Hades | The Maul | Video Revue | Mermaid Reef | Duff Household | Dorothy Chandelier Pavilion | Please Please Please Get A Life Foundation | Oz
Pinky and the Brain (1995-1998)
Acme Labs | RMS Titanic | Frunobulax | Brainania | Santa's Workshop | Microsponge | Zalgar's Ship | Area 51 | Maze | Oz | Warner Bros. | Warner Bros. Studios | Water Tower | Brain Acres | Hades | World's Finest Peaches Can | Hackensack Socko Kicky-Sack Sack Kicker Factory |Ma Poisson | Toyz B We | Totally Pets | Smalltown | Pinky and Brain's Mansion | Brain's Famous Paddle Boatery | Planet Brain | The Land of Hats | The Island of Dr. Mordough | Mega Star | Mos Eisner Cantina
Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain (1998-1999)
Duff Household | Chuck Norris Grammar School | Acme Labs/Dissey Store | Warner Bros. | Warner Bros. Studios | Water Tower | RMS Titanic
Wakko's Wish (1999)
Tictockia | Warnerstock | Warnerstock Castle | Acme Falls
Animaniacs (2020-2023)
Warner Bros. | Warner Bros. Studios | Water Tower | WB School | Termite Terrace | Acme Labs | Grimlox | Cindy's House | Mucho Telèfono | Brass Mountain | Acme Institute of Technology | Fort Knox | Bullseye Crafts | Hot Sand Festival | Jürgen's Island | Santa's Workshop | Toyz B We | Slappy's Pensacola Home
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