Pinky and the Brain

A spin off from the wonderful 'Animaniacs', 'Pinky and the Brain' was one of the funniest and best cartoons of the 90s.

The show followed the exploits of two laboratory mice on a mission to take over the world. The Brain was a super-intelligent megalomaniac, and was assisted by Pinky, an idiot. Each night, The Brain would come up with a highly elaborate plan to overthrow the worlds leaders and assume control, but was always foiled at the last minute and sent back to the drawing board.

Even though the plot was the same every episode, 'Pinky and the Brain' managed to be consistently fresh and funny. The great writing was backed up by superb voice performances, particularly by Rob Paulson (Pinky) and Maurice LaMarche (Brain). The humour works on enough levels to appeal to kids and grown-ups alike, and if you've never seen an episode of this, I suggest you seek it out!

This was one of the best animated shows ever. This show isn't just for kids. The humor of the show can be enjoyed by all ages, much like the classic Warner Brothers shorts. Pinky & the Brain also has great dialogue. The plans to take over the world are also a hoot. Many of the episodes are classic.

Pinky and the Brain has got to be one of the funniest cartoon shows ever. Steven Spielberg himself co-produced this film, and once and a while actually would do a cameo on the show. If you want to see two lab mice, every week trying to take over the world, doing some of the most ridiculous, outrageous things ever see Pinky and the Brain. Just not the spin-off Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain. Yuck, talk about a bad show. The voice talents were great in the show and I loved both the characters. Especially Pinky, the stupid but of course humorous one. Then there's Brain, the brainy idea expert. Together, these two caged lab mice have a great time letting us have a good time. I was so sad when the show stopped airing after three years. I can't find it anywhere now and it makes me mad. I hope someday they do the re-runs on WB because this show is not just for kids, it's got great adult humor too. One of which like I said before, when the mice run into Steven Spielberg. But anyway, if you can find this show on your local listings, watch it. It's an instant classic. NARF!

As an avid fan of Animaniacs, I watch this spin off show with the lovable characters Pinky and the Brain religiously, and I love it just as much as Animaniacs. It is simply brilliant and so much fun, something cartoons now should learn from. It is hilarious, cute and zany, and not only is a worthy successor to Animaniacs but almost surpasses it.

Pinky and The Brain is brilliantly animated, I love looking at the audacious colours, the pretty backgrounds and how the characters move. The music is very memorable and really cleverly composed, and the theme song is deliciously catchy. Plus the story lines are clever, outrageous but brilliantly structured, and the scripts and humour is engaging, hilarious and zany. I think it is thanks to the superb writing, and the characters are endearing and unique, Pinky being stupid but funny and adorable and Brain being brainy and somewhat deadpan. The voice acting is absolutely stellar, Rob Paulson and Maurice LeMarche both do superb jobs, and they are supported brilliantly by Tress MacNeille and Frank Welker.

Overall, brilliant, perfect for kids and adults. Shame it didn't last longer. Personally, I would avoid the spin off Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain, the obnoxious Elmyra alone was enough to make me stop watching. 10/10 Bethany Cox

When I discovered that Pinky and the Brain had spun off from Animaniacs and received their own show (the first step towards world domination, no doubt), I was thrilled. The show quickly became a favorite of mine. Now that I have it on DVD many years later, I realize just what a spectacular piece of work it really is.

Children can watch this show, sure. They'll think Pinky's ridiculous remarks, physical humor, and nonsensical catch phrases like "poit!" and "narf" are hilarious. Sometimes they are. Yet I am amazed that so much of the humor is for adults. There are multiple references in every episode to pop culture (I just watched an episode with a sly Pulp Fiction allusion), politics (the same episode included caricatures of Bill and Hilary Clinton), and general observations about the world that will definitely go over kids' heads. It just makes the show all that much funnier to me now. It's definitely an experience with multiple layers. Not to mention the people writing Brain's dialog have done some research. His vocabulary is years beyond what grade school children comprehend, let alone use. Sure, there's lots of fuzzy science just for the sake of making him sound smart, but many times there are legitimate uses of math, physics, chemistry, astronomy, anatomy, etc. Heck, there's even a song that tells you the parts of the human brain. The show's downright educational.

Don't let that scare you, though. It's also consistently zany. There's plenty of the comic falling and maiming that comes standard in most cartoons. Of course a good portion of the humor comes from the concept of Pinky's stupidity as a foil for Brain's genius, and Pinky's unwittingly stumbling on the best ideas. Yet, for me, the comedy in this show comes mostly from Brain. I love the way he vents his frustration with his dense but loyal accomplice, and the way he flatly tells people his mission knowing they will never believe him. "Actually I am lab mouse involved in an elaborate scheme to take over the world" is usually greeted with laughter from the unsuspecting buffoons that populate his universe.

Well animated and superbly voiced, Pinky and The Brain entertains with the fearless abandon of the classic toons and the sharp wit of a modern satire. I highly recommend this for kids, but even more so for older teens and young adults.