50 Fun Facts About Animaniacs

Who created Animaniacs?

He based the three siblings' personalities on his own three sons, and his eldest, Nathan, voiced Skippy Squirrel.

On which programming block did Animaniacs premiere in September 1993?

It became the second-most popular kids' show in its age brackets, behind only Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Which filmmaker's company, Amblin Entertainment, produced Animaniacs?

He screened 25 sets of pitched characters at his home with help from his children, approving only four or five.

What is the name of the Warner sister?

Her cuteness is a running weapon; in the 1999 film it is what saves the siblings from execution.

Where were the Warner siblings locked away for being too zany?

The real structure stands on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank and gave the creator the idea while he walked past it.

In which decade were the Warner siblings supposedly locked up?

Their designs borrow from cartoon stars of that era, including Felix the Cat, Bosko and Foxy.

What is the name of the studio security guard who chases the Warners?

In the revival he is voiced by Frank Welker and credited as Ralph T. Guard.

What is the surname of the studio psychiatrist who tries to tame the Warners?

Rob Paulsen voices him in addition to Yakko and Pinky, a triple shift he has called the best work of his career.

What question does the Brain ask Pinky at the start of their schemes?

Pinky always answers with a non sequitur, which is the whole joke.

Which of these is one of Pinky's signature nonsense words?

Zort, Poit and Troz are the others; he started saying Troz after spotting Zort reflected backwards in a mirror.

What is the name of the research facility where Pinky and the Brain live?

The building sits in a big American city underneath a suspension bridge, though the show never names the city.

How did Pinky get his name, according to the show?

Brain sneered that the scientists had less knowledge than he had in his pinky, and Pinky answered 'Yes?'

What kind of animal is Snowball, the Brain's rival?

He was voiced by Roddy McDowall and once tried to conquer the world through a company called Microsponge.

The Goodfeathers trio is based on characters from which 1990 film?

Bobby, Pesto and Squit stand in for Robert De Niro's, Joe Pesci's and Ray Liotta's characters respectively.

What kind of birds are the Goodfeathers?

Their segments were scored in the style of Martin Scorsese films and The Godfather, with the composer on mandolin.

What is the name of the little girl that Buttons the dog protects?

The pair was nearly cut; one of the executive producer's children rescued the segment at the pitch stage.

What is the name of Slappy Squirrel's nephew?

He was voiced by the creator's oldest son, Nathan.

Roughly how old is Slappy Squirrel meant to be?

Her theme borrows from Dvořák's Humoresques, and her character came from writer Sherri Stoner's self-description.

Rita and Runt, dropped after season one, were what kind of duo?

Rita's singing voice came from Broadway star Bernadette Peters.

Which Broadway star provided the voice of Rita the cat?

Her segments leaned on musical numbers, which is why the show needed an original score for every episode.

What is Chicken Boo's goal in his segments?

He is a giant chicken in a flimsy disguise, and exactly one person per segment ever notices.

Which two characters does Rob Paulsen voice in Animaniacs?

He recorded about four hours per episode and won an Emmy for Outstanding Performer in 1999.

Who voices Wakko?

He auditioned during the final week by running through celebrity impressions while the creator read from an almanac.

Wakko's voice is a younger impression of which musician?

Voice director Andrea Romano suggested it after hearing the actor impersonate each member of The Beatles.

Who voices Dot Warner?

She was invited to audition because her voice resembled Babs Bunny, whom she had played on Tiny Toon Adventures.

Who voices the Brain?

He was the voice director's only choice and played the megalomaniac mouse with surprising moral depth.

The Brain's voice is an impression of which film director?

The actor described the mix as two-thirds of the director and one-third Vincent Price.

Yakko's voice and design were inspired by which comedian?

Wakko's look was modeled on his older brother Harpo, completing the Marx Brothers homage.

What accent does Pinky speak with?

It was inspired by English comedians from Monty Python and The Goon Show.

How many episodes of the original Animaniacs were produced?

Those episodes hold 274 separate segments spread across five seasons on two networks.

What was the 1999 direct-to-video Animaniacs film called?

It drops every character into a fairy-tale kingdom and served as the series finale until the 2020 revival.

In the 1999 film, what is the name of the Warners' home kingdom?

Its town of Acme Falls is crushed by taxes after King Salazar the Pushy of Ticktockia takes over.

In the 1999 film, why do the Warners need money so badly?

Wakko earns a single ha'penny for it, and Taxman Plotz takes even that.

Who was the main composer for Animaniacs?

He wrote the theme song and scored in the spirit of Carl Stalling's classic Looney Tunes work.

Which composer's Humoresques provided the theme for Slappy Squirrel's segments?

Each segment got its own musical style at the executive producer's request, played by a 29-to-32-piece orchestra.

Roughly how much did each episode of Animaniacs cost to produce?

The first season ran to nearly $26 million, about $1 million more than the first season of Tiny Toon Adventures.

Which 1990 law pushed the writers to add educational songs like 'Yakko's World'?

The show met the requirement by having the characters meet historical figures and sing about world geography.

How many Daytime Emmy awards did the original Animaniacs win?

It also collected a Peabody, rare territory for a kids' cartoon.

What was the only Animaniacs theatrical short, released in 1994?

It played before the animated film Thumbelina, and that film's box-office failure killed plans for more shorts.

What was the name of the second spin-off series, which premiered in 1998?

It paired the mice with the pet-smothering girl from Tiny Toon Adventures and lasted only a short run.

The 1995 spin-off starring the two lab mice was the first animated series presented in what?

It ran for 65 episodes and won the 1996 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program with its Christmas special.

Which network bought the rerun rights to Animaniacs for $20 million in 2000?

The show debuted there in mid-2001, then moved to Netflix in 2016 and Hulu in 2018.

Which streaming service released the Animaniacs revival in 2020?

The order came in 2017 after Netflix reruns proved the show still had an audience; it ran three seasons.

Who served as showrunner of the 2020 revival?

He came from the Family Guy writers' room, and the original voice cast all returned at the executive producer's insistence.

In the revival's 'Math-terpiece Theater' segments, who teaches the dramatized math lessons?

Other new segments included Starbox and Cindy and The Incredible Gnome in People's Mouths.

How many video games were based on Animaniacs?

A tenth, Hollywood Hypnotics for the Game Boy Advance, was finished but cancelled before release.

A student at which school created the fan newsgroup alt.tv.animaniacs?

Warner Bros. staff downloaded about 1,200 pages of its comments every month, and one episode caricatured the fans.

Which earlier series did the same creator and producer make before Animaniacs?

Its success is what earned the creative team the offer to develop a second series.

Which real monarch's caricature sits on a whoopee cushion in 'Windsor Hassle'?

The production argued with censors for three months to keep the scene.

Since 2016, the three Warner voice actors have toured under what name?

They perform the show's songs with a full orchestra, including the one that lists every nation of the world.