Animaniacs Professor Otto Its Not Funny
5 notes
Is Das Nicht Ein Otto's Butt?: Episode 56
French Theme Song
No, the language setting on your TV isn't incorrect. Episode 56 features a French version of the opening theme, an appropriate way to start off this international-themed show.
Variable Verse: Qui ont des droles de manie
The Warners are in Germany today to sing the International Friendship Song with their good friend, Professor Otto von Schnitzelpusskrankengescheitmeyer. Otto (voiced by Jim Cummings) begins the song, which consists of asking "Is das nicht ein…?" and pointing to objects like chalk or cuckoo clocks. The Warners than follow it up with, "Jas das nicht ein…", repeating each object Otto has pointed to. Then the four of them proceed to sing the main chorus, "Oh du schone, oh du schone, oh du schone, Schnitzelbank!" Otto then allows the kids to take over the song. For the first round things are basically harmless, as they sing about pieces of bread, Wakko's head and great big kisses, while Wakko attempts to sing Otto's ridiculously long name. In the second round things go completely off the rails, with the Warners pointing to Otto's gut and his butt and then tearing his clothes off. Furious, Otto kicks the three of them clear out of the little village in which the cartoon is taking place and into a haystack. "Boy, some international friendship song!" concludes Yakko.
Our very last standalone musical number of the season, "Schnitzelbank" is a hell of a lot of fun. It's an incredibly catchy tune with some great, silly lyrics and features the Warners doing what they do best: taking things way too far. The cartoon starts out innocently enough. Otto is a genuinely nice guy and the Warners are eager to have fun with him. But once the Warners get the hang of the song they immediately get carried away. Once Yakko announces, "We're just getting warmed up!", you know exactly where everything is going. Otto attempts to follow along and stay jovial, but that's pretty hard to do when a trio of loony kids in lederhosen are tearing off your pants and shirt. TMS' animation is fine, nothing top tier, but it does what it needs to do. This is the studio's last work with the kids outside of the season finale, after which we won't see TMS handle the characters again until season four, and then only for one episode.
Inquiring minds want to know; do all German professors dress as bakers? Otto was voiced by Jess Harnell on the original Animaniacs album in 1993. To be honest, I prefer Harnell over Cummings in this instance. I have no idea why two different voice actors were used.
The TMS unit used for this cartoon had a very interesting way of drawing teeth. Not something we see too often on this show. Weird, right?
Wakko with a big piece of bread in his mouth. Not the funniest face Wakko has ever made, but I like the puppy mouth and tiny eyes.
Wakko sings Otto's absurdly long last name, completely ruining the rhythm of the song. But that's Wakko for ya. Whenever I see this cartoon I think back to the sing-along VHS released in 1994, which included this song. When the song got to this spot, Otto's name flew past the screen, way too fast for anyone to actually read.
By the time the song gets to lines about "Otto's gut" and "Otto's butt" you know it's past the point of no return. Otto still looks like he's enjoying it, but not for long…
I love this dumbfounded look on Otto after he splits his pants trying to put them back on. Poor, tubby dope.
The last few seconds of the cartoon features the best animation, although the unit itself doesn't appear to change. What a great pose on Otto as he gets ready to kick the Warners clear out of town. Otto popped up again as a background character in Wakko's Wish playing what else but a baker.
Pinky and the Brain intro (TMS)
In order to make it easier for him to take over the world, Brain has created a formula designed to shrink anything with a single drop, thereby eliminating the issue of his small size. He demonstrates the formula to Pinky by shrinking a TV, explaining that more than one drop could cause an unstable reaction. Brain's problem now is figuring out the best way to get this formula out to as many people as possible. He gets his answer when he sees how engrossed Pinky is with an infomercial, and decides to use TV to peddle his formula, which he names the Smallerizer Plus. Brain's infomercials quickly become a huge success and he gets support from big-name celebrities such as Cher and Janet Jackson. However, when he shrinks Jackson, he discovers that her nose stays the same size, obviously made of inorganic material. Pinky goes to administer another drop, and in the rush to pull the bottle of formula out of his hands, Brain ends up getting it all over Jackson, Cher and the entire infomercial audience. Suddenly, everyone transforms into giant, Swiss, dancing yodelers, who stomp all over the mice as they try to make their escape. Realizing their plan has failed, Pinky and the Brain head off the lab to prepare for another night.
Easily one of the weirder Pinky and the Brain cartoons, this short parodies the world of infomercials. And thanks to great animation by the always reliable Wang, as well as some good dialogue, it's generally pretty successful. Unfortunately, it's short run time means it doesn't quite reach its full potential, since there's so much you can do with a topic like this that could probably fill a cartoon that's twice as long. But let's face it, everything is really just leading up to that bizarro ending. Why Swiss yodelers? It's such a strange, non sequitur way to end this cartoon, and it's hilarious because of how stupid it is. On top of all of that, it's got what's probably one of the greatest "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" responses in Pinky and the Brain history. Pinky's answer is, "I think so, Brain. But me and Pippi Longstocking? I mean, what would the children look like?" Ignoring him, Brain continues on about his infomercial plan. "But whatever the children look like they'll be loved!" Pinky adds. Years later, during the spin-off show, a cartoon titled "The Pinky POV" showed us a world domination scheme through Pinky's point of view, illustrating how his train of thought led to the answers to Brain's "pondering" inquiries. I'd love to know where the idea of him mating with Pippi Longstocking came from. Or maybe I don't want to know. There is one big plot hole in this short that jumps out at me every time I watch it, however. The very first thing Brain shrinks is a TV, yet Janet Jackson's nose doesn't shrink because of "inorganic material". So…how did the TV shrink then? Either way, "The Helpinki Formula" is entertaining enough, with an ending that literally comes out of nowhere. That alone makes it a must-watch. Yodelayheehoo!
Another one of those moments where one of the mice appears behind a chemical beaker. I never realized how much they actually did this.
Here's some…ummm…unique animation of a woman's big rear end being bounced up and down on…whatever it is she's using. Pinky certainly seems enthralled by it. But it doesn't take much to enthrall Pinky.
Pinky assumes Brain's plan is to shrink everyone's TV so people become "all squinty eyed". Once again, Brain turns on the sarcasm, saying, "Brilliant, Pinky! Oh, wait, no. what if we want to use a plan that works!" "Well, that's different then, isn't it?" says Pinky, something that's not too unusual for him to say. Brain's faces here are hilarious.
Speaking of hilarious faces, here's Brain lost in thought, trying to figure out the next step in his plan.
Another great bit of dialogue from Paulsen as Pinky attempts to place an order for…whatever it is that he's watching on the infomercial: "Hello, I'd like to order the Slavic Tushersizer. I don't care what it does as long as it folds and fits under a bed."
Character Cameo: the Warners crawl past the announcer during Brain's first infomercial, possibly having traveled on foot all the way back to American from Germany. Wakko stops to take a bow, before Ralph arrives to chase him off.
For absolutely no reason at all, Pinky sets a car on fire during the infomercial, because apparently it's something that's done all the time. Whatever you say, Pinky.
Once again, Brain is incredibly frank about what his plan is, saying, "Remember, I'm not only the president of Small Club for Men, I'm also a mouse planning global domination."
Wow, they really went all out on the detail of Janet Jackson's proportionally gigantic shnoz. Really funny drawing.
Some really well done animation on the Swiss dances. Still one of the strangest things this show has ever done.
More really strong animation as the mice are stomped over and over again as the dancers leave the TV studio. The spiraling white and red eyes bring it home.
I love this dazed, goofy face on Brain, as well as the design of his hands. Every studio who animated these characters seemed to have so much fun devising great expressions for Brain, but Wang was a master at it.
Mindy and Buttons intro
In Paris, France, Mindy entertains herself while playing with a red balloon. Her mother has the standard power struggle with Mindy about calling her something other than "madame" and warns Buttons not to dirty the laundry that's hanging up to dry. After her mother leaves, Mindy loses her grip on the red balloon and takes off after it, her harness snapping on a spike of the wrought iron fence in their yard. Buttons follows her - stabbing his rear end on the same fence - and they both end up inside Notre Dame. Mindy falls, but luckily is saved when her clothing catches on a gargoyle. Buttons isn't so lucky, and crashes to the ground. Mindy encounters a street painter and engages him in a "pour quoi" conversation, after which Buttons splatters paint all over the man's work of art. After taking a look at his splotchy new painting, the artist decides he likes it. Meanwhile, the pair make their way into the Eiffel Tower, where Buttons chases Mindy all the way to the top of the structure. Mindy ends up inside a passing hot air balloon, while Buttons finds himself hanging on for dear life by a rope, smashing into every building they pass. The hot air balloon finally lands in their yard, dropping them off while at the same time ruining Mindy's mom's laundry. Buttons, of course, gets blamed for it.
Despite the Freelance animation (which isn't even that bad) "Les Boutons et le Ballon" is a really enjoyable cartoon. It has a very clear idea of what it wants to do, and does as much as it can with its French setting. The gags work with the story and everything flows really nicely, a far cry from the last Buttons and Mindy cartoon way back in episode 43. With the exception of the Warners cameo, every single bit of dialogue in this short is spoken in French by the main voice cast. Even Buttons gets into the act, with Welker saying "le woof" and exclaiming "le ouch!" every time he's injured by something. I have to give this cartoon a ton of credit for going that far with the concept and having such a good time with it, but that's not a huge surprise considering Sherri Stoner wrote this one. A lot of Buttons and Mindy cartoons have a gimmick but most of them only seem interested as using it as window dressing while poor Buttons keeps getting mangled. Everything in this short screams "France", from the numerous character cameos, to the locations used, to the musical score. Even Buttons' injuries are pretty funny. And for fans of foreign cinema, Mindy's pursuit of the balloon is a treat, since it references the 1956 French film, "The Red Balloon". Throw in our friend the Mime, Baby Plucky and even Madeline and you end up with one of the better Buttons and Mindy cartoons in the series. Unfortunately, it's all downhill from here as far as these two go.
There's some surprisingly strong animation in this cartoon, especially for Freelance. These two poses are especially solid, as Buttons revs up to leap over the fence and then reacts after realizing that he isn't going to clear it.
Character Cameo: Buttons lands on the Mime who gets one of the very few lines he's ever spoken: "Le ouch…"
Madeline strolls past Buttons before he enters Notre Dame, before a huge group of nuns suddenly run him over.
Character Cameo: the Warners play a trio of Quasimodos, ringing the bell of Notre Dame. This is a fantastic cameo, especially with Wakko inside the bell.
More surprisingly good animation, as Buttons spots Mindy as he falls from Notre Dame. Both expressions are definitely some of Freelance's best. Very strong, confident drawings with a lot of character.
Even this briefly seen artist is very well animated, especially in his final scene as he studies his new work of art. From the sound of it, he was voiced by Rob Paulsen. All the voice actors do a fantastic job with the French they're given to say.
Character Cameo: Baby Plucky shows up to hinder Buttons' elevator trip while in the Eiffel Tower. He, of course, wants to push the buttons. Like everyone else in this short, Baby Plucky only speaks French, and bravo to Nathan Ruegger for being able to pull it off.
We're at the Tri-State Karate Championship, and the finalists are Kwai Yan Kee and Moo Goo Gai Boo, the latter greeted with a huge round of applause. Boo's sensei - a caricature of Pat Morita - is certain his pupil can win, but another student - this one a parody of Ralph Macchio - isn't so sure, and claims that Boo is nothing but a giant chicken. When the fight begins, Boo is immediately knocked silly, so the sensei urges him to continue, telling him to be swift like a grasshopper, which he holds in his hand as a visual aide. At that, Boo takes off after the insect, losing his uniform and revealing himself as Chicken Boo before eating the grasshopper. The sensei is shamed, and karate chops himself clear out of the building. Chicken Boo is then kicked out of the competition and - as always - leaves to the tune of his theme song.
The more Chicken Boo cartoons we get, the less there is to say about them. The main thing that stands out in this one are the Karate Kid references, thanks to the Morita and Macchio caricatures. While you'd think Chicken Boo's outfit is going to fall off during the fight, this one goes a different route by having the chicken's natural instincts take over as he chases the grasshopper around trying to peck at it. That's novel, but there's nothing else here we haven't seen before. Rob Paulsen again voices several of the characters, including Kwai Yan Kee and one of the sensei's pupils. He's one of those voice actors that you can't miss once you get used to him. Probably the funniest part of this short is the sensei karate chopping himself so hard he flies backward through the building, while everything else is pretty standard for this series. It's amazing to think that they're still trying to get mileage from this idea…
Crazy design on Kawi Yan Kee, with those gigantic muscles and that face. Not surprised Chicken Boo gets walloped.
As is always the case in these cartoons, the caricatured movie stars always clash hilariously with the more cartoon background characters.
I kind of feel sorry for this grasshopper right before Chicken Boo eats it. It's shivering and looking up at his impending death. That's…kind of sad.
So Chicken Boo gets pelted with eggs. Nope, nothing weird about that that, right?
Local Anesthetic: Kathryn Page
Tower Outro: Ciao, America!
-
monstresspandora liked this
Source: https://legion1979.tumblr.com/post/58093082090/is-das-nicht-ein-ottos-butt-episode-56
0 Response to "Animaniacs Professor Otto Its Not Funny"
Post a Comment