If you grew up during the '90s and were an avid TV viewer, it's unlikely you missed "Pinky and the Brain." The cartoon was a spin-off of "The Animaniacs," and it turned out to be a highly successful show in its own right. You might have enjoyed it quite a bit in your youth, but if you revisit it as an adult, you may appreciate it even more.
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00:00Interspecies love, nicotine addiction, adult jokes, and who is actually a genius and actually
00:06insane.
00:07These are all things you may have missed as a kid, but now that you're an adult, it's
00:11time to revisit Pinky and the Brain with fresh eyes.
00:14Injecting educational topics into Saturday morning cartoons can be a real challenge,
00:18but both Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain were exceptionally good at doing so.
00:23Both shows were known for using catchy musical numbers and creative humor to teach viewers
00:27a thing or two about the world.
00:29In one notable example, the song, A Meticulous Analysis of History, features Pinky and the
00:33Brain describing Cleopatra, Hannibal, Attila the Hun, Caligula, Napoleon Bonaparte, and
00:38other historical conquerors.
00:40Kids will certainly remember the catchy tune and some famous names, even if a lot of the
00:44details may not leave an impression.
00:46Other references are a little less obvious and take both a keen ear and some history
00:49lessons to pick up on.
00:51The show's Christmas special sneaks in an indelicate joke about one of the most infamous
00:55events of the 1800s.
00:57Look, Rain, the reindeers are inviting elves to join them for a party at Donner's house.
01:03Somehow the idea of joining the Donner party is unappealing.
01:07Needless to say, this reference to a group of cannibalistic pioneers wasn't really meant
01:11for kids to understand.
01:14Animated kid shows have a long history of making pop culture references, and Pinky and
01:18the Brain is certainly no exception.
01:20Kids can easily pick up on references to things like Winnie the Pooh and the Macarena, but
01:23there are some things that will almost certainly go over their heads.
01:26For instance, Bill Grates and MicroSponge from the episode Snowball are in reference
01:30to Bill Gates and Microsoft.
01:32The Feebles and All You Need is Narve parody The Beatles, while the title of the episode
01:36pays homage to the Fab Four's All You Need is Love.
01:39Other kid shows may have referenced The Beatles before, but Pinky and the Brain goes a step
01:42further and spoofs John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono with the character of Yo-Yo No-No.
01:47Adults watching the episode are able to pick out the real facts from the satirical retelling
01:50of events, while kids stick around for the silly jokes.
01:53Even Brain himself is a reference to someone that those on the younger side are unlikely
01:57to recognize.
01:58The pint-sized genius was designed to look and sound like Orson Welles, the legendary
02:02actor and director who passed away 10 years before Pinky and the Brain first aired.
02:06In nearly every single episode of the show, the Brain asks Pinky the exact same question,
02:11are you pondering what I'm pondering?
02:13Of course, Pinky's response is always unpredictable and usually gets a laugh from the audience.
02:17In fact, some of his quips are even a little off-base, with some inappropriate implications
02:22popping up now and then.
02:24Pinky's ponderings have included a plan to get a tattoo, a suggestion to marry Regis
02:27Philbin, and multiple mentions of dressing animals in suggestive clothing.
02:32Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
02:36I think so, Brain.
02:37But what if the hippopotamus won't wear the beach thong?
02:41To an innocent mind, these jokes might not seem so cheeky, but when it comes to the mind
02:45of an adult, it's really easy to wind up in the gutter.
02:48Even Brain seems to recognize this himself.
02:50Are you pondering what I'm pondering?
02:53I think so, Brain.
02:54But I get all clammy inside the tent.
02:57Sigmund Freud would have had a field day with you, Pinky.
03:01At first glance, Pinky and the Brain's relationship appears to be that of co-workers who share
03:04the common goal of total world domination.
03:06When we take a closer look at their interactions, however, it's clear that Pinky and the Brain
03:11actually care very deeply for one another.
03:13The ever-faithful Pinky is always ready to go along with Brain's crazy plans, no matter
03:17how impossible or embarrassing they might seem.
03:20The pair's friendship is put to the ultimate test in A Pinky and the Brain Halloween.
03:24In the episode, Brain is forced to choose between saving Pinky's soul and achieving
03:28his lifelong dream of ruling the world.
03:30To the audience's surprise, Brain chooses to try and save Pinky, and even though he
03:34claims that it was only because his cohort knows the location of their food pellets,
03:38it's obvious that things aren't quite that simple.
03:41The two also find themselves filling parental roles in multiple episodes.
03:44In Two Mice and a Baby, they take on the task of raising a superhuman son, with Pinky as
03:48the mother figure and Brain as the father.
03:51The same roles reappear in the episode Brinky, when this time, the couple is in charge of
03:54raising their biological offspring.
03:56They pull off these roles with relative comfort and ease, leaving the audience with a few
04:01questions as to the true nature of their relationship.
04:04Brain's overly complex plans often include him and Pinky having to play dress-up.
04:08In several episodes, they end up disguising themselves as female characters, and they
04:12often do so quite successfully.
04:14In the episode Brain Boogie, Brain dresses up in a comically long-legged chair outfit
04:18in order to compete in a golfing tournament.
04:21On more than one occasion, the two disguise themselves as women, even when it doesn't
04:24seem like the easiest option.
04:25For example, in Whatever Happened to Baby Brain?, Brain takes on the persona of adorable
04:30starlet Baby Brain, a character modeled after America's little darling Shirley Temple.
04:34When it comes time for Baby Brain to sign a contract after finally making her big break,
04:39Brain tells the producer that Pinky is her mother, even though Pinky's gender presentation
04:42has nothing to do with the success of their plan.
04:45And a little off the top, Pinky doesn't skip a beat when Brain orders him to dress up and
04:48seduce Samson, distracting him so Brain can steal a ring from the biblical warrior.
04:53Then in My Feldman's My Friends, Pinky takes on the role of Brain's wife so the pair can
04:56infiltrate their neighbor's house and steal the final piece they need for their doomsday
05:00device.
05:01The theme song for Pinky and the Brain is one of the catchiest openings any cartoon
05:04has to offer, but one line is particularly memorable.
05:07One is a genius, the other's insane.
05:10It seems obvious that the mouse called Brain would be the smart one.
05:13After all, the intro sequence shows Pinky's skull nearly empty, while Brain's head is
05:17full of moving gears.
05:18However, some fans have a theory that the truth might not be so simple.
05:21In the episode Pinky's Turn, Brain finally gives Pinky the chance to come up with his
05:25own plan to take over the world.
05:28While Brain's plans almost always end in failure and humiliation, Pinky's plan is so successful
05:32that he becomes chairman of the Federal Reserve and replaces the U.S. dollar with fruit snacks.
05:37In another episode, Pinky's Plan, Pinky convinces the most powerful world leaders to hand over
05:41the keys to their nations, something the so-called genius was never able to do.
05:45Finally, there's that famous quote from Albert Einstein, which could almost certainly apply
05:49to Brain.
05:50Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
05:56We're not here to pass judgment on Pinky, but it's pretty obvious that the guy has a
05:59thing for horses.
06:01After all, he was quick to defend Caligula's rather intimate relationship with his horse
06:04in a meticulous analysis of history.
06:06What's wrong with being friendly with a thoroughbred?
06:10Additionally, during a segment from The Animaniacs called Jockey for Position, Pinky falls in
06:14love with a racehorse named Farfig Newton.
06:16Evidence in later episodes of Pinky and the Brain and the Animaniacs movie Wacko's Wish
06:21prove that this horse is, in fact, Pinky's girlfriend.
06:23And in The Third Mouse, Pinky isn't ashamed to defend his love for the mare.
06:27People are so intolerant.
06:31To kids, this relationship may not seem all that unusual since, well, the show is a cartoon.
06:36But many adults in the audience have recognized that Pinky and Farfig Newton's relationship
06:40is representative of something bigger and much more real.
06:44The writers used Pinky's quirky love life as a vehicle for showing that diverse relationships
06:48should be acceptable in our society.
06:51The creators of Pinky and the Brain loved to fill their episodes with parodies of celebrities
06:54portrayed by professional voice actors, but some famous figures were more than happy to
06:58voice animated versions of themselves.
07:00In the Pinky and the Brain reunion special, for instance, both Dick Clark and Dr. Joyce
07:04Brothers make appearances as unwitting accomplices to Brain's nefarious scheme.
07:08Of course, younger viewers are unlikely to know the difference between most of these
07:12cameos and impressions — or know who Joyce Brothers is, anyway.
07:16However, celebrities wouldn't always play versions of themselves.
07:19Sometimes, they would play original fictional characters.
07:22Mark Hamill, Cary Elwes, and Pam Greer have all shown up at one point or another as part
07:26of the sneaky, star-studded cast list.
07:28Both of Pinky's parents are even voiced by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame.
07:33It's unusual for a children's cartoon to take on the task of conveying truly adult issues
07:37such as drug use, sexual harassment accusations, politics, and addiction in an honest but still
07:42entertaining manner.
07:43Well, that didn't stop the team behind Pinky and the Brain.
07:46In the award-winning episode, Inherit the Wheeze, Brain becomes addicted to smoking
07:50cigarettes after being tested on in the lab.
07:53When he begins experiencing the sickly side effects firsthand, he decides to become a
07:56spokesperson to ultimately raise awareness around the severity of health risks associated
08:00with smoking.
08:01That's not the only time Brain deals with addiction, either.
08:04In Megalomaniac's Anonymous, Brain joins a support group for people addicted to trying
08:08to take over the world, only for the meetings to have the opposite effect.
08:11On top of all of that, the show is also no stranger to the world of politics, with names
08:15like Rush Limbaugh, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore coming up much more often than one might
08:19expect.