Oy, Macadamia!: Episode 92
Startoons had a good thing going with Warner Brothers Animation in the early '90s. Taking a chance on Jon McClenahan's Chicago studio, producer Tom Ruegger initially gave Startoons a handful of Tiny Toon Adventures and Taz-Mania episodes to animate, before giving them a much bigger workload on Animaniacs. Although they couldn't turn out work as fast as the Asian studios, many of the cartoons Startoons worked on (especially several of the Slappy Squirrel shorts) are among the series' all time best. But when FOX didn't order any new episodes of Animaniacs for the 1994/95 season, there was no longer any material to send Startoons' way, and McClenahan could no longer afford to keep paying a full staff. In the end, his best animators (including Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone and Jeff Siergey) left for jobs on the West Coast, leaving Jon to put together a new crew when Warners finally sent more Animaniacs work his way in 1997. The resulting cartoons - including a mix of Warners, Slappy, Pinky and the Brain and Chicken Boo shorts, not to mention a handful of musical numbers - are hit or miss, with this episode featuring one of the greatest pieces of animation Startoons ever created.
Written by Lenord Robinson and Lennie K Graves, Directed by Jon McClenahan
This short segment finds Wakko being chased around a house by something terrifying that the audience can't see, with the camera located behind Wakko as he runs in and out of rooms attempting to escape whatever is following him. Finally, he's cornered in the basement, the music builds and...it's just Dot, who was playing tag with him the whole time.
Startoons animated several really great cold openers and bumpers during the first production season, and "It" is right up there with "Warners' World of Baldness" as one of their absolute best. From the very first second Wakko appears in screen we know this is undeniably Startoons' work, and the animation is a huge breath of fresh air after two seasons full of Akom and Wang cartoons. McClenahan shared animation duties with David Pryor for this segment, and the resulting minute-long sequence is easily on par with anything the studio did during the first season. But what really brought this cartoon to the next level was Jon's decision keep the backgrounds stylized and animate them on cels, rendering everything a monochromatic blue, with the exception of Wakko's red nose and hat. This works incredibly well, as even the full-color, animated backgrounds seen in many Akom cartoons would have looked terrible here. The simplified backgrounds allow the first person perspective animation to get pretty daring, including a scene where the camera follows Wakko as he bounces up and down on a bed. The comically intense chase music also brings everything together wonderfully. A fantastic opening to this episode, "It" is only a warm up to the unbelievable musical number to follow...
The establishing shots really help set the mood and go a long way towards getting us used to the unique background style of the cartoon. The opening is deliberately slow as it moves from the shot of the earth, to a neighborhood, to an open window to a door knob, before the door is flung open and the chase begins.
I'm not too familiar with David Pryor's animation style, but if he's the only one who contributed to this cartoon aside from McClenahan, the first half of the chase sequence must have been animated by him. It's distinctly Startoons, but it's clearly not Jon's work. But it still looks great, though.
The animation appears to switch to McClenahan when Wakko leaps on to the overhead light. The curves of the head, the teeth...it's definitely Jon. Pryor's Wakko looks a bit like this, but he was clearly going off McClenahan's storyboards.
The last shot is terrific, swinging around Wakko to reveal Dot, who dances up the stairs leaving a creepy, ghostly shadow behind. Wakko's expressions here - as well as the body language on Dot - are so wonderfully Startoons.
Variable Verse: ...ehhh...
Written by Tom Ruegger, Directed by Jon McClenahan
In one of the most overt pop culture parodies in Animaniacs history, the entire cast gathers together to spoof the mid-90's phenomenon "Macarena" by one-hit wonder Los del Rio. The song takes place against a white backdrop, with characters gleefully dancing along to the tune that by 1997 most of America had gotten sick of hearing. At the forefront is Dot, wearing a variety of outfits and flanked by Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink, who sings, "I act like a nut so they call me Macadamia, I dance like a klutz on a show called Animania." Meanwhile, Yakko and Wakko sway back and forth next to a microphone, dressed in black suits and explaining, "Dot is a nut so they call her Macamania, she's cracked in the head and kooky in the brain-ia. Each line in this song sounds pretty much the same-ia." "Oy, Macadamia!" is a constant refrain, along with nonsense Spanish lyrics and words that end with "...ainia". Dot sings of her brother "Wakkarino", who she had to throw out of the tower when he wouldn't stop burping. The only character not enjoying herself through the whole thing is Slappy, who can do little more than glare at the camera as everyone else seems to get a little too into the music. Finally Dot clarifies, "But you can call me by my other name-ia, Lousia Franchesca Banana Fana Bo Besca. Or just plain Dot, the name I flirt to. But if you call me Dottie I'll have to hurt you!"
A true labor of love, "Dot-the Macadamia Nut" was not only Jon McClenahan's pet project but unquestionably one his greatest masterpieces. He laid the entire cartoon out himself and claims to have done a good 60% of the animation in it, if not more. His work in this short is incredible, with the sort of attitude, life and energy that's been missing from the show for a long time. Helping immensely is the blank canvas the white backgrounds gave him to truly be expressive with the poses and dance animation. The characters pop right off the screen and almost every second is chock full of expressive animation and blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos from the rest of the cast. Just about every character that you could possibly name is here, from Pinky and the Brain and the Goodfeathers all the way down to the Mime, Colin, Walter Wolf and Newt. Even characters that are specific to older Startoons-animated shorts like Pip Pumphandle and Wally Llama show up. It must have been a daunting task to handle so many cast members in such a short amount of time, all dancing in sync with the music and many that Startoons had never worked with before. Luckily, McClenahan had some top talent helping him out in this short, including David Pryor (who did phenomenal work on all the scenes of Yakko and Wakko by the microphone) and Neal Sternecky, whose style is unmistakable in some scenes toward the end of the cartoon. There was such a large commitment to making this sequence look as good as it possibly could that, after its initial airing, animation and coloring mistakes that had slipped by the first time were corrected, something that rarely happens in television cartoons, especially in the pre-digital age.
Additionally, thanks to Warner Brothers going out and actually purchasing the rights to "Macarena", it was possible to do a parody that was still very true to the original music video without having to twist the music in such a way to turn it into a weaker sound-alike. If you've ever seen the Los del Rio music video, you'd know just how close this segment is to the real thing. It's authentic even down to separate layers of film that scroll up and down like a slot machine in some shots, which this cartoon mocks by tossing cherries, lemons and bar symbols into the mix. It's impossible to get tired of watching this cartoon, and I know very few people who don't absolutely love it. It's easily one of the most well known segments from the Kids WB years, and includes some of the very best animation in any Animaniacs episode since the first season. If you're a fan of this show, you've probably already seen "Dot-the Macadamia Nut" countless times. But if you haven't, what are you waiting for? Stop reading and go watch this right now. I promise that you won't regret it. It's definitely one of my all-time favorite cartoons, and it set a standard that was way too high for Startoons to ever meet again in terms of their work on this show. The rest of the material they turned out this season is certainly interesting, but nothing touches this short in terms of animation and entertainment value. Oy, Macadamia!
(Instead of posting images in chronological order the way I usually do, I'm going to arrange them in a way that makes them easier to talk about, grouping them for the most part according to animator and/or character)
All of these shots are the work of McClenahan. I can't believe how nice all of this animation is. He certainly hasn't lost his touch with these characters despite spending some time away from them. His animation on Dot is nothing short of perfect. It's all amazingly on model while still retaining all the hallmarks of his personal style. Just sit back for a minute and imagine what Animaniacs would have been like if Startoons had stayed on for the later seasons. It's almost criminal that it didn't happen.
As previously mentioned, all the scenes of Yakko and Wakko by the microphone were done by an animator named David Pryor. His work is beyond fantastic, and he handles the pair with an almost theatrical precision. These are definitely my favorite bits of animation that Startoons ever did, and I was blown away when I first saw it, especially the last image, as Yakko and Wakko sing, "Cuts and bruises you will sustain-ia!" I'm convinced that Pryor must have done work with these characters for the Animaniacs commercials that featured new animation (such as the ones for Kraft and McDonalds) because the styles are so similar.
These shots look like they were all done by Neal Sternecky, another animator whose style was unmistakable. Anyone familiar with the DC Animaniacs comic will recognize his stuff right away. There's a looseness to it that's different from the usual Startoons look, but still has a ton of character.
Slappy spends most of the short glaring at the camera, obviously wishing she wasn't there. At one point, several of the characters begin laughing at nothing in particular, so Slappy shouts at them, "I don't get it, what's the joke?!" No one has an answer for her, so again, we get an exasperated look to the camera.
Most of the shots of Pinky and the Brain are among the weakest bits of Animation in the cartoon. Pinky especially, looks terribly off-model and rat-like. McClenahan attributes this animation to John Griffin and explains that he wasn't aware he had to inbetween his own work. The first shot was one that had to be fixed after the cartoon first aired.
Pinky and the Brain look much more on model in this shot, and I wouldn't be surprised if - judging by Brain's mouth - this was a McClenahan shot.
It's really nice to see Walter, Sid and Beanie together again. Beanie is spared Slappy's wrath, as the squirrel takes her frustration out on Walter and Sid, crushing both of them with mallets.
Mindy, Buttons, Rita and Runt are characters Startoons had never gone anywhere near before, and for the most part the foursome keep getting paired up together in different ways. I definitely like the combination of Runt and Buttons, a natural idea that they'd go back to briefly in Wakko's Wish.
Speaking of characters that Statoons had never handled before, here are the Goodfeathers, complete with the only Godpigeon appearance since season two. A little bit later in the song, Pesto pounces on Squit and attacks him, for reasons that aren't shown. Again, this is the first time anything like this has happened since season two. Startoons is going to work with the Goodfeathers again in episode 98 for a slightly longer appearance.
Flavio and Marita's contribution to the cartoon is mainly slapping their hips together, which they seem to do constantly. Reaction shots from Skippy seem to indicate that he's weirded out by it, especially the way their tails wiggle whenever they do it. SPEW!
Pip Pumphandle must have been one of McClenahan's favorite one-shot characters. He keeps appearing whenever Jon directs a cartoon with a lot of characters in it.
Here's an example of the scrolling film layers, complete with the slot machine symbols. According to McClenahan, the Mime was animated by Sternecky in this shot.
Slappy, Skippy and the Warners have been dragged into a congressional hearing. There, Federal Television Agency chairman Reef Blunt (a parody of FCC head Reed Hundt) introduces a new legislation that limits TV violence and requires three hours of weekly educational programming on every station across the country. Furthermore, he expects everyone to adhere to its strict guidelines - "Especially you, Miss Squirrel!" To that end, a "non-violent and educational" problem solver is delivered to Slappy's tree, a huge, complicated, nondescript piece of machinery that she ends up spending the entire cartoon attempting to assemble. Unfortunately, poor Skippy has bigger problems, as he's being tormented and beaten senseless by a bully at school named Duke. Slappy's immediate solution to that problem is to hand Skippy a mallet, but Skippy explains that he'd rather try a non-violent solution and take the advice of his guidance counselor Miss Buttley. However, Buttley's advice - which includes ignoring Duke, befriending him and appealing to his sense of empathy - gets Skippy brutally manhandled, punched in the face and tossed into a bus. And each time, he comes hobbling home babbling in a daze, but still determined to find a non-violent solution. But eventually, he agrees to do things Slappy's way...
Playing off the fact that Duke steals everything Skippy brings to school, the young squirrel arrives with a metal helmet, which the bully immediately takes. Using a lifting magnet, Skippy allows gravity to beat his tormentor to a pulp. Next, Skippy blows up Duke with dynamite stuffed inside a boombox, and then sends him to kingdom come with a rocket pack hidden inside a school bag. By fighting fire with fire, the squirrels are actually able to reform the bully, who Slappy puts to work building her non-violent problem solver. Just as they finish, who should arrive but Reef Blunt and Miss Buttley, who have been watching the cartoon and are furious at the lessons Skippy has been taught by his aunt. When asked what she's been trying to prove, Slappy turns on the problem solver, which nabs Blunt and Buttley and tosses them inside, where they're mangled, pulverized and shredded in a way that the viewer can't see. Slappy explains that she made a few modifications to the machine, allowing for problems to be solved with violence, but for it to happen off screen. "And besides, it's government approved, so ya know it's good for you!", explains Slappy. With that, the defeated pair give Slappy their full approval. "Now that's, edu-tainment!", concludes Slappy.
"Bully for Skippy" is a bit of a bi-polar cartoon, but it's weak points are far outweighed by everything it does right. Where it really succeeds is with the way it completely trashes the FCC, specifically their "Children's Television Act", which was revised in 1996 with guidelines along the same lines of what is described in the short. Says writer Ruegger in a 2013 interview with mental_floss, "This one was, maybe, the most political thing I ever wrote. It was in reaction to the FCC mandating that there be a very specific and heavy amount of hours per day in the TV schedule that's educational for children, which ultimately impacted the kinds of cartoons that channels could put on the air." The opening and ending sequences, with Slappy dealing with these issues head-on, are definitely the strongest part of this cartoon. Blunt comes across as a smug jackass, seemingly proud of himself for putting a figurative straightjacket over Slappy and limiting what she's able to get away with. The old squirrel's headaches continue with the obnoxious problem solver machine, which refuses to stay in one piece no matter how hard she tries to put it together. The final scene is also well done, with Slappy's "solution" to her problem being genuinely clever. Also working in this cartoon's favor is the fact that it's the first Slappytoon in a long while in which an enemy character - namely Duke - is dispatched with a healthy dose of violence, something that really hasn't been done since Slappy attended Walter Wolf's funeral in episode 73. Duke (voiced by Corey Burton) is truly a despicable creation, the sort of deplorable, brain-dead, moron we were all unfortunate enough to run into at school at one point or another. It's fun to watch Skippy get the better of him, and it's great that, even though the squirrels reform him, they still don't treat him very well afterwards. The scenes in Miss Buttley's office are also pretty funny, as she clearly doesn't give a fig about what happens to Skippy, and by the end is robotically telling him what to do with barely any eye contact.
On the other hand, the cartoon is also incredibly long, much longer than it needs to be in my opinion. We get three sequences of Skippy being tortured by Duke, three more sequences of him getting even, three scenes in Buttley's office and multiple scenes in Slappy's tree of Skippy coming home injured. The pacing of the bulk of this short is very lethargic, and all this material could have easily been combined and shortened a bit without hurting the flow of the cartoon at all. Additionally, the animation lacks the polish of the rest of the segments in the short, which is understandable with something that runs a full fifteen minutes long. Most of the scenes with Slappy feature some very strong Startoons animation, with the opening sequence being solidly animated by McClenahan himself. We also get a clip of an old Slappy cartoon entitled "Whap Whap Whappy Slappy", featuring the squirrel going up against a German military dog, which includes more great animation. But the scenes with Skippy and Duke are all over the place, especially in the second act, which is uncharacteristically sloppy for Startoons. While Ruegger has stated that this short is one of his favorites, McClenahan has gone on record as saying that he didn't think it ended up being very good. Still, it's a very enjoyable comeback for Slappy, and her last really decent cartoon in the series. Startoons only handled four single-narrative cartoons for the fifth season, but "Bully for Skippy" is probably their best one. It's not perfect, but I really like it.
Great faces on the squirrels and Warners as they listen to Blunt drone on about the new legislature. "We're ruined", remarks Slappy. "It's the end of civilization as we know it", agrees Yakko. I do have to question Yakko's perfectly round eyes though.
The "media watchdogs" keep a close eye on Skippy and Slappy. I remember being a little shocked at how deep Nathan Ruegger's voice had gotten by this point, as it really had been a while since he had a speaking role on the show. The voice was pitched up a little bit more in later cartoons, and never ended up sounding as deep as this again.
The vintage Slappy cartoon we see gives us another peak at the squirrel in her younger days. I'm surprised they never thought to do a full-length classic Slappytoon like they did with the Warners. I would have liked to have seen one.
In a scene with terrific timing and some great voice work by Stoner, Slappy freaks out when Skippy explains he wants to try non-violent solutions to his problems. "Give me back my nephew you little ET" she screams, shaking Skippy violently.
Skippy's attempts to ignore Duke go nowhere. The bully grabs him and twists him into a pretzel. "You now have my undivided attention", moans Skippy. You really do feel bad for him in this cartoon. Luckily Duke gets what he deserves.
Much like "Soccer Coach Slappy", the script called for Skippy to come home crying each day. Nathan Ruegger wanted nothing to do with it this time, and recommended that Skippy come home babbling various commercial slogans. Here he says, "It's two, two, two mints in one!". Other slogans used include, "It's strong enough for a man, but made for a woman" and "If it doesn't get all over the place it doesn't belong in your face." I'll admit, it's definitely funnier than hearing him cry. Even Nate's dad had to agree on that one.
Voiced by MacNeille, Miss Buttley is a colossal waste of a guidance counselor. The last time Skippy goes to her office, she advices him to appeal to Duke's sense of empathy. After a fantastic, incredulous sneer, Skippy asks Buttley is she's sure she's a doctor. Buttley then cracks up with that patented MacNeille cackle, immediately snaps back into seriousness and says, "Why of course I am, Skippy." Check out the second screenshot. She's not even looking at the poor kid.
The staging in this shot is really great. Duke looks very imposing in the foreground, while Skippy looks like a pathetic deer in headlights. It's so sad the way he's looking over his shoulder like that.
It happens in "Macadamia" as well but it's far more pronounced here. Just what the holy hell is up with Slappy's eyebrows in this episode??? This is the most extreme example.
I know we're supposed to feel really sorry for Skippy, but I think this particular scene goes a little too far. The poor kid looks like he's about to die. Ouch.
Great timing here. Duke opens the battery compartment on the boombox, sees the dynamite, reacts, tries to replace the compartment door and BOOM! I like how he's in such a hurry to replace the door that he tires to put it back on sideways.
McClenahan has stated that Spike Brandt lent his services to "Brain's Apprentice" in episode 94. But doesn't this look a LOT like his work? His Slappy model looks awfully close to how it did when he was animating for Startoons full time. This version of Slappy is the only one without the eyebrow issue as well.
Joke Credit: Assistant To The Assistant's Assistant: Ouchy MacGouchy
Tower Outro: Buenos Noches!
Special thanks to Peter Paltridge of Platypus Comix, whose interview with Jon McClenahan helped immensely in writing this post, not to mention Jon's own postings on the Toon Zone message board. I'm very grateful for all the information McClenahan has been willing to share over the years with Animaniacs fans.
