And I’m zany to the max!

More than a decade since they first burst out of the water tower, Yakko, Wakko and their sister Dot will (finally!) be coming to DVD: Animaniacs, Vol. 1 will be released July 25, 2006. To add to the madness, that same day will also see Pinky and The Brain escape from their cages. Yes, Pinky and The Brain, Vol. 1 is also set to take over the world. Talk about faboo!

I can’t even being to explain how thrilled I am about the news. I’m a huge Animaniacs and PaTB fan. I own several toys (released at McDonald’s), an Animaniacs baseball cap (thanks Harris!), and the soundtrack. I’ve been hoping and wishing for a DVD release for ages, and was tremendously disappointed I could only get various VHS compilations (I haven’t used a VCR in probably five years, maybe longer!).

If you’re not familiar with Yakko, Wakko, Dot, Pinky, The Brain, and the multitude of other characters that forms the world of Animaniacs, I can only describe them as the very model of cartoon individuals. A cartoon ostensibly for children, many (so-called) adults found themselves addicted to the zany antics of these wacky animations.

The Warner Bros (Yakko, a Groucho Marx homage; Wakko, a food gorging Ringo Starr sound-a-like) and Dot, their awfully cute sister, made sly pop cultural references, parodied classic movies and songs, and engaged in relentless cartoon violence. Oh, and along they way, it also managed to educated kids with songs about the planets (“You forgot Uranus!”) and ettiquette.

The other characters included Rita, a singing cat (voiced by Bernadette Peters); the Goodfeathers, three very familiar sounding wise-pigeons from New Yawk; and two lab mice, Pinky and The Brain (a large-headed Orson Wells, um, tribute), who did the same thing every night, tried to take over the world, in painfully funny (and unsuccessful) ways (like becoming big country music stars).

In all likelihood, I’ll have to buy two or three copies of these DVDs, for fear of wearing them out with constant viewing. I already plan on my yet-to-be-conceived children becoming huge fans of these shows.

Hello Nurse!