Considered to be the breakout characters on “Animaniacs”, it wasn’t much of a surprise that Pinky and Brain would get their own spin-off in the ever growing Steven Spielberg Presents line-up after proving themselves that they can carry an entire 22 minute episode, possibilities with this iconic duo are endless!
Many of the Pinky and the Brain episodes occur in the 1990s at Acme Labs, located in some large American city underneath a suspension bridge. Several episodes take place in historical times, with Pinky and the Brain in the laboratory of some scientifically-minded person, including Merlin, H.G. Wells, Ivan Pavlov, and Johannes Gutenberg. There is very little continuity between episodes outside of the common fixtures of the two mice, though some plans for world domination from early episodes are subsequently referred to in later seasons for example, Brain’s mechanical human suit that was first used in “Win Big” reappears when Brain faces his rival Snowball in “Snowball”. The bulk of every episode involves one of Brain’s plans for world domination with Pinky’s assistance and the ultimate failure of that plan, with some exceptions. One centers on Snowball’s plan to take over the world using Microsponge (a parody of Microsoft). Another episode features Brain’s single day where he tries to do anything but take over the world: in the end, a group of people votes that he should take over the world on the one day that he does not want to. Both Pinky and the Brain, white mice kept as part of Acme Labs’ experimentation, have undergone significant genetic alteration, per the show’s title lyrics, “their genes have been spliced” which gives the two mice amplified intelligence over that of a typical mouse, the ability to talk to humans, and anthropomorphism. “Project B.R.A.I.N.” suggests that the gene splicing occurred on September 9, 1995, which is coincident to the first full episode of Pinky and the Brain. The episode “Brainwashed” states that the gene splicing was done by Dr. Mordough, along with Snowball the hamster and Precious the cat, using the Acme Gene Splicer, Bagel Warmer, and Hot Dog Steamer. Although Pinky and the Brain plan to conquer the world, they do not show much animosity. In a Christmas special, Pinky even wrote a letter to Santa Claus saying that Brain had the world’s best interests at heart.
Overall this spin-off is just as popular as its other show especially thanks to its more adult humor, iconic catchphrases such as (Brain: Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?
Pinky: I think so, Brain, but…) and the comedic timing of both legendary voice actors Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche who brought this iconic mice duo to life!
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