I think there's a difference between doing throwaway references to Bogart or the Marx brothers, even in the WWII era, and some of the shit they pulled on Animaniacs, which was obviously instantly dated. I mean…you'd see celebrities pop up in barely disguised form in Bugs Bunny cartoons, but you wouldn't hear Bugs make…

Sorry, I thought we were well into spoiler territory in this sub-thread already.

Sorry, I thought we were well into spoiler territory in this sub-thread already.

Ugh. I rewatched a full episode of "Animaniacs" for the first time last week. I had forgotten that the theme song—the fucking THEME SONG—features a reference to Bill Clinton playing the sax. This kind of thing is the reason I can never truly love this show—it's basically a Jay Leno monologue in cartoon form.

Ugh. I rewatched a full episode of "Animaniacs" for the first time last week. I had forgotten that the theme song—the fucking THEME SONG—features a reference to Bill Clinton playing the sax. This kind of thing is the reason I can never truly love this show—it's basically a Jay Leno monologue in cartoon form.

While I think Animaniacs was generally far too much in love with its obsessive, Family Guy-esque pop culture references, that particular episode is SO out there and obscure (how many people outside Hollywood have even HEARD of The Day the Clown Cried?) that it loops around to being a masterpiece of randomness.

While I think Animaniacs was generally far too much in love with its obsessive, Family Guy-esque pop culture references, that particular episode is SO out there and obscure (how many people outside Hollywood have even HEARD of The Day the Clown Cried?) that it loops around to being a masterpiece of randomness.

"What child in the audience would find that funny" is a question that applies to a lot of Animaniacs, though. What kid thinks an extended Goodfellas parody is funny? What kid can relate to Slappy tormenting Siskel and Ebert?

"What child in the audience would find that funny" is a question that applies to a lot of Animaniacs, though. What kid thinks an extended Goodfellas parody is funny? What kid can relate to Slappy tormenting Siskel and Ebert?

Holy shit, I somehow managed to watch the entire series without noticing that Doyle is indeed the poor man's Bruce Willis. Now I can't unsee it!

Holy shit, I somehow managed to watch the entire series without noticing that Doyle is indeed the poor man's Bruce Willis. Now I can't unsee it!

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

What the hell is up with the technomages? I remember hearing about them a lot in connection to Babylon 5, then when I finally sat down to watch the show they're in one friggin' episode. They're like the original Inspector Spacetime!

What the hell is up with the technomages? I remember hearing about them a lot in connection to Babylon 5, then when I finally sat down to watch the show they're in one friggin' episode. They're like the original Inspector Spacetime!

Well Major Kira is basically a sub-in for Ensign Ro, who appeared on TNG long before B5 happened, so I'm not buying that theory anyway. Also the fact that the two characters are really nothing alike aside from a few superficial aspects.

Well Major Kira is basically a sub-in for Ensign Ro, who appeared on TNG long before B5 happened, so I'm not buying that theory anyway. Also the fact that the two characters are really nothing alike aside from a few superficial aspects.

This is pretty dead on. Conceptually, the show was really well-done; it just faltered quite a bit in the execution. I'd also argue there was a certain lackadaisical quality to stuff like the show's visual design—not that it was always BAD per se (much of the makeup was excellent, for instance) but that they saw it as…

This is pretty dead on. Conceptually, the show was really well-done; it just faltered quite a bit in the execution. I'd also argue there was a certain lackadaisical quality to stuff like the show's visual design—not that it was always BAD per se (much of the makeup was excellent, for instance) but that they saw it as…

That was a surprisingly "meh" paragraph about Margaret, about which I've heard nothing but gush. From people with taste, too.