List of Animaniacs characters
This is a list of fictional characters from the Warner Bros. animated television series Animaniacs.
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot – the "Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister)", voiced by Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, and Tress MacNeille. Yakko (the oldest) is a fast-talking smart alec, reminiscent at times of Groucho Marx. Wakko (the middle child) has a huge appetite, a gag bag filled with tricks and often has his tongue sticking out (and a scouse accent modeled by Harnell after a younger Ringo Starr), and Dot (the youngest) is cute and sassy, and uses her apparent innocence to manipulate and torment those who stand in her way. The Warners often appear in other characters' skits, usually being chased by Ralph the security guard; most other characters are confined to their own segments.
Major supporting characters
- Dr. Otto Scratchansniff – The German-accented studio psychiatrist, voiced by Rob Paulsen, who attempts to force the Warners to be less "zany". The all-but-invariable result of his efforts is that he himself loses patience with the Warners and goes insane, pulling all his hair out.[1] He eventually starts to grow fonder of them and takes up more responsibility over the Warners, occasionally even acting as a substitute father figure to them.
- Hello Nurse – The buxom studio nurse, voiced by Tress MacNeille, over whom Yakko and Wakko continually fawn. Her appearance almost always prompts the boys into lustfully exclaiming "Hellooooooo, Nurse!" and jumping into her arms. They will also call out her name if they see a beautiful female creature as shown in the episode Meet Minerva. Dot does likewise when an attractive man enters the picture. In Wakko's Wish it's revealed that her "mean IQ [is] 192" (compare to Albert Einstein's IQ of 160). In the latter characterizations, she laments that she is respected only for her looks and not her mind.[1]
- Thaddeus Plotz – The height-impaired, hot-tempered, money-grubbing, picky and stubborn CEO of the Warner Bros. Studios cartoon enterprise, voiced by Frank Welker.[1]
Minor supporting characters
- Dan Anchorman – A conceited news anchorman for the fictitious Newstime Live programme, who refused to pay Yakko, Wakko and Dot for a sandwich he had ordered. Appears in Broadcast Nuisance. Originally named Slam Fondlesome, his name changed after the episode got censored between its Fox and Kids WB airings. The episode itself was edited and truncated to make the Warners less cruel to the character. Voiced by the late Phil Hartman.
- Duanne Sewer – A rival newsreader of the fictitious Newstime Live programme featured in Broadcast Nuisance. She is the anchorwoman in Washington DC, and her rival in Slam Fondelson / Dan Anchorman. She was voiced by an uncreditted Tress MacNeille.
- Wolf Spritzer – A newsreporter for the fictitious Newstime Live programme. Appears in Broadcast Nuisance.
- Mr. Director – A caricature of Jerry Lewis (voiced by Paul Rugg) who first appears in Hello Nice Warners; in later episodes he parodies Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now and appears as a clown who scares Mr. Plotz and Wakko in the episode, "Clown and Out". He is often heard uttering nonsensical pseudo-Yiddish words.
- Ms. Flamiel – the Warners' prim and easily frustrated schoolmarm teacher. When she is angered, she is notable for giving people F-grades in a wild, illogical manner. Shipped off in a crate. Voiced by Tress MacNeille.
- Dot's Pet – Dot's pet is a monstrous creature always kept in her pocket inside a small white box. The creature's appearance is inconsistent, changing with every episode, though sometimes appearances recur, though not consecutively. The most common forms of the creature included a large bull-like creature, a plant parodying The Little Shop of Horrors, and a hairy form with enormous teeth (though the color of the creature varied). Dot's pet usually appears in one of two situations, when an antagonist tries to intimidate the Warners. In one of these cases, Mr. Director was her pet.
- Sodarn Hissane – A pastiche of Saddam Hussein. Appears in a cameo role in Hot, Bothered and Bedeviled and later as the antagonist in Baghdad Cafe, a crossover episode between Yakko, Wakko and Dot and Slappy Squirrel. Voiced by Frank Welker
- Francis "Pip" Pumphandle – A dwarf-like man who annoys Yakko, Wakko, and Dot in Chairman of the Bored with a very long story involving boloney and cheeseball sandwiches and Bob Barker. His voice is always in a dull monotonous tone, and while speaking, he generally tends to go off-topic about his story and talks about certain parts of his story, voicing his own personal opinion about them. The Warners develop an attachment. Voiced by Ben Stein.
- Wally Llama – Parody of the Dalai Lama. Appears in Wally Llama.
- The Protestor – A parody of Bob Dylan who sings protest songs as a form of torture for victims of Satan. Appears in Hot, Bothered and Bedeviled. Voiced by Jess Harnell.
- Professor Otto von Schnitzelbuskrankengescheitmeier – A fat and jolly German (Bavarian) who taught the Warners the international friendship song and eventually loses his temper when they use the song to undress him, make fun of his long name and his weight. His only other appearance was the 1999 film, Wakko's Wish. Voiced by Jim Cummings
- Baloney the Dinosaur – A parody of Barney the Dinosaur. Yakko, Wakko and Dot fear him due to his being immune to their annoying, abusive, and anvil-dropping ways. In this debut appearance Baloney and Kids, the Warner trio are forced to be on his show and make numerous attempts to get rid of him, but with no success. Voiced by Jeff Bennett.
Pinky and the Brain
Pinky and the Brain – An imbecilic white mouse and his genius companion, voiced by Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche. Despite the name of the pair placing Pinky first, the Brain is clearly the leader; he continuously launches attempts to take over the world, accompanied by Pinky, but something always goes wrong with their plans (usually, it is at least partially Pinky's fault). The Brain and his environment evoke Orson Welles and Citizen Kane. The series is quite famous for Brain's line "Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" and Pinky's non sequitur replies. In 1995, their adventures were spun off into a dedicated series.
Supporting characters
- Snowball – A genetically altered Hamster, who also plans to take over the world, thus becoming Brain's rival. Voiced by Roddy McDowall.
- Billie – A female mouse with whom both Brain and Snowball are in love (although she is more interested in Pinky); she first appeared in The World Can Wait. Voiced by Tress MacNeille.
- Pharfignewton – A white race horse, and Pinky's girlfriend. Vocals by Rob Paulsen and Frank Welker.
Slappy Squirrel
- Slappy Squirrel – An aging, curmudgeonly cartoon star of the same generation as the original Warner cartoons, who seems to enjoy whacking people with her purse and using high explosives, the more the better. Her catchphase is "Now that's comedy!" She is voiced by Sherri Stoner.
- Skippy Squirrel – Slappy's young nephew, voiced by Nathan Ruegger, whose chipper personality is the polar opposite of his aunt's. His characterization varied from appearance to appearance, from slightly naive (Slappy Goes Walnuts) to complete innocent (Bumbie's Mom) to complicit partner in Slappy's classic cartoon tactics (Critical Condition), but his idolization of his famous aunt remained constant. His catchphrase is "Spew!", usually said when he sees something disgusting.
Supporting characters
- Sid the Squid – A recurring villain who appeared in only three Slappy cartoons, Hurray for Slappy, Scare Happy Slappy, and Rest in Pieces, and was later seen in non-speaking cameos in Star Warners and Macadamia Nut. Voiced by Jack Burns.
- Beanie the Brain-Dead Bison – Another villain much like Pete Puma. He appeared only three times in Hurray for Slappy, Scare Happy Slappy, and Rest in Pieces, where he was voiced by Avery Schreiber. Schreiber pulled out of the project in 1994 due to illness, but Beanie still made two non-speaking cameos in Macadamia Nut and Star Warners. Sometimes referred to as "Beanie the Cerebrally Challenged Bison" as a politically correct version of his original name.
- Bumpo Bassett – The pesky grandson of Stinkbomb, has a running gag with wanting to smell his grandfather. Voiced by Luke Ruegger, the younger brother of Nathan Ruegger who voiced Skippy Squirrel. Appears in Smell Ya Later.
- Stinkbomb D. Bassett – A one-off Slappy Squirrel foe (voiced by Jonathan Winters) who supposedly co-starred with Slappy in an old cartoon from the 1940s, in which he is lead into a cave filled with skunks, and "never smelled the same." Appears in Smell Ya Later.
- Candie Chipmunk – The conceited and self-centred neighbour of Slappy Squirrel who is driven insane after an argument with Slappy. Appears in I Got Yer Can.
- Codger Eggbert – Parody of Roger Ebert who gives Slappy Squirrel a poor review and faces the consequences in Critical Condition.
- Doug the Dog – A one-off Slappy Squirrel foe featured in Slappy Goes Walnuts. He is a large bulldog with no real form of speech other than barks and grunts. Voiced by Frank Welker.
The Goodfeathers
- Goodfeathers – A trio of cartoon pigeons: Bobby, Squit and Pesto, voiced by Maurice LaMarche, John Mariano and Chick Vennera—spoofing the characters played by Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, and Joe Pesci in the movie Goodfellas. These pigeons can always be seen arguing with each other, which always culminates in them beating each other up (usually with Pesto beating up Squit and Bobby laughing at both of them). This gag in itself grew from Goodfellas; it was based on the film's famous exchange between Pesci and Liotta: "How am I funny? Like a clown? I amuse you?"
Supporting characters
- The Godpigeon – A parody of Marlon Brando's Don Vito Corleone from The Godfather he is a large, obese pigeon with an old-man voice, who serves as the boss of the Goodfeathers. While he rarely joins the three principal characters, he sometimes appears momentarilly to lend a hand, usually accomplishing in seconds whatever task the trio have spent the entirety of the episode incompetently attempting to complete. Upon appearance he extends his foot for Bobby, Pesto and Squit to kiss and offers advice in a gibberish language that only Bobby and Pesto understand, though it is usually Bobby that interprets what he says, Pesto only translates on a few occasions when Bobby isn't talking or isn't present.
- The Girlfeathers are their girlfriends. One, Sasha, is Squit's girlfriend and Pesto's sister, her temper being just as flare-fire as his is. Lana is Bobby's girlfriend, a sultry-voiced parody of the Vicki Moriarty character from Raging Bull, and lastly Kiki, Pesto's girlfriend, is the stereotypical dumb-blonde type.
- Steven Seagull – Pesto and Sasha's stepfather and a parody of Steven Seagal. In the episode where he's introduced to the Goodfeathers, Pesto was disapproving of his mother's marriage to him and often landed himself into trouble trying to outdo Steven. When Pesto's efforts eventually make it necessary for Steven to rescue him, Pesto reluctantly approves him. It's never revealed what Sasha thinks about him. Steven, as his surname suggests, is a seagull.
Rita and Runt
- Rita and Runt – A singing cat (voiced by Bernadette Peters) and a loyal but stupid dog (voiced by Frank Welker) who thinks Rita is a dog, who travel together looking for a place to call home. Rita has a world-weary, cynical attitude, and a stereotypical New York twang, while Runt speaks with the vocal mannerisms made famous by Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. His catchphrase is to describe something twice, the second time with "Yup, definitely..." added, as in "You're a good dog, Rita. Yup, definitely a good dog."
Supporting characters
- Scout – Dr. Phrankenstein's creation intended to destroy the world. In truth, Scout is a playful dog who only wants to have fun. He turns on his master and Mr. Squeak when they pop his favourite ball. Voiced by Frank Welker. Appears in Phranken-Runt.
- Mr. Squeak – Dr. Phrankenstein's faithful pet rat who speaks in high-pitched squeaking. Appears in Phranken-Runt.
- Mrs. Mumphead – An eccentric old lady who constantly hums to herself. Appears in No Place Like Homeless, a special crossover episode between Goodfeathers and Rita and Runt.
- Crackers the Parrot – Pet of Mrs. Mumphead with aggressive tendencies and only says his name. Voiced by Frank Welker. Appears in No Place Like Homeless.
Buttons and Mindy
- Buttons – a dog that takes care of Mindy. He will follow Mindy where ever she goes trying to keep her out of trouble, which she is always getting into. Buttons tries desperately to keep Mindy safe and he always succeeds, except he seems to get in trouble himself with Mindy's mom and on very rare occasions with her dad.
- Mindy - a little girl who is always getting into all kinds of trouble. She finds some way out of her harness when her mom is not looking and goes running after something. If it was not for her loving dog Buttons (who keeps her out of trouble) she would have been a goner long ago. Mindy is a cute little three or four year old girl with blond hair and overalls, her favorite thing to say is "Ok I love you bye bye" and refers to her mom as "Lady".
Supporting characters
- Mindy's Mother – A woman who briefly appeared in the Mindy and Buttons segment, and is usually referred to as "Lady" by Mindy (except in Wakko's Wish, in which Mindy finally calls her "Mom"). Much like Baby Herman's mother in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and its spin-off short films, you cannot see Mindy's mother's face either. She always misjudged her dog, Buttons for getting into trouble in the end of almost every episode.
- Mindy's Father – A man whose face like his wife's, is never seen. He also has the same attitude towards Buttons. Mindy always calls him "Mr. Man".
Minerva Mink
Minerva Mink – An attractive young mink, voiced by Julie Brown, with the ability to seduce and charm any and every male creature around her into the state of a babbling idiot, often inducing Tex Avery-esque wild takes. Just as every male creature lusts after Minerva, she lusts after every handsome looking male she sees and goes crazy when she sees one. She has a loose attitude and behaves like a primadonna. She was coined to be named Marilyn Mink in pre-production.
In "Moon Over Minerva" she was courted by a geeky wolf by the name of Wilford B. Wolf, who becomes a gorgeous, muscular Fabio-type werewolf when a full moon rose. In "Meet Minerva" a dachshund named Newt (voiced by Laugh-In veteran Arte Johnson) is ordered by his master to catch Minerva for her pelt. Foolish Newt becomes smitten with her instead and spend his time trying to capture her heart, catering to her every whim.
She starred in the least number of shorts of all the ensemble cast, allegedly because the content of her shorts was so overtly sexual that it was decided that it would be inappropriate for the intended predominantly young audience. For instance, Minerva is often seen in silhouette in the nude.
Another possible reason is that, because she is also terribly vain and shallow, she was probably considered a bad role model for little girls. Nonetheless, both Minerva and Newt appeared in several issues of the Animaniacs comic book (with Minerva's sexuality a bit watered down, but Newt still his ever-blundering self). She apprears in Wakko's Wish as an ensamble member, but has a couple solo lines to herself.
Minerva is featured in the following episodes (excluding cameos and brief appearances as part of an ensemble cast):
- Episode 30: Moon Over Minerva
- Episode 54: Meet Minerva
Supporting characters
- Newt - is a faithful dachshund to his owner, but is one of Minerva's admirers.Newt had appeared previously in "Puttin' on the Blitz", set in 1939 Poland, opposite Rita and Runt. There, he was called "Schnappsie" (after schnapps, a sweet German liquor. "Schnapp sie" also means "catch them" in German).
- Wilford B. Wolf - A nerdy wolf who was constantly trying to ask Minerva on a date. He eventually gave up, but he turned into a muscular were-wolf, finally winning Minerva's (albeit selfish) interest with hims.
Other supporting characters
- Baynarts "Charlton" Woodchucks – An aspiring woodchuck actor (voiced by Jeff Bennett) from Wheatina, Kansas. In Hollywoodchuck, he landed the part of Franklin the Friendly Woodchuck in a True Life Adventures-style narrative. The experience proved far too painful to endure however, and the woodchuck quit acting shortly thereafter and returned home. Baynarts is seen again in The Kid in the Lid, however, fulfilling the role of the too-responsible goldfish from The Cat in the Hat. The woodchuck is again the subject of much pain and ridicule, being forgotten in a toilet bowl by the short's close.
- The Baby Robin – Featured in a short where a robin's nest hatches while the mother robin is away and a baby bird sees a F-117 Nighthawk fly by, to which it mistakenly thinks that must be its mother and follows it to a military base, where it is participating in a bombing exercise. The baby robin eventually returns to the nest and meets its mother, and tells his newly-hatched siblings that airplanes are not their mother.
- Bossy Beaver & Doyle – Characters that never made it onto the screen; listed as supporting characters for the show in the series pre-production outline.[3]
- Chicken Boo – A six-foot-tall chicken (voiced by Frank Welker) who is curiously successful at imitating humans despite minimal efforts at disguise. In his skits, only one of the characters seems to be aware of the blatantly obvious fact that Chicken Boo is a giant chicken, a fact that remains curiously unbelievable to everyone else, until the barest disguise (e.g. nothing but a false beard) gets accidentally removed, at which point, everyone seems shocked at the revelation. Usually, after his disguise is removed, the character who pointed out he was a chicken reappears and says "I told you that guy was a chicken" and the other characters turn against him and at times maul him
- Mr. Director – A character who is spoof of comedian/actor Jerry Lewis. He is best known for his high energy personality, speaking in a variety of Jewish words in silly contexts and saying multiple Jerry Lewis-type sayings such as "Hello nice lady!". Every time that he is shown, he is always a constant annoyance for the Warner Brothers. Voiced by Paul Rugg.
- Colin (a.k.a. The Randy Beaman Kid) – A wide-eyed boy who relates improbable stories that allegedly happened to his (never-seen) friend Randy Beaman.
- Flavio and Marita – also known as "the Hip Hippos", a wealthy, Spanish hippo couple (voiced by Frank Welker and Tress MacNeille) obsessed with being trendy. Sometimes they have been in dangerous situations, but usually remain unaware of it and rarely suffer harm, mainly due to their large frames. They are usually pursued by a zoologist who considers the hippos an endangered species and makes attempts to protect them, often getting herself hurt in a slapstick manner. The zoologist seems unaware that the hippos can look after themselves.
- Mr. Skullhead – A mute skeleton, seen in the short series Good Idea/Bad Idea, in which he demonstrates a beneficial "Good Idea" activity and a slightly altered "Bad Idea" version that leads to disastrous results. These clips were narrated by humorist and Motel 6 spokesman Tom Bodett. He was also featured in a parody of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. Mr. Skullhead first appeared on Tiny Toon Adventures as an ornament on Elmyra's bowtie. In one episode that featured the Warners attempting to escape from ladies asking them about a survey, the Warners enlist the aid of Mr. Skullhead to stand in front of the women and bob his head, which fools them for some time.
- The Mime – A nameless mime who mainly appeared in brief clips titled "Mime Time"; the mime would usually begin a demonstration of some miming technique (e.g. "walking against the wind" or "trapped in a box"), only to be inexplicably maimed. His exploits are also narrated by Tom Bodett.
- Katie Ka-Boom – A teen-aged girl, voiced by Laura Mooney, who greatly overreacts to trivially upsetting situations and turns into a comically violent and destructive monster, usually leaving the family home in ruins. She provides a parody of stereotypical teenage behavior, obviously modeled on the Incredible Hulk or She-Hulk. She lives with her parents and her younger brother, who appears briefly in the entire segment.
- Mary Hartless – A pastiche of Mary Hart. She appears as a newsreader with alternating hairstyles in Hurray for Slappy, Chairman of the Bored, Bubba Bo Bob Brain and Critical Condition. Voiced by Valeri Bromfield.
- Baloney the Dinosaur – An orange and green parody of Barney the Dinosaur. Baloney appears in the episode "Baloney and Kids" and other places that extreme torture is required such as the episode "The Please, Please, Please Get a Life Foundation" Voiced by Jeff Bennett.
- Death – The archetypically portrayed Grim Reaper, with black robe, skeletal appearance, and scythe. In Meatballs or Consequences, the Warner siblings challenge him to a game of checkers. He sports a Swedish accent, which, along with the checkers game, are references to the chess game against Death in Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's 1956 film The Seventh Seal.[4][5]
Wakko's Wish characters
- King Salazar – The antagonist. The dictator-king of Ticktockia, and the one who invaded Warnerstock. He is also the main adversary for the Warners. Upon conquering the kingdom, he sent the Warners, the true heirs to the throne, away, thinking he'd never see them again. He relies on Plotz, his taxman, to gather the heavy taxes in Warnerstock. When he learns of the wishing star, he orders Plotz to secure it for him. Somehow arriving at the star before the other characters, he has them imprisoned, and interrogates the Warners, who trick him into thinking they know something about the star. Although more serious than other characters, even he is driven nuts by the Warners, and orders them to be executed. Luckily they escape, but he fires the cannon personally, and appears to mortally wound Dot. He is then defeated when Wakko Warner makes his wish, two ha'pennies (half penny coins). When the Warners' royal heritage is revealed, he is kicked out of the palace (literally) and attacked by his own dogs. It is unknown if he died or not, but it is assumed so.
- The Warners' parents – King William the Good and Queen Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Second (so named as her daughter is Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third) only appear in a picture near the end of Wakko's Wish. After William's death (either by natural causes, disease or assassination) the country fell into uproar, before being conquered by Salazar. The Queen's fate is unknown, but it is likely she died too (although whether she died via natural causes, disease or in the uproar is unknown).
References