Title: | Pinky and the Brain |
Rating | ![]() |
Start - end: | 1995 - 1998 |
Studio: | Warner Bros Animation |
Official site: | Pinky and the Brain official site | Rate: |
Intellectually, Brain sees his inevitable rise to power as beneficial to the world rather than mere megalomania. An example of this being what he truly believes can be seen in Wakko's Wish where he stated to Pinky "We're on our way to fame, fortune and a world that's a better place for all," showing while he does envision himself becoming world leader, he wants to make everything greater for everyone. In one episode, when Brain finds himself under the influence of hypnosis by a psychologist he had planned to manipulate for one of his schemes (none other than Sigmund Freud), it is revealed that Brain lived in a can with his parents when he was young. The researchers took him from his home, and the last he saw of it was a picture of the world on the side of the can. The psychologist speculates that Brain's hunger to take over the world stems from needing to get his world back.
The Brain was voiced by Maurice LaMarche, who based the voice on that of Orson Welles, with a measure of Vincent Price thrown in for eeriness.
Pinky
Pinky is another genetically modified mouse who shares the same cage at Acme Labs, but is substantially less bright. He speaks with an exaggerated cockney accent. He frequently uses nonsensical interjections, such as "narf", "zort", "poit", and "troz" (the last of which Pinky started saying after noticing it was "zort in the mirror"). Although Pinky is also an albino lab mouse like the Brain, he has a straighter tail, blue eyes, a severe overbite, and is taller than the Brain. Pinky's name is given to him by Brain, thinking that Brain was calling to him when in fact Brain was referring to his pinky digit.
Pinky is more open-minded than the Brain and much more up-beat. He doesn't let troubles ruin his day, mostly because he's too scatter-brained to notice them. Pinky also works with Brain notwithstanding the fact that Brain insults him constantly and often beats him over the head. However, Pinky actually seems to enjoy this, laughing after every hit. Pinky is just happy spending time with his best friend. Pinky is also more attuned to the world at large, due to a large amount of time watching television or following other popular culture fads; as such, he tends to think in less rigorous patterns than the Brain, and has offered solutions that Brain would have not come up with. Pinky has a number of unusual special abilities, something like 'magic', but caused by his genetic engineering. Most notably, he occasionally levitates, and also is apparently capable of telekinesis, as seen when he levitated a fruit in a bowl.
Pinky is voiced by Rob Paulsen.
Other characters
Billie MouseSnowball the hamster, Brain's former friend, made several appearances as an antithesis to Brain. The two were both subjected to genetic splicing, and thus both became super-intelligent. However when he went through the machine something went wrong, making him much more violent and (possibly) more intelligent. After the experiment he developed a great disdain for Brain and a desire to prove his superiority over him which is one of his reasons for dabbling in global conquest. While Brain's wish to rule the world is more or less benign (he seems to think he can run the world better than it currently is), Snowball's desire to rule the world is dangerous and if he were to gain long-lasting dominion over the planet, he would probably destroy it, and Brain considers that stopping Snowball is equivalent to "saving the world".Snowball is also truly notable in that he is the only Warner Bros. cartoon character to be permanently "killed off" onscreen; during the 3 part season finale "Brainwashed", he accidentally runs through the mutation machine, causing him to lose his own intelligence and ending up as a normal hamster.Snowball was voiced by the late Roddy McDowall.
Billie is a female mouse who seems to have the traits of Pinky, yet is actually very intelligent, introduced in "The World Can Wait". Both Brain and Snowball are in love with her because of her intellect (Brain actually loved her before she became intelligent); however, she has a crush on Pinky because she likes his easygoing personality. She ponders why Pinky remains loyal to Brain and tries to separate Pinky from him. Billie was voiced by Tress MacNeille.
Larry, Brain, and Pinky try to get out of a Three Stooges-type situationLarry is another white laboratory mouse featured in the episode "Pinky and the Brain?and Larry", and made a cameo in "The Pinky and the Brain Reunion Special".A parody of the Stooge Larry, Larry's existence in "Pinky and the Brain...and Larry" is never explained, and foreshadows the addition of new characters to an already established cast; this episode was written as a response to demands from Kids WB executives to include additional characters on the show.Larry was voiced by Billy West.
Pharfignewton is a racing mare version of Pinky introduced in "Jockey for Position"; she and Pinky fell in love with each other, much to Brain's disbelief.Pharfignewton's name is a pun on "Fahrvergn?gen", Volkswagen's marketing slogan of the 1980s, as well as a reference to the racehorse Phar Lap, and the well-known US cookies Fig Newtons. Pharfignewton was played by Frank Welker.
Maurice is a humanoid vegetable from the episode Brain Acres. Brain's scheme was to get create an army of giant produce. Maurice was the prototype but had a personality more like Pinky. After moving to the country, Maurice trains to be a sheepcarrot in the upcoming fair. He believed that he could herd sheep just as well as dogs. He would end up saving the people from the produce monsters, but would meet a tragic ending. All of the mutant vegetables had a limited lifespan outside the soil. With Brain's insistence, Pinky had to plant a his friend at the end of the story. Maurice was played by Frank Welker.
Roman Numeral One ("Romy" for short) was the combined clone of both Brain and Pinky. He was part of Brain's plan to "franchise" by creating a clone of himself, then the clone and himself would create two clones, then the clones would do the same, and so on and so on. During the cloning process Pinky was cutting his toenails, which fell into the cloning machine without Brain's knowledge. The clone grows from infant to adult within a few days. When the clone reaches almost full adulthood Brain begins to realize the clone is different from him because its first words are Narf and it has Pinky's teeth. He's shocked when he finds out Romy is Pinky's child (when Pinky says "I'm a mommy!" after finding out about the toenail fiasco, Brain goes on to explain how this isn't the case that the clone only shares both their DNA, then bemoans "Oh my...you are its mommy!"), but still planned to use him to take over the world. Romy however, does not want to and eventually leaves over this fact (and because of Brain and Pinky's constant bickering). He begins living with a woman he met at a bar (a fact that when Brain finds out he's shocked about). Brain and Pinky eventually find him and Brain accepts him for who he is, going so far as to tell Romy to call him Dad. Romy has Pinky's silliness, naivete, buck teeth, and height, but has Brain's bulbous head, eyes, (some) oratory skills, and aggressive behaviour.As a baby, Romy is voiced by Maurice LaMarche and later he is voiced by Rob Paulsen.
Other characters that have appeared on the show have included both Brain's parents,and Pinky's parents and "sister" (an empty spool of thread),Later seasons also feature recurring caricatures of celebrities, including both Bill and Hillary Clinton and Christopher Walken.