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List of Animaniacs characters

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This is a list of fictional characters from the Warner Bros. animated television series Animaniacs.

Dot, Yakko, and Wakko

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 and a gag bag filled with tricks (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 are some of the few characters that actually appear in all the short skits, usually being chased by Ralph; most other characters are confined to their own segments.

Major supporting characters

  • Dr. Otto Scratchansniff - The Austrian-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.[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 skimpy apparel consists of a small white nurse cap and a white form-fitting dress, complete with abundant breasts and pencil-thin waist. Nurse is one of the sex kittens portrayed on Animaniacs. Her appearance almost always prompts the boys into lustfully exclaiming "Hellooooooo, Nurse!" and jumping into her slender arms and 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. Her characterization ranges between stereotypical blonde cluelessness to outright genius, as she states in Wakko's Wish that her "mean IQ [is] 192." In the latter characterizations, she laments that she is respected only for her looks and not her mind.[1]

  • Ralph - A dim-witted Warners Studio security guard charged with recapturing the Warners and confining them to the water tower. His voice and vocal mannerisms are reminiscent of early Warner Brothers cartoon secondary characters intended to parody the character of Lennie from the film adaptations of the novel Of Mice and Men. He first appeared in the Tiny Toon Adventures episode The Buster Bunny Bunch. He is voiced by Frank Welker.[2]

Coincidentally, Frank Welker also voiced a security guard called Dimwitty in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries in 1984.

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 Fondlesome, and the reason for his name change is presumed to remove a sexual reference. A parody of former ABC News reporter Sam Donaldson.
  • Wolf Spritzer - A newsreporter for the fictitious Newstime Live programme. A parody of Wolf Blitzer. 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 words such as "freunlaven!", "flamiel!", and "hoyl!".
  • Ms. Flamiel - the Warners' prim and easily frustrated schoolmarm teacher. When she is angered, she is notable for giving people F-grades, even when one protests her methods. She does this either by threats or drawing an F on their head with a marker. Eventually, the Warner children concoct a plan to ship her in a wooden crate, with her threatening inside it. Voiced by Tress MacNeille.
  • Dot's Pet - Dot's pet is a monstrous creature always kept in her pocket inside a small white jewellery 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 indimidate the Warners, or following the appearance of a xenomorph from Alien, in this instance Dot's pet always has a "tongue" similar to that of the xenomorph, with another mouth and set of teeth on the end. In one of these cases, Mr. Director was her pet.
  • 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. Voiced by Ben Stein.
  • Wally Llama - Parody of the Dalai Lama. Appears in Wally Llama.
  • The King - The King of France who appears in The Three Muska-Warners (although the opening introduction of 1575 may suggest that the King is an inaccurate depiction of Henry III of France). Voiced by Jeff Bennett.
  • 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.

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 (he is Brain and Pinky's rival)

Billie- A female mouse in which both Brain and Snowball are in love with (however she is more interested in Pinky), she first appeared in The World Can Wait

Pharfignewton- A white race horse, and Pinky's girlfriend

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.

Supporting characters

  • Walter Wolf - Slappy Squirrel's longtime nemesis. Voiced by Frank Welker in his first appearance, and Jess Harnell after that.
  • 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, who, much to his Grandfather's annoyance, often requests to smell him, after finally doing so (just after Stinkbomb had passed through the sewers) he falls over backwards, apparently unconscious, which leads Stinkbomb to sniff himself and comment that he: "never smelled better in his life!" 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.
  • 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). 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 Pigeon 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 female counterparts. One, Sasha, is Squit's girlfriend and Pesto's sister, her temper being just as flare-fire as his is. Lana is Bobby's girl, a sultry-voiced parody of the Vicki Moriarty character from Raging Bull, and lastly Kiki, Pesto's girlfriend, is the stereotypical dumb-blonde type.

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 Hoffmann in "Rain Man".

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. Appears in No Place Like Homeless, a crossover episode between Rita and Runt and Goodfeathers.

Mindy and Buttons

Mindy and Buttons - a heroic Lassie-like dog (voiced by Frank Welker) and the accident-prone toddler (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) he is sworn to protect. The comedy of their shorts is based on the premise that, no matter what, Mindy always ends up exactly where her mother leaves her at the start of the skit, having narrowly avoided death a half dozen times, while the heroic Buttons gets berated for some minor damage he or his mistress, Mindy causes (i.e trampling a flower bed) while trying to keep Mindy alive. Mindy is best known for her persistent asking "Why?!", and once the other character is at the peak of irritation, her signature "Okay I love you bye-bye!" She also calls her mother "Lady" and her father "Mr. Man". The characters of this cartoon are similar to Baby Herman and Roger Rabbit.

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 "Mommy"). 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 whom like his wife, has an unknown face. He also has the same attitude towards Buttons.

Minerva Mink

  • Minerva Mink - An attractive and 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; that, and money. She has a loose attitude & behaves like a primadonna. Was coined to be named Marilyn Mink in pre-production.

Supporting characters

  • Newt Dog - A hunting dog who is always trying to catch Minerva in order to bring her pelt home to his master. However, Minerva's charms always get the better of him, and his plans are foiled every time. His methods of catching Minerva can be compared to Wile E Coyote, for the reason that they usually backfire on him. Voiced by Arte Johnson, in a parody of his iconic Laugh-In Nazi soldier character.
  • Wilford B. Wolf - A nerdy wolf who changes into a sexy Fabio Lanzoni-esque werewolf during a full moon. While his name pays tribute to Wendell T. Wolf of Taz-Mania, his mannerisms seem more reminiscent of Goofy. His transformed state basically makes him the male answer to Minerva, as his appearance induces the same reaction to ladies that Minerva has on men - going crazy and falling into wild takes. He appears in Moon over Minerva.

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.
  • Baby Robin - Featured in a short where a robin's nest hatches while the mother robin is away and a baby bird sees a B-1 bomber fly by, to which it mistakingly 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 (i.e. nothing but a false beard) gets accidentally removed, at which point, everyone seems shocked at the revelation.
  • 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 and featured in a parody of Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands. These clips were narrated by humorist and Motel 6 spokesman Tom Bodett. Mr. Skullhead first appeared on Tiny Toon Adventures as an ornament on Elmyra's bow. 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 has comically violent overreactions to trivially "embarrassing" situations in 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"
  • Death - The archetypally 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.[1][2]

Wakko's Wish characters

  • King Salazar- The dictator-king of Ticktockia, and the one who invaded Warnerstock. 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. When the Warners' royal heritage is revealed, he is kicked out of the palace (literally) and attacked by his own dogs. His fate afterwards is unknown.
  • 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 ordered by Salazar) 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

  1. ^ a b c "De-Zanitized". Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 1. 1993-09-13. FOX Kids.
  2. ^ "A Christmas Plotz". Animaniacs. Season 1. Episode 49. 1993-12-06. FOX Kids.
  3. ^ "The Animaniacs Bible".
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