A Trailer For The 'Animaniacs' Reboot Has Dropped, Reminding People That The Show Has Always Had Political Humor
The internet got its first look at the Animaniacs reboot today, 22 years after the final episode of the show aired. 13 new episodes are set to air on Hulu on November 20th, and another batch of 13 episodes are planned to be released sometime in 2021.
The trailer shows off the series' self-aware and adult-pitched sense of humor, as Yakko opens the trailer by bemoaning the flood of reboots in Hollywood before he, Wakko, and Dot take their reboot cash and the trailer proper begins.
The trailer also features some modern jokes, as Pinky bemoans getting "catfished" on dating apps, Yakko swallows a tablet (as in an iPad) and obtains the sum of all human knowledge, and a brief cut to what looks like an anime sketch featuring the three main characters.
While most of the internet was hyped for the trailer, there were some grumblings about what was seen as political content in the trailer, including a Trump-like Cyclops and Dot saying "never mansplain-y" during the theme song.
This tweet by user @PelleCreepy was the loudest among a minority of commenters who bemoaned the trailer's political humor, but as rumors of backlash spread on Twitter, users brought up plenty of times in the Animaniacs original run where the show went for political jokes and satire.
Still, the majority of commentary after the trailer dropped was excitement, particularly about the half-second shot showing Yakko, Wakko and Dot as anime characters.
By the looks of the trailer, it seems like the Animaniacs reboot might just be one of the only good things to come out of 2020.
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BaronVonJello
inb4 1993 Yakko descends from the heavens to tell 2020 Yakko that he's the best and anyone who says otherwise is a poopy poop mouth with poop opinions.
Timey16
I guess it's easier to ignore political humor in old cartoons because:
1. when the show was new you were too young to care for politics
2. now that you are older and could notice the topic in question was so long ago you don't remember it (since you were a kid then)
And that makes it easier to think that "there was no politics in old media". Even if it may not necessarily be true.
dragonslider12
Scientists and Science Fiction Writers often expressed their concerns for A.I. becoming self-aware when we should have been afraid of reboots becoming self-aware.
King Crimson
Animaniacs has always made fun of presidents so the Trump thing really doesn't surprise me at all, but boy oh boy did that "mansplain-y" line make me roll my eyes hard.
Concerned Troll
The show's always been political, but it's a broad sort of humor, as I recall, not the sort where the villain says a fantasy version of MAGA and stares at the camera for three seconds (…not that I have a specific example in mind…). Trump as a cyclops, to be fair, not only seems like their style, it sounds like something they might have done in the nineties. I haven't seen it, though; it could well be cringy.
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A self-aware lazy cash-out reboot is still a lazy cash-out reboot.
And no, it's not "omg political joke in cartoon, le sigh" – it's that in the 90s, political commentary in animation (outside of wartime propaganda) was still a relatively new and edgy thing that only became mainstream with The Simpsons, and it tended to be a lot more equal opportunity. Now I've basically accepted that if I want to watch something without a lazy political joke I'll need to read subtitles.
Gumshoe
90s Simpsons was very light on any political commentary, at least in the sense of commenting on politicians or what they stood for. George HW Bush (and Gerald Ford) was a neighbour for one episode, but it never mentions anything he did in office, he's just there for Bart and Homer to play pranks on. Al Gore is sometimes portrayed as being dull. Bill Clinton gets a few short jabs along the way, and there's one Halloween short based around the election, but again, nothing that actually takes any sides or makes fun of the candidates themselves.
I don't expect Animaniacs to be doing jokes particularly more pointed than the kind that were made back then.
Timey16
Wut? Simpsons was absolutely specifically made as a satire show. Yeah it never really pointed at politicians directly but almost every episode had some aspect of society in it they were satirizing. Which by default often becomes political, let's say the episode where homer goes to space was also a criticism.
Don't limit political topics to just showing/namedropping parties and politicians, but rather societal topics at the time. You are thinking about the most simplistic form of political satire being the ONLY form of political satire.
There is a reason the Simpsons used to be HIGHLY controversial among conservatives during the late 80s and early 90s or to quote Reagan "we need more families like the Waltons and less like the Simpsons".
"Last Exit to Springfield" for example, one of the most popular episodes, was entirely to criticize the exploding healthcare costs (they were already expensive in the 90s and about to explode), and the decline of trade unions.
Krazy Kricketune
Look i am all for political humor as long as it isnt just the generic DURR TRUMP IS ORANGE memes we been getting for about 4 years… I want something fresh, from this reboot…
Roth
All I ask is that the joke is actually funny.
Gumshoe
I also don't want some tired Trump joke with a bad voice over and nothing new to add and a bad Trump voice impression (like I'd say the Simpsons tends to do with their online sketches), but people are complaining based on a single still image of a cyclops that just looks like Trump. Maybe it will still be a lousy, but at the very least, making it about a cyclops is a bit more abstract than normal.
Princeso Bubblegum
did these people miss the "black light" joke?
RemChi
W…What was political about it they turned on a blacklight and it became a rave?
Princeso Bubblegum
all the people at the rave were black
RemChi
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