Pinky is an animated cartoon character from the television series Animaniacs. Later, he starred alongside The Brain in their own spin-off animated television series called Pinky and the Brain and even later in Pinky, Elmyra & The Brain. These latter series were produced by Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. Animation, and aired from 1995 to 1998 on The WB television network, running for 65 episodes. Pinky and The Brain reappeared in the 2020 Animaniacs revival.
Origin[]
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Pinky is a genetically modified mouse who shares the same cage with The Brain at ACME Labs but is substantially less bright. He speaks with a heavy Cockney accent (though English people familiar with genuine Cockney accents may well dispute this). He frequently says nonsensical interjections such as "narf", "zort","poit", and "troz" (the last of which Pinky started saying after noticing it was "'zort' in the mirror"). He also used "fjord" and "gnurf" on unique occasions. Rob Paulsen won an Emmy Award For Outstanding Performance In An Animated Program for this role in 1999. Series creator Ruegger based Pinky on former Tiny Toon Adventures screenwriter/director Eddie Fitzgerald (who has also worked on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and Ren & Stimpy) who is said to have constantly said "Narf" around the Tiny Toons production office.
Personality[]
Although Pinky is an albino lab mouse like The Brain is, he has a straighter tail, a severe overbite, and is taller than the Brain. Happy, lovable, cute, insane, dim-witted, sweet, friendly, these personality traits is what makes Pinky, Pinky. Pinky is described to be 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 despite 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, The Brain.
Name[]
Pinky's name was given to him by Brain, thinking that Brain was calling him when in fact Brain was referring to his own pinky digit, when insulting some scientists while talking to himself.
The Real "Genius?"[]
Pinky has a number of unusual special skills and abilities, something like "magic" but caused by his genetic engineering. Most notably, he occasionally levitates, but also has been known to come up with incredible insights on the scale that one would expect from Brain, contrasting with his otherwise stupid appearance. The viewer might consider that Brain should be frustrated by the success that could have been possible if he'd listened to or asked Pinky about the situation and/or plan, but Brain rarely shows anything more than a confused or sarcastic face and sometimes a comment, and usually near the end of the episode. The show's theme song informs us that "One is a genius, the other insane." Pinky's unpredictable and startling insight versus Brain's rather more plodding and stubborn approach to "taking over the world," has led more than one fan to suggest that Pinky is, in fact, the real genius rather than Brain. In at least one instance, Pinky had much of an episode centering around himself wherein he took on some of Brain's motivation for taking over the world. This episode has Pinky becoming extremely successful at ruling at least a town, but of course the whole thing is put through the wringer of Pinky's 'clockwork orange' view of things, hence Pinky's choice of naming the town: "I think I'll call it 'Shiny Pants', because everyone in there will want to wear shiny pants..." and goes on to describe his ultimate goal and the path to get there. Seeing Pinky's unexpected success, Brain is understood to wonder questions similar to many that have been asked for centuries: "why do people with such capacity for power seem to waste it on crazy things that work out somehow, but shouldn't?" In another episode, Pinky and the Brain use a time machine to go back to prehistory and give mice rather than humans the evolutionary edge. Quite by accident, Pinky ends up giving mice the needed technology; once they return to the present, Brain is horrified to discover that the newly-dominant mouse race is composed of individuals similar to Pinky rather than himself. Brain often asks Pinky about famous people when needed, for example when a basketball player was receiving attention, Brain asks why, which concludes in him using basketball to attempt to take over the world.
Appearances[]
- Main article: List of Pinky and the Brain episodes
Gallery[]
- Main article: Pinky/Gallery