Episode 4 (Reboot): Bun Control/Ex-Mousina/Bloopf

Bun Control/Ex Mousina/Bloopf is the fourth episode of the Animaniacs reboot.

Synopsis[]

The Warners fight a rabbit infestation caused by a deranged farmer. Brain’s robot "son" turns on him. A new app is born. ^[1]

Theme Song[]

Variable Verse[]

Dot: Never mansplain-ey.

Bun Control[]

Animation by Titmouse, Inc.
Anime parody segment animated by Studio Yotta

Plot[]

A farmer named Dwayne Lapistol moves into the Warner Bros. Studio Lot, and offers the Warners his bunnies. Although Yakko is hesitant at first on accepting care for the bunnies, Wakko and Dot convince Yakko to take two bunnies under their care, while Dwayne secretly starts spreading his bunnies all over the studio.

By the following morning, the bunnies multiply in rapid numbers, eventually infesting the Water Tower in complete. Yakko tries to return the bunnies back to Dwayne; who promptly refuses as he believe bunnies are better with people. After a failed attempt to convince CEO Nora Rita Norita over the situation, the Warners return and witness the Water Tower explode due to the multiplying bunnies. Fed up with the bunnies, Yakko, Wakko and Dot challenge Dwayne into an anime-style fight. The Warners use their abilities to their advantage, but are easily overpowered by Dwayne and his army of bunnies. On the brink of being drowned in a sea of bunnies, Wakko calls Australian dingos for help on "taking care of bun control"; whom quickly arrive at the scene and take the bunnies for buyback shipment along with Dwayne, who is trapped in a bag.

Crew[]

• Written by Jess Lacher and Andrew Barbot
• Directed by Scott O'Brien and Adriel Garcia

Trivia[]

• A running gag in this episode is the Warners' attempt to make a fruit sculpture of 16th-century Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Yakko even attempts to sing a "Yakko's World"-styled musical number about him.
• Dwayne LaPistol is a thinly-veiled parody of Wayne LaPierre, a gun rights activist and the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association.
• The dingo's scheme to initiate a "bun buyback" is a direct reference to Australia's gun buyback scheme that took place in 1996 as part of strict gun control laws passed in response to a mass shooting in Tasmania.
• The water tower bursting with bunnies might be a reference to episode 12 of the original series, in which the Warners slide down a mountain of Popcorn using skis.
• This segment features a sequence parodying anime battle fights; the sequence is animated by Studio Yotta in an anime art style.
  • It is also the first and only Animaniacs production to feature animation from Studio Yotta.
• In the anime battle with Dwayne, the Warners parody various anime series^[2]:
  • Yakko parodies Dragon Ball and Gurren Lagann, specifically taking design inspiration from the Gurren Lagann character Kamina.
    • Yakko's running animation parodies the running animation of Anizawa Meito from the Gainax OVA Anime Tenchou.
  • Dot parodies Sailor Moon and Kill La Kill, specifically taking design inspiration from Kill la Kill character Ryūko Matoi.
  • Wakko parodies a type of character design usually depicted in shows made by Studio Gainax and Studio Trigger, such as Kill la Kill, Gurren Lagann, Little Witch Academia, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, etc.
  • Their tails are also shaped like Pikachu's from Pokémon.
  • Dwayne's bunny cannons are a spoof of Itano Circus, an animation technique consisting of multiple animated missles firing at once; a term originating from the work of animator Ichirō Itano from his animation on the series Macross.
• Thaddeus Plotz appears in the episode in a portrait in Nora Rita Norita’s office, making it his first cameo within the reboot series.
• Rita and Runt were originally meant to appear in a poster parodying the "Hang in there, Baby!" motivational poster. Runt appears to be traced from a screenshot from "'Twas the Day Before Christmas." ^[3]
  • Bugs Bunny was also going to make a cameo, but he got cut from the episode as they thought that it wouldn't work.
• This is the first time that when Yakko starts singing a song, he gets cut off short by something or someone else. This happened again in Manny Manspreader.
• The Animal Fair, Old MacDonald and America the Beautiful are the songs playing in the background of this cartoon. In addition, the Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda plays when the dingoes are parachuting from the sky.

Gallery[]

The "Anime-niacs"

Production Art[]

Anime design concept sheets are designed by Genevieve Tsai.

Scrapped "Hang In There, Rita!" poster

Anime Yakko concept art. The bottom left sketch is a reference to the manga series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

Anime Yakko concept art.

Anime Yakko concept art.

Anime Wakko Warner concept art.

Anime Wakko concept art.

Anime Wakko concept art.

Anime Dot Warner concept art.

Anime Dwayne concept art

Revised animation frame by Tina Tomar.

Revised animation frame by Tina Tomar.

Revised animation by Tina Tomar.

Revised animation by Tina Tomar.

Revised animation by Tina Tomar.

Revised animation by Tina Tomar.

Revised animation by Tina Tomar.

Animaniacs (2020) - Anime Scene Rough Animation

Line art animation for several scenes of the anime parody sequence by Sadewa Dika

Anime sequence backgrounds by Greg Bartlett.

Animation-Cleanup Demo Reel 2024

Preliminary animation for the anime parody sequence by Ivan Odongkara (at 1:45 in the video), featuring early animation of Dot's introduction

Anime sequence backgrounds by Greg Bartlett.

Anime sequence backgrounds by Greg Bartlett.

Anime sequence backgrounds by Greg Bartlett.

Ex-Mousina[]

Animation by Snipple Animation Studios

Plot[]

Brain is working on a new invention to take over the world and Pinky is very curious to see what it is. Brain presents it as the Binary Rodent Artificially Intelligent Nanotechnology, or B.R.A.I.N. for short. Brain decides to have B.R.A.I.N. as his son, so he can help with his evil plans to take over the world. After Brain sings a song about bonding with B.R.A.I.N. (Bonding), he proposes his plan. B.R.A.I.N. says that it will not work, and it does not make sense. Brain tries other ideas, but B.R.A.I.N. suggests his own plan, which includes destroying both Pinky and Brain. B.R.A.I.N. grows into a cybernetic abomination and asks them for any last words. Pinky asks a stupid question which makes B.R.A.I.N.'s system explode because of an error. After he explodes, Pinky and Brain clean up the spare parts and Brain says that tomorrow night they will try to take over the world again.

Crew[]

• Written by Greg White, Lucas Crandles, and Timothy Nash
• Directed by Scott O'Brien

Songs[]

• Bonding

Trivia[]

• This is the second time Brain has a "child" of sorts. The first time was back in the 1996 Pinky and the Brain episode "Brinky," where Pinky and Brain's DNA gets mixed up into a clone named Romy.
• Pinky defeats B.R.A.I.N with a “logic bomb” in a similar matter to how Captain Kirk and would defeat computers and robots in Star Trek: The Original Series.
• Pinky's desire for a fatherly bond is alluded to here. This most likely stems from the tumultuous nature of his father's behavior, which is later mentioned in "Roadent Trip".

Bloopf[]

Animation by Titmouse

Plot[]

The Warners take center stage in a convention dedicated to a social media app called Bloopf, which lets users upload videos at 1/10th of a second.

After showing the top 10 videos on Bloopf, the Warners discover Bloopf's acquisition and shutdown by an app company named Spooder; which provides an app that emits blinding lights and sounds only dogs can hear.

Crew[]

• Written by Kathleen Chen and Brian Polk
• Directed by Erik Knutson

Trivia[]

• Bloopf is a parody of micro-video services such as Vine and TikTok.
• While presenting Bloopf on stage, the Warners parody Steve Jobs, conjointly wearing the same shirt and clothes as well as walking across the stage similar to his Apple Keynote presentations.

International Releases[]

• Canada: November 20, 2020 (Teletoon)
• Latin America: August 14, 2021 (HBO Max)
• Australia: September 1, 2021 (Stan)

Cast[]

References[]