"Taming of the Screwy" is the 5th episode of the original Animaniacs and the first single-segment episode. It originally aired on September 17, 1993.
Theme Song
Variable Line
Dot: The rain in Spainy...
Taming of the Screwy
Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, Ltd.
Plot
Dr. Scratchansniff has to teach the Warners good manners for a party. However, this is a task easier said than done. When the Warners do learn good manners, they are kicked out of the party by Mr. Plotz, who wants to impress two Japanese producers. In the end, it is the Warners who host the great party.
Crew
- Story by Peter Hastings, Earl Kress and Tom Ruegger
- Written by Peter Hastings
- Directed by Alfred Gimeno
Songs
Trivia
- This is the first episode of Animaniacs to feature a full half-hour story.
- Part of "The Etiquette Song" was used in the intro in some versions of episode 62 (such as the DVD). The line "While Bill Clinton plays the sax" still played over it (in the version streaming on Hulu, the Bill Clinton scene plays properly.)
- In Season 2, the clip officially replaced the Bill Clinton footage, with a new line, "We got wisecracks by the stacks" replacing the Bill Clinton line. However, the non-English dubs kept the Bill Clinton line, but not the Bill Clinton footage. In Season 3, the footage of "The Etiquette Song" and the line "We got wisecracks by the stacks" were replaced by the line "We pay tons of income tax" with new animation of the Warners paying taxes.
- While the episode's title references the William Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew, the plot has far more in common with George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion and Lerner & Lowe's Broadway musical adaptation, My Fair Lady (which is also referenced in this episode's variable verse). The play involves a narcissistic professor of language taking a young Cockney flower girl off the street and teaching her to speak in an upper-crust English dialect in order to pass her off as a noblewoman at a ball (to win a bet).
- The shot of Wakko doing a rimshot on the drums would be reused in future episodes to emphasize a bad joke.
- It is shown that Yakko speaks in a perfect Japanese (where the show's animation studio originated) language. When translated into English, the conversation he has with Mr. Kato is:
Yakko: "Tokyo is an extremely interesting place, isn't it?"
Mr. Kato: "Please go there."
Yakko: "If there's still a place to go, eh?"
- The Warners' favorite movie stars are Michelle Pfeiffer (Yakko), Mel Gibson (Dot) and Don Knotts (Wakko).
- This is the appearance of the Dot's Pet running gag.
- Slappy Squirrel, Rita and Runt make cameos at the party. At the beginning of the cartoon, Chicken Boo is first mentioned when someone says, "It was a chicken, I tell ya! A giant chicken!"
- This is the first aired appearance of Mr. Director. The short "Hello Nice Warners" was produced before "Taming of the Screwy"[1] but aired afterward, making Mr. Director's appearance here really zany.
- Thaddeus Plotz's full name still has never been revealed at this point. He is referred to only as "T.P." (likely a pun on the shorthand term for toilet paper) and he is credited as "C.E.O."
- Celebrity guests at the studio party (in order of appearance):
- Robert Patrick (as the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
- Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon (as Thelma & Louise)
- Spike Lee
- Annette Bening
- Warren Beatty
- Bea Arthur
- Danny Devito (as the Penguin from Batman Returns)
- Mel Gibson
- Danny Glover
- Joe Pesci
- Sigourney Weaver (as Ellen Ripley from Alien3)
- Jerry Lewis (as Dot's "pet")
- Michael Keaton (as Batman)
- Jack Palance
- Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210)
- Michelle Pfeiffer (as Catwoman from Batman Returns)
- Mike Myers & Dana Carvey (as Wayne Campbell & Garth Algar)
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Billy Crystal (as Mitch Robbins from City Slickers)
- Jaleel White (as Steve Urkel from Family Matters)
- Gallagher
- Madonna
- The non-celebrity characters in this episode are Thing from The Addams Family and Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
- Geena Davis sounds exactly like Slappy. Joe Pesci sounds exactly like Pesto (which makes sense, since Pesto is a caricature of Pesci).
- Jack Palance doing a one-arm push-up is a reference to when he did it while accepting his Oscar for his role in City Slickers.
- Due to a resemblance, some viewers mistaken Billy Crystal for Ted Danson when seated with Whoopi Goldberg. This was because of the fact that 1993, when the episode was produced, was the same year Goldberg briefly dated Danson due to the two of them meeting on the set of Made in America. Billy Crystal wearing the cowboy outfit was supposed to reference his role in City Slickers, however Ted Danson wore a similar outfit in Made in America, playing a sleazy car salesman who wore blue jeans and a ten-gallon hat as part of his gag.
- This episode marks the first appearance of Mr. Director, though he is not identified as such, indicating he may be meant as a straight parody of Mr. Director's inspiration, Jerry Lewis.
- The Warner brothers Yakko and Wakko make a Sanrio reference when greeting Michelle Pfeiffer.
- At the beginning, a studio office worker is heard saying, "It was a chicken, I tell ya. A giant chicken." A catchphrase that would later be used in the "Chicken Boo" shorts.
- Yakko makes a reference to Shamu, an orca whale that was the star of an aquatic display at SeaWorld. While the original Shamu died in 1971, the "Shamu" name was still being used at SeaWorld at the time, being given to each subsquent orca brought in to replace the original.
- At the end of the first act, Scratchansniff says, "I've got a headache this big", a reference to a catchphrase in commercials for Excedrin: "I've got a headache this big and it's got 'Excedrin' written all over it." A variation of this joke would be used by Yakko during the credits of episode 84.
Quotes
- Wakko: (playing with a head statue of Dr. Scratchansniff) Ooh, a giant Pez dispenser! Want some?
- Dr. Scratchansniff: Stop playing with my bust!
- Yakko: (pause) Mwah, goodnight, everybody!
- Scratchansniff: But there's also bad news.
- Yakko: Bea Arthur's putting out a swimsuit calendar?
- Scratchansniff: She is?
- Dr. Scratchansniff: (demonstrating polite etiquette with Hello Nurse) How do you do? Now, Yakko, you try.
- Yakko: How do you do...that thing with your mouth?
- Scratchansniff: Now, how do we avoid bad elocution?
- Yakko: Stay inside during a thunderstorm?
- (Wakko does a rimshot on the drums)
- Yakko: Shamu wouldn't work under these conditions.
- Scratchansniff: But Shamu is not going to the party tonight!
- Bea Arthur: I'm putting out a swimsuit calendar.
- Danny DeVito: Please! Not while I'm eating!
- Jack Palance: Hey, Slappy, did you ever see this? (does a one-armed pushup like he did at the Oscars)
- Slappy: Save it for the Jack LaLanne story, bubele! (to Luke Perry) Y'know, you remind me of a very mature Jonny Quest.
- Tanaka: Mr. Kato would like to know who is responsible for this.
- Plotz: It was them! It was them! I had nothing to do with it! Don't look at me!
- Mr. Kato: Great party!
- Other Japanese investor: Great party!
- (both men laugh, then stop when Plotz begins to laughs)
- Plotz: Great party? Hehehe, yes, uh, great party... ehehehe.
- Madonna: Come on, you guys! We're gonna play truth or dare.
- Yakko: Well, there's a lesson to be learned from all this.
- Scratchansniff: What is that?
- Yakko: I don't know, but it's worth a billion dollars!
Cast
Transcript
Sources