Release date: November 20, 2020
Opening line: (Dot) Have no shame-y!
Jurassic Lark: Steven Spielberg reintroduces the "reanimated" Animaniacs with a spoof of one of his most famous movies.
Suspended Animation: The Warners return to the studio lot after 22 years and see that everything's changed and must decide if they want to stay or not.
Of Mice and Memes: Brain tries to make a meme so he take over the world, but fails.
Tropes found in "Jurassic Lark":
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: A large shadow appears over the horizon in the shape of a sauropod, only for it to be the combined shadows of Yakko, Wakko and Dot.
- Cold Open: The segment opens the episode and appears right before the theme song.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Ian Malcolm uses the term "Son of a gun" rather that the movie's "Son of a bitch."
- Jurassic Farce: The entire segment is a parody of the Brachiosaurus scene from Jurassic Park, complete with John Williams' score playing throughout.
- Mythology Gag: The animation cel that Dr. Sattler holds up features the Warners' original designs and is based on a pose from "De-Zanitized."
- They're Back: The sequence is treated like this for the Warners' return (as well as the show itself), as the Jurassic Park cast is elated to see them again.
Tropes found in "Suspended Animation":
- Answer Cut: After the Warners avoid getting caught in a trap rigged in the water tower, Yakko asks "What dummy thought that would work?" before cutting to Ralph in his station.
- At Least I Admit It: After Yakko rants about reboots showing a fundamental lack of creativity in Hollywood, an exec comes in with the Warners' billion-dollar payment for their reboot, prompting Wakko to say "when we sell out, we know we're selling out, so it's cool".
- Behind the Black: Somehow, while Ralph was stuttering, the Warners switch places with him in the net he caught them in.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor - a lot of jokes, both in the Shout-Out and Take That! form, are targets at companies who would be involved in their resurrections:
- Warner Bros. Animation - Animation Company who made it
- Warner Bros. - owner of the Animation Company above and has co-ownership in Hulu
- Disney - has controlling interest over Hulu
- Hulu - company who brought it back
- Call-Back: Right before "Reboot It!" in the second half, as Yakko says he can sing a satrical Take That! song about reboots, Dot says they just did it right before "Pinky and The Brain" as their leitmotif is briefly heard in the background music. Dot was right: The Warners literally sang about what happened in the last 22 years, right before Pinky and The Brain show up.Yakko: I bet we can sing a bitingly satirical song about it...Dot: Didn't we just do that right before "Pinky and The Brain"?
- Dope Slap: Yakko does this to an already battered Wakko after remembering that the water tower's door is a pull, not a push.
- Establishing Character Moment/Establishing Series Moment: In the first two minutes, The Warners try come up with a first line to establish that their reboot can satisfy both new and old generation viewers. When Yakko and Wakko waste their opportunity, they turn to Dot to make a first impression. She does so via giant hammer.Dot: 22 years later and I'm still a knockout.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: A major plot point is the Warners find out how much pop culture has evolved and changed since the original Animaniacs went off the air.Yakko: Quantum mechanics... Quinoa wraps... Queen Bey... We've missed so much!
- Hey, That's My Line!: When Yakko swallows a tablet, Wakko takes offense to him infringing on his character.Wakko: Hey! I'm the "eating stuff" guy!
- Hypocritical Humor: The Warners perform a Take That! song at the reboot formula, and are then seen with Hulu merchandise and given a check to reboot their own show. At least they admit to selling out.
- I Choose to Stay: The Warners thought reboots are shameful and prepare to head back to their suspended modes...right before being given a HUGE sellout check from Hulu. Wakko thought being sellouts are cool so they decide to stay and enjoy their new life while it lasts.Wakko: Yeah, but when we sell out, we KNOW we're selling out, so it's cool.
- Ingesting Knowledge: As wordplay on the word “tablet”, Yakko swallows an iPad and learns a lot of current events.
- List Song: Both parts contain songs like this. Part 1 has a song about all the things the Warners have missed since 1998, Part 2 is all about different reboots of recent years.
- Literal-Minded: When Nora shows the Warners a tablet that "contains all human knowledge", Yakko assumes the "tablet" is a pill and proceeds to swallow it with a glass of water. It actually works and he instantly obtains every bit of news up to this point.
- Mood Whiplash: Right after the epic "Catch-Up" in the first half, we immediately cut to "Pinky and the Brain" as the Warners take their well-earned rest.
- Painful Rhyme: In "Reboot It", Wakko rhymes "Fargo" with "Sandi-ah-go".
- "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: Part 1 ends as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot finish their "Catch-Up" song, the camera pans up to a clear blue sky over the Warner Bros. Studio as a heartwarming way for fans to welcome back the Warners to the small screen after 22 years, complete with a final line from Dot to finish Part 1. Yes, their new adventures have just begun.Dot: Best. Day. EVER!
- Production Lead Time: Lampshaded. During their "Catch-Up Song", the Warners acknowledge that the script for this episode was written in 2018, forcing them to make wild guesses about what's happened after that year.
- Reboot Snark: The "Reboot It!" number sees the Warners make fun of several television properties that had recently gotten reboots/revivals at the time of airing (including The X-Files, Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, Gilmore Girls, and DuckTales (1987)), calling them devoid of creativity...before accepting a huge sell-out check from Hulu to revive their show.Wakko: When we sell out, we know we're selling out, so it's cool.
- The Reveal: The end credits reveal the new CEO's name to be Nora Rita Norita.
- Shout-Out:
- The musical number about what has happened after 1998 has a bit where the Warners mention how they've run out of 90s jokes, and it proceeds to show a shot of them referencing various 90s shows such as Friends and Blossom (with Bill Clinton even playing the former show's theme on the sax!).
- The song about television reboots references Charmed, The X-Files, Full House, Murphy Brown, Melrose Place, Lost in Space, That's So Raven, Will & Grace, Dynasty, Blue's Clues, Twin Peaks, Fargo, Carmen Sandiego, Looney Tunes, Queer Eye, and DuckTales, all of which have or have had reboots. Also, they mention My Super Sweet Sixteen as if it were a reboot of Sweet Sixteen.
- A nonexistent reboot of The Golden Girls is also mentioned.
- Additionally, the ghost of Bea Arthur closes the first episode like Tinker Bell.
- Before the song, they briefly mention that Star Trek is back.
- Song Style Shift: The "Catch-Up" song starts off as steady classical piece, but deeper into the song the song starts to pick up the pace, and in the finale it switches over to a pop finale complete with drums, strings, acoustic and electric guitars and just as it's about to explode for a big finish, it just ends softly.
- Take That!:
- The Warners run over expies of Wonder Woman, Batman, Gandalf, and Harry Potter.
- Their song "Reboot It" takes a not-so-subtle swing about reboots, reimagining, and Sequel Series of old shows being treated as a lazy way out for Hollywood.
- One sight gag depicts a row of TVs displaying Bland-Name Product versions of various real-life news networks. The ones for NBC News and Fox News respectively dub them "Newsish" and "Fake News."
- Tempting Fate: Part 1 ends with Dot thinking coming back after 22 years was the best day ever. Well, wait till she sees the practices of reboots in part 2...right after Pinky and The Brain.
- Two-Part Episode: The story takes up with two segments, with "Of Mice and Memes" placed in between them, which follows the Warners making the decision if they want to stay and try to adjust to the new world they'll be living in, but still keep the water tower.
- Use Your Head: In an attempt to get into the water tower, Yakko and Dot use Wakko as a battering ram. It doesn't work.
- Verbal Backspace: As part of their catch-up song, Yakko sings about Donald Trump, but backpedals:Yakko: 🎵And now there's a President Trum— 🎵At least we think there's still a President Trump. You see, the writers are writing this in 2018.
- By the time the reboot premiered, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had been already elected president and vice-president of the United States on November 7th, 2020, about one week before the show aired. Soooo...they're good.
- Visual Pun: As Dot sings about foreign movies being remade for American audiences (like Oldboy), she is shown painting a fence white. Whitewashing.
- Way Past the Expiration Date: Upon returning to the water tower, Wakko is happy to find a sandwich of his that has been untouched since 1998, which had become stale and moldy in the meantime.Wakko: 22-years-and-five-second rule!
Tropes found in "Of Mice and Memes":
- Amusing Injuries: Brain ends up getting caught of a globe of the earth and gets hit by the Himalayas. Pinky records it and posts it online, where it becomes instantly popular.
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?: "I think so, Brain, but if I clone myself, how will I know which one to shoot if he turns evil?"
- Been There, Shaped History: The ubiquity of smartphones and tablets in the present day is actually part of the Brain's plan to send mind-controlling videos to everyone.
- Bland-Name Product: InstaGratification is a parody of Instagram.
- Goo Goo Getup: Brain's first attempt at a viral video involves him dressing as a baby.Brain: Laugh now, for I am an adult mouse costumed as a baby.
- The Internet Is for Cats: Brain's latest plan hinges on the fact that most people in the 21st century will use the Internet to share funny animal videos, based entirely on observing how popular funny animal video TV shows were in 1998.
- Long Game: Brain's plan to take over the world with a viral video requires him to first spend 22 years inventing a means to distribute said video to everyone in the world.
- Shout-Out: The Time-Passes Montage is set to the theme of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
- Take That!: Late Night with Seth Meyers is portrayed as a canned laughter show with hit-or-miss jokes and a dodgy viewership. Seth himself is portrayed as a Smug Snake (complete a coffee mug that says "smug") who gives a shit-eating grin bordering on Slasher Smile.
- Team Rocket Wins: First episode of the reboot, and the Brain's plan actually manages to be successful in becoming a worldwide sensation. In a sense, he finally takes over the world... until Pinky submits another video of a different animal and adds the mind control filter to that one. Then it's back to square one.
- Time-Passes Montage: The short opens in 1998 and uses one of these to show Brain preparing for his plan to take over the world for 22 years.
- That's what's going on in the world today, it’s as crazy now, as when we went away.Our ratings depend on knowing the trends...We're all caught up! That's how our new adventures can begin!Dot: Best. Day. EVER!!!
