The Brain redirects here. For the Arthur character who goes by that nickname, see Alan Powers.
Pinky and the Brain are a pair of animated characters from the Warner Bros. animated television series Animaniacs, appearing in a series of segments that were so popular that the two would also star in their own series later on. They are two genetically-altered laboratory mice, typically depicted living in a cage in Acme Labs. Brain is the shorter, smarter one of the two, as his name suggests, while Pinky is the taller, dim-witted one who frequently lets his mind wander. Each night, the two embark on enacting Brain's plans to take over the world, as he believes that he would do a better job running it than the humans, though they never succeed at this task. Despite his scheming, self-centered and short-tempered personality, however, Brain does have a soft and tender side that is shown on certain occasions, such as the Christmas productions.
Appearances in Christmas specials[]
Animaniacs[]
The duo's first appearance in a Christmas production was a cameo in the first Animaniacs Christmas segment, "'Twas the Day Before Christmas". Disguised respectively as Santa Claus and an elf, Brain and Pinky climb on top of the Warner Bros. Studio's water tower, planning to hijack the real Santa's sleigh for Brain's current world domination plan. Unfortunately for Brain, Pinky accidentally knocks him off of the tower, and then, after he has climbed back up, they are both crushed under the weight of the sleigh used by Ralph the Guard when he shows up to bring Yakko, Wakko and Dot's presents.
Pinky and the Brain also made a very brief cameo in "The Twelve Days of Christmas", the first Christmas-themed Animaniacs segment produced after the show moved from Fox Kids to Kids' WB! Here, they are shown as members of the orchestra providing the music to the Little Blue Bird's performance of the titular song.
Pinky and the Brain's latest Christmas cartoon is "How the Brain Thieved Christmas", a two-part segment in the Animaniacs reboot. In it, Brain is annoyed by the incessant caroling that is foiling his current world domination plans, and he tries to steal Christmas by creating a popular toy that is simple, pointless, and incredibly irritating, using Pinky as his inspiration.
Pinky and the Brain[]
When Pinky and the Brain became its own series, the characters starred in their own Christmas special, "A Pinky and the Brain Christmas". In this Emmy-winning episode, Brain creates a doll in his likeness, called Noodle Noggin, which broadcasts hypnotic orders from him. He plans to have these Noodle Noggin dolls distributed into every home on Earth and then broadcast a hypnotic suggestion to everyone that he should be their ruler. The two travel to Santa Claus's workshop and apply for jobs in the mail room so that Brain can add Noodle Noggin dolls to everyone's wish lists, and then get the elves to mass-produce them. All the while, Pinky wants to bring his own letter to Santa, but Brain continually tells him to forget about it. When they make it back to Acme Labs, they accidentally wreck Brain's hypnotic transmitting equipment, but he manages to repair it in time for his planned broadcast. During this, however, Pinky finds that he was never able to deliver his own letter to Santa and is reduced to tears about it. Brain initially does not care about this, but after he reads the letter, which says that all Pinky wanted was for his best friend to be happy, Brain breaks down sobbing, realizing how much of a jerk he has been to Pinky. When it comes time to broadcast his hypnotic message, Brain instead commands everyone in the world to have a Merry Christmas, and afterwards destroys his broadcasting machine.
The next Christmas production to star the duo was "Yule Be Sorry", an episode of the infamous sequel series, Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain. In this episode, Brain is unhappy about all the suffering he has endured ever since he and Pinky went on the run from Wally Faust and ended up becoming Elmyra Duff's pets. Pinky tries to cheer Brain out of his misery, but Brain instead snaps at him, saying he'd be better off with him. Brain then plans to test out his Oxy-Absorber on Elmyra, but Pinky accidentally uses it on him, knocking him unconscious. Brain then has a nightmare where he is living in a new lab without Pinky, but Elmyra shows up to torture him there, because she has no one else to play with. Upon waking up, Brain finds Pinky and Elmyra saddened about him losing consciousness and apologizes for his earlier outburst, admitting to Pinky that even if he did take over the world, he wouldn't want to do it without his best friend.