9. Pinky And The Brain
Series Run: 1995-1998 (65 episodes)
Network: The WB
Theme Song Rating: Like Brain it is brilliant, but the theme song is a little too detail-oriented, 4/5. A spin-off of the popular Animaniacs show, Pinky and the Brain was another show that was concept-oriented. Every episode Brain would develop a plan to take over the world, explain it to Pinky, and then watch as his plan failed miserably. More of a benevolent mad scientist than a Bond villain, Brain's schemes often sounded fool-proof to me. Brain's voice and face are based off of the great actor-director Orson Welles (there's even an acknowledgment of that in one episode where Brain briefly meets Welles and they simultaneously voice their desire to take over the world), which gives the film-studio based mouse an extra level of characterization. If you catch a repeat and wonder what's going to happen in an episode of Pinky and the Brain, it's going to be the same thing they try to do every episode Pinky, try and take over the world. Each episode has a self-contained plot, there isn't going to be much if any carry over from episode to episode, which made it an excellent show to watch and re-watch on Saturday mornings. It's all appropriately silly, the mice would often dress up in costumes as a part of Brain's schemes or meet various famous people to get something they need for an uncertain reason. The show doesn't have much originality behind it, it is a tasty melange of every pseudo-scientific world take over plot, but that doesn't make Pinky and the Brain dumb. I have seen some convincing articles on the internet about how Pinky is actually the genius and Brain is the insane one (as stated in the theme song). Brain's plots are always foiled and Pinky is always there to pick his spirits up at the end of the episode. As corny as it sounds, Pinky and the Brain really is a show that is about friendship. While Brain often gets frustrated at Pinky, they are the only two genetically spliced mice around and they need each other. The show ran its course as a concept, but seeing some episodes today shows that the show had a clever spark behind its references, parodies, and characters.