Several interviews are floating around out there now with the cast and crew of Hulu’s Animaniacs revival. We’re learning a lot of interesting info, but it’s coming from different sources, so we figured we’d gather the most interesting bits from separate interviews into one handy page. Here are the five most interesting things we found out…
FREAKAZOID COULD’VE BEEN IN THE SHOW IN SOME FORM
In a Collider interview with executive producers Wellesley Wild and Gabe Swarr, they admitted they were looking for some way to use Freakazoid, and though there was no resistance from Amblin, it didn’t happen. Swarr says it came down to the voice, because their busy schedule didn’t line up with Paul Rugg’s: “We tried to get the original actor and just schedule-wise, it just didn’t work out.”
This is extra-weird because Teen Titans Go just ran an episode with Freakazoid in it, and Rugg was definitely voicing him. We’d love to know what Wild and Swarr wanted Freakazoid for — a cameo, or something like what TTG did where he appears for a full episode — but they don’t go into specifics beyond that.
WHY BRAIN SEEMS A LITTLE MEANER IN 2020
Maurice LaMarche, the voice of The Brain, says he was a bit startled by some of the plans Brain was concocting in the reboot, but admits it makes sense when you think about it. “It was great to go a little deeper with Brain,” says LaMarche. “It fits for a character that has been trying to take over the world for 25 years and he still hasn’t. He’s angry. He’s a little edgier. So, I got into playing him a little more that way.”
SPIELBERG WANTED A POLITICAL SHOW
If it seems like the new Animaniacs takes even more political jabs than the original did, you’re not nuts…it’s on purpose. In fact, the demand came straight from the top. Wild recounts that Steven told him “I want articles in the Huffington Post about how political the show is.” Despite that, Swarr mentions that they ran into resistance from WB over making it TOO political, so they had to find a balance.
THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL WAS AN INFLUENCE
Some people have referred to Gumball as the modern-day version of Animaniacs, so it makes sense a modern-day Animaniacs would have Gumball in mind. “That’s a great example of a show that sort of brought things forward, comedically, visually,” says Wild. “I mean, I love Gumball. I think it’s amazing.”
THERE ACTUALLY ARE STANDARDS AND PRACTICES PEOPLE AT HULU
With everything the new Animaniacs gets away with, you might think Hulu has no censors at all. From the Collider interview, Wild and Swarr say they do exist: “We quickly found what was off limits” and “We’d love to talk about it, but we’ll get in trouble.” They mention they pushed things as far as they could. Animaniacs now joins a handful of children’s programs that have gotten to say the word “hell,” an exclusive club that includes Gargoyles, Histeria and Bobby’s World (check the accordion episode, it’s there).
