Animaniacs fans invited to Warner Bros. Studios

[KennethMoreland]

Thats alot of virgins.

[Keeper1st]

@KennethMoreland Cartoon fans would surprise you.

[oN1GHTMAREo]

they didnt know the theme song off by heart?!

[Keeper1st]

@oN1GHTMAREo The musicians? Probably not; it had been many years since they did that full arrangement. The rest of us? Of course; I knew the theme in five languages in those days. However, what we were singing was a unique set of lyrics written about our trip, which most of us were seeing for the first time. We did two rehearsals outside before coming onto the soundstage. We actually thought we were doing one rehearsal with the orchestra but in truth that was the one and only take.

[oN1GHTMAREo]

@Keeper1st yh i was ganna say, they r fans of animaniacs but dont know the theme song?

[Keeper1st]

@oN1GHTMAREo On the Animania IV web page linked in the video description (the "m_after" one), you can find the custom lyrics we were singing, as well, of course, as our written accounts of the weekend including our tour of WB Animation and the private early screening they gave us of the "Please Please Please Get-a-Life Foundation" episode.

[BesttBi]

OMG! Was that Tron Guy?

[digitalgenre]

The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fandom is very reminiscent of this.

[Keeper1st]

@digitalgenre Not surprising. Some of the old Animaniacs fans I know are into that show now. I've only seen clips of it online, but I can see it has a smartness to it, which I guess it to be expected given Lauren Faust's involvement.

[MrWarners14]

Relating to Animaniacs, how'd you originally react when you found out (along with the other fans) that Animaniacs and Pinky & the Brain are both airing in Australia?

*curious*

[Keeper1st]

@MrWarners14 You mean re-airing these days, or just airing in general? Not really surprised either way, to be honest. It's also re-airing these days on Boomerang in Germany, I've heard. It's getting to be old enough to be put on networks like that, but of course the WB/Spielberg competing interest may present difficulties in having it or any of the other shows (e.g. TTA) getting re-aired in the U.S.

[MrWarners14]

@Keeper1st These days...

Well, considering the Nick incident, I can see why...

:(

[MrWarners14]

@Keeper1st are you sure it's still airing in Germany?

*curious*

[Keeper1st]

@MrWarners14 That's what someone said recently.

[NathaNRiveraMelo]

Freudian typo with the "MayNERD" there. It's tron guy! I'm also pretty amazed there are women there. Like, multiple.

[Keeper1st]

@NathaNRiveraMelo There's always been a healthy contingent of Animaniacs fangirls. I know several married couples who met through online Animaniacs fandom (me and my wife included, and a couple of folks in this video). I think about half of the people in their teens and 20s whom I see online these days rediscovering the show are girls.

[GuyFawkes501]

There were two people in hats, which one was you?

[Keeper1st]

@GuyFawkes501 I'm the one who tips his hat to the camera, and is seen shaking hands with Tress.

[GuyFawkes501]

@Keeper1st Wow, you've been with Animaniacs since the beginning! Heh, I wasn't even born when it came out. Other teen fans, like myself, are very hard to come by these days.

You mentioned that there were still fan gatherings, where can I find out about them?

[Keeper1st]

@GuyFawkes501 Well they're more like get-togethers of old friends now -- not related to the show at all.

[GuyFawkes501]

@Keeper1st Damn, I would have loved to be a part of fan meetings.

Oh yeah, what's special about a production cel? I mean, what is it that makes it worth hundreds of dollars?

[Keeper1st]

@GuyFawkes501 Well, each one is unique, of course, as an actual drawing from frame of animation on the show. These days, they're even more special because cartoons are no longer done on cels.

[GuyFawkes501]

@Keeper1st Oh, it was used in the animation, that's why!

[Cometgal1997]

OMG! i knew it the Tron Guy is an Animaniacs fans. That's why during the America's Got Talent Audition in Houston, it showed him having a Dot Warner doll.

[Keeper1st]

@Cometgal1997 Yes, all his computers' network names are after Animaniacs and Tiny Toons characters also. In that same picture you can see a couple cels from Animaniacs on the walls. You can get a better view of that picture at his old web site.

[sarmichwako]

why is it that there is NO KIDS????????????

[Keeper1st]

@sarmichwako Not many kids on the internet in 1995 -- only computer geeks who knew unix, as you pretty much had to know unix in order to use the internet in those days (not to mention that generally the only internet access available to people was through universities, so most internet users were college students). The youngest fans on the newsgroup were 13 and 14 (AOL users). The youngest fan at this meeting was 16, and she was only able to come because her mom was a fan too.

[xxMrFablexx]

I hadn't read the description until after watching the video, but while watching it I thought I had seen Jay Maynard somewhere before, and what do ya know, he's Tron guy! Thats just awesome.

[Randawgshungry]

:43 THATS TRON GUY HAHAHA!

[Kauaimon]

I wish I where there...but alas I was...what, 5 when Animaniacs ended? XD

[Keeper1st]

To the dorks at PoeTV: You're wrong about absolutely everything. The creepy stalker fans were NOT us. They were not invited. (This event was only advertised as a fan get-together until it was already happening, especially to keep out the antisocial stalker types. They got pissed off about it and sent death threats to us and the actors.) And the comment about how we didn't know the writers "obviously" hated us: that explains the unsolicited gifts and emails the writers have sent over the years...

[lbrown21494]

Hey i'm just curious keeper, but do all you fans still talk, oh and you saw the orchestra, did the violin section have mutes on them? I was just wondering because their ressonance sounds strange to me compared to other orchestras I've heard.

[Keeper1st]

@lbrown21494 Many of us still keep in touch, yeah. A couple of the folks you see here are married to each other and have a son now, even! I didn't see anything unusual about the violins. It could just be the acoustics of that building. The last few Animaniacs episodes (and other shows being made at the time) had music recorded in various other studios around town because this one was being renovated. Each other studio had a different acoustic quality that a discerning ear might pick up.

[MrWarners14]

I was only a few months old when this happened...

[SonicPhan630]

Where's Rob Paulsin?

[Keeper1st]

His wife had surgery that day, so he couldn't make it. He had heard all about it from Jess though. I saw them both (along with Tress) the following weekend.

[NickTashiro]

The guy at 0:46 is totally Seth Galifianakis.

[Keeper1st]

Never heard of Seth Galifianakis. I did a Google search and see a video of him on Jimmy Kimmel's show. Well, that's one thing he has in common with Jay Maynard (the guy in the video you're pointing out). Jay has been on Kimmel's show many times as "Tron Guy".

[NickTashiro]

You're right, that IS Tron Guy! Didn't recognize him.

[Keeper1st]

This was years before Jay made the Tron costume though.

[phero2]

Tress rules! Her "MOM" on Futurama is one of the things that make the show excellent!

[ineedapizza]

This is excellent!

[xRiica]

it mist have been awesome to be their at the studio! i notice there are also a lot older fans.

[Keeper1st]

When the show was being produced and broadcast, one of the largest viewing demographics were people in their 20s. This upset the network, of course, because their advertisers wanted to see little kids on the viewing figures.

[nall29]

i love tress!

[Warners14]

Keeper tell me...

Did you get to see Richard Stone ACTUALLY do the composing for Animaniacs?

[Keeper1st]

Not composing, but conducting the orchestra. It was the scoring session for the short "Bingo". Jess Harnell sat down next to me, and he was just as excited as I was to witness a scoring session (it's not something the voice actors usually get to see either). Once he figured out which episode it was, he was even more thrilled, as it was his favorite of the season. After the session, I spoke to Mr Stone briefly. Given that he is no longer with us now, I'm glad I took the time to talk to him then.

[Warners14]

Your lucky to even get to talk to him...

I feel very sorry for Richard Stone....now that he has passed on...

:(

[MrWarners14]

@Warners14 *got

[EnderWrenLassic]

Out of curiosity, which cartoon was being conducted?

[Keeper1st]

"Bingo", a short featuring only Wakko and Dr Scratchansniff. Written by Peter Hastings.

[scarlafangthedragon]

gosh just now 22 and I'm starting to understand some of the jokes. I wish they still aired. I wanna come back to the old cartoons now.

[aLaMode298]

Ahhhhh

alt.t.v.animaniacs

[everlasting678]

Iv'e heard of that website group thing and how those people got to go to the studios to see the "please please please get a life foundation" episode but i didnt kno u got to meet the voices and see the orchestra and all that other stuff!!!

u r so lucky (im a huge fan!!!!)

the bad thing is i was born that year so woodnt even had been 1 when that happened.

Animaniacs Forever!!!!!!!!!

[Keeper1st]

It wasn't a web site; it predates the web. It was a Usenet newsgroup. (Well, you can't say "was"; Usenet groups by their very nature cannot disappear -- only become disused.)

In those days, when you wanted to talk about a subject -- any subject -- there was one place on the entire internet to do that: the Usenet newsgroup for that subject. These days, everything is so fractured that there may be hundreds of forums for the same topic.

[Warners14]

Keeper,

Did they actually do a caraciture of you and did it?And did someone else do the voice?

[Keeper1st]

Some people thought that the surfer-dude-talking guy operating the virtual reality game in the second-season Freakazoid episode "Virtual Freak" (the episode that features my hat which had become a huge running gag online after this E! segment aired) was meant to be a cariacature of me, but I don't think he is.

None of us was caricatured as far as we ever saw.

[Warners14]

Well...It really did seem like it.But it could have been cool to have that happen.Even though it didn't happen...

[Mysterious0Bob]

Discussions on the inter.. net?

[Mew4U]

OMG! U're lucky to have meet them and got invited to the studio! I would of loved to have seen behind the scenes of animaniacs, I've always been a big fan!

[Galileo908]

I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but 45 seconds in, a fan named Jay Maynerd is interviewed.

That's TRON Guy! Holy crap. Keeper (and the rest), you knew him before he donned that disturbing TRON outfit! And that you all went to WBA. I also must admit I was 9 at the time as well.

[Galileo908]

Yeah...didn't read the rest of the description. You can disregard that comment.

[Keeper1st]

Yes, I've known Jay since I joined the Animaniacs newsgroup in 1994 -- about, what, 9 or 10 years before he made the Tron costume. The costume actually is pretty cool, with its electroluminescent wire, and he is perfectly aware that he doesn't have the physique to be Tron, so his idea for the costume was that he's an accounting program that has been added to over the years and has become bloated with a lot of unnecessary, outdated code and subroutines that are no longer used.

[Ceribri]

Hey! I've been a huge fan of Animaniacs ever since I watched them when I was five (it began when I was two). It's great to know that Animaniacs is so well-loved!

(Yes, this is Ceribri from DWG on Gaia) :D

[jhwink]

What a bunch of nerds haha. Grown adults watching cartoons......God how I envy them.

[InvaderWakko]

@jhwink i'm gonna go farther and die with DVD's of this in my coffin!

[KazuyaPrower]

Animaniacs was such a great show. I hope that one day Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros. would one day return to Animaniacs.

[TheReasonWhyGuy]

Animaniacs is food for thought.

[couragenow]

wow... .. jesus.

[Hashimuro]

I loved that show :(... Animaniacs was the greatest of all the Saturday/Sunday morning cartoons.

[nnls2000]

what a bunch of nerds fans !!!! hahahaha

[Keeper1st]

What a statement of the obvious. Well, technically we're cartoon geeks. (Geeks are nerds with a social life.) But then, the people who were making the show were/are cartoon geeks too. What we found that day was that we had much more in common than we thought. I still keep in touch with some of them from time to time.

[1kahnefan9]

ahh..the 90s...the time when television was not full of crap

[girlygirl887]

ahoo wheres rob paulsen?

[Keeper1st]

In the hospital with his wife. She had a minor medical emergency, so he had to cancel. I saw him a week later though, and by then apparently Jess had told him all about it.

[girlygirl887]

omg well that's one reason not to show up well i still loved this though.One day i wanna meet rob.

love,yakko(morgan)

ps.your breath is like the breeze of a land fill

[nellzman]

Hilarious!!!Now those nerds are probably sad and alone or filthy rich.

[Keeper1st]

Why, are you looking for a date? Sorry to disappoint, but I'm neither rich nor available. You'd be surprised. Because toon fans have a good sense of humor, and there's a good male/female ratio, I know more married or long-term couples who came from cartoon fandom (myself included) than from any other fandom I've experienced. There are even kids roaming the Earth whose parents met because they were Animaniacs fans. They'll take over the world one day. Narf! Simply put, cartoon fans rule.

[remmanuelp]

que bueno que hagan esos tours de fanaticos... en los estudios de edicion y etc...

[HuskyWashu]

8D Amazing. What an awesome time you must've had, I would have loved to have sat in on a recording of the orchestra especially...it's great that they cared so much about the fans, you don't expect such opportunities to pop up nowadays. Thanks for posting the vid. :]

[Keeper1st]

It was a brief moment in time, when the internet was small but just starting to be known outside the geek community. Animaniacs and Babylon 5 are the two main shows that had a really intimate relationship with online fans. As for the orchestra, yeah, Jess was as excited as we were about being able to witness that. The episode they scored was "Bingo".

[DetoxNow]

Wow, everything was great back in the day. Today, everything is just crap. If I could go back, I would.

[AnimaniacsBIGGESTFan]

Agree 100%!!!

[0010110100]

wow thanks for that. i love tress deeply, she is the greatest voice actress ever in my opinion... good to finally see the woman i praise daily

[SimpleFaith]

Wow, that must've been (pardon my lack of eloquence) friggin awesome. Are you the guy in the gray-ish hat? If you are, I like your hat.

[TheRealArimis]

Ha!, I love tress. and jess. TRESS ( Agnes Skinner, Principle Skinners mom) JESS ( Captain Hero - Drawn Together!! )

[duuuuuumb]

wow, very depressing.

[yellowpagesrus]

Notice how he said "The Internet"; Almost like he had never heard of it before :D

I want to join an Animaniacs forum but I can't find any. Does anyone know of one?

[Keeper1st]

The WB press release actually said that we met "on the Information Superhighway, now more commonly known as The Internet"! But of course, in those days few people knew of the internet, so it really was a strange & mysterious place. Anyway, try ToonZone (.net)'s Warner Bros. Club forum, or Rob Paulsen's forum.

[Anniemaniac17]

Damn. That's what I get for nor checking properly, a repeat post. Oh well.

[Anniemaniac17]

Aww hell. I seriously wish I could'a been there... I was only about 5 at the time though :(

Looks like you guys had a fantastic time. It must'a been amazin' to get to go there and meet all the crew and see how the show was made. I'm sure it was a day you'll never forget :D

[MazAMaTaz]

Wow, I really wish I could have gone to that, but then again at the time I was seven or six. : D Oh jeez, I'd be even more jealous if Rob Paulsen was there! But it looks like it was tons of fun. : D Hey, they should do like an Animaniacs reunion thing, where all the fans get together to celebrate the DVD release. Kooky, I know. Can't be done, I know. But wouldn't it be great? xD

[Keeper1st]

Actually, to my surprise, producer Peter Hastings told me that he'd brought up the idea of gathering a bunch of us to talk about this trip and the unique mid-'90s fan/creator dynamic, for a future DVD bonus interview, and the Warner Home Video people seemed interested (though he has heard nothing since).

[danisaur]

Haha, you geeks.

This is awesome. Good for you guys, getting out and making things happen. Look like you all had a blast :)

[pagielme4ever]

They KNOW how have fun!

Most people are so freakin' boring, too worried of others calling them geeks or somethin' hahahaHAHA

it's hilarious seeing these people downtalking "the geeks"

[Keeper1st]

Yep. If I drove cars instead of motorcycles, I'd probably have a bumper sticker that read: "Geeks have more fun!"

[pagielme4ever]

lol

...well, it's true.

Thanx for posting this! I really enjoyed it. Now I have this ludicrous urge to be one of those ppl who went to the studios***restraining tantrum**:)

[OloIsNumba1]

You wouldn't happen to have some sort of insider information as to when Animaniacs Vol. 4 on DVD is coming out, do you? >_>

[Keeper1st]

There is no such thing. The sets are planned (mostly) one at a time, and as of yet, last I've heard, there has never been a Vol. 4 planned. All the talk of "delay" is purely false expectations by fans. A "delay" would mean the set is planned, which it isn't.

[takineko]

waiit.. "I'm the guy in the hat."

uh, the one with the sort of tan hat?

or the backwards blue and red cap?

[Keeper1st]

I'm the geeky skinny guy in the gray fedora. As Tress shakes my hand, you can hear her say, "Keeper?" A teenage girl in New Jersey commented on the newsgroup, "Who's the guy in the hat? He's really hot," which turned into a running gag about the Really Hot Hat with its power to make the wearer inexplicably attractive. A throwaway gag in the Freakazoid episode "Virtual Freak" has the Lobe wearing the same hat because he thinks it will make him attractive. The running gag had made its way onto TV.

[takineko]

LOL

that's hillarious.

... I think I remember something about the Lobe wering a hat, but maybe not. Im a lil fuzzy there.

Maybe the Freakazoid box set should come with a tiny hat :D

[mushroomgirl529]

You mean you're the one at 1:08 in the video? OMG, you ARE hot! And you're so lucky to have been able to have gone to Warner Bros. Studios! I'm jealous...^_^

[takineko]

HEHEHEHE

[TherealRNO]

Good job you guys. If only I were a member then. Too bad I was too young for that...But, I am a big A! fan.

[takineko]

Me too, I was such a big A! Fan as a kid-- if I'd been an adult I'd have probably tried to join them!

[Keeper1st]

As active as you are online now, you might have been. The fact that we were going to WB was kept a secret from even those who were attending (other than three or four of us). WB didn't want random people coming out of the woodwork, but known people from the group who were coming for the purpose of meeting each other (the original intention of gathering). It wasn't until it was too late for anyone to join the gathering that the visit to WBA was announced.

[takineko]

Sweet.. That must have been amazing ~_~

[Keeper1st]

Apart from the lurkers who got pissed off and jealous, and began spamming and sending death threats to some of us as well as to WB staff members and voice actors, it was. But, see, those sort of people were precisely why it was kept a secret.

[takineko]

yeah, I remember that, i read one of the live chats not too long ago. Psycos, they've been around since long before the internet, and now they can spread their stupidity across the planet. :\

[takineko]

OMGOSH I cant believe theres vid of this!!

THANK U THANK U!

If only Rob had been there <3

[NiHnet]

alt.tv.animaniacs... I wish I had a computer back then. ><

No Rob?

[Keeper1st]

Rob's wife had minor surgery the day before, so he couldn't make it. I met him a week later though (and a couple more times after that).

Here is my report of the entire trip, as I wrote it on the newsgroup upon returning home: http://www2.cruzio.com/~keeper­/m_keeper.htm

And the picture of everyone:

http://www2.cruzio.com/~keeper­/m_group.htm

And the most precious item from the weekend:

http://users.california.com/~k­eeper/skipgrph.jpg

[takineko]

aww the Skippy autograph is precious!

I saw that pic of you guys before, when i was on a hunt to figure out what Paul Rugg looked like XD

[Keeper1st]

I presume you found better shots. He was on ABC's One Saturday Morning skits (produced by Peter Hastings) as Manny the Uncanny, and later as Alistair Flyndiggery & Vanessa.

And of course there were a few appearances of a caricature of Paul in Animaniacs and Freakazoid.

...then there's that B-movie he was in in 1985 (I.F.O.), and more recently he donned a black hairpiece for his brief role as the newsreader in The Country Bears movie (also produced by Hastings).

[takineko]

I did find the Many pics, man that brought back memories-- i actually thought Many was extreemly entertaining :3

I saw country bears, but at the time i didnt realize Peter Hastings had anything to do with it at that time-- but I imediatly recognized Jess Harnell going "WHOSE' THAT LITTLE BEAR?" Man that guys' loud XD

In the episode of A! "Yes Always" Is that Paul's caricature I see? I know there are several of them there, plus Harry the sound guy lol.

[Keeper1st]

No, those were, Tom Ruegger, Peter Hastings, Andrea Romano, Audu Paden (as I recall -- the animator), and Harry... uh, forgot his last name. Paul is in one episode with John P. McCann. He says, "And then the Warners are, like, RIGHT BEHIND HIM! hohohoho!" And in Freakazoid he says, "We thought we'd end the show early today and show some more Animaniacs reruns!"

[takineko]

I TOTALY REMEMBER THAT LOL!

Dont they cut to the opener for Animaniacs? XD

[Keeper1st]

Yes.

Spielberg: "Hm... I like it!"

(cut to A! opening)

Spielberg: "No, we can't do it."

Staff: "Awww..."

Maybe one should make a page of WB Staff Caricatures Seen In Episodes, to point out who's who in these scenes, and other cameos. I guess only a handful of us actually know these. I'm told that the WB Home Video people have Bruce Timm's staff caricatures, which suggests there might be such a thing on the upcoming or future DVD sets.

[takineko]

Sweeet!

one should make a page of WB Staff Caricatures.. hmmm.. that sounds like the "one" will wind up being you XD

[khlara]

I heard about this trip a few years back. It's inspired an urban legend, but wow, awesome clip.

[Keeper1st]

Urban legend? What urban legend has it inspired? How curious...

[khlara]

And I quote from your report: "Biggest laugh inside of WBA was seeing one artist's cubicle wall. It had a picture of Minnie Mouse on her knees, pulling on Wakko's shirt, saying, "I want to have your baby! Mickey'll never know!" Next to that was a picture of their offspring, Wakky Mouse."

That is the supposed urban legend. I'm actually currently writing a fanfic on it, although who knows when it'll be done as I have too many fingers in the writer's ink currently.

[Keeper1st]

Odd... it's not an urban legend; it's actually true! The world must be told! heheh.

[lee4hmz]

And then this bored college dropout in Virginia thought Wakky Mouse was hilarious, and started using it as his handle on IRC, and well, you all know the rest. :3