Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, usually referred to as the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) or just the Warners, are the fictional protagonists of the American animated series Animaniacs. Created by Tom Ruegger, the Warners are zany cartoon characters of an unnamed anthropomorphized species, constantly escaping the Warner Brothers water tower and causing chaos wherever they go. Particular targets of their humour are Ralph T. Guard; the Warner studio's security guard, and Otto Scratchansniff, the lot's psychiatrist.

The Warners are siblings, with Yakko (voiced by Rob Paulsen) as the oldest of the three. He is gregarious, charismatic, and generally seen as the leader of the group. Wakko (voiced by Jess Harnell)

Concept and creation

Series creator Tom Ruegger initially modeled the Warners' personalities heavily on those of his three sons. The species of the Warners has been made deliberately unclear within the series. Officially, within the series, the Warners are claimed to be Cartoonus characterus, a fake Latin phrase. The characters were also originally intended to be ducks. However, after working on the episode "Two Tone Town" from Tiny Toon Adventures, Ruegger decided to add antenna-like ears and red noses, thus establishing the Warners' design.

The image of the Warner Siblings is a tribute to cartoon characters from the "rubber hose animation" styles of the late 1920s and mid 1930s. Later into the series run, a fictional celebrity and acquaintance of the Warners had revealed that the Warners were actually quite popular in the thirties, until, as he had said: "...they (the Warners) pantsed Jimmy Cagney," at which point, "something had to be done," so the Warners, who made even less sense than their cartoons, were locked away, also never to be released. The Warners were held in the water tower until, as said in the show, "this very day", meaning September 13, 1993, when the series premiered. (a reference to the fact that Warner Bros. did the same with all its characters when it shut down its animation studio in the 1960s, outsourcing production of Warner Bros. properties to DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and, for one television movie, Filmation).

When the Warners most recently escaped, they again began to cause chaos in the Warner Bros. Studio. In response to the Warners escape, Studio Executive Thaddeus Plotz asked the studio psychiatrist, Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, to "de-zanitize" the Warners, or make the Warners less zany, to stop the chaos in the studio. Plotz had also ordered the studio guard, Ralph, to capture the Warners whenever they escaped. Although the Warner siblings escape from the water tower as often as they can, they treat the water tower as their home, and always return to it when they are done wreaking mayhem.

In the 33rd issue of the Animaniacs comic book, there was a "long lost" fourth Warner named Sakko (who was obviously modeled after Rip Taylor); he has not been mentioned outside this comic, and his existence is considered non-canonical by fans.

Unique characteristics

Each of the trio has a different personality and role in the group, including purpose in a skit and separate obsessions with different celebrities.

Their roles are that Yakko is the "smart one" and the leader, Wakko is the "other" one or the most insane one, and Dot is the self proclaimed "cute one".

Yakko Warner

Yakko Warner (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is the tallest, oldest and most verbal (hence the name), and he serves as the ringleader of the two younger siblings. He has the amazing abilities to talk an unsuspecting (yet deserving) person's ear off. He's a big-time smart aleck, and can come up with a comeback to just about anything. Highly reminiscent of Groucho Marx and Bugs Bunny, he wears brown slacks with a belt in it, in which he can store and retrieve a number of improbable objects including a Yak. He also has a tendency to pounce on attractive women, normally with his catchphrase, "Helloooooo NURSE!" Yakko can sing the names of (nearly) every country of the world, as well as every word in the English language (although he's only shown singing words from the letters A, F (briefly), L and Z). He can even say Dot's full name without error. Yakko demonstrates a proficiency in speaking (proper and actual) Japanese as well. He is considered by many fans to be "the brains of the outfit"; the wittiest and most clever of the three Warner sibs. He also has the ability to rap. Also generally seen as the oldest (though his actual age is indeterminate), much of the show's more adult-leaning gags and one-liners are supplied by Yakko. Being the oldest, several times Yakko has shown a surprising amount of responsibility dealing with the welfare of his two younger siblings. He is also, in his own words, "allergic to anything that has lactose in it."

Wakko Warner

Wakko Warner (voiced by Jess Harnell) wears a red cap worn backwards, blue turtleneck and, as he likes to point out, no pants. He speaks with a Scouse accent that Harnell explicitly modeled after Ringo Starr (initially Harnell created a John Lennon-esque voice for Wakko until he saw that the character was short, so he just raised the pitch). He's the middle child, and subsequently the most weird and absurd of the bunch (hence the name). Often pulls objects from his "Gag Bag" and also uses his "giant mallet" when situations call for it. More often than not, his tongue is sticking out of his mouth. He generally supplies the more crude humor. He is the most physical of the three, and thus tends to lean toward physical humor, whereas Yakko (being a more talkative person) favors vocal humor. Wakko can walk backwards just as well as he can forwards, and is very flexible. Wakko has a voracious appetite, and will eat almost anything, including gum found under a seat and even rocks for shock value or perhaps simply to see how they taste. He also has a phobic fear of clowns (cf. "Clown and Out"). He is a big fan of Don Knotts and, like his brother Yakko, he will also hit on any pretty girl, despite his apparent young age. His cap is his trademark; when the Warners wear costumes, Wakko will usually keep his cap on (occasionally he'll take it off, which makes him look very similar to his brother, Yakko). He follows in Yakko's footsteps by singing all the fifty US states and their capitals, in "Wakko's America".

Dot Warner

Dot Warner (voiced by Tress MacNeille): The only sister, Dot wears a pink skirt and a flower tie in her hair. Also known as "Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fanna Bo Besca the Third" or, to some fans "Princess Dot". Extremely cute and thoroughly aware of it, she is very confident. She is arguably the smartest one, and the most overtly aggressive. As she says in the first episode, "Call me Dottie, and you die." (However, she's been called Dottie a few times and the source remains unharmed, but this is not always true.) She gets easily miffed at her brothers' reactions around women, afterwards she says "Boys, go fig." However, even though she views Yakko and Wakko's behavior around beautiful girls repugnant, she has reacted similarly to attractive men, most notably Mel Gibson (she said she would "marry that man"). Dot also carries around a pet, contained within a tiny box, that is revealed to be a horrifying monster much too large to have fit inside the box. In one episode, one of her pets ends up marrying a Xenomorph. She also seems to have a sense of humor much like her brother Yakko. But like Wakko's hat whenever she is in a costume she always has her little flower in her hair unless she is in her pajamas.

Appearances

Besides making cameos in other segments of Animaniacs (usually as a running gag), The Warners have made appearances elsewhere than Animaniacs. The only appearance on Tiny Toon Adventures, was on "Tiny Toons Spring Break Special", being chased by Ralph. During the opening credits of the Halloween special Fifi La Fume is dressed up as Dot for her Halloween costume.

The Warners were seen twice on Freakazoid!. First in a parody of the Animaniacs opening sequence, in which they introduce a fake spin-off of Freakazoid called, "Freakazoid and Friends", and Wakko later appeared in the episode, "The Freakazoid" by being referenced, by a neighbor saying to Freakazoid, "What are you, wacko?"' then Wakko appearing and saying "No, I'm Wakko!", then singing the first few lines of "Wakko's America". They then later start arguing (along with The Brain from Pinky and the Brain) about whose show is Steven Spielberg's favorite show. They then ask him themselves, to which he answers, "Who are you people?".

In Pinky and the Brain (a spin-off of Animaniacs) The Warners were often mentioned but made a few cameos. They first appeared in one episode in which Pinky pilots and crashes into Mt. Rushmore. When the smoke clears replacing the president's heads, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot's heads can be seen instead. Also in another episode Brain comments (from a great height), that human beings are nothing more than little dots, to which Pinky replies, "Poit! One of those dots is waving at us." Dot is then seen on the ground waving at them. Dot is also seen admiring Pinky's artwork in a scene from "Pinkasso".

See also

  • List of Animaniacs characters

References

  • Don Markstein's Toonpedia
  • Article that covers the trio's evolution during the show's preproduction