Season one of the animated gagfest
Pinky and the Brain offers 19 half-hour episodes, beginning with Das Mouse, in which the Brain, a genetically engineered lab mouse who fancied himself a criminal genius, conspires with his goofy fellow mouse Pinky to hypnotize the world into submission -- a job that requires a considerable amount of special white crab meat that can only be found in the wreckage of the
Titanic. Subsequent schemes by Pinky and the Brain to take over the world (if only they can get out of their cages) are equally as logical and sensible. In later episodes, Brain creates a voice mail system that he hopes will screw up telephone lines throughout the world; Pinky poses as fable Tokyo-smashing behemoth Gollyzilla, as none of the characters' voices match their lip movements; the boys attempt to infiltrate a moon landing in order to advertise their own brilliance on the lunar surface; and a plan to immobilize mankind necessitates the purchase of a multi-billion-dollar clothes dryer. Also: Brain cooks up some exploding crêpe suzettes with which he hopes to conquer France (and, surprise, the country
doesn't immediately surrender). A takeoff of
Around the World in 80 Days finds our heroes vying with the Pompous Explorers Club to beat Jules Verne's record. And to persuade the world that Abraham Lincoln has returned to life to help him become an all-powerful ruler, Brain takes a crash course in ventriloquism. Then there's the episode "Mouse of La Mancha" the story of Don Cerebro, who dreams the Impossible Dream of World Domination...not to mention the all-stops-out
Graham Greene spoof "The Third Mouse." (Gee, doesn't Brain sound just like Harry Lime when you close your eyes?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide