One of the most exceedingly witty cartoons of all time. Maybe it was slightly repetitive in that every episode had Brain concoct some flawed plan to take over the world, which Pinky would ruin with his empty-headedness. But this hardly mattered. The dialogue was intelligent and hilarious. The whole concept of the show was like nothing else. And every episode had a slightly different spin on the last. A brilliant series in every respect. Shame it had to get marred by the thankfully short-lived Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain.

This was a wonderful show. Of all the brilliant animated shorts to come out of Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain was arguably the best, resulting in this spin-off series. Considering all the ideas used up in the Animaniacs shorts, and the simple nature of the plot (2 genetically-spliced mice try to take over the world in a single night, every night), it's impressive that the show ran for as long as it did without diminishing much in quality. The writers managed to expand the show far beyond the walls of the Acme Lab in which the two mice were caged; while there were several episodes focusing on the interior of the lab, and sometimes even the scientist(s) who worked there, often Pinky and the Brain would escape from their cages early in the episode and travel to faraway places (and even times) in their zany attempts to rule the world.

In some ways the characters of Pinky and the Brain echo those of Ren and Stimpy: Pinky's foolish ideas and raw stupidity contrast with Brain's cold, logical mind and synical criticism. Also, once in a blue moon Pinky might say something intelligent, or Brain might admit that he cares too much for Pinky to abandon him, adding a quality of depth to both characters.

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Additionally, much of the show's power comes from its utterly ridiculous brand of humor. For example, the Helpinki Formula episode (a re-cast of one of the original Animaniacs shorts) involves Brain's plan to use an infomercial to market a people-shrinking formula. But something goes horribly wrong, and people begin to transform into giant-sized dancing Norwegian yodellers. I have seldom laughed so hard before or since.

That said, there are two reasons I did not give this show four stars. First off is the simple fact that it is a spin-off. I have nothing against spin-off series persay, but there's something to be said for a show that is completely, 100-percent original, and with its origins in Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain is not. Also, over time the show began to lose some of the spark it had when it first began. For example, Brain began to have more and more frequent encounters with his arch-nemesis Snowball, a brilliant hamster who also dreams of world domination. This was an interesting plot development, but it made the character of the Brain less unique, and in that respect the show lost some of its original flavor.

When all is said and done I strongly recommend this show, whether or not you have seen Animaniacs.

Pinky and the Brain were good when they were on Animaniacs. Better than Buttons and Mindy or Minerva Mink for sure. But when they got their own show it was like too much of a good thing. The story was almost the same all the time. If Pinky wasn't such a funny character the show would have got old real quick.

I used to love watching this show. It was always funny to see how Pinky would mess up Brains plans. The situations they'd get themselves in, and Brains nemesis, Snowball, were great too.