Animaniacs to be rebooted with help from Steven Spielberg

Strap in… the ‘Animaniacs’ are to be rebooted, according to reports.

A new version of the demented 90s cartoon series, which was produced by Steven Spielberg, is being worked up by Spielberg’s Amblin Television and Warner Bros.

It’s thought that the reboot has been spawned thanks to renewed interest in the original series after it was bought up by Netflix last year.

According to Indiewire, Spielberg will be involved in this new iteration too.

The series was a hit from 1993 to 1995, running over 99 episodes, appearing as part of ITV’s Saturday morning show ‘What’s Up Doc?’, hosted by Pat Sharp, Andy Crane, Jenny Powell and Yvette Fielding.

It followed the anarchic adventures of siblings Yakko, Wakoo and Dot, three cartoon characters who’d been trapped in the iconic water tower on the Warner Bros lot since the 1930s.

Over various skits and sketches, it also introduced characters like the buxom Hello Nurse, German psychiatrist Dr. Otto Scratchansniff and Thaddeus Plotz, the greedy CEO of Warner Bros.

There were also spin-off, in-show cartoons like ‘Pinky and the Brain’, created by Spielberg, where two white mice – one voiced by Roddy McDowell – plotted to take over the world, and other characters like the Goodfeathers, a pigeon-based nod to Martin Scorsese’s wiseguys in ‘Goodfellas’.

Not only was it a hit with kids, but there was also plenty of pretty edgy gags for adults too, as well as oblique cultural references.

No word yet on when it will be back, but as reboots go, this one would be most welcome.

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