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Pinky and the Brain
- nullc 5y agoThis was always my assumption. Narf.
- sevensor 5y agoI've been in heated debates about this, and it's good to see the case for my point of view stated plainly and with supporting evidence.
- eyelidlessness 5y agoI mean, I always thought that was intended as part of the format: of course you’re supposed to assume that Brain = smart, and be surprised and amused when that turns out wrong.
- pram 5y agoBrain’s plans fail because of his hubris and confidence. They’re always very grandiose, and he cannot accept that they’re flawed. He is delusional to a ridiculous degree. Pinky is a willing and suportive participant, even if he knows failure is assured. He is directly enabling the delusion. Ignoring how intelligent they may or may not be individually, they’re both pretty insane or bored!
- eyelidlessness 5y agoThis is probably a good format for “intelligence is an imaginary construct, not a quantifiable fact”.
- josephg 5y agoI’ve always thought about it as: every tool you have, your shadow has that tool also. If you’re convincing, you can convince yourself. If you’re cynical, you’ll be quietly cynical about your own capacity in the world too. Any reality distortion fields we project outwards have ourselves at the epicentre.
- snikeris 5y agoI've noticed a similar dichotomy...the harder you are on yourself, the less compassion you have for other people.
- LinuxBender 5y agoSorry I know this is off topic, but I must post the obligatory Pinky and the Brain from Postmodern Jukebox with the original voice actors in the background. [1] [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqMs9WsJg2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqMs9WsJg2k
- Iv 5y agoThat's hilariously enjoyable
- michaelbrooks 5y agoI love how we come full circle with this YT comment... "Anybody else ever realized that Pinky is the Genius and Brain is the one that is Insane? I mean, Brain is always coming up with completely implausible plans that have no chance of actually working, and Pinky always finds a way to help his friend out without destroying his delusions and get them both safely back in the lab before they're discovered." - Sarah Coleman The YT video was great to see, thank you for sharing.
- RegBarclay 5y agoI see Pinky and the Brain. I upvote. I see Postmodern Jukebox. I upvote. Thanks for the smile to start off my Monday.
- annadane 5y agoI love how this page is randomly on Hacker News
- chris_wot 5y agoPinky, is that you?
- Alan_Dillman 5y agoI think so Brain, but what about the other letters? Narf!
- brundolf 5y agoReminds me of my favorite fiction conspiracy theory: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w/theory_jar_jar_binks_was_a_trained_force_user/ https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w/theory_jar...
- SV_BubbleTime 5y agoInstead of that which would have been awesome and retconned Jar Jar from embarrassing into a great story of our times… We instead got the first movie redone, and two pretty poor follow ups with grrrrrr fake teeth being the series rock bottom. Ugh, that plot hole of a light speed weapon, the force can’t bring someone back to life but let’s do it like three times, whatever. I’ve forgotten more about the last trilogy than the prequals.
- mlang23 5y agoStar Wars has lost me. I loved 4,5,6, and I found 1,2,3 at least exciting to see the story arc closed up. But what came afterwards was pretty much unwatchable. I went to the cinema for Rogue One even, but dont remember a single plot-line. Thats pretty unusual for me, since I uslally remember storylines from movies I watched many years ago. But this stuff just didnt leave any impression at all.
- jl6 5y agoConventional wisdom says the prequel trilogy was a good story, poorly executed, while the sequel trilogy was a poor story, well executed.
- cooperadymas 5y agoI would call it a poor story, well, executed.
- mLuby 5y agoI'm in your camp too on the Skywalker saga, though I really like Rogue One; definitely worth a rewatch. It's a bit scattered (perhaps a result of the massive pre-release re-edit to which it was apparently subjected) but it has its moments, including possibly the best Star Wars space battle set to film, as well as a visceral depiction of Vader's terrifying power.
- actually_a_dog 5y agoI actually think both of them are insane geniuses.
- staticman2 5y agoIn the recent new season on Hulu there was an episode where Brain's future self arrived and wanted to kill Pinky for allegedly secretly sabotaging Brain's plans all along. Some episodes could be interpreted that way, with Pinky screwing things up on purpose, but Brain clearly screws up himself much of the time.
- mbg721 5y agoThe link neglects to mention that the game-show was called "Gyp-Parody," and is one of the best Jeopardy knock-offs ever made. My personal favorite is the one where the Brain assumes the identity of country singer Bubba-Bo-Bob-Brain.
- rbobby 5y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgt1X6qXTKs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgt1X6qXTKs
- pineaux 5y agoNarf!
- pdenton 5y agoPoit!
- SketchySeaBeast 5y agoIf I need a console or error log message to search for to debug I always use that - super easy to find and strip out when the debugging is done, and if it makes it to production I know exactly who is at fault.
- fractallyte 5y agoI thought this was made pretty clear in the theme song's lyrics? "They're Pinky and The Brain - Yes Pinky and The Brain - One is a genius - The other's insane" Brain is clearly made out to be insane (in the cartoon sense), which leaves Pinky as the genius. QED, right?
- chx 5y agoRight, that was clear to me and I never saw an episode only heard the theme song... it's very clearly insanity to try to take over the world and also being cagey about which one is insane it's again obvious it's not that the one whose name would imply it.
- mlang23 5y agoIndeed. Besides, you dont even need the lyrics to infer who is insane. The only major goal in life being world domination is enough proof in my book...
- bryanrasmussen 5y agoalso in general English style if you say there is X and Y and one is an A and other a B, it is common that the property A refers to X and the property B to Y as they occupy the same positions in the statement. However one can also be structuring things in this ambiguous manner for artistic reasons.
- JediWing 5y agoOr because brain rhymes with insane...
- bryanrasmussen 5y agoOf course that's what they want you to think!
- mdfegfeafaewfwe 5y agoThis comment and the replies seem to be rationalisation. It's clear even from the opening Pinky is supposed to be shown as an insane fool (It shows the Pinky dancing in what looks like a Straitjacket when the theme sings "The other is insane"). The reason The Brain's schemes don't work out is because it's a comedy cartoon for children, not that the mouse acting like the idiot is secretly a genius. It's a nice fan theory but I don't think it holds up.
- rbobby 5y ago> Shockingly, Pinky was the one who ultimately answered the question correctly, and it's also shown that Pinky can read, whereas the Brain can barely write his own name. Pinky doesn't answer the final question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgt1X6qXTKs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgt1X6qXTKs And I think the way Brain wrote his name was a parody of how Jeopardy guests can get extravagant with their signatures.
- neogodless 5y agoPerhaps more interesting is, in that episode, one of Pinky's few lines is "in the words of..." and it gets cut off when Brain flicks him away. The complete sentence might have been something quite intelligent.
- voz_ 5y agoIn the intro song and video, it is made pretty clear that pinky is the insane one.
- xvilka 5y agoThere is a reference to them in the Laundry Files book series [1]. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/series/50764-laundry-files https://www.goodreads.com/series/50764-laundry-files
- thih9 5y ago> Pinky is the Genius And The Brain is Insane Isn't this partly the main joke of the series? If the Brain was such a genius, one of his plans would surely work.
- motohagiography 5y agoTo extend it, the "genius or insane?" trope comes from both being pretty much defined as to be indexed on things others can't see. The main difference is, genius reveals things that we realize afterward were always there, and insanity is mostly failing to cohere the perspective into something others can see as well. Brain is also made to represent what a child imagines as "smart." Pinky as the genius does make the cartoon adventures more rich though.
- JoeAltmaier 5y agoMy boys and I intuited this the very first time we saw the show. "Which one is which?" we wondered. And then saw how Pinky was consistently the 'smarter' one.
- imbnwa 5y agoWarner Bros hit animation out of the park in the 90s. Animaniacs is a classic with writing that I still get in my 30s, and we got Pinky and The Brain spun-off from there, but Freakazoid for me was the underrated pinnacle, the writing team's habits given steroids and methamphetamine.
- robochat 5y agoRicardo Montalbán excellently sent himself up in Freakazoid. "Because he tasks me! He tasks me! 'round the moons of Snivia, I chuckle at thee. Beyond the Corpian clouds I chuckle more at thee. Revenge is a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins! Kirk, old friend, I... Oh, sorry. [He fixes his tie.] Good-bye."
- xtracto 5y agoI think most of it was due to Steven Spielberg´s influence. I remember Tiny Toons blowing my mind during that time as well. Most of those amazing cartoons (Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Tiny Toons and Freakazoid) had Spielberg's influence.
- sayonaraman 5y agoAre you pondering what I’m pondering?
- 0-_-0 5y agoI think so, sayonaraman, but if Pinocchio were carved out of bacon it wouldn't be the same story, would it?
- betwixthewires 5y agoThis is probably one of my favorite fan theories out there, because I loved the show as a kid and I think it is probably what the writers had in mind as a joke. Another fan theory I'm a bit of a fan of that I've seen only once or twice online (and the creators allude to it strongly in an interview) is that Rick from Rick and Morty is Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory as an old man.