Rating:
Damn but Pinky and the Brain was a great show, wasn’t it? Easily among the greatest kids’ cartoons of the 1990s and arguably of all time. Thankfully, this Christmas episode is no exception.

If for some unfathomable reason you’re unfamiliar with the concept behind Pinky and the Brain, permit me to elucidate. As the theme song says, “They’re laboratory mice. Their genes have been spliced.” Each night, Brain comes up with a new scheme to take over the world. He and his dopey sidekick Pinky attempt to carry out the scheme with hilarious results.

Comedy gold.

On this particular occasion, Brain has invented a hypnosis device that will allow him to bend all the citizens of the world to his will. The devices are put into Noodle Noggin, a children’s doll Brain’s designed—in his own likeness, as befits a megalomaniac. All Pinky and the Brain need to do is get one of these dolls under every tree come Christmas morning and the world will be theirs to command.

Naturally, they need an assembly line to produce enough Noodle Noggins in time, and when it’s Christmas only one assembly line fits that bill. After answering an ad in the paper reading “Elves wanted for holiday rush. Apply North Pole” (”Apply North Pole to what?” asks Pinky) the Mus musculus duo sets off for the Arctic to turn Santa’s workshop into their own personal Noodle Noggin factory. As a bonus, it will also give Pinky the chance to deliver his letter to Santa in person.

Along the way they have this exchange.

PINKY: I don’t want to be an elf.
BRAIN: Really? What do you want to be?
PINKY: A dentist!
BRAIN: You’ve seen too many Christmas specials.

That kind of  throw-away reference, whether to pop culture, fine arts, history, or anything else, was the hallmark of Pinky and the Brain and what made it so good; it was able to appeal not just to the kids in the viewing audience. For example, when the two mice have been discovered and are suspected of espionage, they’re asked who they work for: the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, or Hershel the Hannukah Goblin. That mightn’t exactly tickle a little kid’s funny bone, but it surely made me laugh.

But don’t go thinking it’s all jokes. Like any good Christmas special, this one has the kind of love-your-fellow-man-and-joy-to-the-world sentiment you expect, and it has it in just the right dose. For most of the show, it’s Pinky and the Brain business as usual; it’s set at Christmas, sure, but it’s the same kind of comedy that made every episode so good. It’s only for about ninety seconds at the end that it throws in some sweetness and you dab at the corners of your eyes with your shirt when nobody’s looking.

That’s how this kind of Christmas episode should be. When all the other installments of your show are strictly comedy, you want to treat most of your Christmas episode as no different. Then, right at the end, you throw in just a little holiday spirit; not so much that it becomes cloying, but not so little that it seems tacked on. It’s a delicate balance to strike, and A Pinky and the Brain Christmas gets it just right.

In fact, this show gets everything just right.

If You Hated This, You Will Also Totally Hate:

• The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
• Pinky and the Brain: Still Awesome
• Frosty Returns
• A Sad State of Affairs
• Bea Arthur Died and That is Bullshit