Rita and Runt

Rita and Runt were the stars of several musical segments in 1993-94 in the animated television series "Animaniacs". Rita (voiced by Bernadette Peters) is a sassy, smart, street-wise cat; Runt (voiced by Frank Welker) is a dumb but sweet dog, whose voice and mannerisms parody "Rain Man". Like any stereotypical dog, Runt hates cats, but is not smart enough to realize that his best friend Rita is a cat.

Description

Rita and Runt first starred together in episode seven, on September 21 1993, of "Animaniacs", appearing in a segment called "When Rita Met Runt." Later appearances took place in various settings and time periods, including Ancient Egypt, "Home on De-Nile", Nazi-occupied Poland around 1939, "Puttin' on the Blitz", and Salem during the infamous Salem witch trials; they also occasionally appeared in the "contemporary" era.

Rita often breaks into song, drawing on the singing talents of Peters, a Tony Award- and Grammy Award-winning singer-actress. As with many other "Animaniacs" segments, "Rita and Runt" sketches often parodied specific musicals; one of the pair's most lavishly scored cartoons was a spoof of the musical "Les Misérables", called "Les Miseranimals" (although Peters has never appeared in "Les Misérables").

In the episode "Animaniacs Stew", where the characters were mismatched, Rita was inside a cage with Acme Labs, where she promptly ate Pinky. She says it is her best episode. In a later short, Runt is teamed with Pesto of the Goodfeathers, both of which are homeless. Runt gets taken in by an old lady, who also owns a parrot who causes trouble for Runt. Pesto comes to Runt's defense by attacking the parrot with his infamous short temper, resulting in expulsion for both of them from the old lady's house. At the end of the episode, Runt recalls how Rita always sang for him, to which Pesto does a "la la la" humming to a classical Italian song.

Rita and Runt were absent for the latter half of the series' run. Ostensibly, this was rooted in the difficulty in creating new songs for each appearance, the dark downswing tone of the shorts (the two never found a home for long), and the high cost of keeping Peters on payroll. Welker, who voiced several other characters, remained a series regular. In addition, the show's format changed much during its first season, shifting from occasionally airing grounded, educational material, such as the "Rita and Runt" segments, to producing mainly zany parodiesFact|date=April 2008.

The characters continued to appear in the opening credits, in which Rita was referred to by name. They reappeared without speaking parts in several of the Kids' WB episodes, once even stated as "Missing" on a milk carton. Peters returned in the direct-to-video movie "Wakko's Wish", and both characters spoke.

Rita and Runt Episodes

External links

* [http://www2.cruzio.com/~keeper/AMLF.html Animaniacs Mega Lyrics File]
* [http://www.tv.com/animaniacs/show/2077/summary.html Animaniacs episode list at TV.com]