PINKY HAS EMMY ON THE BRAIN; PALMDALE ANIMATION DIRECTOR HOPES TO BRING HOME AWARD.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

Every Saturday morning, the laboratory mice from ``Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky and the Brain'' are foiled in their attempts to take over the world.

But with some luck the lads might bring an Emmy Award to Palmdale.

The show, a staple of the Warner Bros. network's ``Kids WB'' cartoon lineup, is nominated for a daytime Emmy in the category of Outstanding Children's Animated Program.

For fans of the show, that translates into Pinky-speak as ``Egad, Brain. We've been nominated for one of those shiny gold TV thingies.''

``I think our chances are pretty good this year,'' said Kirk Tingblad of Palmdale, one of six animation directors on the show. ``The episode we were nominated for was `Brain Acres,' where Pinky and the Brain try to use giant vegetables to take over the world. There's a `Green Acres' song spoof in the middle.''

Other nominees in the category include ``Arthur,'' ``101 Dalmatians,'' and ``Scholastics' The Magic School Bus.''

The fifth nominee is ``Steven Spielberg Presents the Animaniacs,'' another collaborative effort between Warner Bros. and Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.

And although he has two animated series nominated, executive producer Spielberg confesses that ``Pinky and the Brain are my personal favorites.''

The show stars Brain, a megalomaniac mouse with an Orson Wells complex, and the gangly toothed, optimistic Pinky, whose dimwittedness drives Brain to distraction.

The boys try weekly to take over the world in some outrageous fashion, occasionally spoofing movies and TV shows along the way.

Tingblad did manage to work in a reference to Palmdale, where he has lived for four years with his wife, Joan, and their two children.

In ``All You Need is Narf,'' the lads mail themselves to India in search of an exotic plant root that figures into their latest plot.

In a sequence a la ``Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' a line marking their slow progress zigzags across the United States, making one of its turns in at a dot marked ``Palmdale.''

Tingblad is looking forward to the Daytime Emmys, scheduled for May 15.

``We were nominated last year,'' he said. ``It's a great trip. You go to New York and see the talk show hosts and the soap opera stars.''

Tingblad, 36, grew up in Wisconsin and began drawing at an early age.

``My mom tells me it's the first thing she remembers me doing,'' Tingblad said.

Tingblad went to art school in New Jersey, and later graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree with an emphasis in commercial art from the University of Minnesota at Duluth.

Tingblad worked in the animation field for 14 years, including working on Disney's ``Quackpack,'' and working as a gag writer and story board artist for the movie ``Space Jam.''

Tingblad has been with ``Pinky and the Brain'' for about two years, about the time lab mice went from being ``guest stars'' on the Animaniacs to having their own show.

The ``Pinky'' team includes senior producer Tom Ruegger, supervising producer Rusty Mills, producer Liz Holzman, and head writer Charlie M. Howell IV.

``We have wonderful writers who keep giving us great, great scripts,'' Tingblad said.

Tingblad, one of six animation directors on ``Pinky and the Brain,'' oversees production of the story boards and background design, and also works with the voice talent.

``An animation director is like a live action director,'' Tingblad said. ``Instead of telling live actors want to do, you tell animators how the characters act.''

Producing ``Pinky and the Brain'' presents some challenges, Tingblad said.

``They have to interact with humans. We have to deal with the size difference all the time,'' Tingblad said. ``It's not just flat animation. We try to do as much 3D as possible.''

``Pinky and the Brain'' airs at 11 a.m. Saturday on KTLA (Channel 5).

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Photo

PHOTO (Color in AV Edition only) Cartoon animator Kirk Tingblad of Palmdale joins his characters Brain, left, and Pinky of the popular Saturday children's show.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News