Big League Beast is a 2020 Looney Tunes Cartoons short directed by Kenny Pittenger.
Plot[]
On a dark and stormy night, while Bugs Bunny is watching a Springleyfield Gravelbottoms baseball game in his burrow, the signal is interrupted. Frustrated, he tries to adjust his rabbit-ear antenna, but it breaks. Worried he'll miss the game, he notices a large satellite dish atop a mad scientist's castle. Bugs walks in unannounced to watch the game. Upset at the intrusion, the scientist uses electricity to awaken his monstrous creation, Gossamer.
As Bugs tunes in to the game, Gossamer stands behind him. Bugs sits in his lap like an armchair. When Gossamer opens Bugs' beverage bottle for him, the rabbit realizes his mistake, dropping his bottle in fear and saying that he may miss the seventh-inning stretch. Gossamer grabs Bugs, who burrows through the beast's thick hair to escape his grasp. Soon, Bugs offers an electric razor to Gossamer, who uses it to dig around in his fur for Bugs until he shaves himself into nothing but a pile of hair and tennis shoes. Bugs sweeps away and flushes Gossamer's remains, but Gossamer quickly re-emerges from the toilet with a glare. Rising from beneath the screen Bugs is watching, Gossamer hurls it away and stands poised.
Criticizing Gossamer's "outdated" sneakers, Bugs offers him a seat and brings out a selection of new footwear. When he removes Gossamer's shoe, however, the sight and smell of Gossamer's nasty foot prompts him to wear a gas mask. Cheekily, he starts playing "This Little Monst-ey" with Gossamer's toes, "This little monster went to market, this little monster skulked about, this little monster had rabbit stew, this little monster went..." before hitting his foot with a mallet. Gossamer shouts in pain and snarls in rage, but Bugs calms him and outfits him with shiny high heels. Gossamer poses like a model for a series of stylish photos, and Bugs awards him with a bouquet and ribbon for "Miss Gruesomeverse '76." The roses are really sticks of dynamite, which promptly explode, singing his face.
Bugs flees to another room and finds a smaller TV to watch the game, but Gossamer comes running down the hall, hurling weapons at him. Bugs dodges them all and opens a trap door. Barely avoiding it, Gossamer turns and almost falls into a second trap door, taunting Bugs when he doesn't. But then, a tentacle drags Gossamer down into the space beneath the first trap door and closes it. The door rattles, and Bugs taunts Gossamer before tuning in to the game.
Gossamer returns and crushes the TV in his bare hand. Noticing that the crumpled TV looks rather like a baseball, Bugs makes Gossamer act as pitcher. Bugs strikes himself out, missing Gossamer's pitch and catching the ball himself as an umpire. Next at bat is Gossamer, who uses a plank for a bat, but misses Bugs' pitch. The scientist enters and Bugs chooses him to be the next pitcher. Bugs heightens the tension of the play with his narration, and the nervous Gossamer successfully hits his master's pitch. The game culminates with Gossamer and the scientist both running toward "base" and sliding along a trail of axle grease until they crash into a control panel.
Gossamer and his master lie in a heap, with a screen inside Gossamer's mouth and antennae on the scientist's head. Bugs adjusts the antennae and tunes in to see the post-game celebration, with the lead player holding a trophy. Bugs remarks, "Well, I missed the game, but that was one 'monster' of a final play."
Availability[]
Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection, Disc 3
Streaming[]
Notes[]
- HBO Max packaged this as episode 102a, along with the interstitial "Mini Elmer" and the short "Firehouse Frenzy".
- The fourth picture shown of Gossamer is a reference to Marilyn Monroe.
- This short, along with "Firehouse Frenzy", was nominated for the 48th Annie Awards for "Best Storyboarding - TV/Media", which it has won.[1]
Gallery[]
References[]