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Beep, Beep

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Beep, Beep is a 1952 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.

Plot[]

Road Runner flips the title cards by passing across. A chase begins and is then paused for Road Runner (Accelerati incredibilus), then the Coyote (Carnivorous vulgaris). Wile E. chases after Road Runner with a knife and fork. The Coyote strikes and misses, sticking the utensils into the road as Road Runner moves into super speed. Wile E, left suspended in the road, lets go of the knife and scratches his head, only to fall down. He slumps on the ground and soon comes up with a new plan.

  1. The Coyote attaches a spring-activated boxing glove to a large rock and hides behind it, hoping to strike Road Runner. However, the tension in the spring causes the rock and Wile E. to be launched backwards instead of the glove forwards. The glove then retracts backwards and punches the stunned Coyote in the face.
  2. Wile E.'s next plan is to traverse a tightwire and drop an anvil on Road Runner, resulting in a "Road Runner Burger" as his drawing puts it. Obviously, the anvil is too heavy for the tightwire to handle, and Wile E. is stretched all the way to the ground and can be seen by Road Runner, who taunts him before dashing off. Wile E. drops the anvil and is thus slung up into the air. Eventually, he peaks and falls downwards. Wile E. points expectantly at his backpack and pulls out a cord, hoping for a parachute; however, upon opening the pack, there is no parachute, simply common items like a hatchet and kitchen utensils. Wile E.'s expression darkens as he knows what will happen now, and he then pulls out a pack of Acme Aspirin to alleviate the inevitable pain. He weakly waves at the camera as he takes the plunge.
  3. The Coyote then tries a new plan to explode Road Runner with trickery: set out a water glass with two signs by it reading "Last Water for 300 MILES" and "Free Drink of Water". Of course, nothing provided by Wile E. Coyote is free. It comes with "strings attached", that is, a string to a TNT device, which, as he hopes, should eliminate Road Runner. Wile E. hides as he hears the approaching Road Runner, who stops at the water stand, mockingly spits at it, and speeds behind the hiding Coyote with a tall, large sign that reads "ROAD RUNNERS CAN'T READ AND DON'T DRINK". The Coyote's expression turns from smug to incredulous to outraged in a matter of seconds. He chases after the Road Runner into an Old Cactus Mine, but soon realizes he has no helmet or flashlight. He returns to the cap rack and dons a cap, and Road Runner, also wearing a cap, pulls up to him and provokes a chase through the mine. They chase in a straight line until Road Runner loads himself into an elevator and speeds to safety. For this section of scene three, the camera cuts alternately to an actual-size view inside the mine and a Pac-Man-style cross-section view. Their cap lights color-code the characters during the latter period: Green for Road Runner and red for the coyote.
    • Actual: Wile E. brakes before falling into the shaft and gets into another lift to the left.
    • Cross-section: The Coyote's lift descends until he spots Road Runner in another shaft to the right, and follows him through it. Road Runner ascends a level, flies over a gap, and causes Wile E. to pause, then to jump and hold onto...
    • Actual:...the ledge of this tunnel. He panickingly then disappears through that tunnel.
    • Cross-section: Road Runner continues running down a level and then back up the main shaft the same way he came.
    • Actual: Wile E. is momentarily stalled by having to climb a ladder up the main shaft.
    • Cross-section: The chase continues circling in this way and gets faster and faster until Road Runner edges into the right shaft. Wile E. continues circling at ever-quicker speeds until Road Runner beeps at him, which alerts him to continue the chase. Past this shaft is an up-and-down zigzag shaft; Wile E. and Road Runner follow this until the shaft changes into a straight tunnel to the right and one to the northeast. Road Runner moves into the northeast tunnel, while Wile E. continues moving in the same pattern, bumping himself many times upon the ceiling and floor of the east shaft. Eventually, he knocks out his headlight.
    • Actual: Wile E. lights a match for light, but happens to be in an explosive-laden tunnel. Above the surface, the explosion warps the cacti currently on camera into the word "YIPE!"
  4. Back on the surface, Wile E. has loaded himself on a springboard in order to sling himself towards the passing Road Runner. When he cuts the rope holding him back, he is planted directly on the ground and the spring unfurls like a Slinky.
  5. The Coyote is now waiting for Road Runner to make a turn so that he can chase him with an abstrusely designed rocket. He lights the fuse with perfect timing, but unfortunately, the rocket fires directly up into the sky and explodes into firework with an EAT AT JOE'S sign.
  6. Now, Wile E. uses ACME's rocket-powered roller skates to prepare for the chase, which Road Runner promptly begins by pulling up to the Coyote. The rocket thrust almost unseats the Coyote, but he manages to lift his midsection to normal height and begin a very promising chase. When the road takes a turn, however, the Coyote is catapulted off the end, his rear is bumped against the tops of several buttes, and he is then plopped on top of a high plateau. The skates are still functioning, and the jet blasts eventually join forces and continue to rush the Coyote forward. Wile E. is then thrown up into the sky after passing through a loop-de-loop rock formation, where the skates tucker out. The Coyote, knowing about the adverse effects of gravity on him, begins to pray then pulls out a wreath with R.I.P. on it as he falls into the ground. Wile E. climbs out of the hole he makes exhausted, and soon spots his "Free Drink of Water" trap set earlier in the cartoon. As he is thirsty, he lifts the glass and gets blown up.
  7. The fully recovered Coyote places a small railroad track, two bushes, himself, and a "R.R. STOP" sign in the middle of the road. This fails to stop Road Runner, who mows down the Coyote and leaves him spread-eagled on the track to be flattened again by a train passing through additional tracks mysteriously set up. Road Runner relaxes on the balcony of the caboose, with a "THE END" sign attached to the back of the caboose.

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Censorship[]

  • When this cartoon aired on Nickelodeon, the scene of Wile E. Coyote finding out his parachute is actually a knapsack filled with camping gear as he falls was edited to remove him taking out a pack of Acme Aspirin and swallowing them before waving pathetically at the camera and falling to the bottom of the gorge.[2] Surprisingly, other channels in the United States that have had a history of editing out scenes of characters swallowing pills, such as ABC, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang, have left this scene uncensored.
  • When this cartoon initially aired on MeTV's Saturday Morning Cartoons block, the scene of Wile E. Coyote looking over the blueprint for his anvil trap was cut for time reasons. When the short aired on the weekday block, Toon In With Me, the blueprint scene was reinstated and has aired that way on MeTV ever since.

Notes[]

  • This was Chuck Jones' second Road Runner cartoon, as well as the first Road Runner cartoon he directed since "Fast and Furry-Ous" three years prior. The reason behind this three-year gap between both Road Runner cartoons was that Chuck Jones originally intended "Fast and Furry-Ous" to be a one-shot cartoon, but he eventually changed his mind in response to the short's popularity with the moviegoing public at the time. Jones was especially persuaded by a letter from a captain in the Naval Air Force, claiming that his pilots were imitating the Road Runner's "beep beep" call while doing maneuvers.
  • This is the first appearance of both Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner in the Merrie Melodies.
  • Beginning from this cartoon, Road Runner is redesigned to be taller in height and thinner in physique with a more refined look, in contrast to his shorter height and scruffier appearance as in his debut cartoon three years earlier.
    • Wile E. also received a slight redesign in this cartoon as well, where here he retained his new redesign as in "Operation: Rabbit" earlier that year, except that his eyebrows are now recolored to be cream-colored like his jaw and chest as opposed to brown as in his previous appearance.
  • This is the second and last Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon to receive a Blue Ribbon reissue.
  • On the Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote: The Classic Chase VHS, the cartoon begins with a blue border on the title card. As the Latin names are revealed, a bright blue border is shown.
  • Gag #5 was used in the Thanksgiving special Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet.
  • Space Jam briefly features Wile. E's tightwire attempt from this short, shown when Michael Jordan's children watch TV. However, this sequence from this cartoon briefly pauses for a while when Porky Pig shows up to inform both the Coyote and Road Runner about an emergency union meeting (concerning the aliens taking the Looney Tunes to Moron Mountain). Road Runner then runs off with Porky telling him to wait while Wile E. tries to follow them but is sent flying from the tightwire like a slingshot just as in the short, and then crash lands in Union Hall 839. Warner Bros. Feature Animation produced the new footage for the short.
  • According to Michael Barrier on the audio commentary for "Fast and Furry-ous", the cartoon was originally going to be called "The Pursuit of Slap Happiness".
  • When Wile E. spots his "Free Drink of Water" trap set earlier in the cartoon, the box on the trap reads "Harris Soup", a nod to animator Ken Harris.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ↑ https://archive.org/details/boxofficebarometer1962-03-26-61-62/page/n155/mode/2up
  2. ↑ http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-b.aspx

External Links[]



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