Jumpin' Jupiter is a 1955 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles M. Jones.
Plot[]
Porky Pig and his pet Sylvester are camping in the desert. Sylvester is frightened by a nearby howling coyote.
Meanwhile, an Instant Jovian arrives in a flying saucer. Under orders of J. Pluvius, Head Microcosm, it must obtain examples of animal life and return them to Jupiter. It bores its ship underneath Porky's campsite and lifts off with the whole patch of ground while Porky and Sylvester sleep.
Sylvester is scared white as a sheet when the alien inspects the campsite again, but Porky thinks it's just a friendly "Nava-Joe" trying to sell trinkets and beads so he shoos it back to its wigwam. The alien is befuddled so it goes back inside its ship and consults a book, Denizens of the Planet Earth and Their Behavior by Dr. Sig Mundfre Ud.
As they leave the pull of Earth's gravity, Porky and Sylvester and all of their camping equipment float off the flying saucer, and land gently on a passing heavenly body, with Earth visible high in the sky.
Availability[]
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- In ABC's The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, the part where Porky mistakes the bird-like alien for an American Indian while admonishing Sylvester was cut to remove Porky's line about "rugs and trinkets" and Porky telling the audience that the bird-like alien is a "friendly Navajo", though Porky telling the alien to return to his wigwam was not cut.[1] Cartoon Network and Boomerang aired this short uncut despite having a history of editing out American Indian stereotypes.
Notes[]
- This cartoon marks the final pairing of Porky Pig and Sylvester in Chuck Jones' Porky and Sylvester horror trilogy in the classic era, which started with "Scaredy Cat".
- Much like "Claws for Alarm" the previous year, Porky remains completely oblivious of the danger they are in throughout and never realizes it for the entire cartoon.
- This cartoon marks the debut of the Instant Martians, who would later reappear as Marvin the Martian's henchmen in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Hare-Way to the Stars".
- Pluvius, or "Jupiter Pluvius," is a sort of nickname for Jupiter, meaning "bringer of rain."
- The beginning of this short has been re-used for the epilogue at the end of Daffy Duck's Quackbusters.
- This is the penultimate short where Porky Pig does not co-star with Daffy Duck. He will make one more appearance without him in "Dumb Patrol" (1964).