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Robot Rabbit is a 1953 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng. The short subject stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd.
Plot
Elmer Fudd is a carrot farmer who spots Bugs' rabbit hole, claiming that Bugs has raided his carrot farm ("Ooohh, that wascal wabbit's in my carrots again!") and decides to shoot him with a gun ("I'll fix that wabbit for good this time!"). After shooting into an empty hole (Bugs had conveniently left the hole, then attempts his "fake dying" act), Elmer exclaims "The rabbit kicked the bucket"; then he and Bugs start dancing as a result until Elmer begins to realize Bugs tricked him, as the rabbit is still very much alive.
This action prompts Fudd to call "ACME Pest Control" ("Hewwo? ACME Pest Contwol? Weww, I've got a pest I want to contwowd.") for a robot with the express purpose of evicting Bugs. The robot initially confuses a mule for a rabbit and Elmer — who was trying to explain to the robot what a rabbit looks like — for his intended target before getting the early upper-hand. Bugs quickly evens the score by luring his antagonist under a rotating water sprinkler, causing the robot to rust. Elmer, furious at the robot's incompetence, oils the robot (restoring its original color), and warns it to get Bugs or else he'll sell it for old scrap iron.
Later, Bugs disguises himself as a female robot (where he literally throws a wrench into their "relationship"), before finally causing the robot to follow him through a construction site and beneath a piledriver. Back at home, Elmer starts wondering how the robot fared, before Bugs greets him by dumping the robot "Does this answer your question?" — or what is left of it — onto the floor; it is presumed that the robot was crushed underneath the piledriver. Bugs then leaves the house and says "You know, someday these scientists are gonna invent something that will outsmart a rabbit".
Availability
- (1994) LaserDisc - Bugs Bunny: Hare Beyond Compare: 14 More Bugs Bunny Classics
- (1993) VHS - Elmer Fudd's School of Hard Knocks
Censorship
This cartoon was shown with parts cut on ABC, CBS, and the syndicated The Merrie Melodies Show.[1]
- ABC's version on The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show cut the robot mistaking both a mule and Elmer mimicking a rabbit for Bugs and blasting the two of them with his laser gun.
- CBS' version on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show also cut the robot shooting the mule and Elmer. In addition, the part where Elmer fires his rifle in Bugs' rabbit hole and Bugs faking being shot and kicking a nearby bucket (with Elmer exclaiming, "The wabbit kicked the bucket" and singing it along with Bugs until he realizes he's been duped) was also cut, as well as the part near the end where the robot and Bugs go back and forth underneath a pile driver at a construction site (though the aftermath/punchline to that joke, where Bugs returns with a bucket containing the remnants of Elmer's robot after Elmer wonders to himself what happened to it was not cut).
- The syndicated and FOX-run versions of The Merrie Melodies Show cut the part where the robot blasts Elmer with his laser gun (though not the robot doing the same to the mule) by replacing it with a paused shot of the mule looking off-screen).
Notes
- The opening song is "In a Little Red Barn (On a Farm down in Indiana)".
- The part where the robot sifts the ground on a large sieve to catch Bugs is recycled animation from "Rabbit Every Monday".
- When Bugs says, "I see this cigarette machine's gonna cause me no end of trouble," as he gets chased by the robot, his mouth doesn't move.
Gallery
TV Title Cards
References
External Links
- "Robot Rabbit" at SuperCartoons.net