''Rabbit Rampage'' is a 1955 Warner Bros. ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series '' Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation. ...

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

, directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, pro ...

. The short was released on June 11, 1955, and stars

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merr ...

Plot

The short opens to Bugs Bunny's hole being drawn by the animator in the ground; the animator abruptly erases and redraws the hole in the sky. A sleepy Bugs climbs out and falls to the ground. When Bugs realizes who is in charge of the feature, he makes his desire plain to not be a victim of an animator who plans on making him look bad. With that said, Bugs is about to get back into his rabbit hole, but the animator erases it, causing Bugs to jump headfirst into the ground. After Bugs stands up, he restates his desire to not work with the animator (Look, Buster. What's the big idea? I said I wasn't working with you and that is that!), who paints a yellow streak on Bugs' back, implying that Bugs is a coward. Bugs then grabs the brush and breaks it in half. Bugs emphatically states he will report the animator to his bosses at Warner Bros. Studios. and calls the animator "a menace to society", while the animator draws a picket sign reading:"I won't work" in Bugs's left hand. When Bugs sees the sign, he panics, and throws it on the ground, off-screen. Bugs asks if the animator is trying to get him fired, before explaining that he has become a good asset to the studio, which gives the animator time to draw another picket sign now reading: "I refuse to live up to my contract". After panicking and throwing away the last sign off-screen, Bugs returns, wiping off the yellow paint with a towel. Afterwards, Bugs grudgingly agrees to work on the picture, but pauses once he sees the animator has drawn a hat on his head, prompting Bugs to throw it on the ground, stating the animator knows he is not supposed to wear a hat. In response, the animator draws a big pink women's hat, and Bugs throws it on the ground too (Cut it out, ya crazy idjit!), revealing another hat beneath it, with another hat revealed under that one when Bugs throws it on the ground as well. The cycle continues with various ridiculous hats and wigs until Bugs announces that he gives up, after which he finally gets the endless line of hats off his head and walks away. The animator draws a rotated forest, and finding himself in it, Bugs tries to get in his hole by climbing down a nearby tree. The animator draws an anvil on Bugs' tail, causing Bugs to fall on a street, later rolling into an empty area. Angry, Bugs incoherently yells at the animator, but the animator erases Bugs's head to shut him up. When Bugs realizes this, he taps one foot impatiently and points at the spot where his head existed. The animator then draws a

Jack-o'-lantern A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin or a root vegetable such as a rutabaga or turnip. Jack-o'-lanterns are associated with the Halloween holiday. Its name comes from the reported phen ...

on Bugs' body. Realizing this, Bugs demands it be corrected, which the animator supplies by simply adding rabbit ears to the existing head, infuriating Bugs even further. The animator erases the pumpkin head and then draws a tiny version of Bugs' head. Bugs does not realize what has happened until he pulls a carrot out of his pocket, stopping short when he sees that something else is wrong and that the carrot is now huge. He then takes notice of his high-pitched voice. He smacks his hand against his face and realizes that his head is now small. He angrily requests that the animator draw his head back in properly, which he does, except he does not apply the ears. Bugs requests the ears, to which the animator puts in human ears. Bugs requests that he has long rabbit ears, to which the animator then draws long, droopy rabbit ears, only to revert them back when Bugs snaps at him to not "be so danged literal!" Now with his ears back, Bugs walks away again, only to have his tail erased. When Bugs orders that his tail be put back, it is replaced with a horse's tail, and when Bugs states a horse's tail belongs on a horse, the animator erases Bugs's body and redraws him as a horse. Bugs, while standing on two hind legs and eating a carrot, points out to the animator that this misinterpretation will not make his employers happy, seeing that his contract clearly says he is to be drawn as a rabbit, allowing the animator to pretend to comply with what Bugs is telling him by erasing Bugs's horse body and redrawing him as a more abstract, simplified rabbit with big cheeks and feet. Bugs warns the animator as soon he finds that this appearance is not quite right that this latest bit of teasing can lead to serious consequences for ''both'' of them, which leads the animator to draw him back to normal. When Bugs sardonically asks the animator if he wants to paint him into a grasshopper, the animator takes out a brush and Bugs quickly takes it back. Bugs attempts to make friends with the animator, promising that they could do something popular. While he is doing this, the animator draws two clones of Bugs, prompting Bugs to shove the clones out of the picture. Bugs then states he has finally had enough and he will not leave the spot until the animator gets the boss, but the animator, not wanting to (possibly) get fired, instead paints Bugs on a railroad track with a train coming out of a tunnel behind him. Bugs leans on a rock to avoid the train as it passes by, and he says he still knows one way out and that the animator cannot stop him. He jumps up and pulls down a card with the words "The End." The camera pulls back to the animator, who is revealed to be

Elmer Fudd Elmer J.'' Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon panthe ...

, in a cameo appearance, who laughs and states his delight to the audience by saying, "Well anyway, I finawwy got even with that scwewy wabbit!"

Voice Cast and Additional Crew

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy r ...

voices

* Arthur Q. Bryan voices

(uncredited) * Production Manager: John W. Burton * Film Edited by Treg Brown * Additional Story by

Tedd Pierce Edward Stacey "Tedd" Pierce III (August 12, 1906 – February 19, 1972) was an American screenwriter and voice actor of animated cartoons, principally from the mid-1930s to the late 1950s. Biography Pierce was the son of a stockbroker, Samue ...

(both uncredited) * Uncredited Animation by

Ken Harris Karyl Ross "Ken" Harris (July 31, 1898 – March 24, 1982) was an American animator best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons under the supervision of director Chuck Jones. Life and career Ken Harris was born in Tulare County, Califor ...

Production notes

''Rabbit Rampage'' is a

spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product ...

to the 1953 cartoon ''

Duck Amuck ''Duck Amuck'' is an American animated surreal comedy short film directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on January 17, 1953 as part of the ''Merrie Melodies'' series, and stars Daffy Duck. In the cartoon, ...

'', in which

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Mel ...

was teased by an off-screen animator, revealed at the end to be Bugs Bunny. In ''Rabbit Rampage'', Bugs is similarly teased by another off-screen animator, who is revealed at the end to be

. The cartoon inspired a 1993 video game for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...

, ''

Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage ''Bugs Bunny Rabbit Rampage'' is an action video game developed by Viacom New Media (a then-sister company to Nickelodeon, who had broadcast ''Looney Tunes'' cartoons at the time of the game's release) and published by Sunsoft released exclusivel ...

'', which allows the player to control Bugs, following a similar plot. A few clips from this short were shown in a trailer for the '' Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1'' DVD set (seen on the '' Looney Tunes: Back in Action'' DVD), but was not included as part of that set. The complete short was released on the '' Volume 6'' set of the series as a "bonus" cartoon.cartoonbrew.com

Legacy

While not as a big of a success as Duck Amuck, the short has been fairly popular. A similar plot was also included in the episode "Duck's Reflucks" of ''

Baby Looney Tunes ''Baby Looney Tunes'' is an American animated television series depicting toddler versions of ''Looney Tunes'' characters. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The series focused on real world problems and morals that children may relate ...

,'' in which Bugs was the victim, Daffy was the animator, and it was made on a computer instead of a pencil and paper. It is done once again with Daffy tormenting Bugs in the ''

New Looney Tunes ''New Looney Tunes'', originally titled ''Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production'' in the US and ''Bugs!'' in some markets for its first season, is an American animated television series from Warner Bros. Animation based on the characters from ''Loo ...

'' episode "One Carroter in Search of an Artist", with the technology updated and the pencil and paintbrush replaced by a digital pen. In issue #94 of the ''Looney Tunes'' comic (November 2002), Bugs Bunny gets back at Daffy Duck by making him the victim, in switching various movie roles, from Duck Twacy in ''Who Killed Daffy Duck''," a video game character, and a talk show host, and they always wind up with Daffy starring in ''

Moby Dick ''Moby-Dick; or, The Whale'' is an 1851 novel by American writer Herman Melville. The book is the sailor Ishmael's narrative of the obsessive quest of Ahab, captain of the whaling ship ''Pequod'', for revenge against Moby Dick, the giant whi ...

'' (the story's running gag). After this, Bugs comments, "Eh, dis guy needs a new agent."

References

External links