Release Date:

March 29, 1958

Main Character(s):

Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian

Summary:

After waking up from a hangover as a result of radish juice mixed with carrot juice, Bugs Bunny unknowingly climbs into a rocket that was placed above his hole. Ending up on a series of panels suspended in space, Bugs foils Marvin the Martian’s plan to blow up Earth, with the latter’s reason for doing so being that Earth obstructs his view of Venus. Outraged at Bugs making off with his Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator, Marvin sends his bird-like “Instant Martians” after him.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1464 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This is Marvin’s penultimate appearance in the Golden Age and one of two times where he wears a green outfit, with his helmet and tutu being beige.

The Instant Martians share the same character design as the Jovian from “Jumpin’ Jupiter”.

For as much as an absolute classic it is, it’s rather surprising this one isn’t in the 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons book (it’s easily my favorite of Marvin’s encounters with Bugs, and my favorite Marvin cartoon alongside “Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century”).

The cartoon was originally titled “Up in the Hare”, a pun for “up in the air”.

The title is a pun for the song, “Stairway to the Stars”.

Speaking of which, around the time I first watched this cartoon in 2013, the title immediately made me think of the then-recent song, “Get Lucky” due to one of the lyrics containing “to the stars”. For years, I had no idea what the song was called, until a few months earlier when my brother was playing a video game with this song in the background. So I have him to thank for me finding out that song’s title before I got to this cartoon.

The space panels in this cartoon is yet another reason why Maurice Noble was the best of all the layout artists.

The cartoon was used in the 1979 compilation movie, “The Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Movie”.

Jackal Queenston’s 2009 song, “Rubber Band”, uses an audio clip from this cartoon. Specifically, it’s Marvin’s “Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!”

The “Tired Bugs Bunny” meme (the one with him wearing a yellow nightshirt) comes from this cartoon.

Although Bugs is a bachelor like he usually is, he has two respective towels, “His” and “Hares” (a pun for “Hers”).

Favorite Scene:

Bugs’ chase with three of the Martians through the doors and panels.

Runner-up is Bugs getting another Martian to imitate his gestures before tricking him into driving off the panel in mid-space.

What Happens in This One:

At sunrise, a rocket is being parked atop Bugs’ hole. Bugs has just woken up after suffering a hangover, “Gad! What a night! I’ll NEVER mix radish juice and carrot juice again!” He takes off his night shirt and grabs his towel labeled “His” along with his toothbrush to take his morning bath, “Brr! I hope the lake’s warmed up a little this morning!” Ascending the ladder to go out of his hole, Bugs unknowingly climbs up into one of the rocket’s exhaust pipes, entering it that way. He is heard from inside remarking, “Whew! Wow! The hole seems long this morning!” With a countdown from 10 having occurred while Bugs entered, the rocket blasts off into space (animated by Abe Levitow).

Bugs is heard having made it to the top of the rocket, still assuming he’s in his hole, “Holy cow! I thought I’d never reach the top of this! H-Hey! Who plugged up the hole!?” He unscrews the rocket’s nose off and begins to step out, mistaking space for it still being night, “Why, the sun ain’t even out yet. No wonder I’m so slee-”, but upon spotting Earth disappearing from the distance, realizes he’s far from home, finishing in a slightly meek tone, “-py”. After a comet passes by, he is somewhat startled, “Yikes! What was that!?”, before he gets hit and carried off by Sputnik flying into him, “Well, ask a silly question”. Sputnik transports him all the way to the space panels, sending him rolling across one, ending with Bugs landing upside down in front of a large piece of glass on the edge, “Something tells me I should’ve stood in bed” (animated by Levitow).

Walking around, Bugs sees this place is very unfamiliar, “Where the heck am I anyway? Well, wherever it is, I don’t like it, and I’m getting out of here!” He then spots someone passing by, “Hey! (animated by Levitow) Maybe that character wearing a spittoon can help me!” Said character is Marvin, who is walking along with an explosive and delighted, “At last! After 2,000 years of work, the Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator”. Bugs fails to get his attention when he passes with a quick, “Eh, pardon me, sir, but could you-?” Marvin continues walking along, “At long last. My dream come true”, as Bugs starts running towards him to catch up, “Hey, doc, wait! I wanna ask ya something!” (animated by Ken Harris)

Bugs spots Marvin attaching his explosive to a large weapon aimed at Earth and asks him, “Eh, pardon me, doc, but could you rent me a U-drive flying saucer? I’ve gotta get back to the Earth!” Marvin informs him, “The Earth? Oh, the Earth will be gone in just a few seconds”. Initially absent-minded, Bugs walks off, “Oh, well, uh, don’t bother then. No point in wasting money on a flying saucer when the Earth’s not gonna-”, but then stops upon realizing something and literally says, “TOING!” while doing so. As Marvin begins to light the fuse, Bugs asks Marvin to clarify, “Eh, pardon me, doc, but, uh, just what did you MEAN by that crack about the Earth being gone?”, to which Marvin answers, “Oh, uh, I’m going to blow it up. It obstructs my view of Venus”. Bugs answers, “It does? That’s a shame!”, before making a realization again and silently putting out the fuse before removing the explosive from the weapon and running off with it. Confused upon not hearing anything, Marvin wonders, “Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!” His eyes bulge out upon seeing his explosive is gone and seeing Bugs continue to run away with it, “The Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator! That creature has stolen the Space Modulator!” (animated by Harris)

“Delays, delays”, Marvin laments as he walks over to a gumball machine containing “10,000 Instant Martians. Just Add Water”. He takes out a few martian gumballs and pours water on them one by one to make them become fully-grown martians- with one of them only growing to a small size and requiring another pour of water on him to become the same height as the rest. Marvin then instructs, “Capture that creature and return the Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator!”, before they go off to do so (animated by Harris).

One martian chases Bugs to “ZZip Parking” where Bugs puts the explosive in his pocket and takes off on a rocket-powered scooter with no wheels. The martian takes the other one and uses that to go after him. Bugs brakes to a stop, but the martian continues going before realizing he’s now in front of Bugs. He goes in reverse, while Bugs goes forward, with Bugs calling to him, “Yoo-hoo!” They switch places again, with Bugs whistling to him. The back and forth in different spots routine continues before they eventually stop in the same place. Bugs then gets the martian to imitate his gestures, with this last one being turning away and presumably zooming off the panel into mid-space. Once the dust clears, it turns out only the scooter went while Bugs is still on the panel. When the martian realizes he’s been tricked and is in mid-air, Bugs waves to him and watches him fall (animated by Harris).

Not realizing Marvin sent more than one martian after him, Bugs figures, “Well, that’s that” as he walks away, only to walk into the middle of where the other martians are standing. Bugs backs away, grinning sheepishly and waving goodbye, before making a run for it. He gets onto one of the two elevator-like “Super Upper” platforms to ascend to a higher panel. The martians take the other one and once they’ve reached the same level, run through a door Bugs has opened for them. They open the next door for Bugs, so they can continue chasing him. Bugs runs all the way to a platform with a door on it that opens up into space. He opens the door, causing the martians to fall through, disposing of them. Seeing Bugs walk away from having disposed of the other martians from a television-like monitor, Marvin laments, “Oh dear. Now I shall have to create more martians!”, walking away to do so (animated by Richard Thompson).

Bugs comes to another panel’s edge and finds several parked flying saucers and is delighted with this convince, “Hey!” Deciding to take one, he says to himself, “This martian hot rod better get at least a million miles to the gallon. The Earth ain’t just across the street!” Bugs begins to fly home in it, but in the midst of his journey, accidentally replaces the jar of martian gumballs with Marvin’s explosive, having presumably been lit by the exhaust. When Marvin uses the machine, he is delighted at what ends up coming out of it, “Oh, goody! My Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator!” It explodes on him, damaging his helmet and outfit, and destroying a good majority of the glass and panels. Stuck in an awkward place, Marvin decides, “Well, back to the old drawing board!” (animated by Thompson)

Making it back to Earth with it still being sunrise hours, Bugs is glad to be home, “Boy, it’s really wonderful to be back in cilivization!” He then witnesses something ahead in shock. It turns out to be a sign warning, “Danger! Construction”, which Bugs crashes into, causing him and the entire jar of martian gumballs to go flying out of the saucer and land in a sewer with a splash. As the ground begins to rumble, Bugs exits the sewer and puts the lid over it, before warning the audience, “Run for the hills, folks, or you’ll be up to your armpits in martians!” He runs off into the distance as the martians’ top-knots begin emerging out from underneath the street (animated by Thompson).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕