Release Date:

August 6, 1955

Main Character(s):

Porky Pig, Sylvester

Summary:

Porky Pig and Sylvester are camping out west where an alien-like bird from Jupiter (a Jovian) abducts them and their campsite as an assignment to bring back an Earth creature to his planet. Only Sylvester is aware of this, while Porky is once again completely oblivious to what’s going on.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1338 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This is the final entry in the Porky-Sylvester horror trilogy and the only one to not involve murderous mice in an abandoned building.

The Jovian shares the same character design as the Instant Martians from 1958’s “Hare Way to the Stars”.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

The title is a pun for the phrase “Jumpin’ Juniper!”

This is Jones’ final usage of Sylvester and therefore, the final time, he is cast

The beginning of this cartoon would be reused as part of the epilogue in the 1988 compilation movie, “Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters”.

“Powerhouse” plays during the scene where the Jovian’s ship flies off after he sees Sylvester sleeping outside of the tent up to the point where he leaves Earth with the entire campground atop his ship (it also plays during the shot where the Jovian’s ship leaves gravity pull at 19,000 miles into the air).

Right after that, “Reckless Night On Board an Ocean Liner” plays when the ship tilts back and forth from all the stuff atop it up to the point where Porky begins to shiver from the coldness of space.

Favorite Scene:

Porky mistakes the Jovian for a “friendly Navajo” and nonchalantly walks him out of the tent by the hand, promising to look at his rugs and trinkets in the morning.

What Happens in This One:

After the opening shot of a coyote walking on all four’s towards the edge of a cliff to howl at the moon, we cut to Porky and Sylvester camping on the ground below with the latter shivering in fear and with a fire burning. Porky comments, “Isn’t this eh, w-w-wonderful, Sylvester? Camping way out here in the middle of nowhere. So peaceful and quiet”. The coyote then howls at the moon (animated by Ken Harris), scaring Sylvester into jumping onto Porky and clinging to him, causing Porky’s incoherent exclaiming to sound muffled. Porky pushes Sylvester down off of him, “Eh, r-r-relinquish me, you, eh, foul gibbering f-f-feline, you!” He manages to get Sylvester off with Sylvester, who’s still in his clinging position, coming off in the manner of a spinning coin. Porky explains in annoyance, “Eh, th-that’s just a little old scraggly coyote, uh, baying at the moon!”, before walking back to the tent and adding, “Y-y-you yellow dog of a c-c-cowardly cat, you!” While doing the button on his tent to close it while he’s asleep in there, Porky tells Sylvester, “Eh, n-n-now I don’t want any more guff out of you”. The coyote howls again, causing Sylvester to cling to Porky from the outside when Porky’s still inside the tent. Porky kicks Sylvester off of him and scolds, “Eh, y-you go to sleep, ya s-s-silly, jerky cat, you!”, before shutting the tent for the night. The scene fades out with Sylvester still shivering (animated by Keith Darling).

Later, Sylvester is asleep outside the tent beside the burned-out fire when the Jovian’s spaceship comes in and takes a look at the camp setting. The Jovian then parks his ship elsewhere. Inside the ship, the instructions for “Prowl Saucer D.T. 20” are typed out, “Upon reaching Earth, obtain examples of animal life and return immediately to Jupiter. By Order, J. Pluvius. Head Microcosm”. Some sort of elevator comes out of the ship and after descending down it, the previously-unseen Jovian walks out over to Sylvester before looking at the tent. Deciding this will do, he heads back to the ship and back up the elevator, which retracts after he goes back in. To the tune of “Powerhouse”, the Jovian’s ship takes off and stops in front of another cliff near the campground, tunneling into said cliff by activating the “Boring Mechanism”. Once underground and below the camp, a buzz saw cuts a circle around the camping area before it’s sealed atop the Jovian’s ship for him to take back. Upon taking off, the Jovian realizes the amount of dirt atop the ship is making it too heavy to fly, so he activates the overdrive to make it easier (animated by Richard Thompson).

The ship soon exits the desert and then Earth (animated by Thompson), before it rotates back and forth from everything atop it. Porky starts shivering from the coldness of space and wakes up, “Brr! W-w-wow! It’s, eh, f-f-freezing cold all of a sudden!” Taking his blanket with him, he walks over to the other side of the tent, “I’d, eh, b-b-better get that extra blanket!” He comes back with the extra blanket and sees the scenery outside, unaware that he’s no longer on Earth, “Eh, g-g-eh, golly. Th-th-the stars are so bright tonight. Y-you can almost touch ‘em” (animated by Abe Levitow).

The Jovian’s elevator then comes out and curves around to the top of the ship, so he can look at the specimens he abducted. At this moment, Sylvester yawns while waking up and freezes upon feeling the Jovian put his hand atop his head. Sylvester turns around and finds the Jovian staring at him with an alarmed expression, causing him to let out a frightened “Meow!” before running away into the tent. Sylvester dashes onto the bed from under Porky, causing him to jump up while Sylvester cowers under the pillow, “W-w-what in blue blazes!? Sylvester! Have you been eating locoweed!? Come on out of there!” He pulls Sylvester out by the feet, which results in Sylvester’s claws scratching up the mattress from being dragged (animated by Darling).

With Sylvester clinging onto his head, an irritated Porky gets up and threatens, “S-S-Sylvester. G-g-g-get off of me, or I shall KILL you”. He then pulls Sylvester off himself and demands to know, “Eh, n-n-now, you idiotic stoop of a silly cat, w-w-what’s the matter with you anyway?” Sylvester explains by pulling his nose down to resemble the Jovian’s beak and his ears up to resemble the Jovian’s top-knot before walking up to Porky and putting his hand on his head and then bulging his eyes out at him. From outside, Porky tells him off, “Oh, eh, c-c-cut it out” and kicks Sylvester out of the tent, causing him to skid to the edge of the ship. Seeing Earth below them, Sylvester shakes in terror and then turns completely white in fear. He dashes off and finds himself shivering in the Jovian’s arms. This causes him to turn from white to yellow. Sylvester runs out of the Jovian’s arms and goes back into the tent, under the bed (animated by Darling).

Porky, having witnessed Sylvester running back in, reminds, “I th-th-thought I implied that you were to remain outside”, oblivious to the Jovian walking up to him from behind. From under the bed, Sylvester points to the Jovian, to which Porky turns around to look, “Oh, eh, th-th-THIS is what’s troubling you, eh? F-f-f-for shame!” Porky walks the Jovian out by the hand, telling him, “Oh, I-I-I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to return to your teep-, eh, eh, tee-, eh, eh, your wigwam. And, uh, we’ll look at your rugs and trinkets in the morning”. Porky then goes back to the tent, yawning, “Friendly Navajo (pronounces it how it’s spelled)” (animated by Harris). Turning the mattress over so he’s not sleeping on the clawed-up side, Porky grumbles, “Brother! Eh, w-w-what a way to spend a vacation! W-w-w-with a cowardly cat” (animated by Darling).

Completely confused by this, the Jovian turns to the audience and shrugs before going back into his ship, with the elevator again retracting after he goes in. In the ship’s library, the Jovian takes out a book, “Denizens of the Planet Earth and Their Behavior by Dr. Sig Mundfre Ud” and looks over it (animated by Darling).

The ship’s elevation is now at 19,000 miles so it leaves the gravity pull (animated by Darling), causing Porky’s blanket to lift up off of him. Shivering, Porky brings it back down around his neck and walks in mid-air to get a glass of water, with the glass and water container also floating in zero gravity. The container pours out upside down, so Porky has to fill his glass that way. After gargling it down, Porky goes back to bed. At this moment, everything except the dirt on top floats away off of the ship, which the Jovian is completely oblivious about due to still looking in his book. As everything floats back down, Sylvester’s eyes are shown from inside the tent, looking out, before he starts praying indistinctly while floating. The tent and everything else lands on another planet, with Porky having been asleep through the whole thing (animated by Levitow).

Porky then wakes up and comments, “Oh, eh, w-w-what a wonderful sleep!” Coming out of the tent while stretching, he observes, “W-w-what a beautiful morning! (chuckles) Things sure look different after a good nights’ sleep, eh, Sylvester?” He then notices the Earth in the distance, “Hey, uh, th-th-that’s a funny-looking planet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that one before”. Still unaware that they are miles away from home, Porky drives away on the planet in his jalopy, telling Sylvester, “Well, eh, w-w-we ought to make Albuquerque easy by tonight”. They unknowingly pass under two giant bird-like aliens that inhabit this planet and who flutter their eyebrows at each other slyly (animated by Levitow).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

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