Release Date:

November 10, 1956

Main Character(s):

The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote

Summary:

The ninth chase between Wile E. Coyote (Famishius Fantasticus) and the Roadrunner (Dig-Outius Tid-Bittius).

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1427 and was released as a Looney Tune.

This one is notable for being the first ever Roadrunner cartoon where absolutely no ACME products are used.

This is the final Warner cartoon to use the byline “Color by Technicolor”. All Warner cartoons afterwards would just simply read “Technicolor” under the “A Warner Bros. Cartoon” byline.

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

Carl Stalling scored this one.

The title is a play on words for “there they go”.

Philip DeGuard did both the layouts and backgrounds.

From this cartoon up until 1960’s “Fastest with the Mostest”, all Roadrunner cartoons feature a yellow sky (with the exception of 1958’s “Whoa Be Gone”).

“Powerhouse” plays during the mace gag where the maces fly out of the ground and attack Wile E. when they land on him.

Favorite Scene:

The ladder gag.

What Happens in This One:

Wile E. takes a large glob of mud from a mud bank and molds it to look like a roast chicken. He then roasts it in his oven made out of a rock. Once he sits down at his makeshift table- it and his seat being made from two small cacti-, Wile E. struggles to tear a drumstick off of the hardened mud chicken. Wile E. attempts to take a bite, but it proves to not only be inedible but also rock hard as he ends up losing a tooth from biting down on it. He takes another glob of mud and shapes this glob into a trash can. After baking it in his oven, he takes the mud trash can out and deposits the chicken in there. The Roadrunner then runs past, causing Wile E. to get stuck in the trash can. A question mark appears above his head as he peeks out with the chicken atop his head. Upon seeing that it’s the Roadrunner running off, Wile E. hungrily races after him, leaving his mud creations behind. Taking a shortcut across a few roads, Wile E. begins catching up to the Roadrunner, who dashes into the distance so quickly, he causes the road to catch fire. Wile E. attempts to skid to a stop to avoid the fire to no avail. He jumps out mostly unscathed only to find that his feet are on fire. After putting them out by stamping them on the ground, he smells something else on fire and realizes that the something else in question is his tail. Wile E. desperately takes a branch off of a tree and uses it as a diving rod to detect a hidden pool of water. Upon finding one, he digs at this spot and dunks his tail in the water he dug up to extinguish the fire. Briefly angry, his mood soon changes to smug when he thinks up an idea (animated by Ken Harris).

With a rope tied to his body, Wile E. attempts to swing towards the Roadrunner with a javelin, only to land smack into the road, compressing his body in an accordion shape (animated by Richard Thompson).

Wile E. pushes a spring-released pistol down into a ground compartment before shutting it with a safety lock. After being cautious with it, he releases the lock when he’s a good distance away from the compartment and the Roadrunner passes by, only for the pistol to get sprung all the way towards Wile E., who attempts to prevent the shot by plugging the barrel up with his finger. It proves futile as it blasts him in the face and chars him anyway. The spring then goes back into the compartment, taking Wile E. with the gun and trapping him in the compartment (animated by Abe Levitow).

Attempting to launch himself in a sling from a bendable tree like a catapult, Wile E. cuts the rope to fly towards the Roadrunner, only for the tree to repeatedly fling him back and forth (animated by Thompson).

Wile E. has attached a bunch of maces on a pole for them to spin around and attack the Roadrunner. They instead fly out of the ground, and land on top of Wile E., beating him up. The aftermath is revealed with Wile E. tied up in the rope he released them with and with a black eye (animated by Thompson).

Having set up a handwritten “Detour” sign pointing towards the edge of a cliff, Wile E. is shown cutting a ladder with a saw and puts it over the gap between this cliff and the cliff on the other side to make it look like a bridge. Hearing a “Meep! Meep!”, Wile E. looks up to find the Roadrunner looking down at him from the cliff above. Wondering how he can get up there, Wile E. completely forgets about what he was doing and uses the ladder to climb up towards the Roadrunner! It snaps in half when he nearly reaches the top, causing him to fall with the upper half of the ladder. Upon getting to the top rung of this half, Wile E. sees the other half also falling to the ground and goes to the top rung of that half. He then holds his nose as if he’s about to submerge in water, and plows through each rung feet-first into the ground, splitting this half in two (animated by Thompson).

Wile E. rolls a wheel toward the edge of another cliff and lines the spoke with dynamite sticks to roll it down towards the Roadrunner. The wheel itself goes down, but the spoke with the dynamite stays and blows up on Wile E. (animated by Levitow).

Wile E. next attempts to launch himself while inside a metal rocket, only for him to blast out the rocket’s nose and fly into a cliff side, creating a small hole from the impact. He then crawls out of the hole charred (animated by Levitow).

Lastly, Wile E. has set up a bunch of rocks wedged in between two cliffs to fall down onto the Roadrunner in the manner of an avalanche when he releases the doors holding them. The rocks stay put when the Roadrunner passes under, however, so Wile E. angrily goes to the top of the cliff and repeatedly jumps on them to get them loose, to no avail. He goes back to the bottom and uses a long pole to loosen them, only for him to soon realize what he’s gotten himself as this attempt has worked too well. Wile E. holds up a sign, “In Heaven’s Name- What Am I DOING?”, (with the latter word underlined) before holding up a tiny umbrella in hopes it will protect him. Predictably, it doesn’t as he gets buried in his own rock avalanche. A pole pushes the two rocks atop it away and a white flag is hoisted up which reads “The End” (animated by Ben Washam).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕 ½