Release Date:

April 12, 1958

Main Character(s):

The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote

Summary:

The twelfth chase between Wile E. Coyote (Famishius Vulgaris Ingeniusi) and the Roadrunner (Birdius High Ballius).

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1477 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

Even though it’s once again unintentional (as I take deep dives into all 1000 cartoons in chronological order), it’s rather fitting that I get to talk about a Roadrunner cartoon just one day shy of the release of “Coyote vs. ACME”.

Dan Sendker, author of “Dance of the Comedians: 75 Years of the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote” (a wonderfully detailed book on the duo which was published in the fall of 2024 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of their debut cartoon, “Fast and Furry-Ous”), names this as not only his favorite Roadrunner cartoon, but also his favorite Warner cartoon in general.

The title is a play on words for “woebegone”.

This is the only Roadrunner cartoon released between “There They Go Go Go” and 1960’s “Fastest with the Mostest” to not feature a yellow sky. In this case, the sky is more grayish.

The cartoon is shown at one point in the 1974 movie “The Sugarland Express”.

The teeter board, trampoline, and roller skate helmet gags were used in the 1979 compilation movie, “The Bugs Bunny-Roadrunner Movie”.

Favorite Scene:

The roller skate helmet gag, for being one that can never possibly work (the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons even exaggerates when talking about it saying that it would never work in a million years).

What Happens in This One:

Wile E. prepares to go after the Roadrunner by riding on a rocket, which blasts off once he passes, with the cartoon’s title appearing after the fuel emits from said rocket. The chase continues with the credits and director credit also appearing on the rocket’s fuel when it races by the camera. Eventually, Wile E. stands atop the nose of the rocket to try and get the Roadrunner with his cutlery, only to slam into a tunnel, as the rocket continues on without him. The Roadrunner rushes out the other end of the tunnel and into the distance, but the rocket zooms back towards the tunnel. Wile E.’s attempt to get down from the tunnel is interrupted by the rocket coming back, forcing him to scrunch his body back up, so he doesn’t touch the fuel. He then jumps down to the ground silently panting about his close call with the rocket, only to get shortly run over by an ACME van (animated by Abe Levitow).

A disgruntled Wile E. is walking along and thinking to himself, initially failing to notice that he’s about to walk right into the Roadrunner watching him. The Roadrunner startles him with a “Meep! Meep!”, causing Wile E. to jump up and hit his head into a rock ledge, compressing his head down into his shoulders. The Roadrunner then zips off, leaving behind a large dust cloud. Wile E. goes after him, but comes out of the dust cloud in mid-air off a cliff. As he falls, he has an angry-looking expression (animated by Levitow).

Having climbed back up to the cliff side, Wile E. spots the Roadrunner on an opposite cliff. He sets up a plank on a rock at the edge to create a teeter board, and then throws another rock onto the other side to propel himself to the other cliff. The rock only goes through the cliff and creates a hole, causing the board to tilt downward, and Wile E. to slide off of it, falling a second time. It’s then revealed that he landed in the exact same spot but at a different angle. Realizing he could possibly land there again, he sets up a trampoline on this spot (animated by Levitow).

Wile E. looks through a sniper rifle attached to a stand atop the cliff, only to hear a “Meep! Meep!” behind him. It turns out the Roadrunner is standing atop a small precipice in the distance on another ledge several feet behind him. Wile E. turns around and prepares to shoot the Roadrunner, but ends up falling again due to having moved around into mid-air. This time, Wile E. sports a smirking expression with folded arms as he falls, believing the trampoline will enable him to simply bounce back up to safety. Instead of bouncing, however, he ends up falling right through the trampoline and on top of his previous two impact silhouettes (animated by Richard Thompson).

Wile E. stretches “1 (One) Giant Rubber Band (For Tripping Roadrunners) ACME Brand” and attaches it to two boulders on opposite sides of the road. After flicking the elastic, Wile E. only succeeds in getting the two boulders to fly into him (animated by Thompson).

Next, Wile E., having used several ladders to get to the top of another small precipice, has built a wooden structure hanging a barrel over the road via a rope and pulley system. The barrel has several dynamite sticks under its lid, with Wile E. lighting all of the fuses before shutting the lid, which also has several nails on top of the lid to prevent the Roadrunner from escaping. Wile E. then hammers the nails in before untying the rope from the structure and move the barrel out above the road. While hoisting up the barrel to the top of the structure, the part of the precipice Wile E. is standing on crumbles, causing him to swing out on the rope as the Roadrunner passes by from under him. The rope is about to snap, so Wile E. quickly climbs up to avoid falling. He’s too late, however, as the end of the rope he’s on disconnects and he falls followed by the barrel landing atop him. Struggling to get out due to the nails, Wile E. is able to remove them and run out to the side of the road, but doesn’t notice until too late that he has the lid and dynamite sticks atop his head. They inevitably explode on him (animated by Thompson).

Wile E. then plans one of his most incredibly ridiculous schemes he’s ever thought up: riding down a wire towards the Roadrunner headfirst with a helmet that has a roller skate on top. The second Wile E. gets himself balanced, he lets go, but his weight causes the wire to snap and him to go falling into the ground. To add insult to injury, the snapped wire lands on some power lines with the rest of it landing in the Wile E.-shaped hole from the impact of him falling, giving him a tremendous electric shock (animated by Ken Harris).

Next, Wile E. prepares to detonate some TNT he planted under a bridge, only for the Roadrunner to stop in front of the bridge before Wile E. pulls the plunger, causing the rubble to fall on him (animated by Harris).

Having unboxed “One ACME Do It Yourself Tornado Kit. Seed Your Own Tornadoes”, Wile E. takes out one of a can of “One Thousand Tornado Seeds. Just Add Water”, and puts this seed near a small cactus, before shooting it with an ACME Water Pistol. A small tornado is successfully created, which carries off this cactus as well as a nearby one. Wile E. then nods in satisfaction and pats his pistol in delight. He sets a handful of tornado seeds on the road, intending to shoot water at them when the Roadrunner comes near. Unfortunately, the end of his pistol comes off, causing the water to empty out into the whole can. Wile E. ends up getting stuck in a tornado of his own, which carries him to an abandoned army mine field. As Wile E. gets explosion after explosion from the tornado passing over the mines, the Roadrunner pulls down the “That’s all, Folks!” end card with it and everything else already having been written out (animated by Harris).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕