Looney Tunes: January 2001
Cover
Tweety, with a large mallet, rests in his nest. Tweety's nest rests on a large lump on a very dazed Sylvester's head.
Credits
Synopsis
Bugs is about to settle down to a nice all-carrot meal when he's disturbed by the noise of a crowd. Checking on things, the rabbit finds that the noise is from a crowd Daffy is working as he campaigns. Bugs tries to politely get him to move and gets clobbered with a sign for his efforts. Daffy's campaign just bought itself some trouble.
Daffy is surprised to suddenly have an opponent: Taz. While Daffy has telling people what they want to hear, Taz has frequent flier miles working for him. The duck tries negative campaigning, but finds Taz's campaign to be at least as negative. Campaign coverage shows disasters of both campaigns. Taz nearly eats, rather than kisses, a baby and Daffy is doing odd chores for people, having to live up to his promises before the election.
A questioner at a debate points out neither candidate seems to have a grip on any issues and asks just what the race is about. The answers start a fight which rapidly escalates to use of explosives. After Daffy and Taz have blown each other, and the auditorium, up, Bugs appears with a simple platform: More carrots for everyone (especially him). Bugs wins easily and has Taz and a steamed Daffy working for him.
Did You Notice...
While there is much campaigning, the actually office being contested is carefully never mentioned.- Page 1: Daffy's complaint about "Not In My Back Yard" attitude is not unusual. The acronym NIMBY shows up when some issues are discussed.
- Page 2: It seems just about everything has some sort of frequent flier mile tie-in nowadays. This would be vote-buying, but then neither Daffy nor Taz are known for their high ethical standards.
- Page 4: At least the so-called political coverage is honest. It usually is done to excess and still fails to get to any real substance.
- Page 4: The Ledderman Show is, of course, a Looney version of The Late Show with David Letterman.
Technical Nits
Page 4: Daffy as a sort of honest politician? He did deliver on his promises, and before the election, even if it was just vote-buying.- Page 6: Bugs' feet each have three foot pads in the second panel, but only two in the last panel.
Credits
Synopsis
Career Day finds Sylvester Junior with Sylvester at work at Acme News. When Sylvester overhears the editor in chief telling a reporter to follow the President, he sets off to get an interview first and forgets about catching mice.
First the cats try to catch up to the President in a marathon, but Sylvester gets run over. Another attempt misfires at a baseball game and Sylvester winds up pitched from the stands and batted into the scoreboard. At the aquarium, he gets soaked. All this much to the embarrassment of Junior.
A real chance arrives at a speech when a good pen is needed, after Sylvester makes sure only bad ones are available. Sylvester tries to offer the use of his pen, but he's stopped for running with sharp objects and not having a hall pass. The President turns out to be the President of the P.T.A. Junior's more relaxed and thoughtful effort finally gets a chance and it's Junior who gets the interview.
Sylvester boasts as his "attack" made the front page of the paper. Junior's story is on page 5. The editor in chief likes Sylvester's style and tells him to cover an avalanche... but he'll have to make one.
Did You Notice...
- Page 5: The good pens are from ACME, while the used ones are some other brand.
- Page 5: The idea of a fountain pen as an object of concern might have been intended as silly when this story was conceived, but considering how much concern about potential terrorist acts there has been, such a thing doesn't seem all that strange a concern anymore. (One wonders if this bit would have been scrapped had it come up a few months later in 2001. -- PN)
- Page 6: The other news stories on the front page are "Home Team Wins by a Whisker" and "Feline Sleeps with the Fishes."
Technical Nits
- Sylvester's foot pads are not colored in throughout the story.
- Sylvester reacts to hearing that the person he's been after is the President of the P.T.A. on page five, and again on page six.
Credits
Synopsis
Miss Prissy shows Egghead and his friends around, but the sight causes some giggling. The last of the bunch is not a chick, but a dog. While Miss Prissy finds a dog acting like a chicken to be cute, it upsets Foghorn. Fearing the dog won't be able to his job, guard the chickens, Foghorn sets out to teach Filbert, the dog, that he is a dog and how to act like a dog.
The chicken's description of cats frightens the dog so bad that he hides when a sleeping cat is pointed out. Foghorn tries to teach by example, but ends up a bad example - twice. The chicken then shows Filbert how a dog should act in general and sets a good example. So good that he's hauled off by the dog catcher.
Foghorn's being hauled away amuses the cat, but the joy is short-lived. Whether it was Foghorn's lessons or canine nature finally appearing, Filbert does know how to frighten the cat.
Did You Notice...
- Page 1: The name Eggbert is a bit curious. While the character was only called Junior in the classic cartoons, the long accepted name of the character is Egghead Jr. Calling him Eggbert now seems a bit revisionist. That, however isn't unusual for Looney Tunes characters. Gossamer, for example, is a name of recent invention.
- Page 1: Egghead reads "Quantum Physics for Smarties" which suggests a series of books that are not "for Dummies."
- Page 6: The dog catcher hasn't just caught Foghorn. He also caught, from upper left to right, Charlie Dog, Spike & Chester, a Droopy lookalike, Frisky Puppy, Marc Antony, and possibly Sam Sheepdog. The Droopy lookalike is a bit out of place as Droopy was an MGM, not a Warner Bros., character. Through various mergers and acquisitions, Droopy is now technically a Warner Bros. property, however.
Technical Nits
- A dog catcher that just happens to be out by the farm in the country seems a strange thing.
Credits
Synopsis
Elmer Fudd hunts wildlife, but this time with a video recorder. He spots a rare bird only for Taz to suddenly appear and eat it. Elmer is upset as he is trying to get footage for When Nature Goes Berserk.
Elmer tries again, setting out to see a pack of dingos, only to find Taz has dined on them. Taz also eats the platypus Fudd tries to record. It seems hopeless until it dawns on Elmer that Taz would be the ideal subject for the show. Fudd figures he'll need help and gets it in the form of Safari (Yosemite) Sam.
Elmer and Sam set out to get footage of a berserk Taz only to find the Devil resting for several hours. Sam tries to get him more active but several attempts at provoking Taz meet with failure. Fudd even seems to wish for Bugs to show up. There is one more try, but the humane naturalist Fudd tries to prevent Sam from using dynamite. When the inevitable explosion leaves them both scorched, they're mistaken for a new rare species and put in a zoo so they won't be in harm's way.
Did You Notice...
- When Nature Goes Berserk wouldn't be much of a stretch from some of the When Animals Attack programs which aired on Fox television.
- Elmer's video camera is set up for using the left hand and eye.
- Page 5: Seeing Sam in a Road Runner outfit is unexpected, to put it mildly.
- Page 5: Taz's name is Tasmanian Q. Devil.
- Page 5: The "Publishers Junkmail Sweepstakes" rather accurately describes the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes which sends out a vast amount of dubiously worded mail each year.
- Page 6: I'm not sure I want to know what sort of school Safari Sam attended if that's what he learned in kindergarten.
- Page 6: One kid at the zoo is wearing an ACME baseball cap and a Bugs Bunny shirt.
Technical Nits
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Last updated 03 February 2007