The first was “The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going “Beep-Beep.”
Here’s a gag from Hot-Rod and Reel (released in 1959).
Uh, what was that “discipline” again, Mark Twain?
Mike Maltese was the writer of this cartoon, and many others with the Road Runner. My recollection is he told (I think it was Mike Barrier) he had never heard of any “disciplines” when he had to come up with a story.
When I was a kid, a Road Runner cartoon was a good excuse to go into the kitchen and make a sandwich. I didn’t need to see the cartoon. I knew the Coyote would fail and this would happen.
In this short, the first two gags ends with the coyote going off a cliff.
Years later, watching the cartoons, I found some gags that did not involve cliffs, and were actually pretty creative. That couldn't be helped when you put Jones and Maltese together.
Personally, I prefer the “Super Genius” Wile E. Coyote who turns out not to be vastly superior in intellect to Bugs Bunny, but you know that old saying about mileage.
The Road Runner also trips the Coyote in Hip Hip Hurry. Yeah...just more proof that these rules are pretty much just non-existent (there are SOME principles and hallmarks that are oftentimes done in the Road Runner's, like any series but they aren't really the stuff that Jones did to make himself sound like more of a "Super Genius" than he really was.
ReplyDelete"When I was a kid, a Road Runner cartoon was a good excuse to go into the kitchen and make a sandwich. I didn’t need to see the cartoon. I knew the Coyote would fail and this would happen."
I'm similar. I also didn't care about these shorts that much when growing up. I also thought they were repetitive as well and just a collection of random gags (in fact (and this is a dirty shame of mine) I actually gravitated to the LARRIVA Road Runners as a kid more because they were more structured and were less predictable (as you can probably tell by now, I disavow my childhood thought!)).
Nowadays though...I've been able to more enjoy them for what they are. Primarily because I realized that these shorts were meant to be seen more once in a while, not back-to-back-to-back. And also when I realized that the whole point of them was that yes the Coyote would fail...but HOW he would fail in what way I couldn't really tell. Yeah they WERE undoubtedly repetitive, but they were made before the days where you could rewatch them over and over again so it was more welcome to do something like that (as opposed to TV where repeat viewings are really oftentimes necessary).
Also..."Some years after making the Roadrunner cartoons, Chuck Jones came up with his list of “disciplines” he supposedly etched in stone for the series."
Funnily enough, Mr. Chuck (Mark Twain) Jones right here actually stated these "rules" WHILE making these toons (here: https://comics.ha.com/itm/animation-art/animation-memorabilia/chuck-jones-rare-four-page-letter-about-animation-on-warner-bros-stationery-warner-brothers-1959-/a/7403-19373.s (skip to question 11))