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Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner

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To Beep or Not to Beep
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To Beep or Not to Beep

Wile E. Coyote (also known simply as "The Coyote") and the Road Runner are cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, created by Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Brothers. Chuck Jones based the films on a Mark Twain book called Roughing It, in which Twain noted that coyotes are starving and hungry and would chase a roadrunner.

Chuck Jones once said of his most famous protagonist and antagonist that "Wile E. is my reality, Bugs Bunny is my goal." He originally created the Road Runner cartoons as a parody of traditional "cat and mouse" cartoons (such as Tom and Jerry) which were increasingly popular at the time. The cartoons' Southwestern setting also mirrors the setting of the Krazy Kat comics, by George Herriman.

The Road Runner was voiced by Paul Julian, who worked as a background painter for Friz Freleng's unit.

Contents

Premise

The Road Runner
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The Road Runner

Wile E. Coyote
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Wile E. Coyote

The Road Runner shorts are very simple in their premise: the Road Runner, a flightless cartoon bird (loosely based on a real bird, the Greater Roadrunner), is chased down the highways of the Southwestern United States by a hungry coyote, named Wile E. Coyote (a pun on "wily coyote"). Despite numerous clever attempts, the coyote never catches or kills the Road Runner. (Although The Solid Tin Coyote does nab the roadrunner, he throws the coyote into his cavernous mouth following the "EAT, STUPID" command, and in Soup or Sonic, after running in and out of pipes that would magically resize the pair, the coyote is getting ready to eat the Road Runner, when he suddenly realizes that he is miniature and his prey is gigantic, to which he then looks at the camera and holds up the signs "All right, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him - now what do I do?") All of his elaborate schemes end up injuring him in humorous instances of highly exaggerated cartoon slapstick violence.

There is almost never any "spoken" communication, save the Road Runner's "beep-beep" (which actually sounds more like "mheep-mheep") and the Road Runner sticking out his tongue (which sounds like someone patting the opening of a glass bottle with the palm of their hand), but the two characters do sometimes communicate by holding up signs to each other, the audience, or the cartoonist (though both these rules were broken later). Another key element is that while Wile E. is the aggressor in the series, he and his hopelessly futile efforts are the focus of the audience's sympathy as well as virtually all of the humor. Wile E. seems doomed, like Sisyphus, forever to try but never to succeed.

The Road Runner's personality is less developed and consequently the audience lacks a context for empathy or identification with him - he is cheeky and seems to show satisfaction in defying the schemes of the Coyote, but the majority of the time is just a running object in the distance.

Wile E. Coyote later appeared in some Bugs Bunny shorts, as well as the Little Beeper cartoons featured on Tiny Toon Adventures, when he talks. In the Bugs Bunny shorts in particular, he calls himself a "super genius" (Operation: Rabbit, 1952; his first speaking appearance, and his first appearance in which he is called "Wile E. Coyote"); in another cartoon he claims an IQ of 207 (Zip Zip Hooray!, 1965).

Running gags

Jokes, or gags, often seen during the episodes, include the very frequent failure of Wile's gadgets (purchased from the Acme Corporation), but most noted is his usual falling down a canyon or cliff; seeing him fall far down before seeing the classic puff of smoke that emerges after the crash. Another gag is Wile seeming to complain silently to himself over either his hunger or his life, before Road Runner shows up, giving him the usual "mheep-mheep" before zooming off. A gag that sometimes showed up during these mocking stunts would be a smokescreen obscuring the view, seeing another smokescreen from Wile, but after Wile would have run off to catch the Road Runner, Road Runner would stay where he was supposed to have zoomed off, effectively feigning his escape from Wile.

Mock Latin names

Typically at the start of each short, during a chase sequence, the action pauses to show the audience the apparent Latin (or scientific) names of Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, usually emphasising the former's speed and the latter's hunger. These names change from short to short, as detailed below.
Zipping Along
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Zipping Along

Cartoon Title Road RunnerWile E. Coyote
Actual latin names Geococcyx californianus Canis latrans
Fast and Furry-ous Accelleratii Incredibus Carnivorous Vulgaris
Beep, Beep Accelerati Incredibilus Carnivorous Vulgaris
Going! Going! Gosh! Acceleratti Incredibilus Carnivorous Vulgaris
Zipping Along Velocitus Tremenjus Road-Runnerus Digestus
Stop! Look! And Hasten! Hot-Roddicus Supersonicus Eatibus Anythingus
Ready, Set, Zoom! Speedipus Rex Famishus-Famishus
Guided Muscle Velocitus Delectiblus Eatibus Almost Anythingus
Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z Delicius-Delicius Eatius Birdius
There They Go-Go-Go! Dig-Outius Tid-Bittius Famishius Fantasticus
Scrambled Aches Tastyus Supersonicus Eternalii Famishiis
Zoom and Bored Birdibus Zippibus Famishus Vulgarus
Whoa, Be Gone Birdius High-Ballius Famishius Vulgaris Ingeniusi
Hook, Line, and Stinker Burnius-Roadibus Famishius-Famishius
Hip Hip-Hurry! Digoutius-Unbelieveus Eatius-Slobbius
Hot Rod and Reel Super-Sonicus-Tonicus Famishius-Famishius
Wild About Hurry Batoutahelius Hardheadipus Oedipus
Fastest with The Mostest Velocitus Incalculus Carnivorous Slobbius
Hopalong Casualty Speedipus-Rex Hard-Headipus Ravenus
Zip 'n' Snort Digoutius-Hot-Rodis Evereadii Eatibus
Lickety Splat* Fastius Tasty-us Apetitius Giganticus
Beep Prepared Tid-Bittius Velocitus Hungrii Flea-Bagius
Zoom at the Top Disappearialis Quickius Overconfidentii Vulgaris
War and Pieces Burn-em Upus Asphaltus Caninus Nervous Rex
Freeze Frame Semper Food-Ellus Grotesques Appetitus
Soup or Sonic Ultra-Sonicus Ad Infinitum Nemesis Riduclii
Chariots of Fur Boulevardius Burnupius Dogius Ignoramius
(None) Desertus-Operativus Imbecilius
The Wizzard of Ow Geococcyx californianus Canis latrans
By Popular Demand Series - Judge Granny Case 2 Birdius Tastius Poultrius Devourius
Wild Kingdumb Birdus Tastius Poultrius Devourius
*cartoons in which Wile E. came up with the Latin names himself.

Scenery

Zoom and Bored
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Zoom and Bored

The desert scenery in the first two Road Runner cartoons, Fast and Furry-ous (1949) and Beep Beep (mid 1952), was designed by Robert Gribbroek and was quite realistic. In subsequent cartoons the scenery was designed by Maurice Noble and was far more abstract. Several different styles were used.

In Going! Going! Gosh! (late 1952) through Guided Muscle (late 1955) the scenery was 'semi-realistic' with an offwhite sky. Gravity-defying rock formations appeared in Ready, Set, Zoom! (1954). A bright yellow sky made its debut in Gee Whizzzzz! (early 1956) but was not used consistently until There They Go-Go-Go!, later in the same year.

Zoom and Bored (late 1957) introduced a major change in background style. Sharp, top-heavy rock formations became more prominent, and warm colours (yellow, orange and red) were favoured. Bushes were crescent-shaped. Except for Whoa Be-Gone (early 1958), whose scenery design harked back to Guided Muscle in certain aspects (such as off-white sky), this style of scenery was retained as far as Fastest with the Mostest (early 1960). Hopalong Casualty (mid 1960) changed the colour scheme, with the sky reverting to blue, and some rocks becoming off-white, while the bright yellow desert sand colour is retained, along with the 'sharp' style of rock formations pioneered by Zoom and Bored. The crescent shapes used for bushes starting with Zoom and Bored were retained, and also applied to clouds. The Format Films cartoons used a style of scenery similar to Hopalong Casualty and its successors, albeit paler and with small puffy clouds rather than crescent-shaped ones.

In War and Pieces, the last Chuck Jones Road Runner cartoon, in the last scene of the cartoon Wile E. Coyote's rocket blasts him through the center of the Earth to China, which is portrayed with abstract Oriental backgrounds, and also featured a Chinese Road Runner on roller skates.

The Acme Corporation

Gee Whiz-z-z
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Gee Whiz-z-z

Wile E. Coyote often obtains complex and ludicrous devices from a mail-order company, the fictitious Acme Corporation, which he hopes will help him catch the Road Runner. The devices invariably backfire in improbable and spectacular ways (see Rube Goldberg machine). Whether this is result of operator error or faulty merchandise is debatable. The coyote usually ends up burnt to a crisp, squashed flat, or at the bottom of a canyon. (Some cartoons show him suffering a combination of these fates.) How the coyote acquires these products without any money is not explained until the 2003 movie , in which he is shown to be an employee of Acme. In a Tiny Toon Adventures episode, Wile makes mention of his protege Calamity Coyote possessing an unlimited Acme credit card account, which might serve as another possible explanation. Wile E. being a "beta tester" for Acme has been another suggested explanation. Wile E. also uses war equipment such as cannons, grenades, and bayonets.

The company name was likely chosen for its irony (acme means the highest point, as of achievement or development). The common expansion A (or American) Company that Makes (or Making) Everything is a backronym. The origin of the name might also be related to the Acme company that built a fine line of animation stands and optical printers.

Among the products by the Acme Corporation are:

Laws and rules

As in other cartoons, the Road Runner and the coyote follow the laws of cartoon physics. For example, the Road Runner has the ability to enter the painted image of a cave, while the coyote cannot (unless there is an opening through which he can fall). Sometimes the coyote is allowed to hang in midair until he realizes that he is about to plummet into a chasm (a process occasionally referred to elsewhere as Road-Runnering). The coyote can overtake rocks which fall before he does, and end up being squashed by them.

Zoom and Bored
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Zoom and Bored

In his book, Chuck Amuck, Chuck Jones explains some of the rules the writers and artists followed in making the Coyote-Road Runner series:

  1. The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going "Beep-beep!"
  2. No outside force can harm the coyote—only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products. (This rule was broken once.)
  3. The coyote can stop any time—if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim."–George Santayana; this quote appears on a promotional poster featuring the duo, with the quote appearing in Burma Shave-style clips on signs amid the roadrunner's air wake)
  4. There may be no dialogue ever, except "beep-beep!" The coyote may, however, speak to the audience, occasionally with his own voice or through wooden signs that he holds up. (Actually, this rule was broken numerous times through the agonized screams and yelps that came from being damaged by his own products. In Zoom at the Top, there are two violations: the term "HA-HA!" as he takes cover behind a boulder, and the normal-voiced "ouch" after a bear trap snaps on him with a single drop of oil.)
  5. The Road Runner must stay on the road—otherwise, logically, he would not be called "Road Runner". (This rule was broken, too.)
  6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters—the southwest American desert.
  7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.
  8. Whenever possible, gravity should be made the coyote's greatest enemy.
  9. The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
There was also a tenth and more unofficial rule: The rules were followed with rare exceptions. Sometimes the episode is concluded with Wile E. being flattened by a truck (with the Road Runner grinning from the rear window). In the 1961 two-reel theatrical short Adventures of the Road-Runner, Wile E. Coyote actually speaks dialogue as he lectures on how best to catch the Road Runner. In the 1979 made-for television short Freeze Frame, Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner up into a snowy mountainous region, where most of the short is spent. In the rare 2000 short Little Go Beep, they explain the fourth rule by showing a baby Wile E.'s father (voiced by Stan Freberg) telling him not to speak until he has caught a Road Runner. There was also one where the Road Runner drives a car over Wile E. Coyote. Chuck Jones directed Freeze Frame, and advised on Little Go Beep.

Later cartoons

Gee Whiz-z-z
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Gee Whiz-z-z

The original Chuck Jones productions ended in 1963 with the closing of the Warner Bros. animation studio. War and Pieces, the last Road Runner short directed by Jones, was released in mid-1964. By that time, Pink Panther co-creator David DePatie and veteran director Friz Freleng had formed DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and commissioned new Road Runner productions.

The first cartoon of the DePatie-Freleng Road Runner series, The Wild Chase, was directed by Friz Freleng in 1965, and notably starred Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester the Cat alongside Wile E. and Road Runner. In total, DePatie-Freleng produced 14 Road Runner cartoons, two of which were directed by Robert McKimson (Rushing Roulette, 1965, and Sugar and Spies, 1966).

The remaining 11 were subcontracted to Format Films and directed under ex-Warner Bros. animator Rudy Larriva. The "Larriva Eleven," as the series was later called, lacked the fast-paced action of the Chuck Jones originals and was poorly received by critics. In Of Mice and Magic, Leonard Maltin calls the series "witless in every sense of the word." In addition, except for the planet Earth scene at the tail end of "Highway Runnery," there was only one clip of the Coyote's fall to the ground, used over and over again. These cartoons can easily be distinguished from Chuck Jones's cartoons because they feature the modern "Abstract WB" Looney Tunes opening and closing sequences, and they use the same music cues over and over again in the cartoons, composed by William Lava.

Post-Chuck Jones cartoons allow the coyote to speak, and once (in Soup or Sonic, 1980) he has the Road Runner in his grasp but thanks to a gag involving a tunnel that gets smaller and narrower as he goes through it, the coyote is only a few inches tall and can only grab the Road Runner's leg—at which point he holds up a large sign that reads "Okay, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him." In his other hand he holds up a smaller one that reads, "Now what do I do?"

Wile E. Coyote has also unsuccessfully attempted to catch and eat Bugs Bunny in another series of cartoons. In these cartoons, the coyote takes on the guise of a self-described "super genius" and speaks with a smooth, generic upper-class accent provided by Mel Blanc.

In one short (Hare-Breadth Hurry, 1963), Bugs Bunny—with the help of amphetamines—even sits in for Road Runner, who has "sprained a giblet," and carries out the duties of outsmarting the hungry scavenger. This is the only Bugs Bunny/Wile E. Coyote short in which the coyote does not speak. As usual Wile E. Coyote ends up falling down a canyon.

In the 1962 pilot for a potential television anthology series (but later released as a theatrical short entitled The Adventures of the Road-Runner—later edited and split into two short subjects called Zip Zip Hooray! and Road Runner A-Go-Go), Wile E. lectures two young TV-watching children about the edible parts of a Road Runner, attempting to explain his somewhat irrational obsession with catching it. He does so with help from an illustrated chart showing each section of the bird and its flavor. Having never caught the bird, how he would know what it tastes like is open to discussion. Still, for archival purposes, the list of purported flavors of the Road Runner is as follows:

(Head)

  1. Banana
  2. Asparagus
  3. Papaya
  4. Liquorice
  5. Vanilla
  6. Sponge cake
  7. Celery
(Tail and neck)
8. Candied yam
9. Caramel
10. Salami
11. Tamale
(Body)
12. Chop suey
13. Noodle
14. Pork chop
(Legs)
15. Cheddar cheese (Wile E. clarifies it as being "Wisconsin cheddar")
16. Double martini (very dry)
17. Bratwurst
18. Yorkshire pudding
19. Pistachio
If the bird does indeed possess all these taste characteristics, no wonder it is such a sought-after delicacy - and why Mother Nature has seen fit to give it such an impressive defense mechanism. .

In the 1970s, Chuck Jones directed three Road Runner short films for the educational children's TV series The Electric Company. These short cartoons used the Coyote and the Road Runner to display words for children to read, but the cartoons themselves were a refreshing return to Jones' glory days.

Wile E. and the Road Runner later appeared in several episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures. In this series, Wile E. (voiced in the Jim Reardon episode "Piece of Mind" by Joe Alaskey) was the dean of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Calamity Coyote. The Road Runner's protege in this series was Little Beeper. In the episode "Piece of Mind," Wile E. narrates the life story of Calamity while Calamity is falling from the top of a tall skyscraper. In the direct-to-video Tiny Toon movie, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, the Road Runner finally gets a taste of humilation by getting run over by a mail truck that "brakes for coyotes."

The two were also seen in cameos in Animaniacs. They were together in two Slappy Squirrel cartoons: "Bumbie's Mom" and "Little Old Slappy from Pasadena". In the latter the Road Runner is outrun by Slappy's car and holds up a sign saying "I quit"—immediately afterwards, Buttons, who was launched into the air during a previous gag, lands squarely on top of him. Wile E. appears without the bird in a The Wizard of Oz parody, dressed in his batsuit from one short, in a twister funnel in "Buttons in Ows".

In the 2000s, toddler versions of Wile E. and the Road Runner have been featured in episodes of the series Baby Looney Tunes.

In Loonatics Unleashed, Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner were renamed Tech E. Coyote and Rev Runner. Tech E. coyote was the tech expert of the Loonatics (influence by the past cartoons with many of the machines ordered by Wile E. from Acme, and has magnetic hands and the ability molecularly regenerate himself (influenced by the many times in which he painfully failed to capture roadrunner). Tech E. Coyote speaks, but does not have a British accent like Wile E. Coyote did. Rev Runner is also able to talk, though at an extremely fast rate, he is also able to fly without the use of jet packs, which are use by other members of the Loonatics.

In a Cartoon Network TV ad about The Acme Hour, Wile E. Coyote utilized a pair of jet roller skates to catch the roadrunner and didn't fail. While he was cooking his prey, it was revealed that the roller skates came from a generic brand. The ad said that other brand isn't the same thing.

Spin-offs

There They Go-Go-Go
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There They Go-Go-Go

In another series of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons, the character design of Wile E. Coyote was copied and renamed "Ralph Wolf". In this series, Ralph continually attempts to steal sheep from a flock being guarded by the eternally vigilant Sam Sheepdog. As with the Road Runner series, Ralph Wolf uses all sorts of wild inventions and schemes to steal the sheep, but he is continually foiled by the sheepdog. In a move seen by many as a satirical gag, Ralph Wolf continually tries to steal the sheep not because he is a fanatic (as Wile E. Coyote was), but because it is his job. At the end of every cartoon, he and the sheepdog stop what they were doing, punch a timeclock, exchange pleasantries, and go home for the day, after which the nightshift team takes over. The most prominent difference between the coyote and the wolf, aside from their locales, is that Wile E. has a black nose and Ralph has a red nose.

In the old Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies comics published by Dell Comics, the Road Runner was given the name Beep Beep the Road Runner and had 4 sons and a wife. The Road Runner family talked in rhyme in the comics. Wile E. was called Kelsey Coyote in his comic book debut.

Dell first published "Beep Beep the Road Runner" as Four Color Comics #918, 1008, and 1046 before getting his own title for issues #4-14 (1960-66), which was continued by Gold Key Comics with issues #1-88 (1966-70s)

The Road Runner and Wile E. also make appearances in the DC Comics Looney Tunes title.

Cultural references

Commercial appearances

Video games

Four Road Runner-themed video games were produced: The arcade game was originally to have been a laserdisc-based title incorporating footage from the actual Road Runner cartoons. Atari eventually decided that the format was too unreliable (laserdisc-based games required a great deal of maintenance) and switched it to more conventional raster-based hardware.

References

External links

Characters of Warner Bros. Animation and Comics
Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies
Primary: Bugs Bunny | Daffy Duck | Porky Pig | Elmer Fudd | Sylvester | Tweety Bird | Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner | Foghorn Leghorn | Pepe LePew | Yosemite Sam | Speedy Gonzales | Marvin the Martian | Taz Tasmanian Devil
Secondary: Bosko | Buddy | Michigan J. Frog | Petunia Pig | Henery Hawk | Rocky and Mugsy | Granny | Hector the Bulldog | Goofy Gophers | Cecil Turtle | Sylvester Jr. | Gossamer | Spike and Chester | Hippety Hopper | Marc Antony and Pussyfoot | Witch Hazel | The Three Bears | Hubie and Bertie | Claude Cat | Sniffles | Ralph Phillips | Beaky Buzzard | Charlie Dog | Pete Puma | Crusher | Private Snafu | Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf | Slowpoke Rodriguez | Merlin the Magic Mouse | Cool Cat
Comics and TV Shows: Honey Bunny | Bull and Axle Gator | Buddy Boar | Wendell T. Wolf | Francis X. Bushlad | Digeri Dingo | Willie Wombat | Daniel and Timothy Platypus |Lola Bunny | Melissa Duck | Queen Tyr'ahnee
Television Animation
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster and Babs Bunny | Plucky Duck | Hamton J. Pig | Montana Max | Elmyra Duff | Dizzy Devil | Furrball | Calamity Coyote | Little Beeper | Gogo Dodo | Sweetie Pie | Shirley the Loon | Fifi Le Fume | Li'l Sneezer | Concord Condor | Byron Basset | Fowlmouth | Barky Marky
Animaniacs: Yakko, Wakko, and Dot | Ralph the Guard | Thaddeus Plotz | Dr. Otto Scratchansniff | Hello Nurse | Ms. Flamiel | Pinky and the Brain | Snowball the Hamster | Slappy Squirrel | Skippy Squirrel | Walter Wolf | Buttons and Mindy | The Goodfeathers | Rita and Runt | Flavio and Marita | Minerva Mink | Chicken Boo | Katie Ka-Boom | Mr. Skullhead
Freakazoid!: The Huntsman (Freakazoid)
Histeria!: Father Time | Big Fat Baby | Miss Information | World's Oldest Woman | Loud Kiddington | Charity Bazaar | Aka Pella | Froggo | Toast | Pepper Mills | Cho-Cho | Lucky Bob | Pule Houser | Susanna Susquahanna | Bill Straitman | Mr. Smartypants | Chit Chatterson | Lydia Karaoke

 

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