Looney Tunes: December 1998
Cover
A nonplussed Wile E. Coyote has just pressed a button on the remote control for the Acme Automatic Boulder. Some reindeer, one with a red nose, and the Road Runner are aghast behind the boulder - which has just crushed a sleigh, leaving a few scattered presents and jingle bells nearby.
Appropriately for December, the second O in Looney Tunes is a wreath, with the rest of the letters red with green edges.
Credits
Synopsis
Wile E. Coyote tries once again to swoop down upon Road Runner, only to run smack into a billboard advertising scenic Antarctica. A very dazed and confused awakens in a snowy landscape. He soon finds he's at the south pole and instead of Road Runner, there is Playboy Penguin. Wile E.'s first chase is thwarted by his own tongue which gets frozen to the very literal pole.
Next he tries to launch a huge snowball by jumping on a see-saw arrangement, but evidently the cold has made it brittle and it just breaks, and the coyote plunges through an ice shelf. Another try and the board holds, but the snowball rolls down over Wile E. and takes him along down a crevasse. One more try and the snowball is right on target but, incredibly, Playboy just walks away a bit dazed.
At this the coyote realizes he can just grab the penguin and does so. But it isn't quite that easy as the bird sheds tears that form ice cubes, the sharp corners of which crack the ice and again Wile E. takes a plunge.
Upon recovery Wile E. tries a sneak attack with skis, only to end up skiing into the mouth of a polar bear. Signs comment on this being odd, but the bear has an explanation, of sorts. Wile E. tries again, this time with fishline, but lands a similarly misplaced walrus. The walrus also has an explanation.
The coyote is nothing if not determined and tries sardines loaded with ball bearings and a big magnet. And now gets a misplaced ship - the Titanic. Playboy offers an explanation this time: Must be a strong magnet. One more try, now with rocket skates. Unfamiliar with snow and ice Wile E. accidentally melts an outcropping onto himself, which knocks him out.
Wile E. wakes up back in the desert, evidently it was all a hallucination. The coyote faints upon seeing a few white flakes. Seems the Road Runner is having some fun with some soap flakes.
Did You Notice...
Page 1: Yes, there are planned trips you can take to Antarctica, but they are more historical tours and wildlife observation than winter getaways.- Page 2: The admonition against sticking your tongue to metal objects in cold months is quite valid, and youngsters still often hear it (and ignore it, but usually only once) in the higher latitudes.
- Page 4: Playboy is performing his unicycle and juggling act in the first panel.
- Page 8: This Titanic is, of course, the one as depicted in the 1997 film Titanic with the leading couple aboard.
- Page 10: The dazed Wile E. still has visions of Playboy Penguin dancing around his head as he comes to.
- Page 10: Maybe there is no place like home, but ouch, kissing a cactus must be painful.
- Slott makes good use of north pole-south pole confusions.
Technical Nits
Page 10: Road Runner is unusually active in upsetting Wile E. here, using a wing as a hand to sprinkle soap flakes. This seems to violate one of the '11 Rules' for Coyote - Road Runner interaction: That Road Runner can never cause any problems for Wile E. except by startling him with a 'beep-beep!'.
Credits
Synopsis
The goofy gophers, Mac and Tosh, have their presentation interrupted by the Tasmanian Devil. Alarmed at his sounds they give him a quick lesson in diction and Taz makes his intentions clear, vocally. While the gopher congratulate themselves they overlook Taz...who promptly swallows them.
Did You Notice...
- The title plays on Ambrose Beirce's The Devil's Dictionary which has some rather pointed definitions for things.
- The gopher have their pinkies extended when holding their tea.
- Henry Higgins, the transformation, and Pygmalion all refer to Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion in which Professor Higgins attempts to convert a 'lower class' woman into a sophisticated lady. The play inspired the film My Fair Lady.
Technical Nits
- The name of Pygmalion isn't quite right, for according to the story Pygmalion was a King of Cypress who fell in love with a statue that, with Aphrodite's intervention, came alive. It would be the Higgins character (or Mac and Tosh here) that was responsible for the transformation who would deserve the name.
Credits
Synopsis
Pepe Le Pew has his attempt at seduction interrupted by the goofy gophers who inform him he offends. Pepe makes a quick correction and is back after Penelope, now with politically correct speech. Well, almost.
Did You Notice...
- The gophers wear gas masks when talking to Pepe.
- Maurice Chevalier was a French singer, dancer, and actor and has been described as 'the quintessential Frenchman.'
- The Nile pun at the end seems to acknowledge the confusion of Pepe's phrasings and his aroma.
- Part of the Eiffel tower and the Arc de Triomphe can be seen in the background.
Technical Nits
Credits
Synopsis
Just after he's robbed a bank, Yosemite Sam is stopped by Mac and Tosh who claim his mode of dress is outdated. Making use of a privacy panel, Sam quickly changes clothes. (Though I'm not so sure it's a change for the better, myself. -- PN)
Did You Notice...
- Sam's taunt of hasta lumbago is a twist of hasta luego which is a popular equivalent to "See you later." and is literally, "Until later." Lumbago is lower back pain.
- Roy Rogers was 'King of the Cowboys', at least in Hollywood films. He also recorded several records.
- Hopalong Cassidy was the feature character in a series of westerns, which lent themselves to merchandising. According to the Hoppalong Cassidy FAQ there were 2,400 endorsed products.
- The gophers Lonesome Dope line comes from Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove which was made into a TV miniseries.
- Mac, or is it Tosh, uses the words made famous by Speedy Gonzales.
- The comment about chaps derives from the fashion idea that white can be worn in the summer but not after (US) Labor day.
Technical Nits
- Yosemite's pistols are missing in the first panel.
- While the gophers speak of chaps, Sam isn't wearing chaps anywhere on the page.
Credits
Synopsis
Mac and Tosh stop Tweety as he mallets Sylvester. The cat's reprieve doesn't last, for the gophers aren't complaining of the violence but instead offer Tweety tips on his swing.
Did You Notice...
- Martha Stewart is the homemaker extraordinaire that seems to be able to do anything and everything and have it all done just so.
Technical Nits
- The background color, supposedly of the same wall, changes.
Credits
Synopsis
Marvin, seeking better reception of distant signals, is about to vaporize Earth. The goofy gophers interrupt him, pointing out it would be uninvited and he really should send proper invitations. Marvin agrees and sets himself to the task of sending out hand-signed individually addressed invitations.
Did You Notice...
- Earth could certainly be a source of interference, with all the signals transmitted.
- Marvin's task is endless, by the time he finishes all 5.8 billion invitations, many will be outdated and the Earth's population will have increased considerably.
- That is also perhaps the most (in)famous split infinitive. The Oxford English Dictionary has recently, however, said that split infinitives are no longer a bad thing. Some grammarians do, of course, disagree.
- Mac and Tosh can, for once, be told apart due to the differing helmet styles.
Technical Nits
Credits
Synopsis
Daffy argues with a director to get himself cast in a movie, but the director has already decided on the cast. He prefers working with more sweet and lovable characters, in this case Blarney, the Bananas in Bermudas, and the Schmuppets. Daffy can't stand this, and is even more irked when some kids rush past, trampling him, to get to Blarney. When a duckling leaps over him for the same reason, he decides it's time for action.
The duck starts out by having a parcel delivered to the Bananas. It's a gorilla-in-a-box and scares them out of their skins. Of course Daffy naturally slips on a peel while making the obvious pun.
Next he masquerades as a health inspector on Sunflower Street, where he interrupts a sequence based on the letter V. He provides his own additions, the main one being a vacuum into which he sucks the Schmuppets.
Finally Daffy sets out to change Blarney, by talk, by tripping, and by lesson, all of which seem to fail. But the duck finally does upset the dinosaur simply by being himself. Now Daffy expects he'll have things his way.
On the set, Blarney isn't his nice self at all. The Director likes the new Blarney and, using the same words Daffy did at the start, suggests Daffy could learn things from Blarney! The Schmuppets and Bananas and Blarney, and even the gorilla, are quite willing to teach Daffy a few things now...
Did You Notice...
- Page 1: The King of the World is another Titanic reference. The lead character proclaimed himself King of the world at the bow of the ship when it started underway.
- Page 1: The director himself is another reference, this one to James Cameron who directed Titanic.(EC)
- Page 1: Tim Burton and Nicholas Cage are caricatured in the first panel. This refers to the unsuccessful effort by both to bring Superman to the screen for WB.(EC)
- Page 1: The characters in the poster parody the Bananas in Pajamas, the Muppets, and, of course, Barney.
- Page 2: While the duckling looks like a smaller Daffy, he's dressed in rather Disney-esque style with shorts similar to those worn my Mickey Mouse and a hat and bow reminiscent of a young Donald Duck.
- Page 2: Daffy's line is similar to that attributed to Caesar after he was stabbed.
- Page 3: The Bananas in Pajamas are labelled by the numbers 1 and 2, hence the ones in bermudas here having A and B.(EC)
- Page 4: Does anyone really need it explained that Sunflower street is a parody of Sesame street? Didn't think so.
- Page 4: The signs in the grocery store window in the first panel advertise inflated $35 tomato soup and happy hour. Also, the fence in the background has razor wire on top.
- Page 4: That Schmuppet isn't the first one to confuse the Vice President Al Gore with vegetable matter. Though Gore is more often considered like a tree: wooden.
- Page 4: Daffy goes by the name Sugar Toast when he plays health inspector.
- Page 5: The Schmuppet equivalent of Kermit the frog exclaims, "It's not easy being clean!" while Kermit himself has sung "It's Not Easy Being Green."
- Page 5: Daffy may be recalling some of his World War Two experience, V is indeed for Victory and that was often used by the US early in the war as a morale booster. If the letter V wasn't shown itself, the Morse code for it ( ...- ) could be seen or heard. Yes heard, think of the start of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
- Blarney makes several stereotypical Irish references, from his name and color to his style of speech.
- The 'Kermit' of the Schmuppets has very expressive eyes, doesn't he?
Technical Nits
- Page 7: Blarney's eyes are left white in the first panel, rather than colored yellow as in the rest of the story.
- Page 8: The director's pants, normally grey, are green in the fourth panel.
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Last update 03 December 2003