Foghorn Leghorn, wearing a Sherlock Holmes outfit complete with magnifying glass, bends over a hoofprint and says, "A clue! Why, Ah do believe Ah've hit the bulls-eye!" Foghorn is oblivious to the angry bull right behind him about do some hitting of his own.
Foghorn Leghorn looks for Miss Prissy as a night of cards and tea, but finds her place a wreck. Foghorn assumes criminal activity and starts looking for clues. As he looks around, Foghorn is jumped by Dawg who accuses the chicken of causing the damage. They struggle for a bit and then realize who each other is. Each claims to be the superior investigator. Dawg notices some scratching on the ground and Foghorn identifies it as Miss Prissy's while Dawg check of the scent indicates she was worried and in a hurry.
Foghorn tells what he thinks happened: A tornado made the mess and carried Prissy away, despite her attempts at holding to the ground. Dawg dismisses the idea and suggests his own theory: A runaway lawnmower wrecked the house and eventually caught up with Prissy. Foghorn counters with another idea: Aliens captured Prissy, but only after a fight. Dawg doesn't think much of that idea either.
Just then Dawg points out a loose bull. Upon seeing the bull, both Dawg and Foghorn head up a tree where they find Miss Prissy safe. Miss Prissy had made the marks on the ground, which told the whole story, but the message could only be seen from well above ground.
The title is inspired by the CBS TV program CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Foghorn's claim of a great detective nickname is one comparing him to Scooby Doo. While Scooby is continually involved in mysteries, the dog is more of a big scaredy cat than a great detective. A junk is a type of wooden boat used in the Far East Scat is jazz improvisation with the voice, using nonsense syllables.
A dust devil and a tornado are two different things. While both are swirling winds capable of causing damage, tornados are part of violent storms, while dust devils happen in clear weather due to strong surface heating.Sylvester Jr. stands dressed in gloves, feathered hat, cape, and boots. He wobbles and can't quite keep his balance. Junior eventually falls over, leaving the boots unmoved.
If nothing else, this demonstrates how silly it would be for cats to try wearing boots.Charlie Dog is looking for a master as he doesn't want to be out in the cold. He sees a bell-ringing Santa collecting money and gives himself in his usual far to forceful manner. This Santa tells Charlie to go wait for him at home. Charlie is then reminded that home for Santa is the north pole.
Charlie arrives at the north pole, where elves immediately mistake him for one of their own, then Charlie mistakes a display for Santa. The dog finds, and annoys, the real Santa. When asked how he was at fetching, he appears in a French maid outfit, in order to appear fetching. The dog is ordered out of Santa's office. The dog figures fetching a pipe and slippers might help his cause, but ends up setting Santa's beard on fire, then drenching him to put out the flames.
Santa, seemingly having a change of heart, shows Charlie to a dog bed. The dog's joy is short-lived as Santa uses the blanket he is on to make a sack. Charlie gets his wish, a master, when he's dropped down a chimney. Unfortunately for Charlie, his new master is an even more demanding brat than he is.
The title, and only the title, almost matches A Charlie Brown Christmas. The street signs show that the story starts on the corner of 34th and Broadway, which is the Herald Square location of Macy's flagship store. Thus this is the setting for Miracle on 34th Street
.(EC) A mukluk is a high boot used in the Arctic. Santa's Palace has advertising that indicates it is like Ceaser's Palace in Las Vegas. The Naughty and Nice trends are plotted on a chart on the wall. Interestingly, they are not mirror images of each other. Charlie is dressed like a Boy Scout when he puts out the fire. It fits his comment as the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared." The bratty kid is the one from Easter Yeggs (McKimson, 1947) who says "IwannaEasterEgg! IwannaEasterEgg!" (EC) Charlie Dog even includes a lump of coal as a better alternative for his present. The supposedly traditional lump of coal in the stocking being as good as "nothing" for naughty children for Christmas as coal was, once upon a time, a common household fuel. Santa's Palace TV satellite dish should be aimed horizontally, rather than slightly up, to get signals from a geosynchronous satellite which would have an orbit directly (and far) above the equator.Tweety sits on a downspout and diverts a sudden flow of water to deflect a sudden attack by Sylvester. Sylvester surrenders, but Tweety knows better.
The narration and Tweety's comment are set to the meter of Itsy Bitsy Spider.Bugs is enjoying the sights of Arizona's petrified carrot forest. As he poses next to a giant petrified carrot for a photo, a bunch of bikers roars by, leaving the natural wonder in ruins and the rabbit in not so good shape either. Bugs hopes that the picture turns out and will be a record of him and the former forest. Instead of the intended shot, the picture is of Yosemite Sam roaring by. Now that Bugs knows some of what's going on, he's out take care of things.
The motorcycle race, which is about destroying wonders of nature, continues though one feature isn't on the course: the Devil's Forehead. Sam figures if he reaches it first he'll be sure to win. Bugs appears to join the race, as Deb Leather, dressed in pink. As Deb, Bugs distracts Sam into a crash and a few painful encounters with the local wildlife. Now Sam is also racing to be ahead of the wildlife, which improbably even includes a tyrannosaurus rex.
The whole chase has to stop for a toll, but Deb has change and gets right by. Sam just crashed through the arm of the toll only to discover himself on railroad tracks with a train coming. Despite the wreck, Sam charges ahead with what is left of his motorcycle, tricked over the edge of a long drop by Deb. As Sam asks for help while holding on to the cliff edge, Bugs - now as himself again - jams the tripod of his camera into Sam's hands, causing him to let go. Sam falls quite a ways and Bugs shows why the place has the name it does in a rather supernatural photograph.
Off-road racing has been criticized as being destructive to the area in which it takes place. This race, however, takes it to a farfetched extreme. While there are no giant carrots in it, Arizona does indeed have a petrified forest which is a national park. Also unlike the carrot forest depicted, the petrified wood is logs rather than standing stone trees. The Devil's Forehead is probably a play on the Devil's Tower, though that is in Wyoming. not Arizona. Pink Lady was a Japanese singing duo which was very popular in Japan, but almost unknown in the U.S.A. There was a poorly thought out and therefore short-lived television series, Pink Lady and Jeff, which tried to introduce the duo to U.S. viewers in 1980. Bugs, as Deb, doesn't ride a large motorcycle but a rather unimposing motorscooter. Beaky Buzzard looks up from his newspaper as Sam falls. Crotalus durissue seems to be an attempt to get a plural of Crotalus durissus. Whatever the plural is, it is not durissue. Hymenoptera Apidae could be almost any bee. Africanized, or "killer," bees are Apis mellifera scutellata. The toll arm is shown both with and without a light on it.Note: Starting with this issue, the pages of the comic are not numbered at all.
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Last updated 19 December 2003