The reflection is shown shimmering with the heat of the desert and maybe the boiler.Wile E. Coyote is standing on railroad tracks which disappear into a tunnel. Wile E. looks sad and we see why: the reflection of an oncoming, and very near, steam locomotive is in his eyes.
The reflection is shown shimmering with the heat of the desert and maybe the boiler.
Bugs Bunny is awakened by Wile E. Coyote who isn't chasing after Bugs, but is seeking to borrow a screwdriver. Bugs lends the tool to Wile E. and tries to get back to sleep. But Bugs' repose is interrupted by the coyote again and again and each time the coyote is more bedraggled and less quick-witted than the last time.
Bugs decides to see just what Wile E. is up to and discovers that Wile E. has been cloning himself in hopes of catching an outnumbered Road Runner. While the clones are not perfect copies, the coyote hopes to make it up in volume.
At dawn, Wile E. addresses his clones who are wearing headsets and cameras so he can direct them remotely with the ACME V.O.W. 9000 and give them the advantages of his experience. Bugs points out a potential problem, but Wile E. dismisses it.
The clones make every mistake Wile E. has made and a few more as the V.O.W. 9000 fails exactly as Bugs had warned, much to Bugs' amusement. Eventually the clones eliminate themselves and Bugs decides to nap to make up for lost sleep. The rabbit's sleep is disturbed once more when Wile E. calls to ask for the loan of earplugs - now there are several Road Runner clones beeping all over the lab.
The title is a take on Cheaper By The Dozen, a book by Frank Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey who had twelve children. The book was made into a movie in 1950. Frank Gilbreth is generally considered the first efficiency expert, having employed time and motion studies in industry - and at home. Page 2: The crescent moon is facing correctly for the early morning. Page 7: Wile E. addresses his clones in a scene similar to one in the movie Patton. Page 7: V.O.W 9000 may be a take on the HAL 9000 from 2001:A Space Odyssey although the V.O.W is just communications gear, not an advanced computer. Page 12: Bugs is shading his eyes with a copy of Carrot Monthly.
Page 2: The pads of Bugs foot aren't colored in the bottom left panel. Page 4: Wile E. Coyote's mailbox is missing the flag. (For urbanites: The metal flag is put up to tell rural mail carriers to stop to pick up outgoing mail...PN) Page 4: The lab coat Wile E. is wearing is a womans lab coat. It has no holes in the sides of the pockets for slipping hands in and does have the cloth and buttons on the back and cuffs. (AC)
Page 6: The lettering explaining the V.O.W. doesn't say what the W stands for. Also, the dash after V.O.W. appears broken with a piece running into the W. Page 12: Wile E. introduces himself on the telephone as 'genius' rather than 'supergenius' as listed on his mailbox.Tweety has just started to read a new book when Sylvester grabs him. Tweety asks for one last request: let him finish reading the book to see how it ends. This leads to what starts as the standard Little Red Riding Hood story with a cat very suspiciously like Sylvester playing the part of the wolf. In a twist, the cat eats the bird, but the bird gives him indigestion and is spit up. The bird gives the cat the present he brought in the basket - a mallet, which is used to subdue the cat. When Sylvester grabs the book away in disbelief, Tweety uses a mallet on Sylvester.
Page 21: Besides the bird, the contents of the cat's stomach include fish bones, a metal nut, a pill, and a die. Page 22: Sylvester and the cat in the story have the same pose as well as both having winged eggs, rather than stars, circling their heads. The combination of Tweety's speaking and the scripted letters is not easy to read.Wile E. Coyote waits for a crate dropped from an airplane and is startled by Road Runner so winds up under the crate as it crashes open revealing the paraphernalia of a magician. Wile E. uses these in unsuccessful attempts to catch Road Runner: A magic bullet ricochets back, a disappearing bridge vanishes at the wrong time, and the magic hat seems to favor Road Runner...
Wile E. doesn't speak in this cartoon while he does in the first. It may be because the writer, Batic, is Argentine. (JM) (I've also been informed that Wile E. may speak, but only when Bugs is around...PN) Page 29: The sound effect of Wile E. hitting the ground is a bit confusing. (Until Scott McRae informed me that it was a sound effect in its own panel, I was asking, "just what went BOOM?"...PN)* Issue Index * Tabular Issue Index * Story Index * Creative People * Disclaimer *
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Last updated 8 January 1998