The 9 unbreakable rules of the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner universe

[kristopher]

The 9 unbreakable rules of the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner universe


Rule #1: the Road Runner cannot harm the coyote. Warner Bros
The Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, those cartoon favorites from Warner Brothers' beloved Looney Tunes, spent four dozen animated shorts engaging in ridiculous mayhem through the American Southwest.

Though the behavior of the two seemed spontaneous and silly, their comedic timing was a carefully constructed reality made by Chuck Jones, perhaps the most famous director at Warner Brothers' animation division.

Yesterday, Jones' rules for that reality went viral when film director Amos Posner tweeted a picture he had taken at the "What's Up, Doc? The Animation Art of Chuck Jones" exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York City:

:large

These rules come from Jones' 1999 autobiography, in which he wrote:

Just as I decided later that there would be no dialogue in the Coyote-Road Runner series because it seemed like a good rule, or indeed it would be a good rule if it was consistent; all comedians obey rules consistent with their own view of comedy. In my opinion, Jackie Gleason got more milage out of threatening to hit somebody than the Three Stooges ever did by doing so...

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/5/8157519/chuck-jones-rules-for-roadrunner-coyote

You can watch this compilation to see if he adhered to the rules he set down...

[NYC_SKP]

1. Pure genius. nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

2. Then there's this....

[silverweb]

5. LOL

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Good one!

[Cooley Hurd]

11. Classic Seth!!!

[Jamaal510]

3. RULE #10: "The coyote must never catch the roadrunner,

for the sake of the series' continuity."

[WhoIsNumberNone]

4. Rule #11 The Coyote and the Road Runner obey different laws of physics.

(e.g. The Coyote paints a mural of a tunnel on a stone wall across the road. The Road Runner runs into the tunnel. When the Coyote tries to pursue, he either smashes into the now-solid wall, or is run over by a truck or train coming out of the tunnel.)

[yuiyoshida]

6. The funny thing is....

THE Coyote can not ever win, for losing. Lets supposed He actually caught the Road Runner, cooks him and eats him. Pretty soon hunger will set in. He will slowly starve to death because apparently there is only one Road Runner in the desert. He is doomed, no matter what.

or then, there is post #2, LOL!

[90-percent]

7. Let's review how many rules this Family Guy satire broke

dupe - see post #2.

-90% Jimmy

[Diclotican]

8. kristopher

kristopher

I always loved Roadrunner when I was little - even though I also was shearing for the coyote - who never gave up, regardless of how hard and painfully his experience was, trying to catch the roadrunner.. I think I even managed to use up a VHS tape who had copied many of the episodes

Diclotican

[freshwest]

9. The suspension of the law of gravity until the fall off the cliff was noticed was my favorite part:

Wile E. Coyote’s Guide to Navigating Cliffs

By Brian Lee - January 2, 2013

...One thing people always forget about falling off cliffs is that you don’t actually fall down until you realize that you’ve already run past the cliff. A good strategy to cope with cliffs is to deny that you’ve ran past them: let the delusion keep you afloat. So pretend that this whole fiscal cliff deal is not real. Repeat to yourself that America is still the greatest nation with a totally functional budgetary process. Until you’re tired of lying to yourself, you should be fine.

You may feel a strong urge to rely on giant corporations to fix problems for you. While private corporations such as ACME have provided jobs and innovative products, they have also frequently shown that consumer interest is far behind profit in their priorities. We must keep in mind that a part of the mess we are in right now came from catastrophic failures of corporations behaving irresponsibly.

The odds are likely that once you’ve run past the cliff, the fall will happen eventually. The fall itself is harmless; in fact, I find the sensation of zero-gravity rather entertaining. What really hurts is the crash. You might find yourself at the bottom of a small crater. You might be unconscious. But regardless of how awful that crash was, come next week’s show, you’ll still be the same coyote you were before the crash. So keep your chin up. Before you know it, it will be next fiscal year.

Wile E. Coyote, Nemesis ridiculii, is a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton, a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry. He is the author of The Wiley One: My Life and the Pursuit of the Elusive Bird...

Denial is the most comforting of the stages of grief and a wonderful drug.

[hobbit709]

10. There's one cartoon where at the end the president of ACME is revealed.

It's the roadrunner. The coyote is doomed from the start and doesn't know it.

[shenmue]

12. Beep beep

[Stuart G]

13. I met Chuck Jones once...I am so grateful

It was only for a minute or so. He was signing cartoon cells at an art store. I had bought a cell a week before, (yes, I still have it) and he was nice enough to write a short signature and best wishes even though I did not buy anything on that date. I think back on the humor and fun that he and the other animators at WB created, I realize that I was very lucky to met him even for a moment. I love animation, and Wiley Coyote is my hero....

Oh, you may not know this, Chuck Jones and his crew only produced about 25 Roadrunner toons. The writer was Micheal Maltese. From those 25 or 26 toons have come an incredible amount of joy to the world. Yes, the entire world. Why? ...you really don't need to know any English in order to appreciate the humor. The poor hungry fellow, Wiley...is understood by all. He is nuts, but it is fun and makes people laugh..The first one was made in 1949..Fast and Furry-ous. Here is info on this cartoon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_and_Furry-ous

[Stuart G]

14. You can see the very first Road Runner toon at this link:

Vimeo.com...not you tube.It is one of my very favorites of all time..Oh, please look for the refrigerator sequence..


https://vimeo.com/50460903

[allan01]

15. rule 1e always smile at the end of the show

[allan01]

16. hem

eh: roadrunners cant read doc

[drm604]

17. These cartoons never get old.

[ChazInAz]

18. Beep!

I do recall two episodes in which the Coyote actually spoke, in one sounding rather like Hans Conreid, in the other like Boris Karloff.

[jimlup]

19. Very cool we enjoyed this as our Friday background

while my physics class finished working on this week's laboratory.

Funny part was that I (the teacher) was the one watching and laughing while my studious students were all busy calculating discussing and answering laboratory questions. I'm so proud of my students (seriously!)

We couldn't help but notice that it seemed that gravity only acted if Coyote noticed he had no normal force. It seemed that if he didn't notice he wouldn't have fallen.

[Babel_17]

20. Wile E. Coyote vs. ACME Company

https://la.utexas.edu/users/jmciver/357L/WileECoyoteVACME.htm

My client, Mr. Wile E. Coyote, a resident of Arizona and contiguous states, does herein bring suit for damages against the Acme Company, manufacturer and retail distributor of assorted merchandise, incorporated in Delaware and doing business in every state, district, and territory.

Mr. Coyote seeks compensation for personal injuries, loss of business income, and mental suffering caused as a direct result of the actions and/or gross negligence of said company, under Title 15 of the United States Code, Chapter 47, section 2072, subsection (a), relating to product liability.

Mr. Coyote states that on eighty-five separate occasions he has purchased of the Acme Company (hereinafter, "Defendant&quot , through that company's mail-order department, certain products which did cause him bodily injury due to defects in manufacture or improper cautionary labeling. Sales slips made out to Mr. Coyote as proof of purchase are at present in the possession of the Court, marked Exhibit A. Such injuries sustained by Mr. Coyote have temporarily restricted his ability to make a living in his profession of predator. Mr. Coyote is self-employed and thus not eligible for Workmen's Compensation.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/back-issues-coyote-v-acme

P.S. IIRC, in both the original "Kung Fu" and its sequel, the character played by David Carradine didn't harm his opponents, they would harm themselves.

[KansDem]

21. "Beep, beep" (??)

Does anyone else hear the Roadrunner saying "Meep, meep" or "Meek, meek?"

I've struggled with this for decades.