“Poor chap. He had his chance.”
Directed by Chuck Jones
Wile E. heads out of his lair with some type of contraption in tow. It turns out to be a portable elevator which he uses as a way into Bugs’s home. He comes out with Bugs literally in the bag. Bugs asks what is going on. Wile E. explains and also tells Bugs (who is in the middle of escaping) that since he is a genius, he knows that Bugs was going to ask what was in the bag, Wile E. would tell, and Bugs would ask what he was going to do with the rabbit, whilst using the time to escape. And by this point, Wile E. knows there is nothing in the sack. As it turns out, Bugs says there IS something in the sack and Wile E. humors him by taking a look. It explodes. Bugs takes the elevator back down and Wile E. chases after him. Not noticing the TNT Bugs has left in the lift. BOOM! Time for the brains to be used.
Wile E.’s latest gizmo is a Univac Electronic Brain. (UEB for short) You just enter your problem and it will offer you the best solution. He enters the animal as “rabbit” (was one of those options ‘dad’?) location as “hole”, and what as a “combination lock.” The machine tells him to use burglary methods and even prints the code for the lock. (Wow. I need me one of those. For good deeds, I mean!) Wile E. heads out at night with a portable window he puts up next to the lock. (Of course it’s necessary.) Bugs, reading in bed, can hear him and casually tosses a banana peel into his path. He slips and lands in the coyote disposal which throws him out off the side of a cliff.
Come morning, he asks what to do while Bugs is putting carrots into the toaster. It recommends substituting the veggies for grenades. He does so, but the spring of the toaster needs work as it launches them right back to sender. Simply asking “what”, “now”, and “?” has it suggesting using a plunger. Wile E. has clearly been working out, as it creates a LOT of suction. So much so, that when Bugs puts a pipe out the other way, Wile E. gets sucked through it and into the plunger himself. Next, Bugs is vacuuming and Wile E. places a TNT stick into the machine. This probably would have worked if he hadn’t done it just as the rabbit was finishing. Then maybe he wouldn’t have emptied the bag right away into the trash can Wile E. was hiding in.
Wile E. then sets a booby trap in the carrot patch, that will launch a boulder on Bugs when he pulls a certain one. (Can carrots grow in the this dry a climate?) Of course, nothing happens until Wile E. touches the snare himself. Rushing back to the UEB he asks for a suggestion, and it flat out tells him to go back and get hit. (Which he does.) As the short ends, we see that the UEB only has one moving part: Bugs himself.
Personal Rating: 4
Have a merry Christmas!