Beep Prepared

Beep Prepared is a 1961 Warner Brothers Merrie Melodies American theatrical cartoon short directed by Chuck Jones and designer Maurice Noble.^[1] The short was released on November 11, 1961, and stars Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.^[2] The title is a play on the Boy Scouts of America motto "Be Prepared".

Plot[]

The cartoon opens as Wile E. Coyote (Hungrii Flea-Baggius), on a cliff’s edge, spies the Road Runner (Tid-Bittius Velocitus) dashing down a mountain, and squats down, ready to sprint. The Road Runner sneaks up behind his canine adversary and with his trademark “Beep-Beep!” startles Wile E. off the edge of the cliff. As Wile E. remains suspended in mid-air, the Road Runner fires a revolver into the air, signifying gravity to finish the job and cause the Coyote to plummet hundreds of feet to the ground. In the cloud of dust, the opening credits appear. Wile E. then begins his typical plotting of various methods to catch the bird.

1.) First, Wile E. tries to trip the Road Runner with his own foot, only to have it flattened by a passing delivery truck.

2.) Taking higher ground, Wile E. uses a bow and arrow to skewer the Road Runner, only to have the bow hit him in the nose instead. As Wile E. falls, the bow catches a cliff's edge, launching him towards it. Wile E. barely crosses it and holds onto another outcropping. The first outcropping flies into the second outcropping, and gravity activates. As the dazed Coyote pushes the second outcropping away to avoid getting squashed and pants in relief, outcrop #1 lands on a seesaw, which outcrop #2 follows. The Coyote bashes his head over a cliff and lands on the seesaw signaling outcrop #2 to finish the job.

3.) Lifting a manhole cover off a manhole, Wile E. intends to trap the Road Runner in the manhole. But when the Road Runner approaches the manhole, the laws of physics break as the Road Runner picks up the manhole as a portable hole and runs off. Furiously, Wile E. gives chase after Road Runner towards the bridge. Road Runner stops half-way in the middle of the bridge as he drops the hole in Wile E.'s path. The result: Wile E. falls in through the hole in the bridge and plummets to the ground below.

4.) Hoping to have a better advantage in the air, Wile E. equips himself with a rocket-powered flying suit. An explosion follows, coating the coyote in ash and leaving behind nothing but the framework of the device. And since the wings were made of cloth, the fabric was also destroyed in the blast. With no support left whatsoever (not even slots in the wings), gravity takes over as the Coyote leaves a trail of soot.

5.) Wile E. obtains a box of ACME Iron Bird Seed for use as bait. This time, he's wearing roller skates. Wile E. sets up the bait with a "FREE LUNCH!" sign, skates over behind a rock, and straps on a big magnet. When Road Runner eats the seeds, the magnet that Wile E. had strapped on suddenly gets attracted to the bird. As the magnet follows potential prey, so does Wile E. as the skates provide transportation. Road Runner leads Wile E. up a hillside and onto railroad tracks. Just as Road Runner approaches a bridge, he suddenly runs off as Wile E. runs into the path of a train. The Coyote tries to run off, but the magnet remains facing the train. The magnet remains upright as he winds up snared in the track bed.

6.) After that failure, and as dusk approaches, Wile E. sets up a spring-loaded block of pavement, which ends up crushing him just as the Road Runner stopped right in front of it.

7.) After getting himself out from under the pavement block, Wile E. erects a pair of machine guns connected by a trip rope. However, when the Roadrunner passes through the trip rope, he cuts it in two without setting off the guns. Annoyed that it went wrong, Wile. E comes out and attempts to reattach the rope to try again. However, upon pulling on the rope ends, he realizes too late what he has done, and the guns blast away at his midsection. With his lower torso having been shot at into nothingness, Wile E.'s upper body drops down onto his waist, and out he comes, holding together his separated body by the ends.

8.) Finally, at night, Wile E. gets two last things from ACME: a Little Giant Do-It-Yourself Rocket-Sled Kit and 30 miles of railroad tracks. However, just as Wile E. was about to pursue the Road Runner, one last time... The rocket sled blasts off from the ground and soars off, up in the sky, leaving Earth's atmosphere. His rocket passes Sputnik I and Explorer I, the first satellites in orbit. It sends Wile E. past the moon and beyond the stars. After the rocket sled explodes in deep space, the night sky has a new Sagittarius-like constellation... in the form of Wile E. Coyote. "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is played in the background as the cartoon ends.

Crew[]

• Co-Director & Layouts: Maurice Noble
• Animation: , Tom Ray, Ken Harris & Richard Thompson
• Backgrounds:
• Effects Animation: Harry Love
• Film Editor: Treg Brown
• Music: Milt Franklyn
• Produced by David H. DePatie & John W. Burton
• Story by John Dunn & Chuck Jones
• Directed by Chuck Jones

Home media[]

The short was released on Blu-ray on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3. It is also available as an extra on Splendor in the Grass DVD. The ending part of this can be seen on The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie

Reception[]

Beep Prepared received an Academy Award nomination as Best Animated Short for 1961. It was the only Oscar-nominated Road Runner / Coyote cartoon.

References[]

External links[]

• Beep Prepared at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Beep Prepared at IMDb