Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner

Template:WBToonChar Wile E. (Ethelbert) Coyote (also known simply as "The Coyote") and the Road Runner are cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, created by Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Brothers. Chuck Jones based the films on Mark Twain's Roughing It, in which Twain noted that coyotes are starving and would chase a roadrunner.

Chuck Jones once said of his most famous protagonist and antagonist that "Wile E. is my reality, Bugs Bunny is my goal." He originally created the Road Runner cartoons as a parody of traditional "cat and mouse" cartoons (such as Tom and Jerry) which were increasingly popular at the time. The major difference is that the audience's sympathy is drawn to Wile E., a comically ineffectual predator whose hunts always end in disaster. The cartoons' Southwestern setting also mirrors the setting of the Krazy Kat comics, by George Herriman.

Premise

File:Ethelbert.jpg

Panel from the 1975 comic-book story "The Greatest of E's". Art by Jack Manning.

The shorts are simple in their premise: a Road Runner (loosely based on a real bird, the Greater Roadrunner), is chased down the highways of the Southwestern United States by a hungry coyote named Wile E. Coyote, a pun on "wily coyote". His middle name was revealed to be "Ethelbert" in the story "The Greatest of E's" in issue #53 (cover-date Sept. 1975) of Gold Key Comics' licensed comic book, Beep Beep the Road Runner (however, its writer, Mark Evanier, says he never intended it to be canon).

Despite numerous clever attempts, the coyote practically never catches or kills the Road Runner. All of his elaborate schemes backfire, end up injuring him in humorous instances of highly exaggerated cartoon slapstick violence.

There is almost never any "spoken" communication, save the Road Runner's "beep-beep" (which actually sounds more like "mheep-mheep") and the Road Runner sticking out his tongue (which sounds like someone patting the opening of a glass bottle with the palm of their hand - how sound effects expert Treg Brown produced it), but the two characters do sometimes communicate by holding up signs to each other, the audience, or the cartoonist. Wile E. Coyote has also shouted from pain on at least one occasion, and will wiggle his eyebrows at the audience when feeling particularly pleased with himself (and therefore, usually, just before a catastrophe). Another key element is that while Wile E. is the aggressor in the series, he and his hopelessly futile efforts are the focus of the audience's sympathy as well as virtually all of the humor. Wile E. seems doomed, like Sisyphus, forever to try but never to succeed.

The Road Runner's personality is less developed and consequently the audience lacks a context for empathy or identification with him—he is cheeky and seems to show satisfaction in defying the schemes of the Coyote, but the majority of the time is just a running object in the distance.

Wile E. Coyote later appeared in some Bugs Bunny shorts, as well as the "Little Beeper" cartoons featured on Tiny Toon Adventures, when he talks. In the Bugs Bunny shorts in particular, he calls himself a "super genius" ("Operation: Rabbit", 1952; his first speaking appearance, and his first appearance in which he is called "Wile E. Coyote"); in another cartoon he claims an IQ of 207 ("Zip Zip Hooray!", 1965).

In "The Solid Tin Coyote", a robot version of Wile E. does nab the Road Runner. With success (or at least the Road Runner) within his grasp (or at least within the grasp of the robot), Wile E. is doomed to taste failure again. Wile E. uses the control panel for his robot to enter the command, "EAT, STUPID"--and the robot logically interprets the command to mean that he is to eat the one who is stupid and Wile E. goes "down the hatch". Thus, the Road Runner escapes and an irritated Wile E. comes out of the robot and dials the command, "ONE MORE TRY, YOU IDIOT!"

In "Soup or Sonic", after running in and out of pipes that would magically resize the pair, Wile E. prepares to eat the Road Runner when Wile E. suddenly realizes he is miniature and his prey is gigantic. He then looks at the camera and holds up signs saying, "All right, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him—now what do I do?"

Signature "beep"

The Road Runner

File:Wileecoyote.jpg

Wile E. Coyote

The source of the Road Runner's "Beep-Beep" was background painter Paul Julian, who worked for Friz Freleng's unit. His identity was a mystery for many years, but was confirmed by animation screenwriter Michael Maltese and Julian himself in the DVD commentary for the short "Fast and Furry-ous" on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 1.

Julian first made the noise around the Warner Bros. lot (imitating a car horn) as a lighthearted means of getting people out of his way when he was in a hurry. At the producers' request, Julian performed several variations of the sound at a single recording session. Editor Treg Brown then sped up and looped some of them to make even more versions.

The use of a staff member to perform a voice caused a rift with the performers' union. Chuck Jones was forced to agree that, for all future recording sessions, an accredited actor would be used. He got around this by simply reusing Julian's initial recording (and Brown's variants) in all future Road Runner cartoons.

Because of the union problems, the studio refused to acknowledge the real voice of the Road Runner for decades. Many sources erroneously claimed that Mel Blanc performed the character. Blanc, in his autobiography That's Not All Folks!, claimed that a klaxon horn was used in the first short, but that he personally took over the role when that prop later came up missing.

Blanc's account had long been questioned by animation buffs since the Road Runner noise never sounded like an ordinary klaxon and there was no reason the original soundtrack couldn't have been reused or a replacement horn found.

A non-vocal effect was used to make the noise produced when the Road Runner flicks his tongue at the Coyote. In an interview in the above-referenced DVD commentary, Treg Brown revealed one of his assistants created the hollow sound by sticking his thumb into an empty glass bottle and pulling it out rapidly.

Cartoons

Release date	Cartoon Title	Road Runner	Wile E. Coyote
	(Actual Scientific Names)	Geococcyx californianus	Canis latrans
September 16, 1949	Fast and Furry-ous	Accelleratii Incredibus	Carnivorous Vulgaris
May 24, 1952	Beep, Beep	Accelerati Incredibilus	Carnivorous Vulgaris
August 23, 1952	Going! Going! Gosh!	Acceleratti Incredibilus	Carnivorous Vulgaris
September 14, 1953	Zipping Along	Velocitus Tremenjus	Road-Runnerus Digestus
August 14, 1954	Stop! Look! And Hasten!	Hot-Roddicus Supersonicus	Eatibus Anythingus
April 30, 1955	Ready, Set, Zoom!	Speedipus Rex	Famishus-Famishus
December 10, 1955	Guided Muscle	Velocitus Delectiblus	Eatibus Almost Anythingus
May 05, 1956	Gee Whiz-z-z-z	Delicius-Delicius	Eatius Birdius
November 10, 1956	There They Go-Go-Go!	Dig-Outius Tid-Bittius	Famishius Fantasticus
January 26, 1957	Scrambled Aches	Tastyus Supersonicus	Eternalii Famishiis
September 04, 1957	Zoom and Bored	Birdibus Zippibus	Famishus Vulgarus
April 12, 1958	Whoa, Be Gone!	Birdius High-Ballius	Famishius Vulgaris Ingeniusi
October 11, 1958	Hook, Line, and Stinker	Burnius-Roadibus	Famishius-Famishius
December 06, 1958	Hip Hip-Hurry!	Digoutius-Unbelieveus	Eatius-Slobbius
May 09, 1959	Hot-Rod and Reel!	Super-Sonicus-Tonicus	Famishius-Famishius
October 10, 1959	Wild About Hurry	Batoutahelius	Hardheadipus Oedipus
January 19, 1960	Fastest with The Mostest	Velocitus Incalculus	Carnivorous Slobbius
October 08, 1960	Hopalong Casualty	Speedipus-Rex	Hard-Headipus Ravenus
January 21, 1961	Zip 'N' Snort	Digoutius-Hot-Rodis	Evereadii Eatibus
June 03, 1961	Lickety-Splat*	Fastius Tasty-us	Apetitius Giganticus
November 11, 1961	Beep Prepared	Tid-Bittius Velocitus	Hungrii Flea-Bagius
June 30, 1962	Zoom at the Top	Disappearialis Quickius	Overconfidentii Vulgaris
1962	Adventures of the Road-Runner*	Super-Sonnicus Idioticus	n/a
December 28, 1963	To Beep or Not to Beep	n/a	n/a
June 06, 1964	War and Pieces	Burn-em Upus Asphaltus	Caninus Nervous Rex
February 27, 1965	The Wild Chase	n/a	n/a
July 31, 1965	Rushing Roulette	n/a	n/a
August 21, 1965	Run, Run, Sweet Road Runner	n/a	n/a
September 18, 1965	Tired and Feathered	n/a	n/a
October 09, 1965	Boulder Wham!	n/a	n/a
October 30, 1965	Just Plane Beep	n/a	n/a
November 13, 1965	Hairied and Hurried	n/a	n/a
December 11, 1965	Highway Runnery	n/a	n/a
December 25, 1965	Chaser On the Rocks	n/a	n/a
1965	Road Runner A-Go-Go	n/a	n/a
1965	Zip Zip Hooray	n/a	n/a
January 08, 1966	Shot and Bothered	n/a	n/a
January 29, 1966	Out and Out Rout	n/a	n/a
February 19, 1966	The Solid Tin Coyote	n/a	n/a
March 12, 1966	Clippety Clobbered	n/a	n/a
November 05, 1966	Sugar and Spies	n/a	n/a
November 27, 1979	Freeze Frame	Semper Food-Ellus	Grotesques Appetitus
May 21, 1980	Soup or Sonic	Ultra-Sonicus Ad Infinitum	Nemesis Riduclii
December of 1994	Chariots of Fur	Boulevardius Burnupius	Dogius Ignoramius
2003	The Whizzard of Ow	Geococcyx californianus	Canis latrans
	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	n/a	Desertus-operativus Idioticus
	By Popular Demand Series - Judge Granny Case 2**	Birdius Tastius	Poultrius Devourius
	Wild Kingdumb**	Birdus Tastius	Poultrius Devourius

*cartoons in which Wile E. came up with the Latin names himself.

** Webtoon

It is also noted that in Soup or Sonic, the "Beep-beep" of the Road Runner is referred to as beepus-beepus.

In Stop! Look! and Hasten!, Wile E. follows the instructions in a manual titled How to Build a Burmese Tiger Trap. Hearing the trap activated, he leaps in and immediately withdraws, panicked, because instead of the Road Runner he has caught an actual Burmese tiger, who is identified as such and given the psuedo-Latin name Surprisibus surprisibus.

Scenery

Zoom and Bored

The desert scenery in the first two Road Runner cartoons, Fast and Furry-ous (1949) and Beep Beep (mid 1952), was designed by Robert Gribbroek and was quite realistic. In most later cartoons the scenery was designed by Maurice Noble and was far more abstract. Several different styles were used. In The Wild Chase (1965), featuring a race between the Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales, it is stated that the Road Runner is from Texas, insofar as the race announcer calls him the "Texas Road Burner." This suggests that most of the Wile E. and Road Runner cartoons could take place in Texas.

In Going! Going! Gosh! (late 1952) through Guided Muscle (late 1955) the scenery was 'semi-realistic' with an offwhite sky (possibly suggesting overcast/cloudy weather condition). Gravity-defying rock formations appeared in Ready, Set, Zoom! (early 1955). A bright yellow sky made its debut in Gee Whiz-z-z-z! (early 1956) but was not used consistently until There They Go-Go-Go!, later in the same year.

Zoom and Bored (late 1957) introduced a major change in background style. Sharp, top-heavy rock formations became more prominent, and warm colours (yellow, orange and red) were favoured. Bushes were crescent-shaped. Except for Whoa Be-Gone (early 1958), whose scenery design harked back to Guided Muscle in certain aspects (such as off-white sky), this style of scenery was retained as far as Fastest with the Mostest (early 1960). Hopalong Casualty (mid 1960) changed the colour scheme, with the sky reverting to blue, and some rocks becoming off-white, while the bright yellow desert sand colour is retained, along with the 'sharp' style of rock formations pioneered by Zoom and Bored. The crescent shapes used for bushes starting with Zoom and Bored were retained, and also applied to clouds. In the last scene of War and Pieces (1964), Wile E. Coyote's rocket blasts him through the center of the Earth to China, which is portrayed with abstract Oriental backgrounds. This scene features a Chinese Road Runner.

The Format Films cartoons used a style of scenery similar to Hopalong Casualty and its successors, albeit less detailed and with small puffy clouds rather than crescent-shaped ones.

Freeze Frame, a made-for-television short originally shown as part of the 1979 CBS special Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales, depicts the Coyote pursuing the Road Runner across a winter landscape of ice and snow.

The Acme Corporation

Main article: Acme Corporation

Gee Whiz-z-z

Wile E. Coyote often obtains complex and ludicrous devices from a mail-order company, the fictitious Acme Corporation, which he hopes will help him catch the Road Runner. The devices invariably fail in improbable and spectacular ways (see Rube Goldberg machine). Whether this is result of operator error or faulty merchandise is debatable. The coyote usually ends up burnt to a crisp, squashed flat, or at the bottom of a canyon (some cartoons show him suffering a combination of these fates). Occasionally Acme products do work quite well (e.g. the Rocket Sled, Jet Powered Roller Skates); the problem then for the coyote is the products stop working at the worst possible time.

How the coyote acquires these Acme products without any money is not explained until the 2003 movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, in which he is shown to be an employee of Acme. In a Tiny Toon Adventures episode, Wile E. makes mention of his protege Calamity Coyote possessing an unlimited Acme credit card account, which might serve as another possible explanation. Wile E. being a "beta tester" for Acme has been another suggested explanation. Wile E. also uses war equipment such as cannons, rocket launchers, grenades, and bayonets which are "generic", not Acme products. (Why he never ordered some food to ease his hunger pangs is also unexplained).

The company name was likely chosen for its irony (acme means the highest point, as of achievement or development). The common expansion A (or American) Company that Makes (or Making) Everything is a backronym. The origin of the name might also be related to the Acme company that built a fine line of animation stands and optical printers; however, the most likely explanation is the Sears house brand called Acme that appeared in their ubiquitous early 1900s mail-order catalogues.

Laws and rules

As in other cartoons, the Road Runner and the coyote follow the laws of cartoon physics. For example, the Road Runner has the ability to enter the painted image of a cave, while the coyote cannot (unless there is an opening through which he can fall). Sometimes the coyote is allowed to hang in midair until he realizes that he is about to plummet into a chasm (a process occasionally referred to elsewhere as Road-Runnering). The coyote can overtake rocks which fall before he does, and end up being squashed by them.

File:Zoomandbored-roadrunner.jpg

Zoom and Bored

In his book, Chuck Amuck, Chuck Jones explains some of the rules the writers and artists followed in making the Coyote-Road Runner series:

1. The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going "Beep-beep!" This rule has been violated. For example, in Going! Going! Gosh! the coyote is run over by a truck and we see that the Road Runner is in the driver's seat. Also, in Rushing Roulette, Wile E. is hit by a bus that is driven by Road Runner.
2. No outside force can harm the coyote—only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products. (This rule was broken once.)
3. The coyote can stop any time—if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim."—George Santayana; this quote appears on a promotional poster featuring the duo, with the quote appearing in Burma Shave-style clips on signs amid the roadrunner's air wake)
4. There may be no dialogue ever, except "beep-beep!" The coyote may, however, speak to the audience, occasionally with his own voice or through wooden signs that he holds up. (Actually, this rule was broken numerous times through the agonized screams and yelps that came from being damaged by his own products. In Zoom at the Top, there are two violations: the term "HA-HA!" as he takes cover behind a boulder, and the normal-voiced "ouch" after a bear trap snaps on him with a single drop of oil. The Coyote speaks normally in some appearances with Bugs Bunny, but the only communications between the Coyote and the Road Runner are written on signs. As a gag, the Roadrunner once holds a sign reading "Roadrunners can't read".)
5. The Road Runner must stay on the road—otherwise, logically, he would not be called "Road Runner". (This rule was broken, too.)
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters—the southwest American desert.
7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation. (This rule was also broken...Wile E. Coyote once used a box labeled "Harris Soup" to set up a prop glass of water rigged to ignite dynamite once lifted.)
8. Whenever possible, gravity should be made the coyote's greatest enemy.
9. The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

There was also a tenth and more unofficial rule:

• The sympathy of the audience must lie with the coyote.

The 11th rule stated that the Coyote is never allowed to catch the Road Runner. Otherwise, in one cartoon episode, spoken by one of the kids: "There would be no more Road Runner". The rules were not always followed. Sometimes the episode is concluded with Wile E. being flattened by a truck (with the Road Runner grinning from the rear window). In Going! Going! Gosh! the road runner is in the driver's seat. In the 1962 two-reel theatrical short Adventures of the Road-Runner, Wile E. Coyote actually speaks dialogue as he lectures on how best to catch the Road Runner. In the 1965 short Highway Runnery, Road Runner drives a car over Wile E. Coyote. In the 1979 made-for television short Freeze Frame, Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner up into a snowy mountainous region, where most of the short is spent. In the rare 2000 short Little Go Beep, they explain the fourth rule by showing a baby Wile E.'s father (voiced by Stan Freberg) telling him not to speak until he has caught a Road Runner.

In an interview years after the series was made, writer Michael Maltese insisted he had never heard of the "Rules" before and certainly never felt bound by any. This would explain why they've been "broken" so often.

Later cartoons

File:Geewhizz.jpg

Gee Whiz-z-z

The original Chuck Jones productions ended in 1962 after Jones was dismissed by the Warner Bros. animation studio. War and Pieces, the last Road Runner short directed by Jones, was released in mid-1964. By that time, The Pink Panther co-creator David DePatie and veteran director Friz Freleng had formed DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and commissioned new Road Runner productions.

The first cartoon of the DePatie-Freleng Road Runner series, The Wild Chase, was directed by Friz Freleng in 1965, and notably starred Speedy Gonzales and Sylvester the Cat alongside Wile E. and Road Runner. In total, DePatie-Freleng produced 14 Road Runner cartoons, two of which were directed by Robert McKimson (Rushing Roulette, 1965, and Sugar and Spies, 1966).

The remaining 11 were subcontracted to Format Films and directed under ex-Warner Bros. animator Rudy Larriva. The "Larriva Eleven," as the series was later called, lacked the fast-paced action of the Chuck Jones originals and was poorly received by critics. In Of Mice and Magic, Leonard Maltin calls the series "witless in every sense of the word." In addition, except for the planet Earth scene at the tail end of "Highway Runnery," there was only one clip of the Coyote's fall to the ground, used over and over again. These cartoons can easily be distinguished from Chuck Jones's cartoons because they feature the modern "Abstract WB" Looney Tunes opening and closing sequences, and they use the same music cues over and over again in the cartoons, composed by William Lava.

Wile E. Coyote has also unsuccessfully attempted to catch and eat Bugs Bunny in another series of cartoons. In these cartoons, the coyote takes on the guise of a self-described "super genius" and speaks with a smooth, generic upper-class accent provided by Mel Blanc.

In one short (Hare-Breadth Hurry, 1963), Bugs Bunny—with the help of amphetamines—even sits in for Road Runner, who has "sprained a giblet," and carries out the duties of outsmarting the hungry scavenger. This is the only Bugs Bunny/Wile E. Coyote short in which the coyote does not speak. As usual Wile E. Coyote ends up falling down a canyon. (In another short which had a young Elmer Fudd chasing a young Bugs Bunny, Elmer also falls down a canyon. On the way down he is met by Wile E. Coyote who shows a sign which tells Elmer to get out of the way for someone who is more experienced in falling.)

In the 1962 pilot for a potential television anthology series (but later released as a theatrical short entitled The Adventures of the Road-Runner—later edited and split into three short subjects called To Beep or Not to Beep, Zip Zip Hooray! and Road Runner A-Go-Go), Wile E. lectures two young TV-watching children about the edible parts of a Road Runner, attempting to explain his somewhat irrational obsession with catching it.

In the 1970s, Chuck Jones directed three Road Runner short films for the educational children's TV series The Electric Company. These short cartoons used the Coyote and the Road Runner to display words for children to read, but the cartoons themselves were a refreshing return to Jones' glory days.

At the end of Bugs Bunny's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Bunny, Bugs mentions to the audience that he and Elmer may have been the first pair of characters to have chase scenes in these cartoons, but then suddenly, a pint-sized, baby Wile E. Coyote (wearing a diaper and holding a small knife and fork) apppears right in front of Bugs, chasing a gold-colored, unhatched (mostly, except for the tail which is sticking out) Road Runner egg, which is running rapidly while some high-pitched "meep-meeps" can be heard.

Wile E. and the Road Runner later appeared in several episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures. In this series, Wile E. (voiced in the Jim Reardon episode "Piece of Mind" by Joe Alaskey) was the dean of Acme Looniversity and the mentor of Calamity Coyote. The Road Runner's protege in this series was Little Beeper. In the episode "Piece of Mind," Wile E. narrates the life story of Calamity while Calamity is falling from the top of a tall skyscraper. In the direct-to-video Tiny Toon movie, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, the Road Runner finally gets a taste of humilation by getting run over by a mail truck that "brakes for coyotes."

The two were also seen in cameos in Animaniacs. They were together in two Slappy Squirrel cartoons: "Bumbie's Mom" and "Little Old Slappy from Pasadena". In the latter the Road Runner is outrun by Slappy's car and holds up a sign saying "I quit"—immediately afterwards, Buttons, who was launched into the air during a previous gag, lands squarely on top of him. Wile E. appears without the bird in a The Wizard of Oz parody, dressed in his batsuit from one short, in a twister (tornado) funnel in "Buttons in Ows".

In the 2000s, toddler versions of Wile E. and the Road Runner have been featured in episodes of the series Baby Looney Tunes.

In Loonatics Unleashed, Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner's 28th century descendants are Tech E. Coyote and Rev Runner. Tech E. coyote was the tech expert of the Loonatics (influenced by the past cartoons with many of the machines ordered by Wile E. from Acme), and has magnetic hands and the ability to molecularly regenerate himself (influenced by the many times in which he painfully failed to capture Roadrunner). Tech E. Coyote speaks, but does not have a British accent as Wile E. Coyote did. Rev Runner is also able to talk, though extremely rapidly, and can fly without the use of jet packs, which are use by other members of the Loonatics.

In a Cartoon Network TV ad about The Acme Hour, Wile E. Coyote utilized a pair of jet roller skates to catch the roadrunner and didn't fail. While he was cooking his prey, it was revealed that the roller skates came from a generic brand. The ad said that other brand isn't the same thing.

Spin-offs

There They Go-Go-Go

In another series of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoons, the character design of Wile E. Coyote was copied and renamed "Ralph Wolf". In this series, Ralph continually attempts to steal sheep from a flock being guarded by the eternally vigilant Sam Sheepdog. As with the Road Runner series, Ralph Wolf uses all sorts of wild inventions and schemes to steal the sheep, but he is continually foiled by the sheepdog. In a move seen by many as a self-referential gag, Ralph Wolf continually tries to steal the sheep not because he is a fanatic (as Wile E. Coyote was), but because it is his job. At the end of every cartoon, he and the sheepdog stop what they were doing, punch a timeclock, exchange pleasantries, and go home for the day, after which the nightshift team takes over. The most prominent difference between the coyote and the wolf, aside from their locales, is that Wile E. has a black nose and Ralph has a red nose.

Comic books

The first appearance of the Road Runner in a comic book was in Bugs Bunny Vacation Funnies #8 (Aug. 1958) published by Dell Comics. The feature is titled "Beep Beep the Road Runner" and the story "Desert Dessert". It presents itself as the first meeting between Beep Beep and Wile E. (whose mailbox reads "Wile E. Coyote, Inventor and Genius"), and introduces the Road Runner's wife, Matilda, and their three newly hatched sons. This story established the convention that the Road Runner family talked in rhyme in the comics.

Wile E. was called Kelsey Coyote in his comic book debut, a Henery Hawk story in Looney Tunes and Merrie Meolodies #91 (May 1949).

Dell initially published "Beep Beep the Road Runner" as part of Four Color Comics #918, 1008, and 1046 before launching a separate title for the character numbered #4–14 (1960–62), with the three try-out issues counted as the first three issues. After a hiatus, Gold Key Comics took over the character with issues #1–88 (1966–84). During the 1960s, the artwork was done by Pete Alvarado and Phil De Lara; from 1966-1969, the Gold Key issues consisted of Dell reprints. Afterward, new stories began to appear, initially drawn by Alavardo and De Lara before Jack Manning became the main artist for the title. New and reprinted Beep Beep stories also appeared in Golden Comics Digest and Gold Key's revival of Looney Tunes in the 1970s. The Road Runner and Wile E. also make appearances in the DC Comics Looney Tunes title.

Television

The Road Runner appeared on Saturday mornings as part of The Bugs Bunny and Road Runner Show on CBS from 1961 to 1985.

Commercial appearances

• The Plymouth Road Runner was a performance car produced by the Plymouth division of Chrysler between 1968 and 1980. An official licensee of Warner Bros. (paying $50,000 for the privilege), Plymouth used the image of the cartoon bird on the sides and the car had a special horn (with "Voice of Road Runner" labels) that sounds like the bird's signature 'beep-beep'. Some engine options (notably the 426 Hemi) included Road Runner "Coyote Duster" graphics on the air cleaner. The 1970 Plymouth Superbird version of the Road Runner, arguably one of the most spectacular cars of the muscle car era, included a graphic of the Road Runner holding a crash helmet on its massive rear spoiler and one of its headlight covers. On one episode of the television game show Truth or Consequences, a contestant was given all the components of the car on Monday. If she could assemble the parts into a fully functioning car by Friday, she would win the car. She was given the assistance of an auto worker. On Friday, she won the car.

• London, Ontario radio station BX-93 (CJBX-FM), from its first year on-air, had a mobile broadcast unit known as the BX-93 Road Runner, complete with a Road Runner cartoon character on it

• General Motors used the Road Runner on its marketing campaign in 1985 for its Holden Barina in Australia. Even in 2004, "Beep-beep Barina" is still known as a catch phrase by many Australians.

• In 1995, Road Runner became the mascot for Time Warner's cable internet service, also named Road Runner. Interestingly, one commercial involved Wile E. as the "mascot" of DSL. Road Runner is also the mascot of Time Warner's car sales website, BeepBeep.com and appears in commercials on Time Warner cable systems in several television markets.

• In 1996, Wile E. Coyote appeared alongside football star Deion Sanders in a Pepsi commercial.

• From 1997 to 1998, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote appeared in a newly redesigned Pontiac Grand Prix car commercial. Wile E. chases the Road Runner while driving the car but the commercial ends before he is caught. Pontiac used a tagline "Wider is Better".

• In 2004, Wile E. appeared (along with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck) in an Aflac commercial, in which he is shown as being a prime candidate for the company's services. Before he plummets, taking an animated version of the Aflac duck with him, he holds up a sign reading the company's tagline, "Ask About It At Work."

• In the 1990s, Wile E. appeared in a few Energizer commercials trying to capture the Energizer Bunny.

• In the 1980s, both Wile E. and Road Runner appeared in a Honey Nut Cheerios commercial. Before Wile E. was about to fall off a cliff, the Honey Nut Cheerios bee, who is now named BuzzBee, saved him by asking, then convincing him to take and eat a bowl of the cereal.

• Road Runner was featured in a series of advertisements for the Brazilian Mail and Telegraph Corporation, more specifically their express delivery service (SEDEX).

• A McDonald's TV commercial in the 1980s showed the Road Runner running in and ordering using his "beep-beep"s while the order taker translated everything he said. Then he picked up the bag and ran over the Coyote on his way out the door.

• A delivery company "Purolator Courier" used the Road Runner's "beep-beep"s in a local radio commercial and actually had the phone number 1-800-BEEP-BEEP.

• In the Philippines, Wile E. and Road Runner appeared on a Boysen paint commercial in 2002, where Road Runner used the paint to fool Wile E. that it is a tunnel, then Road Runner was able to pass the fake tunnel. Wile E. went through as well, but Road Runner came out of the other end of the tunnel first and covered the exit with the paint. Wile E. ended up smashing into the wall and emerged out of the tunnel, dizzy.

• In New Mexico, where the state bird is the Greater Roadrunner, a commuter train called the Rail Runner uses the Road Runner's signature "beep-beep" as a signal that the train doors are about to close.

• In 2006, Road Runner appeared in a Florida TV commercial for Bright House Networks.

• Oceanic Cable company in Hawaii uses the Roadrunner as mascot for their high-speed cable modem service. They have also used other Looney Tunes characters, most notably Yosemite Sam, as pitchmen.

Video games

Several Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner-themed video games have been produced:

• Road Runner (arcade game by Atari, later ported to the NES, Atari 2600, and several PC platforms).
• Electronic Road Runner, from Tiger Electronics. Self-contained LCD game released in 1990.
• Looney Tunes (Game Boy game by Sunsoft).
• Road Runner's Death Valley Rally (Super NES game by Sunsoft).
• Desert Speedtrap (Sega Game Gear and Sega Master System game by Sega/Probe Software).
• Desert Demolition (Sega Genesis game by Sega/BlueSky Software).
• Sheep Raider for the original PlayStation, published by Infogrames. Game used Wile E.'s red-nosed spin-off alterego, Ralph Wolf.
• Looney Tunes Double Pack, published by Majesco and developed by WayForward Technologies. "Acme Antics" is the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner half of the Dual Pack.

The arcade game was originally to have been a laserdisc-based title incorporating footage from the actual Road Runner cartoons. Atari eventually decided that the format was too unreliable (laserdisc-based games required a great deal of maintenance) and switched it to more conventional raster-based hardware.

References in other games

In Gex: Enter The Gecko in the level Out of Toon there is a coyote-shaped hole on the side of a cliff.

See also

• The Bugs Bunny Show

References

• Looney Tunes—Stars Of The Show: Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner (official studio site)
• "That WASN'T All, Folks!: Warner Bros. Cartoons 1964–1969", by Jon Cooke

External links

• "The ORIGINAL Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products"
• The Road Runner Show (fan site)
• JamesBrief.com (includes list of characters' faux-scientific names)