The Hunter's Trilogy (Shoot to Kill, Censor to Annoy)

Similar to the FAQ/Q&A about The Censored Eleven (and “Goin’ to Heaven on a Mule”) and the Banned Bugs Bunny 12 from June Bugs 2001, the following is a special Censored Cartoons Blog entry that explores three or more Warner Bros. cartoons that have had similar edits to them. As mentioned on the “Under Construction” post, these are the “special” episodes/installments rather than the usual ones that cover one short and were created because exploring the cartoons one at a time can be tedious and, if a Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies short has a common edit with another or is part of a trilogy or tetralogy (NOT “quadrilogy,” damn it!) that has had all or most of their shorts edited, then why not explore that?

Director: Chuck Jones (credited as “Charles M. Jones”)

Summary: For people who remember this from childhood, these cartoons need no introduction. For the unfortunate few and counting who haven’t seen these, all three of them have the same story: it’s duck hunting season. Daffy tries to get out of it by claiming it’s rabbit season and setting Bugs up to get shot by Elmer Fudd. Through wordplay, emotional trickery, and pronoun trouble (which, thanks to traditional gender norms being turned on their head, means something else entirely these days), Daffy ends up bearing the brunt of the gun-flavored slapstick in all three shorts. For a full look at the Hunter’s Trilogy and how they are considered iconic in the world of classic American animation, check out these videos from the YouTube channel, Anthony’s Animation Talk (or really, any animation video essay...or regular, written/typed essay...or audio DVD commentary):

Rabbit Fire

Rabbit Seasoning

Duck! Rabbit, Duck!

The Channel(s): CBS, ABC, The WB, both the FOX and syndicated version of Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends, and Nickelodeon (“Rabbit Fire” only)

Part(s) Edited: Daffy getting shot, of course. That would be the easy way to put it and, yes, I wish I could just leave it at that, but there are exceptions/nuances that explain a bit more.

The ABC and Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends version replaced the scenes of Daffy getting shot with freeze-framed shots of Bugs (mostly), though the approximation I did for “Rabbit Fire” didn’t do that much. I’m assuming the freeze-framed shots of Bugs were more for “Rabbit Seasoning,” because that’s the one I remember being edited like that on ABC.

CBS and The WB, in contrast, cut all scenes of Elmer shooting Daffy point-blank in the face (and possibly, but most definitely, Daffy getting shot while staring down the barrel of Elmer’s rifle [the “no more bullets” gag] on “Rabbit Fire” and Daffy getting shot by a circle of hunters at the end of “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!”), which made “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” kinda choppy and somewhat incoherent. Coincidentally, early ABC versions also cut “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” the same way it was done on CBS and The WB as they didn’t have the technology back then to replace problematic footage with benign, alternate footage. As obvious as the alternate footage looks, straught-up cutting it, as you’ll see in the re-enactment videos I did, is worse (the cartoon runs shorter when Daffy getting shot is cut, as opposed to going to a freeze-framed shot to make it look like the gunfire is happening off-screen). The old ABC version also cut Daffy warming himself over a fire using the "Duck Season" signs as kindling (I...don't know the rationale behind that. It could be an edit because the censors don't want kids to play with fire [edits to get rid of dangerous, imitable behavior were common on 1990s American TV], but the viewer doesn't see Daffy actually burn the signs on-screen) and Elmer shoving his gun in the back of Bugs' head after Bugs makes that comment about how he never knew that molasses runs in January. I don't know if the new ABC edited version still edited those scenes or reinstated them, but still cut Daffy getting shot, but I'm going to assume that's what happened until someone out there says otherwise.

Then there’s the Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon version. “Rabbit Seasoning” and “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” were left uncut, though I’m going to assume that they didn’t air much as Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon didn’t air the popular shorts much; just the second- to fourth-tier fare that’s either considered more appealing to the more serious fans or are examples that not every Looney Tunes cartoon is a classic.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: I’m going to let the videos speak for themselves. For convenience, I'm grouping the videos by title:

Rabbit Fire

ABC and Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends version:

CBS and WB version:

Compare and Contrast -- Uncut vs. Nickelodeon version:

Rabbit Seasoning

ABC and Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends version:

CBS and WB version:

Duck! Rabbit, Duck!

Old ABC version (where most of the shooting scenes are cut completely):

New ABC version and Merrie Melodies Starring Bugs Bunny and Friends version (where shooting scenes are replaced with freeze-framed shots of Bugs):

CBS and WB version (same as old ABC version, but with more scenes left in):

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Well, as a Looney Tunes fan, I can say that the fact that the shooting edits are obvious and that merely editing them out of a cartoon isn’t going to fix any issues America has with guns. All these censors are doing is ruining good entertainment, which can drive someone into a shooting spree if they’re mentally deranged enough. However, I’ve only seen “Rabbit Seasoning” edited on ABC and the alternate footage cuts, while obvious, doesn’t shock and appall me the same way “Hare Trimmed”’s edits do or how Cartoon Network suddenly editing “For Scent-imental Reasons” after showing it uncut shocks and appalls me. I guess it’s because I saw “Rabbit Seasoning” uncut elsewhere (mostly on video) and the other two cartoons I saw uncut on Cartoon Network as a teenager. Your experience may vary.

Availability Uncut: The trio is considered one of Warner Bros.’s most iconic cartoons in the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies filmography, so it’s not hard to find it uncut and uncensored anywhere. For a full list, click on one of the three links below:

Rabbit Fire Availability

Rabbit Seasoning Availability

Duck! Rabbit, Duck! Availability

‘Til next time…

Porky's Duck Hunt (House of End Cards)

 

Director: Tex Avery (credited as “Fred Avery”)

Summary: Inspired by reading a book, Porky decides to go duck-hunting…and encounters a crazy duck (daffy, if you will) that proves hard to take down. Oh, and there’s a strange interlude involving drunken fish singing Moonlight Bay.

The Channel(s): Various, mostly unnamed syndication and international versions, though Nickelodeon did air a redrawn version that had the cut described below.

Part(s) Edited: After the cartoon ends with Porky getting punched in the face by his upstairs neighbor who got shot in the ass for the second time, the original end card had “That’s All Folks!” already written out while Daffy jumps, bounces, and dances around the letters. Sunset Productions back in 1955 cut that because Warner Bros. initially didn’t want to be associated with television. Most redrawn versions (particularly the Nickelodeon version that aired when Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon was a daytime show and all of their black and white shorts -- just the Porky ones, as the Bosko and Buddy shorts were phased out -- had to be colorized) also have this edit, but their versions either replace the end card with the “That’s All Folks!” concentric circle card or the abstract WB end card from the post-1964 cartoons. Nickelodeon definitely did the latter, while the former was seen more on international cuts, specifically on an Italian VHS version of Bugs Bunny’s 50th Birthday Collection.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Not much, though, if I had to pick, just the fact that it’s considered a censorship cut. Censorship cuts are the ones that remove content that’s considered harmful or offensive by polite, corporate society (violence, sex, drug abuse, actions that can easily be imitated by impressionable viewers, anything that fans the flames of racial, ethnic, sexual, or gender-specific hate, whether it’s serious or in jest; anything that could cause undue distress to sensitive viewers, anything advocating antisocial or self-destructive behavior, etc). There’s nothing objectionable about this, except for the fact that Warner Bros once objected to being associated with television, and the fact that it’s included as a censorship cut on the old Censored Cartoons Page, the Looney Tunes Fandom Wiki, and this very blog is a worrying sign that people don’t know what words mean. I’m only including it here to show you just how ridiculous it is. Is it really censorship if the scene itself is innocuous? The answer is, “No. Then it’s just a cut for time or for some kind of legal issue involving copyright, in which case, it’s a syndication cut.”

And if you’re playing at home, no, Porky shooting his upstairs neighbor in the butt twice wasn’t cut, nor was the sequence with the drunken fish, not even on channels that have a history of editing irresponsible gunplay and/or drunken behavior (so…Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and maybe Nickelodeon, but I can see Nickelodeon only editing the gun parts).

It should also be of note that some redrawn versions (and the computer-colorized version that I'm so sure aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang outside of Late Night Black and White) do exist with the original end card, but cut the part where a cross-eyed hunter and his equally crossed shotgun shoots down two planes while aiming for a duck and the end where Porky stutters that he has no more bullets in his rifle. It's from a Brazilian channel called SBT.

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: Since the audio hasn’t been altered (just the video), it does come off as weird, but it’s not anything to freak out over…unless you’re a purist who advocates for uncut and uncensored entertainment (which I can get behind). As for the edits done on SBT...cutting the cross-eyed hunter part doesn’t make or break the short, but it does look obvious because a fake fade-out was used (and I've seen enough edited Warner Bros. cartoons on TV in the 1990s and early 2000s to know that a fake fade-out to the next scene usually means something was cut). The end with Porky stuttering that he doesn’t have any more bullets...yeah, audio edits are hit or miss (with more misses than hits, though the misses usually become hits due to how laughably bad they are. If you’re like me, you remember when most edited-for-TV movies hired replacement voice actors to bowdlerize lines that had swearing, crude, sexually suggestive comments; or were just generally offensive for one reason or another. Most of those lines have become memes. These days, you can easily mute the line, cut or shorten the scene with the offending line, use an alternate take that was done while the film was being produced, or use A.I. dubbing, the last of which is still in its experimental phase, but, give it time, and it will catch on) and this one was a miss.

As always, here’s the video:

Availability Uncut: It was shown uncut on the “Daffy Duck: The Nuttiness Continues” 24 Karat Golden Jubilee VHS and Beta collection back in 1985, though that version had “The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down” dubbed over the original opening theme and was time-compressed. The actual version where all parts are intact, it’s in black and white, it’s not sped up, and the original music is on the track can be found on either the Essential Daffy Duck DVD (disc one) or the Porky Pig 101 DVD (disc 2), and will be included in the upcoming Looney Tunes Collector’s Vault Blu-ray. It was on Max/HBO Max, but, for reasons unknown, all of the classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts have been removed. Here’s hoping it’s only temporary.

‘Til next time…

Thought I’d do something different, since this is the first cartoon that pairs Porky and Daffy, the first time Daffy is shown as actually living up to his name, and the first time Mel Blanc voices Porky, since Joe Dougherty was let go due to not being able to control his actual stutter during recording.

Porky's Romance (Dog-Gone Love)

 

Director: Frank Tashlin (credited as “Frank Tash”)

Summary: In this, the debut of Porky Pig’s shallow love interest, Petunia Pig (who isn’t as nice and bland as later incarnations), and the final cartoon with Joe Dougherty as the voice of Porky (who was let go because Dougherty’s actual stutter was slowing down voice recording. It’s the opposite of what we have now, where producers will cast an actual stutterer because one who can fake a stutter is considered “ableist.” What a world!), Porky comes over to try and win Petunia’s hand in marriage, but it becomes clear that she only wants him because he bought chocolates and flowers. When Porky attempts suicide over being rejected and used, the hanging goes pear-shape and Porky sees what life would be like if he did marry Petunia.

The Channel(s): The WB

Part(s) Edited: Surprisingly, Porky’s botched suicide wasn’t cut, nor was Porky and Petunia going straight to the Honeymoon Hotel, kissing, and turning off the lights (the shorthand way of showing sex on a wedding night in Hays Code-censored movies. They probably still do it today, but only as a joke or if something is meant to be PG instead of PG-13 [which sadly seems to be as far as most creatives are willing to go. I want my R, NC-17, and unrated entertainment that’s not confined to HBO and premium cable. And maybe G-rated stuff, since that's not as common as it used to be]), Petunia feeding chocolates to her dog (which is extremely dangerous to do), or Petunia beating Porky with a rolling pin (classic female-on-male domestic abuse schtick. It’s a total double standard that “You Beat Your Wife” gets censored on The WB, but not that part).

Nah, fam. What got cut was the very end, where, after Petunia wakes Porky up from his suicide attempt and agrees to marry him after turning him down, Porky (thinking back to the nightmare where his blushing bride becomes a slovenly, unashamed housewife who feeds chocolate to her dog and nags Porky about the housework and childcare) decides, “Screw that!” and bolts, but not before coming back to retrieve the box of chocolate and give Petunia’s dog a well-deserved kick in the ass. The WB didn’t appreciate Porky kicking the dog, so it was cut.

What Grinds My Gears About the Edit: Nothing, except for the whole double standard about how “Wideo Wabbit”’s “You Beat Your Wife” part was censored, yet Petunia whaling on Porky with a rolling pin was uncut. That’s more a Tumblr argument and I was only into Tumblr to find like-minded people who want to be better fiction writers and thought Cartoon Network’s Time Squad (from 2001) was rife with homosexual innuendo and jokes more suited for Adult Swim rather than daytime Cartoon Network (which it is. Rob Paulsen’s podcast episodes with Mark Hamill and Pamela Segall-Adlon say so and co-creator Carlos Ramos [who has his own Tumblr filled with weird art and answers to fan questions] agrees).

How It Plays Edited/Video Comparison: 

The ending is abrupt, but not annoyingly so. Ending it with Porky running away after retrieving his chocolates (or even with Porky running off and leaving Petunia and the chocolates behind) is more believable story-wise, as it shows that Petunia only liked Porky because he had chocolates for her and the dream showed what would happen if Porky did marry Petunia and she continued her chocolate eating. Either taking the chocolates away from her or leaving her with them is a final “Screw you!” to her and everything she stands for when it comes to shy men (or anthropomorphic pigs) trying to pour their hearts out to high-maintenance women (or high-maintenance, anthropomorphic sows in this case, since a sow is a female pig, but that word can be used like “bitch” or “cow” to be a derogatory term for a woman, whether deserved or not) who just aren’t feeling it.

Availability Uncut: Your choice: The Looney Tunes Golden Collection, volume 3 DVD set (on the third disc with optional commentary by Mark Kausler) or the Porky Pig 101 DVD (disc 2)

‘Til next time…