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):
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:
Duck! Rabbit, Duck! Availability
‘Til next time…
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