Knight-Mare Hare is a 1955 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones.
Plot[]
While Bugs reads a book on the Knights of the Round Table, an apple hits his head and knocks him out. When he wakes up he finds himself in the times of King Arthur, at the pointy end of a knight's lance. Bugs asks, "What's up, Duke?" and the knight commands Bugs to surrender as prisoner of his lance. The knight identifies himself as "Sir O of Kay, Earl of Watercress, Sir Osis of the Liver, Knight of the Garter, and Baron of Wooster-cester-shister-shyster-schuster-shister-sister-shire...sher." Ready to take Bugs' challenge to tilt with him for the insult of Bugs' friends Duke of Ellington, Count of Basie, Earl of Hines, Cab of Calloway and Satchmo of Armstrong, who are called "upstarts and rogues" by the knight (whom Bugs calls "Pressure Cooker" and "Sir Rupp of Figgs") offers Bugs a too-heavy sword, then begins to charge at him, during several comedic attempts by Bugs to get the sword off the ground. At the last second, Bugs puts his leg out tripping the knight's horse. The horse falls, and the knight pole vaults on his lance over the castle wall and into a high window of a castle tower, falling LOUDLY to the bottom inside the tower.
Bugs is chased by a dragon who breathes fire at him. He later stops him by spraying water into the dragon's mouth. The dragon loses his fire breath, whimpers about it, and runs away.
Bugs goes to another castle, the residence of a warlock named Merlin of Monroe (a reference to Marilyn Monroe), who shows him some magic tricks, and turns Bugs into a pig, but laughs as Bugs simply changes himself back to normal by unzipping the costume. Bugs tells him that transforming someone is a good trick, but asks Merlin if he can light a fire by using his thumb. Merlin, mad by this, tries to light his finger on fire, but fails, and tries harder, and tries to let Bugs leave him alone, and continues to try lighting a fire on his thumb. Bugs soon tricks the warlock into becoming a horse. Angered by this trick of Bugs, who has turned into a horse, Merlin, like Bugs has changed back to normal by unzipping, tries to change himself back to normal by also unzipping, but is shocked when he realizes that he is in the same horse appearance, then tries hard to unzip again, feels confused, and ends up being in the same horse appearance, no matter how many times he unzips the costume. To try to return to the present, Bugs Bunny throws an apple in the air to hit him on the head. "Well, why not? After all, they laughed at the man when he discovered penicillin". He wakes and walks down a country road, thinking it was just a dream, and passes a farmer with his horse, who looks just like Merlin in his nightmare, until he walks on by and hears the farmer call his horse "Merlin" and looks stunned.
Availability[]
Bugs Bunny's Hare-Raising Tales
Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 2)
Bugs Bunny's Hare-Raising Tales Time-Life edition
Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition, Vol. 11: Wabbit Tales
Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4, Disc One
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection: Volume 4 Disc 1
Looney Tunes Spotlight Collection Volumes 4-5 Repack
Looney Tunes Bugs Bunny Golden Carrot Collection Disc 4
Streaming[]
Censorship[]
- Versions of this cartoon shown on Cartoon Network and Boomerang cut the short scene of Bugs Bunny tying a blindfold over his eyes as the knight charges into him and the brief scene of Bugs still standing as the knight charges into him before Bugs sticks his foot out and makes the horse trip and the knight fly off his horse and into the tower. These cuts were done because Bugs had a lit cigarette in his mouth and Cartoon Network (and, by proxy, Boomerang) almost always cuts cigarette smoking from their classic cartoons.
Notes[]
- The cartoon is loosely based on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.
- The book Bugs is reading is written by "Burton". This is possibly a reference to production manager John W. Burton. After succeeding Eddie Selzer as producer, Burton accepted the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Subject for the similarly themed "Knighty Knight Bugs" in 1958.
- Certain elements of this cartoon were utilized in Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court, such as Merlin's house being shown at the beginning, and Merlin himself as well, although he was replaced with Yosemite Sam.
- Much of this cartoon's plot was utilized in the PlayStation video game Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, down to reenacting the scenes with Merlin shot for shot for the opening and ending cutscenes.
- This is the first short to credit Chuck Jones as the aforementioned name; in earlier cartoons, he was credited as "Charles Jones" or "Charles M. Jones".
Gallery[]
