Steinschlag und Dynamit

The Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons are generally very enjoyable, and Coyote is one of Chuck Jones' best overall characters. Sure, some of the later cartoons are duds, where the series got tired and repetitive as well as somewhat cheap. There They Go-Go-Go! is towards the better half of the series, a touch formulaic in terms of how the samey premise is structured but there is very little problematic here.

With the animation, the backgrounds are more stylised and abstract than usual but not to an ugly or over-sparse extent, and the rest of the animation is simply but smoothly drawn and colourful, with the fourth wall use of camera and expressions as ever inspired. It may not be the best-looking Roadrunner/Coyote cartoon, but it is a long way from looking as cheap as some of the later cartoons of theirs. With Carl Stalling and the music, this viewer has always associated Stalling with writing consistently good to outstanding music scores for the Looney Tunes cartoons and they are nearly always one of the highlights. That is precisely the case with his scoring for There They Go-Go-Go! (particularly in the spiked balls gag, which was a great marriage of visuals, action, humour and music), the orchestration is lush and clever, it's lively and characterful rhythmically and it matches with everything seamlessly and even adds to the enjoyment.

It doesn't forget to entertain either, the loaded gun and ending gags (elevated by Coyote's hysterical and very truthful laugh out loud moment) are absolutely hilarious and it was nice to see much more of Coyote's own inventions. There They Go-Go-Go! is not completely formulaic either, sure it's the same premise as the rest of the series, but especially with the beginning and the inventions it does do things differently as well which stops it from getting repetitive and tired. It's nicely and efficiently paced too, and the conflict between Roadrunner and Coyote is done well. Roadrunner is one-dimensional but still memorable and amusing, but, ever the much funnier and more interesting character, Coyote steals the show. Not only is he a cunning and often funny to hilarious character but one that one does feel sorry for (very like Sylvester), and not in a way that feels forced (one of the easiest Looney Tunes characters to root for in fact).

All in all, great fun and tries to do different too. While not one of the absolute best of the Roadrunner/Coyote cartoons it's in the top half. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Chuck Jones's 'There They Go-Go-Go', the ninth Road Runner cartoon, is the inevitable moment when this excellent series finally hits a snag. Having managed to sustain genuine brilliance across the last four cartoons, 'There They Go-Go-Go' feels like a very tired entry into the series. Even the title seems to indicate a dearth of ideas. Many people, when they think of the Road Runner shorts imagine a repetitive and not especially funny set of predictable gags. If they wanted proof to back up this argument then 'There They Go-Go-Go' would be the ideal candidate. Set against the more stylised backgrounds introduced in the previous cartoon, 'Gee Whiz-z-z', 'There They Go-Go-Go' fails to offer enough funny gags to distract attention away from the less sumptuous scenery and the impression I am left with is that of an unattractive and unamusing cartoon. There's a couple of chuckles but that can be said of practically any Road Runner cartoon (bar the dire later ones). All in all, 'There They Go-Go-Go' is a disappointment but is easily excused as an inevitable hiccup in a series that managed to sustain the same premise for an astonishing amount of time.

Michael Maltese must have liked to start a number of these cartoons showing just how starved poor Wile E. Coyote is, that he will do anything to feed his empty stomach. Here, he bakes mud in his oven, pretending it's a chicken. Once it bites into it, he discovers the sad truth and "Famishius Fantasticus" dumps it into his trash bin. The rude Road Runner (Dig- Outius Tid-Bittius) races by, knocking down Wile and making the trash can land on top of his head....and smugly sticking out his tongue while racing away. (Just once I'd like to see poor Wile give the RR what's coming to him!)

In addition, before the chase starts and Wile's wild ploys to catch the bird, he has to desperately search for water because his butt's on fire.

The spring-loaded gun sequence was excellent and really laughed at Wile's little umbrella trying to protect him falling boulders. Otherwise, overall it just a "fair" Road Runner cartoon. Not bad, but not memorable, either.

We come to the ninth pairing of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, starts a bit like Stop! Look! and Hasten!, in that it shows that Wile E. will eat pretty much anything, in that short it was the little gag of the coyote eating a fly, in this one it's a chicken that he made out of mud. He uses a rope, a sling-shot, a gun on a spring, a rotating circle of spiked balls, a booby-trapped ladder, and a load of rocks that refuse to fall down at the right time. Very funny stuff. as always ANY short with Wile E. in it is so VERY much worth watching, as he's one of my absolute favorite cartoon personalities of all time. This animated short can be seen on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. This cartoon also has an optional music only track.

My Grade: A

Everybody knows While E. Coyote is the real star of the Road Runner cartoons (after all, he has more of a personality) and occasionally we get a moment alone with him at the start of `his' cartoons. The starving superstar attempts to bake some mud (shaped in the form of a chicken) in his home-made oven. This inspired gag features the first of several elaborate punchlines that set `There they Go-go-go' apart from other R.R. shorts.

Out of all the Loony tunes, Wile E. and Road Runner probably break the fourth wall the most (presumably because they don't speak). The knowing looks While E. constantly throws at the camera are classic. At one point he even gestures to the audience to come closer, as if to let us in on his next cunning plan. After all, he is a selfproclaimed genius.

It is especially good to see Wile E. relying on his own wits and inventions instead of the usual Acme products for a change. He is able to use lots of left over material from the local abandoned mines and army bases (including a ladder, a wheel, some dynamite and even a unused rocket shell). But where did he find that tiny pink umbrella? Perhaps he should try to sell some of his ideas to the Acme company. They might give him a discount on their products.

8 out of 10