Sugar and Spies

Although it's been years since I've seen this episode but it was one of my alltime favorites and I'll do anything to see this episode again due to it becoming harder to get by, I always favored the RoadRunner/Wile E. Coyote of the 60's rather than the 50's due to better animation.

The last theatrical Road Runner & Coyote short of the classic era, although this one is far from a classic. It's directed by Robert McKimson (only his second Road Runner cartoon) and while it's not great, it's a step up from the dreadful Rudy Larriva shorts. Obviously it's still well below the great Chuck Jones work on the series. This one appears to be inspired by James Bond, with Wile E. Coyote finding a spy kit and trying to use the stuff inside to catch the Road Runner. I actually don't think that's a terrible set-up and the gags that follow (sleeping gas, bombs, spy car) are fairly well-done. Chuck Jones could have gotten a lot out of this I think. The animation is poor, of course, as WB animation was during this period. The music tries to match what "the kids" were into at the time, so of course it's dated and corny now. It's certainly not a great Road Runner cartoon but, considering how bad the series had been under Larriva, I'm happy the series ended on a middle-of-the-road cartoon instead of a terrible one.

Now, my favorite Road-Runner cartoon of all-time is "Adventures of the Road-Runner" and I also like a good amount of 1952-1964 entries in the series. However, the 1965-1966 Road-Runner cartoons (which were actually made at another studio rather than Warner Bros.) are sometimes lame, and occasionally good. This one is the best. It is a pretty funny parody of those old 60s spy movies and TV shows, down to the music (which is done by Walter Greene, rather than Carl Stalling, Milt Franklyn or even Bill Lava)! Here, Wile E. Coyote finds a spy kit, and then, wearing an old-fashioned spy costume (a trenchcoat and hat) tries to get the Road-Runner with sleeping gas, a timer bomb, and even an antique car rigged with James Bond-style equipment! Unlike the other ones I like, which were made at Warner Bros. Animation, this one was produced at DePatie-Freleng (the studio that did the "Pink Panther"), the company that animated Looney Tunes from 1964-1967 (and in 1981-1984, providing new animation for those Looney Tunes compilation films), and it uses the stylized but bizarre black-background WB titles with the swirling colored lines at the intro. Nonetheless, I love it and wholeheartedly recommend it to those who love cartoons that parody spy movies!

'Sugar and Spies' is another cartoon from the Road Runner vs. Wile E. Coyote series and again it is entertaining and enjoyable enough. Coyote finds a spy-kit and uses everything in it to catch the Road Runner, including some clothes, sleeping gas, a time bomb and a rocket that is able to track certain things, including Road Runner.

With some very nice moments, predictable as always, this is a nice cartoon. Of course the Coyote has to fall down a cliff at least once, of course he is able to get some stuff from Acme and of course it does not work as Coyote wants it to work. Although we have seen it many times, at least it will bring a smile to your face.

Generally I don't consider the Roadrunner vs.Coyote series a consistent one, and I am not a fan of those from the late 60s. Sugar and Spies is one though I happen to like very much, definitely one of the better ones anyway. As you'd expect, the story is predictable and there is always going to be one person who is going to tired at Coyote falling down a cliff in what feels like every cartoon of his. For the late 60s period though, the animation is not bad at all. By all means not as good as that of the ones from the 50s, but much less sparse in the backgrounds and more colourful. The music has some character to it and does convey the moods and enhance the gags very well. While you do know the eventual outcome, the sight gags are still very funny and are among the more original ones of this point in this particular series of cartoons.

All in all, not one of my favourites but still has a lot of fun elements to it. 8/10 Bethany Cox