Jumpin' Jupiter

Watching the Chuck Jones short "Jumpin' Jupiter", I get the sense that it's sort of a midpoint between two different genres of Looney Tunes cartoons. It portrays Porky and Sylvester going camping out in the desert, when a spaceship flies in and the birdlike creature flying it decides to take them back to his planet. Sylvester sees the spaceship and the pilot and frequently runs into Porky's tent, but Porky is always oblivious to the danger that lurks around, and just thinks that Sylvester is just being stupid. And that's just the first half of the cartoon! It probably requires some explaining what I mean about the different genres of cartoons. The idea of Porky and Sylvester being out somewhere and Sylvester repeatedly saving Porky from danger while Porky has no idea what's going on: that was the premise of the earlier cartoons "Scaredy Cat" and "Claws for Alarm". The birdlike creature piloting the spaceship looks like the just-add-water martians whom Marvin sent after Bugs Bunny in "Hare-way to the Stars". And the zero-gravity scene looks a little bit like the flooded rabbit hole scene in "Water Water Every Hare".

And of course, we shouldn't forget that this was during the Cold War, so there were lots of movies about alien invasions. Because those movies were so hokey is no doubt why the Looney Tunes cartoons "Haredevil Hare", "The Hasty Hare", "Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2 Century", "Jumpin' Jupiter" and "Hare-way to the Stars" spoofed them. And if absolutely nothing else, those movies featured a lot of hot babes! Hubba, hubba...

Anyway, this cartoon is a real classic. A lot of fun.

Albuquerque. Maybe they can catch Bugs missing that left turn (or so they think).

Chuck Jones and Looney Tunes always promise much, and Jumpin' Jupiter with its unique premise did so too. As a cartoon, it lives up to the promise it had. The ending is rather abrupt and didn't seem as though it had much of a pay-off. However, Jumpin' Jupiter is really beautifully-designed, the backgrounds and vibrant yet atmospheric colours are very Chuck Jones. Carl Stalling's music is also splendid, there's his distinctive jaunty and sumptuous orchestration and it is also very mysterious-sounding, great for something set in space. The writing is witty and clever, and while the gags are somewhat familiar they are still funny. It's the expressions of the characters though where most of the humour works so well with Sylvester's horror and Porky's increased annoyance. Porky and Sylvester work very well together, though their rapport was even stronger in Scaredy Cat, which I slightly preferred as a cartoon too. Sylvester is a character I've always preferred over Porky, and here he is very likable with material that plays to his strengths, it is very easy to feel sorry for him too. Porky varies with me, with characters like Daffy and Sylvester he works well but he can be a little bland on his own. He is fine here though and I do love how he calmly says "Sylvester, get off of me, or I shall kill you". The alien, which I recognised from Hare-Way to the Stars(I know that was made later, I just saw it before this), is a good foil. Mel Blanc continues to give bravura vocal characterisations. To conclude, really great and close to perfection if the ending was better rounded off. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Porky Pig and Sylvester are out for a camping trip in the desert; as usual Sylvester is scared of the wildlife in the area. However his fears are more founded that he can know as an alien spaceship from Jupiter arrives and abducts them. On the spaceship itself, Porky seems totally unaware while Sylvester is terrified.

The pairing of Porky and Sylvester has been done before and it has always been done with Sylvester scared of something that Porky is mostly unaware of. This cartoon has a sci-fi twist instead of the usual ghost or haunted house setting but it uses all the same materials. It uses the spaceship setting quite well but it just felt a little too familiar for my tastes and the gags weren't funny enough to cover the well used base.

The alien in the film is too non-descript. With Sylvester not speaking and Porky not being funny it was important that the alien have character; he has a few little bits but generally is just one of those beasts that Bugs encountered in Hare-Way To The Stars. Sylvester is OK but is just doing his usual stuff when partnered with Porky; who himself is reasonable enough but is meant to be the straightman of these films - he brings the reaction to Sylvester, meaning that someone else has to bring the action.

Overall, it's about the same level of enjoyment as I got from the other Porky/Sylvester films and it's maybe unfair on this one that I happened to see this after seeing several others, meaning that I was too familiar with the gags.

Another great Chuck Jones short of the 1950s, and another in which Porky Pig and (here, his pet cat) Sylvester go on a trip and face disaster, unknown to Porky. A lot like his earlier 'Claws For Alarm' (1954), in which the twosome stay at a hotel inhabited by evil (satanic?) mice.

This is one of Chuck Jones' best cartoons. Porky and Sylvester find themselves abducted by a giant bird from Jupiter. The bird has been sent to planet Earth to obtain animal life and accidentally takes Porky and Sylvester while asleep on its space ship. Very funny stuff.