Bip-Bip toujours prêt

'Beep Prepared' is another nice cartoon from the Road Runner-series, with Wile E. Coyote chasing the bird. This time the Coyote tries to trip the Road Runner, but that doesn't end well. He also uses an arrow, himself as a rocket man, some machine guns, a hole in the ground and a big magnet that makes sure he will be pulled to the Road Runner after the bird has eaten some bird seed with metal. Of course things do not as planned.

This is another nice cartoon from the series and this time it deserved an Oscar nomination. Directed by Chuck Jones it is a perfect example of a successful Road Runner cartoon. The hole in the ground-gag plays very nice and the gag with the big magnet plays pretty good as well.

I just rewatched this Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon as an extra on the Splendor in the Grass DVD. It's yet another one in which the Coyote tries to catch the Road Runner and, well, I don't think I need to tell you whether he succeeds or not. It's hilarious from beginning to end and it was the only one to get an Oscar nomination. So that's a high recommendation for Beep Prepared.

I didn't always like the "Road Runner" cartoons - I always felt he was a bit too smug as he constantly outwitted the not very "Wile E. Coyote". This time, the increasingly frustrated cat tries just about everything to entrap the racing bird, and goodness only knows how much he was paying the "Acme" company for dynamite, rockets, railroad track - even magnetic birdseed. This is essentially a dozen or so quickly edited escapades that sees an entertaining, if entirely predictable series of failures on the part of a very determined coyote. Maybe try glue next time - it almost worked for "Sylvester" with "Speedy".

It's about 50 years since I saw these cartoons, and I still remember them with affection. When I saw them I was 'rolling in the aisles' and found them extremely amusing.

Poor old 'Eatus Birdus' (I think that was in the credits for the coyote's 'latin' name): he never gets his dinner! I think this type of humour relates to the silent movies of Charlie Chaplin and the other greats, which I found similarly amusing. Probably says something about me...

Now that I'm old and wrinkly, and in need of a few laughs, I would love to see these cartoons again. Are they on DVD anywhere?

Elijah Johnson posted a video of him watching it on youtube and it's just such a weird way to watch something he's like laughing and making weird sounds it's so weird.