Mad as a Mars Hare
| Mad as a Mars Hare | |
|---|---|
| Merrie Melodies/Bugs Bunny series | |
 Marvin the Martian threatens to project Bugs Bunny forward into time using his Time-Space Gun. | |
| Directed by |
Chuck Jones Maurice Noble (co-director) |
| Produced by |
David DePatie (uncredited) |
| Story by | John Dunn |
| Voices by | Mel Blanc |
| Music by | Bill Lava |
| Animation by |
Ken Harris Richard Thompson Bob Bransford Tom Ray Harry Love (effects animation) |
| Layouts by |
Maurice Noble (uncredited) |
| Backgrounds by | Bob Singer |
| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation |
| Release date(s) | October 19, 1963 (USA) |
| Color process | Technicolor |
| Running time | 7' |
| Language | English |
Mad as a Mars Hare is a 1963 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon featuring Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian. The cartoon's title is a play-on-words of the famous phrase to be "mad as a March hare", the origins of which are disputed.
Plot
This cartoon begins with Marvin the Martian observing the planet Earth from Mars through a telescope. He is examining a rocket launch that is taking place. As he watches, the rocket takes off from Earth and soon appears to be heading straight towards him. Indeed, the rocket ploughs right through his observatory and once a shaken Marvin gets himself up, he says to the audience "I'm not angry, just terribly, terribly hurt!" Soon enough, the rocket lands on Mars, and a reluctant Bugs Bunny exits it. It is quickly apparent that he is the only occupant and he has been lured onto the rocket by a carrot and then sent to Mars as what Earth considered an expendable “astro-rabbit.”
Bugs immediately claims Mars as his own (using a metal carrot with a flag inside which plays Yankee Doodle), in the name of Earth. However, Marvin does not agree with this and decides that he will not allow Bugs to take his planet away from him. After a failed attempt to disintegrate the rabbit with his disintegrating pistol (which resulted in Marvin getting disintegrated himself and going off to be re-integrated; "Being disintegrated makes me very angry! [huff, puff] Very angry indeed!"), Marvin gets his Time-Space Gun and intends to project Bugs forward into time so he can use him as a useful but harmless slave. However, when Marvin zaps Bugs he realises too late that he had the gun in reverse, so Bugs is reverted into a huge and muscular Neanderthal Rabbit, who immediately grabs Marvin and crushes him with just one hand; Marvin goes off to be regenerated again, while saying: "Well, back to the old electronic brain!" (a possible reference to Hare-Way to the Stars). Bugs then breaks the fourth Wall while speaking to the audience about how when he gets back to Earth old Elmer Fudd and the rest of the hunters are due for a big surprise before eating the metal carrot.
Availability
"Mad as a Mars Hare" is available on the Bugs Bunny: Hare Extraordinare DVD. However, it was cropped to widescreen. It is also being shown fully screened on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray box-set. And it soon be available on the DVD version of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection.
External links
| Preceded by The Unmentionables |
Bugs Bunny Cartoons 1963 |
Succeeded by Transylvania 6-5000 |