Now, I feel that when Bill Hendricks took over being executive producer at Warner Bros. Animation in 1967, the studio completely changed. (Some say it was Warner Bros. merging with this newer company called Seven Arts, which happened after a few cartoons were produced at the new studio. Since then, it has been a roller-coaster of mediocrity. Some were pretty good (the Cool Cat cartoons), and some ranged from mediocre-to-bad (the Daffy vs. Speedy toons of the era), and some were so-so. However, THIS episode is just about PERFECT! It experiments with new characters, despite them seeming to be knock-offs of Wile E. Coyote and the Road-Runner. Another thing that makes it pretty good is how it uses no dialogue, but pantomime actions and such, while most late-60s WB (or W-7) cartoons rely heavily on dialogue and puns. The music is sometimes a bit catchy (despite being written by Bill Lava, who is usually NO Carl Stalling), and it mixes the classic Looney Tunes sound effects with the Hanna-Barbera SFX (this is ironic, since WB would wind up owning H-B in the mid-90s!) I find Rapid Rabbit a bit similar to the Road-Runner, since he knows to outwit the Quick Brown Fox, and he only uses a clown horn to warn of his presence. (He jumps up at one part to jerk his feet Road-Runner style, too.) Unfortunately, the print Cartoon Network and Boomerang were airing was in pretty bad shape, why, the opening and closing logos (they are the completely-strange, stylized and abstract Warner-Seven Arts titles with the "modernized" Looney Tunes theme) have a dark-red tint to them! I sure hope this cartoon gets perfectly restored someday and put on a DVD! I'd definitely buy it!
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wile_E20055 February 2006
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agj801210 June 2010After the Warner Bros. cartoon studio shut down in 1962, new Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons were commissioned. These "new" cartoons, however, were done by different studios than the classic Warner Bros. cartoons. Because of this, most of the cartoons were either mediocre or downright dreadful. But this one is different.
This cartoon revolves around a fox attempting to capture a rabbit. It seems to be an attempt to recapture the glory of the Road Runner series, and although it does not completely succeed at that, it does have a lot of funny moments. Most of the gags in this one are reused from previous cartoons, but I don't have a problem with that. One thing that separates this cartoon from a Road Runner cartoon is that the rabbit will actually inflict pain upon the fox, while the Road Runner never did something like that.
All in all, this cartoon is definitely worth seeing, as it is probably the last funny Warner Bros. cartoon ever made. -
KalloFox345 September 2020Normally, the post-1964 Looney Tunes shorts are mediocre at best ("Assault and Peppered", "Well Worn Daffy") and abysmal at worst ("See ya Later, Gladiator", "Injun Trouble").
This cartoon is probably the best Seven Arts cartoon and the last good Looney Tunes cartoon from the original run. There were actually some good gags here and there, coupled with better character designs compared to other cartoons of this era (Cool Cat honestly looks nothing like a Looney Tunes character).
I mean, it's kind of a given that it would be a decent cartoon, considering that Robert McKimson directed the short (even if it's by no means his best work).