| Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers | |
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 Title card | |
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| Story by |
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| Produced by | Greg Ford |
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| Color process | Technicolor |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Running time | 11:30 |
| Language | English |
Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers is aBugs Bunny cartoon written and directed byGreg Ford and Terry Lennon and produced by Ford, released in 1992. The cartoon was intended for theatrical release, but eventually aired as part of the television specialBugs Bunny's Creature Features onCBS. Its premise is modeled after the 1956 filmInvasion of the Body Snatchers, and it is considered subversive and a lampoon of cheaply drawn animation.[1]
Bugs Bunny finds himself facing a bizarre threat when peculiar carrots from outer space wreak havoc on Earth. As Bugs navigates his usual antics with Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy Duck, he encounters strange occurrences at each filming set. Initially ignoring the odd carrots, Bugs soon realizes they are linked to a sinister plot when his friends are replaced by poorly animateddoppelgängers. These imposters pressure Bugs into consuming the glowing carrots, leading to a nightmarish encounter when alimited-animation clone of himself attempts to harm him. Refusing to let the story end there, Bugs embarks on a mission to defeat the clones and restore his friends.
Discovering the clones' origin on planet Nudnik, Bugs devises a plan to send them back into space using a rocket. After a thrilling showdown, the original characters return, and Bugs reflects on their unique friendship, tinged with the daily threat of harm.
In a post credit scene, the typical "That's All, Folks!" signoff is done; however, Porky Pig is seen to have also been replaced, the line being delivered in a deliberately awkward tone by a robotic clone of Porky animated in a style similar to that used byTerry Gilliam; upon realizing he missed the clone, Bugs suddenly walks in, punts the clone Porky out of frame, and puts the regular Porky, who delivers the line in his typical style, in his place.
Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers was produced at a time when newerLooney Tunes shorts were being released to introduceWarner Bros.' cartoon characters to a modern generation[4] — a process that was, thanks to the tepid reception of 2003'sLooney Tunes: Back in Action, eventually discontinued for some time from 2004 to 2009.[5] Greg Ford and Terry Lennon developed the short's story and recorded a scratch track withJeff Bergman providing the voices,[2] but the studio changed priorities and the team worked on three compilation specials:Bugs Bunny's Wild World of Sports in 1989,Happy Birthday Bugs: 50 Looney Years in 1990, andBugs Bunny's Overtures to Disaster in 1991. The doppelgängers' friendly personalities (except the Bugs Bunny clone) were done as an even more critical jab toward the executives at Warner Bros. for their handling of the characters at the time (marketing them in the vein ofDisney) than Ford and Lennon's previous Bugs Bunny cartoon,(Blooper) Bunny.[4][6][1][7] The clones' limited animation (influenced byMel-O-Toons,Jay Ward,UPA,Gene Deitch'sTerrytoons,Terry Gilliam, and usingSynchro-Vox for the Daffy clone at one point) was a jab at the "inconsistent" animation quality control ofTiny Toon Adventures (the series' animation was handled by different studios).[8][7] The animators had a contest on who could do the worst animation for the clones, with animator Nancy Beiman's Daffy winning.[9] Ford himself animated the Synchro-Vox Daffy clone.[7] After production wrapped, Warner Bros. shut down its New York animation division to consolidate its operations in Burbank in December 1991.[4] The cartoon was intended for a theatrical release, but aired as part of the television specialBugs Bunny's Creature Features.[1]
The cartoon was released as a part of theBugs Bunny Halloween HijinksVHS special. It was later released, albeit in edited form, on theSpace Jam Two-Disc Special EditionDVD as a special feature. In theSpace Jam version, Yosemite Sam's scenes are removed. They were taken out by Warner Bros. due to "time allotment". Sam can still be heard in the edited version when all the Looney Tune "pods" are about to be launched into space.[10] The uncut version was later released as part ofThe Essential Bugs Bunny DVD set[11] and the Blu-Ray release ofDaffy Duck's Quackbusters.
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