00:00Welcome, everyone, to Miscellaneous Blog Commentaries.
00:08This is Matthew Hunter, and I'll be discussing Zoom at the Top, which is a Chuck Jones cartoon from 1961.
00:16It is one of the final Roadrunner cartoons. There were actually only two more after this.
00:22One was called To Beep or Not To Beep, and another one was called War at Pieces.
00:28This one is one of the more simple Roadrunner cartoons you'll ever see.
00:34It dispenses with all the weird backgrounds that Jones had done for a long time, and just kind of focuses on the characters for once.
00:43You'll notice that I guess in an effort to save money, I guess paint costs money, Wile E. Coyote's eyes are not yellow, they're actually white.
00:51And it's very simple, it just goes to the characters, and just very simple backgrounds.
01:02And this one, like a lot of the later Roadrunner cartoons, is all about gravity, and what gravity does in a cartoon.
01:10Since he's kind of upside down with the rock, he doesn't realize it until he says, whoa, what's going on?
01:16And he tries to flip it over, but at this point it's too late.
01:19Or is it? He's actually okay here.
01:22But you know the minute he steps off that rock, yeah, there you go.
01:27The idea is that in Roadrunner cartoons, the cliff sides, the rocks and everything are not as solid as they look.
01:38We've seen that before.
01:44Now watch the legs on him there, you know, he's not moving at all, but his legs are.
01:50You know, it's like the illusion of fluid animation, but it's not really.
01:57And there's a real subtlety in this scene right here.
01:59You know, they go upside down again, and his nose falls before he does.
02:04And he hits the ground, and this is just really good personality animation right here.
02:12He starts drawing something in the dust, and he kind of stops.
02:15He doesn't have to say a word, and you just know what he's thinking.
02:23You know, you just know.
02:25He gives you that look like, eh, well, whatever.
02:29Now this scene is really cool, because even the Wile E. Coyote actually talked several times in the voice of Mel Blanc.
02:39He doesn't really talk a whole lot in the Roadrunner series.
02:45And in this one, he utters one line at the end of this gag.
02:49And it's really, really funny.
02:52So I'll just let you watch for a second.
02:54By this point in the series, Wile E. Coyote is almost as afraid of his own gadgets as he is in anything else.
03:15He knows it's going to fail.
03:18He knows something bad's going to happen to him.
03:20He just doesn't know when.
03:22And that's what's funny.
03:23He's safe there.
03:25And then he puts the bird seed on there.
03:29He's just so afraid of it.
03:31He's like, when is it going to happen?
03:32He doesn't know.
03:33He knows it's going to happen.
03:34He knows something bad's going to happen again.
03:35He just doesn't know when.
03:36You'll also notice that in this cartoon, about after this scene, you don't see the Roadrunner much at all anymore.
03:50He just kind of disappears and all you hear is,
03:53And that's it.
03:54You don't see it.
04:00Okay, here we go.
04:01Now it gets him.
04:05And the one Mel Blanc line in the whole cartoon.
04:10Ouch.
04:12Ouch.
04:13That's all he has to say.
04:18There's another outlandish rocket gag to get at least one every one in the cartoon.
04:23If you don't, I'm going to disappoint him.
04:26Oh, that didn't work so well.
04:27Now this machine right here is just pure Chuck Jones, Maurice Noble genius.
04:35In that it looks really, really weird, but all he has to do is push one button and it works.
04:41And it doesn't matter, it works.
04:43And it just looks cool.
04:47And of course it works on coyotes more than it does Roadrunners, as most Acme devices do.
04:52And here's a fine gag right here.
04:56It just melts in period.
04:58Doesn't pull him out at all.
05:01And here's the end scene in here.
05:03And what you'll notice is that the Roadrunner, once again, you don't see him.
05:07You see him kind of jet, but you don't actually see the Roadrunner very well.
05:12The Roadrunner turns away, coyote flings the boomerang, but gets it stuck to the glue.
05:18It's like, what was he thinking?
05:20And the rest of the cartoon is Wile E. Coyote flying through the air on a boomerang, trying to get himself unstuck from the glue.
05:28And every time he does it, he gets another part of himself stuck to him.
05:33He's like, oh no, now my hand is stuck to my head.
05:37He's still flying through the air.
05:39He's stuck.
05:40He's like, huh?
05:42And so now he's going to try using the feet.
05:45Keep in mind he's still in the air.
05:46And notice the background there. Just really, really simple, but it really reads really well.
05:54And he falls, of course.
05:56And there he is on the ground.
05:58He thinks he's safe, but not really.
06:01He thinks he's safe, but not really.
06:04He's still in the air.
06:06And notice the background there. Just really, really simple, but it really reads really well.
06:10And he falls, of course.
06:12And there he is on the ground.
06:14He thinks he's safe, but not really.
06:16Now he's all walking bowlegged because he's got the boomerang stuck to his butt.
06:20And the iris out is shaped like a boomerang. You've got to love that.
06:24And that's all, folks!
06:26And that's all, folks!
