Mad as a Mars Hare

Mad as a Mars Hare is a 1963 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble.[1] The short was released on October 19, 1963, and stars Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian.[2] 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. This is Marvin's final appearance in the Looney Tunes shorts during the Golden Age of American Animation.

Mad as a Mars Hare
Marvin the Martian threatens to project Bugs Bunny forward into time using his Time-Space Gun.
Directed byChuck Jones
Maurice Noble
(co-director)
Produced byDavid DePatie
(uncredited)
Story byJohn Dunn
StarringMel Blanc
Music byBill Lava
Animation byKen Harris
Richard Thompson
Bob Bransford
Tom Ray
Harry Love
(effects animation)
Layouts byMaurice Noble
(uncredited)
Backgrounds byBob Singer
Color processTechnicolor
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date
October 19, 1963
Running time
7 minutes
LanguageEnglish

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 plows 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 evident that he is the only occupant and he has been lured onto the rocket and then sent to Mars as what Earth considered an expendable “astro-rabbit.” With his successful landing, Bugs inadvertently claims Mars (via a metal carrot with a flag inside which plays Yankee Doodle) in the name of the 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 via disintegrating pistol, which resulte in Marvin getting disintegrated himself and going off to be re-integrated, Marvin gets a 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 realizes 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 comments to the audience about how when he gets back to Earth, Elmer Fudd and the rest of the hunters are due for a surprise, before eating the metal carrot.

Crew

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. It later became available on the DVD edition of the collection.

References
  1. Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 344. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  2. Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 60–62. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
Preceded by
The Unmentionables		 Bugs Bunny Cartoons
1963		 Succeeded by
Transylvania 6-5000


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