The Prize Pest

Series of comedy short films from 1929 to 1969 during the golden age of American animation, alongside its sister series Merrie Melodies.

Bugs Bunny first hopped onto the screen in 1940 and he’s been a pop-culture icon ever since. More than eight generations have enjoyed the timeless antics of the carrot-munching wise guy who always outsmarts his rivals. Cartoons, movies, TV, comics, music, sports and more – this wascally wabbit has done it all. Clever pranks and one-liners are here, along with interviews with today’s most renowned animators, historians and superstars. Enjoy the full range of his silly and smart-alecky personality with 60 theatrical shorts restored and remastered to their original 4x3 aspect ratio on Blu-ray for the first time. It's just what the doctor – er, doc – ordered.

If Bugs Bunny were to direct his signature inquiry--"What's up, doc?"--toward the modern-day Warner Bros. creative team, he wouldn't be far off. For 1001 Rabbit Tales, they've doctored up a batch of classic cartoons featuring the carrot muncher and his bumbling comrades and bundled them, near seamlessly, into a feature-length film. Here's the premise: Bugs and Daffy, both book salesmen, are competing to sell the most copies of a kids' book. Instead of burrowing a beeline to his sales territory (he should have made a left at Albuquerque), Bugs ends up in the castle of Yosemite Sam, here a harem-leading honcho. Sam's pain-in-the-spurs son, Prince Abalaba, needs somebody to read him stories; Bugs, who'd sooner take the job than suffer the alternative, that involving being boiled in oil, signs on.

Young Henery Hawk's father regretfully admits their family's shame: they hunt and eat chickens. Henery set off to find one, and comes across Foghorn Leghorn, where the loudmouth rooster is engaged in his favorite pastime, playing tricks on grumpy Barnyard Dog.

A confident but inept French inspector tracks down a series of surreal villains with the help of the reluctant Sergeant Deux-Deux.

Failed hunter Elmer Fudd laments that he's never able to catch the rabbit (Bugs Bunny); just then a bolt of lightning strikes, and the voice of God takes him through a flash-forward to the year 2000. Elmer and Bugs, now both elderly, look back to when they first met as babies.

Bugs Bunny finds and rubs Aladdin's lamp and decides to follow the genie to Baghdad, where they battle Mad Man Hassan.

In this feature-length film combining footage from classic Warner Brothers cartoon shorts with newly animated bridging sequences, Daffy Duck, after having induced laughter in an ailing millionaire and forestalled the millionaire's death for a time (as chronicled in Daffy Dilly (1948), is the beneficiary for the deceased millionaire's assets. But the millionaire's will clearly stipulates that Daffy must use the money for the common good, by providing a service, and should Daffy think of pursuing selfish aims, the millionaire's ghost will "repossess" his millions by making them disappear from Earthly existence. Under the pretense of community service, Daffy opens an exorcism agency and employs Porky Pig, Sylvester Cat, and Bugs Bunny to track and eliminate ghosts, ghouls, and other monsters, while Daffy secretly schemes to use his learned "ghost-busting" talents to rid himself of the millionaire's nagging spirit.

On Old MacDonald's farm, an egg hatches in slow-witted hen Miss Prissy's nest, and out of the shell comes a baby rooster. Fearing he will be replaced by the new arrival and sent to be slaughtered, Foghorn Leghorn plots to do away with the tyke.

Two alley cats, Babbitt and Catsello, decide to make a meal out of Orson as he sleeps in his nest atop a telephone pole. The gullible (and loud) Catsello is repeatedly gulled into trying to "get the bird," earning a variety of thrashings from the casually murderous little canary. Catsello finally resorts to an air strike (with a pair of wooden boards for wings), but it's wartime, and Orson has the cat blasted out of the sky by anti-aircraft guns.

Bugs' showbiz career is recounted from babyhood to stardom. Bugs and Elmer Fudd perform the title song.

Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales find a treasure map that leads them to a wishing well, which for a penny will grant any wish (through old cartoon footage). Daffy sets up a resort around the well and various Looney Tunes characters have their dreams come true. Meanwhile, Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil hunt for the varmints who stole their treasure map!

How Bugs Bunny Won the West is a Looney Tunes special that was released in 1978. This special was narrated by Denver Pyle. The special is available as a bonus feature on The Essential Bugs Bunny DVD set. It had a running time of 30 min.

Miss Prissy, the slow-witted hen, sets out to land a husband - Foghorn Leghorn, and Barnyard Dog is willing to help her by dressing as a rooster to "rival" Foghorn Leghorn's non-existent affections and make him jealous so that he'll marry Prissy without thinking. Foghorn Leghorn falls for the scheme - hook, line, and sinker.

In this spoof of TV's "The Honeymooners", Ralph Crumden and Ned Morton are mouse versions of Jackie Gleason and Art Carney's characters on the TV show. When new human tenants move into the apartment where the Crumden and Morton couples live, Ralph and Ned try to gain access to a banquet of food in the people's refrigerator, which is guarded by an orange cat.

Bugs and the Tasmanian Devil battle it out in a jungle hospital, with Bugs convincing Taz that he's sicker than he thinks.