Bedeviled Rabbit

Bedevilled Rabbit is a 1956 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies short featuring Bugs Bunny, which was released in 1957. Bugs is lost in Tasmania, and has to deal with the Tasmanian Devil.

Plot

After a box of carrots is dropped into the middle of a jungle in Tasmania, Bugs pops out, wondering how he went from sleeping in a carrot patch to the middle of Tasmania. Suddenly, a group of animals (both wild and domesticated) come running through the woods, scared for their lives (Bugs mistakes it for “chow time at the zoo”). A crocodile (who turns himself inside out into a bag for a disguise) hands Bugs a booklet talking about the Tasmanian Devil and the many things it eats. Bugs reads “Eats Aardvarks, Ants, Bears, Boars, Cats, Bats, Dogs, Hogs, Elephants, Antelopes, Pheasants, Ferrets, Giraffes, Gazelles — but there's no such animal.”

While Bugs is going through the list from Stoats, Goats, Shoats, Ostriches, etc., the Tasmanian Devil comes roaring in and spots Bugs Bunny still reading the booklet as he completes the list from Octopuses, Penguins, People, Warthogs, Yaks, Newts, Walruses, Gnus, Wildebeests and then states "What?! No Rabbits?!" The Tasmanian Devil greedily says that it 'especially' eats rabbits as it turns to the page that says it and eats the booklet. Bugs is able to temporarily fool Taz into thinking he's a monkey, which Tasmanian Devils don't eat (though one of the animals seen running for its life was a monkey — ostensibly because all animals are scared of Taz). However, Taz soon starts chasing Bugs again. Bugs tricks "Baggy Eyes" into getting crushed under a tree but Taz manages to exit through a knothole in the tree. Bugs jokes around wondering what Tasmanian Devil pancakes would taste like, but he lets his guard down and Taz grabs Bugs by his ears and asks him "What for you say you monkey, when you got little powder puff tail like rabbit, Rabbit?"

Bugs ends up on a spit, trussed like a roast pig, as Taz puts salt and pepper on Bugs. Bugs is really nervous, because he is about to be eaten and has no escape plan, but luckily he sees Taz making a large salad to go with him. Bugs compliments Taz on his "mean salad" but informs him that the best thing to have with a salad is "wild turkey surprise," not rabbit. Taz, wanting to try it, unties Bugs. Bugs throws some sticks of dynamite together, lights the fuses and dresses the 'legs' up to look like they're from a turkey. Taz gobbles the dish, but doesn't seem too harmed from the explosion in his stomach.

When Taz starts chasing Bugs again, Bugs runs into a store owned by a "Trader Mac" and pulls some items off the shelf to dress himself up as a Tasmanian She-Devil, whom Taz goes gaga over. Bugs 'makes out' with Taz and, with a bear trap for lips, gives him a big kiss, driving Taz wild. This causes the real she-devil (whom Taz married at the end of Devil May Hare in 1954) to come in and smack him across the head with her rolling pin. Bugs comments "She's a nice lady. Yeesh!"

Censorship

• When this cartoon aired on ABC, the scene near the end of the cartoon where Taz's wife beats him with a rolling pin was shortened. The scene with the "Wild Turkey Surprise" was also shortened so that Bugs Bunny was not shown preparing it by putting explosives in it (though the part where Taz's stomach bulges briefly and Taz says "Pardon" was left in).

Alternate versions

• Similar to the music swapping during the clips from Rabbit Every Monday that were used for the 1979 special, Bugs Bunny's Thanksgiving Diet, this short is modified for that special, in this case with Thanksgiving-themed dialogue being dubbed for the original dialogue.

Availability

"Bedeviled Rabbit" is available, uncensored and uncut, on the Bugs Bunny Super Stars DVD: Hare Extraordinare DVD. However, it was cropped to widescreen. It is also being shown uncensored, full screened and uncut, on the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 1 Blu-ray box-set, but only on Blu-ray.

External links

• Bedevilled Rabbit at the Internet Movie Database