''Mad as a Mars Hare'' is a 1963

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...

'' cartoon directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

and

Maurice Noble Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand man ...

. The short was released on October 19, 1963, and stars

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

and

Marvin the Martian Marvin the Martian is an extraterrestrial character from Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons. He frequently appears as a villain in cartoons and video games, and wears a helmet and skirt. The character has been voice ...

. The cartoon's title is a play-on-words of the famous phrase to be "

mad as a March hare To be as "mad as a March hare" is an English idiomatic phrase derived from the observed antics, said to occur only in the March breeding season of the European hare (''Lepus europaeus''). The phrase is an allusion that can be used to refer to any ...

", the origins of which are disputed. This is Marvin's final appearance in the Looney Tunes shorts during the

Golden Age of American Animation The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the ...

Plot

This cartoon begins with

observing the planet

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

from

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

through a

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

. He is examining a

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

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

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 "Yankee Doodle" is a traditional song and nursery rhyme, the early versions of which predate the Seven Years' War and American Revolution. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today. It is the state anthem of Connecticut. Its ...

'') 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 Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

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 ''Hare-Way to the Stars'' is a 1958 American animated science fiction comedy short film directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 29, 1958 as part of the ''Looney Tunes'' series ...

''). Bugs then comments to the audience about how when he gets back to Earth,

Elmer Fudd Elmer J.''Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheo ...

and the rest of the hunters are due for a surprise, before eating the metal carrot.

Crew

*Co-Director & Layouts:

*Story: John Dunn *Animation:

Ken Harris Karyl Ross "Ken" Harris (July 31, 1898 – March 24, 1982) was an American animator best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons under the supervision of director Chuck Jones. Life and career Ken Harris was born in Tulare County, Calif ...

, Richard Thompson,

Bob Bransford Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: Places *Mount Bob, New York, United States *Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Bob (surname) ...

Tom Ray Thomas Archer Ray (August 2, 1919 – April 6, 2010) was an American animator. Career Ray was born in Williams, Arizona. He began work at Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1937, working under Tex Avery for six months. He applied for a job at MGM and wa ...

*Backgrounds:

Bob Singer Bob Singer (born 1928) is an American animation artist, character designer, layout and background artist and storyboard director of animated television programs, most memorably of several Hanna-Barbera productions such as ''The Flintstones'', ''Jonn ...

*Effects Animation: Harry Love *Film Editor:

Treg Brown Tregoweth Edmond "Treg" Brown (November 4, 1899 – April 28, 1984) was an American motion picture sound editor who was responsible for the sound effects in Warner Bros.' ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons from 1936 to 1963. ...

*Voice Characterizations:

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy ra ...

*Music: Bill Lava *Produced by

David H. DePatie David Hudson DePatie (December 24, 1929 – September 23, 2021) was an American film and television producer who was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio and the longest-living until his death. He also formed ...

*Directed by

Home media

"''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

External links

Mad as a Mars Hare
at

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mad As A Mars Hare 1963 films 1963 animated films 1963 short films Short films directed by Chuck Jones Mars in film Merrie Melodies short films Warner Bros. Cartoons animated short films Fiction about neanderthals 1960s science fiction comedy films Films directed by Maurice Noble American science fiction comedy films Animated films about extraterrestrial life Animated films about time travel Films scored by William Lava Bugs Bunny films Marvin the Martian films 1963 comedy films 1960s Warner Bros. animated short films 1960s English-language films