Hare-Way to the Stars

This is my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoon that features Marvin the Martian as an adversary.

I also love Maurice Noble's layout work for Mars; marvellous stuff there, I must say. I also like the sound of Marivn's "Where's the kaboom?" I'm funny that way. And I also love the "mirror" scene between Bugs and one of the dehydrated Martians.

I have nothing more to add about this cartoon, but the animation is perfect. So anyway, I thought this was another Bugs Bunny favorite.

The original premiere Looney Tunes version of the first Marvin the Martian stories has this simple promise:

"Marvin the Martian is a diabolical genius who wants to destroy the Earth, but Bugs Bunny stops him"

Michael Maltese writes a script for Haredevil Hare(1948) following the promise above. In Haredevil Hare, Bugs Bunny is sent to Moon for a given mission: To establish the first radio contact between Moon and Earth. So he goes to Moon, just after he thinks he is the first creature to land on Moon, he meets with Marvin. Marvin wants to destroy the Earth. But Bugs distracts him, so he accidentally blows up his spaceship. Not only Bugs saves Earth from being destroyed he also completes his mission. But the plot-hole, a huge logical deficiency, here is that the space engineers establishing the first radio connection with Moon, doesn't know that a Martian wants to destroy the Earth, and even at the end of the episode Bugs Bunny didn't tell them so.

Director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese make a revision 10 years after Haredevil Hare, naming it Hare-Way to the Stars, to keep it easily marketable rhyming it both with that earlier episode and also with Ella Fitzgerald's popular country song title(Stairway to the Stars). This way it became one of the most marketable cartoons of Warner Bros all time. In the production side, not only that the problems with the plot are fixed, but also Looney Tunes wanted them to create a more funny, more combative, more challenging cartoon. So Jones and Maltese started a new opening image and a unique set-up, putting Bugs in a bad morning mood after he wakes up to go and get himself a nice morning shower. The first funny and challenging moment is here in the set-up that, Bugs is not aware that he is going to Moon, unlike Haredevil Hare. Also when on the Moon, even though the same story 10 years ago follows its identical sections step by step, this time Marvin the Martian is more prepared to the combat, he has back-up for everything Bugs does. Bugs find himself in a tough challenge killing Martian soldiers one by one in most funny ways possible. And ultimately at the end, again unwillingly and uncontrollably, just like how he came to Moon, Bugs returns to Earth bringing Martians with him, creating a perfectly funny and suspended ending.

The next most noteworthy episode of Marvin the Martian story with him trying to blow up the Earth is "Mad as a Mars Hare"(1963) a Merrie Melodies touch to the Marvin the Martian series. What's different production-wise than the Looney Tunes episodes is that, as always Merrie Melodies are more concerned with the humour not with the story. In Mad as a Mars Hare, we will find Marvin the Martian more prepared to fight, more angrier, more challenging and hence more funnier, with cool sci-fi ideas that only add more booze to the excitement of the episode.

Occasionally I like to browse Google using the search term "banned cartoons" as many of these suppressed films are interesting--especially from a historical point of view. With most of these cartoons I can understand why Disney and Warner Brothers have decided to withdraw them from general distribution, as they have some horribly insensitive and hurtful portrayals of minorities. However, SOME of them are excellent entertainment and aren't the least bit offensive to anyone other than a humorless corporate executive. Now why THIS PARTICULAR one was removed from circulation is beyond me and I wonder if it has NOT been pulled by Warner--especially since it features the ever-popular Marvin the Martian. Was, perhaps, someone offended because it made fun of aliens? I doubt it and seriously think this film was never repressed and someone labeled it "banned" incorrectly.

Now as for this cartoon, this is one of the most famous Warner toons and has been very popular with audiences over the years. Bugs accidentally gets shot into space where he meets Marvin--who is about to blow up the Earth since it obstructs his view of Venus!! Very funny stuff and featuring the best Chuck Jones-inspired artwork.

This and Duck Dodgers etc. are the two cartoons which have stuck in my mind since I first saw them over 40 years ago, though I didn't know the correct title until I thought of doing a search on 'Marvin Martian'. The last time I saw both was on 'The Bugs Bunny Show', which quite often - mostly, perhaps? - didn't include titles.

I suspect that you have to be 40 years of age or older to really appreciate this cartoon, which encapsulates the entire 1950s into it's length. The Cold War, the Bomb, Modern Art, the approaching leap into Space, even the fashions and colors, are worked into the 7 minutes.

In short, it's Warners Bros' supreme achieve in animation, and a fitting tribute to the Great Mel Blanc, not forgetting all those other geniuses whose names appear on the credits.

If I was limited to one item of movie media on a desert island, this would be my selection. Believe it :) !

Bugs awakens from a rather exhausting night (and he'll never mix radish-juice and carrot-juice again, that's for sure) and heads up the rabbit hole to take a bath. However, what he doesn't realize is that a rocket has been placed over his hole, and Bugs accidentally has climbed inside! After realizing what's going on, Bugs arrives at Mars. While trying to find a way home, he runs into Marvin the Martian, who is planning on destroying the Earth with his illudium Q-38 explosive space modulator! What follows is a classic chase-scene involving Bugs and a mob of dehydrated Martians. This has got to be one of my favorite all-time classic cartoons, not to mention the real start of Marvin the Martian's career (he had been in one other cartoon before this, but this is where Chuck Jones truly developed the Martian we all know today). And now if you don't mind, I have to run for the hills before I'm up to my armpits in Martians!!!