The cartoon starts just like every typical Coyote/Road Runner short, with Wile E. Coyote chasing what appears to be his signature target, the Road Runner. After a while of being chased by the Coyote, the speeding figure stops and reveals itself to be... Bugs Bunny?! He then explains that he had to fill in for the Road Runner as, according to Bugs, "he sprained a giblet cornering a sharp curve the other day", and as he continues the chase, he also explains that he is using ACME Super Speed Vitamins to imitate the Road Runner's speed, only for them to wear off. Not deterred in the slightest, Bugs then resorts to using his well-known trickery to outsmart Wile E. and his every attempt to have him for dinner.
Tropes:
- Acme Products:
- Since Bugs is unable to actually run at the speed of sound, he has to rely on ACME Super Speed Vitamins in order to imitate the Road Runner.
- In the final gag, Bugs tricks Wile E. into getting stuck on a part of the road coated with ACME Glue.
- Anvil on Head: Used twice, First played straight then subverted. Wile E. distracts Bugs with a carrot on a bullseye so that he can drop an anvil on his head from above. However, after dropping said anvil, Bugs then appears behind the Coyote, taps him on the shoulder to get his attention and places the bullseye on his head, causing the anvil to hit Wile E. instead. The force of the anvil's impact causes a part of the cliff that Wile E. is on to break off and fall to the ground below. Bugs then drops the anvil by pulling the bullseye away, and Wile E. prepares for that by bringing out an umbrella, only for the anvil to miss him by pure luck. Then a vehicle comes out of nowhere to flatten him.
- Ash Face:
- Wile E. attempts to shoot Bugs with a rifle, but the moment he presses the trigger, the rabbit has somehow hastily crafted a long series of pipes connecting to the rifle. Wile E. then decides to follow the pipes and stops at the end, where the bullet finally exits and blasts him instead, blackening him. Wile E. then blows the pipe where the bullet was shot from.
- After being shot into the pavement by a cannon, Wile E. emerges from the crater, charred, to knock some pebbles out of his ear.
- Bait-and-Switch: Despite being presented as a Bugs Bunny short, it initially starts off as another Road Runner short until what appears to be the Road Runner stops and reveals itself to be Bugs Bunny.Bugs Bunny: Hi. I suppose you're expecting the Road Runner. Well, uh, he sprained a giblet cornering a sharp curve, uh, so, uh, I'm standing in for him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Bugs cracks a few jokes noting Wile E.'s tenacity to continue to try to hunt even though things never turn out well for him.
- Fiendish Fish: Wile E. attempts to capture Bugs with a carrot on a fishing rod, but instead, he ends up catching a giant fish that swallows him up except for his legs.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress:
- Wile E. is hit on the head by an anvil during an attempt to kill Bugs with one, and the resulting impact causes a part of the cliff he's on to break off and plummet to the bottom, taking him with it.
- Near the end of the short, Wile E. almost falls down a canyon, but the telephone that he's grasping onto saves him. It turns out that it's being held by Bugs at the top of the cliff, who, mimicking the telephone company, tells Wile E. off for not paying his telephone bills lately and literally cuts him off by slicing the cord with scissors, causing Wile E. to fall to the bottom for real.Bugs Bunny: The moral is, never get cut off in the middle of a long-distance fall. (chuckles)
- Human Cannonball: Wile E. attempts to blast himself after Bugs in a cannon, but the cannon lowers and points itself downwards, firing Wile E. into the pavement instead.
- Later-Installment Weirdness: In contrast to the previous four Bugs/Wile E. Coyote cartoons, this one plays out like an ordinary Road Runner cartoon that just happens to star Bugs. In fact, Wile E. Coyote is silent, as he would be in a regular Road Runner cartoon.
- The Lonely Door: As Wile E. is flying backwards with a chunk of the pavement stuck to his feet, Bugs races past him and opens a door set up at the edge of a cliff so that the Coyote flies through it.Bugs Bunny: Do you realize he almost hit this door?
- Not So Invincible After All: It isn't shown onscreen, but according to Bugs, the Road Runner made a sharp curve one day and sprained a giblet in the process.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Wile E. lets out a high-pitched shriek like a woman when he sees that Bugs has smeared some ACME Glue onto the road.
- Seesaw Catapult: One of Wile E.'s attempts to catch Bugs involves raising a boulder over a seesaw and shooting the rope holding the rock in place so that it will land on its side of the seesaw and propel the Coyote to the other side of the canyon where Bugs is. Instead, he is tossed straight into the rock when it lands and shot in the hiney by his rifle.
- Stock Footage: Some animation from Lickety-Splat and Hip Hip-Hurry! is reused as Bugs puts on a burst of speed by ingesting some of the ACME Super Speed Vitamins.
- Troll: Bugs is thought to be this due to how Wile E. is silent, despite the fact that Wile E. hunts Bugs.
- The Voiceless: This is the only short in the Bugs/Wile E. pentalogy where Wile E. is silent.
