is a 1957 Looney Tunes cartoon with Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, directed by Chuck Jones.
It starts with the standard Chase Scene, where the Coyote has a napkin around his neck and a fork and knife in his paws. At an intersection, the Road Runner makes a sharp left, while the Coyote's attempt to put on the brakes causes him to continue straight ahead and grind into the dirt road — right off the edge of a plateau where a bridge was implied to stand. After the landing, he tosses out his utensils, undoes his napkin, and goes off to ponder his next play.
He starts off thinking simple by putting out a fake coyote leg on the road to try and trip his prey. Instead, it gets all wound up. Thinking nothing of it, he takes the foot out onto the road, leans on it, and gets tangled up.
A little scratch of his back and a doodle in the dirt, and EUREKA!!
Between a makeshift land sail (which ends up working only in a straight line), some dynamite on a string, a large firework used like a rocket, a plank on which he aims to launch from a boulder, an anvil lashed to a hot-air balloon, a Spring Coil, a box of pebbles marked as Dehydrated Boulders, an outboard steamroller (Deus ex Machina), and a detour that actually leads into the barrel of a cannon, one guess as to how it all works out.
"Scrambled Aches" provides examples of:
- Anvil on Head: The Coyote fears this happening as his anvil trampolines off a power line into the air. Instead, it smashes clean through the precipice on which he made the launch.
- Ash Face: As the cannonball makes its way out — with the Road Runner perched upon it. Shown in full as the Coyote sulks on the roadway.
- Binomium ridiculus: Eternalii Famishus / Tastyus Supersonicus.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: The Coyote breathes a huge sigh of relief as he finds out the anvil did not land on him. He takes one look behind him and realizes it’s gone all the way through the outcropping on which he launched. Down he goes.
- Impact Silhouette:
- The Coyote's landing in the wake of his fall off the road with the "Danger Bridge Out" sign.
- The anvil dropped from a balloon that fails to hit the Road Runner leaves this in the bridge.
- Instant Mass: Just Add Water!: The dehydrated boulder. One drop of water and it grows from a tiny pebble to a two-ton boulder... too heavy for Wile E. to hold over his head with one paw.
- Knows the Ropes: The Coyote uses a TNT stick on a string in this way (one, rather than the multitude seen in "Ready.. Set.. Zoom!"), but ends up tangled in it instead (much like what would be seen in "Hopalong Casualty").
- Overly Long Gag: The final gag. Wile E. sends an automatic steamroller after the Road Runner, but instead of flattening him, it sends it to a detour and through a tunnel entrance. This turns out to be disguising the mouth of a very large cannon, which Wile E. lights. The fuse runs out and... nothing. After a few moments, Wile E. looks down the tunnel and sees the headlight of an incoming train, complete with whistle. Wile E. is confused, but then figures it's just the Road Runner playing a trick. He looks again and BLAM! — the cannon finally fires, and the Road Runner is straddled on the cannonball, happy as you please. Wile E. walks away dejected... right into the path of the returning steamroller.
- Since the steamroller is entirely contained within this single scene (unlike the drink of water sign or pop-up grate), it doesn't qualify as a Brick Joke.
- Pun-Based Title: Of "scrambled eggs" (which would not be the only one).
- Rocket Ride: Attempted, but the firework launches without the Coyote and takes his chest fur with it. When it makes a U-turn at a cavern, the Coyote loses part of his back fur. He skulks onto the roadway, revealing that the firework also stripped off the fur on his crown.
- Seesaw Catapult: Complete with a homing boulder.
- Spring Coil: Attempted, but the coil winds up going all the way out while the Coyote remains firmly in position — and tangled up within.
- Squashed Flat:
- Once the dehydrated boulder reaches its full size, it’s going to take more than one paw to support its weight.
- This is what happens to Wile E. at the end of the cartoon when he gets run over by his own steamroller, though it isn't shown.
- Talking with Signs: The final scene of the cartoon, before the Coyote gets hit with the steamroller: "This is the end."
