Eh, what's up, pruneface?
"The Old Grey Hare" is a Bob Clampett Merry Melodies short released in 1944.Elmer Fudd, frustrated with his inability to catch Bugs, sits under a tree and is transported into the far off year 2000 (which was considered futuristic back then, being 56 years in the future). Now an old man armed with a laser gun, he goes after an equally aged Bugs Bunny and upon managing to succeed, Bugs sets up a flashback to when they were young children and how it all began. As Bugs feigns his death and digs his own grave, he manages to trick Elmer inside and bury him alive.
"The Old Grey Hare" provides examples of:
- As the Good Book Says...: As Bugs buries Elmer with sand he calls him Methuselah.
- Baby Talk: As infants, both Bugs and Elmer talk this way. Bugs' greeting to Elmer is baby gibberish translated via subtitle as "What's up, doc?"
- Black Comedy: Elmer is buried alive and given a stick of dynamite, which explodes off-screen.
- Buried Alive: Done to Elmer.
- *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": While running away, Old Bugs complains about his lumbago.
- Credits Gag: After the film irises out when Bugs hands Elmer the stick of dynamite, the ending title card violently shakes when the bomb goes off. Most TV versions replace the shaking card with one that doesn't shake (though the sound is still there). Cartoon Network was one of the channels that aired this cartoon with the non-shaking end card, but The Bob Clampett Show actually aired it the way it was meant to be (and of course, the DVD version on The Looney Tunes Golden Collection has it the way it was originally shown).
- Divine Intervention: It's implied God himself transported Elmer Fudd to the future, so that Elmer could experience the day when he finally killed Bugs Bunny. Elmer actually manages to shoot his nemesis for once, and it seems as though Bugs Bunny has finally been killed off. Unfortunately for Elmer, that's not exactly what happens...
- Disappeared Dad/Missing Mom: We see rabbit holes for both Baby Bugs' father and mother but neither parent appears onscreen.
- Elderly Future Fantasy: Elmer Fudd, frustrated with his inability to catch Bugs Bunny, sits under a tree and is transported into the then-distant year of 2000. Now an old man armed with a laser gun, he goes after an equally-aged Bugs Bunny and upon managing to succeed, Bugs sets up a flashback to when they were young children and how it all began. As Bugs feigns his death and digs his own grave, he manages to trick Elmer inside and bury him alive.
- Everyone Went to School Together: According to this cartoon, Bugs and Elmer first met as babies.
- Failed Future Forecast: Obviously, the predictions about life in the year 2000 are all Played for Laughs, but they still didn't pan out.
- The Zeerust buildings in the background artwork don't match 2000 in reality.
- The episode actually earns a few points for newspapers still existing - subscriptions declined gradually over the next 20 years, but the stories in said newspaper, however...
- The newspaper implies that Bing Crosby is still alive in the year 2000 (while he died in 1977 in Real Life) and still waiting for his horse to cross the finish line.
- A newspaper headline reads that "Smellevision replaces Television: Carl Stalling Sez It Will Never Work!". Stalling had passed away in 1972 and television (despite some ups and downs, and in different permutations) is still popular in 2000 and beyond. Various attempts at video scent technology have remained experimental.
- Another newspaper article (though not mentioned by Elmer) reads "[Dionne] Quintuplets Give Birth to Quintuplets". However, only three of the quintuplets had married and started a family, and although one of these three (Cécile) did indeed give birth to five children, only one child of hers died in infancy, and two of them (Bruno and Bernard) were twins, so these five babies of hers were still not quintuplets. (Marie had two daughters, and Annette had three sons.) By the actual year 2000, only three of these Dionne Quintuplets were still alive (Émilie had died of a seizure at age 20 in 1954, and Marie died at age 35 in 1970), and Yvonne would die a year later at age 67, while Annette and Cécile, both of whom are currently alive, had divorced decades earlier.
- Unintentionally accurate, though, is that in 2002 the show Baby Looney Tunes would debut, which features a baby version of Bugs and Elmer rather similar to this cartoon.
- Flashback: Elmer flashes back to when he and Bugs were babies.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: We never saw baby or old age versions of Bugs and Elmer before. We also never see Bugs in his natural appearance for the entire short.
- Free-Range Children: According to the flashback Elmer was already chasing Bugs when they were babies. Which makes you wonder where their parents were at?
- Fun with Subtitles: When Baby Bugs first appears, he asks Baby Elmer "What's Up, Doc" in baby talk, with Baby Elmer looking down at the subtitles to find out what was being said.
- Future Loser: Elmer is still the same loser in 2000 as he was in the 1940s.
- Gory Discretion Shot: At the end of the cartoon, after Elmer is handed a stick of dynamite by Bugs and starts panicking, the cartoon irises out to the usual "That's All, Folks!" card. The stick of dynamite is still heard during this, and then it goes off, killing Elmer offscreen and causing an earthquake in the "That's all, folks!" card.
- Jerkass Gods: "God" brought Elmer to the future... just to have the same old thing happen.
- Mid-Battle Tea Break: Baby Bugs and Baby Elmer stop in the middle of a chase for nap time.
- Non-Standard Character Design: It bears noting that this is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon where his regular design is never used. Bugs only appears as either a decrepit elder, or as an infant.
- Origins Episode: Downplayed and implied that Bugs and Elmer have been chasing one another from babyhood on.
- Pinball Gag: When Bugs is hit, score points flash around him, ending with a big "TILT".
- Pun: Elmer's grave reads "Rest in Pieces".
- Pun-Based Title: "The Old Grey Mare" is a traditional song.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Bugs Bunny as a baby. Elmer as a baby is also as adorable despite not being a fluffy animal.
- Ridiculously Successful Future Self: Even in old age Bugs is still able to fool Elmer like he always did.
- Shout-Out: Bugs' final line "Well, now, I wouldn't say that!" is a reference to the popular catchphrase of the character Richard Q. Peavey in The Great Gildersleeve.
- In the future, Elmer's rifle is replaced by "A Buck Wogers Wightning Quick Wabbit Kiwwer".
- Old Bugs says to Elmer, "Eh, what's up, pruneface?", most likely referring to the Dick Tracy character.
- Spinoff Babies: Kind of, Elmer and Bugs are shown as babies in a flashback.
- Standard Snippet: The music heard when Bugs digs his own grave is "Träumerei" by Robert Schumann. During the scene, Elmer literally sobs out the melody.
- Time Skip: Bugs and Elmer are shown in then distant year of 2000, where they are both old.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Elmer and Bugs are shown in what was then half a century later.
- Zeerust: There are futuristic buildings in the background as the two chase each other, whereas the actual 2000 architecture didn't look THAT different from 1948.
