Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers

Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers is a 1992 Looney Tunes short directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon.
== Plot ==
Bugs Bunny narrates that strange carrots have traveled from outer space to Earth. He wakes up in his rabbit hole and remarks that he is late for work. His "work" consists of performing routines of outsmarting Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy Duck. When Elmer approaches the rabbit hole, Bugs takes an alternate exit to sneak up behind the hunter. After quickly describing what a rabbit looks like, Elmer is about to blast him until Bugs hits in the face with a cream pie. During the first routine, there is a strange pile of glowing carrots in the background, but Bugs ignores them.
Taking a plane to the Wild West, Bugs goes through the old "I dare you to step across this line" gag with Sam. After Sam falls off a cliff and makes his way back up, he sees a pile of strange carrots along a cactus.
Bugs then takes a "Grey Hare" bus to meet with Daffy. They perform the "Rabbit Season, Duck Season" routine and hunters shoot Daffy. Again the carrots appear, but this time they are shown attacking Daffy as Bugs leaves for home.
The next day, Bugs wakes up and returns to "work", but Elmer looks and acts like a "pale stereotype" of his former self. Elmer appears poorly-drawn with choppy animation and a voice like a broken record. When he offers Bugs a carrot, Bugs leaves to find Sam, hoping that Sam wouldn't disappoint him.
Much to Bugs' chagrin, Sam also has fallen victim to the carrots. Bugs finds the pale stereotype version of Sam, who wears a smiley face sticker on his shirt and forever says he doesn't want to hurt him while moving like a character in a poorly-animated 1960s television cartoon, and walks off the cliff himself. When the fake Sam offers Bugs a carrot, Bugs then leaves to find Daffy.
Daffy, who has also fallen victim to the carrots, now flickers in and out of frame, and none of his body parts are well-attached. He is also strangely friendly to Bugs, apologizing for their feud over the years through a human mouth attached to his beak. After Daffy gets shot by the hunters yet again, he returns, riddled with holes, and offers Bugs a carrot. This time Bugs accepts the carrot.
Bugs tries to figure out why the others appear so different. The carrot produces a pale stereotype of Bugs. The impostor attempts to kill the real Bugs with an axe and Bugs runs off screaming, but stops to remark "You know something, folks? This is the scariest part of the picture," only to continue screaming again.
Afterwards, the 1946-1964 Looney Tunes closing sequence appears, but Bugs interrupts, claiming he must get to the bottom of the mystery. He finds tags on Elmer, Sam, and Daffy indicating that the impostors were made on the planet Nudnik, and realizes he must launch them into space to get the original Tunes back. He collects the now malfunctioning "pods" into a sack marked "pale stereotypes". He fires them into space, in a sequence with literal-minded depictions of the Milky Way and the Dog Star. Finally, a mouth materializes in a black hole and swallows the imposters. After it belches, it says "Pardon me!" and pulls off a big grin. The next day, Bugs wakes up and happily outwits the real Elmer, Sam, and Daffy who have all returned.
In a post-credits scene that parodies the 1937-1946 Looney Tunes drum closing sequence, a Terry Gilliam-esque Porky Pig imposter wearing pants pops out of a drum, trying to utter "That's All Folks!" in a creepy, distorted fashion. Bugs then comes in and kicks out the impostor, and then drags in the real Porky and places him inside the drum. Bugs walks off as Porky chuckles and then says his signature line.
== Availability ==
514NV7A22EL.jpg|(1992) VHS Bugs Bunny's Creature Features
Hijink.jpg|(2000) VHS Bugs Bunny's Halloween Hijinks
lt sj2d.jpg|(2003) DVD Space Jam two-disc special edition (edited; all scenes with Yosemite Sam deleted due to "time allotment.")
The Essential Bugs Bunny.jpg|(2010) DVD The Essential Bugs Bunny, Disc 2
Looney Tunes Parodies Collection.jpeg|(2020) DVD Looney Tunes: Parodies Collection
=== Streaming ===
Lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang (2017 - )
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022) (restored)
== Notes ==
* It was first released in the 1992 television special Bugs Bunny's Creature Features, and never received an official theatrical release.
* This cartoon is a parody of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
* The short was aired as a stand-alone on Nickelodeon, and then on Cartoon Network.
* Bugs' "work", which consists of performing routines of outsmarting Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy Duck, is a homage to certain classic Bugs Bunny cartoons featuring Bugs and his respective co-stars:
**Bugs' "work" routine of outsmarting Elmer reuses gags from "A Wild Hare".
**Bugs' "work" routine of outsmarting Sam reuses gags from "Bugs Bunny Rides Again".
**Bugs' "work" routine of outsmarting Daffy reuses gags from "Rabbit Fire".
*An edited version of the cartoon appears in the Space Jam 2-Disc Special Edition DVD as a special feature. Yosemite Sam originally appeared in the cartoon, but was taken out by Warner Bros. due to "time allotment." Sam can still be heard in the edited version, when all of the Looney Tunes' "pods" are about to be launched into space. The uncut version of this cartoon is available on both The Essential Bugs Bunny and Looney Tunes: Parodies Collection DVD releases. The uncut version also airs on television networks such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Boomerang, and on the streaming service HBO Max.
*Each of these "pale stereotypes" have the tendency to repeat their signature lines over and over again like broken records, which even the real Bugs acknowledges in one scene, as evident in the second half of this cartoon. Their often-repeated lines are the following:
**Bugs Bunny: "What's up, doc?"
**Daffy Duck: "You're despicable!"
**Elmer Fudd: "I'm hunting wabbits!"
**Yosemite Sam: "Rackin' frackin' varmint!"
*The sound effect where Bugs uses a wind-up key to direct the pale stereotype version of Daffy into the sack of "pale stereotypes" to be blasted into space was previously used from the wind-up toy duck in the Sniffles cartoon "Toy Trouble".
**Speaking of the pale stereotype Daffy, in the original master, when Bugs first meets him, one of the badly drawn effects was his body disappearing when he says "Bugsy, old pal...", which was not used in the restored print.
* This short re-uses music from "Drip-Along Daffy", "Lighter Than Hare", "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century", "Wideo Wabbit", "Mouse-Taken Identity", "Pappy's Puppy", "Fox-Terror", "A Sheep in the Deep", "Guided Muscle", "Duck Amuck", "Barbary-Coast Bunny", "Half-Fare Hare", "A Hound for Trouble", "The Slap-Hoppy Mouse", "There They Go-Go-Go!", "Double or Mutton", "Stupor Duck", "Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z", "Rabbit Seasoning", "Bugsy and Mugsy", "A Kiddies Kitty", "Scrambled Aches", "Bewitched Bunny", "Rocket Squad", "Claws for Alarm", "Hyde and Hare", and "Raw! Raw! Rooster!".
*This is the last Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies short made for television.
*This is, to date, the longest-running Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies short, clocking in at 11 minutes and 30 seconds rather than the usual 7 minutes.
*This is one of the only two Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts to have a post-credits scene, the other one being "(Blooper) Bunny", produced the previous year.
*After the first time Yosemite Sam falls off the cliff, he says "I've a-fallen and I...I...I can't get up!" This is based on the popular tagline "I've fallen, and I can't get up!", which was originally used in a commercial by LifeCall. It has since been used in commercials by Life Alert Emergency Response.
*The planet's name is a reference to Nudnik, a 1960s cartoon character created by Gene Deitch.
*In the final scene, Bugs remarks that "it's a wonderful life," referencing the 1946 film of the same name.
==Gallery==
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Snatchers21.JPG|"You're unspeakably despicable!"
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File:Invasion of the Bunny SnatchersCel.jpg
File:InvasionoftheBunnysnatcherCel.jpg
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Category:Bugs Bunny Cartoons
Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons
Category:Elmer Fudd Cartoons
Category:Yosemite Sam Cartoons
Category:Cartoons that contain excerpts from "Powerhouse"
Category:Shorts
Category:1992
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Greg Ford
Category:Cartoons directed by Terry Lennon
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Frank Raciti