Rover's Rival

Rover's Rival is a 1937 Looney Tunes short directed by Robert Clampett and Charles Jones.
== Plot ==
Porky is reading a book of interesting dog tricks, and he grabs an object to go and try one with Rover. He has Rover come out of his dog house, revealing just how old Rover truly is.
Porky tries to teach Rover a few tricks, like sitting up and rolling over, though Rover has trouble hearing. A young puppy happens to see them, and he approaches to check things out. Porky tries to make Rover jump through a hoop, but the old dog fails miserably, and the young puppy barks at him while Rover is in a daze. He insults Rover, but Porky doesn't seem to hear it and instead tries to play with Rover by using a rubber ball. Rover scolds the young puppy, and he attempts to catch the ball. But the puppy throws a giant pumpkin, causing it to land in Rover's mouth!
The puppy shows all of the tricks he can do with the ball before insulting Rover some more. Porky scolds the puppy and tells him that Rover is sensitive, but the puppy doesn't seem intimidated by this and makes fun of Porky, which upsets him too. Porky then finds a trick for Rover, and he shows that all he has to do is fetch the stick. The puppy counts how long it takes Rover, then quickly dashes over to the stick before Rover can grab it.
Porky tells the puppy it is Rover's turn, but this time Rover ends up dropping his teeth on the stick!
The puppy fetches them both, and when Porky tosses it, he grabs the Puppy to make sure Rover can get it. Unfortunately, Rover accidentally grabs a stick of dynamite, mistaking it for the stick. Porky then panics upon realizing what it was, causing the puppy to fly after the stick. Rover quickly looks up the word "Dynamite" while the puppy keeps bringing the explosive stick back, apparently not knowing it's a bad object. Each time Porky tosses it, the puppy throws them back at Porky until he can no longer rid of them. The puppy then asks for a match, so that he may blow up Porky.
But before they explode Porky runs away and the puppy keeps bringing the dynamite back to him. Rover finally manages to find the word Dynamite and rushes back outside to find the puppy mocking Porky. Rover grabs the dynamite and runs away with it, but the Puppy resumes trying to bring them back until Rover finally has had enough and rips them from his teeth (which the puppy picked up, yet again). He then runs in the distance to try to rid of it as the puppy attempts going after him again, but is stopped when Rover's teeth grab onto him from the branch. Rover comes back to shake Porky's hand and runs away again, just as the explosives go off.
Porky panics as the Puppy apologizes to Rover and even calls him the best stick-fetcher there ever was, and Rover suddenly sprouts up and asks if he meant it.
== Caricatures ==
* Bert Gordon's Mad Russian character saying "Do you mean it?"
== Availability ==
Porky Pig 101 DVD Cover.png|(2017) DVD Porky Pig 101, Disc 2
=== Streaming ===
lt boomerang.jpg|Boomerang App (2017 - ) (computer colorized)
Lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2023) (restored)
Lt max.jpg|Max (2023 - 2024) (restored)
== Censorship ==
* In the redrawn version of this cartoon that aired in Nickelodeon's compilation show, Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon, the young puppy calling Rover an "old antique" seems to have been partially muted, though it is unknown whether this was an intentional cut or if it was a sound mistake that was never fixed.https://web.archive.org/web/20240224055614/http://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-q-r.aspx
== Notes ==
* This is the first Looney Tunes short to feature "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" as the theme song and feature the end card with Porky Pig tearing through the drum to stutter "That's all Folks!", which would last all the way to 1946.
* Porky reads "New Tricks to Teach Your Dog" by Clawed Meatty. This is a reference to Clyde Beatty, who had a four-decade career as a legendary lion tamer and animal trainer.
* The 1990s "computer colorized" television print of this short features an error. After the WB shield zooms in, The bylines "VITAPHONE" and "Presents," copyright info, and Vitaphone production number do not appear until the crossfade into the 1937 Looney Tunes title card. The HBO Max restored print does not have the WB shield zoom in, and the bylines are already on the screen. In the Porky Pig 101 DVD, which uses an interpositive, unrestored print, the first few seconds of the opening titles are cut off.
== Gallery ==
Rover's Rival Screnshot 1.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 2.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 3.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 4.png
RoversRivalRestored.jpeg|Cropped screenshot of 2020 re-restoration
Rover's Rival Screnshot 5.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 6.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 7.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 8.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 9.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 10.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 11.png
Rover's Rival Screnshot 12.png
RoversRivalLobbyCard.jpg|Lobby card
RoversRivalPA.jpg|Production drawing
== References ==
Category:1937
Category:Looney Tunes Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Bob Clampett
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger
Category:Cartoons animated by Chuck Jones
Category:Cartoons animated by Norman McCabe
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Chuck Jones
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Carl W. Stalling
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons in the Sunset Productions package
Category:Black-and-white cartoons
Category:Post-1935 Black & White Looney Tunes