Talk:Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner/Archive 1

Page combination
"Wile E Coyote" and "Road Runner" and "Acme" were formerly pages in their own right. They were stubs and they duplicated information -- they each had 1-2 paragraphs in common explaining the cartoons. Plus they forced the reader wishing to learn about Road Runner to zip around pages like a lunatic.

IMO a single article with some substance to it is preferable to 3-4 stubs. Don't create links or pages for the characters unless this article threatens to become unreadably huge. -- Tarquin 16:27 Oct 11, 2002 (UTC)


 * Wrong...any other cartoon series has a single entry for characters of this popularity. Merging isn't right. Vaginsh (talk) 20:17, 1 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I agree Road Runner and Wile E Coyote should have separate articles —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.190.34.219 (talk) 02:53, 28 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm not so sure about that. After all, the bird's appearances in the cartoons are generally secondary, i.e., he zips past unharmed and often oblivious as a plan backfires on the coyote. Admittedly it was not always like that, but it rarely amounted to much more. This is no doubt why the Coyote was given first billing in this article's title, even though the Runner got the series title regularly (Adventures of the Road-Runner, The Road Runner Show, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, etc.). Even Chuck Jones referred to these shorts as such, specifically whenever he explained that he arranged two extra weeks to work on What's Opera, Doc?, by "run[ning] off a Road Runner" short in two weeks less than scheduled. So I still think (see lower thread "The Coyote vs. Wile E. Coyote," where that point got sort of buried among some others) that the Road Runner deserves top billing in the article's title. No, I don't see that there's enough to say about the Road Runner per se to justify a separate article from this, as most passages would, one way or another, be about what the coyote was trying to do to him. --Ted Watson (talk) 19:56, 12 April 2009 (UTC)


 * However, it's been a long time since the original classic Coyote and Road Runner shorts and although admittedly it is the most well-known format, both characters have had appearances in cartoons and other media individually and not always with each other.

I am aware of absolutely zero appearances of the Road Runner without the Coyote also present. Specific examples, please. --Ted Watson (talk) 19:40, 30 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Well, for one, as the mascot of Road Runner High Speed Online, which actually has significantly higher notability in terms of Wiki standards than a random cartoon episode. In fact, the Road Runner is used outside cartoons and in other media much more than most Looney Tunes. In spin-off cartoons such as "Tiny Toon Adventures" Coyote and Road Runner also play different roles, and aren't always reliant on one another. You can go even further looking into Looney Tunes based video / board / card games where Road Runner and Coyote are often times handled differently, have played separate roles, and have been individual PCs, not to mention merchandising in which they've been separate. The "Commercial Appearances" and "Pop Culture" sections of the article already list numerous examples of when the two characters have appeared individually or at least without each other, showing their evolution as individual characters not just to be lumped into one article because they both originated in a popular cartoon format.24.190.34.219 (talk) 04:12, 26 May 2009 (UTC)


 * "Spin-offs" are just that, and by definition are less significant than the original material. If that internet access service's promotional usage "has significantly higher notability in terms of Wiki standards than a random cartoon episode" then those standards need to be rewritten. Or perhaps the comparison to be made here is not to "a random cartoon episode" (i.e., just one) but to the series as a whole, where it must fall short. I admit that I somehow missed that the author of the unsigned posting above was talking about that sort of thing, and apologize profusely for my lapse. The fact is that the old cartoons are widely available and are the principal format for these characters, and therefore must be given primacy, which invalidates his point and yours. --Ted Watson (talk) 21:05, 26 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Actually, it doesn't invalidate my point, because your then deliberately avoiding the character's complete histories and evolution in favor of a single series. This article is not about the cartoon series, but the characters. The protocol then is to make a unique article for the original series/cartoons and a unique article for each of the characters which there is more than enough notability to do under Wiki standards. (In fact The Road Runner Show already has its own article). As it stands people may be wanting to do research on all three or only one of the three (i.e. researching the coyote outside the road runner) and combining all the articles into one makes it more difficult to find information on the specific topic. Spin-offs aren't less valid because the article as it stands is not an article about the show, but the characters. Therefore the term spin-off isn't even applicable, as the characters have had a large and unique history outside the show in use of advertisements and later projects and their appearances aren't confined to one media. You seem intent on more making an article about the Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon, rather than the characters themselves.24.190.34.219 (talk) 20:55, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

The Road Runner Show article is a brief stub, with little or no potential for additional relevant information to be added to it, and therefore probably does not meet Wiki-standards of notability. The spin-offs (use in commercials, etc.), while officially authorized, are of no more notability on their own terms than the Hostess comic book ads of the late 70s utilizing super-heroes from DC and Marvel comic books. They are there, but nobody would suggest that they have anything to do with the "evolution" of the characters per se. There is no genuine characterization for the Road Runner himself and, as I said above (it is me; somebody complained about me having one name on talk page posts and another in edit history logs, so I made them match), just not enough to be said about him to make an article on him alone anything more than a stub. The article, regardless of how it currently "stands", should be primarily about the cartoons because they are the characters' "home" venue. Spin-offs, those things that the term is being applied to within this article (as opposed to the spin-offs of All in the Family, Happy Days and the like), are indeed inherently less valid than the home venue, by their nature of what they are: commercials, grossly unfaithful comic books, and the like exploiting the fame of the characters. It does invalidate your point. --Tbrittreid (talk) 21:56, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Removal
Removed from article:
 * PS:
 * Wile E. Coyote almost certainly the major influence on Hanna-Barbera's Dick Dastardly. In "Wacky Races", Dastardly's schemes to stop the other Wacky Racers often look suspiciously similar - if not suspiciously identical! - to Coyote's Acme devices, while in "Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines" Dastardly and his dim-witted companions are out to catch a bird (albeit a flying bird) using ridiculously elaborate contraptions, which of course never succeed. Talk about imitation being the sincerest form of plagiarism!

This needs to be rewritten to be encyclopedic - all it is now is just an aside. --mav


 * BTW, I just found out that Mike Maltese, who wrote many of Jone's Road Runner cartoons is also listed as a writer on Wacky Races, although I'm not sure whether he actually wrote original material for the show or was just credited for the use of old Road Runner gags. (Example: Coyote/Dastardly lays a fake railroad track across the road and rings the crossing bell to stop the Road Runner/other Wacky Racers - but the moment he steps onto the track a real train appears and flattens him. I'm sure the diligent researcher can find lots of other examples, especially by watching Boomerang UK, which sneakily shows Wacky Races and Road Runner back to back!)) Lee M

Actually Dick Dastardly seems to be based on a movie called 'The Great Race' which is, essentially, a 2 hour long live action Wacky Races film with Jack Lemmon playing the Dick Dastardly, dressed in black with a large hat and moustache. He even drives a dastardly-esque car (with Peter Falk as a Muttley-esque sidekick). This is far more likely than Wile E Coyote. Renquist 19:34, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

Bad physics
There's no reason you can't climb up rocks that began falling after you. That's perfectly consistent with the laws of physics. Graft
 * So who the hell said a cartoon needs to be consistent with the laws of physics? Remember the Road Runner cartoon where a rubber band refused to snap back until the minute Coyote stuck his neck in it?? Lee M
 * No-one said that a cartoon needs to be consistent with the laws of physics. Graft was just mentioning one thing that happened to be consistent with the laws of physics. I don't know what it was in reply to, however; I can't find any other mention of climbing up rocks in the article or in this talk page. And I don't suppose you could sign your comments, could you? Type " " or " ~ " after them. It makes it easier to see what's going on when people are talking to each other... -- Oliver P. 13:35 8 Jun 2003 (UTC)

I'm reminded of a couple of things not mentioned here, but I'm not sure whether they are that important, or where to put them. Anyway, if I remember rightly, most of Wile E. Coyote's schemes would be introduced with him holding a blueprint diagram of what it supposed to happen, and his failure, if it results in a plummet, usually ends in a bird's eye view, and him hitting the ground, with a small white cloud of dust appearing. Silverfish 23:58, 14 Apr 2004 (UTC)

"Haven't you ever heard of suspension of disbelief?" CybergothiChé (talk) 07:08, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

WB speed comparison
Anyone know who's faster: Road Runner or Speedy Gonzales? Timrollpickering 13:08, 21 May 2004 (UTC) There was a cartoon called "The wild chase" In it they ran in a race while the respective villian for both characters tried to catch them.They both won. 99.230.152.143 20:33, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

On that token, the Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales go at about the same speed. Bobby H. Heffley (talk) 01:15, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Debue
My impression is that Wile E. Coyote made his debut in a face-off with Bugs Bunny, "Operation Rabbit", set in the Southwest, and spoke, with very careful diction, a bit like Marvin the Martian... no? Wetman 23:32, 13 Jun 2004 (UTC).
 * Operation: Rabbit was made in 1952; the first Road Runner short, Fast and Furry-ous, was made in 1948. --b. Touch 15:23, 3 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Roadrunner caught
I recently acted upon a childhood memory and obtained a copy of a DePatie-Freleng Road Runner short, "The Solid Tin Coyote" [1966?]. I had the distinct recollection that not only did the Coyote catch the Road Runner [albeit briefly], the Road Runner distinctly looked alarmed -- something I didn't remember from any other Road Runner/Coyote encounter. I was right -- the Road Runner does look frightened -- twice! First, when he sees the Coyote uncrate the giant robot Coyote, and, second, just before the robot makes a successful grab, having effortlessly chased the Road Runner down. Of course, the Coyote's triumphs are VERY short-lived, but I found myself wondering if there were any *other* instances in the cartoons where the Road Runner actually was portrayed as being concerned that the Coyote might actually succeed for once. User:Richard Sanders

RR was caught in "The diminishing Pipes" episode (mentioned all over the web Google is your friend!), and by the robot in the 1966 episode "The Solid Tin Coyote". and there was another already mentioned here, "Soup or Sonic" - the giantism spray episode.

New Road Runner Images
Just to let you guys know, I replaced the old Road Runner images from Matthew Hunter's Too Looney page with brand-new ones that I made myself from the new fully-restored prints. -- Pietro 14:18, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

The Electric Company shorts
Here's one from my childhood that has barely been mentioned anywhere. If you know more about this, then please add any information you can. :)

In the 1970s, Chuck Jones produced three Road Runner short films for the educational children's TV series The Electric Company. These short cartoons used the Coyote and the Road Runner to display words for children to read, but the cartoons themselves were a refreshing return to Jones' glory days.

There were at least three of those clips, if I remember right; two (?) of them had road signs and one used a traffic light.

Road sign #1: The Coyote saw signs with commands like "Slow," "Walk," "Skip," "Hop," "Crawl," and finally "Run." So after doing all those things, he took off and started running...when he saw the road coming to a dead end, blocked by a sign that said "Jump." He took a might leap and sailed over the sign...and, of course, over the cliff. Just before he fell over the cliff, he saw one more sign on the cliff's edge: "Fall!"

Here's where my memory gets sketchy. In one of these clips, he fell 10,000 feet (of course) and landed in a lake or muddle puddle or something, where a sign there said "Splash!" In *another* of these shorts, he fell 10,000 feet and landed on a trampoline, that had been placed there. A sign next to the trampoline said "Bounce." So he bounced...onto another trampoline. And another one. And another, and another, and another, finally leading over the horizon. Finally, we see the Road Runner, standing there and watching all this, with a bunch of signs grouped over his shoulder. (He was the one who had placed them there all along.) He turned and saw one final sign that said, "Beep." So he did. "Beep beep!"

The traffic light: Apparently this one use the idea of the Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf cartoons. Sam and Ralph punched the clock and went to work each day; likewise, this Road Runner cartoon "began" with the Coyote and the Road Runner coming to a "starting line" and preparing for the signal that would send them off to another day of chasing. The traffic light rang a bell and flashed "Ready"...the two characters hunched down..."Get Set,"...they tensed their muscles...and then finally a final bell "Ding" and the Coyote took off like a rocket. But the Road Runner did not; he was still standing there. He whistled to the Coyote and called him back. Coyote looked at the traffic light...and it wasn't saying "Go." Instead, the light started flashing a series of commands like "Laugh," "Cry," "Scream," etc. The Coyote followed all these commands, going faster and faster, getting into a rapid-fire series of facial expressions and sudden mood changes to go with them...till finally we see that the traffic light commands are being manually switched back and forth, by the Road Runner. --Modemac 02:35, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Wile E's voice on Tiny Toons
Say, on the "Tiny Toon Adventures" episodes with Wile E. Coyote talking, did he sound like the voice Mel Blanc gave the coyote in the original cartoons? (though Mel Blanc was deceased by this time and I know Joe Alaskey did the voice) I mean, that upper-class English accent voice like on the Bugs Bunny cartoons and on "The Adventures of the Road-Runner." Did he have that type of voice on "Tiny Toons?"

"The Whizzard of Ow"...
...should definitely not re-direct here. It's a short film in its own right, just as much as any of the other Looney Tunes cartoons.

Who is Wile E. Coyote?
Is Wile E. Coyote an avatar of the 12th century Aztec ruler Nezahualcoyotl? Although the current Wikipedia article on him translates the name as "Starving Coyote", Prescott ("The Conquest of Mexico") translates it as "Wiley Fox".


 * Someone should look into this. -- ADM
 * No, noody should look into this.
 * I hate to say it, but this page has gone beyond the pale. I really doubt that Wile E. Coyote has anything to do with sisyphus. I'm sure that if I tried, I could claim that the roadrunner was based on Robin Goodfellow, but for Christ's sake guys! I mean, come on! Senorsquiid 01:15, 19 January 2007 (UTC)


 * You're onto something. Wahkeenah 05:03, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

What is the 'E.' for?
Does anyone know if an explanation or allusion to what it might stand for was ever given? Tyciol 22:06, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

No, its just there to reference 'wiley coyote', no real meaning behind it -Dark Dragon Flame 22:24, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

He has a middle name I was looking on here to see if it said it.
 * His name is Wile E. as in "Wily". Any alleged middle name you may see anywhere on the internet, unless it's part of the WB canon, is bogus. Wahkeenah 17:20, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Now that the source has been found it has been added to the article while noting it was never intended to be canon, just a one-shot joke in a comic book story. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.211.194.194 (talk)
 * This link shows his middle name is Ethelbert. Jeopardy questions are heavily researched (and have thousands of dollars riding on them to boot), and is certainly well above half the crap that passes for references in Wikipedia articles. What's the objection to including it here? -R. fiend 19:08, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't question that Jeopardy said it was. I question it being stated as fact in the opening sentence. I put it in the trivia section, where it belongs. Wahkeenah 19:26, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Just for the record, it should be understood that Jeopardy!, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? as well, have had some significant, and in some cases indefensible, errors, which means they can't be trusted as informational sources. If you want some specifics, just ask. Ted Watson (talk) 21:36, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Why is there a footnote claiming the story "The Greatest of E's" is from an unknown issue? The Greatest of E's" appeared in issue 53 (cover dated September, 1975) of Gold Key Comics' officially licensed, comic book, Beep Beep the Road Runner although its writer, Mark Evanier, says he never intended it to be canon.[2] [References to it as a 1973 story are because it was written in 1973 but published in 1975; Gold Key in that era tended to maintain a backlog of stories far in advance of publication]. The article should be revised to reflect this! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.251.92.64 (talk)
 * Well, that explains, in overkill fashion, the origin of this "Ethelburt" stuff. Kudos for finding it. Wahkeenah 04:23, 25 February 2007 (UTC)


 * We still need a verifiable confirmation that it was issue #53. The standard source, Grand Comics Database, has no interior-contents listing yet for that issue, at its GCD page.--Tenebrae 03:59, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

The issue itself has been consulted, and there is no doubt it appeared in issue #53. Next we need to improve the comic book information in the article.

Historian David Gerstein and noted fan Joe Torcivia have supplied details on the comic book history of the characters and the spin-off section is being revised accordingly. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.211.194.176 (talk)


 * I'm sure I speak for our fellow editors when I say we'd have more confidence is an editor who did use an anonymous IP, and who signed his/her posts. Let's just please make sure to use authoritative cites--Tenebrae 20:08, 25 April 2007 (UTC)


 * OK, even though User:65.211.194.176 is unregistered he's made a lot of edits so he's not a newbie. By now he should know of one of the prime directives of Wikipedia, which is no original research. He cites e-mails that he's ostensibly received! That is not verifiable, and I hope he doesn't want to get into a pointless edit war.


 * I have only reverted the edits attributed to his e-mail "citations" and left the rest. I'll be going through them asking for cite requests, however -- there's a lot of uncited content. --Tenebrae 23:11, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, cites to e-mail are a no-no. But there exist few resources on the comic book careers of animated characters beyond direct contact with experts like I mentioned. They have copies of the actual comic books, so at least the article now has more details based on primary sources. Sorry for any violations of protocol. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.211.194.176 (talk)

profanity
Whoever added the naughty words at the start of the article please stop doing so! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.211.194.194 (talk • contribs) 03:22, 23 February 2007

Beep Beep
For the record, since User:68.223.2.157 personalized it in his edit summary of 2:25 6 March 2007, that wasn't my edit. That data was inserted by User:207.230.140.240 at 16:09 5 March 2007. All I did was copy edit the language. --Tenebrae 03:51, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

You introduced incorrect information in your "copy edit." I had listed "volume 1, disc 3," which you changed to "Volume 3." Obviously, that's not the same thing. I know it was unintentional, but the reason for the edit needed to be pointed out since it was altering a purported fact. --207.230.140.240 21:32, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

The Coyote vs. Wile E. Coyote
There needs to be some thought given to re-titling this page to Road Runner and Coyote. In the Warner Bros theatrical cartoons, the Road Runner's adversary was called simply The Coyote, or sometimes just Coyote. The name is written out that way at the beginning of every cartoon that shows the latin-style names. It never says Wile E. Coyote, followed by the latinate. Actually, Wile E. Coyote, Super-Genius, was Bugs Bunny's adversary. The main difference was that Wile E. spoke, while The Coyote did not. Chuck Jones himself mentioned this distinction many times.


 * It should be noted that occasionally, Chuck broke his own rules. For example, Wile E. appears, talking, in "Adventures of the Road Runner" (which was a TV show pilot, after all), while a non-speaking Coyote appears with Bugs in "Hare-Breadth Hurry".  Both of these aberrations occured after Mike Maltese, the writer and co-creator of the Road Runner, had departed WB for Hanna-Barbera.  Since Chuck was the only co-creator left, it was legitimate for him to modify the rules.  But the majority of the time, the precepts were followed.

As far as talking about the backstory of the Road Runner, it seems foolish to mention anything that did not originate with Jones or Maltese. In other words, we should drop references to the comic books and the DePatie-Freleng cartoons. If those sources are discussed at all, it should be to discredit them, or at least diminish them. Let's not pretend that "The Wild Chase" is an important cartoon, or that 'E. for Ethelbert' is anything but comic book trivia. The gospel should be the Chuck Jones-directed cartoons released between 1949 and 1964, and, to a lesser extent, the ones he did later in his career. {Originally posted by Wahoo76 on July 28 2007}


 * There is some question as to how much imput Jones had into the "Adventures..." featurette. Yes, his designs, etc., were used, but notice that he is not credited on the two 'toons edited from the new sequences that were wrapped around clips from various Jones shorts, including most of the then-unreleased "To Beep or Not to Beep" (does anybody know for certain whether his name is on "Adventures..." itself?). There were a fair amount of shorts coming out of Chuck's unit (and Friz Freleng's, too; McKimson's seemed to be immune to this) without their names on them, or more accurately, with somebody else's. Jones animator Abe Levitow got the directorial credit on a Pepe Le Pew picture, while two others, Phil Monroe and Richard Thompson, shared it on the last "Wolf and Sheepdog" entry, for two Jones-unit examples off the top of my head. So his crew might have made these new sequences behind Chuck's back, so to speak. I do feel that the Coyote (in "Road Runner" shorts), Wile E. Coyote (in a few Bugs Bunny encounters) and "Ralph" Wolf ("Wolf and Sheepdog") are three separate characters, using the same model sheets (save for the Wolf's nose color), and Wile E. even has a distinctly different personality (including a voice). Therefore, I agree with you about retitling this article. Those "Bugs" shorts (except for the one where the rabbit is explicitly standing in for the bird) are as much of a spin-off as the W&S series, IMHO. Also, the Road Runner gets top, and frequently sole, billing on these shorts, such as the Saturday morning TV showcase that subsequently merged with The Bugs Bunny Show. That's another way the title should be changed. Oh, and I agree totally about "E. for Ethelbert," and have moved that passage to the comic book section. Ted Watson 19:55, 15 October 2007 (UTC) UPDATED: Ted Watson (talk) 21:20, 25 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Although the animated shorts never name him "Wile E.", Warner Bros materials do refer to the Road Runner antihero as "Wile E. Coyote", so it is clear that the copyright-holders intend it to be taken to be the same character. See for example http://looneytunes.warnerbros.co.uk/stars_of_the_show/wile_roadrunner/wile_story.html. I think "Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner" stands as a fair title for the article therefore.


 * On related orthographic issues, I notice that Warner Bros sometimes use "Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner" and sometimes "Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote" without an apparent preference. I also notice that in the shorts themselves and in other materials the Road Runners name is most often "Road Runner" but also appears as "Roadrunner", "Road-Runner", sometimes with "the" and sometimes without. In all I think the current article title is a fair compromise! Mooncow (talk) 17:07, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Acme section
I don't believe that this section contributes much to the article as a whole, except for explaining who makes (almost) all of the gadgets in the animations. Also, there is quite a lot of info on the main article anyway. Could we make a passing reference to the Coyote's use of Acme products and delete the rest of the Acme section, rather than waste a whole heap of words on stuff covered in the main article? --L337 kybldmstr 04:52, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

How does Wile E Coyote "harken back to the Native American mythology of the trickster coyote. "
Tmangray, how in the world does Wile E Coyote "harken back to the Native American mythology of the trickster coyote"? This pair has 1 thing in common: they are both coyotes. Wile E Coyote is, in fact, the opposite of the trickster coyote, since he always fails while the trickster coyote always succeeds.

If this "has been commented on elsewhere", please cite that reference. As far as I can see, this is just another attempt to make more of this character than is warranted (e.g. see talk section on Sisyphus and Nezahualcoyotl above).

To put something like this in the lead paragraph, you'll have to do better than merely toss out an assertion. Madman 09:44, 19 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Chuck Jones or whomever merely reversed the sense of many (not all of) those stories by artistic license. The name says the irony while also indicating the origin: "Wile E.".  "Wily" and "tricky" are practically synonyms.  He is always TRYING to live up to his mythological status.  The roadrunner is clearly akin to the raven of the same stories.  This has been commented on in numerous places.  I'll see if I can find one online to place as a cite.  Meanwhile, I've linked to two Wiki articles under "See also". Tmangray 16:01, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks, Tmangray. Madman 18:56, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I may have found some source -

"Wile E Coyote is, in fact, the opposite of the trickster coyote, since he always fails while the trickster coyote always succeeds." This is just wrong. Coyote frequently gets stuck in his own traps or is led astray by his appetite. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.215.4.54 (talk) 14:13, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

I found a source - - "In the Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons produced by Warner Brothers and directed by Chuck Jones, nothing will ever reach Wile E. Coyote to be sensible and dine on mice, or even chickens, like his natural counterparts. He is obsessed with having roadrunner for dinner..."

"Wile E. is the true descendant of the Coyote of legend. In these tales he perpetually attempts to catch Roadrunner, employing high explosives as well as native cunning. Instead, he blows himself sky high with his own backfiring bombs, falls from thousand-foot cliffs to flatten himself at the bottom, or otherwise dies a violent death -- from which he pops back up as good as new in the next frame, shaking the cinders from his tail. ... Old Man Coyote is killed often, but never dies."

The article cites Chuck Jones, but only as director of the cartoons. So this could also just be an interpretation, but it is a common one. Jones himself cites Twain's Roughing It. Coyote-as-trickster-god was common in the Americas before the west was settled, and one has to wonder if Twain's Roughing It could also have seen similar traits. Roadrunner is also a trickster amongst Native American mythology (though not the more common Navajo tradition). I will say that - maybe to relate to kids - several First Nations people have cited the cartoons to illustrate Coyote's mythology. The idea that Wile E. Coyote is a new incarnation of Coyote mythology is not new. Jmarquiso (talk) 19:14, 17 April 2019 (UTC)

Meep or Beep?
This article uses "beep beep" and "meep meep" in different places. Does someone know which is correct? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Donmcgraw (talk • contribs) 00:24, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Although often quoted as "meep meep", because it sounds a little like that, it always appears in print and from Warner Bros as "beep, beep", and appears in several episode titles as such. I've adjusted all references to "beep, beep". Mooncow (talk) 17:07, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Another time the Roadrunner was caught...
I distinctly remember a made-for-TV special (seems to me it was a half-hour evening thing), where they'd heavily advertised it stating that the Coyote finally catches the Road Runner. The plot, IIRC, involved Wile E having devised, or acquired, some sort of instant-gigantification substance to spray on the Road Runner, under the theory that, once caught, there'd be that much more Road Runner for him to eat. Well, he spritzed the Road Runner with the stuff, and for whatever reason (which escapes me at the moment) the Road Runner came to a complete stop and just stood there, taller than a skyscraper. Wile E, with a look of sheer elation on his face, ran up to the Road Runner and wrapped his arms around... one treetrunk-thick leg! And then, a moment later, the expression on Wile E's face suddenly went from elation to... slack-faced realization... he then craned his neck waaaaaay up, staring at the bird, now towering high, high above him... and from his perspective we see the Road Runner's head and kneck, bending waaaaay down to look quizically at him. The camera then cuts back to the previous view, with Wile E now standing there, looking totally lost-for-words up at the bird... and then he pops out a wooden sign for the camera, saying "Well, you wanted me to catch him all these years, now what do I do with him?!?!?" They ended the cartoon segment on that note. This was many moons ago. I think it might have been in the 1980s, but I don't remember anything beyond that. Does anyone else remember this cartoon special, or have any further information about it? --Nomad Of Norad (talk) 04:19, 3 April 2008 (UTC)


 * This is Soup or Sonic, originally seen as one-third of the half-hour evening special Bugs Bunny's Bustin' Out All Over, and is mentioned in the "Television" section, but I agree with you that the unique "catching" almost certainly should be described in some detail. Ted Watson (talk) 20:46, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Why are two cartoon pages deleted?
In recent times, I had come under fire for removing an OR tag on one cartoon (Fastest with the Mostest) that was added to a newly created page. It was not done for Zip 'N Snort, which was created the same way, until I asked why it was missing from that cartoon. Since then, I went to another existing page without a plot summary (Scrambled Aches) and added that summary in. So why are Fastest and Scrambled redirecting to the main page, and why are ONLY those two redirecting and not either all three or only the two created from scratch? Why delete them at all in the first place? Please return these summaries to their rightful place. Andrewb1 (talk) 18:10, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Fictional references section
This was restored without comment by User:Fred8615 several times, but what is worse is that the fictionrefs tag, which encourages its cleanup, was also removed. I have restored the tag. If there is no work to remove exceedingly trivial references from this section then it will be removed in its entirety in future as it adds little of encyclopedia value to the article and is being used as a dumping ground. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 11:10, 26 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Note that the tag reads in part, "...unimportant to the overall plot of A work of fiction...." I added the emphasis to point out the singular. This is not about one work of fiction, but a franchise, a series of (animated) comedy short subjects, which in fact have very little plot per se to them. These references here reveal the sizable impact these shorts have had on society, and are therefore relevant to an encyclopedia article on them. Furthermore, an encyclopedia is certainly supposed to be complete. Ted Watson (talk) 20:32, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

And that was why I restored it those times, and removed the tag. What thumperwad considers trivia, I believe is a reflection on the popularity and influence these cartoons have had, and continue to have decades after their creation. I'll leave the tag up for now while this is discussed. But if the entire section is removed without a general consensus, I will restore it. Fred8615 (talk) 14:34, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

The Joker pulls a Wile E.
The the movie the Dark Knight there is a scene where the Joker blows up a hospital. When he first flips a switch, there are a few explosions, some rubble thrown around, and sparks here and there. Obviously he had planted much more explosives and he commences to look around confused and fiddle with the switch. Soon after the real fireworks begin. I believe this scene is highly reminiscent of numerous Wile E. Coyote scenes where his contraptions did not work at first or worked at first, but with limited results. This should be part of the "References in pop culture section." Heart2rokk (talk) 09:16, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Real-life situation
Re-inspired by these two, I decided to look up who is the faster one in real life.
 * Coyote: 43 mph (69 kph)
 * Road runner: 15 mph (24 kph)

Anyone have any idea if it's interesting to integrate in the article, and how best to? JackSparrow Ninja (talk) 15:03, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

Coyote's non-Road Runner appearances
I was just adding a requested clarification about who was pronouncing "coyote" in a particular way described in the intro, when I noticed that the given instance was one of the cartoons wherein "Wile E. Coyote, genius" was attempting to make a meal of Bugs Bunny. This led me to further note that these cartoons are not listed anywhere in the article. There is a pair of textual paragraphs in the section "Later cartoons" that describes these, but gives the title of only one (Hare-Breadth Hurry), which is actually a Road Runner cartoon with Bugs filling in for the bird with the help of some speed pills (bizarre picture, BTW, with an amazingly sadistic Bunny, way out of line with Chuck Jones' stated rules for both him and the Runner). That is an inappropriate location for that discussion anyway, as these shorts are contemporaneous with the original Road Runner series. Bottom lines:


 * 1) The Bugs/Coyote cartoons should be listed.
 * 2) Hare-Breadth Hurry is really an entry in the Road Runner series and should be in the "episode list" with a note explaining the pinch-hitting rabbit.
 * 3) The discussion of the related shorts with Bugs Bunny should be moved from "Later cartoons."

Those are my feelings, set out for discussion. --Ted Watson (talk) 21:35, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

What is his "tongue noise" meant to be?
His "Beep Beep" is meant to be like a car horn and his so called "tongue sound" is also supposed to resemble a sound from what I believe is an old outdated type of automobile, like a Model T Ford or something, but I can't remember exactly what that sound is. BillyTFried (talk) 08:15, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

the tongue sound was made by sucking a (beer?) bottle & popping ones lips off it... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.175.108.199 (talk) 17:42, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Wile E Coyote and Road Runner Should Have Seperate Pages
I'm sorry, the original merge was wrong as both are popular individual characters with histories and appearances that do not always include the other. Just because they have a large shared history does not mean their pages should be merged.

Looney Tunes has a long history of character duos, Sylvester and Tweety for example, and they have separate pages.

The articles should be separated.

How Fast Can A Road Runner GO?
I Love that Road Runner but how fast can he go and leave the hungry-minded Coyote behind? (User talk:Joey Chesnavich) 11:25, 2 January 2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.96.35.35 (talk)

Bold text were we in? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 15.219.201.80 (talk) 00:10, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Nature Documentaries
in 1949 there weren't any nature documentaries to speak of - especially ones about coyotes using there senses and cunning - and the article linked to makes this even less likely

Then why does each cartoon use pseudo-latin names for each critter?


 * Those names are for comic effect. Bobby H. Heffley (talk) 01:19, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

Maybe all subsequent nature documentaries are parodies of Coyote & Roadrunner... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.175.108.199 (talk) 17:33, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

new road runner video game
At the video game part there is a game called: Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner Video game (upcoming video game) I have tried searching this on the web but I can't find anything about this new Road Runner game

also there is no page leading to it. could this possibly mean vandalism ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.95.239.239 (talk) 18:54, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

In Popular Culture section removal
All right. Rather than getting involved into an edit war, I am taking this discussion to the talk page in accordance to WP:BRD. For the In Popular Culture section, we need to find appropriate reliable sources for these claims and these are basically trivial in terms of its section. Should we remove the list or add reliable sources? Darth Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 18:57, 19 October 2011 (UTC)

Road Runner theme
I just wanted to note there's nothing in the article about the Road Runner's theme song. Stevie is the man! Talk &bull; Work 14:11, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Why does the rules section exist? It's contradicted directly after it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nerter (talk • contribs) 00:18, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Article Split
This page is a mess. Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner although linked are different characters. Why are two famous characters sharing an article is beyond me and before someone says that they appeared on cartoons most of the time together does not mean they shouldn't have different articles. Should Sylvester and Tweetie have different articles? Or what about Sherlock Holmes and Watson?Deltasama (talk) 07:53, 25 September 2012 (UTC)

Inspired by Wile E Coyote?
In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang the 2 Vulgarin spies Herman and Sherman try to blow up a bridge to catch Chitty Chitty Bang bang but blow themselves up; then they try to trap the car in a wagon by end up trapping Lord Scrumpitious instead; then they kidnap Granpa Potts instead of Crackatacus Potts; then after getting thrown out of the balloon into the sea they reach Vulgaria-only to find it in a revolution so they swim back to parts unknown! Inspired by Wile E Coyote or just coincidence? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.83.72.154 (talk) 13:31, 18 September 2013 (UTC)
 * Those scenes you describe from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang are classic slapstick comedy gags, and slapstick in films predates Wile E. Coyote by several decades. Furthermore there is nothing essentially reminiscent of Wile E.Coyote about it. Perhaps Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton would be more worthy of such reference, but not the Coyote. Mediatech492 (talk) 19:33, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

Road Runner and TWC
Time Warner Cable for years ran an ISP service in America called Road Runner, advertising fast speeds and using the Road Runner character and noise in its advertising. This article has not one mention of the service or its relation to the character. Cody.berdinis (talk) 05:59, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Flash in the Pain
The last cartoon listed is titled "Flash in the Pain", but it is not listed on IMDB and no reference is given. Is it real? Where did it appear? Rick Norwood (talk) 00:04, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Fast
How fast is roadrunner82.38.157.176 (talk) 21:15, 16 November 2016 (UTC)
 * He's a cartoon character, so who knows? Trivialist (talk) 22:18, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070304081357/http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_02_20.html to http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2007_02_20.html
 * Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.reelfx.com/news/item/live-from-annexy-reel-fx-is-a-trifecta

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 21:16, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20151027022729/http://forum.blueguerilla.org/viewtopic.php?p=142221 to http://forum.blueguerilla.org/viewtopic.php?p=142221
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20050316093748/http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/articles/1960article.html to http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/articles/1960article.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 07:23, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

Need help with Portable Hole
Could somebody please take a look at Portable hole. The article started out as a mess of WP:OR that I'm trying to clean up. I need better citations for the Roadrunner items. -- RoySmith (talk) 13:54, 13 June 2018 (UTC)

Removed original research in "Scenery" section
I just removed a large amount of material from the "Scenery" section of the article that was entirely WP:OR, consisting of observations from specific cartoons and a synthesis of analysis from those observations that were unsupported by any secondary resources. Per Wikipedia's policy on sources, primary sources "may only be used on Wikipedia to make straightforward, descriptive statements of facts that can be verified by any educated person with access to the primary source but without further, specialized knowledge", but may not be used as a basis for independent analysis, interpretation, or synthesis (see WP:PRIMARY). Some of the material removed may be appropriate to insert later, but they should be supported by secondary or tertiary sources before they are readded. (It should also be noted that the section has been tagged with an "original research" maintenance template for the last seven years.) 青い(Aoi) (talk) 03:08, 21 August 2018 (UTC)

Fastest with the Mostest Story/writing
There seems to be some kind of dispute about whether Chuck Jones wrote this story or whether the writer's identity is unknown to humanity. Whatever you feel the answer is that you want to put in there, please back it up with a WP:RS in a WP:CITE. Otherwise we fail WP:V. Toddst1 (talk) 23:03, 11 October 2019 (UTC)
 * Additionally, if something is unknown, we omit it. We do not type "???" in its place.  IP, your most recent edit has been reverted.  Please stop now.  General Ization  Talk  02:32, 12 October 2019 (UTC)

The Road runner was never voiced by Jeff Bergman and Rob Paulsen
improve this article by putting true information Looney Jack 3.0 (talk) 12:53, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

The Road runner was never voiced by Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey and Rob Paulsen
improve this article by putting true information Looney Jack 3.0 (talk) 12:56, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

The Road runner was never voiced by Jeff Bergman, Joe Alaskey and Rob Paulsen Looney Jack 3.0 (talk) 12:59, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

Running gags
One running gag is that Wile E never speaks, he shows a sign that says "This Is The End"; "How Did I ever Get In this Line of Work?" {usually before disaster happens). In one case the Coyote displays a sign that says that says"I wouldn't mind it so much except what he did breaks the law of gravity" in turn the roadrunner displays a sign that says"Sure-but I never studied law." Another time after the roadrunner escapes from another trap he displays a sign that says "Road Runners can't read" despite the fact that on at least one episode the Road Runner stopped at a sign (previously planted by Wile E) that said "Free bird seed". Another running gag is that no matter how hard he tries, the Coyote will never catch the Road Runner. This was broken twice: in The Solid Tin Coyote Wile E Coyote builds a gigantic metal robot of himself which not only causes the roadrunner to react in terror but to actually be caught by the robot; true to form when Wile E. tells his creation to "EAT STUPID" the robot "eats" Wile E (who survives); in Soup or Sonic Wile E. chases the Roadrunner through a series of pipes getting smaller until they are two inches tall; they reverse the chase in which the Road Runner returns to normal size but Wile E is still small; realizing his problum, Wile E shows signs that say "Okay Wise Guys You always wanted Me to Catch Him--Now What Do I Do?"

Apart from the running and the "beep-beep", another noise that the Road Runner would sometimes make (usually before starting on a run) sounded like the rapid plucking of a thick string from a bass guitar whenever the Road Runner stuck out its tongue. How was this sound effect produced? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.244.210.117 (talk) 10:46, 7 March 2022 (UTC)

New cartoon
I was channel surfacing and saw this {but missed the title; however it must be new because Wile E Coyote has a cell phone!] On July 5,2022 the Me-TV "Toon In with me" cartoon show showed a New Coyote-road runner Cartoon: in the teaser a wizard and a rival sorcerer zap each other leaving an "Acme Book of Spells" and a black cat to fall down on Wile E. Coyote who is still trying to catch the Road Runner. The Coyote tries to use magic but fails: he turns the cat into a gigantic Panther which claws Wile E instead of the Road Runner; he tries to turn himself into a giant coyote but only succedes in make his head large; he tries to levatate a giant boulder to crush the road runner but the rock refuses to fall on the road runner and falls on wile E. instead; he tries to catch the road runner with a magic broom but only succeded in going to space, he does succeded in stopping the broom from crash landing-only for the road Runner to suprize him with a "Beep-Beep" -the coyote falls into a canyon. He changes the cat into a Flying pegasus horse but only succedes into crashing into various obsticles such as boulders; the pegasus changes several forms until it changes into "Jaws" shark-both end up in a pool with the coyote running for his life. (These changes were made by the Road Runner with the Magic Spell book. At the end he uses a spell to create a female Road Runner and they walk into the sunset)

Finally Wile E Coyote Catches Road Runner
Technopat, I never liked that Road Runner.

Now, I know, that roadrunner was abhorrent to many.

I don't know how to use any gun or knife, and I've never used one. But, I'm glad Wile E Coyote Catches Road Runner finally, on video, official or not. It is a remarkable fact, which should be reported to the readers of WK, at least I happened to find out about it on another website.

You deleted the information, Finally Wile E Coyote Catches Road Runner:.


 * Best wishes, regards. 186.97.0.34 (talk) 16:52, 20 March 2022 (UTC)

According to the UN, is Wile E. Coyote a terrorist, because he uses TNT (dynamite)? A cartoon coyote should be top of the watchlist, no? Like a cat, no? Warner Bros should be made answerable... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23C4:A2F:901:1C69:174F:9562:8186 (talk) 16:41, 25 March 2022 (UTC)