They are very simple in their premise: the Road Runner, a flightless cartoon bird (loosely based on a real bird, the roadrunner), is chased down the highways of the Southwestern United States by a hungry coyote, named Wile E. Coyote (a pun on "wily coyote"). The coyote never catches the Road Runner, and there is never any dialogue save the Road Runner's "beep beep" (though both these rules were broken later). The two characters do sometimes communicate by holding up signs, to each other or to the audience. Another key element is that while Wile E. is the aggressor in this series, he and his hopelessly futile efforts are the focus of the audience's sympathy.
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2 The rules 3 Later cartoons 4 External link |
Wile E. Coyote often obtains complex and ludicrous devices (Rube Goldberg machines) from a mail-order company, the fictitious Acme Corporation, which he hopes will help him catch the Road Runner. The devices invariably backfire in improbable and spectacular ways. The coyote usually ends up burnt to a crisp, squashed flat, or at the bottom of a ravine. How the coyote acquires these products without any money is never explained, nor is any distinction made between equipment defects or operator error.
Among the products produced by the Acme Corporation are:
The Acme Corporation
Like in other cartoons, characters violate laws of physics. The Road Runner has the ability to enter painted caves, which the Coyote cannot. Sometimes the Coyote is allowed to hang in midair until he realizes that he is about to plummet into a chasm. The coyote can overtake rocks which fell before him, and end up being squashed by them.
In his book Chuck Amuck, Chuck Jones explains some of the rules the artists followed in making the Coyote-Road Runner series:
Post-Chuck Jones cartoons allowed the coyote to speak, and he once (in the episode called "Soup or Sonic") had the Road Runner in his grasp but thanks to a gag involving a tunnel that got smaller and narrower as he went through it Coyote is only a few inches tall and can only grab the Road Runner's leg - at which point he holds up a sign that reads "Okay, wise guys, you always wanted me to catch him. Now what do I do?".
Wile E. Coyote has also unsuccessfully attempted to catch and eat Bugs Bunny in another series of cartoons. In these cartoons, the Coyote does speak with a generic East Coast upper class accent:
The rules
Later cartoons
In a third series of cartoons, the character design of Wile E. Coyote was taken and renamed "Ralph Wolf." In this series, Ralph continually attempted to steal sheep from a flock being guarded by the eternally vigilant Sam Sheepdog. As with the Road Runner series, Ralph Wolf used all sorts of wild inventions and schemes to steal the sheep, but he was continually foiled by the sheepdog. In a move seen by many as a satirical gag, Ralph Wolf continually tried to steal the sheep not because he was a fanatic (as Wile E. Coyote was), but because it was his job. At the end of every cartoon, he and the sheepdog would stop what they were doing, punch a timeclock, and go home for the day.
Wile E. Coyote and Ralf Wolf can be identified by the following criteria: Wile E. Coyote has a black nose and yellow eyes. Ralf Wolf has a red nose and white eyes.