Rabbit Fire

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Daffy Duck once again successfully negotiates his way into a gunshot

1951 Looney Tunes short by Chuck Jones, featuring another attempt by Elmer Fudd to hunt Bugs Bunny, only with a new twist: this one also features Daffy Duck, and he and Bugs each spend the entire picture trying to get Elmer to shoot the other.

This short was very popular, featuring the famous "Duck season!", "Wabbit season!" scene, and establishing the rivalry between Bugs and Daffy. It was the first in a trilogy of Bugs-Daffy-Elmer cartoons known as The Hunting Trilogy, the others being Rabbit Seasoning (1952) and Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953).

This short is part of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes list.

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Wabbit Fire is the Twope Namer for: ... er, Rabbit Fire is the Trope Namer for:

• Duck Season! Rabbit Season!
• One Bullet Left

Tropes used in Rabbit Fire include:

• Ass in a Lion Skin: Bugs pretends to be a duck; Daffy pretends to be a rabbit and a dog.
• Attractive Bent Gender: Elmer falls for one of Bugs' female disguises again.
• Bowdlerization: These cartoons were shown edited on a lot of network TV channels (and one cable channel), all for the same gag: Daffy getting shot in the face by Elmer.
  • Versions of these cartoons shown on ABC and “The Merrie Melodies Show” (the syndicated version) would cut to a freeze-framed shot of Bugs looking off-camera while the audio of Daffy getting shot was still heard.
  • CBS and the WB, however, chose not to give viewers the satisfaction of using their imaginations and edited both audio and visual of Daffy getting blasted.
  • Nickelodeon (the one cable channel mentioned above) actually left “Rabbit Seasoning” and “Duck! Rabbit! Duck!” alone in the editing department, but “Rabbit Fire” wasn’t so lucky. The famous “no more bullets” part (where Daffy looks down the barrel of Elmer’s rifle and gets shot through his scalp) was cut.
    • To quote the blog, Saturday Morning Hangover on how editing the gun violence affects the cartoons:

"The ABC, “Merrie Melodies Show,” and Nickelodeon cuts you can tolerate. The CBS and WB versions aren’t recommended for theatrical cartoon lovers with short tempers...Without it [the edited scenes], they [the cartoons] just lie there, like an unsatisfied wife waiting for her husband to finish penetrating her when really he’s just humping a blanket fold."

• • Fortunately averted once and for all by Cartoon Network, which showed all three cartoons 100% uncut.
• Duck Season! Rabbit Season! - Trope Namer
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome
• Enemy Mine: Bugs and Daffy start working together towards the end.
• Fridge Horror: Why does Bugs Bunny keep a book in his rabbit hole called "1000 Ways to Cook a Rabbit"?
  • 'Cause he's Crazy Prepared for anything.
    • He likes Body Horror novels.
    • Rule #1: Know thy enemy.
    • What other books would the hunters after him be carrying?
• Hollywood Healing: Though Daffy hardly seems injured by his shotgun blasts to the face anyway, all it seems to do is misplace his beak.
• The Hunter Becomes the Hunted: At the end of the short, as Bugs and Daffy continue to pull away posters saying "Rabbit Season" and "Duck Season" alternately, each trying to convince Elmer to shoot the other, they finally reach the final poster, which reads "Elmer Season". In the next shot we see Bugs and Daffy dressed as hunters, carrying rifles and "hunting for Elmers".
• Karmic Trickster
• Oh Crap: The look on Elmer's face when he realises that Bugs and Daffy have found a poster proclaiming it to be Elmer Season, and are giving him very evil grins indeed.
• One Buwwet Weft: The Twope Namer
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Daffy as a hunting dog, which entails fake doggie ears and a plunger for a tail. Also, Bugs and Daffy disguising themselves as each other. And they all work!
• Point That Somewhere Else: Bugs and Daffy move Elmer's rifle back and forth between the two of them during the Duck Season! Rabbit Season! routine.
• Pun-Based Title : Like so many shorts involving Bugs.
• Pronoun Trouble: A sequel to this short, Rabbit Seasoning, is the Trope Namer.
• Take a Third Option: The ending.
• Wholesome Crossdresser