# The Coyote did "run over" the roadrunner, sort of... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 30, 2001, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161 "2001-03-30T20:29:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/1 "2001-03-30T20:29:22Z")
In the Tiny Toons cartoon, “How I Spent My Vacation” the mailman (who is the roadrunner) grabs a letter then jumps into the back of a mail van. The van, with a large “I brake for Coyotes” bumper sticker revs up and runs over the roadrunner, who is just off the bumper. Does this count? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/2 "2001-03-30T22:06:00Z")
Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at this link: [Did Wile E. Coyote ever catch the Road Runner? (30-Mar-2001)](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010330.html) * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/3 "2001-03-30T22:09:43Z")
Poysyn, it seems that the unfortunate accident you describe was not intentional, and therefore I don’t think it would count as an official “catching” of the roadrunner. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/4 "2001-03-31T08:59:59Z")
Has anyone out there seen the fabled cartoon that Cecil mentioned? ---
**Author:** ![Arcegetrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@Arcegetrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcegetrix)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/5 "2001-03-31T22:49:01Z")
I have a very clear memory from my youth (i.e. the first Bush Presidency) of a roadrunner cartoon where Bugs Bunny subbed in for the Roadrunner. Bugs started the cartoon by saying something along the lines of, “I’m here because we have not been able to locate the Road Runner ever since he had a private meeting with Wile E. in his dressing room.” This would seem to indicate that the road runner eventually became a meal. Of course, I only ever saw this once on Nickelodeon reruns. Maybe the whole thing is a figment of my imagination, although I certainly remember it very clearly. As for pezwookiee’s question, I have in fact seen the road runner cartoon where the shrunken Wile E. Coyote catches the road runner. Again, I probably saw it one Nickelodeon, and I remember seeing it more than once, so it is probably in irregular circulation. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/6 "2001-04-01T05:54:12Z")
Well, to be a more specific, I was actually wondering if anyone had seen that bootleg cartoon that Cecil had mentioned that was rumored to have been shown on college campuses and such. Kind of a “Bambi Meets Godzilla” underground cartoon, I’d suppose. And yeah, Arcegetrix, I remember seeing a cartoon where Bugs substitutes for the Roadrunner, so you are in fact not having delusions. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SteveB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SteveB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveB)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2001, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/7 "2001-04-01T08:54:46Z")
I believe there was more than one cartoon with Bugs replacing the Road Runner as the object of Wile E. Coyote’s hunt, but I don’t think Bugs made any allusion to the fact that he was replacing the Road Runner, at least not in the cartoon itself. Of course, when these short cartoons air on television, they are often bridged with “host” segments that have Bugs acting as a sort of master of ceremonies, introducing each 'toon. It’s possible he may have made some such comment in that context. Of course, the really interesting thing about the cartoon(s)with Bugs and the Coyote was that Wile E. talked. He evinced a self-satsified arogance (“Wile E. Coyote, Super-Genius!”) that was hardly justified by his lack of success when it came to hunting Bugs. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/8 "2001-04-01T13:27:57Z")
I don’t specifically recall the scene from “Vacation”. Was it actually _the_ Road Runner (sometimes named “Beep-Beep”), or was it his “Tiny Toons” analog, “Li’l Beeper”? ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Dreibelbis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Daniel\_Dreibelbis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel_Dreibelbis)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2001, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/9 "2001-04-01T14:50:50Z")
I’ve seen the particular episode where Bugs Bunny replaced the Road Runner , at the beginning of the cartoon Bugs states that due to “spraining a giblet” last week the Road Runner was unable to perform his duties and asked Bugs to substitute. Not a bad cartoon, but the ones where Bugs actually engaged in a battle of wits with a speaking Wile E.Coyote are much, much funnier - Leonard Maltin be damned 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2001, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/10 "2001-04-01T22:07:04Z")
The cartoon episode I’m talking about was on the rentable video. if you rent it, it’s just after the scene when Plucky writes a letter to Shirley to help him. ---
**Author:** ![Arcegetrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@Arcegetrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcegetrix)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/11 "2001-04-02T01:58:38Z")
Pezwookie, thanks for affirming that I’m not delusional! 😉 I’m never quite sure about that one myself. OTOH, if Daniel Drievelbis is right about the “spraining a giblet” line then I’m probably misremembering the part where Bugs hinted Wile E. got the roadrunner. So maybe I’m still delusional after all! As for the bootleg cartoon where Wile E. Coyote eats the roadrunner – I bet that it is apocryphal. Although I couldn’t prove it, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Kanasazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Kanasazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kanasazi)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/12 "2001-04-03T06:00:35Z")
For those of you looking for the so called underground animation circulating around colleges mentioned, it is out there and may be available on video to purchase. I saw it around 1993? at the Vancouver show of the Spike and Mike Sick and Twisted Animation Festival. I dont know if its included on the best of tape for that year or not. Some of Spike and Mikes stuff can be found on [http://www.ifilm.com](http://www.ifilm.com), as well as their website. If that doesnt help you out, Im sure contacting Quickdraw Animation Society at [http://www.awn.com/qas](http://www.awn.com/qas) can help. ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2001, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-coyote-did-run-over-the-roadrunner-sort-of/60161/13 "2001-04-06T16:46:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pezwookiee \* > \*\*Has anyone out there seen the fabled cartoon that Cecil mentioned? \*\* Yes.