Bugs Bunny's Howl-o-ween Special

Loony Tunes must have been hard up in the 1970s, what with Chuck Jones off working on things like "Raggedy Ann and the Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile" and all. Throughout the 70s and 80s, they released a whole bunch of "specials" that chopped together bits and pieces of old cartoons and used a little bit of new footage in attempt to make one big new cartoon. This 1978 special is one of those.

None of these cut-and-paste specials are THAT fondly regarded by Loony Tunes fans, but Bugs Bunny's Howl-o-ween special seems to be regarded as particularly awful. Cut and paste jobs are never that good of an idea; the old Looney Tunes shorts were quite ridigly 6 minutes long, and were built to work as 6 minute shorts. Cut 'em up, and you lose the whole rhythm. One of the beautiful things about Looney Tunes, and most great comedy, is the way it all flows together. Like the way Daniel Pinkwater describes Laurel and Hardy - you can tell what's going to happen, and it DOES happen, and the beautiful thing is that everything that happens happens exactly at the second when it SHOULD happen.

This special wouldn't be so bad if they just played the shorts on their own terms and presented them as separate shorts, like Disney's Halloween Treat (which was also cut up some of the clips, but doesn't suffer as much for it). Instead, though, the Loony Toons people tried to edit the chopped up clips into one big movie - one big movie where the characters' appearances change from time to time, and Broom Hilda's house rarely looks the same twice - with a bit of new footage that was supposed to connect them and create something of a coherent plot. I SUPPOSE I can just say that witch's houses ARE probably known to change shapes at random from time to time, but, still. I hate to think the Warner execs were sitting at their desks, chomping cigars and saying "they'll never notice!"

Featured cartoons include "A Haunting We Will Go," "Transylvania 6-5000," "Bewitched Bunny," "A Witch's Tangled Hare," "Hyde and Tweet" and "Hyde and Hare." If you used to watch this all time and feel nostalgic watching it now, then don't let me stop you, by any means. But as specials go, it's hard not to wish they'd just show the original shorts uncut. The easiest way to watch this is just to ignore the fact that there's supposed to be an overall storyline and enjoy the gags on their own terms. I will, however, give some props to introduction, which is pretty cool and has that "halloween atmosphere" that I prize so highly on these things. Other than that, if you're not nostalgic for this particular special, just go find the original shorts.

It's available as a cheap DVD.