Chuck Jones's 'Gee Whiz-z-z', the eighth Road Runner cartoon, introduced a significant new development into the series by replacing the sumptuous desert backgrounds with a more stylised, minimalist look. While this new look may not have been nearly as gorgeous to watch as the earlier shorts, it certainly didn't do anything to slow down the gag ratio. In fact, 'Gee Whiz-z-z' is so packed with great jokes that it forsakes the longer set-up sequences of the previous few Road Runner cartoons and pushes the action right into the credits in order to maximise the amount of time Jones has to make us laugh. 'Gee Whiz-z-z' features a few of the very best gags of the series (amongst a small handful of more forgettable moments). Chief among these is the legendary sequence with the green bat costume. On paper, this gag sounds like a weak offering but with hysterically funny facial expressions and one perfectly timed glimpse towards the camera, Jones turns it into gold and one of the most fondly remembered spot-gags in animation history. There's also a new take on the painted-scenery gag with a neat new twist. My favourite thing about 'Gee Whiz-z-z', however, is the ending in which Jones himself shares in the audiences sympathies for the Coyote so strongly that he cuts him a break with an early iris-out.

Seriously, if I had the ability, I would waste all my days watching Looney Tunes cartoons. Another perfect example as to why I would pursue such an extreme case of slothfulness is this cartoon here, which features more of Wile E. Coyote's attempts to catch his beloved Road Runner. Here we see yet more of Michael Maltese's ingenuity as our coyote continues his fixation on dynamite and many Acme products to get his bird.Wile E. Coyote (Eatius Birdius), goes for Road Runner (Delicius Delicius) yet again.Honestly, for the Jones/Maltese combo, this had become nearly standard fare. This is heightened with another foursome of excellent animators, who started together on the Pepe short, Wild Over You, a mere few years earlier. Does anyone know what Wile E. was going to accomplish with that bat costume? One of the better parts involve poor Wile E. holding up a steel plate to stop the Road Runner. If you love Looney Tunes, this is yet another mark on your checklist you must cross off!

"The Music Box" is the famous Laurel and Hardy film where the two struggle repeatedly to carry a piano up an endless flight of stairs up a hill. One really sympathizes with the two, until they reach the top, discover there's a road that leads up there, so they laboriously haul the piano back down the stairs to bring it up properly.In the same spirit, "Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z" has us sympathizing with the Coyote, but realizing he's going to fail even if his contraptions do work - it isn't just physics he's fighting, it's his limited thinking.First, the Bat-Man costume - as he plummets to certain doom, he pulls up at the last moment and starts soaring beautifully (and the roadrunner sure can't fly!) but he gets cocky, and never sees the bluff looming in front of him.Then there's the jet engine with handlebars - it should defy working at all, but work it does (I've always wanted one of those!). He's got the roadrunner matched at last (the chase, with Raymond Scott's 'Powerhouse' playing, is such a euphoric depiction of speed), but falls for the exact same situation from the beginning of the cartoon when the roadrunner pulls a U-turn. Small wonder the coyote looks so sheepish when plummeting yet again, at least given the dignity of ending the cartoon before impact.

In this, the eighth pairing of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, the highly memorable gag of the batman type suit was first shown. And in a delightful change of the expected the crafty coyote paints a bridge, but this time it's a torn down bridge and the Road Runner goes through the painting, Wile E. is the one to go into it this time around. And as always ANY short with Wile E. in it is so VERY much worth watching, as he's one of my absolute favorite cartoon personalities of all time. This animated short can be seen on Disc 2 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2. This cartoon also has an optional music only track.My Grade: A-