Knighty Knight Bugs

Knighty Knight Bugs is a 1958 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Friz Freleng.<ref name=Beck>Template:Cite book</ref> The short was released on August 23, 1958, and stars Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Knighty Knight Bugs is the only Bugs Bunny cartoon to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, which was awarded in 1959.<ref name="1958 Academy Awards">Template:Cite web</ref> The short was later included in the 1981 compilation film The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie. The cartoon's title is a pun on the phrase "nighty-night".

Plot

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Bugs Bunny aims his mallet at Black Knight Yosemite Sam

In the realm of King Arthur, trouble ensues when the infamous Black Knight Yosemite Sam steals the Singing Sword. King Arthur, looks to the Knights of the Round Table, as a volunteer to recover the stolen artifact, to which all of them reject. Reluctantly, court jester Bugs Bunny is assigned the mission by King Arthur, facing execution if he fails.

Upon infiltrating the castle of the Black Knight, Bugs encounters a dragon, a companion to Yosemite Sam, suffering from a cold-induced sneezing fit. Taking advantage of the situation, Bugs retrieves the Singing Sword from the castle's chest. When Bugs wonders aloud why it is called the Singing Sword, it starts humming "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine" and causes Sam to wake up from his nap. As Bugs escapes, Yosemite Sam gives chase of the dragon, leading to a series of comical encounters. Bugs outsmarts Yosemite Sam by utilizing the castle's defenses against him, causing various mishaps, including Sam falling into the moat and being flattened by a failed catapult launch. Despite Sam's persistent pursuit, Bugs ultimately traps him and the dragon in an explosives stockade within the castle.

As Bugs departs with the Singing Sword, the dragon's sneeze triggers an explosion that propels Sam and the dragon towards the moon. Bugs bids them farewell as the Singing Sword plays "Aloha 'Oe" at the end.

Awards

Knighty Knight Bugs is the fifth Merrie Melodies/Looney Tunes entry to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1959. In doing so, it beat out cartoons Walt Disney Studios' Paul Bunyan and Terrytoons' Sidney's Family Tree.<ref name="1958 academy awards">Template:Cite web</ref> It was the third Oscar-nominated Bugs Bunny cartoon, after A Wild Hare in 1941<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt in 1942.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Oscar was presented to John W. Burton, the producer of this cartoon.<ref>Short Subject Winners: 1959 Oscars</ref> After Burton's death, the Oscar was handed to the director, Friz Freleng.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Also, this animated short film would last to receive win for the Warner Bros. Cartoons before its closure in 1964.

In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?", the Oscar win of Knighty Knight Bugs is a major plot point. Mirroring the real-life loss of the Terrytoons short at the Academy Awards, a character named Sappy "Slaphappy" Stanley (a parody of "Silly" Sidney, here voiced by Jonathan Winters) was defeated for the Shloscar Award. As a result, Stanley scorned the U.S. film industry. He relocated to France, where despite becoming a national star still nursed a bitter grudge against Bugs, culminating in the episode's plot.

References

• The phrase "Sir Loin of Beef" was used in Bugs Bunny parody Rabbit Hood by Bugs to con the gullible Sheriff of Nottingham.
• The phrase "Sir Osis of Liver" was used in the Bugs Bunny parody Knight-mare Hare.
• The gag on a dopey fire-breathing dragon was also used in Knight-mare Hare and the cartoon series Here Comes the Grump.

Home media

This cartoon is featured uncut on Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 4 DVD set,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Disc 1 of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection DVD set, Disc 1 of The Essential Bugs Bunny DVD set, Disc 1 of the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection: Volume 3 Blu-ray and DVD sets, and Disc 3 of the Bugs Bunny 80th Anniversary Collection Blu-ray set.

Attractions

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Bugs' White Water Rapids at Six Flags Fiesta Texas

Bugs' White Water Rapids is a Hopkins Rides log flume themed to Knighty Knight Bugs that opened in 1998 at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, Texas.<ref name="Bugs' White Water Rapids">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Fiesta Texas History">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Bug's White Water Rapids Info">Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of Bugs Bunny cartoons
• List of Yosemite Sam cartoons

External links

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