Road Runner is an animated cartoon character from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons both of which are produced by Warner Bros. The character, Road Runner, was created by the animation director, Chuck Jones, in 1948. The Road Runner is a cartoon bird who runs with such speed on the long desert roadways that he leaves a trail of flames and makes the pavement roll up like a carpet. The Road Runner Show aired from 1966 to 1973 but the cartoon character was also featured in many other Warner Bros. shows and cartoon shorts.
The Road Runner does not speak, rather, he has two signature sounds: “Beep, Beep” and an occasional “popping-cork” tongue noise. These sounds were recorded by Paul Julian.
Road Runner is featured in many cartoon shorts (48 total) and is often being chased by the villain coyote, Wile E. Coyote. They are considered to be a duo of characters. The cartoon shorts featuring the Coyote and Road Runner are chase cartoons where Wile E. Coyote makes complex contraptions and complicated plans to chase down his prey, Road Runner.
The setting for the first two Road Runner cartoons was a desert (Fast and Furry-ous (1949) and Beep, Beep (mid-1950)) and the location is said to be Texas, with the later cartoons being located in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado.
Road Runner also races Speedy Gonzales in The Wild Chase (1964). Road Runner appears in cartoons with Tweety Bird and Sylvester Cat. The laws of cartoon physics are quite prominent in these cartoons, as seen when the chase sequence goes over a cliff and Road Runner is able to defy gravity whereas Wile E. Coyote will head over the cliff, look around for a few seconds and realize he is about to fall off the cliff, and then he falls. These laws of cartoon physical bring more humor to the cartoon as well as absurdity. It also gives Road Runner a leg up over the villain, Wile E. Coyote. Despite his best efforts, Wile E. Coyote can never catch The Road Runner and the laws of cartoon physics allow for these escapes.
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