The Hasty Hare (1952)
Directed by Charles M. Jones
Story by Michael Maltese
Animation by Ken Harris, Lloyd Vaughan, Ben Washam
Music by Carl W. Stalling
In the early 1950s, flying saucers could be found in newspaper headlines and movie screens. The Termite Terrace gang tapped into that environment by bringing back the extra-terrestrial characters of 1948’s “Haredevil Hare” – but whereas Bugs Bunny went into the space to encounter those otherworldly characters for that film, the 1952 short “The Hasty Hare” has the beings from out there land their flying saucer on Earth to meet the rascally rabbit.
The leader of the extra-terrestrials is a humanoid character in Hoplite-style armor and a black face with only large eyes but no mouth – he is called Commander X2 in an on-screen memorandum, although in the late 1970s the character was retroactively called Marvin the Martian. He is accompanied by a green dog in tennis shoes called K-9 who communicates in printed notes. They have been tasked to bring back an Earth creature – and their target, Bugs Bunny, initially mistakes them for Halloween trick-or-treaters and gives them candy bags, to their utter confusion.
Unfortunately, the Halloween reference is only one of two laugh-out-loud moments in “The Hasty Hare,” which is mostly a mildly amusing but forgettable romp with Bugs trying to trick the extra-terrestrials from abducting him – the second laugh-out-loud moment comes when the too-confident Bugs takes the wheel of the flying saucer for a return to Earth, only to burst into a panic attack when he abruptly shifts the flight path into a 90-degree trajectory.
To be frank, Marvin the Martian / Commander X2 is one of the less interesting foes that Bugs faced. The little guy from outer space confronts Bugs with an exasperation that simmers but never boils. Bugs runs circles around him with his trickery – a more satisfying battle of wits involved the extra-terrestrial with Daffy Duck in the classic “Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century,” which came out one year after “The Hasty Hare.” In that film, the extra-terrestrial’s lack of temper played brilliantly against the neurotic anxiety that the incompetent Daffy brought into outer space.
Director Chuck Jones may have realized the limits to Marvin the Martian, as he wouldn’t face Bugs again until “Hare-Way to the Stars” in 1958.