One month after “Bugs Bunny in Space” premiered on CBS, another prime-time special with the Looney Tunes crew turned up: “Bugs Bunny’s Howl-O-Ween Special.” I was 13 when it premiered on October 26, 1977, and at the time I was appalled by the haphazard sloppiness of the presentation. I just watched it again for the first time since that initial viewing and my negative opinion has not changed.
This production centers around Witch Hazel, a delightful character who was featured in three Golden Age Bugs Bunny cartoons – “Bewitched Bunny” (1954), “Broomstick Bunny” (1959) and “A Witch’s Tangled Hare” (1959) – plus a late entry with Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzalez from 1966 called “A-Haunting We Will Go.” The character had a tiny cameo appearance in “Transylvania 6-5000” (1963).
Rather than present these animated shorts in their entirety, “Bugs Bunny’s Howl-O-Ween Special” erratically stitches together the Witch Hazel cartoons with new footage created for the special. This resulted in a visually bizarre patchwork where the quality of animation varies significantly from sequence to sequence. Witch Hazel’s skin tone is constantly changing, while the new footage with Bugs looks like it was taken from the video box art of the cheapo VHS tapes from the 1980s that recycled public domain cartoons.
Even worse, the connections between the footage are ridiculous without being funny. For example, when Bugs declines to drink Witch Hazel’s spiked tea from “Broomstick Bunny,” there is new footage with a decidedly different looking Bugs announcing he can get better tea from his doctor. This leads to Bugs walking out on Witch Hazel and abruptly appearing in footage from “Hyde and Hare” (1955).
Also included is footage from three shorts with Sylvester that have no connection to anything involving Witch Hazel. This only added to the confusion.
David Detiege was credited as the director of this special. He was a talented animation director whose credits included the “The New 3 Stooges” cartoon series and the delightful 1971 animated feature “Shinbone Alley.” Sadly, this was one of his clinkers.