\u201cBugs Bunny in Space\u201d was hastily assembled to cash in on the unprecedented audience frenzy created by \u201cStar Wars,\u201d which premiered three months before this half-hour television special was broadcast.
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The production weaved together four of the six Golden Age cartoons featuring the extraterrestrial character who would later gain the name Marvin the Martian. This included three Bugs Bunny encounters with Marvin plus the Daffy Duck classic \u201cDuck Dodgers in the 24\u00bdth Century.\u201d <\/p>\n
Also included was a clip from \u201cHis Hare-Raising Tale,\u201d with Bugs telling his nephew Clyde about his alleged trip to the moon. The one cartoon missing from this selection was the 1948 \u201cHaredevil Hare,\u201d which was part of the collection of Warner Bros. cartoons sold to Associated Artists Productions in 1956.<\/p>\n
There was no new animation created for this offering, which marked the only time that a 1970s-era Bugs Bunny special consisted solely of Golden Age footage. I assume there was a new narration recorded to link the old cartoons together, but I can\u2019t be certain because \u201cBugs Bunny in Space\u201d is not currently available for review. There are no complete copies of the production online and there was no home entertainment release.<\/p>\n
A live action production called \u201cBugs Bunny in Space\u201d was presented in 1977, but it had nothing to do with the television special of the same name. And if this advertisement for that show is any indication, it must have been a wonderfully bizarre romp:<\/p>\n