Tonight, on MasterChef...
"Guided Muscle" is a 1955 Looney Tunes cartoon starring Wile E Coyote And The Roadrunner. It was directed by Chuck Jones.
The short opens with the Coyote preparing a gourmet meal in which the main course is — a tin can. He takes a knife and fork to the can, pauses, and, sweeping it all away (to expound on the Eatibus almost-anythingus binomium), contemplates his next move. Cue the Road Runner running right through him, the ensuing chase, and the onslaught of devices and traps. It works as well as it usually does.
It has the distinction of being the absolute last cartoon ever aired on The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (which by then had become Bugs Bunny and Tweety, 2000), marking The End of a 40-year network television run.
"Guided Muscle" provides examples of:
- Acme Products: Acme Grease for the road, and as always, it backfires (see Hoist by His Own Petard below).
- Ash Face: The Coyote's whole body, actually, is covered in smoking soot when the bomb explodes at the end.
- Born in the Theater: At the end, after the Coyote falls for the Roadrunner's last trick and gets blown up by his own dynamite trap, he puts up a sign saying "Wanted: One gullible Coyote. Apply to manager of this theater."
- Binomium ridiculus:"COYOTE - Eatibus Almost Anythingus""ROADRUNNER - Velocitus Delectiblus"
- Cartoon Physics: As usual in these shorts. The catapult inexplicably fails to propel the Coyote, just sitting there, still tense after the tether is cut—until the Coyote gets out to look, when it grabs him by the neck and flings him to the ground.
- The End: Ends with the Coyote pulling the "That's all, folks!" card across the screen.
- Extreme Omnivore: Averted. Wile E. may be hungry, but to further expound on his "Eatibus almost-anythingus" designation, he's not desperate enough to eat a tin can (like he was in "Stop! Look! And Hasten!").
- Hoist by His Own Petard: As always in the Coyote and Roadrunner shorts. One time, the Coyote covers the road with grease. The Roadrunner just glides right over it. The Coyote jumps in the road, starts slipping and falling in the grease, and gets run over by a truck.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: As usual, no dialogue.
- Mock Meal: The coyote is preparing a fancy, ornate meal at the beginning. It's a tin can.
- Punny Title: A play on "guided missile".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The cartoon ends with the Coyote getting fed up with falling for his own traps, putting up a sign announcing an opening for "One gullible coyote", and pulling down the end title card.
- Talking with Signs: Besides the Born in the Theater gag, after a plot to tar and feather the Roadrunner goes wrong, the Roadrunner holds up a sign saying "Roadrunners already have feathers." Speaking of which:
- Tar and Feathers: Of course Acme makes a machine for it. And of course it tars and feathers Wile E. instead of the Roadrunner. Ironically, despite roadrunners already having feathers (see above), there apparently exists a full paged manual on how to tar and feather one (which Wile E. reads prior to setting the device off).
- Those Wily Coyotes: Unfortunately, as usual, not wily enough.
