Porky the Rainmaker is a 1936 Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon directed by Fred Avery and staring Porky Pig. Originally in black and white, it was colorized in 1967.
Porky's family farm is devastated by a severe drought that is withering away all their crops. When the farm animals go on strike due to lack of feed, Porky's father gives him their last dollar to buy the animals some feed. While in town, however, Porky sees a traveling salesman demonstrate weather pills, capable of actually making rain, and buys a box of pills instead of the feed. When his father learns of this, he throws the box in disgust, scattering the pills all over the farm. Wacky hijinks ensue as the hungry farm animals eat the weather pills and experience their effects, while Porky and his father search for the rain pill to save their farm before it too is eaten by the animals.
Tropes appearing in this cartoon:
- Blow You Away: A goose ends up swallow wind and thunder pills, causing it to rumble and breath gusts of wind. It comes in handy when it swallows the rain pill, causing the goose to fire it into the sky and make it rain.
- Earthquake Machine: One chicken eats an earthquake pill, causing it to have personal earthquakes. When it holds onto something for a brace, that ends up shaking too.
- Heat Wave: The farm experiences such a scorcher that the apple trees wither, the corn stalks shrivel, the juice in watermelons boils, and the egg plants break apart and start sizzling.
- Here We Go Again!: After they finally get rain, Porky and his father are relieved. Then the animals' weather ailments start acting up again.
- Instantly Defeathered Bird: A chicken ends up eating a cyclone pill, causing it to spin like an actual cyclone. The force ends up removing all the chicken's feathers, with its last tail feather coming off in a mini cyclone.
- Iris Out: A goose gets caught outside of it at the end. It opens back up for Porky to pull it back in.
- Like Father, Like Son: Porky's father has the same stuttering speech impediment as him.
- Now You Tell Me: Porky tells his father that one of the pills can make rain only after he tossed the box and spilled the pills across the barnyard. He even asks Porky why he didn't say so in the first place.
- Phlebotinum Pills: The weather pills. The salesman shows off the rain pill by shooting it into the air and producing rain. When the animals eat the pills, they get the effects of the labeled weather — a chicken shakes after taking the earthquake pill, a fog develops around a horse who took the fog pill, etcetera.
- Pun-Based Creature: Eggplants break apart in the heat, revealing that they have yolks like real eggs.
- Waving Signs Around: When the animals go on strike, they hold up signs saying they refused to work without feed.
- Weather Manipulation: The pills are capable of producing whatever weather effect is written on them.
