"Now I've gotta give an interesting old lady a manicure, but I'll be back before you're done".
"Water, Water Every Hare" is a 1952 Looney Tunes cartoon directed by Chuck Jones, starring everyone's favorite trickster rabbit, Bugs Bunny. It is also the second appearance of the then-unnamed Gossamer, who is referred to as Rudolph here, and also features an unnamed Mad Scientist who would later be named Dr. Moron.
One night while Bugs Bunny is sleeping, a rain occurs and floods his hole, causing him to be carried out onto a river leading to the castle of an evil scientist, who captures him with the intent of removing the rabbit's brain and placing it in his recently created robot. However, once Bugs wakes up and realizes where he is, he escapes in a panic, prompting the scientist to send in his assistant Rudolph to bring Bugs back to him.
The cartoon is a remake of the 1946 cartoon "Hair-Raising Hare".
"Water, Water Every Hare" provides examples of:
- And Your Reward Is Edible: The mad scientist promises to reward Rudolph with spider goulash if he returns Bugs to him.
- Book Ends: The cartoon starts and ends with Bugs sleeping in his flooded hole.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Initially averted as Bugs greets the scientist with his usual catchphrase and questions what is going on in a more panicked manner, but as soon as he encounters Rudolph, he plays it straight and proceeds to give the monster a hairdo.
- Chatty Hairdresser: Repeating the gag from "Hair-Raising Hare", Bugs pretends to be a hairdresser, doing Rudolph's hair while he chats about how "eeenteresting" monsters are. He then decides to give Rudolph a perm, using dynamite sticks as curlers.
- Delayed Reaction: As his burrow floods, Bugs wakes up to get a cup of water and walks back to bed, never realizing he's underwater the whole time.
- Drugs Causing Slow-Motion: After breaking a bottle of ether, Bugs and the scientist have a Low-Speed Chase. To make it more comedic, a very very slow version of the William Tell Overture plays in the background.
- Faux Affably Evil: Once the mad scientist restores Bugs with hare restorer, he calmly tells the latter to be cooperative and let him have his brain.
- Gag Haircut: When confronted with Rudolph, Bugs pretends to be a hairdresser who quickly offers to style Rudolph's hair. He decides to give the monster a permanent, using dynamite instead of rollers. The dynamite explodes, leaving a bald spot on top of Rudolph's head. Rudolph then ties his hair over the spot before going after Bugs.
- Haunted Castle: Where the mad scientist and Rudolph live. It has flashing neon signs that read "EVIL SCIENTIST" and "BOO".
- Helium Speech: A variation. As a result of the below trope, Rudolph's roar rises in pitch as he shrinks. By the end, he speaks in a high-pitched voice as well.
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Rudolph is subjected to this once an invisible Bugs douses him in reducing oil. He's still tiny when he briefly reappears at the end of the cartoon.
- Inevitable Waterfall: Bugs, still in a peaceful slumber, almost goes over one at the end of the river before the mad scientist grabs him with a fishing rod.
- Invisible Stomach, Visible Food: After getting rid of Rudolph, Bugs contentedly munches on a carrot and we can see its bits fall into where his stomach is as soon as he gulps it down. Unfortunately, that is when the mad scientist makes Bugs visible again with a convenient bottle of hare restorer.Mad Scientist: Never send a monster to do the work of an evil scientist.
- Invisibility Ink: Upon entering a room full of bottled chemicals, Bugs finds a bottle of vanishing fluid and douses himself in it, then proceeds to harass Rudolph by placing a trash can on him and bashing it, yanking a rug beneath him and shrinking him with reducing oil.
- Karloff Kopy: The mad scientist bears a noticeable resemblance to Boris Karloff.
- Mad Scientist: One of the cartoon's two antagonists.
- Mouse Hole: Rudolph retreats into one and kicks its resident out once Bugs defeats him with reducing oil.
- Mummy: Once the mad scientist brings Bugs into his castle, he places him on a coffin next to two other (opened) coffins containing mummies. Bugs then shivers from the cold temperature of the castle, reaches out for a blanket and pulls the first mummy onto himself instead, and that is when he wakes up.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: Bugs stops short of a pit in one of the hallways containing crocodiles which bounce up and snap their jaws.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Aside from being a Karloff Kopy, the evil scientist's voice sounds remarkably like that of Vincent Price.
- No More for Me: After Bugs shrinks him, Rudolph changes into a hat and suit, moves into a mouse hole, kicks the mouse out and closes the door, leaving a sign that reads "I quit!". The mouse takes out a liquor bottle and says "I quit too!" before running off.
- Non-Fatal Explosions: Bugs ties some sticks of dynamite to Rudolph's head and lights them, causing them to explode, but other than losing the hair on his scalp, the monster suffers no visible damage or an Ash Face.
- Oh, Crap!: Bugs understandably freaks out once he wakes up and finds himself in the mad scientist's castle.
- Or Was It a Dream?: Just as Bugs thinks that the adventure he had was just a dream, a still shrunken Rudolph rows past by him in a tiny boat, calling out "Oh yeah? That's what you think!".
- Public Domain Soundtrack: Sort of. The background music, particularly at the beginning, contains elements of Chopin's "Raindrop Sonata."
- Rod And Reel Repurposed: The mad scientist uses a fishing rod to snatch up a sleeping Bugs just as the rabbit comes close to going over a waterfall. The mattress is left behind and falls down the waterfall.
- Say Your Prayers: Bugs prays as he moves away from the crocodile pit he avoided falling into and straight into Rudolph.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once Rudolph is shrunken by Bugs, he goes behind a cabinet, comes out in a suit and hat while holding two suitcases and evicts a mouse from his hole to take up residence. The mouse then says that he quits too and makes off like a bullet.
- Shrug Take: The Mad Scientist makes a shrug at the end of the Low-Speed Chase and says "nighty-night" before falling asleep on the floor. Following his escape out of the castle, Bugs himself does this.
- Smart People Build Robots: The mad scientist has assembled a massive robot and wants to bring it to life with a brain.
- Standard Snippet: The music that plays during Bugs and the mad scientist's groggy chase scene is a slowed-down, "drowsy" version of the William Tell Overture.
- Suddenly Speaking: As with Hair-Raising Hare, Rudolph has only one line at the end of the cartoon: "Oh yeah? That's what you think!".
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: Bugs doesn't seem to have any problem with being submerged underwater at the beginning and end of the cartoon. He even goes to get some water from a water dispenser without even realizing he's underwater.
- Villainous Rescue: The mad scientist catches Bugs Bunny, who is still sleeping, with a fishing rod just as the latter is about to fall off a waterfall.
- When It Rains, It Pours: The rain in the cartoon is so heavy that it floods Bugs' hole.
