Flash in the Pain

This was the debut for Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. It was also their only cartoon made in the 1940s. It set the template for the series, in which Wile E. Coyote (here given the ersatz Latin name Carnivorous Vulgaris) tries to catch Roadrunner (Accelleratii Incredibus) through many traps, plans and products, although in this first cartoon not all of the products are yet made by the Acme Corporation.

Wile E. Coyote unsuccessfully chases the Road Runner using such contrivances as a rifle, a steel plate, a dynamite stick on an extending metal pulley, a painting of a collapsed bridge (which the Coyote falls into while Road Runner passes right through), and a jet motor.

Wile E. Coyote has ordered an ACME bungee cord and has set up a birdseed trap under a highway bridge. It’s a "foolproof" plan that takes everything into consideration... except oncoming traffic.

Wile E. Coyote fashions himself a homemade helicopter helmet, utilizing an assortment of mail order products. Soaring through the sky and over the cliffs, it's a surefire way to catch the Road Runner... assuming he can avoid military testing grounds.

Wile E. Coyote hopes to stop and catch the Road Runner using a huge, boulder-throwing catapult. But no matter where Wile E. positions himself, the catapult drops the boulder on him.

The Coyote makes various attempts to get the Road Runner with an explosive-tipped arrow, by shooting himself out of a sling shot and by covering the road with quick drying cement.

Hypnosis doesn't help the Coyote catch the Road Runner, nor do a clutch of string-controlled rifles or dozens of mousetraps, but they all manage to backfire on him, naturally.

A Burmese tiger trap, a pop-up steel wall, a motorcycle, and a box of Acme-brand leg-building vitamins can't help the Coyote (Eatibus anythingus) catch the Road Runner (Hot Rodicus supersonicus).

Among the strategies that fail in Wile E. Coyote's attempts to catch the Roadrunner: glue on the road, a giant rubber band, an outboard motor in a wash tub, and dressing in drag as a female Roadrunner.

Wile E. Coyote (Fallious-flatius) uses an ACME Weather Control Kit to try and catch Road Runner (Speedius-gonzalicus) through various weather-related tricks.

Wile E. Coyote decides to use a freeze ray in order to catch Road Runner.

Wile E. Coyote (Starvingus loserus) uses a falcon disguise to catch Road Runner (Speed breaking recordus).

Wile E. Coyote's plans for catching the Road Runner involve a giant elastic spring, a gun and trampoline, TNT sticks in a barrel, and tornado seeds.

While cooking a tin can, the Coyote spots a better meal rushing by: the Road Runner.

Wile E. Coyote is hungry and schemes to catch the Road Runner.

Wile E. Coyote uses, among other things, a dehydrated boulder to try to catch the Road Runner.

Wile E. Coyote uses a bottle full of bees, a brick wall, a boulder in a catapult, and a harpoon gun in his attempts to catch the Road Runner.

Adventures of the Road-Runner is an animated film, directed by Chuck Jones and co-directed by Maurice Noble and Tom Ray. It was the intended pilot for a TV series starring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, but was never picked up until four years later when Warner Bros. Television produced The Road Runner Show for CBS from 1966 to 1968 and later on ABC from 1971 to 1973. As a result, it was split into three further shorts. The first one was To Beep or Not to Beep (1963). The other two were assembled by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in 1965 after they took over the Looney Tunes series. The split-up shorts were titled Road Runner a Go-Go and Zip Zip Hooray!.

Wile E. Coyote hopes to catch the Road Runner using a mallet, a cooking pan, a TNT stick, a balloon, and a piano dropped from a precipice. The last of these results in Wile E. falling to the road below along with the piano and ending up with 88 teeth.

Wile E. Coyote is chasing the Road Runner (still) and comes across the Acme Book of Magic. With the power to levitate heavy boulders, fly on broomsticks, and transfigure anything to suit his need, it seems like Wile E. finally has a chance at getting his breakfast... but then again, this is Wile E. Coyote we're talking about.