A cosmic mix-up results in a Martian baby being delivered to Earth, while an Earth baby is sent to Mars. Joseph Wilbur and his wife try to raise the green-skinned, ingenious Martian tyke as if he were an Earthling. But the kid builds his own spaceship and flies away, and Wilbur must find him and bring him back, or he'll never be able to make an exchange with the Martian parents for his own boy.
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. . . is why the phrase "Dog gone it!" perversely resonates with Believers, but what happens to the "boy" when you play the White Album in reverse? This is exactly what the Looney Tuners speculate about during the 1950s Warner Bros. animated short ROCKET-BYE BABY. It must have tickled the Old Gang's Funny Bones to draw Mrs. Joe (Martha) Wilbur as one of the three most buxom chicks in Classic Cartoon History, since Mork--Er, make that "Mot"--sports the sort of pointy antennae that would have punctured Martha's Hot Stack Implants every feeding time. That's assuming that the young Martian turned out to be a "Bon Mot" (or "good boy") when it was nursing hour, and not some sort of interstellar Freddie Kruger. Since the Martian Authorities named the actual Wilbur offspring "Yob" (which is "Boy" reversed), their message seems to be that Master Wilbur will be a dimmer bulb than the Wilburs' nag, Mr. Ed, whom passed away in the midst of the Microencephallic Olympic Year, 2016. So welcome to the Big Leagues, Mot.
"Rocket-Bye Baby" is a good sci-fi cartoon directed by Charles M. "Chuck" Jones. It seems that a cosmic force disturbs the pathways of two infants, resulting in a martian baby winding up on Earth, and vice versa. Oh, what fun this situation can create! My favorite scenes: The most memorably hilarious spoken line in this short occurs when Mr. Wilbur (voiced by Daws Butler) sees his martian baby for the first time and softly says, "Somebody goofed." Equally hilarious is the elderly lady (voiced by June Foray) who wishes to see the baby (to the musical accompaniment of "Ain't She Sweet"), then upon discovering that the baby is not normal, she offers a subtle sideways glance, blows on a pitch pipe, and screams while her bobby pins fly out of her hair."Rocket-Bye Baby" raises an interesting question: How would YOU react to a cosmic mix-up in the deliverance of your baby?
Further playing off of the sci-fi craze of the '50s, the Looney Tunes' creators made "Rocket-bye Baby", in which Mars and Earth pass too close, causing a Martian baby to get sent to Earth while an Earth baby gets sent to Mars. When an Earth couple picks up the green, antennae-bearing infant, the husband wants to hide him from the world, while the wife doesn't mind the tyke. But when the extraterrestrial child starts getting excessively adept at science - he's probably the only baby who ever spelled out E=mc2 with building blocks - things really get wacky, especially since they receive a telegram from Mars informing them that their son has ended up there and they'd better not let anything bad happen to the Martian baby! The truth is, the Chuck Jones-Michael Maltese crowd had plenty of stuff in popular culture to parody, and they play it to great effect here. One thing that I notice about this cartoon is that Mel Blanc doesn't do the voices; Daws Butler and June Foray (better known as the voice of Rocky the Squirrel) have that job here. But that doesn't diminish the quality. Every part of this cartoon has perfect timing, especially when the Martian baby builds his own flying saucer, flies around town, and befuddles a man who gives a speech explaining why there are no UFOs! So it may not be the greatest Looney Tunes cartoon ever, but still worth seeing. And remember to check your baby when s/he is first born, just in case...
Unusually, this sci-fi cartoon is funny and imaginative (and original) without the presence of such a professional laugh-trigger as the teaming of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. This time, it revolves around one-shot characters.Once upon a time, earth and Mars came closer together than ever before. Thus, a serious mix-up occurred when a Martian baby greeted Mr. Wilbur in the waiting room, while Wilbur's son ended up on Mars. Not only is this cute little kid green, he also has antennae and a talent for science unbecoming for someone his age. The Martians inform the Wilburs about the mix-up, and add that if their kid, Mot, is harmed, then the humans' kid, Yob, will not be returned to his rightful parents. But the Wilburs are just a little too late to stop Mot and his "toy flying saucer" zooming off through the city. So a frantic chase ensues, Mr. Wilbur trying to save the Martian to save his own son.The first impression I got from the cartoon was that it might well lack originality. I thought they must have done the mix-up in another cartoon, and this was just a rehash. But I wasn't expecting the second half of the movie to be as intriguing as it was. The ending was dramatic enough, but the highlight was Mr. Wilbur's series of problems with Mot and his embarrassment at having him for a son. The expressions are priceless. I wouldn't mind Mot, he's really cute and brilliantly animated if you don't mind green. Also particularly memorable is the chase sequence, in which a man who is beating the Martian theories into dust starts bawling in the middle of a fit of laughter, having seen the little green man in the spaceship. Most highly recommended! 8.75/10
