The Jet Cage (Looney Tunes)

The Jet Cage (episode 906)
The short that started the downfall of classic era Looney Tunes.
Directed by: Friz Freleng Written by: Friz Freleng Release date: September 22, 1962 Franchise: Looney Tunes Prequel: "Honey's Money" (previous short) Sequel: "Mother Was a Rooster" (next short)

The Jet Cage is a 1962 Looney Tunes short directed by Friz Freleng. In this short, Tweety obtains a jet-propelled cage to fly around outside, but Sylvester wants to eat Tweety even if the cage will prevent him from doing so. It is considered one of the weakest Tweety shorts, alongside "Tweet Dreams", "Trip for Tat", and "Hawaiian Aye Aye".

Bad Qualities

1. Milt Franklyn passed away during the composition of the music score for this cartoon, leading to William Lava completing the score from the moment Sylvester attempts to catch Tweety with a net until the end. Lava's scoring is noted for its ill-suited, atonal quality, and it appears to make minimal effort to replicate the musical style Franklyn established in the earlier segments of the short.
2. Rough animation compared to the other cartoons of the time, even though the colors aren't washed out.
3. Almost all of the gags in the cartoon are those reused from Freleng's past work, making them too easy to predict.
4. The pacing is quite slow; this short features merely five gags, whereas previous Sylvester and Tweety shorts typically boasted a greater number or more clever gags to compensate for the extended ones.
5. The short starts to see the downfall of the classic era of Looney Tunes, as gags start to become more tired and the music score from William Lava and animation start to become cheaper.
6. While Mel Blanc is renowned, his portrayal of both Sylvester and Tweety seems somewhat lackluster, with the voice-over performances appearing bored and sluggish. This is likely a consequence of the car accident Blanc experienced in January 1961.

Good Qualities

1. The idea of Sylvester attempting to catch Tweety that is flying in a jet-propelled cage is a decent concept, albeit executed poorly.
2. Mel Blanc and June Foray both do a great job voicing the characters, as always, despite the former sounding bored.
3. Some funny moments, such as Sylvester falling to the ground in a style resemblant of Wile E. Coyote.
4. The musical score from the title card to the scene of Tweety flying outside, composed by Milt Franklyn, remains superior in quality compared to the rest of the cartoon's score.
   • Likewise, some of William Lava's music can be fitting too, such as the entire nike rocket scene.
5. We somewhat get to find out more about Tweety's life as a pet canary to Granny in this cartoon as opposed to just a being a bird that does nothing but just sit around in his cage most of the time, such as at the beginning scene where Tweety wants to fly freely like other birds but couldn't do so by Granny because of his safety as Sylvester is always constantly lurking out to eat him.
6. Granny, Sylvester and Tweety are still like likeable characters.

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