What's Opera, Doc? is a 1957 American Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese. The short was released on July 6, 1957, and stars Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The story features Elmer chasing Bugs through a parody of 19th-century classical composer Richard Wagner's operas, particularly Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman), and Tannhäuser. It borrows heavily from the second opera in the "Ring Cycle" Die Walküre, woven around the typical Bugs–Elmer feud. The short marks the final appearance of Elmer Fudd in a Chuck Jones cartoon. It has been widely praised by many in the animation industry as the greatest animated cartoon that Warner Bros. ever released, and has been ranked as such in the top 50 animated cartoons of all time. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed it "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant", and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry, the first cartoon short film to receive such honors. Plot Dressed as the demigod Siegfried, Elmer Fudd sings "Be vewy qwiet, I'm hunting wabbits" in recitative, before he finds rabbit tracks and arrives at Bugs Bunny's hole. Elmer jams his spear into Bugs' hole while singing "Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit! Kill the wabbit!" to the tune of Ride of the Valkyries. Bugs sticks his head out of another rabbit hole and taunts Elmer about his spear and magic helmet. This prompts a display of Elmer-as-Siegfried's "mighty powers", which scares Bugs. Bugs flees and the chase begins. Elmer stops in his tracks at the sight of the beautiful Valkyrie Brünnhilde (Bugs in drag). "Siegfried" and "Brünnhilde" exchange endearments and perform a short ballet (based on the Venusberg ballet in Tannhäuser). Bugs' true identity is exposed when his headdress falls off, enraging Elmer. Bugs discards his disguise and the chase begins anew. Elmer's rage causes a storm to brew, tearing apart the mountains where Bugs has fled. Upon seeing Bugs' intact yet seemingly lifeless body as a drop of rain from a flower lands on the rabbit, Elmer regrets his wrath and tearfully carries the rabbit off to Valhalla in keeping the Wagnerian theme per Act III of the Valkyries. Bugs (revealed to have merely played dead to fool Elmer) briefly breaks the fourth wall and raises his head to face the audience while remarking, "Well, what did