text: Laws and rules In his book Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, Chuck Jones claimed that he and the artists behind the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons adhered to some simple but strict rules:
  "The Road Runner cannot harm the Coyote except by going 'Beep-Beep!'"
  "No outside force can harm the Coyote — only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products."
  "The Coyote could stop anytime — if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: 'A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.' — George Santayana)."
  "No dialogue ever, except 'Beep-Beep!'"
  "The Road Runner must stay on the road — otherwise, logically, he would not be called a Road Runner."
  "All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters — the southwest American desert."
  "All materials tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation."
  "Whenever possible, make gravity the Coyote's greatest enemy."
  "The Coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures."
  These rules were not always followed, and in an interview years after the series was made, principal writer of the original 16 episodes Michael Maltese stated he had never heard of these or any "rules" and dismissed them as "post production observation".