What's Opera, Doc? is a parody of the Bugs-and-Elmer formula mixed with a parody of Wagner, all wrapped in a tour-de-force of color and neat layouts. Maurice Noble's work is beautiful. The fact that Bugs's cross-dressing goes on for so long, not to mention the rather unexpected ending, makes it drastically different from a standard [bugs2] Merrie Melodie, and the very structure is changed. (Not to mention the music!) Not really a funny cartoon, but marvelous nonetheless.

Duck Dodgers managed to be ahead of its time in parodying the space genre. Michael Maltese's dialogue and wit is in full force. Noble's layouts are effective in creating the outer space atmosphere of the cartoon. (Ever noticed the X-es on Planet X?) Jones's direction ties it all together. (The cartoon starts with [daffy] being given his mission, and ends with the planet being completely blown up while [daffy]'s ego remains in full force. What more could you want?)

Coal Black...well, the animation is certainly amazing. Plus it parodies Disney's Snow White in about 7 minutes. The jazzy music is top-notch. Though the cartoon would be far more likeable without the grossly-depicted caricatures. (Its inclusion in the Censored Eleven seemed to help its notoriety; it's one of the only cartoons in that collection that actually has something good, rather than a bunch of stereotypes.)

Bully for Bugs once again has Maltese's bizarre mind at work: the puns [bugs2] makes as he insults the bull, the perfectly-timed slapping, the bull's horns becoming guns, and of course the climax with the elaborate trap. The backgrounds, not to mention the crowd and Stalling's music, give the cartoon an aura of authenticity. And of course, this cartoon breaks from the usual [bugs2] mold.

Baseball Bugs, in addition to mixing [bugs2] and baseball, is a masterpiece of Freleng's timing. Maltese's gags work very well. The ending is also a neat twist.

The Scarlet Pumpernickel actually has a point in being an all-star cartoon. Mama Bear serving as a harp-player in the background is laughable. [daffy] as a Zorro-like swordsman disguised as a nobleman is inspired enough, as are the situations that result from it (reaching a high-up window with a pin?), but for the premise to be framed within [daffy]'s lobbying to the boss to let him do things other than comedy makes the cartoon very different (and provides some extra humor). The climax, with a bunch of catastrophic events building up (culminating in [daffy]'s apparent suicide), elevates the cartoon to outright genius level.

Jones's cartoons from his best period in general are all masterpieces.

As for Freleng, well, he still had his great timing to work with. The cartoons you mentioned might not be classics (Knighty Knight Bugs isn't particularly great, in my opinion), but cartoons like The Three Little Bops and especially Birds Anonymous most definitely are.

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To each his own, I guess. With that regard, lots of cartoons should be considered classics or masterpieces. Only a few die-hard completists rate the likes of Puss N Booty, You Ought to be in Pictures, Hare Trigger, Fresh Airedale, The Bee-deviled Bruin, Plane Daffy, Daffy Doodles, Racketeer Rabbit, A Gruesome Twosome etc., meanwhile I simply can't stop adoring their qualities.

I'm not saying What's Opera Doc? or Duck Dodgers are bad, no way, but for my taste they are just "good" cartoons, with some flashes of brilliances, but also flashes of flaws... WOD in my opinion is completely out of place in the MM catalog, and should have been a part of a feature length film called "Chuck Jones presents", DD feels like it is a cut version of a 15 minute cartoon. The other toons I mentioned... they are IMHO popular because of exposure, and not because of their outstanding qualities. Coal Black is famous because it's least unwatchable of the censored 11. But that's just how I see it.

I got another question about popular cartoons. Why isn't "Magical Maestro" listed anywhere in "The 50 Greatest Cartoons" book, yet it got inducted in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry? I am well aware of it being in some famous animation film festivals.

I imagine "Magical Maestro" was inducted in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry because it's an absolutely excellent cartoon, but wasn't included in the 50 cartoons book simply because the authors chose other excellent cartoons to represent the brilliance of Tex Avery.

I think we're over thinking the subjective nature of judgement here. We all must have seen glowing reviews of something we hated and negative reviews of things we've loved. I've seen respected animation historians pull apart films which I think are great while giving high praise to what I'd consider pretty average artwork. I might disagree, but it can still be interesting to read.