Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century

I can't believe only two people commented on this so far. This has to be Chuck Jones' best work of all time. This is one cartoon I can watch over and over again. I crack up every time Daffy says his line about the disintegrating pistol.

This was one of the best Looney Tune cartoons ever made. All the gags are so fresh and funny, it makes my sides ache with laughter. It's a classic Looney Tunes cartoon, with all that wonderful cartoon violence that no one can do without. Definite enjoyment.

"No one knows his way around outer space like Duck Dodgers," proclaims Dafffy as he given the assignment to find a valuable material on Planet X (wherever that is, because they don't know here, either!).

This parody of "Buck Rodgers" is a hoot to view, right from the start with the wild 24th century look to it and exaggerations of the future. The color in this cartoon is absolutely bold and brilliant.

Duck's "eager young space cadet" is Porky Pig, who calls Daffy "Your Heroship, Sir!" Although our "hero" wants to take credit, it's the little assistant who points to way to Planet X. Upon arrive, "Dodger" plants a flag and proclaims in belong to Earth. A second later, we see the arrival of Marvin the Martian, who claims it for his planet!!!

There's a lot more of this craziness, making this one of the better Daffy cartoons. This animated short is very, very entertaining. Cartoon historians label this as one of Daffy Duck's all-time best, and who's to argue?

This Daffy Duck spoof of Buck Rogers in the Twenty-fifth Century is fairly funny, especially once he has met up with Marvin the Martian.

"Duck Dodgers" has been given the task of finding Planet X, the only remaining source of Illudium Phosdex (the shaving cream atom). He sets off with his side kick, eager young space cadet Porky Pig, and eventually finds the planet which he claims for Earth, a few seconds later Marvin arrives claiming it for Mars and the two of them have a stand-off involving Acme Disintegration Guns, Ultimatum Guns and finally they each attack the other with explosives that leave little of the planet intact.

I found this to be pretty funny, Daffy usually amuses me more than Bugs Bunny due to his general incompetence and Marvin the Martian is always funny.

When the earth's supplies of the shaving foam atom run low, the scientific community turns to Duck Dodgers, the space travelling adventurer, to seek out a new supply. Dodgers travels to the unexplored planet X, rich in the atom, to claim it for earth; however a Martian is also on the planet to claim it for Mars. A battle ensues.

For many people this is Daffy's best cartoon; it certainly seems to have stuck in many peoples' childhood memories, mine included. The plot spoofs the Buck Rodgers series of the period reasonably well and sees Daffy going to planet X and battling Marvin with a variety of funny weapons. It starts a little slowly but gets better when Marvin appears. The gags may not be brilliant but they have a certain imagination and energy to them that make it all work pretty well.

I much prefer Daffy in his `crazy duck' personae rather than his later work, which is probably why I only enjoyed this film rather than loved it. Here he seems quite restrained and it is only occasionally when his character shines through the character of Dodgers. Porky has little to do but is reasonably amusing in his minor role, but it is Marvin that gives the best support in his rather one-dimensional role.

It will stick in my mind because it is such a good little spoof but it isn't as good as perhaps it has been remembered. On top of that, I didn't see any of the Daffy I really love and that was a problem for me.