Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century

Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
Merrie Melodies (Daffy Duck and Porky Pig) series
Directed by	Chuck Jones[1]
Produced by	Chuck Jones
Story by	Michael Maltese Chuck Jones
Voices by	Mel Blanc
Music by	Dean Elliot
Animation by	Phil Monroe Manny Perez Irv Anderson Ben Washam Lloyd Vaughan
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures The Vitaphone Corporation
Release date(s)	1980 (USA)
Color process	Technicolor
Running time	7 min (one reel)
Language	English

Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½^th Century is a 1980 cartoon starring Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Marvin Martian. It is the sequel of Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century. It was the first Daffy and Porky cartoon since 1965. This cartoon first aired on November 20, 1980, as part of an animated TV special called Daffy Duck's Thanks-For-Giving with scenes that would later be cut when this cartoon was reformatted as a short.

Plot

Daffy Duck reprises his famous role of Duck Dodgers in another spoof of Saturday afternoon space serials. Assigned to locate the rack-and-pinion molecule needed for yo-yo polish, Dodgers and his assistant, an eager young space cadet (Porky Pig), crash their spaceship into a giant egg-shell, where they find Marvin Martian, who is, as usual, scheming to destroy Earth, in an attempt to solve the "fuel problem". Marvin asks Dodgers to visit the boudoir of Gossamer, a giant, hairy monster in sneakers, and the frightened Dodgers flees. Porky uses electronic clippers to literally haircut Gossamer into nothingness, and Dodgers, furious of his assistant's all-too-literal interpretations of his commands, repeatedly fires his ray gun at Porky's rear.

Changes in the Reformatted Version

• The following scenes were cut when this cartoon was reformatted as an individual animated short:
  • Porky using a straitjacket gun to capture Marvin the Martian.
  • The real ending where Marvin (still wrapped in the straitjacket) aims his missile at Earth and fires it, then tells the viewers that the missile will take three days to reach Earth, giving everyone time to get their affairs in order before getting killed (which explains the "That's All Folks!" ending card where Marvin the Martin says, "Don't worry, folks. After all, it's only a cartoon").
• The Nickelodeon version of this cartoon cuts out the "That's All Folks!" ending card where Marvin the Martin says, "Don't worry, folks. After all, it's only a cartoon," along with the edits made to it when it was reformatted as a cartoon short.
• The edited version of this cartoon has been seen on ABC, Cartoon Network, and even in such video releases as Marvin the Martian and K-9: 50 Years on Earth, Marvin the Martian: Space Tunes, the Bugs and Friends Japanese laserdisc set, and the DVD release of Daffy Duck's Quackbusters.
• The uncut version was broadcast on the internet web channel In2TV but was removed along with the rest of the Looney Tunes shorts.

References

1. ^ "'Duck Dodgers' Flies Again". The Los Angeles Times. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/650995022.html?dids=650995022:650995022&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Sep+03,+1979&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc='Duck+Dodgers'+Flies+Again&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-11-01. 

External links

• Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century at the Internet Movie Database