Duck Dodgers

Duck Dodgers is the fictional star of a series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. He is actually the famous cartoon star Daffy Duck, cast in the role of an intergalactic future "hero".

Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century

Duck Dodgers first appeared in the 1953 cartoon short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, directed by Chuck Jones. Jones created a spoof of the popular Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon science fiction serials of the 1930s, casting the brash, egomaniac Daffy Duck as the hero of the story. The cartoon is widely praised as one of the greatest and funniest Warner Bros. cartoons of all time.

Porky Pig also appears in the cartoon, playing the role of the "Eager Young Space Cadet." As he does in a number of Jones' cartoons, he plays the role of the straight man, getting the job done and foiling the villain while Daffy Duck blusters and repeatedly gets himself blown to smithereens.

Considering the period in which the cartoon was produced (the Red Scare was in full swing during the 1950s era), some scholars have used the cartoon to parallel the futility of the Cold War and the arms race. They note that by the end of the cartoon, the planet that Duck Dodgers and Marvin the Martian are fighting over has been destroyed, and the remaining area claimed by Daffy at the end is barely more than a pebble in size. The dismissive attitude to Dodger's pyrrhic victory is epitomized by Porky's cynical response to his boss' overblown proclamation, "B-B-Big deal."

Duck Dodgers sequels

There were two additional short film sequels to "Duck Dodgers". The first sequel, also produced by Chuck Jones, was titled Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century and was released in 1980. The plot of this sequel cartoon was nearly a carbon copy of the original, and while it was visually impressive, it was largely disappointing to Warner Bros. fans. The second short, titled Marvin the Martian in the Third Dimension, was released in 1996 to select venues in 3-D. Unlike the other Dodgers cartoons, Porky Pig did not appear.

Duck Dodgers series

In 2003; the Warner Bros. studio produced a full-fledged animated series entitled Duck Dodgers, which aired on the Cartoon Network cable channel. It was nominated in the 2004 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Production Produced For Children, Music in an Animated Television Production, Production Design in an Animated Television Production, and Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production. As of 2004, this cartoon is still in production and is on its second season.

Further appearances

Duck Dodgers also made an appearance in a 1993 episode of the TV series Tiny Toon Adventures, where Daffy Duck's pint-sized protege and student Plucky Duck also visited the futuristic world of Duck Dodgers.

A Nintendo 64 video game, entitled Duck Dodgers, has also been produced.

The original cartoon also appeared in a 1994 episode of the science fiction series Babylon 5, where it was revealed that Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century was Security Chief Michael Garibaldi's "second favorite thing in the universe".

Portions of this cartoon can be seen and heard in the background in a scene from the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Duck Dodgers appears in the 2003 feature Looney Tunes: Back In Action when Daffy notes that the only character that could save the film's proverbial day was Duck Dodgers; he then realizes that Dodgers is his alter ego.