BCDB: Cartoon Reviews: Duck Dodgers In The 24th And ½ Century

This is one of the greatest cartoons ever made. Noone in the past 50 years has even "approached" Chuck Jones' genius. (this sounds like a cliche` but it applies here) Often imitated - Never duplicated!

This cartoon started off as just another in a series of Daffy attempting something other than comedy and failing. This time, they decided to put him in Buck Roger's place and make him look ridiculous. Director Chuck Jones and head writer Mike Maltese accomplished these goals but through chance did more then they're most fertile imagination could conjure up.
You see, back in 1953, the only Science Fiction around were the cheap serials which featured people in glittery outfits flying in spaceships that quite obviously looked like hub caps on fishing wire. Not much enthusiasm was had for this genre. The Oscar committee certainly never paid any mind to it.
But, one day, Jones' layout man Maurice Noble thought to himself "I'm really going to work hard on the layouts for that silly Daffy Duck cartoon where he's in space or something." With that he designed the most exquisite floating space stations ever designed. Not only did they look great, they functioned well too. As Daffy, Porky and Marvin Martian cavorted about in their Sci Fi adventure the back grounds came to life in a way that looked waaaaaaaay beyond the cheese of the real Buck Rogers and his contemporaries. No wires are needed when it's a painting.
This did not go unnoticed by a young George Lucas. He'd watch those Sci Fi serials as a kid and then look at the Duck Dodgers cartoon. His little fertile brain would suddenly think "Hey, what if those serials looked as real and tangiable as Daffy does as Dodgers?!" Thsi inspired him to create the six part saga we now know as Star Wars. (The greatness of this franchise is the subject of a whole other post.) It is a known fact that Lucas insisted that Duck Dodgers be shown before the first (actually fourth) Star Wars in San Fransisco.
Therefore, I put this task to everyone. Whenever you hear someone go on about how Star Wars did so much for the Science Fiction genre, gently remind them that it really started with Duck Dodgers of the 24 1/2 Century!!

There are some truly humorless people posting reviews here. If you had to pick only three Chuck Jones cartoons to take with you on a desert island, I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't choose "Duck Amuck," "What's Opera, Doc?", and this flawless sci-fi parody. Don't pass any of the negative reviews posted herein to George Lucas, who insisted on this cartoon being shown with <b>Star Wars</b> at its San Francisco premiere. Between Maurice Noble's astounding production design (gotta love that huge eye following Duck Dodgers along the corridor) to Daffy finally nailing a lead role (only to bollix it over and over), this one's a major hoot!

This is all so much Johnny Quest tongue in cheek and so little Chuck Jones! So if Jones were sitting swirling a whiskey, watching the Old Space Ghost, surrounded by his own renderings of Daffy and Marvin, what fucked up yet insanely literate lunacy do you imagine might unravel? This show has great moments, but no whiff whatsoever of Chuck Jones, and pandering to the conceptualist Hanna-Barbera camp crowd in and of itself just ain't enough anymore
Flip

I think George Lucas wanted this cartoon at the premiere of Star Wars, which is what has given Duck Dodgers much of its acclaim.
It's not the greatest Daffy Duck cartoon or Marvin the Martian cartoon. Porky Pig worked best with Sylvester the Cat in those haunted house cartoons.
The jokes aren't amazing and the satire isn't strong either. It's just another Merrie Melodies cartoon. A good one yes, but not unique.

This is the most overrated, overpraised cartoon this side of "What's Opera, Doc?"

Michael Maltese's overrated "script" is not nearly as funny as innumberable Warren Foster written cartoons. This cartoon is just not that funny. Neither is the parody on Dragnet (Dumb Patrol? I can't remember the name)by Jones and Maltese. Jones gives "Dumb Patrol" way, way too much space in "Chuck Amuck."

Despite his outward humility, Charles M. Jones
had TREMENDOUS regard for his own work.

The funniest thing about "Duck Dodgers" is the name of the Martian ship (Martian Maggot).

Call me an iconoclast, but this is one MASSIVELY OVERRATED CARTOON.