Brilliant and touching

A Brilliant Conflict

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

. . . two or three times EACH (such as Ethel Rosenberg's three Savage Jolts; you can read about her shocking demise in Wikipedia), DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24 1/2TH CENTURY marks Warner Bros.' effort to stop this nonsense. Many movie goers would later realize that the release of John Wayne's JET PILOT was tantamount to a confession that the self-styled "Il Duce" had given the Russians the A-Bomb blueprints himself in order to expand his Crusade against ALL Hollywood Reds (Dalton Trumbo), Democrats (Paul Revere's Oscar-winning several times great-granddaughter Anne), and Jews (John Garfield) to the East Coast, so his Congressional henchmen inquisitors could grill half of all New Yorkers, asking in their best Gestapo accents, "Are you now, or have you ever been of the Jewish persuasion?" Marvin Matian lands on Planet X two seconds after Daffy Duck's "Duck Rodgers" has "claimed" this outpost (not unlike someone--possibly Wayne--giving the Russians The Bomb a few instants, geologically speaking, after America found it). The Principle of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) comes into play as Daffy and Marvin take mere moments to engage their version of A-Bombs, completely destroying Planet X. After Acme Corp. runs their "All for Nukes, and Nukes for All" sale, Space Cadet Porky Pig responds to Daffy's claim of Nuclear Victory with a cynical sigh of, "Big deal." Warner Bros. seems to be saying here, "Please, Uncle Sam, don't fry any more Moms!"

This old Looney Tunes short "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 century" is fantastic and stars three great characters Daffy Duck,Porky Pig and Marvin The Martian.Its about Daffy Duck living in a sci-fi like universe were he is known as Duck Dodgers ,he is ordered to go to a place called Planet X to find a rear shaving cream.Once he gets their alongside Porky Pig he declares the planet in the name of Earth,but Marvin The Martian comes along and wants to declare it in the name of Mars ,and since they both agree that the planet isn't big enough for the two of them they both get into a small war for who gets it.

Here is another great example of the sometimes annoying yet lovable Daffy Duck trying to play a well known character, like he did in Robin Hood Daffy, and making it hysterical fun. Based on the popular science fiction character Buck Rogers of the space stories, this is a great cartoon spoof in the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies collection. Set in the future, with huge colourful cities in space, space hero Duck Dodgers, Daffy, arrives to hear a mission to go to Planet X in search for what is believed to be the last place to find Illudium Phosdex, the re-shaving cream atom. So after making himself light up and proclaiming "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century", he and his eager young space cadet, Porky Pig, are in a rocket ready to go. Dodgers explains the plan to get to Planet X, it seems very complicated, and they could easily follow planets A-W, so they do. They reach the planet, and Dodgers claims it for the Earth, but then another rocket rushes overhead, with Marvin the Martian walking out to claim it for Mars, and so begins an argument to have the planet. Marvin and Dodgers both fire disintegration guns (Daffy's literally disintegrating itself), Marvin gets a stick of dynamite, he and Dodgers send each other ultimatum messages (Marvin's being an explosive shot), and Marvin sends a final explosive shot. Dodgers loses it and decides to use his secret weapon on Marvin's rocket, and Marvin does the same to Dodgers', and they both end up blowing Planet X to a piece of rock which they stand on, and after pushing Marvin off, finally claiming the planet and saying his catchphrase, Porky says "big deal". Daffy Duck was number 30, and Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies number 20 on The 100 Greatest Cartoons. Very good!

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.