Merrie Melodies - Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953)

Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (spoken as "twenty-fourth-and-a-half") is a 1953 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The cartoon was released on July 25, 1953, and stars Daffy Duck as space hero Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig as his assistant, and Marvin the Martian as his opponent. This cartoon marked the first of many appearances of the Duck Dodgers character.

Marvin the Martian had been introduced as an unnamed villain in Warner's cartoon Haredevil Hare (1948), playing opposite Bugs Bunny. He was later given the title 'Commander, Flying Saucer X-2' in 1952's The Hasty Hare. The Duck Dodgers cartoon is an extended parody of the pulp magazine, newspaper comic strip, and comic book character Buck Rogers, and his longtime run of space adventures, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.

In 1994, Duck Dodgers was voted #4 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field. Because he was such a fan of the short in particular, Star Wars creator George Lucas requested that the short be shown before the original Star Wars film during its initial run in theaters. In 2004 at the 62nd World Science Fiction Convention, it was retrospectively nominated for a Retro Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation—Short Form.

Voice Cast:
Mel Blanc as Duck Dodgers, Porky Pig, Marvin the Martian and Dr. I.Q.Hi

Credits:
The cartoon was directed by Chuck Jones (credited as Charles M. Jones), with the story by Michael Maltese, voices by Mel Blanc, and original music by Carl Stalling. The animation was credited to Lloyd Vaughan, Ken Harris and Ben Washam, with Harry Love receiving a credit for effects animation. The distinctive layouts were designed by Maurice Noble and the backgrounds produced by Phil DeGuard.
Uncredited are Stalling's quotations of "Powerhouse" and "Egyptian Barn Dance" (in the opening credits), by Raymond Scott.

Production:
Jones saw Porky Pig's sidekick role as set apart from Daffy as the hero: "I always felt that Porky Pig was the subtlest of all the characters because he was consciously playing a part. He's obviously putting Daffy on, but it's a very subtle thing. In Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, he was playing the space cadet, but he was aware that he was playing it. He was like I would be in a class play — in which the hero really thought he was the character."

Reception
Comic book writer Mark Evanier writes, "Director Chuck Jones and writer Mike Maltese inverted the usual cartoon convention of having the hero conquer the villain. Here, Daffy pretty much conquers himself with faulty disintegration rays and faultier personal swagger. As with the other times Jones handled the duck, the Oliver Hardy principle prevails: The joke is never the destruction that befalls the luckless character but their loss of dignity afterward."