SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 298 Min.
Released in a ‘matted’ widescreen format by Warner Bros. Home Video, this 2013 two-disc set features thirteen episodes from 2003’s Season 1 (each consisting of two or three cartoons averaging six to seven minutes in length), along with Tom Jones’ bombastic theme song. Along with Daffy Duck, Pork Pig, and Marvin the Martian, the guest list has some surprises, including DC Comics’ Hal Jordan/Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corps. The episodes are:
DISC 1:
- The Trial of Duck Dodgers / Big Bug Mamas; The Fowl Friend / The Fast and the Feathery;
- Duck Deception / The Spy Who Didn’t Love Me; Duck Codgers / Where’s Baby Smarty Pants;
- I’m Going to Get You Fat Sucka / Detained Duck; K-9 Kaddy / Pigs of Action / Shiver Me Dodgers.
DISC 2:
- The Wrath of Canasta / They Stole Dodgers’ Brain; The Green Loontern / Quarterback Quack / To Love a Duck;
- Hooray for Hollywood Planet; The Queen is Wild / Back to the Academy; Enemy Yours / Duck Departure.
REVIEW:
Squandering a wonderful premise (especially Tom Jones’s campy Thunderball-styled theme), these lukewarm Looney Tunes aren’t nearly as LOL as they ought to be. As a whole, they should amuse low-demand viewers, but their satirical value too often misses the point of lampooning Star Wars, Star Trek, Flash Gordon, and old-school sci-fi shlock. In fairness, the “Green Loontern” cross-over with DC Comics has its moments, but one can only imagine what inspired gags that directors Chuck Jones or Friz Freleng might have devised with this gimmick. Daffy was evidently inspired, too, as his Green Loontern persona resurfaces in in the LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham video game.
What really confirms this double-disc set as a letdown from the original cartoon is re-watching the first Duck Dodgers short as a Disc 1 extra. The original is such an inspired spoof that its own long-belated sequel and this middling Season 1 collection fall far short of matching its inspired humor. Daffy’s fans are frankly better off catching his self-absorbed antics as Bugs Bunny’s suburban roommate during the two seasons of The Looney Tunes Show.
Note: Season 2’s Deep Space Duck collection was also released in 2013.
BONUS FEATURES:
Disc 1 has a trailer for Warner Bros.’ 90th Anniversary. The classic “Duck Dodgers in the 24th½ Century” cartoon is an extra on Disc 1 (though the packaging mistakenly claims it’s on Disc 2). There aren’t any extras on Disc 2. Subtitles are available in English and French.
PACKAGING:
The DVD case lists all of the cartoons contained on the two discs. Each disc receives its own sturdy plastic page.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 5 Stars
