The Astroduck (1966)

Daffy Duck moves into a new house only to find it inhabited by Speedy Gonzales. Daffy does everything in his power to dispose of the mouse, even putting enough dynamite in it to blast it into the sky.

Director:

Robert McKimson

Stars:

Mel Blanc

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Mel Blanc	...	Daffy Duck / Speedy Gonzales / Realtor (voice)

Storyline

Daffy Duck moves into a new house only to find it inhabited by Speedy Gonzales. Daffy does everything in his power to dispose of the mouse, even putting enough dynamite in it to blast it into the sky.

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Plot Keywords:

mouse | duck | cartoon mouse | reference to speedy gonzales | surrealism | 

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Genres:

Family | Animation | Short | Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 January 1966 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DePatie-Freleng Enterprises (DFE)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

6 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Daffy Duck Takes a Vacation to Mexico, and to Misery

"The Astroduck" is merely the seventh installment in a series of what would prove nineteen DePatie-Freling produced cartoons featuring the wholly unnecessary combination of Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales. To do it once, and to realize that it doesn't really work, would have been acceptable, but then to go on and repeat that failed experiment eighteen more times?

Cartoon researcher Jerry Beck has suggested as answer to the perennial question "Which is the worst Looney Tune?" to choose from any of these mid-60s titles, and indeed, most are so worthless that it is hard to say that one is necessarily worse than another. However, it strikes this reviewer that "The Astroduck" is especially miserable; the set up is interminable and more than two minutes roll by before we are even treated to a single gag. Once going, they are gags of a very limited kind, largely centered around those ubiquitous dynamite sticks that usually blow up predator rather than prey, and as CBS removed the final outcome of these scenes through censorship in latter-day Bugs-Daffy reruns it hardly made a subject like "The Astroduck" worth watching at all. In the opening scenes, Speedy warns Daffy "You don't understand; you come into this country and..." -- he is cut off -- as if he is informing both Daffy and us about something significant to the cartoon's plot. But whatever it was, it must not have mattered too much, because we never come back to it.

Mel Blanc earns his paycheck and delivers the voice acting with his usual aplomb, though the timing is a tad fast so he isn't able to give his characterizations the nuances that they deserve. The layouts are cheap looking and only slightly better than Flintstones quality artwork. An especially tiresome entry in the sorry Daffy-Speedy canon.