20 years ago, Chuck Jones served up "Superior Duck", giving Daffy Duck another opportunity to parody Superman. As it happens, the Man of Steel makes a cameo appearance in the film. Anyway, this is set in a futuristic, yet unnamed city. Thurl Ravenscroft narrates, but the big surprise is that Daffy's voice is performed by iconic impressionist Frank Gorshin. Porky Pig shows up as the Eager Young Space Cadet, Duck Dodgers' sidekick, which makes one wonder if Superior Duck wasn't really Duck Dodgers after all, two sides of the same coin.
I've seen better.
Rating: B-.
2 comments:
I actually saw this short for the first time on Cartoon Network about a year or so ago, back when was still airing Looney Tunes on weekdays at noon (EST). I don't know if it was ever released theatrically or if Chuck Jones produced it for a TV special or a direct-to-video. "Superior Duck" wasn't the worst thing that I've ever seen, but it was no "Duck Dodgers in the 24 and 1/2 Century" either.
Interestingly, there was also a Bugs Bunny short that was apparently made around the same which featured Frank Gorshin voicing Yosemite Sam. No disrespect to Mr. Gorshin, but his Sam voice wasn't very strong. I'm not surprised that he never voiced the character again.
That Frank Gorshin was doing cartoons at the end of his career, given his talent, probably shouldn't be a surprise. There isn't much info on Superior Duck, but I would suspect that this was released to theatres as a featurette leading into a main feature.
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