ifty years after his introduction to the animated world courtesy of Mel Blanc and director Chuck Jones, Duck Dodgers returns in an all-new animated series. Daffy Duck (voiced by Alaskey) stars as the lazy, bumbling, schemer Duck Dodgers, who is accidentally frozen in the 21st century and revived 351 years later. After lying about his background, Duck Dodgers is given command of a ship and an Eager Young Space Cadet, played by Porky Pig. His primary nemesis is the Martian Commander, played by Marvin the Martian.
In "Duck Deception," the ship's energy core explodes and Dodgers and Space Cadet (voiced by Bergen) are stranded in space. Two years later, they spot the Martian Commander's ship and Dodgers hatches a plan to steal his energy core, which leaves Space Cadet discovering a whole new side to his personality.
The second half of the episode, "The Spy Who Didn't Love Me," finds the President of Outer Space ordering Dodgers to take a secret agent to Andromeda Six, which is under Martian control and has been overrun by an army of Martian centurion robots. When the spy is transported on board, Dodgers falls instantly in love. Too bad she barely notices he exists. But his love knows no bounds, at least until he accidentally ends up on a suicide mission to save the planet.
In "The Fowl Friend," a Martian Battle Station with a new laser cannon becomes a threat, and Duck Dodgers is dispatched to stop them. With a new robot addition to the crew, Agent Roboto, Dodgers discovers he has someone who will do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, when Agent Roboto is a little too good at saving the day, Dodgers determines to get rid of his newfound friend.
Bragging leaves Duck Dodgers in the hot seat in the episode's second story, "The Fast and the Feathery," when Space Cadet makes a bet with the Queen of Mars (voiced by Carerra) that Dodgers can beat the Martian Commander in a hot-rod space race. Dodgers quickly discovers that even cheating may not be enough to help him win the race.
Tom Jones soars—but Daffy doesn't
When the best thing about a new animated series is the theme song, there's a problem. Yes, the new Duck Dodgers has good animation and brings us back to the good old days of cartoons with some beloved cartoon characters, but it's seldom funny, and that's a big problem. While the very young ones will enjoy the action-packed slapstick, anyone over the age of 8 will find the series far too familiar to stay tuned on a regular basis.
First the good news. The opening for Duck Dodgers is just terrific. The theme song, written by Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd, is performed by Tom Jones and The Flaming Lips. Set to creatively arranged images from the series, the over-the-top theme song is reminiscent of a James Bond opening song. With that setup, it's easy to expect the series to be better than it is.
While Duck Dodgers would seem a great idea to return to, the timeless characters are stuck in a series that is dated at best. Yes, it's great to have Daffy, Porky and Marvin jetting around the universe like it's one big playground, but the stories with humorous setups fall flat quickly.
Of the four stories, "Duck Deception" is by far the best. It has some humor, and the gag that involved Porky dressed up as a space princess gives a taste of what this series has the potential to be. However, "The Fowl Friend," in which Duck Dodgers tries to destroy his loyal robot friend, is actually unpleasant. This is a kids' show, and this story is not one that offers a good message for children.
While the animation is nicely done and the voices of Daffy, Porky and Marvin are OK, it's too bad Duck Dodgers hasn't grown just a little over the years.
