Release Date:

March 10, 1956

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck, Porky Pig

Summary:

A spoof of “Dragnet” set in futuristic outer space with Daffy Duck as Sgt. Joe Monday and Porky Pig as his partner, Det. Shmoe Tuesday.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1347 and was released as a Merrie Melodie.

This one parodies “Dragnet” with Daffy serving as the narrator who points out the date and time and Porky correcting him (and both constantly sporting nonchalant deadpan expressions throughout the whole cartoon). “Dragnet” would also be parodied by Warner two months later in Freleng’s “Tree Cornered Tweety”.

Tedd Pierce wrote this one.

Ernie Nordli did the layouts.

A few gags are reused from “Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century”.

The title is a pun for the crime drama series, “Racket Squad” (1951-1953).

In one scene, a wanted poster for “Robot Taylor” is shown with this being a reference to the actor Robert Taylor.

Some of the names that appear on the Criminal Detecto Set include “C.M. Jones” (Jones), Tedd Pierce, Eddie Selzer, Mel Blanc, John Burton, and Norman Moray (who was the head of the company that distributed the Warner cartoons).

“Powerhouse” plays during the scene where Daffy and Porky pursue “Mother Machree” through space.

Favorite Scene:

The short-distance video call between Daffy and the Chief.

What Happens in This One:

An opening title card reads, “Ladies and gentlemen- the story you are about to see is true. The drawings have been changed to protect the Innocent”. Daffy begins narrating as he and Porky are seen flying in their police spaceship, “This is the Milky Way. A nice galaxy. 875 billion trillion people live here. Yes, it’s a nice place to live. It’s my job to keep it that way. I’m a space cop. My name’s Monday. My partner’s name is Tuesday. He always follows me”. As they light their respective cigarettes, Daffy continues, “It was Wednesday, January 23, 10:26 pm”. Porky corrects, “T-t-t-t-ten twenty-EIGHT!” Daffy: “Like I said, it was 10:28 pm. We were returning from a routine investigation in the Big Dipper area- a 712. Malicious mischief. Schoolchildren had blown the ring off Saturn. When will parents learn to keep uranium out of their children’s reach?” Porky adds, “Yeah, uh, w-w-when?” (animated by Ken Harris)

Daffy narrates, “10:34. Headquarters called”. On the videopticon, the captain’s face comes in on the screen, “Calling Prowl Jet 36. Prowl Jet 36. Come in, 36. Over”. Daffy answers with, “Joe Monday” while Porky replies with, “O-o-o-over”. The captain informs, “Joe, it’s the Flying Saucer Bandit again. First National Bank of Jupiter! Report in!” After Daffy replies, “Wilco!”, he continues with his narration, “Wednesday, January 23. 10:42 pm”, to which Porky again corrects “T-t-ten forty-SIX!” Daffy continues, “10:46 pm. We returned to headquarters” (animated by Ben Washam). Their police ship lands on the 17,000th floor of the “Interplanetary Police Force” by going up nose-first and then descending down gently with an umbrella popping out of its nose and mechanical feet with sneakers on its ends coming out (animated by Abe Levitow).

Daffy and Porky nonchalantly walk along to the interior where they are observed by a giant mechanical eyeball. They take the tube to the Detective department where they go through a chute that matches with the color of the tube- red in this case- and goes all the way through the long curvy set of chutes before it exits out of a long-curved arch in the department. Another machine then takes the tube and shakes Daffy and Porky out of it. With both slightly disheveled, Porky asks, “Isn’t eh, m-m-m-modern science wonderful? People used to have to use, uh, st-st-st-stairs!” (animated by Levitow)

At his desk in front of a television-like device, Daffy resumes his narration, “10:52. Back at the old desk. Waiting for a call from the Chief. Half a cop’s LIFE is spent in waiting. 10:53. The Chief called”. The Chief appears onscreen and informs, “Joe, come right over, please! I need your help immediately!” Daffy does so, where it’s revealed that their respective desks are actually opposite of each other. As the Chief is seen crying in desperation about his problem, Daffy continues, “My interview with the Chief was brief and to the point. He wanted me to find out who the Flying Saucer Bandit was and then to place him under arrest. I consented”. The Chief cheers up at this and kisses Daffy’s feet (animated by Washam).

“11:07. We proceeded to the scene of the crime”. Daffy and Porky go into one of several evaporators that transports them from the police headquarters to the “Scene of Crime”- the bank, which they enter. “11:21. Checked in at the scene of the crime. The crime robots were on the job”. These robots appear to be a combination of one with a printer-shaped body, a vacuum attached, a mechanical hand carrying a magnifying glass, multiple hands picking up clues, a camera on its top, and a hat stand-shaped robot pushing it. “They were searching out and collecting vital bits of evidence”. They are revealed to be labeled “ACME Clue Collector”. “Picking up suspicious footprints”- actually vacuuming them up-, “Gathering up all significant objects. No clue is too small to escape their notice” (animated by Richard Thompson).

“12:15 am. We returned to headquarters with the clues”. Porky, carrying a bag labeled “Clues” remarks, “A c-c-cop’s life isn’t all b-b-beer and Skittles, ya know”, before dumping them into the “Ajax Crypto-Analyzer”, which also has the warning, “Caution! Remove All Chicken Bones”. Daffy: “Now, all the facilities of a great modern crime lab were brought to bear”. The machine, a “Univac” analyzes it and looks at the clues like cards. The one that gets picked is inserted out in front of Porky, who takes it over to a piano-like device to play the clue on it. It plays an old-fashioned silent era-type tune as Daffy narrates, “We identified the name of that song”, before answering verbally, “Mother Machree”. They walk over to some filing cabinets, “We proceeded to the Machree file”. Once Daffy opens it, it opens out very long and presumably out of the office, “It was a long one. We finally found what we were after”. Porky pulls out a criminal card of George “Mother” Machree, whose aliases are “Danny Boy”, “Wild Irish Mose”, and “Eddie the Fagan”. Daffy remarks in his narration, “This criminal was so clever he’d never been suspected of anything” (animated by Thompson).

“The case was beginning to heat up. Our next step was the crimino-detecto set”. Said set has the instruction, “To Locate Known Criminals, Push Designated Button”. Daffy pushes the one labeled “‘Mother’ Machree” and the screen shows the exterior of the space diner, “Elsa’s Blast-Inn”. Daffy: “Machree was found to be at Elsa’s Blast-Inn, selecting a sandwich. 12:40 am. He selected a pastrami on rye with mustard. That figured. We didn't have much time. He was a notoriously fast eater. 1:07. He left the Blast-Inn. 1:08. We arrived at the Blast-Inn. Our deductions later proved that we had missed him by one minute. 1:09. We set out in pursuit”, where they rush past a “Good Rumour” ice cream man who drives a spaceship selling ice cream bars (animated by Harris).

Chasing Machree past the “Stratosphere Theater”, Daffy and Porky come to a stop at a traffic-light device that they can go through once it turns green on their side. “10:23. We lost him in a large smog bank over Los Angeles”. The ship stops when Porky notices something, “Hey, J-J-,eh, Joe. Get a load of this”. Machree is shown to be leaving with his ship covered up by smog. Daffy and Porky catch up to him as the former demands on loudspeaker, “All right, Machree, we know you’re in there! Come on out!” Daffy narrates, “Like all criminals, he had an elaborate alibi prepared”. Rising out with his hands up, Machree meekly explains, “I didn’t do nothing! I didn’t do nothing! Like I said, I-I didn’t do nothing!” (animated by Thompson)

A different narrator substitutes for Daffy in the last scene, “This case was brought to trial April 23, 10 am in Ultra Superior Court 13527B, Department of Astral Justice. As a result of this trial, the two arresting officers were sentenced to twenty years for false arrest”. On a black and white photo of him and Daffy, Porky corrects, “Eh, th-th-THIRTY years!” After a “Case Closed” is slapped onto the photo, Daffy replies, “Like I said, thirty years” (animated by Thompson).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

🥕🥕🥕🥕