Release Date:

July 7, 1956

Main Character(s):

Daffy Duck

Summary:

Daffy Duck is the titular hero parodying Superman but a very incompetent one. In his guise of mild-mannered newspaper reporter “Cluck Trent”, Daffy overhears a Russian-accented villain named Aardvark Ratnik seemingly threatening the newspaper editor, unaware that the voice is coming from a “corny soap opera” the editor is watching on TV. Daffy ends up making a complete fool of himself when he disrupts several activities that he believes are terroristic attacks by Ratnik.

That’s Not All, Folks:

The production number is 1416 and was released as a Looney Tune.

While “The Super Snooper” was the first of McKimson’s TV parodies, they really took off with this cartoon when television was becoming more and more popular. Two more McKimson TV parodies would be released later in the year with those being “Wideo Wabbit” and “The Honey-Mousers”.

This cartoon is an obvious parody of Superman, and the second Warner cartoon to do so, with the first being “Super Rabbit” from thirteen years earlier.

The train seen during the “more powerful than a speeding locomotive” is a reused shot from “Hare Trigger” from eleven years prior.

The “tallest building” that Daffy leaps over is called “McKimson Associates”, an obvious reference to Robert.

The cartoon was used in the 1983 compilation movie, “Daffy Duck’s Movie Fantastic Island”.

Carl Stalling scored this one.

The brand of pills that Daffy takes is “Dr. Pierce’s Mild Pills- For Mild-Mannered People”, with this being a reference to Tedd Pierce.

Both the narrator and Daffy pronounce “evil” as “e-vill” (albeit the latter only does so when he first hears Ratnik on TV).

This cartoon was released on Ringo Starr’s 16th birthday.

The animator draft for the cartoon can be viewed here.

Favorite Scene:

Daffy believes that Ratnik is preparing to blow up a train trestle unaware that this is actually a stunt for a Warner Bros. movie being filmed.

What Happens in This One:

Voices are heard as something is zooming through the air. “Up there in the sky!”; “It’s a bird!”; “It’s a plane!”; “No! It’s Stupor Duck!”, with the cartoon’s title appearing when the latter is said. The zooming then causes the credits and director credit to appear before it’s revealed to indeed be Daffy as the announcer explains, “Yes, it’s Stupor Duck! Possessing extraordinary powers, this strange being from another planet is… faster than a bullet”- actually a pop gun (animated by Keith Darling). “More powerful than a speeding locomotive” (reused shot from “Hare Trigger”); “Able to leap the tallest buildings”- Daffy’s attempt to do it ends with his cape getting caught on the flagpole, causing him to chuckle awkwardly while strained (animated by Russ Dyson).

“Disguised as Cluck Trent, a mild-mannered reporter on the metropolitan newspaper, Stupor Duck fights an endless battle against the forces of… evil!” Having typed very fast on the typewriter, Daffy moves his tied-up fingers around rapidly to get them free. He then walks away from his desk (animated by Darling) and goes over to the water cooler to get a drink after taking one of “Dr. Pierce’s Mild Pills- For Mild-Mannered People”. While he’s filling his cup, Daffy overhears a Russian-accented voice from the newspaper editor’s office evil laughing and threatening, “You cannot stop me, Mr. Newspaper Editor! I blow up everything! Boom! Powie! Zam! Ka-boom! All over (animated by George Grandpre) country! Buildings! Bridges! Power plants! Trains! Ships!” It turns out this voice is actually coming from a program the editor is watching on TV. “Everywhere ruin and destruction! Then I, Aardvark Ratnik, be supreme! (evil laughs)” Oblivious that he has flooded the entire room with the entire cooler and is now standing in ankle-high water, Daffy realizes, “Blow up buildings? Bridges? Sink ships? Say! I believe this Aardvark Ratnik fellow is in league with the forces of evil. This looks like a job for Stupor Duck” (animated by Darling).

Daffy sloshes out of the flooded room, “Now to the broom closet to change (animated by Darling) from the guise of a mild-mannered newspaper reporter to that of Stupor Duck”. He goes into said broom closet, and mistakenly comes out dressed as a witch on her broom and doing a high-pitched cackle like one. Realizing in his normal voice, “Whoops! Wrong costume!”, he flies back in and jumps back out in the appropriate super outfit, “Ta-da!” Daffy sees his reflection in the cigarette machine he’s standing in front of and notices the parts where his shoulders are supposed to go are misaligned so he readjusts them before going off to confront Ratnik, unaware that he doesn’t actually exist in the same world (animated by Ted Bonnicksen).

The program continues as Ratnik is heard saying, “And I, Aardvark Ratnik, will rule the world! (evil laughs)” The editor turns it off while saying to himself, “I don’t know why I (coughs) watch these corny soap operas!” Daffy then comes in, “Where is he? Where’s the cowardly little sneak? Ah-ha! Escaped out the window, eh!?” He pushes the editor aside, “Stand aside! This is a job for… Stupor Duck!” Daffy opens the window while he gets a good running start only for it to shut before he can run out, causing him to crash through the window and fly smack into a hotel across the street. Having landed on the ledge, Daffy sulks to himself, “Sakes! I-I mean, wouldn’t ya think they could find some other place to put a building!?” (animated by Bonnicksen)

Daffy then flies through the air before hearing an explosion and noticing, “That building down there! It’s blowing up!” After a shot of said building starting to fall, Daffy assumes, “Ah-ha! The evil work of Aardvark Ratnik! This is a job for… STUPOR DUCK!” Daffy begins to zoom down, only for the bottom flap to come undone and show his rear tail feathers, so he fixes it. Daffy catches the building before it crashes to the ground and pushes it back up to where it originally stood. He then flies down proud of himself, oblivious that he has landed in front of a sign reading, “This Building Being Wrecked to Make Way for a New City Hall”. One of the demolition workers then marches up to Daffy in annoyance. Thinking the worker has come to thank him for “saving” the building, Daffy humbly tells him, “No! No thanks are necessary, my good man! I was just doing my duty!” The worker instead punches him in the face, causing Daffy to groggily recite, “Then the lights went out all over the world!” (animated by Grandpre)

Flying over the ocean, Daffy next spots, “There! In the ocean! A ship sinking!”, but this is actually a submarine beginning to submerge. “Thank goodness I’m in time to show Aardvark Ratnik he’s no match for uh…. Stupor Duck!” Daffy dives into the water and brings the submarine back up to the surface, which responds by blasting a cannon at him. Irritated, Daffy dares, “Alright, Ratnik! Let’s see ya try THAT again!” An unseen voice in the sub yells, “Fire 1!” as another voice answers, “One away, sir!” It turns out they’ve fired a torpedo at Daffy, who frantically tries to outrun it while hoo-hooing. The torpedo eventually catches up to him in the distance and blasts him. Daffy emerges out of the water to let out a weak “Mother!” before sinking upside down like a torpedoed ship. A few of his items such as his comb, reporter glasses, the “S” on his super outfit, and his box of vitamins then float up to the surface (animated by Dyson).

Next flying over the mountains, Daffy remarks to himself, “Hmmph! That Ratnik’s a slippery one alright, but not quite slippery enough!” He then sees, “Ah ha! Planting dynamite at the base of that railroad trestle! The work of that rat Ratnik or I don’t know my rats!” This is actually a stunt being filmed for a Warner Bros. movie (animated by Darling). Daffy announces once more, “This is a job for… uuuuuuuuhhhhhhh….. STUPOR DUCK!” He dives down (animated by Bonnicksen) and makes off with the TNT as the train begins crossing the trestle. The crew member working the TNT plunger pushes it, causing the explosives to blow up on Daffy in mid-air. He watches Daffy’s feathers float down and then catches the “S” from Daffy’s super outfit. Entering mostly featherless, Daffy snatches the “S” back in an annoyed manner, “I’ll just relieve you of that IF you don’t mind!”, before storming off (animated by Darling).

Daffy resumes flying as he remarks, “Shucks! I almost had him that time! But just let him make one false move and I’ll-!” He is interrupted by an alarm-like noise and spots a rocket about to be launched: “Project Moon: Government Rocket Testing Grounds”, mistaking it for a missile (animated by Darling). “THIS IS A JOB FOR…. you know who”.Daffy then threatens as he points down toward the rocket, “Alright, Ratnik! Ya better make your first shot a good one ‘cause I’m coming down there and shove that over-sized cannon cracker right down your throat!” Daffy dives toward the rocket (animated by Bonnicksen) and catches on to the side of it, “Gotcha!” He is launched along with the rocket with the blast-off being so powerful, it causes him to lose his super outfit, which flies down to the ground. Two mountain climbers witness the rocket launch, “Up there in the sky!”; “It’s a bird!”; “It’s a plane!”, before both shout and point in unison, “IT’S STUPOR DUCK!” The cartoon ends with the rocket having reached space and carrying a screaming Daffy towards the moon (animated by Grandpre).

Where Can I Watch It?

At toontales.net!

Carrot Rating:

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