The Night of the Living Duck is a 1988 Merrie Melodies short directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon.
Plot[]
Daffy Duck is reading a scary comic book that eventually ends in a cliffhanger, leading Daffy to rifle his bookcase looking for the next issue. In doing so, however, a monster clock falls and beans Daffy, causing him to have a dream where he is the featured act in a nightclub. All the customers at the nightclub however are classic movie monsters. Seemingly unable to sing, Daffy thankfully brings out a bottle of "Eau de Tormé" throat spray that he found in his dressing room, which makes him sing like Mel Tormé. After drinking the entire spray for maximum effect, he sings "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" to the room, and they love it. Then he goes around the room, greeting the patrons, but his good-natured ribbing of "Smogzilla" (with jokes involving leveled major cities, the Richter scale and cheap special effects) does not go over well with the giant lizard, who eats Daffy. Daffy wakes up, to find himself stuck in a wastebasket, along with the comic he was looking for, with Smogzilla on the cover. Daffy scoffs, but the Smogzilla image comes to life, telling the duck, "You was expecting maybe Calvin Coolidge?"
Availability[]
Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
Daffy Duck's Quackbusters, Side 1
Bugs Bunny's Creature Features
Looney Tunes After Dark
Bugs Bunny's Halloween Hijinks
Daffy Duck's Quackbusters
The Essential Daffy Duck, Disc 2
4 Kid Favorites Looney Tunes Collection
Notes[]
- The short's premise is similar to that of earlier short "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery", except Daffy does not knock himself out on purpose here.
- It was released to theaters as a part of Daffy Duck's Quackbusters on 24 September 1988, just a day after the short was first shown, serving as the film's opening sequence. It later appeared in the 1992 TV special Bugs Bunny's Creature Features. The short subsequently precedes Quackbusters in all of the film's subsequent releases, including in TV broadcasts and home media.
- The piano music used for "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" plays during the credits.
- This is the last Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoon where Mel Blanc voices one of his characters.
- Because Blanc's voice was too weak to scream as the result of his illness, Daffy's screams when eaten by Smogzilla were recycled audio from "Boobs in the Woods".
- Alfred E. Neuman of MAD magazine fame appeared briefly in this short holding some drinks when the Creature from the Black Lagoon and his female captive were shown. An issue of MAD can also be seen at the start of the short.
- Quackbusters would credit E.C. Comics for his appearance here in the film's end credits.
- Some of the monsters featured include Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, Bride of Frankenstein, Invisible Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob, Medusa, The Fly, Leatherface, The Wolfman, and Godzilla, the latter called Smogzilla in the cartoon to avoid legal issues with Toho at the time.
- In the opening sequence, Daffy has a "1978 Star Drek Convention" pass among the various comics and magazines, a reference to Star Trek.
- Music for this short is re-used from "Satan's Waitin'", "Show Biz Bugs", and "Corn Plastered".
- MeTV aired a previously unreleased restored print of the cartoon on "Toon In With Me".
- For unknown reasons, this short is not available for streaming on Boomerang or HBO Max.