Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century

Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century is a 1980 animated short film starring Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Marvin the Martian. It is the sequel to the 1953 cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century. It was the first Daffy and Porky cartoon since 1965. This cartoon first premiered on November 20, 1980, as part of an animated CBS television special called Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special, with scenes that would later be cut when this cartoon was reformatted as a short.[4] The final credited work of Michael Maltese (who would die only three months following the short's original broadcast), the majority of Maltese's storyboards (including a duel between Marvin and Daffy and the return of K-9, who features prominently within the boards) nonetheless went unused within the finished short. The only parts written by Maltese that remained in the final product is the problem of the lack of the element that produces yo-yo polish (called flexonite in the boards) and Gossamer being shaven (albeit with Porky using hair clippers instead of Daffy singing The Song of the Marines to Gossamer and his weakness being barbers instead of music).[5][6]

The theme tune is an orchestral version of Frédéric Chopin - Polonaise in A major Op. 40 No. 1 Military.

Daffy Duck reprises his famous role of Duck Dodgers in another spoof of Saturday afternoon space serials. Assigned to locate the rack-and-pinion molecule needed for yo-yo polish, Dodgers and his sidekick, an eager young space cadet (Porky Pig), crash their spaceship into a giant eggshell-shaped planet, where they find Marvin the Martian, who is, as usual, scheming to destroy Earth in an attempt to solve the "fuel problem". Marvin asks Dodgers to visit the boudoir of Gossamer, which Dodgers thinks is a space princess, but Gossamer turns out to be a giant, hairy monster in sneakers, and the frightened Dodgers flees. Porky uses electronic clippers to literally haircut Gossamer into nothingness, and Dodgers, infuriated by his assistant's all-too-literal interpretations of his commands, repeatedly fires his gun at Porky. When Porky asks what Earth will do without the rack-and-pinion molecule Dodgers replies "Let them eat cake."

• Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck (as Duck Dodgers), Porky Pig, Marvin the Martian, Gossamer and Dr. I.Q.