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Friday, December 28, 2012

Honourable Mention: Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters

This was a Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies portmanteau compilation from 1988, with some original cartoons including the wraparound and some classic cartoons (with a few lines altered to fit in with the premise). According to the Wikipedia page it was the last Loony Tunes project to see Mel Blanc (Galaxy Goof-Ups: Vampire of Space, The Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Space Vampire & The Munsters) provide the voices of the characters.

in the cabaret bar
Before the main Quackbusters cartoon there is an unconnected cartoon starring Daffy (Mel Blanc) called “Night of the Living Duck”, which neatly ties in genre fandom by having Daffy – a sci-fi and horror geek, reading comics, looking for a copy of the next edition and (after a bang on the head) dreaming of being the star of the show at a monster cabaret bar. Worth mentioning because of the poster in his room of Dracula as well as several vampire characters in the audience, both a Dracula-esque vampire with two vampire brides and a similar male vampire sat on his own. The main monster focus is a Godzilla type creature.

vampire teeth
In the main feature Daffy is a failed salesman whose last ditch business venture is selling novelty joke props out of a suitcase. He notices a news report that suggests the billionaire J.P. Cubish (Mel Blanc) is dying and has offered a million dollars to anyone who can make him laugh before he dies. Daffy, having eventually got past the butler (Mel Blanc) does indeed make him laugh and suffers weeks of having pies thrown in his face until Cubish dies leaving his entire fortune to Daffy. The proviso is that he must be honest in business affairs and serve the community.

from Transylvania 6-5000
This isn’t likely to happen but Cunish’s ghost keeps making money vanish until he agrees. His idea, however, is to become a paranormalist in order that he might rid the world of ghosts (like Cubish). To that end he hires a reluctant Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) and an eager Porky Pig (Mel Blanc) (who has Sylvester (Mel Blanc) with him). This provides the wraparound for the horror themed cartoons. Though vampires are mentioned quite often (including Daffy wearing vampire teeth to test the mettle of his employees) the only actual encounter is the old classic Transylvania 6-5000, which has been the focus of a previous honourable mention.

The imdb page is here.

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