Contents: Overview - Backplot - Questions - Analysis - Notes - JMS

Overview

Dodgers undertakes a perilous journey to Planet X, where a powerful alien force awaits. Daffy Duck as Duck Dodgers.

Sub-genre: Intrigue
G5 rating: Second-favorite thing in the universe

Original air year: 1953

   Story by Michael Maltese
Directed by Chuck Jones

Backplot

• Shaving cream is made using Alludium Phosdex.
• Earth has used up valuable natural resources and must look elsewhere in the universe for certain mineral needs.

Unanswered Questions

• How are people able to breathe at an altitude of approximately 32 miles (17,000 stories)?
• How did Marvin Martian manage to land on Planet X immediately after Dodgers did? Has Mars run out of Alludium Phosdex as well?
• What biological function is responsible for the glow emanated by Dodgers when he shouts out his name?
• Are Duck Dodgers and the infamous Sinclair's Duck one and the same?
• Was the actual matter of Planet X destroyed, or was its mineral content dispersed throughout the galaxy, where it might be found at some future date?
• How do Duck Dodgers, Porky, and Marvin, ever leave the remains of the planet?

Analysis

• When Dodgers falls several stories during the first act, he suffers only minor injuries. Perhaps Dodgers, by being DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24-1/2TH CENTURY, has powers greater than the average mortal. Further evidence corroborates this when it is considered that Dodgers survives several lethal blasts, including one that decimates an entire planet.
• Marvin Martian's ship, the "Martian Maggot" looks suspiciously like a Vorlon cruiser. And yet, Ambassador Kosh is suspected to actually be Duck Dodgers. So perhaps The Martian Maggot was actually stolen Vorlon technology.
• Duck Dodgers, representing the Earth Alliance, and Marvin Martian, representing Mars, do seem to share a great deal of technology. (Both sides use machines with brand names such as "A-1" and "Acme" and have similarly designed secret weapons.) It is thus logical that this storyline takes place after "A Voice in the Wilderness," in which the Mars colony secedes from Earth. However, this conflicts with the timeline in "Midnight on the Firing Line" in which Garibaldi and Delenn view this episode, several episodes before the revolution on Mars. Perhaps they just weren't paying attention to the signs and portents of an upcoming Mars revolution.
• JMS has stated that there is no Trek-like "transporter" technology in the B5 universe; however, Dodgers uses the Evaporator to transport himself to the airport. This may be an inconsistency in the B5 setting.
• It is reasonable to assume that the "unknown" area displayed by Dr. I.Q. Hi is equivalent to "the rim" (of known space) that the Icarus had been exploring when Sheridan's wife dissapeared (c.f. "In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum"). Could Planet X be near Z'ha'dum, or perhaps be controlled by the Shadows? Its markings indicate a long-dead civilization, perhaps one of the oldest civilizations in the Galaxy.

Notes

• This is the only Babylon 5 episode to be entirely animated, and using absolutely no CGI for special effects. Considering how well the episode turned out, Ron Thornton may have to start working on his resume.
• This episode features no regular B5 cast members. (Except, perhaps, Kosh.)
• Though the character's name is common knowledge, the name Marvin Martian is not actually uttered on-screen.
• Strangely, this episode was broadcast before the birth of JMS. How this happened is not clear, but it's probably just one of those things.

jms speaks

• I *love* "Duck Dodgers." I have virtually all of the WB cartoons on tape or disk, and from where I sit, that's wonderful stuff that'll be around for a long, long time. No omens, just something I thought would be fun. (Again, connecting past/present/future, sort of our B5 theme.)

• I don't understand...what does Sinclair's duck have to do with anything? We weren't even planning on introducing the duck until late in season two. I suspect a leak. Nothing worse than a leaky duck.

• "How did Sinclair's duck thing get started?"

  Probably by watching an attractive woman walk across the room.

• Me, I'm just waiting for somebody to refer to "The Long Dark" as "The Long Duck"....

• It's a duck. Yes, why, of course it's a ducky. Why would I think anything else? What a silly question.

  It's a duck. A texture mapped metallic duck coming out of a jumpgate.

  A duck. Of course. A duck.

  AAAAUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

  (I wanna see it...and I wanna see it now.)

• Of the options you listed, only D poses a real problem; A-C are more or less okay. The problem comes not so much from speculating on elements already introduced, as introducing *new* plot elements that have not been seen in the show to back up speculation or conjecture, which may or may not approximate what we're doing. "The Minbari surrendered because in some episode we'll see someday the Earth had developed a giant killer space duck hidden on the dark side of the moon that would nibble the Minbari homeworld to destruction." That is kind of the dividing line between what's safe and not-safe.

Last update: June 10, 2018