History WesternAnimation / DuckDodgersInTheTwentyFourthAndAHalfCentury

* AnAesop: The short features Duck Dodgers in an EscalatingWar over Planet X with Marvin the Martian, to the point where they both use their "Secret Weapons". Dodgers succeeds in claiming Planet X, by which time it's roughly the size of an end table. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything A parable of the futility of nuclear war?]] Whether obvious or not, the creative team behind this short stated that it is an allegory for the Cold War. This can be read in the 50 Greatest Cartoons book.

"Duck Dodgers in the 24½[-[[superscript:th]]-] Century" (an obvious parody of ''Series/BuckRogersInTheTwentyFifthCentury'') is a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1953]] Creator/ChuckJones-directed ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' short featuring WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck as the eponymous Duck Dodgers, a cocky, spectacularly inept space hero who, with the help of an Eager Young Space Cadet played by WesternAnimation/PorkyPig, battles Marvin the Martian for control of Planet X, only known location of "Illudium Phosdex," the shaving cream atom.

* {{Martians}}: Duck Dodgers' arch-enemy Marvin the Martian is one of the more famous examples this side of ''War of the Worlds''. NASA even used a depiction of Marvin on the mission patch for one of its Mars rovers.

----

%%* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: The disintegration-proof vest is all that is left after Dodgers is disintegrated.%% Doubtful it's the right trope.

* DisintegratorRay: Too bad it disintegrates itself rather than the target. Of course, while Marvin's pistol is A-1 brand, Daffy's pistol is ''Acme''.
-->'''Duck Dodgers:''' And brother, when it disintegrates, it ''[[AmbiguousSyntax disintegrates]].''\\

* HadTheSillyThingInReverse: The TropeNamer occurs when Dodgers tries to lift off in his rocket ship while accidentally having it set to reverse, causing the rocket to nonsensically embed itself in the dirt.

* RoguesGalleryTransplant: Before that cartoon Marvin The Martian opposed Bugs Bunny. This cartoon first picks him against Daffy. And as this cartoon later became the inspiration for the ''WesternAnimation/DuckDodgers''-series, Marvin is nowadays most associated with that role.

* ScrewYourUltimatum: Marvin's "Ultimatum Answerer" simply [[TalkToTheFist fires a bullet within a bullet]] at Dodgers.

* PyrrhicVillainy: By the ''hero'', yet, since between the two of them Dodgers and Marvin end up blowing up Planet X, the very thing they were fighting over (including the supply of illudium phosdex Dodgers was sent to retrieve). Not that Dodgers realizes it at the time, as focused as he is on winning.

This short made it on "WesternAnimation/TheBugsBunny/RoadRunnerMovie"

* ArmorIsUseless: The Disintegration Proof Vest works perfectly. Too bad it doesn't cover the whole body. Or even protect what it ''does'' cover, for that matter; only the Vest itself is Disintegration Proof.

* ComicallyLopsidedRivalry: Given Marvin was designed to give ''Bugs Bunny'' a hard time, Daffy for the large part is completely at his mercy until he enforces a PyrrhicVictory. The Cadet helps him get in a small CurbstompCushion with an explosive "birthday gift," however.

* DisintegratorRay: Too bad it disintegrates itself rather than the target. Of course, while Marvin's pistol was A-1 brand, Daffy's pistol was ''Acme''.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Instead of being the usual code name for an unknown planet, Planet X is literally “X” of the Alphabet Planets.
* ExactWords: Dodgers' Disintegrating Pistol ''and'' his Disintegration-Proof Vest. Also, by the end, "This planet ain't big enough for the two of us."

* ShapeshiftingExcludesClothing: The disintegration-proof vest is all that is left after Dodgers is disintegrated.

* TemptingFate: When Marvin is about to shoot Daffy while the latter has a Disintegration-Proof Vest underneath his uniform, Daffy taunts Marvin. Unfortunately for Daffy, [[ExactWords his Disintegration-Proof Vest turns out to be the only part of him that is entirely immune to Marvin's]] DisintegratorRay.

* TrickBullet: Dodgers fires an Ultimatum Disptcher at Marvin, which shoots a bullet that stops in mid-air, opens and out pops a written ultimatum. Marvin responds with an Ultimatum Answerer, which fires a bullet that stops and shoots a bullet of its own. Dodgers fires his Ultimatum Dispatcher again, and this time the bullet's message reads "Ouch!"

%%* ShapedLikeItself: See DisintegratorRay, above.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Porky Pig as the Eager Young Space Cadet.

* HadTheSillyThingInReverse: The TropeNamer.

* Raygun Gothic: Very much so.

* ScrewYourUltimatum: Marvin's "Ultimatum Responder" simply [[TalkToTheFist fires a bullet within a bullet]] at Dodgers.

* TrickBullet: Dodgers fires an Ultimatum Disptcher at Marvin, which shoots a bullet that stops in mid-air, opens and out pops a written ultimatum. Marvin responds with an Ultimatum Responder, which fires a bullet that stops and shoots a bullet of its own. Dodgers fires his Ultimatum Dispatcher again, and this time the bullet's message reads "Ouch!"

* The50GreatestCartoons: #4.

* ComicallyLopsidedRivalry: Given Marvin was designed to give ''Bugs Bunny'' a hard time, Daffy for the large part is completely at his mercy until he enforces a PyrrhicVictory. Eager Young Space Cadet helps him get in a small CurbstompCushion with an explosive "birthday gift," however.
* ComplexityAddiction: Dodgers' ludicrously convoluted proposed route to Planet X. Even Dodgers thinks so when his cadet seems to understand it.

'''Eager Young Space Cadet:''' Y-y-oh sure!\\

* NeverMyFault: Dodgers blames Cadet for Marvin disintegrating him even though it was clearly Dodgers' own fault.

* PyrrhicVictory: Dodgers ''technically'' wins in the end, but destroys Planet X in the process. Lampshaded by the Eager Young Space Cadet: "B-b-b-b-big deal."

* ShoutOut: When the Eager Young Space Cadet gives Marvin the lit stick of dynamite, he says "Happy b-b-b-birthday, you, uh, [[Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld thing from another world]], you!"

* StatingTheSimpleSolution: Instead of the [[ComplexityAddiction ridiculously complex route]] that Dodgers draws up to reach Planet X, Space Cadet suggests simply following a series of conveniently alphabetized planets. Dodgers first laughs at the notion, then [[GladIThoughtOfIt takes it as his own]].
* TheTelevisionTalksBack: Marvin shoots Dodgers from the screen on which Dodgers is watching him.

* TrickBullet: Dodgers fires an Ultimatum Gun at Marvin, which shoots a bullet that stops in mid-air, opens and out pops a written ultimatum. Marvin responds with an Ultimatum Responder, which fires a bullet that stops and shoots a bullet of its own. Dodgers fires the Ultimatum gun again, and this time the bullet's message reads "Ouch!"