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"Don't go away, Daniel Boob. I'll be back in a flash!"

"Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers! And gunpowder! And cordite! I'm an elk! Shoot me! Go on, it's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me?! It's fiddler crab season!"
Daffy Duck

"Duck! Rabbit! Duck!" is a 1953 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones. It is the third and final installment of the "hunting trilogy", following "Rabbit Fire" and "Rabbit Seasoning".

When Elmer Fudd goes hunting in winter, Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny find themselves again locked in battle.


Tropes! Title, Tropes!:

  • Amusing Injuries: The shotgun blasts in the face annoy more than harm Daffy, and easily half of the visual humor in the short comes from the various ways that his bill ends up in some place other than its normal position afterwards.
  • And I'm the Queen of Sheba: In the face of Bugs' antics, Daffy pulls out this trope: "If he's dead, then I'm a mongoose!" Of course, it backfires spectacularly.
  • Aside Glance: When Daffy hands him the supposed fricasseeing rabbit license, Elmer reads it over and sees the "duck" reference. Daffy telling him to hurry up prompts Elmer to look at us in confusion. With Daffy still insisting he hurry up, Elmer simply shrugs at us before shooting him.
  • Bowdlerization: Like Rabbit Fire and Rabbit Seasoning, all scenes of Daffy getting blasted by Elmer's shotgun were edited. Some versionsnote  replaced the actual shots of Elmer firing at Daffy's head with a still shot of Bugs Bunny looking off-screen and had the audio play normally, while other versionsnote  spliced out any and all scenes (both visual and audio) of Daffy getting shot.
  • Catchphrase:
    • Bugs says his "Eh, what's up, Doc?" when appearing as angel, after Elmer thinks he's shot him.
    • To no one's surprise, the last words of the short are Daffy's "You're despicable."
  • Crazy-Prepared: Bugs seems to have a hunting-season sign for every animal Daffy figuratively calls himself.
  • Crazy Survivalist: Daffy, because it's actually duck season.
    Daffy: [burning the "Duck Season" signs] I am a duck bent on self-preservation-num... manum.
  • Didn't Think This Through: When Bugs dresses up like a duck, Daffy yells at Elmer to "Shoot the duck!" Naturally, Elmer shoots the nearest duck: him.
  • Distinction Without a Difference: Elmer points his rifle at Bugs, saying, "Got you, you wabbit stew!" Bugs retorts that he's not a stewing rabbit, but a fricasseeing rabbit, even producing an ankle tag identifying him as such. He then asks Elmer if he has a fricasseeing rabbit license. What Elmer doesn't know is that a fricassee is actually a type of stew.
  • Dub Species Change: The first Italian dub of the short replaces Daffy calling himself a mongoose to him calling himself a Bird-of-paradise.
  • Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: From the Trope Namer.
  • Face Palm: Daffy's response to Bugs' angel disguise (and how easily Elmer falls for it). He facepalms so hard his beak shakes.
  • Fire of Comfort: At the beginning of the episode, Daffy is warming himself at one made from the "Duck Season" signs he's just taken down.
  • Flat "What": When Daffy sees how he was had by Misspelling Out Loud, he refers to himself as the goat. Bugs responds by holding up a "Goat Season" sign, and Daffy has this reaction when he sees Elmer about to shoot him again.
  • Freak Out: Daffy eventually snaps from multiple gunshots.
    Daffy: Shoot me again! I enjoy it! I love the smell of burnt feathers, and gun powder, and cordite! I'm an elk! Shoot me, go on! It's elk season! I'm a fiddler crab! Why don't you shoot me? It's fiddler crab season!
    • Elmer has a milder one after being told by the "game warden" (Bugs) that it's baseball season.
  • Graceful Loser: When Bugs tricks Daffy with the fricasseeing duck license, he takes it calmly and admits Bugs got one on him.
    Daffy: Guess I'm the goat.
  • Guile Hero: Bugs, naturellement.
  • Harmless Villain: By this short, Elmer is essentially reduced to Daffy's Butt-Monkey status, having lost the plot so fully that he resorts to only shooting his prey according to what they "order" him to do. Even abiding by that, he succeeds in only irritating Daffy with Amusing Injuries.
  • Laughing Mad: Elmer at the end of the episode.
  • Literal-Minded: Whenever Daffy makes some figure of speech about him being an animal, Elmer always fails to realize the duck doesn't actually mean it. Bugs naturally takes advantage of this to get Daffy shot more.
  • Misspelling Out Loud: As Daffy makes a fricasseeing rabbit license for Elmer, he asks Bugs how to spell fricasseeing. Bugs spells it "F-R-I-C-A-S-S-E-E-I-N-G D-U-C-K". Daffy doesn't catch on until Elmer shoots him.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: When Elmer seemingly shoots Bugs, and sees him come down (as a fake angel) asking how things are down on Earth, he becomes regretful.
    Elmer: Golly, Mr. Wabbit, I hope I didn't hurt you too much when I killed you.
  • Ninja Log: While Daffy and Elmer are conferring, Bugs makes a snowman of himself, which Elmer then shoots at.
  • Parasol Parachute: How Bugs drops down to Earth while pretending to be an angel.
  • Running Gag: Whenever Daffy, figuratively, calls himself a certain animal, Bugs gets Elmer to shoot Daffy by holding up a sign that says that animal is in season.
  • Sanity Slippage: Both Elmer and Daffy, since they constantly get outsmarted by Bugs.
  • Series Continuity Error: Back in Rabbit Fire Elmer admitted to being a vegetarian who only hunted for the sport. This time, Elmer expresses a desire for rabbit stew. (Or Characterization Marches On, if you like.)
  • Spontaneous Crowd Formation: After Elmer is gone, Bugs ask Daffy what season it really is, to which Daffy nonchalantly admits it's duck season, resulting in a surrounding swarm of hunters popping instantly into view and blasting him.
  • Talking with Signs: Bugs pulls out an "X Season" sign every time Daffy says he's a particular animal.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Daffy. Especially at the end, when he casually mentions to Bugs that it's really duck season, and is promptly surrounded by hunters who all pump him full of lead.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Bugs doesn't so much trick Elmer into shooting Daffy as he does trick Daffy into bringing it on himself, such as with Misspelling Out Loud and the signs.
    Daffy: Brother, am I a pigeon!
    [Bugs holds up a "Pigeon Season" sign, at which point Elmer again opens fire.]
  • Villainous Breakdown: See Freak Out above.
  • Villainous BSoD: Daffy's Freak Out transitions into this: "What have I done? Where did I take the wrong turning?"
  • Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: Bugs invokes this by disguising himself as an angel after Elmer shoots a snowman version of Bugs.

"YOU'RE DESPICABLE!!!"

 
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Daffy's nervous breakdown

After having been shot by Elmer one too many times in the face, Daffy loses his temper and yells at Elmer to shoot him again by acting like and elk and a fiddler crab, exclaiming that it's those respective seasons.

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4.9 (30 votes)

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Main / AmusingInjuries

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