Moby Duck (Looney Tunes)

Moby Duck
"Don't you think you better reconsider?" Tell that to whoever started Daffy's new evil characterization.
Series: Looney Tunes Episode Number: 943 Air Date: March 27, 1965 Writer: John Dunn Director: Robert McKimson Previous episode: "The Wild Chase" Next episode: "Assault and Peppered"

Moby Duck is a 1965 Looney Tunes cartoon starring Speedy Gonzales and Daffy Duck from the DePatie-Freleng Productions era.

Plot

Speedy Gonzales and Daffy Duck are stranded on a desert island starving. As they both find a box filled with hundreds of canned food, Daffy refuses to even share a single crumb from one can with the mouse, as he attempts to get the can opener from him (even if it means to kill him and/or make him starve to death) despite Speedy's deal to land it to him if he get less than half of the food to share in return.

Why It's Stranded

1. The entire cartoon is a complete rehash of the cartoons "Canned Feud" and "Rabbitson Crusoe", but it removes all of the charm and likability from the latter short. Unlike the well-fed mouse in the former short who was starving Sylvester purely out of sadism in which Sylvester has the bravery to fight back, and Yosemite Sam was going after Bugs Bunny for a good reason; food, Speedy Gonzales is starving and repeatedly offers to give Daffy the can opener throughout the entire cartoon if he can have at least one of the hundreds of cans of food in which both the duck and the mouse found, which Daffy refuses to do purely out of greed. Additionally, the cartoon ends differently with Speedy giving Daffy the can opener because he had found another source of food thanks to Robinson Crusoe inviting him.
2. As the second Looney Tunes cartoon to pair up Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales, this is the first cartoon to have Daffy Duck miscast as an outright evil and villainous antagonist due to very bad flanderization. In this short, he tries to prevent Speedy Gonzales from eating any food solely out of greed and malice, without any comedic traits whatsoever. When several big crates of canned food wash up on the island, Daffy claims them all for himself, refusing to let Speedy have even a crumb from a single can even though Daffy has hundreds of them. When Speedy tries to bargain with Daffy, offering a can opener in exchange for less than a quarter of food, Daffy refuses and tries to murder Speedy; accusing him of being selfish. Finally, when Speedy gives Daffy the can opener out of pity for him, Daffy is entirely ungrateful, claiming Speedy won't even get one crumb even though he gave him the can opener.
3. Almost all of the gags are reused from the aforementioned shorts, including the axe from "Canned Feud" and the swordfish from "Rabbitson Crusoe". It additionally also includes a rehash of the boulder gag from "Apes of Wrath".
4. Daffy shows signs of being a racist by making fun of Speedy Gonzales accent at several points.
5. Stock-like music from William Lava.
6. Slow pacing for a series that is normally fast-paced on the jokes.
7. Poor animation and art designs.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Speedy Gonzales is still a likeable character, as with his other appearances.
2. Mel Blanc, as always, does an amazing job with the voice work.
3. Daffy Duck still gets his comeuppance in the end.
4. The music from the title card actually sounds very catchy, and sounds better than the rest of the cartoon.

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