Quacker Tracker (Looney Tunes)

Quacker Tracker (episode 975)
"With this cartoon around, everything would be too short to enjoy it anyways."
Directed by: Rudy Larriva Written by: Tom Dagenais Release date: April 29, 1967 Franchise: Looney Tunes Prequel: "Daffy's Diner" (previous short) Sequel: "The Music Mice-Tro" (next short)

Quacker Tracker is a 1967 Looney Tunes cartoon produced by Format Films. In this short, Daffy Duck hunts after Speedy Gonzales for the Tooth and Nail Hunting Society.

Bad Qualities

1. While Daffy Duck has been miscast as an antagonistic villain for Speedy Gonzales as with the other shorts from the DePatie-Freleng and Seven Arts era due to bad flanderization, this short is one of the best examples of how off their pairing is, as Daffy himself is outright unneeded to be in this short. Considering this short having to involve a hunter vs prey, basically it wastes all potential that the short has.
   • Not helping is for a hunter vs. prey scenario like this, Bugs Bunny+Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck+Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny+Yosemite Sam or Daffy Duck+Yosemite Sam would've made much better-suited pairings as protagonist and antagonist respectively in this short, but unfortunately since Format Films wasn't allowed to use any Looney Tunes character other than Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales by then (not even Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner which they previously used for the "The Larriva Eleven" the previous year), they had no choice but to use Daffy and Speedy to fill in the roles of hunter antagonist and prey protagonist respectively.
2. The transition from DePatie-Freleng Enterprises to Format Films shows very significant decrease of animation quality here, being produced from a made-for-TV studio. Speedy's and Daffy's designs here are notably more off-model and the movements are jerkier.
3. Stock-like and uninteresting music score from Frank Perkins, with William Lava supervising said musical score.
4. Typical of most shorts by Format Films, there is constant recycling of animation. Notably, the explosion scene from "The Larriva Eleven" returns here, but recolored.
5. Unfunny and predictable gags and story.
6. Very slow pacing.
7. In a particularly absurd gag, even for Looney Tunes, Speedy's crew somehow ignites Daffy's hat by squirting Tabasco sauce on it. It's baffling to consider how a hot sauce could be so fiery as to actually burn a hat.

Good Qualities

1. Although Daffy Duck is inappropriately cast as the villain in this short, he has a more justified reason for pursuing Speedy Gonzales, as he aims to earn a promotion at the hunting society by capturing Speedy.
2. Speedy Gonzales is also to an extent likable in this short too.
3. Good voice work from Mel Blanc, as always.
4. Some of the color styling by background artist Walt Peregoy is excellent.
5. Virgil Ross tries to salvage the animation, most notably when Daffy is first seen.

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