Looney Tunes Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur is a 1939 Merrie Melodies short directed by Charles Jones.

Plot[]

A note from the director:

For no particular reason, this story is set in the stone age, millions and billions and trillions of years ago, probably before some of you were even born.

Casper, a caveman, and Fido, an apatosaurus, go duck hunting and find Daffy. Casper slingshots a rock at Daffy, but Daffy manages to avoid it by disguising himself as a traffic cop. When the rock realizes that it has been tricked, it backtracks towards Daffy but ends up hitting Fido. Fido proceeds to perform a dazed dance.

Daffy snatches Casper's slingshot and tricks Casper into thinking that swimming is not allowed to prevent him from pursuing him. Subsequently, Casper and Fido leave, but Daffy, knowing that Casper won't give up, paints himself on a nearby stone. Casper, holding a stone club, sees the painting and bashes it, but the force backfires and makes Casper dizzy. Daffy gives Casper a glass of water, which cures the dizziness and earns him Casper's trust. Daffy, however, gives Casper a card advertising a rare, gigantic duck living nearby, which Casper and Fido begin to hunt, following billboards (parodying advertising techniques of the 1930s) planted by Daffy. They eventually reach the giant duck inflatable balloon pumped up by Daffy, terrifying Casper until Daffy gives Casper a knife with which to stab the duck. Casper does so, and the ensuing explosion kills them all.

The three lounge on clouds in angel garb. Fido plays a harp while Daffy and Casper lament their mistakes. Daffy says, "You know, maybe that wasn't such a hot idea after all," and Casper says, "Good night, folks."

Caricatures[]

Overview[]

Jones' Direction[]

Most of Chuck Jones-directed cartoons from this era (such as the ones featuring Sniffles the Mouse), were very heavily inspired by Walt Disney's cartoon shorts, placing more emphasis on story and animation than on gags. "Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur" shows the faintest hints of deviation from such cartoons, which would eventually lead to the fast-paced Jones cartoons of the 1940s, such as "The Dover Boys" and "The Draft Horse".

This is also an important milestone in the evolution of Daffy Duck's personality. While Tex Avery and Bob Clampett had depicted Daffy as completely insane, irrational, and uncontrollable in their previous cartoons with the character, Jones depicted Daffy here as somewhat more thoughtful and calculating. Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng would continue to develop Daffy's personality in this direction throughout the 1940s and 1950s.

Censorship[]

  • A fade to black between two scenes near the end of this cartoon are removed when this cartoon aired on Cartoon Network and Boomerang in the United States.[4]

Availability[]

Streaming[]

Notes[]

  • This is the first Daffy Duck cartoon to be directed by Chuck Jones.
  • This is likely the final Merrie Melodies cartoon to re-use the same opening Color Rings background for the opening credits, as subsequent color Merrie Melodies cartoons since then have their own custom-made title card backgrounds for their opening credits.
  • This marks Daffy Duck's first death. He would later die in "Draftee Daffy" and "Show Biz Bugs".
  • This is the last cartoon to have the credits shown in Color Rings. In addition, this is the last cartoon to have the bylines "VITAPHONE Presents", which had started with "The Phantom Ship" in 1936. After this cartoon, the bylines "WARNER BROS." "Present" will appear on the screen instead, starting with "Porky and Teabiscuit", but in a banner.
  • This cartoon premiered with Dark Victory.
  • This cartoon fell into the public domain in 1967 when United Artists did not renew the copyright in time.
  • An Italian redub of this short has its original opening music cue altered with 1941–45 Merrie Melodies opening music theme.[5][dead link]
  • Clips from this short were used in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Memorial".
  • Disney and KCTS also used a clip from this short in the Bill Nye the Science Guy episode "Dinosaurs" for a "What's wrong with this picture?" gag involving the depiction of humans and dinosaurs coexisting.
  • The music video for the Was (Not Was) song "Walk the Dinosaur" features clips of this short playing on a television set.
  • This is the last color short to feature Daffy Duck for three years, until the 1942 Merrie Melody "Conrad the Sailor", also directed by Chuck Jones.
  • Vitaphone release number: 8839

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. https://tralfaz.blogspot.com/2011/11/story-of-casper-caveman.html
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFG1o7lY7FU
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Webb, Graham (2011). The Animated Film Encyclopedia: A Complete Guide to American Shorts, Features and Sequences, 1900-1999, 2nd, McFarland, page 85. ISBN 978-0786449859. 
  4. https://www.intanibase.com/gac/looneytunes/censored-d.aspx
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9vUzQcYWDI
← Daffy Duck in Hollywood Daffy Duck Cartoons Scalp Trouble →
Daffy Duck Cartoons
1937 Porky's Duck Hunt
1938 Daffy Duck & EggheadWhat Price PorkyPorky & DaffyThe Daffy DocDaffy Duck in Hollywood
1939 Daffy Duck and the DinosaurScalp TroubleWise Quacks
1940 Porky's Last StandYou Ought to Be in Pictures
1941 A Coy DecoyThe Henpecked Duck
1942 Conrad the SailorDaffy's Southern ExposureThe Impatient PatientThe Daffy DuckarooMy Favorite Duck
1943 To Duck .... or Not to DuckThe Wise Quacking DuckYankee Doodle DaffyPorky Pig's FeatScrap Happy DaffyA Corny ConcertoDaffy - The Commando
1944 Tom Turk and DaffyTick Tock TuckeredDuck Soup to NutsSlightly DaffyPlane DaffyThe Stupid Cupid
1945 Draftee DaffyAin't That DuckyNasty Quacks
1946 Book RevueBaby BottleneckDaffy DoodlesHollywood DaffyThe Great Piggy Bank Robbery
1947 Birth of a NotionAlong Came DaffyA Pest in the HouseMexican Joyride
1948 What Makes Daffy DuckDaffy Duck Slept HereThe Up-Standing SitterYou Were Never DuckierDaffy DillyThe Stupor SalesmanRiff Raffy Daffy
1949 Wise QuackersHoliday for DrumsticksDaffy Duck Hunt
1950 Boobs in the WoodsThe Scarlet PumpernickelHis Bitter HalfGolden YeggsThe Ducksters
1951 Rabbit FireDrip-Along DaffyThe Prize Pest
1952 Thumb FunCracked QuackRabbit SeasoningThe Super SnooperFool Coverage
1953 Duck AmuckMuscle TussleDuck Dodgers in the 24½th CenturyDuck! Rabbit, Duck!
1954 Design for LeavingQuack ShotMy Little Duckaroo
1955 Beanstalk BunnySahara HareStork NakedThis Is a Life?Dime to Retire
1956 The High and the FlightyRocket SquadStupor DuckA Star Is BoredDeduce, You Say
1957 Ali Baba BunnyBoston QuackieDucking the DevilShow Biz Bugs
1958 Don't Axe MeRobin Hood Daffy
1959 China JonesPeople Are BunnyApes of Wrath
1960 Person to Bunny
1961 The Abominable Snow RabbitDaffy's Inn Trouble
1962 Quackodile TearsGood Noose
1963 Fast Buck DuckThe Million HareAqua Duck
1964 The Iceman Ducketh
1965 It's Nice to Have a Mouse Around the HouseMoby DuckAssault and PepperedWell Worn DaffySuppressed DuckCorn on the CopTease for TwoChili Corn CornyGo Go Amigo
1966 The AstroduckMucho LocosMexican MousepieceDaffy RentsA-Haunting We Will GoSnow ExcuseA Squeak in the DeepFeather FingerSwing Ding AmigoA Taste of Catnip
1967 Daffy's DinerQuacker TrackerThe Music Mice-TroThe Spy SwatterSpeedy Ghost to TownRodent to StardomGo Away StowawayFiesta Fiasco
1968 Skyscraper CaperSee Ya Later Gladiator
1980 The Yolks on YouThe Chocolate ChaseDaffy Flies NorthDuck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century
1987 The Duxorcist
1988 The Night of the Living Duck
1990 Box Office Bunny
1991 (Blooper) Bunny
1992 Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers
1995 Carrotblanca
1996 Superior Duck
2003 Attack of the Drones
2004 Daffy Duck for President
2012 Daffy's Rhapsody
Advertisement