Duck Dodgers

Duck Dodgers
Duck Dodgers in the Mars Exploration Rover Mission patch
First appearance	Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century (1953)
Created by	Chuck Jones
Voiced by	Mel Blanc (1953–1980) Joe Alaskey (1990–2014) Jeff Bergman (1991) Frank Gorshin (1996) Jeff Bennett (2004)

Duck Edgar Dumas Aloysius Eoghain Dodgers is the metafictional star of a series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros., featuring Daffy Duck in the role of a science fiction hero.

He first appeared in the 1953 cartoon short Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, directed by Chuck Jones as a spoof of the popular Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Flash Gordon science fiction serials of the 1930s, casting the brash, egomaniacal Daffy Duck as the hero of the story. As of 2003^[update] it is available in the DVD compilation Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1, and is also available for download on the iTunes Store in the Daffy Duck collection.

The plot of the cartoon involves Duck Dodgers' search for the rare element Illudium Phosdex, "the shaving cream atom", the only remaining supply of which is on the mysterious "Planet X." Just after Dodgers has claimed Planet X in the name of the Earth, Marvin the Martian lands on the same planet and claims it in the name of Mars. The stage is set for a battle of wits, not to mention various forms of weaponry, most of which tend to backfire hilariously on Dodgers.

Considering the period in which the cartoon was produced (the Red Scare was in full swing during the 1950s era), some scholars have used the cartoon to parallel the supposed futility of the Cold War and the arms race.