"Best O' Plucky Duck Day": Discussion

[Speedy Boris]

Best O' is right. This may be one of my all-time favorite Plucky episodes, and definitely one of my favorite episodes of Tiny Toons, period. From start to finish it's a riot, and it is quite possibly Kennedy's best outing. Because I love this episode so much, there are going to be a LOT more pics than usual.

Written by: Beth Bornstein, Paul Dini, Eddie Fitzgerald, Tom Minton, Tom Ruegger
Storyboards by: Byron Vaughns, Robert Fuentes, John Dorman, Rich Arons
Directed by: Rich Arons
Animation by: Kennedy Cartoons

So the first segment is "One Minute Til Three", which concerns Plucky in Granny's class (apparently some sort of math class for calculating how to animate). As the title suggests, it's one minute until school's out for the weekend, and Plucky couldn't be more excited and fidgety. Only problem is, Granny insists on an oral pop quiz, to which the punishment for a wrong answer is a REALLY huge term paper... due Monday.


As she goes through the class, everyone gets her questions wrong and this makes Plucky extremely nervous, especially since he doesn't even know what class he's in.

Of course, it doesn't help that Bookworm hints to Granny to call on Plucky, as well as the clock seemingly going BACK a minute, truly making it, as Plucky himself calls it, "one of the longest sixty seconds in the history of time".

Luckily, by a huge coincidence, Plucky manages to avoid the term paper when he's called on by saying "But Granny, it's 2:59!" (as in PM) And 259 just happens to be the correct answer.

I LOVE the animation in this short. It's full and smooth, yet it's bouncy and full of life, because Plucky snaps from crazy pose to crazy pose to accentuate how nervous he is.

And many of Plucky's poses are so exaggerated, like shaking with fear and squashing down in his seat. I don't know who animated some of the scenes in this short, but my hat's off to them. I wish ALL Kennedy shorts looked and moved this good.

Then we come to "Sticky Feathers Duck", where Plucky is short on change but wants a candy bar. So he devises the sinfully easy plan of stealing one. As per usual, he drags Hamton into his scheme, even going so far as to making Hamton the one to stuff the candy bar in his overalls.

Of course, every story needs an adversary, and in this case it's a nosy yet completely clueless clerk. Despite Hamton and Plucky overacting and screaming in terror when he approaches them, he doesn't suspect a thing, and the two hightail it out of the store with the stolen goods.

But neither want it, since their guilty conscience takes over fairly quickly.

Then they cut to a dream sequence where the candy bar comes alive, grows to tremendous size, and repeatedly shouts "EAT ME!!!", which is ironic since the bar actually eats THEM at the end of it. The two rush back into the store and give the bar back to the clerk, admitting their wrongdoing. Then comes a great "screw you" gag, where Plucky and Hamton think they'll be rewarded for their honesty but instead the clerk shouts that they're not allowed in the store again. Classic.

OK, so the short is essentially a preachy vehicle to say "Stealing is wrong". But I don't really care, it was highly entertaining, especially the loud crinkling sound when Hamton tries to tiptoe with the candy bar in his overalls. The animation isn't the same as "One Minute Til Three"- it's more controlled, more restrained. But it's not bad at all; just a different Kennedy style.

Finally we come to "Duck in the Dark", which I'd rank as my second favorite short in this episode. It involves Plucky staying up late at Buster's watching horror movies, particularly Eddie Cougar (shown above), a parody of you-know-who. Buster warns Plucky that he'll had bad dreams, but Plucky shrugs it off...

...That is, until he turns off the light and he sees monsters. I LOVE that gag. It's timed perfectly, with the very instant that the lights go out, these gruesome monsters appear, moaning at him.

Plucky finally gets to sleep, and as predicted, he has nightmares. One is a Frankenstein parody, and another (my personal fave) is a Jaws parody with a twist joke: The ominous fin in the water turns out to be some giant kid's hair, who emerges from the bathtub. But then the kid pulls a zipper, revealing there's a huge shark underneath. I love it.

Waking up (or so it looks like), Plucky tries to wake up Buster but finds a gruesome Buster instead, which prompts him to run through the house.

Throughout the remainder of the cartoon, Eddie Cougar terrorizes Plucky, until he finally wakes up for real, only to go right back to the TV and watch more horror films. Classic Plucky- he doesn't learn his lesson. For some reason that shot above with a mini Eddie Cougar riding Plucky's back always cracks me up- I don't know if it's the fact that he's shrunken or his over-the-top evil laugh, but it gets me every time.

All in all, I love this episode. It's funny, it's well-animated with a variety of styles, and even though Plucky is mostly a victim in these shorts, the circumstances he's put through are great. Your thoughts?

Previous discussion threads:
Her Wacky Highness
Citizen Max
The Looney Beginning
Hollywood Plucky
K-ACME TV vs. ACME Cable TV
Grandma's Dead
Hog-Wild Hamton
Return of Pluck Twacy

[Martianinvader]

This has one of my favorite opening remarks.

"Guess what we've got for you today? Three hilarious duck tales!"
"DON'T USE THAT WORD!!!"
"Uhh, three duck STORIES! Three duck CARTOONS! Yes, that's it, three hilarious duck car-TOONS!"

Plucky-based shorts from the first season were always anxiety-heavy, and three in a row was enough to induce an ulcer. This was the most panicky episode of TT produced, and though it was funny, as a kid I always held my breath hoping Plucky would make it out of Granny's class. That situation was all too real back then.

Other favorite quotes (these aren't exact, going from memory):
"Elmyra, how do you use trigonometry when animating kittens?"
"WELL, first you pay extra-special close attention to the furry-wurry fur on each one! And then you love them to itty-bitty PIECES! ....Oh, and you also use trigonometry."
"WRONG!! TEN ZILLION PAGE TERM PAPER, DUE MONDAY!"

"Shirley, how would I go about animating a square with five sides?"
"Well, like, a square can only have four sides, so doing that would be like totally impossible!"
"WRONG! NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE IN ANIMATION!"
That's a great quote right there, and sums up my whole view on cartoons.

"TASTE THE POWER....OF THE DARK SIDE!" --the candy bar. Before he said it, I was wondering if he would.

[tb4000]

I think every kid that saw One Minute till Three could relate to that. Even if you were in high school or college you could relate.

[Tinytooncrazy]

For some reason Duck in the Dark was shown as a seprate short on Tiny toons volume three along hair raising night , little cake of horrors and night of the living pets ( Which I heard never got shown on tv

[Speedy Boris]

"Night of the Living Pets" actually DID air on TV as part of "Toons From the Crypt" (along with "Wait Til Your Father Gets Even" and "Concord the Kindly Condor"). Not sure if it aired on Fox, but it definitely aired in Nick reruns.

[Silverstar]

Originally Posted by Tinytooncrazy

For some reason Duck in the Dark was shown as a seprate short on Tiny toons volume three along hair raising night , little cake of horrors and night of the living pets (Which I heard never got shown on tv

"For some reason"?? This is just a shot in the dark, but I think it might have had something to do with the fact that "Duck in the Dark" was horror-themed, as were all the other shorts on that particular volume.

[Fifi Fanatic]

"One Minute Til Three" is one of my favorite cartoons ever. It resonates for the simple reason (as tb4000 has already said) that it is a situation that everybody, and I mean everybody, has been in at least once. Not just in school, but even in the work world.... some garbage gets dumped in your lap literally one minute before quitting time. So, it is very very easy to relate to Plucky here. The only real problem I ever had with the cartoon, though, is Granny. To me, Granny is out of character as "The teacher from you-know-where." I would have put Elmer or Sam in that role had it been me. *shrugs*

"Sticky Feathers Duck" and "Butt-Out" are among the few preachy episodes I can tolerate. To this day, whenever I get a candy bar out of a vending machine, I'll call it "The Acme Super Duper Munch and Crunch Bar... with almonds!" The ending was great, as it flew right in the face of those after-school specials where the kids get rewarded for their honesty.

Finally, "Duck in the Dark". A fun Clampett-ish romp. What higher recommendation can I give then that?


(With football season in full swing, we need a talkback for "The Acme Bowl" *hint hint*).

[Speedy Boris]

Originally Posted by Fifi Fanatic

(With football season in full swing, we need a talkback for "The Acme Bowl" *hint hint*).

As you wish. Watch for it.

[Jave]

This is definitely one of the best episodes of the series, and most definitely the best one by Kennedy. Hilarious from beginning to end and some truly fitting sloppy animation, which Kennedy didn't accomplish often.

One thing I've always wondered about this episode is that it's a "Shorts" episode, yet all writers are listed at the beginning rather than at the beginning of each short. One may assume the whole thing was a team effort, but the nature of the shorts seem more likely that each story was written separately.

Bear in mind, this is PURE speculation:

"One Minute 'til Three" seems to be Paul Dini's work. He wrote the funniest episodes and normally most of the ones that involved the Looney Tunes. The running gag seems to be his staple, and definitely his sense of humor.

"Sticky Feathers Duck" looks to be from Tom Minton and Beth Bornstein. Minton wrote plenty of moralistic stories (not just on TTA), and there seems to be various mood switchs and plot developments (from crime to guilt to confession) in the episode that suggest this is not the work of just one person, so I'll say Bornstein's contribution was for this short (given I have no other info on her).

"Duck in the Dark" has Eddie Fitzgerald written all over it. It has all the surreal and frantic humor that was very notorious in Fitzgerald's stories (most notably "Return of Pluck Twacy"), so I'm positive this short is his work.

Tom Ruegger probably wrote the interstitials. For what I've gathered, that stuff usually was done by him, even if he didn't get credit for it.

[Speedy Boris]

Good theory, Jave. "Duck in the Dark" is a lot like "Return of Pluck Twacy" in more ways than one, which Eddie also wrote.

Apparently Beth Bornstein also wrote one episode for both Doug and Batman: The Animated Series, as well as various animated action shows from the '80s. Don't know much else about her, though, and I couldn't tell you if she had a definite writing "style".

[TnAdct1]

Originally Posted by Speedy Boris

"Night of the Living Pets" actually DID air on TV as part of "Toons From the Crypt" (along with "Wait Til Your Father Gets Even" and "Concord the Kindly Condor"). Not sure if it aired on Fox, but it definitely aired in Nick reruns.

"Toons from the Crypt" was banned from Fox, with the episode not airing on TV (save for the "Wait Til Your Father Gets Even" segment, which aired on the Plucky Duck Show) until the TTA began airing on Nick.

[dth1971]

Regarding "One Minute Till Three": Granny shouting "wrong!" to the students of Acme Loo was a inspiration for the "Aw, ain't that cute, BUT IT'S WRONG!!!" man in Hanna-Barbera's 1993 cartoon "2 Stupid Dogs".

[Martianinvader]

Originally Posted by dth1971

Regarding "One Minute Till Three": Granny shouting "wrong!" to the students of Acme Loo was a inspiration for the "Aw, ain't that cute, BUT IT'S WRONG!!!" man in Hanna-Barbera's 1993 cartoon "2 Stupid Dogs".

Unless you know that as a fact, then don't say it.

[Silverstar]

Originally Posted by dth1971

Regarding "One Minute Till Three": Granny shouting "wrong!" to the students of Acme Loo was a inspiration for the "Aw, ain't that cute, BUT IT'S WRONG!!!" man in Hanna-Barbera's 1993 cartoon "2 Stupid Dogs".

The guy's name was Hollywood, and can you provide proof of this? Because without said proof, it just sounds like you're jumping to your own conclusions. Don't state things as facts unless you can back up your claims.

[Speedy Boris]

Trying to get this thread back on topic, so I'm going to reply to something I forgot to earlier...

Originally Posted by Fifi Fanatic

The only real problem I ever had with the cartoon, though, is Granny. To me, Granny is out of character as "The teacher from you-know-where." I would have put Elmer or Sam in that role had it been me. *shrugs*

I didn't really have a problem with Granny in this short. I can see where you're coming from, but... you ever had a teacher in school who's usually nice and agreeable, and then one day suddenly decides to crack down for whatever reason? I've had that a few times. It's like, "Whoa... are you the same person?" I can imagine that normally Granny was sweet and pleasant, but for some reason (whether to prove her authority in the classroom, or snapped because her students weren't learning to her liking) decided to give out large term papers on a Friday, and that understandably freaked out Plucky, as well as the other students.

Of course, I'm probably reading too much into this; the writers probably just wanted an authority from the old school roster and randomly chose Granny, since she hadn't really been used as a teacher yet.

[tb4000]

Isn't that part of Granny's persona anyway? She's always been a sweet old lady, but in some shorts if Sylvester or someone screwed around with her, she just went nuts.

[Jave]

Granny could actually be pretty crazy in the original shorts. She was seen hitting animals (mostly Sylvester) and violating the law (when she sneaked in Tweety in a hotel). There were also at least two times in which she threataned to kill one of her pets. ("If anything happens to that bird while I'm gone... bang! bang! BANG!!")

[Speedy Boris]

^ ^^ That's true, too. Granny had a bit of a violent streak concerning Sylvester when he tried to eat Tweety. This dark streak was just differently projected in the classroom- massive term papers instead of smacks on the head.

[dth1971]

Regarding "Sticky Fingers Duck": Does the convience store counter man nearly resemble Apu of the Kwik-E-Mart on the Simpsons?

[tb4000]

Considering they both came out in 1990, another coincidence. Most convienience store owners were and still are the archetypical Middle Eastern/Indian type.