In the distant future of the 24½th century, a black duck dressed in a bright green shirt with an oversized red cape is summoned to an outer-space headquarters and given his mission. The world’s supply of shaving cream atoms is running out and only he, Duck Dodgers (played by Daffy Duck), can save the day — along with some help from his Eager Young Space Cadet (Porky Pig).

Over the next seven minutes, Dodgers bungles his mission and instead ends up in a war with Marvin the Martian that results in the destruction of the very thing Dodgers was after in the first place. But while the disastrous ending of Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century was fairly typical for Daffy Duck, nothing else about the cartoon was. The 1953 short, directed by Chuck Jones, is one of the most singularly memorable cartoons in the entire library of the original 1,000 Looney Tunes shorts.