Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters (Blu-ray Review)
- Review Date: Mar 13, 2025
- Format: Blu-ray Disc
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Director
Greg Ford/Terry LennonRelease Date(s)
1988 (January 28, 2025)Studio(s)
Warner Bros. Animation/Warner Bros. (Warner Archive Collection)- Film/Program Grade: B
- Video Grade: B+
- Audio Grade: B+
- Extras Grade: B-
Review
In the 1980s, animation historian Greg Ford was given the opportunity by Warner Bros. to produce new Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies content. Bringing in animator and director Terry Lennon, who at that point had worked on everything from The Transformers to My Little Pony to Muppet Babies (later becoming an animator for Disney), the two collaborated on several things, but one of their most memorable was Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters. Released theatrically in 1988, it was re-packaging of many classic Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, surrounded by new content to create a story starring Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, and Porky Pig—“Paranormalists at Large!”
Daffy, having attempted one lousy job after another for a quick buck, hits the jackpot after successfully making ailing millionaire tycoon J.B. Cubish laugh, actually dying of laughter in the process. Thankfully for Daffy, he inherits Cubish’s fortune, but under the provision that he provide an honest and respectable service to the community. Immediately scoffing at the idea, Cubish haunts Daffy by slowly taking away his newfound wealth whenever his selfish and self-centered ways get the best of him. In retaliation, Daffy forms his own ghost-busting business, Quackbusters. Hiring Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, they’re taken from one supernatural encounter to the next, while Daffy sweats nervously over his dwindling vaulted riches back at the office.
A personal favorite from the VHS era, it was always clear that Quackbusters was exactly what it appeared to be, a compilation film, but a fun one. As someone who was a horror fan at an early age, this was one of those gateway drugs, filled with monsters and mayhem, and signature Looney Tunes comedy. Unbeknownst to a young me, it also celebrated the work of Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, and Robert McKimson, all of whom were represented. The cartoons featured include The Night of the Living Duck (1988) and The Duxorcist (1987), both directed by Greg Ford and Terry Lennon; The Prize Pest (1951), directed by Robert McKimson; Hyde and Go Tweet (1960), directed by Friz Freleng; and Daffy Dilly (1948), Water, Water Every Hare (1952), Punch Trunk (1953), Claws for Alarm (1954), Jumpin’ Jupiter (1955), The Abominable Snow Rabbit (1961), and Transylvania 6-5000 (1963), all directed by Chuck Jones. (The Night of the Living Duck was actually a new cartoon that played exclusively before the main feature.)
Also along for the ride are Sylvester and Tweety in what I consider to be one of my all-time favorite cartoons, Hyde and Go Tweet, not to mention classics like Claws for Alarm (which to this day is still one of the creepiest Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies shorts ever produced), The Abominable Snow Rabbit, and Transylvania 6-5000. The new cartoons, The Night of the Living Duck and The Duxorcist, are enjoyable enough, even if they don’t have that classic feel to them. The surrounding story works reasonably well and incorporates the vintage shorts in some clever and interesting ways, even adding on to them to better stitch everything together. It’s certainly not seamless, by any means, but the effort is definitely applauded.
While most people would likely consider Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters to be more of a novelty these days, especially since most of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts are far more accessible than they were in 1988, it’s still an entertaining horror comedy romp. It’s also noteworthy for being the final Looney Tunes theatrical production for Mel Blanc, who sadly passed away the year after the film’s release. If anything, it’s a tribute to him, showcasing his talents throughout the decades and realizing that he could still mostly pull off these voices right up until he was no longer with us to do so. That in and of itself is kind of amazing.
Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters was animated using traditional hand-drawn cel animation and finished on 35mm film in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The Warner Archive Collection debuts the film on Blu-ray with a new 4K scan of the original camera negative. Because this is compilation film, comprised of shorts from different eras, there are obvious changes in quality, which are more pronounced in some areas than others. That said, the overall presentation is quite organic, with decent levels of grain and fairly solid line work, complete with all of the inherent visual flaws built-into the original animation. Bitrates often sit between 30 and 40Mbps, with crisper levels of fine detail than previous presentations. The new and old animation actually blends a little better here, with very fine colors and excellent contrast, allowing for deep blacks. Other than of those aforementioned intrinsic visual blemishes, it’s a clean and stable picture, as well. This is about the best it will ever look on Blu-ray.
Audio is included in English 2.0 mono DTS-HD Master Audio with optional subtitles in English. It’s more or less on par with previous home video presentations, but cleaner, and in a lossless container. The audio for this film has never really blended together that well from one segment to the next, and it still doesn’t here. Had their budget allowed for it, it perhaps would have been more effective to re-record everything from scratch so that everything would be consistent. For instance, you can hear definite differences in Porky’s and Daffy’s voices during some of the changeovers. Regardless, it’s solid through and through.
The Warner Archive Collection 1080p Blu-ray release of Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters sits in a blue Amaray case with an insert that re-creates the artwork from the original theatrical poster (I would have preferred that they had just gone with the original artwork, but oh well). We’re given the option of watching either the main feature or the Matinee Version, the latter opening with The Night of the Living Duck short before the film begins, which is how it was presented theatrically, and later on home video. Both versions and the following extras are included:
- Main Feature (73:06)
- Matinee Version (79:19)
- The Night of the Living Duck (HD – 6:12)
- The Duxorcist (HD – 7:45)
- Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (HD – 11:29)
- (Blooper) Bunny (HD – 8:29)
- Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½th Century (HD – 6:41)
- Superior Duck (HD – 6:41)
- Little Go Beep (HD – 7:58)
- Theatrical Trailer (SD – :42)
In addition to The Night of the Living Duck and The Duxorcist being included as extras (the latter in its full original form), there are also several additional shorts, as well. In 1992’s Invasion of the Bunny Snatchers (also directed by Ford and Lennon, and an obvious play on Invasion of the Body Snatchers), Bugs Bunny wakes up to find that all of his archenemies—Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, and Daffy Duck—have been replaced with poorly-animated substitutes. Like the other bonus shorts, Invasion is sourced from a previous restoration, which contains an error. In the original, Daffy Duck’s disordered counterpart’s body is missing for a few frames, but was accidentally fixed in the restoration. In 1997’s (Blooper) Bunny (another Ford and Lennon short), the “51st and a Half Anniversary Spectacular” for Bugs Bunny is attempting to be celebrated by Bugs and company by putting on a show, but as we see in the “behind-the-scenes,” it takes a while to get there. Though completed in 1991, a year after Bugs Bunny’s official 50th anniversary, the short didn’t see the light of day until 1997. 1980’s Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24½ Century, directed by Chuck Jones, is a sequel to the beloved original, seeing Daffy and Porky once again running into Marvin the Martian. Also directed by Chuck Jones is 1996’s Superior Duck, which sees Daffy trying to be like Superman (who also makes an appearance), but as usual, failing. (It’s worth noting that this is the uncut version.) In the last short, 2000’s Little Go Beep (directed by Spike Brandt), we see a baby Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner story, told by Coyote’s dad, played by Stan Freberg. Unfortunately, this short is included in its more commonly-seen widescreen presentation, as opposed to its original Academy aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (the restored original can currently only be found on the Looney Tunes Super Stars’ Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote: Supergenius Hijinks DVD release). Last is an unrestored version of the main film’s original theatrical trailer. Oddly enough, outside of the first two shorts, none of the full originals that are included in the main feature are presented separately.
I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Daffy Duck’s Quackbusters, mostly for nostalgic reasons, but trying to view it from a modern perspective, it’s a still an enjoyable little animated comedy excursion. Warner Archive has finally seen fit to bring it to Blu-ray in excellent quality with plenty of bonus shorts to go along with it. It’s safe to say that we can finally retire our aging DVDs of the film, or for some of us, our VHS and Betamax tapes, as well as our LaserDiscs. In other words, this comes highly recommended.
- Tim Salmons
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