Plucky Duck
Encyclopedia
Plucky Allen Duck is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros.
animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures
. He is also the titular character in Gary A. Lewis's Plucky Duck in the Summer Job. He is arguably the third main character on the show after Buster and Babs. Plucky is voiced by Joe Alaskey
(who also voices Daffy Duck). Plucky is a young, green male duck
with a tank top. He attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme Acres.
, and resembles the Chuck Jones
characterization of Daffy in many ways, but not entirely. One such similarity Plucky has with Daffy is the classic gag from the "hunter trilogy
." In the trilogy Daffy's bill keeps coming off; in Tiny Toon Adventures
, Plucky's bill keeps coming off as a running gag
in the episodes.
, to delay doing his own homework
, to traveling to Hollywood, California in an ill-fated attempt at selling his life story as a movie
. His schemes often failed because his ego personality traits get in the way or because a guilty conscience got the better of him (as was the case when he attempted to cheat on a test and subsequently went insane as he brooded over the morality of his actions). Babs once aptly described him as "the silly green duck with an ego the size of Cleveland."
Similar to Daffy's relationship with Bugs Bunny
, Plucky also sometimes found himself at odds with the two main stars of Tiny Toon Adventures, Buster and Babs Bunny, though the three managed to remain friends (the rabbits were generally indifferent to Plucky's egotistic personality when not using it to their advantage) and Plucky occasionally displays a sense of loyalty to them. Ironically, even though Plucky would gripe about how he deserved to have as much or more air-time on the show than Buster and Babs, a massive chunk of the series' episodes usually revolved around him in some manner.
Plucky's best friend is Hamton J. Pig
, a mild-mannered pig
and Plucky's opposite, much as Porky Pig is the opposite of Daffy. Plucky often takes advantage of Hampton. Plucky's romantic interest is Shirley the Loon.
In a somewhat ironic twist, considering he's a waterfowl, Plucky's got a very weak stomach for boats and gets seasick very easily, even leading to him loudly barfing on "No Toon is an Island"
Despite his selfish nature, Plucky does genuinely care for his friends particulary Hamton.
Some episodes featured Plucky, a comic book
enthusiast, parodying various heroic characters, much like Daffy's roles of Duck Dodgers
and The Scarlet Pumpernickel
. These included The Toxic Revenger (See below), James T. Duck (a parody of Captain Kirk
in Star Trek
), Bat-Duck (a parody of Batman Returns
, with Hamton in Robin
's red-and-green as "Decoy, the Pig Hostage"), and Pluck Hyerdahl of the Kon-Ducki (in a parody of Thor Heyerdahl
and the Kon-Tiki
).
Of interesting note, in the credits to the episode featuring Elmyra's version of The Name Game
the line appears "Name inadvertently left out of The Name Game: Plucky". Of course, Plucky was intentionally left out of The Name Game because if the song was sung with his name, it includes an expletive.
Plucky occasionally signs off with the Romeo and Juliet
line, "Parting is such sweet sorrow!"
Plucky is also shown at age 2 in baby Plucky shorts.
s by other "Baby" Tiny Toons characters, such as Babs Bunny). Baby Plucky was characterized by a higher-pitched voice and stilted "baby-talk" diction ("Not you push the button, I push the button!"), and wore nothing except a diaper. He was also full of the wholly (or at least mostly) innocent mischief for which toddlers are known. Baby Plucky could easily be considered a not-so-subtle parody of the genre of re-imagining established characters as younger versions of themselves; Tiny Toons was often accused by critics of jumping on the bandwagon of that genre. Baby Plucky was voiced by Nathan Ruegger
(the son of writer/producer Tom Ruegger
and the future voice of Skippy Squirrel on Animaniacs
and Froggo
on Histeria!
).
In one short, Baby Plucky discovers that items in the toilet bowl disappear when the toilet is flushed ("Water go down the hoooOOolle."), and proceeds to flush various items simply to watch them vanish, not realizing until far too late that he was clogging the plumbing. In another, Baby Plucky and his mother (who was heard but only shown from the waist down, similar to the appearances of Nanny on the animated series Muppet Babies
and the characters of Mom and Dad from Cow and Chicken
) visit a shopping mall and Plucky's obsession with an elevator ("Wanna go on the el-a-lator. Wanna push the button.") leads him to cross paths with and eventually foil a criminal trying to make a getaway (that same criminal years later would appear in Tiny Toons How I Spent My Vacation). Yet another cartoon has Baby Plucky and his father (also seen only from the waist down) playing miniature golf, in which Plucky manages to infuriate his father by either hitting the golf ball too lightly or hitting it so hard that it bounces off things and injures Plucky's dad, often by striking him in the groin. His father (now on crutches) falls down and says "Congratulations, Plucky. You're going to be an only child!" in a wavering voice. At the end of the episode he hits the "free game" button so hard he gets several dozen balls. In these episodes, his catchphrase became "Elelator (sic)/Blue ball go down the hole.'
Baby Plucky also had several guest appearances in Animaniacs
(normally as a background cameo), whereas when other Tiny Toons characters had cameos, they would be shown in their proper age.
Baby Plucky's end tag credit is him sucking his thumb, then pulling it out to say "I wanna flush it again!", then sucking his thumb again.
who fought against polluters:
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
. He is also the titular character in Gary A. Lewis's Plucky Duck in the Summer Job. He is arguably the third main character on the show after Buster and Babs. Plucky is voiced by Joe Alaskey
Joe Alaskey
Joseph "Joe" Alaskey is an American actor, comedian, and voice artist, credited as one of the successors of Mel Blanc in impersonating the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other characters from Warner Bros. cartoons. He was born in Watervliet, New York.-Other work:Alaskey has also done voices...
(who also voices Daffy Duck). Plucky is a young, green male duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
with a tank top. He attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme Acres.
Fictional biography
Plucky's mentor and favorite teacher is Daffy DuckDaffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...
, and resembles the Chuck Jones
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
characterization of Daffy in many ways, but not entirely. One such similarity Plucky has with Daffy is the classic gag from the "hunter trilogy
Rabbit Fire
Rabbit Fire is a 1951 Looney Tunes cartoon starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. Directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese, The short is notable for being the first film in Jones' "hunting trilogy"—the other two films being Rabbit Seasoning and Duck! Rabbit, Duck!. It is also...
." In the trilogy Daffy's bill keeps coming off; in Tiny Toon Adventures
Tiny Toon Adventures
Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
, Plucky's bill keeps coming off as a running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
in the episodes.
Personality
Plucky, a young duck at age 12, is portrayed on the series as a greedy, egotistical, and a hyper-active young duck, who would often engage in various schemes with the goal of either personal glory or satisfying some personal whim. These schemes ranged from inventing a time machineTime travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
, to delay doing his own homework
Homework
Homework, or homework assignment, refers to tasks assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside of class. Common homework assignments may include a quantity or period of reading to be performed, writing or typing to be completed, problems to be solved, a school project to be built...
, to traveling to Hollywood, California in an ill-fated attempt at selling his life story as a movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. His schemes often failed because his ego personality traits get in the way or because a guilty conscience got the better of him (as was the case when he attempted to cheat on a test and subsequently went insane as he brooded over the morality of his actions). Babs once aptly described him as "the silly green duck with an ego the size of Cleveland."
Similar to Daffy's relationship with Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is a animated character created in 1938 at Leon Schlesinger Productions, later Warner Bros. Cartoons. Bugs is an anthropomorphic gray rabbit and is famous for his flippant, insouciant personality and his portrayal as a trickster. He has primarily appeared in animated cartoons, most...
, Plucky also sometimes found himself at odds with the two main stars of Tiny Toon Adventures, Buster and Babs Bunny, though the three managed to remain friends (the rabbits were generally indifferent to Plucky's egotistic personality when not using it to their advantage) and Plucky occasionally displays a sense of loyalty to them. Ironically, even though Plucky would gripe about how he deserved to have as much or more air-time on the show than Buster and Babs, a massive chunk of the series' episodes usually revolved around him in some manner.
Plucky's best friend is Hamton J. Pig
Hamton J. Pig
Hamton J. Pig is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. He is arguably the fourth main character on the show. Hamton is voiced by Don Messick. Hamton is a young male pig with blue overalls. He attends Acme Looniversity and lives in Acme...
, a mild-mannered pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
and Plucky's opposite, much as Porky Pig is the opposite of Daffy. Plucky often takes advantage of Hampton. Plucky's romantic interest is Shirley the Loon.
In a somewhat ironic twist, considering he's a waterfowl, Plucky's got a very weak stomach for boats and gets seasick very easily, even leading to him loudly barfing on "No Toon is an Island"
Despite his selfish nature, Plucky does genuinely care for his friends particulary Hamton.
Some episodes featured Plucky, a comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
enthusiast, parodying various heroic characters, much like Daffy's roles of Duck Dodgers
Duck Dodgers
Duck Edgar Dumas Aloysius Eoghain Dodgers is the metafictional star of a series of cartoons produced by Warner Bros. He is actually the famous cartoon star Daffy Duck, cast in the role of an intergalactic future hero....
and The Scarlet Pumpernickel
The Scarlet Pumpernickel
The Scarlet Pumpernickel is a 1949 animated Warner Bros. Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1950, directed by Chuck Jones and written by Michael Maltese....
. These included The Toxic Revenger (See below), James T. Duck (a parody of Captain Kirk
James T. Kirk
James Tiberius "Jim" Kirk is a character in the Star Trek media franchise. Kirk was first played by William Shatner as the principal lead character in the original Star Trek series. Shatner voiced Kirk in the animated Star Trek series and appeared in the first seven Star Trek movies...
in Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
), Bat-Duck (a parody of Batman Returns
Batman Returns
Batman Returns is a 1992 American superhero film directed by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the sequel to Burton's Batman , and features Michael Keaton reprising the title role, with Danny DeVito as the Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman.Burton originally did not...
, with Hamton in Robin
Robin (comics)
Robin is the name of several fictional characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and Jerry Robinson, as a junior counterpart to DC Comics superhero Batman...
's red-and-green as "Decoy, the Pig Hostage"), and Pluck Hyerdahl of the Kon-Ducki (in a parody of Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl
Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a background in zoology and geography. He became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands...
and the Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki
Kon-Tiki was the raft used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. It was named after the Inca sun god, Viracocha, for whom "Kon-Tiki" was said to be an old name...
).
Of interesting note, in the credits to the episode featuring Elmyra's version of The Name Game
The Name Game
"The Name Game", or "The Banana Song", is a children's singalong rhyming game that creates variations on a person's name. It was written by U.S...
the line appears "Name inadvertently left out of The Name Game: Plucky". Of course, Plucky was intentionally left out of The Name Game because if the song was sung with his name, it includes an expletive.
Plucky occasionally signs off with the Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
line, "Parting is such sweet sorrow!"
Plucky is also shown at age 2 in baby Plucky shorts.
Baby Plucky
Among the more notable of the Plucky-centric Tiny Toons shorts featured "Baby Plucky", a look back at Plucky's diaper-clad toddler days (with cameoCameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s by other "Baby" Tiny Toons characters, such as Babs Bunny). Baby Plucky was characterized by a higher-pitched voice and stilted "baby-talk" diction ("Not you push the button, I push the button!"), and wore nothing except a diaper. He was also full of the wholly (or at least mostly) innocent mischief for which toddlers are known. Baby Plucky could easily be considered a not-so-subtle parody of the genre of re-imagining established characters as younger versions of themselves; Tiny Toons was often accused by critics of jumping on the bandwagon of that genre. Baby Plucky was voiced by Nathan Ruegger
Nathan Ruegger
Nathan Ruegger is a screenwriter, the son of writer/producer/director Tom Ruegger, and the voice of certain characters in his father's cartoon shows. The first was in Tiny Toon Adventures when he played the baby version of Plucky Duck, famous for his catchphrase "Water go down the hooooooooole!"...
(the son of writer/producer Tom Ruegger
Tom Ruegger
Tom Ruegger is an American animation writer, producer, and director.-Career:In the 1980s Ruegger worked for Hanna-Barbera, writing and producing various animated series, most notably The Snorks, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.In 1989 he began...
and the future voice of Skippy Squirrel on Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
and Froggo
Froggo
Froggo Games was a video game company that produced several games for the Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 game systems, long after the release of the Nintendo NES and other systems. The games were particularly notable for their poor ratings, and is often considered the worst game company on the 2600...
on Histeria!
Histeria!
Histeria! is a 1998 American animated series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Unlike other animated series produced by Warner Bros. in the 1990s, Histeria! stood out as the most explicit edutainment program in order to meet FCC requirements for...
).
In one short, Baby Plucky discovers that items in the toilet bowl disappear when the toilet is flushed ("Water go down the hoooOOolle."), and proceeds to flush various items simply to watch them vanish, not realizing until far too late that he was clogging the plumbing. In another, Baby Plucky and his mother (who was heard but only shown from the waist down, similar to the appearances of Nanny on the animated series Muppet Babies
Muppet Babies
Jim Henson's Muppet Babies is an American animated television series that aired from September 15, 1984 to November 2, 1991 on CBS. The show portrayed childhood versions of the Muppets living together in a large nursery in the care of a human woman called Nanny...
and the characters of Mom and Dad from Cow and Chicken
Cow and Chicken
Cow and Chicken is an American animated series, created by David Feiss. The series shows the surreal adventures of a cow, named Cow, and her chicken brother, named Chicken. They are often antagonized by "The Red Guy", who poses as various characters to scam or hurt them...
) visit a shopping mall and Plucky's obsession with an elevator ("Wanna go on the el-a-lator. Wanna push the button.") leads him to cross paths with and eventually foil a criminal trying to make a getaway (that same criminal years later would appear in Tiny Toons How I Spent My Vacation). Yet another cartoon has Baby Plucky and his father (also seen only from the waist down) playing miniature golf, in which Plucky manages to infuriate his father by either hitting the golf ball too lightly or hitting it so hard that it bounces off things and injures Plucky's dad, often by striking him in the groin. His father (now on crutches) falls down and says "Congratulations, Plucky. You're going to be an only child!" in a wavering voice. At the end of the episode he hits the "free game" button so hard he gets several dozen balls. In these episodes, his catchphrase became "Elelator (sic)/Blue ball go down the hole.'
Baby Plucky also had several guest appearances in Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
(normally as a background cameo), whereas when other Tiny Toons characters had cameos, they would be shown in their proper age.
Baby Plucky's end tag credit is him sucking his thumb, then pulling it out to say "I wanna flush it again!", then sucking his thumb again.
Toxic Revenger
In four cartoons, Plucky played an ecology-themed superheroSuperhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
who fought against polluters:
- "Duck in the Muck": Plucky, as the heroic Toxic Revenger (whose name is a parody of The Toxic AvengerThe Toxic AvengerThe Toxic Avenger is a 1984 comedy horror film released by Troma Entertainment, known for producing low budget B-movies with campy concepts. Virtually ignored upon its first release, The Toxic Avenger caught on with filmgoers after a long and successful midnight movie engagement at the famed...
), attempts to keep Montana MaxMontana MaxMontana "Monty" Master Max is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. He is one of the main characters on the show. and also one of the main antagonists of the show. Monty is voiced by Danny Cooksey. Montana Max is a young, brown haired, male...
from disposing of toxic sludge in Plucky's pond. The title is a play on Duck AmuckDuck AmuckDuck Amuck is a surreal animated cartoon directed by Chuck Jones and produced by Warner Bros. Cartoons. The short was released in early 1953 by The Vitaphone Corporation, the short subject division of Warner Bros. Pictures, as part of the Merrie Melodies series...
. - "The Return of the Toxic Revenger": Plucky plays The Toxic Revenger and shuts down Montana Max's air-polluting "donut hole factory," which produces portable holePortable holeIn various works of fiction, such as cartoons and Dungeons & Dragons, a portable hole is a device that can be used to contravene the laws of physics. It generally resembles a circular cloth which is placed on a surface to create a hole. If placed on a wall, for example, the user could crawl through...
s. - "The Re-Return of the Toxic Revenger": Plucky fights Max again, this time stopping him from draining the swamp in which Plucky and his neighbors live.
- "No Deposit, No Return of the Trash Bag Dispenser": Plucky, in a new costume and calling himself The Trash BagBin bagA bin bag, swag sack or bin liner or garbage bag, trash bag, refuse sack, black sack, or can liner is a disposable bag used to contain rubbish. Such bags are useful to line the insides of waste containers to prevent the insides of the receptacle from becoming coated in waste material...
Dispenser, tries to educate Elmyra DuffElmyra DuffElmyra Jessica Duff is a cartoon character from the Warner Bros. animated television series Tiny Toon Adventures. She is one of the main characters from the show. Elmyra is voiced by Cree Summer in all of her appearances...
about recyclingRecyclingRecycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
so that she will stop throwing away empty cans in the forest.
Reference in other published encyclopedias
Plucky Duck is referenced in The Encyclopedia of Hell and The Rocklopedia Fakebandica.External links
- Tiny Toon Adventures at the Big Cartoon DataBaseBig Cartoon DataBaseThe Big Cartoon DataBase is an online database of information about animated cartoons, animated feature films, animated television shows and cartoon shorts....