Rocket Squad

Rocket Squad is a 1956 Merrie Melodies short directed by Chuck Jones.
== Title ==
The title is a play on the crime drama series Racket Squad.
== Plot ==
In this futuristic setting, Daffy Duck is Sgt. Joe Monday and narrator of the story. His partner, Det. Schmoe Tuesday (Porky Pig), and himself are returning from a routine investigation of a 712-malicious mischief ('School children blew one of the rings off of Saturn. When will parents learn to keep uranium out of their children's reach.') in the Big Dipper area, when they receive a call from the police chief. They return to headquarters and await the police chief's call ('10:52: Back at the old desk, waiting for a call from the Chief. Half a cop's life is spent in waiting. 10:53: the Chief called.'). We then hear Daffy exclaiming that the police chief is asking him to pursue the Flying Saucer Bandit, but see the police chief on his knee's begging and crying for Daffy to take the case. Upon telling the viewer's that he consents to take the case, we see the police chief kissing his feet.
Sgt. Monday and Det. Tuesday then report to the scene of the crime. The crime robots are already there picking up clues to aide Daffy and Porky in there ability to identify the Flying Saucer Bandit. They return to the station with a bag of clues, and empty them into the Univac clue machine, which pops out a music sheet for a piano. The music sheet is placed into a piano, which plays out the song Mother Machree, identified by Daffy. They proceed to the George 'Mother' Machree file where they begin their pursuit of the Flying Saucer Bandit.
They learn that the Flying Saucer Bandit is at a restaurant ordering a sandwich, to which they hurry because he is known as a 'notoriously fast eater'. Upon arriving, they realize they have missed the bandit, and continue their chase ('1:07: He left the Blast-Inn. 1:08: We arrived at the Blast-Inn. Our deductions later proved that we had missed him by one minute. 1:09: We set out in pursuit.') We see Porky and Daffy in hot pursuit of 'Mother' Machree when they lose him in a smog bank over Los Angeles. Porky points out a smog cloud flying away, when they pull up and tell Machree to come out, to which Daffy informs us he has an elaborate alibi already cooked up, "I didn't do nothing... I didn't do nothing! Like I said, I didn't do nothing!" Daffy and Porky are sentenced to thirty years in prison for false arrest.
== Caricatures ==
* Jack Webb - Daffy Duck appears as his character from Dragnet, Sergeant Joe Friday.
* Ben Alexander - Porky Pig appears as his character, Officer Frank Smith.
== Availability ==
GUFFAW AND ORDER.jpg|(1994) LaserDisc Guffaw and Order: Looney Tunes Fight Crime
Bumper06.jpg|(1996) VHS Special Bumper Collection (Vol. 6)
Original Space Tunes VHS.jpg|(1998) VHS Space Tunes
Space Tunes.jpg|(1999) VHS Looney Tunes Presents Marvin the Martian: Space Tunes [reissued version]
LTCE VOL 12 PORKY AND DAFFY.jpg|(1999) VHS Looney Tunes: The Collectors Edition Volume 12: Porky and Daffy
Golden Collection box 3.jpg|(2005) DVD Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 3, Disc Three
lt cbopp2.jpg|(2007) DVD Looney Tunes Collection Best of Porky Volume 2
lt cv3.jpg|(2018) DVD Looney Tunes Collection Volume 3
Lt double.jpg|(2020) DVD Bugs Bunny's Lunar Tunes Marvin the Martian Space Tunes Double Feature (same print as the 1998 VHS)
=== Streaming ===
lt hbo max.jpg|HBO Max (2020 - 2022)
== Notes ==
* This is a futuristic parody of the classic television shows Dragnet and Racket Squad.
* Daffy's and Porky's characters first names put together are 'Joe Schmoe': Sgt. Joe Monday and Det. Schmoe Tuesday ("He always follows me," declares Joe).
* In their ship, a wanted poster behind Daffy's head states "Wanted Robot Taylor", a reference to actor Robert Taylor. Three years after the release of this cartoon, Taylor would star in the TV drama series The Detectives.
* Much of the imagery, particularly entering the police station and the evaporators, is reused from Chuck Jones' 1953 short "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century".
* Among the names appearing on the buttons of the Criminal Detecto Set are John Burton, Tedd Pierce, C.M. Jones, Mel Blanc, Norman Moray, and Eddie Selzer, all of whom had a hand in the making of the short (Moray was a key executive with The Vitaphone Corporation, Warner Bros.' short-subject division).
* Porky and Daffy losing the Flying Saucer Bandit in a smog bank over Los Angeles is in reference to Los Angeles being considered the Smog Bank Capital of the world in the early to late 1950s.
* This short has been shown (in clips) in the PBS special Chuck Jones Extremes & Inbetweens as part of the section about Jones using Porky and Daffy in cartoon shorts that parody popular movie and TV show genres of the era.
== Gallery ==
RocketSquadCredits1.png
RocketSquadCredits2.png
02813712633712938391297.jpg
Rocketsquad.jpg
Ltajcc-25.png
Rocketsquad2.PNG
LTMMLC10.jpg|Lobby card
51FasL7ULZL.jpg|Lobby card
764-CMD1.png|Character model drawing
764-LD1.png|Layout drawing
764-LD2.png|Layout drawing
764-AD1.png|Animation drawing
== External links ==
* "Rocket Squad" at the SFX Resource Wiki
Category:1956
Category:Merrie Melodies Shorts
Category:Shorts
Category:Cartoons directed by Chuck Jones
Category:Daffy Duck Cartoons
Category:Porky Pig Cartoons
Category:Cartoons with characters voiced by Mel Blanc
Category:Cartoons written by Tedd Pierce
Category:Cartoons produced by Eddie Selzer
Category:Cartoons animated by Abe Levitow
Category:Cartoons animated by Richard Thompson
Category:Cartoons with layouts by Ernest Nordli
Category:Cartoons with backgrounds by Philip DeGuard
Category:Cartoons with film editing by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with sound effects edited by Treg Brown
Category:Cartoons with music by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons with orchestrations by Milt Franklyn
Category:Cartoons that contain excerpts from "Powerhouse"
Category:Hollywood in Cartoons