A Quack in the Quarks is the second episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. It was written by Tom Minton and directed by Art Vitello. This episode is about Plucky going to outer space with some young ducklings.
Plot
Plucky begins the new school day by bragging of his "heroic" weekend to the classroom, putting everyone (including the teacher, Foghorn Leghorn) to sleep. Buster and Babs warn him about bragging too much, but Plucky just brushes it off by responding, "Relax, guys. Speeches have to be colorful, don't they?" Two small, beady-eyed, green ducks wearing hats enter the classroom and hand Foghorn a note explaining that their names are Frank and Ollie and that they are new transfer students. Foghorn welcomes them and asks where they are from, but the pair of ducklings point to different directions, causing him to believe that they are "cute, little tykes," but "half a quart low."
Foghorn asks the class who would like to show Frank and Ollie around, and Plucky immediately volunteers. Plucky takes them to "101 Chemistry Lab", bragging about how easy chemistry is for a "genius" like himself, and mixes a few chemicals together. He drinks the combination and temporarily transforms into several different monsters, then smacks his lips and exclaims, "Uumm...Root beer," as the speechless ducks jot everything down in their notebooks. Plucky then shows them the athletic field, where he says he has "record-breaking performances" and tries to pole vault over the bar, but instead catapults himself into the sky.
School is over and Buster, Babs and Hamton wonder where Plucky is at, as they stand outside the entrance. Plucky comes back down from the air and lands head-first in front of Frank and Ollie, exclaiming that he was "not too shabby." They finally speak, believing Plucky is "perfect," and remove their hats, revealing that they have antenna and they are there to bring back the bravest, strongest and fastest earthling to their home planet (who they think is Plucky). Plucky becomes flustered, as suddenly a large ship (shaped like a rubber duckie) hovers over the field. Buster, Babs and Hamton enter the field, as Plucky, Frank and Ollie get sucked up into the ship by a large beam.
The ship takes off and Buster exclaims that Plucky was "ducknapped by aliens!" Frank and Ollie apologize to Plucky for taking him, but they want him to be their new leader. They take him to their planet, which is called "X" and shaped like an X as well, where they introduce the new leader, Plucky (now wearing Luke Skywalker's outfit from Star Wars: A New Hope), to the citizens. Plucky trips and falls off the ship, as Frank and Ollie discuss how brave Plucky is and it will take all his bravery to stop the evil space tyrant, Duck Vader (who speaks with a lisp similar to Elmer Fudd). They are being watched and heard on a monitoring screen by Duck Vader in his spaceship, as he slams his fist down in anger.
In the second act, Buster, Babs and Hamton are on a break discussing how much Plucky gets paid, as they eat doughnuts and drink coffee on the field. The director (Vitello) calls for action on the set for ACT II, and they promptly get back into "character," worried about Plucky being "ducknapped." Buster then tells them to meet him in the prop department.
Plucky is being tested by Frank, Ollie and the planet's elders (tall green ducks with humongous heads) to prove that he is the one to defeat Duck Vader, but he fails both tests (which includes Plucky inside a giant ping-pong ball against a paddle and having a colossal, metal block weighing tons drop on him). The alien elders are not pleased and order (by talking through their minds, as veins in their large heads move when they do, but their mouths never do) the guards to take them away.
Buster, Babs and Hamton search the prop department separately until Hamton yells out that he has found what they are looking for. Buster and Babs rush over to Hamton next to a huge box with a sign that reads, "Duck Dodgers 1953." Buster climbs a ladder and hits the top of the box with a mallet, splitting it apart and revealing the Duck Dodgers spaceship. They enter the ship and blast off into outer space, as they now are wearing Star Wars-esque attire (Buster is dressed as Han Solo, Babs as Leia and Hamton as R2-D2).
The guards throw Plucky into a spaceship shaped like a magnet, as Frank and Ollie plead with the elders that they have seen Plucky perform "amazing feats." An elder responds, "Then you shouldn't mind joining him in his ultimate chance in proving himself," as they are thrown in the spaceship by the guards as well. The ship takes off, as Plucky believes he is on a tour and it better be good. He sees his "royal beanbag" and hops on top, but is quickly yelled off of it when the "beanbag" is revealed to be a large alien bull. Ollie introduces Plucky (smashed inside the wall) to Chewcudda, a large brown bull with an ammo pack strapped around him like Chewbacca, but Plucky sticks his tongue out at him. Chewcudda is infuriated and charges Plucky, slamming him further into the wall. The ducklings tell Plucky to never show him anything red, as it brings out the "bull" in him, and Plucky tells him he won't, as it's the "chicken" in him.
The ship is suddenly invaded upon by Duck Vader's ship (resembling a star destroyer from Star Wars and having holes in it like Swiss cheese), as a giant iron hand comes out from it and grabs their much smaller craft. Duck Vader rips out from the bottom of their ship and wants to know who dares stands in his way of invading planet X. The terrified ducklings tell him Plucky is the one to do so, and Ollie urges him to show Vader who is boss. Plucky walks up to Vader and tried to punch him, but is quickly zapped to a burnt crisp by Vader just pointing at him.
Buster, Babs and Hamton travel through space searching for Plucky. Buster wonders how they are going to find him and Babs answers by means of their trustee Acme computer and one of Plucky's feathers (which reads GRADE A DUCK and which Babs explains was collected at the scene of the abduction). Babs enters the feather into the computer, but it causes the computer to laugh irresistibly and the ship to go out of control.
Plucky is being strapped down to a table by Stormtwoopers (who resemble Star Wars stormtroopers, but with duck-billed shaped helmets). Frank and Ollie believe Plucky is allowing himself to be captured to lull Duck Vader into a false sense of security, but it was time to wallop him. Duck Vader enters and explains to them that his Intergalactic Zapper Wave will blast planet X to goat cheese, as two giant doors open and the Zapper Wave enters inside pointing directly at Plucky. Vader reveals he will test it on Plucky first, as a beam begins to cut through the table and towards Plucky still strapped to the table.
Duck Vader tells him that he will soon be goat cheese and asks if Plucky has any last words. Plucky responds, "Yes. I'm allergic to goat cheese," then lets out a few Sneezer-type sneezes, destroying the Zapper Wave and sending him flying off of the table. Plucky, Frank and Ollie flee, as Duck Vader and the twoopers follow after them, shooting laser beams at them. They barely escape into an elevator, where Ollie asks Plucky why he told them that he was the best. Plucky didn't think it would hurt anyone and that he was just having a little fun, as Frank and Ollie feel that they are going to be destroyed now by Vader's troops. Plucky boldly responds that he is not going to run another step, until the elevator stops and the doors open, revealing a bunch of armed twoopers. Plucky then says, "Well, maybe a few more steps," and promptly runs the other way and smashing through the wall. Frank and Ollie promptly follow Plucky through the wall, as the twoopers immediately go after them.
Buster, Babs and Hamton are still trying to figure out how to stop the computer from being tickled and the ship from spinning around out of control. Babs comes up with an idea of peeling onions, which the three of them do, causing the computer to cry and the ship to settle down. Buster opens the top of the ship to figure out where they are, as he bangs his head on Duck Vader's ship, which is right above them. The Duck Dodgers ship's Acme screen shows that Plucky is aboard the other ship, so they enter it and have to take a ticket to park. Buster tells Hamton to stay with the ship, as he and Babs take off to find Plucky.
Plucky, Frank and Ollie enter into a room as Duck Vader announces through the ship's screens that planet X will be destroyed in 2 minutes. Plucky gives the ducklings a motivational prep talk while it seems that the stormtwoopers are trying to enter the room. He then sneaks off by himself, as Frank and Ollie feel that they can stand up to them now. The door opens and it is revealed to be Buster and Babs on the other side of it. Plucky peeks across the corner to see who it is, as Frank and Ollie pounce on the bunny duo. Plucky orders them to stop beating them up and is glad to see them. Ollie tries to comb Babs' "hair" (which is her ears done up like Princess Leia's buns in Star Wars: A New Hope), but Babs, still upset at getting beaten up, slaps it from her hand.
Back at the docking bay (which is full of famous spaceships), Hamton is inside the Duck Dodgers ship, sweating and reading a Porks Illustrated. Hamton believes that he hears Buster's voice calling for his help, but when he opens the door it is revealed to be Duck Vader mimicking Buster's voice. Vader tells Hamton that he also does magic tricks, as he grabs the helpless pig and lifts him up. Meanwhile, the twoopers have a giant cannon-like weapon pointing at planet X, as Chewcudda is tied up by rope that is secured in place by a wooden spike in the ground. He eats from a path of grass and knocks a few twoopers out by spitting it at them.
Buster, Babs, Plucky and the ducklings open up a vent near the top of the room, which they are on the other side of. Buster sprays a can of SLEEP-O into the room, as Duck Vader (appearing on the screen) counts down from 10 for the twoopers to destroy the planet, but the twoopers have fallen fast asleep. They climb down a rope into a room, but Vader enters as well. He orders them to stand on a platform, but they refuse, so he shows them that he has Hamton. He makes them an ultimatum of either Hamton or the platform, so they think it over, but quickly decide to go on the platform.
Plucky appears in a cloud over Frank and Ollie, telling them different phrases that could possibly help out. Ollie mentions to never show Chewcudda anything red, not even your tongue, as Frank and Plucky simultaneously say, "That's it!" The two ducklings jump off the platform and begin to run back and forth to dodge Vader, who tosses Hamton aside and begins shooting lasers at them from his finger. He inadvertently blasts open a refrigerator that has a bottle of ketchup inside, so Frank grabs it and throws it into Vader's face. It smashes all over him, as Chewcudda sees it and goes ballistic, breaking the wooden spike and slamming right into Vader. It sends him flying into a large screen that reads, "DESTROY GOOD GUYS," quickly making it change to read, "Destroy Ship." The cannon-like weapon lowers and points directly at the inside of the ship, blowing it up and sending all the Toons, including Vader, flying through the air again.
Vader is next seen behind bars and yells out that he was framed. Frank and Ollie are at a ceremony to declare them the new leaders, as they are crowned by the elders. The elders then rip off their ropes, revealing that they are wearing golf outfits with golf bags underneath, as they promptly leave to go play. Frank and Ollie tell Plucky that they could have not done it without him and that he was the best duck for the job after all. Plucky then begins to brag about how it was nothing that he hasn't done before, as Buster, Babs and Hamton are angered and yell at him. Plucky quickly responds, "Hey, if I'm lying may a laser strike me." They retreat away from Plucky, as several laser guns point directly at his face. The show fades to black, as many laser shots are heard being fired.
Cast
| Voice Actors: | Character(s): |
| Charlie Adler | Buster Bunny, Storm Twoopers, Alien Dogs |
| Tress MacNeille | Babs Bunny |
| Joe Alaskey | Plucky Duck |
| Don Messick | Hamton Pig |
| Jeff Bergman | Foghorn Leghorn, Duck Vader |
| Rob Paulsen | Frank |
| Carol Kane | Ollie |
| Frank Welker | Chewcudda |
Quotes
- Foghorn (about Plucky): "That duck spits out more words than a dictionary in a garbage disposal."
- Buster: "Uh, speaking of garbage..."
- Babs: "What?"
- Buster: "Who wrote today's script?"
- Babs: "Be nice."
- Buster: "That duck makes how much? Gross or net?"
- Babs: "I don't know, but that's what I hear."
- Hamton: "With or without points?"
- Babs: "With."
- Buster: "That can't be right, he's not even the star! Get my agent on the phone!"
- Duck Vader: "Who dawes stand in Duck Vadew's way of destwoying Pwanet X?"
- Plucky (after being zapped by Duck Vader): "Is it hot in here, or is it just me?"
- Buster (traveling through space in the Duck Dodgers ship): "Remember, in space no one can hear you quack."
- Plucky: "Let the force be...Your umbrella."
- Pluck: (After Frank and Ollie beat the bunnies up): "Buster! Babs! Am I glad to see you! An entire planet's about to be destroyed!"
- Babs: "What was this? The rehearsal?"
- Duck Vader: "I awso do magic twicks, wike making pigs dissapeaw!"
- Duck Vader (as Buster uses sleeping gas on his storm twoopers): "Five, fouw, thwee, two, one, fiwe! Oh, bwast, I said fiwe!"
- Babs (to Duck Vader): Say, has anyone ever told you you smell exactly like 30-day motor oil?
- Duck Vader (after being imprisoned): "I've been fwamed! Weally!"
Allusions
- When Foghorn introduces Frank and Ollie, the blackboard behind him has a doodle and the words "WHO WATCHES THE WATCHDUCKS," which is a reference to the question from the Comic Book "Watchmen:" "WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN."
- This episode is based on the movie, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, with Duck Vader being based on Darth Vader. Buster, Babs, Plucky, and Hamton also dress like several of the Star Wars protagonists, namely Plucky as Luke Skywalker, Buster as Han Solo, Babs as Princess Leia, and Hamton as R2-D2.
- The alien ducks, Frank and Ollie, were named after veteran Disney animators, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
- At one point, Hamton is reading the swimsuit issue of Porks Illustrated, a clear parody of the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.
- The telepathic duck elders are a parody of similar alien creatures that appeared in the original pilot of Star Trek: The Original Series.
- This is an another reference where Plucky Duck has been strapped into the table with the laser to cut Plucky Duck like the famous torture scene from the James Bond movie of 1964 Goldfinger when Bond said "Did you expect me to talk?" Goldfinger replies "No Mr. Bond I've expect you to die!"
Trivia
- In the scene where Buster, Babs, and Hamton are entering Duck Vader's spaceship parking lot, when Buster takes the ticket, he is wearing his normal red shirt instead of his Star Wars-esque attire.
- The last level of Buster Busts Loose for the SNES is based on this episode, complete with various enemies such as the Stormtwoopers and Duck Vader as the final boss. In the game, Duck Vader is a costumed Plucky, whereas on the show, he was a completely different character.
Gallery
Home Video Releases
