How did the project come about?

Tony: Back in 1997, we were working on another Daffy Duck television project that wasn't going anyplace.  After that folded, Spike said "You could really expand Chuck Jones' Duck Dodgers cartoon into its own series."  With the wealth of science fiction stuff that has come since its release â€" things like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Alien - we figured we had plenty to tap into. 

Spike: So we decided to pitch it as a Saturday morning show.  It went the rounds in 1997 and nothing happened.  We did that again in '98, and nothing happened. 

Tony: Then in'99, when we were working at Warner Bros. Feature Animation, and thought we could adapt this into a movie.  We hooked up with a guy named Dean Wellins, who had some ideas of his own, and we made a short animated teaser that showed people what an updated Duck Dodgers cartoon could look like.

Spike: We had that tape for years after that, and any hapless soul in the animation business who stumbled across our office was subjected to it.

Tony: Then we had a pitch for another show, which Cartoon Network hated.  They said that if we had something with Marvin the Martian, maybe we could talk about that.  So we pulled out our tape and showed it to Sam Register.  He went nuts and we were on our way.

What were your inspirations growing up?

Spike: I always liked the Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons, particularly Tom & Jerry cartoons.  Of course, I grew up with the Hanna-Barbera stuff as well.

Tony: In addition to those, which I also loved, I was a freak for Speed Racer and Spider-Man, too.

How would you describe the show in your pitch?

Spike: Well, the show stars Daffy Duck as a character named Duck Dodgers, who is an interstellar space captain in Earth's Galactic Protectorate.  His one crew member is an eager young space cadet, played by Porky Pig.  And his #1 foe is Marvin the Martian, who we call the Martian Commander in the series.  He works for the Martian Queen, who is a new character for the show. 

Tony: Shennanigans ensue.

So what kind of audience do you think this will appeal to?

Tony: Well tell you a really good story, and it happens to be true.  At an early stage, when the show was really starting to come together, Linda Jones, Chuck Jones' daughter, walked into our office.  We started talking to her about Duck Dodgers and showing things to her.  On her way out, she said “My father never made these shows for anyone but himself and his crew.  Do't ever forget that.

Spike: So we figure that if we're amused by the show while w're making it, maybe a few other people will laugh at it too. 

Tony: The original Looney Tunes guys, as individual directors and their crews, were just trying to make the best cartoons they could.  They competed with each other, but they also tried to make each other laugh. 

Spike: We're not trying to replicate what has already happened.  We're trying to do what is funny and what works. 

How do you live up to the legacy of the original Looney Tunes cartoons?  Do you have trouble deciding how these classic characters would act in new situations?

Tony: We're crazy about the classic cartoons, but our show is different.  We're trying to do a new show with our own spin on it.

Spike:  It's a real testament to these characters that they are so alive in our imaginations.  You know that you are going down the right path when it feels like Daffy and Porky are doing something they would do. 

Tony: We don’t argue too much about how they would act.  They are very real characters to us at this point.  You know what they would do and what they wouldn’t do in certain situations.  That part is kind of easy.

How do you make these well-known characters play other characters in the show?

Spike: Wha's great is that there is a little bit of leeway in structuring the series this way.  We mostly just focus on what the character of Duck Dodgers would do, not on the entirety of Daffy Duck's history.  Creatively, it gives us a little bit of an escape valve.

Tony: Yeah, it's actually pretty natural.

Spike: We're also tapping into is the whole Daffy/Porky relationship.  They did a number of movie parody cartoons together.  In a sense, they were playing characters in those as well.  A lot of this show is based on their rapport.  There is a familiarity that we tap into.

Marvin is a major character in Duck Dodgers.   How did you develop his character for the new series?

Spike: Marvin is an interesting character because he's only appeared in about seven cartoons.  So we have kind of a lot of room to play with him, and that's been fun.

Tony: Although everybody knows who he is, we don't really know too much about him. We tried to take what you DO know about the guy and expand it to make him a much fuller character.

Spike: We always knew that there had to be Martians other than Marvin.  And since no one has ever even seen other Martians before, we could do whatever we wanted. One of the ideas we had early on was that Dodgers is the only Duck in Earth's Galactic Protectorate.  Dodgers is the runt of the litter.

Tony: So we wanted to mirror that with Marvin's role among the Martians.  The other Martians are all these big, tough guys and he's a little, puny shrimpo.

It's a comedy-action show.  How will you balance those two elements?

Spike: All modern cartoons are pretty action packed and ours fits in pretty naturally.  Duck Dodgers is a space captain, and he has missions he's supposed to do. 

Tony: We play the mission parts straight.  The comedy comes from his character.  Dodgers is an idiot.  H's also a shamelessly self-centered coward. 

Spike: Right, the funny comes from how he decides to handle his assignments.

Tony: Comedians doing dangerous things.  Like in "Ghostbusters" or "Get Smart."

Spike: One of the most exciting things about the show, is that the action outside of the ships is being done with computer animation. 

Tony: The space battles are very impressive and blend in nicely with the traditional stuff.

How much science-fiction is a part of the show?

Spike: Well, the original short was born out of things like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, but we've got a vibe going that is much more modern than that.  Dodgers has lots of modern gadgets like laser nunchucks and cool ray guns and other goofy things.  The universe is big, like in Star Wars or Star Trek, and the consequences are more dire. 

Tony: We also have some genre things going on too.  We do a space pirate show, one with vampires and even one with cowboys that is a nod to Westworld.

Spike: Yeah, there is even a crossover show where Duck Dodgers ends up as part of the Green Lantern Corps.

Tony: Yeah, Duck gets a Green Lantern costume accidentally at the drycleaners.  That was a lot of fun to do.

Spike: There are no real direct parodies, but there are satirical influences from all over the place.

Will there be any guest stars?

Spike: We've have a few.  Tia Carrera and Michael Dorn are regular cast members.  For the Green Lantern episode, John de Lancie, who played Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation, plays Sinestro. Also, Kevin Smith (the writer/director of Clerks, Chasing Amy, and Dogma) plays Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern.  He got a kick out of that.

Tony: Riders in the Sky performed a cowboy song for us.  Bruce Campbell has a featured guest role.  Randy Savage did a voice.  We have the guy who played Mr. Slate in The Flintstones in an episode, too.  That was a trip. 

Spike: Sometimes we have other Looney Tunes stars making odd guest appearances on the show.  Yosemite Sam is on the show as General Saâam, an intergalactic viking-biker guy. 

Tony: We have the Goofy Gophers turn up as four-armed, Martian gophers.  Stan Freberg makes an appearance in that one.  He originally did the voice of one of the Gophers. 

The Flaming Lips and Tom Jones team up for the theme song.  How did that collaboration come about?

Tony: I'm a fan of the Flaming Lips so we decided to see if they would do the theme song.  As it turns out they were very interested!  At some point we also started to think about getting someone "classic" to do it. Spike and I both love Tom Jones.  Then Suzi Civita at Warner Bros. suggested we get both and it turned out they were excited about working together.  The theme clearly reflects our whole blending the classic with the modern thing.

Spike: It's a great theme and sort of like the song that Daffy would have written for himself.  It's a big, grand, romantic, ode to himself.

Tony: It's an odd song and it really fits this odd show.

You've assembled a very talented team, which includes Paul Dini and Tom Minton as writers and producers on the show.  Talk about them and the other key members of your team.

Tony: Paul expressed interest in working with us on the Looney Tune characters.  The more we talked, the more we realized how well we worked together.  Paul has a lot of great ideas!

Spike: And some of them we can even use!

Tony: H's really character-driven, so it was a great fit.  He works like Mike Maltese did--drawing and writing at the same time, throwing in visual gags all over the place.

Spike: Tom Minton brings a great element to the work--he knows the Looney Tunes characters  inside and out. 

Tony: Tom's a real pro who helps us with all kinds of stuff.

Spike: Working with Paul and Tom is very organic process by which we come up with ideas for the shows.

Tony: Sometimes we add jokes even while were recording it.

Spike: Yeah, we really can't say enough about the great job Joe Alasky and Bob Bergen are doing with these characters voices.  They haven't sounded this good in years.

Tony: They ARE these characters. 

Spike: Our two art directors, Ted Blackman and Mark Whiting, are a really important part of the Duck Dodgers team.  Ted oversees the layouts, props and equipment.  He’s worked on a lot of shows, both comedies and action.  He has a real flair for drama and makes sure that the designs are rooted in reality. 

Tony: Mark Whiting, who was the production designer on The Iron Giant, has a dark and moody sense of dramatic color.  He has a rich palette and he's pushing the limits of what television can take.

Spike: We're using the designs that Maurice Noble created as a starting point and building from it.  Mark and Ted are giving the show a unique and bold look.

Tony: Classic and modern. Blah, blah blah.