Mark Hamill Says George Lucas Wanted to Show Daffy Duck's DUCK DODGERS Cartoon Before STAR WARS Screenings
It turns out that director George Lucas wanted to show the classic Loony Tunes cartoon Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century before screenings of Star Wars when the film was first released. He wanted to show it to help get the audiences in the right frame of mind and he thought this riff on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century was the perfect thing to accomplish that.
Hamill explained on Twitter, "George really did want this classic Daffy Duck cartoon shown before every screening of [Star Wars]. It would've been an icebreaker to let the audience know what was coming was less than dead serious. I was disappointed when we couldn't get the rights to it & it didn't happen."
I was never aware of this until I saw this Tweet from him. This is actually pretty cool and while it never happened, the film still ended up being a massive success.
Duck Dodgers would have been a great way to lead the audience into Star Wars. Lucas’ intentions of the franchise were always geared toward kids and he previously said at Star Wars Celebration back in 2012
"It's a film for 12-year olds. This is what we stand for. You're about to enter the real world. You're moving away from your parents. You're probably scared, you don't know what's going to happen. Here's what you should pay attention to: friendships, honesty, trust, doing the right thing. Living on the light side, avoiding the dark side."
What do you think about Lucas’ plan to screen Duck Dodgers before Star Wars?