Porky in Wackyland
"It CAN happen... here."—Signpost on the border of Wackyland.
Porky In Wackyland is a 1938 Looney Tunes short, made by director Bob Clampett, has Porky Pig going off on a quest to Darkest Africa to find the legendary Do-Do bird, for a cash reward of 4,000,000,000,000 dollars [1]. Upon arriving, he discovers the Do-Do's homeland: Wackyland, an unbelievably insane place where nothing makes sense and anything can happen. All in all, the short winds up being one really, really strange ride.
The color remake, Dough for the Do-Do, is the version most viewers are familiar with, however, simply because it was a more attractive version to air on television during the 60's and 70's.
This short holds the place of #8 on The 50 Greatest Cartoons list. It also made it as part of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes list.
- An Aesop: Yes, there actually is one, but it's very vague -- Get Rich Quick Schemes never work.
- Anticlimax: In the beginning when it seems like the first monster that Porky encounters is about to attack him it turns out to be a very prissy monster and promptly walks off.
- Butt Monkey: Porky Pig's confrontations with the Do-do are very one sided, thanks in part to that the Do-Do is an experienced Reality Warper. It's not until the end when he disguises himself as a newsboy (or, in "Dough for the Do-Do", a do-do himself) that he is actually able to catch him.
- Cloudcuckooland
- Darkest Africa: It's right after Dark Africa and Darker Africa.
- A Day at the Bizarro: This short was one of these for animation itself. It almost single-handedly established that not every piece of animation had to be a rip-off of Disney's latest short. However, Max and Dave Fleischer had been producing bizarre animation for some time before this short came out. Swing You Sinners is probably the only one that matches Porky in Wackyland's absurdity though.
- Deranged Animation: Quite possibly the Trope Codifier.
- Everythings Nuttier With Squirrels: The population of Wackyland according to a sign is "100 nuts and a Squirrel".
- Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: At the beginning.
- He Went That Way!: When Porky asks a googly-eyed resident with a candle on his head where the Do-Do is, he says this and his many arms point in different directions.
- It Runs on Nonsensoleum: Pretty much anything that exists within Wackyland.
- Last of His Kind: The Do-Do. Subverted at the end, where dozens of Do-Dos pop out.
- Not Rare Over There: See above.
- Reality Warper: The Do-Do.
- The Remake: 1949's Dough for the Do-Do by Friz Freleng, made with most of the original animation included [2], but with updated, Daliesque backgrounds, an entirely new soundtrack, and new scenes.
- Screwy Squirrel: The Do-Do.
- Shout-Out: In Tiny Toon Adventures there was a portal to Wackyland from Acme Acres, and one of the characters was Gogo Do-Do, the son of the Do-Do from Porky in Wackyland.
- In a blink-and-you-miss-it, one character had a W B on him and blinked at the audience.
- One of the "monsters" in Wackyland is a three-headed goon whose heads slap and poke each other while babbling incoherently. Guess who they look like?
Tiny creature: He says his mother was scared by a pawnbroker's sign!
- Spell My Name with a "The": The Do-Do, apparently. The video game Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal lists his official name as "Yo-Yo the Do-Do", however.
- Stock Footage: Some of the footage in this cartoon was later recycled for another Bob Clampett short: Tin Pan Alley Cat.
- Travel Montage: The line on the map variety.
- Twist Ending: There are actually dozens of Do-dos living in Wackyland.