The two flirt and get into bed, but they are interrupted by Phil and two of his colleagues, who reveal that a laser spectroscope they were inventing was aimed at Howard's planet and transported him to Earth when it was activated.

When they visit a diner, the creature introduces himself as a "Dark Overlord of the Universe" and demonstrates his developing mental powers by destroying the table, utensils, and condiments.

Howard and Phil arrive and seemingly destroy the Dark Overlord with an experimental neutron disintegrator, but the creature is merely forced out of Jenning's body and attacks them in its true form.

According to Marvin Antonowsky, "Sidney [Sheinberg] lobbied very hard for Howard the Duck", because the studio had passed on previous projects in which Lucas was involved, which had been very successful.

[8] Production designer Peter Jamison and director of photography Richard Kline were hired to give the film a look similar to that of a color comic book.

In the opening shot, the skyline displayed could easily be New York City but the two moons visible in the sky (at similar angles from one another as the two suns of Tatooine in the original Star Wars film).

[8] Though Gerber's schedule generally prevented him from being present during the shooting, he chose to miss the deadline on the first issue of The Spectre so he could watch the final day.

"[17] However, after shooting was finished, Gerber stated that he felt the film was faithful to both the spirit of the comic book and the characters of Howard and Beverly.

[8] The film was originally intended to be animated based on the character created by Steve Gerber and quoting scripts by Bill Mantlo.

[21] After auditioning a number of actresses, singers, and models for the role of Beverly, Lea Thompson was cast due to her appearance in Back to the Future.

[8] Robbins said in a later interview that he doesn't look back negatively at the film as he "got this big job that was paying a really decent salary and it was for George Lucas … so it was a huge deal at the time.

[14] Prentice found the shooting conditions to be too difficult to handle,[8] and the film's editors were unable to match day and evening sequences because of the difference in the two portrayals.

[27][28] Jeffrey Jones altered his voice for Jenning after the character's possession by the Dark Overlord, which he demonstrated when interviewed by Dallas-Fort Worth reporter Bobbie Wygant.

On the first day of shooting, the crew realized the poor quality when they found that the inside of the puppet's neck was visible when its mouth opened.

Because multiple puppeteers were in charge of controlling different parts of the animatronic body, Huyck was unable to coordinate the shoot properly.

[8] Jones provided the altered voice of Jenning during his possession by the Dark Overlord "with a slight bit of enhancement every now and then"[34] by sound designer Ben Burtt.

[8] The film's score was written by John Barry, although some of it was replaced by material composed by Sylvester Levay (most notably the music for the scene where Howard and Phil fly the ultralight—Barry's original cue is heard on the soundtrack album).

[14] The final sequence, in which Cherry Bomb performs the film's title song, was shot in front of a live audience at The Warfield in San Francisco.

"[38] On their television show, both Siskel and his co-host Roger Ebert complained that the movie was not enough of a comedy and that Howard should have been given either the Groucho Marx–like personality from his comic books or a fun Donald Duck–like persona.

[39] Orange Coast writer Marc Weinberg and Leonard Maltin criticized the decision to shoot the film in live action.

[41] People magazine seemed to agree: "Lucasfilm promised us The Mallard Who Fell to Earth; the result turned out to be more like Xanaduck...Who'd have imagined that Howard T. Duck, the same web-footed wiseacre who conquered the incredible Space Turnip and the horrible Hellcow, might be done in by something even more ridiculous: Hollywood?"

[42][43] In The Psychotronic Video Guide, Michael Weldon described the reactions to Howard as being inconsistent, and, "It was obviously made in LA and suffered from long, boring chase scenes", but praised the stop-motion special effects in the film's final sequences.

[25] Rumors circulated that Universal production heads Frank Price and Sidney Sheinberg engaged in a fistfight after arguing over who was to blame for green-lighting the film.

Gale also said he receives more fan mail for his Howard the Duck portrayal than for his Chucky performances, the antagonist in the Child's Play horror film series.

[32] Lea Thompson has stated that she had fun making the film and is happy to find fans "celebrating Howard the Duck in all its great silliness and blemishes.

[32] In retrospect, Huyck and Katz suggested that the film "could have had a more Ted-like tone" and "been edgier and dirtier," but that at the time "Universal wanted a family-friendly movie.

featured an episode starring Howard the Duck complaining to Marvel that his movie was not given a special Blu-ray re-release to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

[56] Writer Chip Zdarsky, who took on Howard's comics in the 2010s, revealed he was a fan of the movie growing up and had the 2016 run of the title featuring metafictional references to the film.

[57] In a June 2018 interview, Lea Thompson said that she was going to pitch Marvel Studios a new Howard the Duck movie following the character's cameo appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy and its 2017 sequel, expressing hope at directing it herself.

[59] She later revealed that she had pitched the film, following Howard stranded on Earth after the events of Avengers: Endgame, with Joe Quinones supplying artwork.