DuckTales
April 1st, 2008
DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The show premiered on September 18, 1987 and ended on May 6, 1990, but still this legendary animated cartoon collects in front of the TV screens thousands and thousands audience of children all over the world who watch records of DuckTales.
The series is notable for being the first Disney cartoon to be produced for syndication, and paving the way for future Disney cartoons, such as Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin. DuckTales also spawned two spinoffs – Darkwing Duck and Quack Pack.
A world broadcast premiere television movie (entitled "The Treasures of the Golden Suns") first aired on September 18, 1987. Afterwards, it was later turned into a five-part pilot episode. The hundredth episode, which was also the series finale, aired on March 11, 1990. A feature-length movie was released in theatres on August 3, 1990.
The show was the most successful of Disney's early attempts to create high-quality animation for a TV animated series (earlier shows included The Wuzzles and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears in 1985). Disney invested a far greater amount of money into the TV series than had previously been spent on animated shows of the time. This was considered a risky move, because animated TV series were generally considered low-budget, investments for most of the history of TV cartoons up through the 1980s. Most of the DuckTales episodes were animated in Asia by companies such as Cuckoo's Nest Studios, Wang Film Productions of Taiwan, and Tokyo Movie Shinsha of Japan.
The 1987-1988 season of DuckTales consisted of 65 episodes (the standard length for a Disney TV show). The next season (1989-1990) included an additional 35 episodes, bringing the total to 100 episodes — making DuckTales one of the longest-running Disney shows in terms of number of episodes. In the second season, Bubba the Caveduck and his pet triceratops, Tootsie, and Fenton Crackshell and his alter ego Gizmo Duck appeared.
The show was successful enough to spawn a feature film, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, and two spinoff series: Darkwing Duck and Quack Pack. The success of DuckTales also paved the way for a new wave of high-quality animated TV series, including Disney's own The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1988. The 1989 series Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers was paired with DuckTales in an hour-long syndicated show through the 1989-1990 television season. In the 1990-1991 season, Disney expanded the idea even further, to create The Disney Afternoon, a two-hour long syndicated block of half-hour cartoons. DuckTales was one of the early flagship cartoons in the series.
DuckTales was last seen on Toon Disney, a Disney-owned network that airs mostly animated cartoons. After the addition of Jetix in February 2004, the show left circulation along with a number of other shows, and as of 2006, it is currently being syndicated on the United Kingdom channel Disney Cinemagic. The Disney Channel reran the series in the late-1990s until their pre-teen lineup took over.
The general premise of the show is about the adventures of Scrooge and his nephews. The nephews, who were originally living with their uncle Donald, are left in Scrooge's care when the former joins the Navy. Though Scrooge is the richest duck in the world, he constantly tries to find ways to increase his wealth. A few episodes involve protecting his wealth from villains who want to rob Scrooge of all his money. The prominent recurring antagonists in the show include The Beagle Boys and Magica De Spell who are always finding ways to rob and swindle Scrooge and his nephews. Scrooge's nemesis in the show is Flintheart Glomgold, who always tries to devise plans to dethrone Scrooge Mcduck from his "Richest duck in the world" tag.
The show's second season saw the addition of characters Fenton Crackshell and Bubba Duck. Along with them came stories that generally shifted away from the globetrotting plots of the first season, and revolved primarily in the contemporary setting of Duckburg. Episodes would feature either Bubba or Fenton but rarely both. Although Scrooge and his nephews were the show's main characters, some episodes focused on other characters like Launchpad, Gyro, Carl Barks stories or simply have elements from such stories.
The main characters of the series, who appear in almost every episode, are Scrooge McDuck and his grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. Scrooge McDuck is a serious businessman, often shown to be a tightwad, who managed to earn a fortune so vast that he became the richest duck in the world. He claims to have succeeded by being "smarter than the smarties, and tougher than the toughies". Despite his harsh business ethics, Scrooge shows that he is also a caring man to his family. Huey, Dewey, and Louie are Scrooge's great-nephews, who are left in his care during the entire length of the series. Although the boys are fairly hyperactive, they are also shown to be rather clever and intelligent.
The series also features a mix of established characters carried over from the comics, as well as new ones created for the show. Scrooge's household also consists of his butler, Duckworth; Mrs. Beakley, a nanny hired to look after Huey, Dewey and Louie; and Webby Vanderquack, the granddaughter of Mrs. Beakley.
Initially, recurring characters included, the absent-minded inventor Gyro Gearloose, the heroic but not too bright pilot Launchpad McQuack and the loyal but somewhat foolish Doofus Drake. During the second season, Bubba, a caveduck from the past, and an accountant, Fenton Crackshell, who had the dual identity of Gizmoduck, were added to the cast.
The show's primary villains consist of characters Magica De Spell, Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys. Although, they are all financial threats to Scrooge in one way or another, they each have different motives. Magica wants Scrooge's Number One Dime to complete her magic spell, which will enable her to take over the world, Glomgold wants to replace Scrooge as the "Richest duck in the world", and the Beagle Boys want to rob Scrooge of his fortune. New villains created for the show include Ma Beagle, mother of the Beagle Boys, and Poe De Spell, Magica's brother who has been transformed into a raven.
Other minor, but notable characters include Donald Duck, who left Huey, Dewey and Louie in Scrooge's care at the start of the series; Gladstone Gander, Scrooge's inexplicably lucky nephew, Scrooge's old flame, Glittering Goldie O'Gilt; Merlock, a powerful magician who served as the movie's main villain; and Dijon, a thief who worked for either Merlock or himself.
The success of DuckTales led to the translation of the show into many languages. DuckTales was the first American animated TV series to be officially broadcast in syndication in the former USSR. Featured together with Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers in a Sunday evening program titled Walt Disney Presents, the show premiered in 1991. The show’s theme song (written by Mark Mueller and originally sung by Jeff Pescetto) however remained in English for a number of episodes. The first Russian version of the song was inexplicably replaced mid-way through the series with an alternate rendition that contained completely different lyrics. Similarly, the Swedish version changed the lyrics to the theme halfway through the series. The series aired in India, dubbed in Hindi. The most known local singer of Duck Tales song was in Finland, where it was sung by well-known singer Pave Maijanen.
