02.06
He is the terror that flaps in the night. He is the switch that derails your train. He is… the star of one kick ass show.
DuckTales was done around the time Disney was looking for another new series to put on the Disney Afternoon block, but was still a favorite among kids. Instead of keeping a show along past 100 episodes, why not introduce a new, exciting series with one or two of the characters from DuckTales that kids have grown to love. But having a few popular characters return in a new series would mean nothing without a great premise behind it.
So before bringing any DuckTales over to this new show, Tad Stones, the man behind Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers, needed to think of something that the block could use. He recalled a particular DuckTales episode, “Double-O-Duck”, in which an international spy who looked very similar to Launchpad trades places with Scrooge’s own personal pilot to interrogate the Foreign Organization for World Larceny(yes, F.O.W.L.). Stones figured that this would be a good idea for a series, but Disney wasn’t so sure if a show spoofing secret agent pictures would do well, since 007 pictures weren’t en vogue at the time. Instead, they decided to turn this into a super hero parody, specifically for Batman, whose recent feature film endeavor was a huge success at the time. Launchpad could stay, but a new hero had to be invented.
Here comes Darkwing Duck, protector of St. Canard, doer of right, righter of justice, just the coolest duck out there. With his sidekick/personal chauffeur Launchpad McQuack, his loving adopted daughther Gosalyn, and a slew of other helpers, not to mention a well-balanced rogue’s gallery, DW had a great cast who molded together in a hilarious spoof of the super hero genre.
Darkwing Duck is one of the best series to ever run on the Disney Afternoon block, bar none. It started it’s classic run in the block’s second season in 1991, kicking off Gummi Bears but started a legacy that would help it run for another three seasons. Although it ended it’s initial Afternoon run in 1995, it came back for the 1996-1997 season for another batch of reruns, ensuring it‘s popularity. During the show’s original batch of 65 syndicated episodes, another collection of 13 episodes were broadcasted on ABC, to later air on the block. Another 13-episode season aired on ABC in 1992, giving the show a total of 91 episodes, more than Gummi Bears, Rescue Rangers, and TaleSpin’s 65 but less than DuckTales’ groundbreaking 100.
What makes Darkwing such a strong show is how funny it was. Slowly Disney started to broaden their show’s humor a little than before. Gummi Bears and DuckTales mainly focused on strong dialogue to get a laugh, while Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers and later DuckTales episodes incorporated more usages of slapstick than before. TaleSpin had Don Karnage, who was more of a Warner Bros. cartoon character in that he was a maniac goof ball than a fairly controlled eccentric a la Disney’s classic characters. Darkwing reveled at slapstick and insanity to get a laugh, and succeeded with the titular character and some of his most memorable villains.
It also gets into it’s roots, making the show as action-packed, corny and sentimental as anything. Look at the pilot 2-parter “Darkly Dawns the Duck”, in which crime lord buffalo Taurus Bullba aims to use a powerful experiment to help him break out of prison and take over the world. He doesn’t know the password, which will give him the access to do so, when he discovers that the late inventor of the machine’s granddaughter, Gosalyn, is stuck in an orphanage. He has his goons attempt to steal her to get the code, but Darkwing, who learns of this plan early, capture her before they can. He keeps her at his house to make sure Bullba and his goons don’t capture her, until she escapes and becomes kidnapped. DW, alongside his biggest fan, Launchpad, leave Bullba dead in his tracks, while Darkwing as his alter ego, Drake Mallard, adopts Gosalyn and accepts Launchpad’s request to be his partner.
A classic origin episode, this also introduces the family aspect of the show that worked for it, similar to TaleSpin’s. Their relationship is a bit more like a wacky sitcom from the time period, but tends to be more effective. Darkwing has Gosalyn as his daughter and tires the best to treat her like one. Gosalyn doesn’t act too much like a girl her age, and acts more like a boy, so therefore she likes to follow DW and Launchpad on their patrolling. Darkwing resents this but allows her to do so for an odd bit of bonding time. Since Gosalyn doesn’t care much for dolls or dresses or whatever every other little girl her age likes, she enjoys things involving action, and since DW tends to save the day by violent means, she especially looks up to him. Gosalyn likes to be a part of the action and helps the two in their missions. It also helps that she’s much smarter than either DW or Launchpad, as DW is a klutz, albeit with a good heart, and LP is dumbed down here as opposed to in DuckTales. That’s great for Gosalyn, since she has a father figure in Darkwing and a manchild friend in Launchpad.
As interesting as Gosalyn’s character can be, Darkwing Duck steals the show himself. Imagine a frank spoof on pulp heroes of yore such as The Shadow along with a mocking sense of pseudo-psychological angst like Batman, and we have one of the most endearing super hero parody characters out there, along with The Tick and Freakazoid. He has a fresh supply of goofily corny one-liners to make the unsuspecting witness groan than burst into uncontrollable laughter within the blink of an idea, and has the prowess to boot. Despite how clueless he can be to the ongoing situation, Darkwing always makes it on top by getting dangerous.
And let’s not forget about the villain‘s list. Only looking at the Fearsome Five, you have one heck of a rogue’s gallery. Most of these are based off of popular villains from other properties, usually from Marvel or DC.
There’s Megavolt, the electricity obsessed fiend whose been a pain in Darkwing’s side since the beginning. In fact, in Drake Mallard’s class reunion episode, aptly named “Clash Reunion”, it is confirmed that not only have DW and Megavolt have been fighting since Drake was in high school, but Megavolt was really Drake’s old classmate the entire time, who switched out around their prom, when both Darkwing and Megavolt went into action for the first time. Not only that, but Elmo Sputterspark, the student that became Darkwing’s most notorious antagonist, was also obsessed with the magic of electricity at the same time. Megavolt gives DW a run for his money as the most quotable character on the show, as Mega’s charged puns range from insufferable to hilarious. Shocker with a bigger lip.
Then we have Bushroot. Imagine Victor Frankenstein with triple the emotional baggage to balance out his insanity, and you have Bushroot. Before a freak accident from his own experiment, Reginald Bushroot was a fairly respected plant scientist. One experiment gone wrong later and he turned himself half-plant, half-duck, and has therefore decided to take his vengeance out on the world by controlling all the plants out there. It’s all there in his origin story, “Beauty and the Beet”, and his character continues to grow as humorous villain in further episodes as his issues continue to make him freak out. Take the concept of Poison Ivy, drop the sex appeal and boost up the disdain for modern living, and that’s Bushroot.
We have Liquiadator, a former spring water salesman turned outlaw. Bud Flood poisoned his competitor’s water to glorify his own, and when his scheme was caught by Darkwing, he ends poising himself, and becomes a watery creature. Liquidator uses his trademark marketing skills to bring terror on St. Canard, usually by using his liquid form to scare everyone off. Liquidator is basically an all wet version of the T1000.
Quackerjack is a strange cross between the Toyman and the Joker. A former toy maker gone insane, Quackerjack uses his toys to feed his whims and take down Darkwing. Although not everyone who still collects toys is necessarily childish, Quackerjack still acts like a kid with parent issues. As a toy maker, his schemes tends to get Gosalyn’s attention more than the usual villain would, which gets into DW’s skin more than anything.
Darkwing Duck’s most fearful enemy, however, must be Negaduck. Originally created by Megavolt by a freak strike of lightning to Darkwing, Negaduck is DW’s evil twin, so to speak. He is definitely Darkwing’s opposite, however, as he’s darker, more competent, and not as clever. Despite that, he still has some great lines, mostly as he tries to be a threatening character in such a goofy show. Jim Cummings, DW’s voice actor, also plays Negaduck. As Nega, he rasps his voice up a bit, which allows him to sound more threatening, kind of like his Dr. Robotnik voice from the Saturday morning Sonic the Hedgehog show. Negaduck can best be compared to Superman’s Bizarro, who was also a complete reversal of Supes’ character.
Oh heck, just watch this video.
Negaduck is the head of the Fearsome Five, who formed in the fan favorite “Just Us Justice Ducks” two-parter. In it, the five team up to take out Darkwing together rather than fail by themselves. Although former bad girl-gone-good witch Morgana(whose ongoing relationship development with DW is another classic part of the show), dull-witted dinoduck Stegmutt, girl of the sea Neptunia, and DuckTales alumni Gizmoduck(who surprisingly wasn’t a stranger to the show by the end of it’s run) try to help him, Darkwing refuses the help, and tries to take out the Fearsome Five by himself, but fails, only to wake up to a St. Canard ruled by the five. Darkwing attempts to get the comrades who tried to help him by forming the Justice Ducks, but Negaduck takes them out anyhow, without the help of the other five. When Negaduck changes the group’s sharings to his gain, the Fearsome Four, sans Negaduck now, get tired of his totalitarian methods of commanding them and attempt to kill them when Darkwing, dressed up as Negaduck, walks in. The two ducks fight their way to ensure the fates of the rest of the Justice Ducks as well as St. Canard.
This is one of the series best episodes, as it’s comic book indulgence at it’s finest. A lot of series have had multi-part crossovers, usually some that cross into other books, which bring popular or increasingly unpopular characters together to solve a caper they can’t by themselves. Most of these characters have already established themselves on the show(or would, thanks to inconsistent airing orders), but together, they formed a force that would continue to remain memorable for fans of the show.
While they appear in other episodes, probably the Justice Duck’s strongest appearance as well as one of the strongest episodes of the show is “Life, the Negaverse, and Everything”. In a parody of the equally classic alternate dimension storylines you’ll often see in comics, Darkwing and Negaduck are taken to another version of St. Canard where Nega is the respected hero in town while Darkwing is the outlaw. He finds his house, where a sweet version of Gosalyn, a biker take on Launchpad, and steam punk takes on the Muddlefoots, Drake’s lovingly ignorant neighbors. Even the fearsome Four, without Negaduck, are the Friendly Four, who Darkwing uses to help him stop Negaduck’s reign of terror. You have a spoof as fresh as any episode of DW, but with more than enough heart to share, as Darkwing realizes that Negaduck is Nega-Gosalyn’s adopted father, and he knows that she needs a father who isn’t corrupt. When he saves the day, the Friendly Four volunteer to take Nega-Gosalyn under their wings, giving her the family that she needs. It’s these moments of sweetness that take Darkwing Duck into more than just satire, but into a fully realized and gifted series.
Darkwing Duck is a clever, highly original spoof of the super hero genre. One that doesn’t mind reveling in the tropes that make the comics it’s inspired by so endearing, and one that starnds the test of time nearly 20 years on.
The first 50 some episodes are on DVD in two volumes. While there are are about 35-40 episodes left, needing two volumes to be collected, Disney currently shows no interest in putting them out. Perhaps if you buy these sets, Disney will realize that there’s an interest in releasing the rest of the show.
It’s also worth noting that these sets are put in airing order based on the Disney Afternoon’s run, forgetting ABC’s run which aired simulaneously with the syndicated run, so you’ll be missing some episodes to make sense of certain parts of the show. Even then, the Disney Afternoon aired many episodes out of order, which will still make it a bit hard to sit through. Darkwing Duck has always been a show that purposely neglects continuity though, so think of this as more of a right of passage than intentional neglect.
Boom Comics, who own the rights to make comic books for Disney’s properties, will be making a Darkwing Duck comic book that will be released during the summer. I recommend checking it out to support interest in having series such as these continue in one way or another by Disney.
Originally posted on Monday, June 7, 2010.