Flintheart Glomgold!

February 11, 2013 11:44 AM

DuckTales invented a new animated wonderland—that quickly disappeared.
posted by shakespeherian (156 comments total)

This was a fun read. I wonder why they didn't mention the excellent DuckTales video game, which rivaled a lot of Nintendo games for fun and challenge.
posted by boo_radley at 11:54 AM on February 11 [24 favorites]

"DuckTales isn’t the most mature animated series in TV history. But in 1987, it must have felt like an oasis."

Duck Tales (along with Rescue Rangers and the rest of the Disney Afternoon lineup to a lesser extent) is an almost strangely important part of my childhood. In the USSR, around 1990, they showed it on TV along with Rescue Rangers and Muppet Babies. The cartoons were nothing like we had in Russia. I mean, yes, the Russian animation tradition is long and storied, but I had never seen anything as exciting and dynamic. When we moved to America (I was six) and I started watching between six to eight hours of television a day, I made sure to never miss Disney Afternoon. I have much clearer memories of Darkwing Duck plotlines than I do my early school days.

Anyway, yes, Duck Tales is a national treasure and holy god do I hope it does not get remade in CGI like Tad Stones suggests. I recently caught the new Busy World of Richard Scarry at a diner and the CGI/cel shaded thing they did to it looks absolutely grotesque compared to the hand-animated one.
posted by griphus at 11:54 AM on February 11 [24 favorites]

Thanks for the post! Now how do I get this earworm of a theme song out of my head!!!
posted by m@f at 11:54 AM on February 11 [5 favorites]

Also, which Uncle Scrooge comics hold up the best today to someone who never read them but watched Duck Tales? The Carl Barks one are the Undisputed Classic, but I've heard good things about the one that was roughly contemporaneous with the show.
posted by griphus at 11:56 AM on February 11

Alternate title: D-D-D-D-Danger!
posted by shakespeherian at 11:56 AM on February 11 [3 favorites]

Don't forget the Duck Tales movie.

These guys are one of the reasons I just finished building an awesome HTPC rig. Weekend mornings with cereal were never so good...
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:57 AM on February 11 [1 favorite]

For me, the magic of Duck Tales wore off the day I realized that actually diving into a vault of gold would really, really hurt.
posted by bicyclefish at 12:03 PM on February 11 [11 favorites]

I would absolutely buy a Duck Tales DVD box set...hell, Blu-ray box set...if Disney would get around to doing it.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 12:03 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

My mom worked at a credit union when I was a kid and it was a sad day when I was told there was no huge vault full of gold coins and treasure.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:05 PM on February 11 [8 favorites]

I liked DuckTales all right, but my fondest non-TNG memories from that time belong to its spin-off Darkwing Duck.
posted by gauche at 12:06 PM on February 11 [14 favorites]

I remember Gummi Bears as having a surprisingly elaborate backstory and some pretty intense world-building going on in a few episodes. There was a surprising amount of inter-episode continuity. But I don't really have the heart to try to re-watch it as a middle-aged guy. Maybe someday.
posted by GuyZero at 12:06 PM on February 11 [11 favorites]

Now how do I get this earworm of a theme song out of my head!

Like this
posted by saturday_morning at 12:07 PM on February 11

I remember Gummi Bears as having a surprisingly elaborate backstory and some pretty intense world-building going on in a few episodes.

You remember correctly. But didn't they also end with a cliffhanger/nothing resolved/thing? I got so caught up in reruns and stuff as a kid that I couldn't really digest it. But I did love me some continuity...
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:08 PM on February 11

gauche: I liked DuckTales all right, but my fondest non-TNG memories from that time belong to its spin-off Darkwing Duck.

Yes! TaleSpin and Darkwing Duck had some really great worldbuilding for a syndicated kids show.
posted by Rock Steady at 12:08 PM on February 11 [7 favorites]

Disney hit it out of the park in the late '80s - Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, Tail Spin, Gummi Bears - intense, grandiose world building, with fleshed out and interesting characters to inhabit them, with plot and dialog that didn't insult their audience. Not as phenomenally good as some of the stuff that came with the '90s, like Animaniacs or Batman, but lightyears better than anything contemporary.
posted by Slap*Happy at 12:08 PM on February 11 [8 favorites]

I have much clearer memories of Darkwing Duck plotlines than I do my early school days.

One of the great pleasures of my youth was taping Darkwing Duck onto VHS, then pausing it at a particularly cool moment so I could sit and draw the characters. The only problematic thing about that was that the VCR would automatically unpause after five minutes, so I'd have precisely five minutes to feverishly sketch as much of the characters as possible, at which point the VCR would start the show back up, and I could work on little details and coloring.

Also, which Uncle Scrooge comics hold up the best today to someone who never read them but watched Duck Tales? The Carl Barks one are the Undisputed Classic, but I've heard good things about the one that was roughly contemporaneous with the show.

The Don Rosa ones are great!
posted by Greg Nog at 12:09 PM on February 11 [18 favorites]

This is totally immature of me, but it was an old YTMND staple to have the Finnish version of the DuckTales theme song re-(mis-)interpreted into English. I sometimes still use it (on a boring day) to illustrate top-down processes in speech perception in my classes.
posted by Palquito at 12:09 PM on February 11 [12 favorites]

If we're going to talk about The Disney Afternoon and world-building, I just have one word: Gargoyles.
posted by maryr at 12:11 PM on February 11 [22 favorites]

For me, the magic of Duck Tales wore off the day I realized that actually diving into a vault of gold would really, really hurt.

Those gold coins were suspended in a synthetic jelly designed to allow rapid displacement of heavy solids. Didn't you read Scrooge McDuck and the Missing Material Safety Data Sheets?
posted by theodolite at 12:12 PM on February 11 [34 favorites]

There was at least one instance in the show when someone seized ownership of Scrooge's money bin and dove in to swim and just clanged off of the surface of the giant pile of coins. It's established canon in the show that only Scrooge has the ability to swim in money.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:15 PM on February 11 [38 favorites]

Sext: I am FWB with Scrooge McDuck. He asks me to pretend to rob him. "IS IT A BEAGLE BOY," he gasps, as I break into his money bin
posted by Greg Nog at 12:15 PM on February 11 [6 favorites]

The Don Rosa ones are great!

So is anything by Daan Jippes.

Now how do I get this earworm of a theme song out of my head!

Now try it in Dutch.

#Het leven is een wervelstorm, hier in Duckstad.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:16 PM on February 11

theodolite, no one reads the MSDSes.
posted by maryr at 12:18 PM on February 11

(Also for some reason there seems to be a whole subculture mistranlating Dutch dubbed cartoon intros into German, like so. )
posted by MartinWisse at 12:19 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

PS: Language fans, did you see the related links?
posted by maryr at 12:20 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

no one reads the MSDSes.

Lies. Gyro did. He just kept them in the bathroom where you couldn't see them.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:20 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Ducktales came too late for me, but it clearly deserves respect for pioneering that weekday afternoon animation spot that became the home of so many quality shows.

And man, I love those old Carl Barks stories! Somewhere in my comic collection is an old, dogeared fourth or fifth generation reprint of "The Second-Richest Duck," the story that introduces Glomgold. In honour of this post I'm going to hunt it down and give it a read.
posted by Kevin Street at 12:23 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Given the tshirts I saw for sale at Disney last November -- a smattering of 80s shows, including a Gummi Bears tshirt that really didn't fit but that I wanted very badly -- I expect a huge resurgence in merchandising of these shows within the year.
posted by jeather at 12:23 PM on February 11

I haven't read this yet, but I would like to share a family story...

We had a set of plastic DuckTales commemorative cups (these ones...thanks, google!) when I was a kid. The best one was Launchpad McQuack (obviously), and it got worn out and cracked early on, due to us fighting over it. The worst one was easily Webby. When my dad would set the table and pour the milk, sometimes my brother would get the Webby cup, just by chance. Oh, he would cry and cry and cry...just flat-out refuse to drink milk out of the Webby cup. The other cups were all pretty neutral. I don't know how it came about that Launchpad McQuack=awesome and Webby=lame, but that's just how it was.

Even today, now that we're all adults and long after those cups have all disintegrated from use, my dad will still stand at the cupboard and say, "hey, has anyone seen the Webby cup?" when we're back at home eating together, just to give my brother a hard time.
posted by phunniemee at 12:23 PM on February 11 [12 favorites]

Gods I am so happy others saw the majestic draw that Gummi Bears and DuckTales had.

I remember being about 9 years old and earnestly trying to convince my older sister that Gummi Bears had depth to it that would surprise her. "A cartoon based on a candy?!?" was her unsurprising reply. "Fuck you, Chris. You're nothing but a stupid piece of shit that will buy into anything you see."***


***Please note: this conversation never happened. My sister was and is an awesome person and she absolutely never said this. I really don't know why I lied and said she did, but for some reason I let it happen and I am nothing but a stupid piece of shit for doing so.
posted by item at 12:24 PM on February 11 [6 favorites]

I don't know how it came about that Launchpad McQuack=awesome and Webby=lame, but that's just how it was.

Maybe because:

Launchpad was recently named, "The Greatest Video Game Sidekick of All Time" on the video game review site GameSpot. He defeated the likes of Albert Einstein, Tails from Sonic, and Dominic Santiago from the Gears of War franchise to earn the title. He won in the finals against Einstein by a vote of 19,568-12,148.*
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:26 PM on February 11

Nthing the awesomeness of the DuckTales video game. I just talking to my wife about that a couple of days ago. Pogo sticking on Scoorge McDuck's cane...killing mummies...loved that game.
posted by asnider at 12:27 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

Loved Duck Tales, but Tail Spin created a world in which I would love to inhabit. Everything built around airplanes, with a little noir coating, and a relatively strong female lead character.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:38 PM on February 11 [18 favorites]

Brocktoon: Everything built around airplanes, with a little noir coating

You know what? I kind of hate to say it, but wasn't TaleSpin maybe a little bit proto-steampunk? Maybe aeropunk or something?
posted by Rock Steady at 12:42 PM on February 11 [9 favorites]

I was officially too old for TV cartoons when Duck Tales debuted (and working a 9-to-5 schedule that made watching The Disney Afternoon impossible most days). But I had read Uncle Scrooge comics as a kid (including some Carl Barks reprints picked up at a bookstore inside Disneyland), loved the originals and appreciated the intent of the series. But as the other shows came on, I saw the 're-imagining' of characters I imagined better: Chip and Dale as "Rescue Rangers"? No. The Jungle Book animals as, well, anything BUT the Jungle Book animals? NO. "Darkwing Duck" was a very pleasant surprise (and I noticed the "Spirit" and "Shadow" inspirations in the character... how annoyed I got when kids compared him to Batman).

Disney's original TV cartoon creations weren't great (but better than what Hanna-Barbera or Filmation was doing those days)... I liked "The Wuzzles" for the obvious 'living portmanteau' characters but had to think having two predator-mammal/insect combos (Bumblelion and Butterbear) was redundant. (Yes, I overthought such things) BUT having Laugh-In's Henry Gibson and JoAnne Worley doing voices, as well as Bill "Bullwinkle" Scott (one of his few gigs where he wasn't also a Producer) and Stan Freberg as narrator... Loved that! "Gummi Bears" initially turned me off by its 'brand placement-ness', but they really did work to build a universe... still, to me it too much resembled the Disney Robin Hood (which I liked more than most), just with different animals. And again, the voices, with Bill Scott, June Foray, Lorenzo Music...

And remember "Bonkers"? Its attempt to play in the 'Toon Town' created for Roger Rabbit was interesting, but not very successful, as was the attempt to make a new 'mischievous woodland creature' archetype in "Marsupilami". But hey, points for effort. (Yes, I REALLY overthought things)

I must chide the original article for ignoring (IMO) Disney's best animated TV show of that era: "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", which, while making A.A.Milne purists apoplectic, held up the standard for "the Disney version" of Pooh better than most TV cartoon adaptations (certainly as compared to the original theatricals), and kept John Fiedler as Piglet.

But if you're looking at Disney TV animation since that era, you have to acknowledge the very recent moves in the right direction with "Gravity Falls", a wonderfully well-written well-realized toon with elements of "X-Files" AND "Twin Peaks", plus in 'Grunkle Stan' the best cartoon anti-hero since... well, Scrooge McDuck. And now the Mouse House has recruited Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust (if you don't know who they are, don't talk cartoons with ME) to develop an original fantasy series titled "Wander Over Yonder", which based on a one-minute clip shown at ComicCon (cammed here), looks so-o-o-o-o promising.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:43 PM on February 11 [8 favorites]

I wasn't born until 1990, but I have vivid and fond memories for all of these shows -Darkwing duck, the Rescuers, Tale Spin, Gummi Bears, Gargoyles, and Aladdin (my favorite at the time). Gargoyles holds a special place, because it was one of the few shows my dad could tolerate at that early an age, and I remember watching it with him and my sister.
posted by FirstMateKate at 12:45 PM on February 11

You know what? I kind of hate to say it, but wasn't TaleSpin maybe a little bit proto-steampunk? Maybe aeropunk or something?

It was a little retro-futuristic. Back in the 50's there were lots of pulp magazines that had drawings similar to what they did in TaleSpin. heli-platforms, everyone going everywhere by plane but with everything basically being 50's era technology - no jets that I recall. The Wikipedia mentions the influence of Porcco Rosso which I had not thought of before, but stylistically the two are indeed pretty close.
posted by GuyZero at 12:51 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

Tale Spin 4 lyfe. Shere Khan as a terrifyingly powerful & shady businessman/crimelord? Hell yes.
posted by aramaic at 12:53 PM on February 11 [12 favorites]

Anyone else recall that TaleSpin took place on the Geraldo Riviera?
posted by griphus at 12:54 PM on February 11 [7 favorites]

Now I'm back to wondering how a pelican has a last name "McQuack". Is the duck supremacy that deeply-rooted in Duckberg society that other birds take on duck-sounding names just to gain employment?
posted by Space Coyote at 12:57 PM on February 11 [15 favorites]

Yeah it had some sci-fi elements; I haven't seen it in ages, but I remember that if someone wanted to fly into the city, they had to gain access through these massive doors guarding the entrance. I seem to remember a few episodes centered on thwarting the doors. It might not of been doors, but it was some kind of automated defense system (having trouble finding a decent video of it in action).
posted by Brocktoon at 12:59 PM on February 11

"Now I'm back to wondering how a pelican has a last name "McQuack". Is the duck supremacy that deeply-rooted in Duckberg society that other birds take on duck-sounding names just to gain employment?"

And then there's the dogs. All of them are either friendly idiots or scheming crooks.
posted by Kevin Street at 1:01 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

Now I'm back to wondering how a pelican has a last name "McQuack". Is the duck supremacy that deeply-rooted in Duckberg society that other birds take on duck-sounding names just to gain employment?

It's possible he's only pelican on his mother's side.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:02 PM on February 11 [13 favorites]

Yo we can't talk about the DuckTales video game without talkin' bout the Moon Theme
posted by Greg Nog at 1:03 PM on February 11 [14 favorites]

Tale Spin was also awesome. Whoever thought of taking Jungle Book characters and throwing them into that bizarre, retro-future, Indiana-Jones-in-the-sky environment was a mad genius.

Also: air pirates!
posted by asnider at 1:04 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

It's possible he's only pelican on his mother's side.

The other scenario is that it's an Ellis Island thing. Like how Gyro Gearloose's family name is actually Gerypotilis.
posted by griphus at 1:04 PM on February 11 [10 favorites]

wasn't TaleSpin maybe a little bit proto-steampunk?

It's more like a cartoon version of Tales of the Gold Monkey, actually, although it certainly holds up better!

Also:

Duckstad. xD
posted by adamdschneider at 1:06 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

you know I didn't know he was a pelican. I thought he was just an extremely large duck..
posted by royalsong at 1:08 PM on February 11 [5 favorites]

asnider: Also: air pirates!

I think that alone is what gives me the steampunk vibe.

Also, I should add that trying to wrap my pre-teen brain around the multiplicity of meanings incorporated into just the title TaleSpin was a great deal of fun. "They go into tailspins, and they have tails, and they spin tales! Holy crap where does it end?"
posted by Rock Steady at 1:08 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

Two words.

Don. Carnage.
posted by neuromodulator at 1:08 PM on February 11 [5 favorites]

TaleSpin was the first time I ever heard the "fire at Will" joke and I still think it is funny as hell.

Also, even with all the crime and robot rampages and so on, I still want to live in Duckburg. Because of Duck Tales basically being a cultural bridge into America for me, I still sort of hold it up as an ideal American city.
posted by griphus at 1:10 PM on February 11 [5 favorites]

Two words.

Don. Carnage.

Ahem. "Karnage."

"THIS WILL BE LIKE TAKING CANDY FROM A LITTLE BABY CHILD!"
posted by mightygodking at 1:10 PM on February 11 [5 favorites]

Anyone else recall that TaleSpin took place on the Geraldo Riviera?

I don't remember that, but I do recall that the city/town was called Cape Suzette.
posted by asnider at 1:11 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

Duck Tales was the best show simply because the plots were so good - and the plots were so good because Carl Barks. I was overjoyed as I was growing up to discover that I could read the originals of those stories - and that they were in many instances even better than the excellent cartoons.
posted by koeselitz at 1:22 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

My kids are working through the Darkwing Duck dvds, one episode a morning. They absolutely love it. The theme song is a dreadful earworm, though.

And now, thanks to this post, I am out $60 for the DuckTales dvds.
posted by fimbulvetr at 1:24 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Anyway, yes, Duck Tales is a national treasure and holy god do I hope it does not get remade in CGI like Tad Stones suggests. I recently caught the new Busy World of Richard Scarry at a diner and the CGI/cel shaded thing they did to it looks absolutely grotesque compared to the hand-animated one.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised that I had that reaction myself when I got to that part of the article. I would definitely see a cel animated Duck Tales movie, but all my interest evaporates at the prospect of it being CG.

Not that I hate CGI. I just think that would be fundamentally incongruent to the source material.
posted by zixyer at 1:26 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

I watched Disney Afternoon every day. I don't remember much from Duck Tales; Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and TaleSpin are all a bit more vivid in my mind. But nothing compares to...

If we're going to talk about The Disney Afternoon and world-building, I just have one word: Gargoyles.

Pretty much what I thought when I saw "Disney Afternoon" mentioned.
posted by curious nu at 1:28 PM on February 11

griphus, my siblings and I still make that joke in the exact accent.
posted by maryr at 1:29 PM on February 11

If we're going to talk about The Disney Afternoon and world-building, I just have one word: Gargoyles


I was at an embarrassingly advanced age before I realized that was Counselor Troi's voice coming out of Desdemona on that show.
posted by The Whelk at 1:33 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

No love for Goof Troop? For some reason I found that show to be generally really immersive and touching. Actually, that's true for a lot of these shows--surprising depth. There was the whole Darkwing thing where they find out they're a TV show and there's a whole metanarrative. TaleSpin and the lost island of dinosaurs. Gargoyles and time travel. Really amazing stuff.

Never was a fan of Bonkers! though

I would like to have all of you over my house for some Chef Boyardee and Disney Afternoon, pretty much.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:35 PM on February 11 [13 favorites]

Do you remember the episode of Duck Tales where the entire flimsy premise is nothing more than some sort of ridiculous hat tip to Silent Running (which has three little robots called Huey, Dewey, and Louie) and takes place in outer space on a biodomed garden ship run by malevolent slavemaster vegetables and has a giant squash-alien who says, "Squish! Squash!"?
posted by steef at 1:40 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

I was too late for Duck Tales, but nthing TailSpin and Darkwing Duck.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 1:40 PM on February 11

I am permanently ruined when I flick past cartoons on the tv and see nothing that intrigues as much as the animated adventures of my youth.

DuckTales (OoooOOooohooo!), was by far my favorite until Gargoyles came along. One of my earliest memories of sharing something with a best friend was the rebellious idea to stay up all night and it was capped with the sitting down and watching the first several episodes as the sun peaked over the horizon. It was an afternoon ritual of mine, one that I watched sometimes on the small black and white tv in our kitchen, and where I swore I could differentiate the colors of Huey, Dewey and Louie.

All that came from it, I enjoyed, but none as much as DuckTales except for Gargoyles.

Gummi Bears were my Saturday morning treat, one which in my opinion has held up over the years. I recently re-watched them a few years ago, and while some of the plots are simplistic in nature, still entertaining. One element that made the show interesting was the world building, the idea that there was once an ancient Gummi civilization, a race of bears which had created all sorts of miraculous inventions and the slow discovery of those and them. An interesting comparative note, it, like DuckTales, was a story of generations. The main cast ran the spread from young (Huey/Dewey/Louie age?) to grandparent.

I shall spoil my future children on these and they will cast the apathetic stones of dismissal at the soiled proffered product of present day. Ha!
posted by Atreides at 1:41 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

No love for Goof Troop?

The weird thing I recently realized about Goof Troop is that Goofy has a son, which means that at some point Goofy inseminated a lady Goofy. That's a hard thing to think about.
posted by Greg Nog at 1:41 PM on February 11 [26 favorites]

On the contrary I think about it all the time.
posted by shakespeherian at 1:43 PM on February 11 [13 favorites]

It's thinking about him whispering "Garsh" that I think I find so unnerving
posted by Greg Nog at 1:44 PM on February 11 [45 favorites]

One of the great pleasures of my youth was taping Darkwing Duck onto VHS, then pausing it at a particularly cool moment so I could sit and draw the characters. The only problematic thing about that was that the VCR would automatically unpause after five minutes, so I'd have precisely five minutes to feverishly sketch as much of the characters as possible- Greg Nog

Oh my goodness, meeeeemories... this is exactly how I learned to animate, right down to the five-minute countdown! There were some really great animators on that show- it was done in Australia, and there's still a lot of that crew floating around the business. They're freakishly fast and terrific draftsmen. It sounded like a good time, making those.
posted by Erasmouse at 1:44 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

If you're wondering how a "McQuack" can have a pelican chin, refer to the Duck Family Tree, which includes geese and coots and such; apparently bill-shape is the primary inherited trait in Duckworld.

I always figured Launchpad McQuack just had a big chin; it never occurred to me that he had any pelican in him.
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:47 PM on February 11 [6 favorites]

TaleSpin: as a child, the awesomest bit of world building was the giant Cliff Guns at the narrow entrance to Cape Suzette. That's a great detail. They're propeller planes (or zeppelins in the case of the pirates), so they've got a flight ceiling. Cliff guns are a sensible defense measure.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:48 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Atreides: I am permanently ruined when I flick past cartoons on the tv and see nothing that intrigues as much as the animated adventures of my youth.

There are actually some fantastic cartoons on TV right now. Foster's, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, Fish Hooks... there are probably more I am forgetting.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:48 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

One element that made the show interesting was the world building, the idea that there was once an ancient Gummi civilization, a race of bears which had created all sorts of miraculous inventions and the slow discovery of those and them.

best part of that show. and remember where they went? They all set sail for the new world.
posted by leotrotsky at 1:49 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

There are actually some fantastic cartoons on TV right now. Foster's, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, Fish Hooks... there are probably more I am forgetting.

I have heard about some of these, but seen none. I've seen the character designs at least for Adventure Time and it left me wanting, but I won't let that hold it against me as a reason not to at some point try 'em out.
posted by Atreides at 2:01 PM on February 11

They all set sail for the new world.

I don't recall how the remaining enclave of gummi bears forgot about all this stuff. But yeah, it was basically Tolkien.

But Gargoyles was like a comic book that tried reasonably hard to make an interesting world. Gummi Bears was a surprise because it was a Disney cartoon based on CANDY. GIven that starting point, they went further than expected.
posted by GuyZero at 2:02 PM on February 11

Yo we can't talk about the DuckTales video game without talkin' bout the Moon Theme

Or without talking about how there were two games (also ported to Game Boy) and a non-Capcom one. Oh, and -tip of the hat to PhoB- Goof Troop was easily one of the most underrated SNES games. Yahuk!

still, to me it too much resembled the Disney Robin Hood (which I liked more than most)

I think its popularity was shot by the second part where the Sheriff or King John (I forget) rules over Nottingham; the population is depressed, malnourished and it rains all the time. It also contrasts with the first very cheery part. Also wasn't Kaa (the snake from the Jungle Book) playing King John's advisor come to think of it? Great film.
posted by ersatz at 2:06 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Knowing the show before the band, I've never been able to listen to Hall & Oates' You Make My Dreams Come True without shouting "Ducktales" during the hoo-oo's.

Also, this rage comic (seen originally on reddit f7u12, but can't find that link)
posted by msbrauer at 2:11 PM on February 11 [9 favorites]

(the Hall & Oates song and the Ducktales theme even start off similarly)
posted by msbrauer at 2:12 PM on February 11

Oh snap, DuckTales eps have been uploaded on youtube (for other people who haven't RTFA yet).
posted by ersatz at 2:17 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Also wasn't Kaa (the snake from the Jungle Book) playing King John's advisor come to think of it? Great film.

And Baloo is pretty much playing Little John, which I kind of accepted as a kid but which really perplexes me now.

(I have a theory about why it makes sense for the various Muppets to appear as characters in various stories, but not about why Baloo from the Jungle Book is playing Little John.)
posted by gauche at 2:21 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

re: TaleSpin

I have a pilot friend whose dream it is to buy a flying boat and open an air freight franchise called "Higher for Hire."

Also: Plunder & Lightning, Part I
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:25 PM on February 11

"I have a theory about why it makes sense for the various Muppets to appear as characters in various stories, but not about why Baloo from the Jungle Book is playing Little John."

The Muppets are already performers, putting on shows and acting in various roles is what they do. But Baloo is a character from a novel with a specific storyline, so it is a bit more of a mental disconnect to see him playing other characters.
posted by Kevin Street at 2:34 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

I was at an embarrassingly advanced age before I realized that was Counselor Troi's voice coming out of Desdemona on that show.

Half the bridge crew of TNG voiced a character on Gargoyles at some point.
posted by curious nu at 2:35 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Also wasn't Kaa (the snake from the Jungle Book) playing King John's advisor come to think of it? Great film.

And Baloo is pretty much playing Little John, which I kind of accepted as a kid but which really perplexes me now.


Well, Robin Hood was one of the cheapest Disney productions and a lot of prior material from previous productions was repurposed for the film. This explains why both Baloo and Kaa are apparently in both films.
posted by ooga_booga at 2:46 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

I always assumed that the re-use of characters was akin to the reappearance of actors in different roles. It never really bothered me, though I quite love the Disney Robin Hood and often whistle one of its themes.
posted by Atreides at 2:53 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Greg Nog > One of the great pleasures of my youth was taping Darkwing Duck onto VHS, then pausing it at a particularly cool moment so I could sit and draw the characters. The only problematic thing about that was that the VCR would automatically unpause after five minutes

We would do this when I worked at Spümcø, albiet mostly with Warners shorts. We called it "cartoon life drawing". I learnt a HELL of a lot about how to properly apply construction by doing this.
posted by egypturnash at 3:00 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

oneswellfoop, I agree with every word you wrote. Usually when someone does that I just favorite them, but it's really striking how much we agree on this, and generally on matters of cartoons.
posted by JHarris at 3:20 PM on February 11

Blathering blatherskite!
posted by Evilspork at 3:20 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

> a race of bears which had created all sorts of miraculous inventions and the slow discovery of those and them.

Iliops? (Talk about unexpectedly-deep world building, Teddy Ruxpin beats all others IMO.)
posted by Space Coyote at 3:21 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Half the bridge crew of TNG voiced a character on Gargoyles at some point.

The stories continue to come out how much the TNG cast seemed to truly enjoy being around each other. It sounds like they had a tremendous amount of fun (TNG's harsh production requirements notwithstading).
posted by JHarris at 3:22 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Iliops? (Talk about unexpectedly-deep world building, Teddy Ruxpin beats all others IMO.)

YES. The Teddy Ruxpin show was damn amazing in its storytelling sometimes.
posted by JHarris at 3:23 PM on February 11

oneswellfoop:
as was the attempt to make a new 'mischievous woodland creature' archetype in "Marsupilami".

Ah, no. Disney bought Marsupilami, which was one of the most charming and original creations by Franquin, one of the truly great French comic book artists. They then proceeded to run it into the ground, messily.

Duck Tales, TailSpin, Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck were all great, though. They (Duck Tales at the very least) were originally broadcast in the original in Denmark, until they after a year or two began dubbing them. I have my passionate hatred for dubbing from that experience. Duck Taies was just about perfect, though I always missed Donald. And who could resist Rebecca Cunningham from TailSpin?

Donald Duck and the rest of Duckburg were huge in Denmark in my childhood - the circulation of "Anders And & Co" has waned in recent years, though. Proud to be a barksian!

As for modern cartoons, I would be gravely amiss in not pointing out how brilliant the best of the best is today. Nostalgia is good (though frankly not what it used to be), but things have really improved since then, story-wise and animation-wise.

Obviously (no, not biased at all), the hitherto crowning jewel in TV animation is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which will give any of the mentioned show a run for their money in world building, characters, scripting, animation, and music. Adventure Time is also very good.

Though, admittedly, neither feature ducks prominently.
posted by bouvin at 3:23 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

The weird thing I recently realized about Goof Troop is that Goofy has a son, which means that at some point Goofy inseminated a lady Goofy. That's a hard thing to think about.

Or absolutely hilarious, if you found the right narrator.

The title card HOW TO MATE would be followed by seven minutes of two adults failing to get it on in every possible way, including, inexplicably, at least one shot of a 14-car-pileup on the freeway.
posted by JHarris at 3:29 PM on February 11 [36 favorites]

Oh, and:
Yo we can't talk about the DuckTales video game without talkin' bout the Moon Theme

They did good with that one. There are few game soundtracks that accurately get across the wonder, majesty, and sheer impossible audacity of us landing on the fucking moon as that one. Even fewer that involve a cartoon duck bouncing around bopping monsters on his pogo-cane.
posted by JHarris at 3:32 PM on February 11

(Also regarding HOW TO MATE, the cartoon would have to end with a timely appearance of BIG JIM SLADE bursting through a wall.)
posted by JHarris at 3:35 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Ahhhhhhh. So many memories.

As a kid, I gobbled up everything DuckTales except the pilot miniseries. I couldn't ever watch the last episode of it because of the absolute nightmare fuel that was 'gold fever' and that creepy, creepy, creepy Temple of the Golden Suns.

One of my biggest childhood betrayals was getting to Disney World and realizing that Disney didn't care at all about Ducktales or anything in the Disney Afternoon. Instead of reflecting the "Disney" that filled my after-school life every weekday from 3-5pm, it was a confusing set of old relics (Tom Sawyer Island? Seriously?) that celebrated a culture my parents (or in some cases, my grandparents) grew up with. Who the hell is Horace Horsecollar? And why isn't Donald in his Navy Uniform? Where's the life-sized Money Bin or Higher for Hire office?
posted by RonButNotStupid at 3:38 PM on February 11 [7 favorites]

Yeah, the Barks (and sucessor's) comics has always had this weird alternate-universe-like relationship with the primary Disney cartoons in the US.

Holy crap, I just remembered I saw Don Rosa at DragonCon back in September, in Artist's Alley! Did not expect to see him there. I actually thought he had died at some point.
posted by JHarris at 3:54 PM on February 11

But Baloo is a character from a novel with a specific storyline, so it is a bit more of a mental disconnect to see him playing other characters.

I'm probably adding to Rudyard Kipling's rotations per minute when I say this, but as a child I was first introduced to Baloo as a lackadaisical flying boat pilot, and that is the image that has been forever imprinted upon my mind.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 3:55 PM on February 11 [5 favorites]

"There were some really great animators on that show- it was done in Australia, and there's still a lot of that crew floating around the business."

And, sadly, some no longer with us.

I had a few friends who were snapped up by Disney straight out of college / uni - it was competitive as hell; for several reasons Australia was churning out tons of animators at the time. That was at the time when WDTAA was becoming one of Disney's major studios for 2nd-string TV / direct-to-video stuff like The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh and Adventures of the Gummi Bears - all still done as traditional cell animation.

It was a dream come true for them. Except that there was no time for creativity; Disney was strict and demanding about every little detail, and they worked them hard. One had a breakdown after doing the same bit of Winnie The Pooh non-stop for many months; he later committed suicide. Another just upped and went walkabout, turning up a few years later involved with one of the happy-clappy churches. And a third OD'd not long after he left in the early 90's.

(Yeah, I know, it all sounds like a bad comment fable. But it's true…)
posted by Pinback at 4:01 PM on February 11 [10 favorites]

Yes, Pinback, a family friend did a huge amount of the drawing on DarkWing Duck, and whilst he loved the show, his memories of working for Disney at the time were not especially fond.
posted by smoke at 4:12 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Yeah, the Barks (and sucessor's) comics has always had this weird alternate-universe-like relationship with the primary Disney cartoons in the US.

Does Mickey Mouse even exist as anything other than a mascot these days? Growing up in the late 1980s, I knew Mickey only as the symbol of Disney because I had only seen him in one or two cartoons. I knew he occupied a very important position, but I never really understood why there was a Mickey Mouse Club, or why Mickey was always the "star" despite being so seemingly obscure. Ducktales was on every single afternoon at 4:30pm, but I'd only see Mickey's Christmas Carol once or twice in December.

It seems like there's a ton of core Disney characters that are nothing but a legacy, and a rather flimsy one at that. Maybe this is why they're frantically incorporating elements from the Pixar films into the parks and re-theming various rides to reflect what kids are actually coming into contact with. I bet more children under the age of ten can recognize Nemo or Wall-E than can identify Pluto or Black Pete.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:29 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

Does Mickey Mouse even exist as anything other than a mascot these days?

In the past few years they've had him, Minnie, Donald and Goofy lead the flagship property for Disney's preschool channel, Disney Junior. It's to the point where my six-year-old niece's favorite Disney character is Minnie Mouse, if you can believe such a thing.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:34 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

There's a moment in the Ducktales pilot when El Capitan says "I have lived over 300 years on willpower alone!" Watching that episode happened to coincide with my first nascent awareness of my own mortality, and that line really resonated with me. I have since vowed to so the same.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 4:42 PM on February 11 [9 favorites]

Space Coyote: "Now I'm back to wondering how a pelican has a last name "McQuack". Is the duck supremacy that deeply-rooted in Duckberg society that other birds take on duck-sounding names just to gain employment?"

My cousins are chickenhawks with the last name of "Pelikan". Anything's possible.
posted by notsnot at 4:42 PM on February 11

jharris > I actually thought [Don Rosa] had died at some point.

Don Rosa is still alive. He is retired. Disney has not treated him well.
posted by egypturnash at 4:42 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

I bet more children under the age of ten can recognize Nemo or Wall-E than can identify Pluto or Black Pete.

This is rather a delicious bit of poetic justice. The reason their arch-rivals, the Warner Bros. cartoons, are remembered now stems largely from the ubiquity of Bugs Bunny and crew on Saturday Mornings in the 70s and 80s. This kept the characters current, while Disney locked theirs mostly in the vaults except for occaisonal airings as part of Wonderful World of Disney and other special occaisions. This continued until the Disney Channel got started, which for a while had those cartoons on every day and are my own primary exposure to them, and then of course the VHS and DVD releases.

But even now, it's a hell of a lot easier to catch random Bugs Bunny than Mickey Mouse. And that's the funny thing, isn't it? If Mickey Mouse had been allowed to enter the public domain he'd be everywhere now, and he'd probably be much better remembered. The legacy of Walt Disney the cartoon producer has withered before that of Walt Disney's company.
posted by JHarris at 4:50 PM on February 11 [5 favorites]

There's a moment in the Ducktales pilot when El Capitan says "I have lived over 300 years on willpower alone!" Watching that episode happened to coincide with my first nascent awareness of my own mortality, and that line really resonated with me. I have since vowed to so the same.

For me it was when El Capitan is slowly lowering everyone in a basket to their certain fiery deaths in an underground molten lake of pure gold and Mrs. Beakley tells Webigail not to worry because "it will soon be over" or something to that effect.

Like I said, nightmare fuel.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 4:53 PM on February 11

Growing up in the late 1980s, I knew Mickey only as the symbol of Disney because I had only seen him in one or two cartoons.

You mean you didn't watch Totally Minnie on VHS over and over and over?
posted by bleep at 4:54 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

I always thought of the Warner Brothers cartoons as the anarchic, punky, 'cool' tricksters to the boring Disney properties. I know this is unfair, and that there was amazing work being done by Disney animators and Carl Barks and all the rest. But those Bugs Bunny and Red Hot Riding Hood and Daffy Duck shorts always seemed so subversive.

I bet kids today mostly know Mickey Mouse from the Kingdom Hearts games. He did star in some great 16 bit platformers.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 5:03 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Marsupilami's creator, Franquin, isn't French; he's Belgian. Well, he was.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:12 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

It's to the point where my six-year-old niece's favorite Disney character is Minnie Mouse, if you can believe such a thing.

My little girl's pre-school sweetheart is a rambunctious little guy who has a Minnie Mouse stuffed animal he takes to nap time. I approve.

We don't get it at our house, 'cuz of no cable due to cheap parents, but she watches Mickey Mouse Clubhouse whenever she's at her grandparents... she thinks his last name is Clubhouse.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:22 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Charlemagne In Sweatpants: "I always thought of the Warner Brothers cartoons as the anarchic, punky, 'cool' tricksters to the boring Disney properties."

A while back I was watching "Drip Dippy Donald" and came up with a theory that, while Warner Bros. characters were trickster figures (or victims of tricksters), Disney characters were victims of an unrelentingly cruel world. I thought of "Goofy Gymnastics" as another example.

To be honest I'm not nearly as familiar with the Disney toons, so that's more than likely a bunch of bullshit.
posted by brundlefly at 5:23 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Yay! I can still hum the Ducktales NES moon song! I haven't heard that song since I was eight or nine (31 now) but I remember the whole thing. Such a great game with fantastic music.
posted by Our Ship Of The Imagination! at 5:30 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

You know what? I kind of hate to say it, but wasn't TaleSpin maybe a little bit proto-steampunk? Maybe aeropunk or something?

I believe you're looking for the term "Diesel Punk"
posted by KingEdRa at 5:40 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

I'm just gonna leave this here.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:08 PM on February 11

This is rather a delicious bit of poetic justice. The reason their arch-rivals, the Warner Bros. cartoons, are remembered now stems largely from the ubiquity of Bugs Bunny and crew on Saturday Mornings in the 70s and 80s. This kept the characters current...

Conversely, you could also say Warner Bros. was lazily exploiting their past glory for all it was worth. Remember all those "new" feature films they put out that were just a bunch of disjoint classic cartoons strung together with a haphazard framing device? The bitter irony is Disney had it right. They were producing new, original material (sometimes even with "classic" characters in new roles) that was quite good at a time when Warner Bros. was just recycling content left and right. The ubiquity of Bugs Bunny probably has more to do with Warner Bros. having a better marketing department than Disney and their ability to sell the characters on t-shirts.

Eventually, of course, Warner Bros also realized the folly of living off decades-old content and gave us Animaniacs along with Pinky and the Brain. But like Disney, they've also conveniently "forgotten" this successful foray in favor of resurrecting their legacy characters. I don't think there's anything stopping them from making new Animaniacs shorts, or even something wholly original, but they're content to just crank out more things starring Bugs Bunny.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 6:16 PM on February 11 [4 favorites]

From the Wikipedia entry on Talespin:
"TaleSpin is set in the fictional City of Cape Suzette (a pun on the pancake dish, Crêpe Suzette), in a fictional country called Usland. ...The characters in the world of TaleSpin are anthropomorphic animals... In one episode, Baloo comments that "The Great War ended 20 years ago,"[12] suggesting that the series specifically takes place in 1938."

Excellent original research (proper citation footnote and everything!), Wikipedians!! This is the kind of staggering brilliance which made me finally give up on contributing to Wikipedia
posted by Bwithh at 6:37 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

Conversely, you could also say Warner Bros. was lazily exploiting their past glory for all it was worth.

But they were! In retrospect there was nothing negative about that, and in fact it kept the characters fresh in people's memory.

I dispute directly that WB has better marketing than the terrifying Disney corporation. Both companies have never been shy about selling shirts with their characters on them. T-shirts are insufficent to keep alive people's memories of cartoons.

And while Disney's feature animation thrived (after a bit of a stumble pre-Little Mermaid), those didn't use Mickey Mouse and friends. Disney's classic characters were missing from the broadcast airwaves except for occaisional showings of Mickey's Christmas Carol and House Of Mouse.
posted by JHarris at 6:38 PM on February 11 [3 favorites]

(And DuckTales, of course, but it didn't have Mickey, barely had Donald, and Goofy was present only as a model for extras.)
posted by JHarris at 6:39 PM on February 11

In 1955, Disney debuted "The Mickey Mouse Club" on weekdays and "Disneyland" on Sunday Night and for over two decades ONLY allowed their theatrical cartoons to be shown within those two venues. Warner Bros., partly due to oddly timed licensing arrangements, usually had three or four different 'packages' of their cartoons being syndicated to local television stations and to the networks for Saturday Mornings. Inept handling of properties more than exploiting, but it was so profitable nobody complained.
posted by oneswellfoop at 6:48 PM on February 11

So did anyone else have that revelatory moment where they realized that Scrooge's voice was done by Alan Young, the guy who played Wilbur on "Mr Ed" (as seen on Nick at Nite)? And this was all pre-IMDB.

And I recall that, as much as the Donald/Navy cameos were my favorite part of the show, Disney limited his presence because they didn't want his popularity to overtake Mickey's. Which all seems kind of moot now. Although everyone pretty much agrees that the classic shorts with Mickeys weren't as good as Donald or Goofy's.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 7:42 PM on February 11 [1 favorite]

Oh, and the whole animal/name discrepancy... Even as a kid I thought it was weird how their butler "Duckworth" was actually a dog. And that Duckburg actually seemed to be populated mostly by dogs.

I'm also surprised no one has yet to mention "Bubba the Caveduck." That's by intent, right? And I think Gizmoduck came around the same time, but I still thought he was so cool.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 7:49 PM on February 11 [2 favorites]

Aw. I miss DuckTales. Will they ever come out with a full DVD?

Re: the Valley of the Golden Suns, that's one of my favorite episodes.
posted by limeonaire at 8:07 PM on February 11

I believe you're looking for the term "Diesel Punk"

No way is TaleSpin dieselpunk. The aesthetic and themes are all wrong. If anything TVTropes, it is a Two Fisted Tale.
posted by adamdschneider at 9:29 PM on February 11

Really, though, TaleSpin is (or at least the jumping off point was) Tales of the Gold Monkey. I even just checked the Wikipedia Page and couldn't have said it better myself:

Also, many of the series concepts seem to be based on the 1982 ABC series Tales of the Gold Monkey, including the main concept of a cocky flying boat cargo pilot and his rocky relationship with his girlfriend (although in TaleSpin, Rebecca Cunningham is merely Baloo's boss), his scatterbrained mechanic sidekick, the era and designs of the aircraft and costumes, the Pacific Islands setting, the secondary character relationships, even the visual appearance of the lagoon. Also, the protagonists of both series fly planes named for waterfowl (Cutter's Goose and Sea Duck) and are regular denizens of similar taverns. In Tales of the Gold Monkey, the tavern is a bar called "The Gold Monkey" and run by a man named Louie. In TaleSpin, it's called "Louie's" and run by a golden-colored ape (orangutan) of the same name.

I would also mention the sidekick dog, er, kid.
posted by adamdschneider at 10:01 PM on February 11

For those who want to relive the NES game without going through all the effort of getting an emulator and the ROM (and, well, playing the entire game), you can watch this playthrough.

Also, Terrell Owens and Roy Williams have an important sideline discussion about their favorite cartoons.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 10:15 PM on February 11

Ducktales was a sly satire of capitalism. The working class (Launchpad, Gyro, Mrs. Beakley, Duckworth, Fenton Crackshell / Gizmoduck) were always bailing out the 1% (Scrooge and his progeny).
posted by Afroblanco at 1:10 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

For my money, TaleSpin has always occupied some kind of weird intersection between Jimmy Buffett's novel Where Is Joe Merchant? and Duck Tales and/or The Jungle Book. That same kind of semi-legal Caribbean seaplane adventurous mystical-influenced derring-do, just with Baloo as Frank Bama. The novel came out two years after the show did, but the texture is similar.
posted by Punkey at 2:06 AM on February 12

So, according to Wikipedia, Disney Adventures magazine featured a crossover of all the major Disney Afternoon cartoons like Talespin, DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, and Rescue Rangers. But, it doesn't make sense to me to throw Rescue Rangers in there, because weren't there real humans in that show?

I remember my friend explained some theory that Talespin was in the same universe as DuckTales/Darkwing, but they could never crossover because Talespin's events occurred like 40-50 years before DuckTales.
posted by FJT at 4:12 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Don Rosa is still alive. He is retired. Disney has not treated him well.

That whole Don Rosa thing makes me angry, so I won't comment on it. Let me just say he has done wonders for the popularity of the ducks in Europe and he's one of the two best storytellers they had (with Barks, obvs).

I always assumed that the re-use of characters was akin to the reappearance of actors in different roles. It never really bothered me, though I quite love the Disney Robin Hood and often whistle one of its themes.

Yes?
posted by ersatz at 5:24 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Oh, and they both take place in 1938! Man, it's just gold monkeys all the way down.
posted by adamdschneider at 5:31 AM on February 12

Air Adventure was a real pulp genre from the '30s - near-future adventure stories with advanced airplane design and two-fisted heroes. Tale Spin is a clear homage to the genre, which saw a small resurgence in popularity recently with games like Crimson Skies and the Sky Captain movie.

It's like steampunk in that it envisions advanced technology from the perspective of the era.
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:39 AM on February 12 [3 favorites]

Slap*Happy: Crimson Skies

I bought a used Original XBox for $50 a couple of years ago, basically so I could play Crimson Skies (and to a lesser extent Jet Set Radio Future).
posted by Rock Steady at 5:41 AM on February 12

I was also surprised to learn from wikipedia that TaleSpin was only on for 15 months during tis original run, but they managed to cram 65 episodes into that: one a week!

I liked Crimson Skies and wanted to like Sky Captain.

Also, the Rocketeer.
posted by adamdschneider at 6:44 AM on February 12 [4 favorites]

Yes?

Yep!
posted by Atreides at 7:02 AM on February 12

Or absolutely hilarious, if you found the right narrator.

The title card HOW TO MATE would be followed by seven minutes of two adults failing to get it on in every possible way, including, inexplicably, at least one shot of a 14-car-pileup on the freeway.


I just imagine the conception culminating in a Goofy Holler .
posted by cottoncandybeard at 7:06 AM on February 12 [3 favorites]

I started reading the Don Rosa Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck books last night and holy shit I am honest-to-goodness staggered by the quality of both the writing and the art.
posted by griphus at 7:57 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Don Rosa's wife was my 8th grade social studies teacher. (And she was one of the best teachers I ever had)

Don wrote a comic called "Captain Kentucky" before all this duck business. My step-father was a superfan... Reading it now (I got a copy via an indiegogo project) it really takes me back.. and makes me sad that I was just a wee bit old for the great Duck revival!
posted by DigDoug at 7:58 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

I just imagine the conception culminating in a Goofy Holler.

No, that's the sound after the whipcrack when he wanders into the office marked "Instruction" instead of "Therapist."
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:17 AM on February 12

Monday, stony Monday

Marsupilami's creator, Franquin, isn't French; he's Belgian. Well, he was.

Darn it. You are of course quite correct. My only defense is that he is of the glorious French-Belgian school of comic art.
posted by bouvin at 9:34 AM on February 12

griphus:
I started reading the Don Rosa Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck books last night and holy shit I am honest-to-goodness staggered by the quality of both the writing and the art.

Isn't it though? The amount of research, and his ability to make throw-away lines from the Barks original fit into a satisfying, coherent whole is very, very impressive. Frankly, I hold it among the finest creations of American comics in a long time.
posted by bouvin at 9:38 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

This. You'll never hear that song quite the same again.
posted by chaosys at 6:54 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

I just imagine the conception culminating in a Goofy Holler.

YAAA-HA-HA-HOOEY
posted by JHarris at 7:19 PM on February 12

I remember my friend explained some theory that Talespin was in the same universe as DuckTales/Darkwing, but they could never crossover because Talespin's events occurred like 40-50 years before DuckTales.

I can't believe I am going to actually comment on this, but I googled around a bit out of mild curiosity, because I am familiar with the concept of the 'Duckiverse' from Jordan Jesse Go - now it looks like that's not a canonical term and was possibly even coined by Jordan.

But Duck universe is apparently a thing - one with its own Wikipedia page even! And this explains, "in the magazine Disney Adventures, there was a five-part crossover/storyline titled 'Legend of the Chaos God'". However, the entry for this in the Darkwing Duck wiki (!) refers to the Talespin Universe, the Rescue Rangers Universe, the Goof Troop Universe, and finally the Duckburg Universe. So. I'm still mildly curious--not enough to actually read the comic--but enough to dig out these links for someone who might be even more curious than me.

Personally, I was always a Darkwing Duck kinda kid myself, so when I had the luck to end up in an undergrad screenwriting class taught by Terry McGovern, and other students were thrilled by the fact that they were in the same room with THE voice of "These are not the droids you're looking for", I was always completely starstruck by the knowledge that this nice, unassuming, vaguely-professorial type was Launchpad McQuack--in the flesh!
posted by KatlaDragon at 6:22 AM on February 13 [4 favorites]

Wait, I think I missed where exactly it is that it was established that Launchpad is a pelican. Cite?
posted by adamdschneider at 8:53 AM on February 13

I'm pretty sure it's based on appearance. Like how my partner always gets racially profiled as "Hispanic" or "Native American" -- especially when people find out he's from Tucson -- when his background couldn't be more not-those-things. (Come to think of it, my serious relationship before him was with a guy who everybody thought was Jewish because of his nose. Apparently fake ethnicity is my thing.)

What I'm saying is we all have a bit of bird prejudice. I'm not saying we're anti-Ornitholites? ornitholocists? ornitholophobes? But maybe we've been too quick to judge. Maybe he's just a duck with a big chin. And you know what they say about ducks with big chins?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:42 AM on February 13

I mean, I just always figured he had a big chin because he was a two-fisted action hero.
posted by adamdschneider at 9:46 AM on February 13 [2 favorites]

Based on this file photo of Mr. McQuack's parents, I think he's mixed-race.
posted by griphus at 9:52 AM on February 13 [1 favorite]

KatlaDragon: five-part crossover/storyline titled 'Legend of the Chaos God'

This actually serves to confirm the theory that TaleSpin happened in the past while the rest of the Disney Afternoon shows are in the same universe, in the same timeframe as each other. At the end of the TaleSpin section of the comic there is a magical gem that Kit throws into the ocean. At the start of the Rescue Rangers portion, that gem is found in the mouth of a fish some indeterminate time later. The rest of the transitions are seamless, occurring within days or minutes.

And I had forgotten about the white-hot heat of my pre-adolescent crush on Gadget from Rescue Rangers until I read that comic. I think I barely missed becoming a furry.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:26 AM on February 13 [1 favorite]

Based on this file photo of Mr. McQuack's parents, I think he's mixed-race.

Part pilot, part jazzercise instructor?
posted by adamdschneider at 10:39 AM on February 13 [2 favorites]

I'm having a hard time getting over the fact that there's a DuckTails story called "Legend of the Chaos God". Was it a crossover with Warhammer 40K?
posted by brundlefly at 9:41 AM on February 14

And I had forgotten about the white-hot heat of my pre-adolescent crush on Gadget from Rescue Rangers until I read that comic. I think I barely missed becoming a furry.

I don't recall where I came across it, but there was a list online of "non-human" cartoon crushes, and Gadget was number one. In retrospect, I could kinda see it. I'm... not gonna try and Google it now though.

And it's too bad that the text-based nature of this place prevents us from comparing Launchpad impressions. "Ehh... heya Mr. McD!"
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 11:59 PM on February 14

TheSecretDecoderRing: I don't recall where I came across it, but there was a list online of "non-human" cartoon crushes, and Gadget was number one.

Hard to imagine she topped Cheetara from Thundercats and Marian from Disney's Robin Hood. Holy shit, maybe I am a furry. Those two came right off the top of my head.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:29 AM on February 15

Holy shit, maybe I am a furry.

Hmmm.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:39 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]

adamdschneider: “Wait, I think I missed where exactly it is that it was established that Launchpad is a pelican. Cite?”

MCMikeNamara: “I'm pretty sure it's based on appearance.”

Well, and by situational evidence. I mean – he's a pilot who makes notoriously awkward landings. Pelicans are birds that are known for making awkward landings. It stands to reason that he's intended to be at least part pelican.
posted by koeselitz at 10:38 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]

That's racist.
posted by adamdschneider at 11:13 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]

Hey, some of my best friends are pelicans.
posted by brundlefly at 12:28 PM on February 15 [1 favorite]

That's racist.

That's pelican.
posted by maryr at 9:37 AM on February 16