DuckTales

## 1897 Serie

***DuckTales*** is an American animated television series, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and distributed by Buena Vista Television. The cartoon series premiered on September 18, 1987, and ran for a total of 100 episodes over four seasons, with its final episode airing on November 28, 1990. Based upon *Uncle Scrooge* and other Duck universe comic books created by Carl Barks, the show follows Scrooge McDuck, his three grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and close friends of the group, on various adventures, most of which either involve seeking out treasure or thwarting the efforts of villains seeking to steal Scrooge's fortune or his Number One Dime.

*DuckTales* has inspired merchandise, including video games, merchandise, and comic books, along with an animated theatrical spin-off film entitled *DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp*, that was released to theaters across the United States on August 3, 1990. The series is notable for being the first Disney cartoon to be produced for weekday syndication, with its success paving the way for future Disney cartoons, such as *Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers* and *TaleSpin*. The show's popular theme song was written by Mark Mueller. Also, Launchpad McQuack later returned to appear in another Disney animated series, becoming a main character in *Darkwing Duck*.

In February 2015, Disney XD announced the revival of the show, with the intention of rebooting the series. The rebooted series premiered on August 12, 2017.

## Premise

When Donald Duck decides to join the US Navy, he enlists his uncle Scrooge McDuck to look after his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Although reluctant to do so due to their hyperactivity, along with his continual pursuit of increasing his wealth and maintaining harsh business ethics, he eventually warms up to them upon seeing how smart and resourceful they are and takes them into his manor as well as several adventures. Scrooge McDuck is well known for his characteristic Scottish accent, spats, and top hat. We later learn in the series his family comes from Castle McDuck, and he came to America when younger learning how to “work smarter not harder”. In addition to them, the show features frequent appearances by Gyro Gearloose, an established comic book character, as well as guest appearances by Donald in the first season – this was either a full appearance, or in a cameo scene when Scrooge and his nephews read letters he sends to them, and a few minor appearances by Scrooge's old flame, Glittering Goldie, whose character was adapted from the comic books. The show introduced new characters to the Duck universe; while some were minor including the nanny Mrs. Beakley, whom Scrooge hires to babysit the nephews; Mrs. Beakley's granddaughter Webby; Scrooge's pilot Launchpad McQuack; Doofus Drake, an admirer of Launchpad and a close friend of the nephews; and the McDuck Manor butler, Duckworth. The second season later introduced three new additional characters as part of the show's stories: "caveduck" Bubba Duck and his pet triceratops Tootsie; and Fenton Crackshell, Scrooge's personal accountant who secretly works as a superhero named Gizmoduck.

The show's primary villains consist of those from the comics: Flintheart Glomgold, who seeks to replace Scrooge as the "richest duck in the world"; the Beagle Boys, who seek to rob Scrooge of his fortune and often target his money bin; and Magica De Spell, who seeks to steal his Number One Dime. A few changes were made to these villains – unlike the comics, Flintheart is of Scottish descent and wears a couple of pieces of Scottish attire, including a kilt; Magica, who is Italian in the comics, has an Eastern European accent, always saying “darling” (which shocks Scrooge in an episode when Magica changes into the form of Mrs. Beakly). She has a brother named Poe, who was transformed into a raven; the Beagle Boys have individual personalities and are headed by their mother, Ma Beagle, who sometimes springs them from jail to conduct schemes with her, but always avoids being caught by the police. The animated series also featured a list of minor villains, most of whom sought to either claim Scrooge's wealth or beat him to treasure.

Most of the stories used in the show revolve around one of three common themes – the first focuses on the group's efforts to thwart attempts by various villains to steal Scrooge's fortune or his Number One Dime; the second focuses on a race for treasure; the third focused on specific characters within the show. Although some stories are original or based on Barks' comic book series, others are pastiches on classical stories or legends, including characters based on either fictional or historical persons. *DuckTales* is well noted for its many references to popular culture, including Shakespeare, Jack the Ripper, Greek mythology, James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Sherlock Holmes. After its first season, the show moved away from globe-trotting stories, with adventures focused mainly within Duckburg.

## Cast

Main article: List of DuckTales characters

* Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck
* Russi Taylor as Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck and Webby Vanderquack
* Chuck McCann as Duckworth the Butler, Burger Beagle, and Bouncer Beagle
* Terry McGovern as Launchpad McQuack (entire series) and Babyface Beagle (season 1)
* Frank Welker as Bigtime Beagle (entire series), Baggy Beagle (entire series), Poe (season 1), and Bubba (seasons 2–4)
* Hal Smith as Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold
* Joan Gerber as Mrs. Bentina Beakley, Glittering Goldie and Additional voices
* Hamilton Camp as Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck (seasons 2–4). Additional voices in season 1
* June Foray as Ma Beagle and Magica De Spell
* Peter Cullen as Bankjob Beagle and Admiral Grimitz (season 1)
* Brian Cummings as Doofus Drake and Bugle Beagle (season 1). Additional voices in season 3
* Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck (season 1)

The show also featured a range of additional voice actors who voiced several minor characters, most frequently including the following:

* Corey Burton
* Jim Cummings
* Miriam Flynn
* Kathleen Freeman
* Linda Gary
* Tress MacNeille
* Howard Morris
* Alan Oppenheimer
* Rob Paulsen
* Will Ryan

## History

### Production

Walt Disney Television Animation began production on *DuckTales* in 1986, intending to have it ready for a premiere in 1987, and its episodes airing within a 4–6 p.m. placement, at a time when more children would be watching television, rather than within a morning timeslot. Seeking to create a cartoon with high quality animation, in comparison with other 1980s cartoons which had much lower budgets, the animation was handled by Wang Film Productions (some 1987 and 1989–1990 episodes only), Cuckoo's Nest Studio, TMS Entertainment (season 1 only), and Burbank Films (1 episode only) having previously been used on two other Disney cartoons in 1985 – *The Wuzzles* and *Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears* – both of which had demonstrated better quality cartoons on TV than in previous years. Although the Japanese provided them with more available artists for the cartoon, this also increased production costs, due to the currency exchange rates between the yen and the dollar, though Disney intended to invest heavily in its *DuckTales*'s production, with plans to recuperate its money by having it syndicated via its syndication unit, Buena Vista Television, with a 2.5/3.5 syndicator/station ad split. While this was a concept that worked well with live-action TV reruns, it had only ever been used with inexpensive cartoon series in the past that either recycled theatrical shorts from decades past or only featured limited, low-budget animation, and thus had never been attempted with a high quality animated series, with the heavy investment considered a risky move.

### Broadcast

The cartoon premiered worldwide between 18–20 September 1987 (the time and date varying between markets), with a television movie special entitled "*The Treasure of the Golden Suns*", which was later split up into a five-part serial in future reruns. The first season, aired between 1987–88, consisted of 65 episodes, the "magic number" requirement needed for a show to have weekday syndication (five days a week for thirteen weeks). Disney then commissioned three more seasons – the second season (aired between 1988–89) consisted of two television specials entitled "Time Is Money" and "Super DuckTales", with future reruns splitting them into two five-part serials; the third season (aired between 1989–90) consisted of 18 episodes, with it forming an hour-long syndicated block alongside *Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers*; and the fourth season (aired during late 1990) consisted of seven episodes (including three unaired episodes meant for the previous season), which was used to form a two-hour-long syndicated block called *The Disney Afternoon*, consisting of *DuckTales* and three other half-hour cartoons.

The cartoon continued running within *The Disney Afternoon* until 1992. Following its departure from the Disney Afternoon, *DuckTales* aired in reruns on the Disney Channel from 1992 to 2000. In October 1995, it aired as part of a new two-hour programming block called "Block Party" that aired on weekday late afternoons, with it returning to syndication between 1997 and 1999. Reruns were later shown on Toon Disney between 1999 and late 2004.

### Legacy

The show proved an immense success for Disney, who decided to commission other cartoons with a similar level of quality, which included *Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers*, *Darkwing Duck*, and *TaleSpin*. In addition, *DuckTales* also spawned its own feature-length movie, entitled *DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp*, which was released to theaters on August 3, 1990, along with a franchise of merchandising, including toys, comic books and video games, a spin-off series, and eventually a revival in 2017, that rebooted the series.

#### Character appearances in other shows[edit]

* Huey, Dewey, and Louie all appeared in the 1990 drug prevention video *Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue*.
* *Darkwing Duck* (1991–92): Aside from Launchpad McQuack being a main character on the show and Gizmoduck appearing sporadically, Scrooge's face appears in the episode "Tiff of the Titans", and Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys, and Magica De Spell make cameo appearances in the episode "In Like Blunt".
* *Goof Troop* (1992–93): In the episode "The Ungoofables", two of the Beagle Boys appear.
* *Raw Toonage* (1992): Scrooge and Launchpad appear as guest stars, and Webby appears in the opening sequence.
* *Bonkers* (1993–94): In the episode "The 29th Page", the Beagle Boys appear.
* *Aladdin* (1994–95): In the episode "The Day the Bird Stood Still", the Genie transforms into Scrooge.
* *Quack Pack* (1996): Aside from Donald, Ludwig, and the nephews being main characters, the episode "Nosy Neighbors" features the Beagle Boys as an attack dummy.
* *DuckTales* (2017): The original design of Webby makes numerous appearances in the background of the rebooted series as a doll, and is used in a gag in "The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!" when Magica DeSpell turned reboot's Webby into a doll.

## 2017 Serie

***DuckTales*** is an American animated television series, developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones, and produced by Disney Television Animation. The series is a reboot of the original 1987 series of the same name, which focused on the lives of Scrooge McDuck and his family as they engaged on a variety of adventures around the world and the fictional city of Duckburg. The reboot itself focuses on newer elements and deeper character stories, including a greater involvement of Donald Duck. The series premiered on August 12, 2017, with a 44-minute long pilot episode on Disney XD, before the first season was green-lit for broadcast from September 23 that year on Disney XD; between May 2018 to September 2019, the series was moved to Disney Channel for the second half of the first season and the duration of the second season, then back on Disney XD for its third season.

Since its release, the reboot has generated positive reviews from critics and audiences, as well as a comic book series and several online episodes.

## Premise

After not speaking to each other for ten years, Scrooge McDuck reunites with his estranged nephew Donald Duck when he asks him to babysit his three triplet nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the day. The boys rekindle Scrooge's sense of adventure, and he invites Donald and the boys to live at McDuck Manor with him, along with his housekeeper Mrs. Beakley and her granddaughter Webby Vanderquack. Together, along with Scrooge's chauffeur and pilot Launchpad McQuack, the Ducks go on many new treasure-hunting expeditions and globe-trotting adventures while contending with villains like Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys, and Mark Beaks.

In season one, Dewey and Webby set out to find the truth about Scrooge and Donald's strained relationship and the unexplained disappearance of the boys' mother and Donald's twin sister, Della Duck. The sorceress Magica De Spell secretly manipulates events to facilitate her return, seeking revenge on Scrooge for imprisoning her in his Number One Dime for 15 years.

In season two, Scrooge and Glomgold compete to become the richest duck in the world by the end of the year while Louie tries to start up his own multi-million dollar business in hopes of following in Scrooge's footsteps. Della reunites with her family after she escapes from the Moon and adjusts to her newfound motherhood, unaware that the Moonlanders are planning to invade Earth.

In season three, the Ducks discover the journal of legendary explorer Isabella Finch, detailing several lost treasures and artifacts, and begin a globetrotting expedition to find them all. However, the criminal organization F.O.W.L. plots to eliminate the Ducks and obtain the treasures first.

## Voice cast

Main article: List of DuckTales characters

The show's main voice cast includes:

* David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck
* Danny Pudi as Huey Duck
* Ben Schwartz as Dewey Duck
* Bobby Moynihan as Louie Duck
* Kate Micucci as Webby Vanderquack
* Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack
* Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley
* Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
* Paget Brewster as Della Duck (main season 3, recurring season 2, guest season 1)

## Production

Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones grew up watching the original series and had always wanted to develop an updated version for a newer generation. Youngberg said, "We're hoping that in thirty years, the kids who watch our show will then be bringing back the next version of *DuckTales* because they loved what we did so much."

In May 2015, Terry McGovern, the original voice of Launchpad McQuack, stated in an interview that the entire voice cast from the original series would not be returning for the reboot, which made him "heartsick" at the news. The new voice cast for the series was revealed on December 16, 2016 in a video where they sing an a cappella version of the original theme song in promotion of the news. The following May, Lin-Manuel Miranda was announced as the voice of Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera / Gizmoduck. The character was changed to being Latino due to Lin-Manuel's heritage and because Angones felt that there were not enough positive Latino superheroes. In June, more cast members, including Tony Anselmo reprising his role as Donald Duck, were announced, and during the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, Disney announced that Darkwing Duck would also make an appearance in the TV series.

At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, several characters from other Disney Television Animation cartoons were revealed to appear in the show's third season; the Rescue Rangers from *Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers*; Kit Cloudkicker and Molly Cunningham from *TaleSpin*; Rhinokey and Butterbear from *The Wuzzles*, and Gosalyn Mallard and Taurus Bulba from *Darkwing Duck*, as well as Chip 'n Dale (based on their *Rescue Rangers* incarnations), Goofy (based on his *Goof Troop* incarnation), and Daisy Duck.

The art style of the show is heavily influenced not just by Carl Barks' original *Uncle Scrooge* comics, but also some of Barks' paintings. The theme song, written by Mark Mueller for the 1987 series, was re-recorded for the 2017 reboot. It was arranged by Michael "Smidi" Smithand and TJ Stafford and sung by Felicia Barton.

Donald Duck has a larger role in this version compared to the 1980s version. The earlier version had been restricted by an edict from The Walt Disney Company stating that the television studio could not use Donald or any of the other stars from Disney's Golden Age shorts, only allowing Donald to make short cameos to set up storylines; this restriction was lifted shortly after the original version of *DuckTales* ended.