Singed but Trumphant - A Darkwing Duck Revisit

BrianL

Doom Buggy Driver
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
So, I've been watching the Disney Afternoon shows on D+ and overall I have enjoyed them. Having moved on from the sublime Talespin, I am on Darkwing Duck and am mostly through the series. Again the series is out of order, so I recommend a good episode guide with production order if you want to see the origins of DW and the villains first. Darkwing is a bit different than I remember it. It's more of an "action" cartoon than an adventure show like DuckTales and the others. There are more confrontations with bad guys and thus more slapstick humor to blunt the violence. All that is fine of course, but it doesn't feel as epic, even when teaming up with other heroes, etc. It's a smaller show in many ways. Many episodes also seem to end abruptly, as if they ran out of time. It doesn't seem as well-crafted as the previous shows, though that doesn't mean it is without merit. It's still quite funny and occassionally heartwarming. It has a charm and of course looks great.

For all of that though, sometimes it still surprises. There came a point where a villain had defended his actions, claiming them to be a "necessary evil." "There's no such thing as a necessary evil!" retorts Darkwing without hesitation. Yeah, that's quite a statement and a brilliant one at that. It distills the essense of a superhero better than most any other superhero media. It reminds us that we can't compromise our morals and decency in pursuit of an expedient and desirable goal. This lesson is needed now more than ever. There are other lessons of course.. An interesting one involved Disney's stance on always showing characters riding motorcycles to always wear a helmet - no exceptions, except for DW that is. There is an episode where his helmet is inaccessible and he pursues the bad guy on his bike despite Gosalyn's objections. He crashes...and dies! Not dissimilar to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, DW goes on a spiritual journey and while it all turns out okay, it got a little heavy. Aleays weere a helmet, kids!

Darkwing has been a fun watch and I appreciate the little references to other shows too. It doesn't hold up as well as DuckTales or Talespin, but it's still quite good. Next, I'll be going through a show I barely ever watched, Goof Troop. It came along at a time when I wasn't quite so invested in cartoons I guess, but it seems good. I absolutely adore A Goofy Movie, so I think I should have a good time with it.
 
So, I've been watching the Disney Afternoon shows on D+ and overall I have enjoyed them. Having moved on from the sublime Talespin, I am on Darkwing Duck and am mostly through the series. Again the series is out of order, so I recommend a good episode guide with production order if you want to see the origins of DW and the villains first. Darkwing is a bit different than I remember it. It's more of an "action" cartoon than an adventure show like DuckTales and the others. There are more confrontations with bad guys and thus more slapstick humor to blunt the violence. All that is fine of course, but it doesn't feel as epic, even when teaming up with other heroes, etc. It's a smaller show in many ways. Many episodes also seem to end abruptly, as if they ran out of time. It doesn't seem as well-crafted as the previous shows, though that doesn't mean it is without merit. It's still quite funny and occassionally heartwarming. It has a charm and of course looks great.

For all of that though, sometimes it still surprises. There came a point where a villain had defended his actions, claiming them to be a "necessary evil." "There's no such thing as a necessary evil!" retorts Darkwing without hesitation. Yeah, that's quite a statement and a brilliant one at that. It distills the essense of a superhero better than most any other superhero media. It reminds us that we can't compromise our morals and decency in pursuit of an expedient and desirable goal. This lesson is needed now more than ever. There are other lessons of course.. An interesting one involved Disney's stance on always showing characters riding motorcycles to always wear a helmet - no exceptions, except for DW that is. There is an episode where his helmet is inaccessible and he pursues the bad guy on his bike despite Gosalyn's objections. He crashes...and dies! Not dissimilar to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, DW goes on a spiritual journey and while it all turns out okay, it got a little heavy. Aleays weere a helmet, kids!

Darkwing has been a fun watch and I appreciate the little references to other shows too. It doesn't hold up as well as DuckTales or Talespin, but it's still quite good. Next, I'll be going through a show I barely ever watched, Goof Troop. It came along at a time when I wasn't quite so invested in cartoons I guess, but it seems good. I absolutely adore A Goofy Movie, so I think I should have a good time with it.
I did the exact same thing at the beginning of quarantine. Watched Tailspin, Goof Troop, Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, and Rescue Rangers. Didn’t get through all episodes of each, still have some to rewatch, but got a great taste of all these shows again. Brought back such fond memories of my childhood.
 
I did the exact same thing at the beginning of quarantine. Watched Tailspin, Goof Troop, Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, and Rescue Rangers. Didn’t get through all episodes of each, still have some to rewatch, but got a great taste of all these shows again. Brought back such fond memories of my childhood.

I've been watching every episode and definitely reliving my childhood. I started with Gummi Bears and it held up well. TaleSpin is still absolutely brilliant on the whole. It's definitely helping me get my money out of D+!
 
I've been watching every episode and definitely reliving my childhood. I started with Gummi Bears and it held up well. TaleSpin is still absolutely brilliant on the whole. It's definitely helping me get my money out of D+!
Gummi Bears is the next one up for me. I hope that being on Disney+ these shows are getting some new kids interested in these wonderful shows. They just don’t make them like that anymore.
 


Gummi Bears is the next one up for me. I hope that being on Disney+ these shows are getting some new kids interested in these wonderful shows. They just don’t make them like that anymore.

They really struck gold with them, didn't they? Disney had resisted Television animation for a long time, but Eisner wanted to get some out there while the Feature Animation team was getting their act together. You can tell the team loved Disney - how audacious to suggest a show based on the beloved Cark Barks duck comics? I didn't even know about those until I knew about DuckTales! Even the theme songs were excellent. Gummi Bears is a stand-out and holds up well. I was surprised at how much "high fantasy" type stuff is in it - it's almost like a D&D setting! Not every episode is great, some are just goofy, but overall it was a nice watch. That seems to apply to all of these shows. There are a few clunkers in there, but also a lot of great stuff. I mean, when you're doing 65 episodes for a first season, it's bound to have a few duds.
 
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I used to watch Gummi Bears as a kid, but have had no urge to get back to it. Loved Darkwing Duck and Tailspin, and had to revisit DD after so many year. It was a fun show, definitely a product of it's time (DD and Disney's Gargoyles seemed somewhat influenced by Batman: The Animated Series in different ways), and I think it's something many would gravitate to if Disney ever brought it back.
 
I used to watch Gummi Bears as a kid, but have had no urge to get back to it. Loved Darkwing Duck and Tailspin, and had to revisit DD after so many year. It was a fun show, definitely a product of it's time (DD and Disney's Gargoyles seemed somewhat influenced by Batman: The Animated Series in different ways), and I think it's something many would gravitate to if Disney ever brought it back.

I just finished it up and I definitely agree. While a bit more slapstick than earlier Disney Afternoon shows, I think they took a lot of influence from what Fox was airing, including Tiny Toons and Batman: TAS. It's a weird combination that works.

I just finished up the alst few and I was surprised that the short Season 2 had a lot of very strong episodes. It's like they really clicked (plus more Morgana Macabre). Also, I did learn that like with may of the Disney Afternoon shows there is one missing episode, "Hot Spells" that is not on D+ and has not been re-aired since the first time it was shown due to religious sensitivity (the episode features "Beelzebub" as a character - no kidding). It's wierd that they let the team make all of these episodes only to "ban" them - I guess they didn't know about the reaction. This was back when parents would write angry letters to TV networks I guess. The episode was easy enough to find if you know where to look, and like many of the other banned episodes was among the best of the series.
 


I just finished it up and I definitely agree. While a bit more slapstick than earlier Disney Afternoon shows, I think they took a lot of influence from what Fox was airing, including Tiny Toons and Batman: TAS. It's a weird combination that works.

I just finished up the alst few and I was surprised that the short Season 2 had a lot of very strong episodes. It's like they really clicked (plus more Morgana Macabre). Also, I did learn that like with may of the Disney Afternoon shows there is one missing episode, "Hot Spells" that is not on D+ and has not been re-aired since the first time it was shown due to religious sensitivity (the episode features "Beelzebub" as a character - no kidding). It's wierd that they let the team make all of these episodes only to "ban" them - I guess they didn't know about the reaction. This was back when parents would write angry letters to TV networks I guess. The episode was easy enough to find if you know where to look, and like many of the other banned episodes was among the best of the series.
Yeah, Tiny Toons makes sense. I remember when Tiny Toons, being a Warner Bros show, used to reference Batman alot (usually the Burton movies, but one time they did a Dark Knight Returns reference that was a surprise). I loved Morgana. I had no clue there were banned episodes, I'm going to have to search! Some of the later shows I missed back in the day.
 
Yeah, I've been covering the "banned" episodes in my previous writups of the Disney Afternoon shows. I don't think there is one for Rescue Rangers, but DuckTales and Talespin both had some missing from Disney+ due to sensitivities. TThey are:

DuckTales - Sphinx for the Memories - I am not sure why this one is not included
DuckTales - Launchpad's Civil War - Depicts a Civil War reenactment with plenty of confederate flags in the backgorund - the Confederacy is not depicted in a flattering light though. I remember this one airing all the time when I was a kid.
TaleSpin - Last Horizons - Depicts a civilization of pandas that are distinctly Chinese but they attempt to conquer Cape Suzette - oddly very similar dpeictions of pandas were used in Rescue Rangers and those episodes are available
TaleSpin - Flying dupes - The last episode of the series also included a plot about terrorism and an attempted assassination and has been banned since it first aired.
Darkwing Duck - Hot Spells - This one as mentioned before features the Devil, Satan, Beelzebub - whateve ryou want to call him as well as the "Gates of Fire" that lead to, well, you know. This one was also never re-aired.

It's pretty interesting what bothers people.
 

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