Darkwing Duck

From Freepedia

Image:TV darkwing duck on bonkers.jpgImage:Darkwingduck.jpg Disney's Darkwing Duck is a Disney cartoon show that ran from 1991 to 1994 (often inside The Disney Afternoon), featuring an eponymous superhero anthropomorphic duck with the alter ego Drake Mallard. Owing much to the tradition of The Shadow and Batman, the only people who know the hero's secret identity are his adopted daughter Gosalyn Waddlemeyer Mallard (mistakenly referred to as his niece in recent Disney information sources), his sidekick Launchpad McQuack (originally from Duck Tales), Gosalyn's best friend Honker Muddlefoot, and in later episodes, Darkwing's girlfriend Morgana Macawber. The show is set in the fictional city of St. Canard.

The show's hero often demonstrates a large degree of clumsiness and lack of common sense that is hampered by his tremendous ego. However, unlike Inspector Gadget and similar cartoon heroes, Darkwing is actually as extraordinarily competent as a superhero is generally expected to be—once he puts aside distractions and focuses completely on the case. This moment of transition would mark the start of each story's climax, and is almost invariably signaled by Darkwing's catchphrase (featured in the show's opening theme), "Let's get dangerous!"

In some episodes, Darkwing is sent on missions as a freelance agent of S.H.U.S.H., a covert crime fighting organization that is so secret, nobody knows what the acronym stands for. (S.H.U.S.H. is a parody of the Marvel Comics S.H.I.E.L.D., a top-secret government organization.) His S.H.U.S.H. missions most often have the aim of thwarting various evil schemes of the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny (or F.O.W.L.).

Darkwing's main weapon of choice in his crime-fighting escapades is his "gas gun", which fires a variety of different gases at his opponents. His main forms of transportation are the Thunderquack, a small airplane-like vehicle shaped like a duck's head that he depends on his sidekick to fly, and his motorcycle, called the Ratcatcher.

When not fighting crime, Darkwing Duck's alter ego is Drake Mallard, whose occupation is never given. (This has lead to inquiries by some fans as to how Darkwing makes any monetary income.) Although in the first episode it is shown that Darkwing lives in his lair in the Audubon Bay Bridge, he purchases a home and creates an alter ego only after adopting Gosalyn Waddlemeyer. This hints perhaps that he, for some reason, may not truly even need his alter ego for anything more than giving Gosalyn some semblance of a normal life.

Contents

Origins

There are at least three completely different accounts given throughout the series regarding Darkwing's origins - all three of which contradict each other.

Perhaps the most outrageous of these is "The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck," in which we learn that both Darkwing Duck and Negaduck both came from a doomed planet in a tale paralleling the origin of Superman. Darkwing acquired his mask, gas gun, and combat training from a variety of sources who figured that they "could come in handy some day." This episode appears to take place in the future, and is told in a series of flashbacks by a museum janitor, who looks suspiciously like an aged Darkwing Duck, relating the story to two children who look like descendants of Honker and Gosalyn.

"Darkwing Doubloon" is a period episode taking place several centuries in the past and featuring the entire Fearsome Five and the Justice Ducks as pirates. The continuity problem posed by such an episode is rather glaring.

Darkwing's most plausible origin is revealed in the episode "Clash Reunion", in which a young Drake Mallard disguises himself as Darkwing at his high school prom in order to stop a classmate turned villain (Elmo Sputterspark, later known as Megavolt).

Some of these accounts seem intentionally over the top, and given Darkwing's ego problem, it is not hard to imagine that perhaps he exaggerates his true origins. As there is no one true story depicting how he came to be, most just shrug it off, saying that it adds to his character's mystique and charm.

Catchphrases

Darkwing is a big fan of dramatic entrances; they usually involve mysteriously appearing in a cloud of smoke, and almost always include some version of the following speech:

I am the terror that flaps in the night,
I am the [noun] that [verb]s your [noun],
I am DARKWING DUCK!

The metaphor in the middle line often consists of Darkwing comparing himself to something annoying, such as "I am the bubblegum that sticks in your hair", or "I am the termite that devours your floorboards." Others tend to make very little sense, such as "I am the cat that lays kittens in your bed."

Darkwing Duck's catchphrase originates from the second episode of the series, "Darkly Dawns the Duck Part 2". While chasing Taurus Bulba's airship, Darkwing Duck asks Launchpad to blow a hole in it.

DW: "We need to blow an entry hole in that thing."
LP: "I dunno DW, that sounds dangerous!"
DW: "Yeah? Well then, let's get dangerous!"

Other characters

Villains

  • The Fearsome Five:
    • NegaDuck (Darkwing from an alternate dimension, the Negaverse)
    • Megavolt (a rat; is able to control electricity)
    • Dr. Reginald Bushroot (formerly a duck, now half-plant half-duck; is able to control plant life)
    • Quackerjack (a vicious jester with a weird obsession for toys)
    • The Liquidator (formerly a dog; now a watery villain whose dialogue is usually patterned after advertising slogans)
  • Steelbeak (a rooster; a smooth-talking and slick Brooklyn-accented villain who has a metal set of jaws (possibly a James Bond reference); top F.O.W.L. agent)
  • Moliarty (a mushy-voiced mole who schemes to put the surface world into an eternal darkness; name is a reference to James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes' nemesis)
  • Tuskerninni (a reference to famed conductor Arturo Toscanini, though the resemblance ends there; a walrus and an ego-driven but failed Hollywood film director whose schemes are built around films; travels with a cadre of silent yet efficient penguin sidekicks)
  • Dr. Slug (frequently mentioned, but never appears in an episode in any major capacity)
  • Splatter Phoenix (a duck; capable of using a paintbrush to create and modify things in the real world)
  • Taurus Bulba (a bull; Darkwing's strongest, most ruthless enemy)
  • Negaduck (different from the previously mentioned Negaduck; Darkwing's neagative energy, or negatrons, come to life)
  • Dr. Fossil (a pterodactyl; creator of Steggmutt)

Episodes

Season 1

  1. Darkly Dawns the Duck (Part 1)
  2. Darkly Dawns the Duck (Part 2)
  3. Beauty and the Beet
  4. Getting Antsy
  5. Night of the Living Spud
  6. Apes of Wrath
  7. Dirty Money
  8. Duck Blind
  9. Comic Book Capers
  10. Water Way to Go
  11. Paraducks
  12. Easy Come, Easy Grows
  13. A Revolution in Home Appliances
  14. Trading Faces
  15. Hush, Hush Sweet Charlatan
  16. Can't Bayou Love
  17. Bearskin Thug
  18. You Sweat Your Life
  19. Days of Blunder
  20. Just Us Justice Ducks (Part 1)
  21. Just Us Justice Ducks (Part 2)
  22. Double Darkwings
  23. Aduckyphobia
  24. When Aliens Collide
  25. Jurassic Jumble
  26. Cleanliness is Next to Badliness
  27. Smarter Than a Speeding Bullet!
  28. All's Fahrenheit in Love and War
  29. Whiffle While You Work
  30. Ghoul of My Dreams
  31. Adopt-a-Con
  32. Toys Czar Us
  33. The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck
  34. Up, Up and Awry
  35. Life, the Negaverse and Everything
  36. Dry Hard
  37. Heavy Mental
  38. Disguise the Limit
  39. Planet of the Capes
  40. Darkwing Doubloon
  41. It's a Wonderful Leaf
  42. Twitching Channels
  43. Dances with Bigfoot
  44. Twin Beaks
  45. The Incredible Bulk
  46. My Valentine Ghoul
  47. Dead Duck
  48. A Duck by Any Other Name
  49. Let's Get Respectable
  50. In Like Blunt
  51. Quack of Ages
  52. Time and Punishment
  53. Stressed to Kill
  54. The Darkwing Squad
  55. Inside Binky's Brain
  56. The Haunting of Mr. Banana Brain
  57. Slime OK, You're OK
  58. Whirled History
  59. U.F.Foe
  60. A Star Is Scourned
  61. Quiverwing Quack
  62. Jail Bird
  63. Dirtysomething
  64. Kung Fooled
  65. Bad Luck Duck

Season 2

  1. That Sinking Feeling
  2. Film Flam
  3. Negaduck
  4. Fungus Amongus
  5. Slaves to Fashion
  6. Something Fishy
  7. Tiff of the Titans
  8. Calm a Chameleon
  9. Battle of the Brainteasers
  10. Bad Tidings
  11. Going Nowhere Fast
  12. A Brush With Oblivion
  13. The Merchant of Menace

Season 3

  1. Monsters R Us
  2. Inherit the Wimp
  3. The Revenge of the Return of the Brainteasers, Too
  4. Star Crossed Circuits
  5. The Steerminator
  6. The Frequency Fiends
  7. Paint Misbehavin'
  8. Hot Spells
  9. Fraudcast News
  10. Clash Reunion
  11. Mutantcy on the Bouncy
  12. Malice's Restaurant
  13. Extinct Possibility

Trivia

  • This show was inspired by two episodes of DuckTales, entitled Double O'Duck and The Masked Mallard. The original concept had Launchpad McQuack as the star.
  • Many of the episode titles are puns or references to other titles or phrases from pop culture. "In like Blunt," for example, is a reference to In Like Flint, with Derek Blunt replacing James Coburn's "Derek Flint" character. "Whiffle While You Work" is a bit of an inside joke, combining the character of Whiffle Boy with the song "Whistle While You Work" from another Disney production, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  • There was a Darkwing Duck video game released by Capcom on the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Boy. Another game was also made for the TurboGrafx-16.
  • At the end of the episode "Comic Book Capers", Darkwing discusses having his comic book published by Disney - a meta-reference to Disney publishing their own comics, and also perhaps the first time the company name was said in their own cartoons.
  • In at least two episodes, Gary Larson and his The Far Side comic are referenced. In "Twin Beaks", a cow character explains that they come from the planet Larson, on the far side of the galaxy (cows were also often featured in his comic). In "Beauty and the Beet", the names of the two lab scientists opposite Dr. Reginald Bushroot are Dr. Gary and Dr. Larson.
  • Darkwing Duck exists in the same continuity as many of the other Disney cartoon series. In addition to Launchpad and GizmoDuck's appearances in the series, Magica DeSpell, Flintheart Glomgold, and the Beagle Boys from DuckTales can be seen in crowd shots during "In Like Blunt." Chip N' Dale's Rescue Rangers are indirectly referenced in "Twitching Channels." (The episode was originally planned to be a full crossover with Rescue Rangers, but that plot was rejected.) In an episode of Goof Troop, Max is wearing a Quackerjack watch, and in another episode, Pete is reading a newspaper with Darkwing Duck pictured in the cover story. Also, the character of Darkwing Duck appeared occasionally in the series Bonkers.
  • One of the greatest upsets to fans of the series is that one of the last aired episodes, "The Steerminator", featuring the return of Taurus Bulba, finishes at a cliffhanger ending. Originally meant to be resolved in season 4, the series was canceled before this could happen. The resolution to this episode seems doomed to be left eternally unsolved.
  • There is an episode of this series that has been banned from television. The episode Hot Spells is about Gosalyn wanting magical powers like Morgana. She is unable to attain them at the speed she desires, and, becoming impatient, she is easily maneuvered by the devil in order to access forbidden knowledge to attain this power in order to force Darkwing to relinquish his soul to save her. However, the demon makes the hasty mistake of simply lying to her that the contents of forbidden knowledge room were replaced with permitted material, which meant Gosalyn honestly believed that she was allowed to use the room. This mistake means she is actually innocent by a technicality, although she should have asked one of the librarians to confirm this claim before taking the word of the janitor the Devil was disguised as, thus allowing her to save her father. The very fact that a Disney-related show had any reference to Satan (and was even allowed to air a few times) is unusual.
  • The series was last seen in the U.S. on Toon Disney, but due to bad scheduling and the addition of JETIX, it has vanished completely off the network. Along with a number of other shows, it was removed from schedules in November 2004 and has not been seen since. It is unknown if it will ever return, and Disney currently has no plans to release the series on a DVD set. Currently (2005), it does air on Toon Disney in Scandinavia.

See also

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Darkwing_Duck.html"


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