DuckTales Season One!
“Life is like a hurricane” is not only a great saying, but also the start to a theme song for a show that has transcended time. It’s a tale of a rich, anthropomorphic duck named Scrooge McDuck and his adventures. It is now the show that wouldn’t die.
Sept. 18, 1987 (I was seven years old) to Nov. 28, 1990
Ducktales produces 100 episodes plus a movie. The show would spin off into multiple shows including Darkwing Duck, The Quack Pack and Talespin. Fast forward over a decade.
Aug.12, 2017
Scrooge and the gang officially make their return to our television even picking up a second season renewal before it even aired.
Though the nostalgia is there, a few things have changed and almost all for the better. The characters for one have become more 3-D not only in style but in characterization. Let us discuss how.
The Triplets
Uncle Donald’s nephews
The three little angels are back and as rambunctious as ever but a few things have changed. They all have their own distinct character designs, voices and personalities. They have their colored shirts but two of them no longer have their hats. Let’s break them down individually.
Huey Duck (Danny Pudi)
DEWEY, LOUIE, HUEY
He has a red cap and he is a junior woodchuck scout. He likes to learn and he’s always looking for ways to earn a new badge.
In the episode entitled “Day of The Only Child” Huey was upset his brothers wouldn’t help him with the scout cookout but found friends in two of the beagle boys who were there to kidnap him but end up connecting due to the fact they also felt left out. In the end though Huey and the beagle boys learned that family always has your back.
Dewey Duck (Ben Swartz)
Dewey is always in a green shirt and he doesn’t wear a hat like on the original. He loves to go on adventures and do exciting things.
When he felt left out in “Sky Pirates in The Sky” he joined Don Karnage (a villain from TaleSpin) air pirates because they listened to his tales. After realizing that his family does care for him, he helps steal all the gold back. In the process he also helps Carnage’s crew realize their a family as well.
Louie Duck (Bobby Moynihan)
Louie has on a green shirt and just like Dewey he has lost his hat. He is the most like Scrooge in the way he loves treasure. He doesn’t care much for the adventuring part but will if it means a big pay out.
In the episode “The House of the Lucky Gander” Louie gets all excited because they go to meet Donald’s cousin Gladstone Gander who’s filthy rich and very lucky. Louie learns that just because Donald isn’t lucky or rich, he has his own heroic qualities most of all, the love he has for his family.
And that brings us to
Donald Duck (Tony Anselmo)
Best friend to Mickey Mouse, most of the time and nephew to the richest duck in Duckburg, Scrooge McDuck. Donald himself hasn’t changed much. He is quick tempered and still can’t be understood but the circumstances him and the kids end up with Scrooge are a bit different.
In the episode Woo-oo! We see Donald getting ready for a job interview when the boys normal babysitter calls and says she can’t make it. Donald freaks out and decides to leave them with Scrooge. After Scrooge and the boys go on an adventure together, he invites them to stay and Donald agrees.
In the original one one though Donald was joining the navy and looked to Scrooge to take care of the boys.
Webby VanderQuack (Kate Micucci)
Webby is the boys age and has grown up alone in Scrooge’s home with her Grandma Beakley. She is an adventurous young girl who can take care of herself. Webby is great with spy games and has an obsession with Scrooge.
She is one of the few characters that really changed in the original. In the original series she always had on a pink bow and a little pink outfit. Her only goal then was to be one of nephews and she didn’t do much adventuring herself.
In the episode From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22! Webby goes with Scrooge to find her grandmother and we get a call back to an old show, The Gunmybears, when Webby drinks a formula and can bounce really high.
We also get a heartwarming moment when Scrooge tells her “you don’t have to call me Mr. McDuck you can call me Uncle Scrooge” letting her know she was a part of the family.
Also in The Secret(s) of Castke McDuck we see how much Webby idolizes Scrooge. She isn’t able to really say much throughout the whole episode due to all the history of Clan McDuck around her.
Mrs. Beakley/Bentina Beakley (Toks Olagundoye)
Mrs. Beakley the kind hearted house keeper from the original is now a well built woman who used to be a spy as we found out in
From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22.
She has taken on the traits of the butler Duckworth, who we learn in McMystery at McDuck Manor has passed away. But due to a spell gone wrong, he is now a ghost living at McDuck manor.
HUEY, SCROOGE, WEBBY, LOUIE, LUANCHPAD
And for the man or duck himself…
Scrooge McDuck (David Tennant)
Scrooge himself hasn’t changed much. He is well over one hundred years old due to being stuck in a don dimension (we learned this when he was dancing with Goldie, another classic character who is still youthful due to finding the fountain of youth, in the episode The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains).
He is also more interested in his family and being with them. We learn in the episode The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck that his parents live forever due to him accidentally setting off a curse. He also reconnects with his father in the episode as well.
Classics galore
HUEY, LAUNCHPAD MCQUACK
We also see a lot of other classic characters like Launchpad, Flintheart GlomGold, The Beagle Boys and Gizmoduck.
There are also a lot of shoutouts to other shows that played around that time like Darkwing Duck (Launchpad has a bobble head as well as old episodes) and Talespin (Donald mentions moving to Cape Suzette, the fictional city the show took place in, in the episode The Shadow Wars).
The episodes were mostly the bad guy/treasure of the week, but we also had to major continuing storylines.
One was about Donald’s sister and the boys mother, Della Duck (Paget Brewster) who we find out in the episode The Last Crash of the Sunchaser, that just after having the boys eggs, she took off in a rocket that Scrooge had built as a gift for her. She was lost in a solar storm.
In the episode The Shadow Wars, at the end, we see Della still alive on what looks like the moon watching the news. She touches the screen and says “boys”.
The other one was about Magica De Spell (Catherine Tate) wanting freed from the prison Scrooge put her in. She used a piece of her shadow, which she turned into a teenage girl named Lena (Kimiko Glenn) and had her befriend Webby to get close to Scrooge.
She was finally able to escape and Lena sacrificed herself to save Webby, strengthening their friendship. After Magica’s magic is taken from her, we see Lena as Webby’s shadow at the end of the episode The Shadow Wars.
Can’t wait for Season 2
I was worried going into this show because I loved the original, but it went above and beyond! It really sucks you in and doesn’t let you go. I can’t wait for the new season.
DuckTales airs on the Disney Channel