The Disney Afternoon is known for many things. Movie spinoffs, alternate universe stories, trying to be edgy and hip with the times.
It's also an era of selfish adults and spunky children.
We see a bit of this with Talespin, we have Baloo, driven to be independent, working alongside Kit Cloudkicker, who he shows a softer side to, and too a lesser extent, Molly.
Goof Troop certainly has selfish adults (Pete) and spunky children (Max, Pistol). But Pete and Pistol are not the forefront of the show, and the Max and Pete dynamic is not nearly as important as the Max and Goofy dynamic (Goofy's not someone you may label as selfish, save in his loving nature, but that's a stupid copout answer.)
Really, the place we see this the most is in the Duck shows.
Going into a bit of history, I watched Darkwing Duck for the first time in college. Well, Undergrad that is, and I fucking loved it.
The first episode introduces this selfish nasty superhero, but gives him a softer side by saving and adopting this young girl, Gosalyn. And the thing about Gosalyn is she is exactly on Darkwing's level. She's just as selfish and nasty, but they both genuinely care about one another, which makes the show so much better.
We also have Launchpad in the show to sort of play this comedic, kinder character. Someone on the Disney Duck survey pointed to Launchpad as a bit of a clumsy oaf, but with a heart of gold, and Darkwing Duck definitely lets that show through. At the same time, there's a bit more too him. Sometimes he gets jealous. He's quick to temptation. It helps him not appear as the perfect angel, which is great because our meaner protagonists have their nice sides while our kinder one has a mean side too.
One big theme I took away from the survey, though it was only an opinion held by about 10% of the survey takers is this "There is no ideal Donald Duck," which can be applied to almost all the Duck characters.
I'd say Darkwing Duck is included in that list.
Darkwing is a show that both has continuity and lacks it. There's a subtle progression in the show that one may only notice if watching the series in the order "Darkly Dawns the Duck," then every other episode in production order. (Darkwing Duck is one of many Disney shows that aired out of production order. This has been a thing for a while and continues to be one, but this is the first show we've discussed where that starts to be a problem.)
Anyway, the progression is best seen in how Darkwing reacts to Gosalyn going on missions with him. Early episodes have Darkwing go "Gosalyn, you can't come on missions with me, you'll get hurt!" and Gosalyn sneaks along anyway, ending up getting a stern talking to. In later episodes, Darkwing realizes Gosalyn is coming into her own, and either allows her to come on missions, or says something along the lines of "Gosalyn, you can't come on this mission! You'll outshine me!" It's subtle, but seeing that development in episodic shows is something that feels sweet.
Anyway Darkwing has like 5 or 6 origin stories. Negaduck has 2 or 3. Just pick whatever you like the most and say it's canon that's what people do with ducks. There is no ideal Darkwing Duck.
I haven't discussed many villains in Disney shows because while sometimes they are fun. Most are forgettable. Darkwing was probably the first show that didn't feel like this to me, and I think it's because they seem like incredibly campy comic book villains. Darkwing pulls a lot from Batman (Not the first show we discussed to do this, and definitely not the last), including its goofy themed villains. We have electric themed villain Megavolt, toy themed villain Quackerjack, art themed villain Splatter Phoenix, plant themed villain Bushroot, cleanliness themed villain Ammonia Pine, whatever Steelbeak is doing, and capitalism themed villain Liquidator (he's the worst one).
Surprisingly, Negaduck is one of the weakest Darkwing villains, and it's more due to his character. They do a lot of interesting stuff with him plotwise, which is likely why he stays in the minds of people.
I watched Ducktales 1987 for the first time after I got my bachelors. I went into it loving Darkwing Duck and thinking "Man, these Duck stories are gonna be great."
Though from the multi part pilot, I immediately found myself thinking. "Wow. This is just a weaker version of the Darkwing and Gosalyn dynamic." We have Scrooge, this selfish but loving old rich man, and we have the identical triplets, who act very flatly.
But yeah, let's talk about the triplets. I think a lot of people point to Quack Pack, and DT17 for having greater characterization of the triplets by making them very different people from one another, but I don't know if that's necessary. People in the duck survey who grouped the triplets together were able to list of traits for them, and I think you see a lot of that in the comics. They're upstanding Junior Woodchucks. They have their bitter and mischievous moments, likely from Uncle Donald. Really they're just goofball kids. I'm honestly not super big on the triplets, but sometimes, triplets as a monolith works and sometimes it doesn't.
Ducktales 1987... It doesn't.
You could say the same thing about characterizing the triplets as three separate characters too. DT17 does a lot better at this than Quack Pack for example. Remember, there is no ideal Huey Dewey and Louie.
Anyway, Launchpad is also here, but the show feels too saccharine to benefit from Launchpad's kind stupidity.
In the Duck survey, people tended to highlight overall negative traits of Duck characters, while still being kind and loving people. But everyone in DT87 feels too nice. Scrooge feels too nice. Gyro feels too nice. Gladstone feels too nice. And this niceness I noticed after Darkwing Duck becomes even more evident after I read the comics. And while there is no ideal Scrooge or Gyro or Gladstone, you can pick apart what makes these characters work, and for ducks, it's a certain degree of meanness.
You know what does have that meanness though? Ducktales 2017.
DT17 compensates for what DT87 lacked by making just about every character a huge bastard. Gyro and Gladstone are meaner. The villains are meaner. Scrooge? We'll get to Scrooge.
Gyro in particular I want to focus on. While there is no ideal Gyro Gearloose, neither Ducktales Gyro completely works for me. DT87 Gyro lacks a lot of key Gyro flaws, like his narcissistic tendencies. DT17 Gyro has these features, but he also comes off as really one-note. My ideal version of Gyro is definitely a rotten jerk like DT17 Gyro, but it is subdued by a kind, people pleasing attitude, and the fact that everyone around him is even more of a rotten jerk. And it's weird because you actually see a lot of the kind, people pleasing attitude in Fenton. Given that people tend to mentor folks they see themselves in, that could have been a really interesting dynamic in the Ducktales reboot. But the show is made for kids and not 20-somethings in STEM-Academia, so that dynamic will have to stay to fanfiction I will never write due to a fear of someone in the comments section mistaking me writing an academic relationship for a romantic one.
Anyway Fenro sucks. Just putting that out there. In this blog we ship FenDrakePad and Donro. We also ship Brigoldie but Brigitta is not in Ducktales.
Actually, yeah. I'm a little bit disappointed that the only Italian comics rep we got is Jeeves (and while there is no ideal Jeeves, DT17 Jeeves is infinitely better than comic Jeeves and I will die on that hill). While I wasn't hoping we would get some obscure 2010s hack of a character who has only been in seven comics like some overly wishful fans, there were a few I was really hopeful for.
Brigitta MacBridge and Jubal Pomp for starters. They're two of my favorite Italian comic characters, and Brigitta would have been a perfect fit. Ducktales 2017 is a girlboss show and she is the most girlboss character duck comics has to offer. I would have been cool with Jubal Pomp being a fucked up overly buff man too. I would have found it funny.
Dickie Duck for another. Dickie Duck's existence does a considerable amount for Goldie's character by showing her having a life outside Scrooge. While the comics are particularly problematic in not giving Goldie much on-screen characterization outside Scrooge, the show doesn't do much better. She has scenes with Louie, but is still primarily relying on Scrooge and his family. Dickie could have given her her own family, and drove Scrooge bonkers. (This is a good thing Scrooge needs to be pushed to the limits more.)
Paperinik/Duck Avenger would have also been fun to see. I know so many fans wanted the crossover between Gizmoduck, Darkwing Duck, and Duck Avenger, and I was definitely on that train. Three superheroes being cool and butting heads? What's not to love?!
Also, we should have had some Gearloose family, but that may just be my Gyro bias showing. Still a little disappointed we didn't see Ratchet in a flashback at all and that's a Barks original right there!
The new characters we did get were fun though. and a lot of the characterization made for some fun moments a la kind of what Darkwing Duck was. And like the Duck survey said, while characters were mean, they were captable of love, and so I enjoyed a lot of characters.
Della was a great
character. Ducktales 2017 Glomgold is my absolute favorite iteration of
him. Webby and Fenton are a lot more fun. I enjoyed some of the new
characters like Lena and Penumbra. Sometimes characters were hit and miss. (Black
Heron and reboot Magica de Spell you could have been so much more.) There's a lot of references to every Disney afternoon show I mentioned, and I even screamed when I saw the one in finale, without giving too much away.
I think the biggest problem in the show is Scrooge.
I want to preface this by saying that there is no ideal Scrooge McDuck. Ducktales 2017 Scrooge is pulled almost directly from the Don Rosa characterization and he sucks absolute shit. Disregarding my thoughts on Don Rosa as a person, I do respect some of his characterizations. I think he does Gyro and Rockerduck pretty well for one. But man oh man, do I hate the Rosa characterization of Scrooge.
A lot of people in the survey seemed to enjoy Rosa's comics, so this may be controversial, but some people did agree with me. Rosa's Scrooge is too heroic. And in an adventure show like Ducktales, where Scrooge is a protagonist, this is greatly magnified. Everything he does is heroic, and while he has flaws, he's seen as an idol to the children, and perhaps I'm extrapolating a bit, but to the kids at home too.
Scrooge McDuck in any piece of media forces capitalism to be a theme of the media, and how one treats Scrooge shows what people have to say about capitalism. Scrooge is a villain? Capitalism bad. Scrooge is a hero? Capitalism good. Of course, most Scrooge characterizations have him as morally grey, and most fans would agree, but most of the villainous traits of Scrooge still come from him being a ruthless capitalist. Scrooge earning money square may equate to wage theft, as he canonically grossly underpays workers. If this is a bad thing and Scrooge is seen as bad for this, the media may have some critiques on capitalism. But if Scrooge is seen as a good person despite everything, then those critiques can be pushed under a rug and no one needs to question capitalism.
It's a situation where you have to remember that Disney Channel greenlit this show. Even the comics that show Scrooge as morally ambiguous, those were greenlit by Disney too. Consider that your takeaway.
Overall Rating for Darkwing Duck: S Tier
Overall Rating for Ducktales 1987: D Tier
Overall Rating for Ducktales 2017: B Tier
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