Darkwing Duck

I am the terror that flaps in the night!
I am the trope that you can't quite find examples for!
I... am DARKWING DUCK!!!

Sorry, just felt like making one of those.

edited 24th Feb '13 11:47:38 PM by KnownUnknown

I love this. April Fools, folks.

When I was about 5, I always confused Taurus Bulba (the villain from the pilot episode) with Darkwing Yak (from the "Just Us Justice Ducks" episode).

How did this cartoon completely escape my grasp? I didn't watch Disney toons that often for some reason, but somehow stumbled across most of them at least once. But not this one.

Huh. Darkwing Duck was the Disney Afternoon show I watched the most of.

I still remember that live show based on The Disney Afternoon they once had at Walt Disney World. I wonder if we still have the videotape of it. I know it started with Darkwing Duck setting up Mickey Mouse's appearing act, so my family would always re-watch at least that segment of the tape before getting bored and skipping to something else we did at the parks.

Darkwing Duck may have been the best thing Di$ney ever put on TV.

Aside from Tale Spin.

I've been starting to watch this again. Perhaps i've been spoiled by SWAT Kats, my favorite from that era and which stands up as a legitimately good action cartoon even in the modern day, while this show is definitely further on the cartoony scale.

What sells it for me watching it as a 20-something (instead of the preschooler who practically worshipped this show back in the day) is Darkwing's Deadpan Snarker tendencies. Despite being a bit of a goofball himself, the guy almost has Medium Awareness for the utter lunacy going on around him.

Before Darkwing Duck, Disney TV Cartoons were pretty safe. Sure they had memorable characters and fun adventures but it was DW that brought in some more wit and edge and I think we can thank Tad Stone for that. After all, can you imagine Duck Tales or Rescue Rangers doing a parody of Twin Peaks?

I can see Ducktales maybe doing that.

While Darkwing is definitely the Darker and Edgier corner of the Disney Afternoon and it was definitely all the better for it given the kind of series it was a send-up to, I wouldn't say that level of wit started there.

There was Talespin with all it's brilliant classic pulp Whole Plot References, screwball comedy send-ups, and on the edginess side those episodes that pitted the heroes vs what was essentially the Soviet Union. And even Chip and Dale (which is arguably the least ambitious of the Disney Afternoon adventure/action series with the most standard kind of humor) had that whole episode Church of Happyology jab.

After all, wit generally isn't in what you do, but in how you do it. The best thing about Disney Afternoon was in how well each series knew that, and how to write the kind of stories they wanted.

edited 1st Apr '17 10:14:30 PM by KnownUnknown

Linkara reviews the first four IDW comics.

Nearly gave me a heart attack thinking they were going to remake this masterpiece.

Watching random clips of Darkwing Duck on youtube and I came across a clip of Dark Warrior Duck,I realised Darkwing was effectively using drones to fight crime

The idea of drones is much older than its actual real world counterpart. At it's core, a drone is little more than a mini-helicopter.

Just watched the episode with Paddywack, awesome episode

Paddywack is one of my favourite episodes.

Quackerjack and Darkwing beating the shit out of Paddywhack while making fun of Defeat Equals Friendship was one of my favorite gags on the show.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Oct 10th 2020 at 10:58:14 AM

I'm going to bring it up here: those who watch DuckTales (2017), what do you think so far about how Darkwing was integrated into the show?

I have no complaints, thought the best time to ask that will probably be in a week when the remake version of Darkly Dawns the Duck airs.

Yes, I am looking forward to that episode. I really enjoyed "The Duck Knight Returns", not only because of, well, Darkwing Duck returning, but also how it satirized the film industry.

Not gonna lie, Taurus Bullba as a scientist rather than a mob boss is going to take some time getting used to.

It's weird that this show goes to change pre existing characters into scientists, like Gandra and Bullba, and create new evil scientist characters when they won't even use Emil Eagle.

Mad scientists are cooler then mobsters apparently

Mad Scientists are a good excuse to include futuristic technology in the show that can be applied for plot convenience. They at least kept Ma Beagle as a mobster, though.

Original Taurus had his own super weapon, though. You don't need to have a mad scientist around for those.

You just need one close enough to steal it from or force them to make it.