The Darkwing Duck Thread

[Slackbot]

The titles of those episodes are "Dirtysomething" and "Heavy Mental," respectively.

 

[Drtooth]

I realized something that all the sudden bugs me. When were villains like Bushroot, Megavolt, and that ilk considered members of FOWL? I've seen them depicted that way in a lot of merchandise and video games and like that.

To me, Darkwing Duck is a show that's two different concepts linked up together. After all, Darkwing was supposed to be a straight up Secret Agent series, closer to the Ducktales episode they were using as the basis. The show blended BOTH the secret agent elements and the newly developed Batman/comic parody series it started to become. To me, FOWL is Steelbeak. Maybe Ammonia is also Fowl, playing off the spy angle, while the Fearsome Five (any combination of them) plays testament to a more comic book crime fighting pastiche.

But it seems a lot of odd merchandise lumps the secret agent and super man villains into FOWL territory. And once I put the pieces together, everything felt off in that aspect. My reasoning? When Steelbeak was planning something, J. Gander Hooter always informed Darkwing in the old fashion "You're mission, should you choose to accept it" way. When it comes to Bushroot, Megavolt, and the rest... Darkwing manages to stumble on them himself.

 

[minor muppetz]

I realized something that all the sudden bugs me. When were villains like Bushroot, Megavolt, and that ilk considered members of FOWL? I've seen them depicted that way in a lot of merchandise and video games and like that.

To me, Darkwing Duck is a show that's two different concepts linked up together. After all, Darkwing was supposed to be a straight up Secret Agent series, closer to the Ducktales episode they were using as the basis. The show blended BOTH the secret agent elements and the newly developed Batman/comic parody series it started to become. To me, FOWL is Steelbeak. Maybe Ammonia is also Fowl, playing off the spy angle, while the Fearsome Five (any combination of them) plays testament to a more comic book crime fighting pastiche.

But it seems a lot of odd merchandise lumps the secret agent and super man villains into FOWL territory. And once I put the pieces together, everything felt off in that aspect. My reasoning? When Steelbeak was planning something, J. Gander Hooter always informed Darkwing in the old fashion "You're mission, should you choose to accept it" way. When it comes to Bushroot, Megavolt, and the rest... Darkwing manages to stumble on them himself.

Maybe licensers thought that would have been better. I know that they didn't come up with the idea of Negaduck until after the initial episode where Darkwing's positive and negative sides became seperate beings; It wouldn't surprise me if the idea for the Fearsome Five came afterwards (or maybe they planned it before the idea of Negaduck came but weren't yet sure which villians would be part of the group until later). It would have been cool if they made an episode where the Fearsome Five did work for FOWL, though I don't see Negaduck agreeing to work for somebody else, even if that somebody else is as evil as he is. Hmm, maybe they could have done an episode where the others quit the Fearsome Five and joined FOWL.

Of course the NES/Game Boy game says at the beginning that many of Darkwing's enemies were doing work for FOWL. That's sort of an explanation.

I think I read on the Toonzone forum that Steelbeak, Megavolt, Bushroot, and Tuskernini (the four villians released as action figures) were originally intended on being the main villians of the series. If that's true then they must have changed their minds about Tuskernini right away, as he wasn't in many episodes (the first DVD set only has him in one episode, but of course it skips the ABC episodes). I guess either the writers couldn't come up with many good ideas for him (he seemed more like an average robber than a ruthless villian, and obviously didn't have any special powers) or the voice actor was often unavailable. Of course if that is true about them being planned as the main villians then it also makes since that Tuskernini was in the action figure line.

After watching Duck Blind today, I can't help but think that episode should have involved more villians. Megavolt seems to be the only villian aware of Darkwing's blindness... The news could have spread like wildfire among the villians. Maybe another criminal or two could have committed a crime that Darkwing tried to blindly stop. Of course I think that was Megavolt's first appearance, and was a real early episode. If it was made later, after more villians were introduced, perhaps it could have invovled more villians.

 

[minor muppetz]

Today I was watchign Water Way to Go, where Launchpad basically demands to be the hero for once. Given his stupidity and easy-going nature, it makes me wonder, has Launchpad ever gotten really angry on either Darkwing Duck or DuckTales? He doesn't seem to get mad often (except on occasions when he's assisting Darkwing in battle, but even then it's not much anger).

Also, do the characters not in the know ever acknowledge Launchpad as Darkwing's sidekick? For example, the Muddlefoots (besides Honker) seem oblivious to the fact that Drake Mallard is Darkwing Duck, but do they ever acknowledge the fact that Darkwing's sidekick just happens to live with Drake? Do they ever ask Launchpad what it's like to be Darkwing Duck's sidekick? Or does Launchpad keep his sidekick duties a secret even though he doesn't have a disguise or alternate identity?

Heck, it seems like the bad guys don't really acknowledge Launchpad very often.

 

[Erine81981]

Today I was watchign Water Way to Go, where Launchpad basically demands to be the hero for once. Given his stupidity and easy-going nature, it makes me wonder, has Launchpad ever gotten really angry on either Darkwing Duck or DuckTales? He doesn't seem to get mad often (except on occasions when he's assisting Darkwing in battle, but even then it's not much anger).

Also, do the characters not in the know ever acknowledge Launchpad as Darkwing's sidekick? For example, the Muddlefoots (besides Honker) seem oblivious to the fact that Drake Mallard is Darkwing Duck, but do they ever acknowledge the fact that Darkwing's sidekick just happens to live with Drake? Do they ever ask Launchpad what it's like to be Darkwing Duck's sidekick? Or does Launchpad keep his sidekick duties a secret even though he doesn't have a disguise or alternate identity?

Heck, it seems like the bad guys don't really acknowledge Launchpad very often.

You know i've never thought about that. Now that you mention it i get where your going. I think being that no one ever acknowledge is becase no one ever cares expect for Gosalyn. I hope i get to see some of the comics. I still can't find them anywhere.

 

[Drtooth]

Today I was watchign Water Way to Go, where Launchpad basically demands to be the hero for once. Given his stupidity and easy-going nature, it makes me wonder, has Launchpad ever gotten really angry on either Darkwing Duck or DuckTales? He doesn't seem to get mad often (except on occasions when he's assisting Darkwing in battle, but even then it's not much anger).

many times on Ducktales, I can't really remember any specific times in Darkwing. For example, in Ducktales, Launchpad was angry pretty much the beginning 3/4s of "Where no Duck has gone Before" when he was with Captain Courage of the Cosmos. And he was pretty upset in "Hero for Hire" when he found out the movie directors were the Beagles....

Also, do the characters not in the know ever acknowledge Launchpad as Darkwing's sidekick? For example, the Muddlefoots (besides Honker) seem oblivious to the fact that Drake Mallard is Darkwing Duck, but do they ever acknowledge the fact that Darkwing's sidekick just happens to live with Drake? Do they ever ask Launchpad what it's like to be Darkwing Duck's sidekick? Or does Launchpad keep his sidekick duties a secret even though he doesn't have a disguise or alternate identity?

You know i've never thought about that. Now that you mention it i get where your going. I think being that no one ever acknowledge is becase no one ever cares expect for Gosalyn. I hope i get to see some of the comics. I still can't find them anywhere.

Well... if you want any spoilers as far as the comic goes:

Launchpad and Darkwing had a falling out because of this. Negaduck actually stalked Launchpad to the Dry Cleaners, where he saw LP dropping off both Darkwing's outfit and Drake's sweater vest, thus not only finding out Darkwing's secret identity, but his suburban secret identity's home.

other than that, I just assumed that Launchpad WAS acknowledged as the sidekick by Binky and Herb (just never mentioned) and he just so happens to live with Drake when Darkwing doesn't need him. Of course, the show has so many of these things that are left unanswered and just plain unaddressed.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've noticed this... Launchpad in Ducktales had a full head of hair (or is it fethers drawn to look like hair? Maybe fuzz, like on a newborn duck?), while his Darkwing Duck counterpart has been bald expect for the top knot. Only thing I can think of is that the animators didn't see the original LP model sheet before redesigning the character, and didn't think he had all that hair.

I posted a link to a site that showed model sheets for some of the Darkwing Duck characters, including the Darkwing version of Launchpad, and the model sheet showed the bald version (though it was drawn in less detail when showing him without his hat; for some reason the sheet said "hat extends over head"... don't know why that would need to be noted in instructions). And yet every time I've seen Launchpad without his hat and bald it's only for maybe less than 30 seconds. And I've recently started wondering: Are there people in real life who only have hair sticking out their foreheads (Charlie Brown doesn't count, and neither does Dennis the Menace's friend Joey)?

I've also noticed that when Launchpad is seen without his hat and has all his hair, it goes past the back of his head and on the sides of his head (basically every part of his head covered by his usual hat). But whenever he's wearing a different hat, one that covers less of his head than his usual hat (such as the hat he wore as a Junior Chipmunks leader on DuckTales), and obviously not wearing his usual hat underneath, the animators didn't draw extra hair on the sides of his head.

Funny thing for anyone who wants to make a comparison. Watch a Ducktales (preferably, one with LP as the star of the episode and Doofus is in the plot.... "Where No Duck has Gone Before," "Hero for Hire," or "Super Doofus" are my suggestions), then watch any Darkwing that has Launchpad in it. You'll see that Launchpad has essentially became to Darkwing what Doofus was to him. It's all very interesting.

I don't remember Doofus from my childhood, but I watched a few episodes on youtube recently. It actually took awhile for me to realise that Doofus was a child (I just thought he was a real dorky adult). One thing I noticed is that while Scrooge McDuck and Darkwing Duck both get annoyed by Launchpad at times, Launchpad never seems to be annoyed by Doofus (of course Launchpad sort of shares his intelligence... Though it seems like Doofus is a slight bit smarter and Launchpad is a bit of a know-it-all on DuckTales).

Food for thought: If Disney were to release the remaining episodes, I wonder if the banned "Hot Spells" episode would be included. I saw it on youtube recently and didn't think it was that special, though. I've also been thinking about how most of the Disney Afternoon shows that have box sets need only one more boxed set in order for every episode to be released... I figure they would have less episodes... Could it be possible that Disney doesn't want to sell a boxed set with less discs/episodes as the previous sets? It would cost Disney less money to do so, but still... (of course if that were the case then the extra space in the theoretical final volumes very well could be used for special featurettes about the shows).

 

[minor muppetz]

I just watched "Twitching Channels" on YouTube, and I wonder if any of the production staff members shown in the episode might be charicatures of real crew members of the show? It wouldn't surprise me if the creator shown was based on the shows real creator. Though I think he looks a bit like a human version of Launchpad.

 

[Slackbot]

Tad Stones created Darkwing Duck, and the TV show's producer in Twitching Channels was named Thaddeus Rockwell. Years ago in a Q&A Stones said that, yes, the names were no coincidence, but the character was not a caricature of him.

Rockwell reminds me of Comet Guy, actually.

 

[minor muppetz]

I just watched "A Duck by any Other Name" on youtube, and that one seems to make it seem like nobody knew Launchpad was Darkwing's sidekick. At the beginning Launchpad is dressed as Darkwign Duck as a decoy, and a reporter catches him removing his mask, mistaking him for Darkwing. And the public at large believes it.... I guess they'd never seen Launchpad and Darkwing together before.

And also, when Herb and Binky find out they just ask why Launchpad kept the secret from them.

I also noticed a goof near the end: When the public finally finds out that Launchpad is not really Darkwing Duck, we see one shot of Launchpad in Darkwing Duck clothes, but in the next shot he's suddenly in his regular clothes.

Another thing I've noticed: In a number of episodes (A Duck by Any Other Name, Darkly Dawns the Duck, Adopt-a-Con) Darkwing gets arrested, but the police never seem to force him into unmasking himself and dressing in jail clothes.