The most unbelievably awesome news ever... Ducktales

[mr3urious]

I wonder if Ron Jones will be able to return as composer? I mean, he's not working on anything else other than Family Guy.

 

[mr3urious]

You know, I have a feeling that Disney will go to Mercury Filmworks to produce the animation for the new DuckTales. And considering the amazing work they did on The Lion Guard toward making it look and feel just like the original movies, I know it would be in excellent hands.

 

[Drtooth]

Even if the show can look as good as Phineas and Ferb or Gravity Falls, that would be a great thing. Though it would be cool if they got another Japanese animation firm to do it.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Disney has said that Darkwing Duck and Kim Possible could also be coming as well. I wouldn't mind Darkwing coming back,but frankly Kim Possible has run it's coarse. Kim Possible ended after season 3,got uncancelled and ended again after season 4. I really really hope that they don't do that one. Although,Disney seems to be doing just fine in the animation department,so I would much rather them just continue making original cartoons like "Gravity Falls" and "Star Vs The Forces of Evil" .

 

[Drtooth]

Darkwing Duck is one of, if not my absolute favorite cartoons of all time. And that puts me in an awkward situation.

I do not want to be the kind that worries about his favorite late childhood character getting a new series. I certainly don't want to be the "I don't think this is a good idea" type. Yet, I should be a lot more excited by this news. I kind of feel that, considering the fact the show was cut short and had some excellent concepts that were never finished, there is room for a lot more DW to explore those concepts. Problem is, the show's celebrating it's 25th (and yes, the realization of how old this show really is getting to me) anniversary this year. That clearly means that with the exception of those in their 30's, the main audience won't know what's going on, and therefore the show could just be a reboot completely instead of following that stuff up. No Zombie Robot Taurus Bulba, no advanced relationship with Morgana. Meanwhile, much as I love Ducktales, there's more room to start over with that one. They can certainly make it darker, closer to Barks' and Rosa's comics. Darkwing however....

Let me compare it to another one of my favorite cartoons. Freakazoid. You know what made that show special? The fact that no one knew what the heck they were doing. The show was very close to being just a wisecracking hero in a Batman TAS type series. But Steven Spielberg wanted funny, so they basically scrambled around, hired a writer as the main character voice actor (and now he's a highly sought voice actor in his own right), and bumbled about writing the thing, and it turned into an inspired lightning in a bottle madness. You'll notice the second season has more story structure and actively tries to make the same wacky jokes that can only be made out of pure confusion. It's a good season, but it lost a little of the spontaneity.

You know what makes Darkwing Duck a special series? They pitched a cartoon revival they made the mistake of thinking they owned the rights to (Rocky and Bullwinkle, Disney only had the video distribution rights), and when they realized they had nothing else, they dug up an episode of Ducktales, polished it off, and somehow stumbled upon a show that could not decide if it was a James Bond parody or a Batman pastiche. And because of that confused genre, we got a number of spy parody and superhero parody episodes. And they didn't need to balance that. One episode will have him working for SHUSH to fight Steelbeak, another he's a vigilante fighting Megavolt and Bushroot. You got a nice mix in the show already, but making him a single, adoptive father added a nice sitcom level to it, complete with wacky neighbor.

So yeah. A cartoon about a spy slash vigilante slash sitcom father that never shied away from being as cartoony as possible. You have all these aspects of Darkwing's life colliding, and that's what made the show great. I have faith whoever works on this revival gets it, and manages to keep his crime fighting super spying in perfect tandem with dealing with a mischievous kid.

 

[mr3urious]

So far, these are all just rumors and speculation. Disney should focus more on the original cartoons they already have for now.

 

[Drtooth]

I hope to hear of more original cartoons in the future that aren't preschool series (even though they are quite good). I'm disappointed in the lack of a merchandising push for any of these (the Gravity Falls toys are still impossible to find, and the show's an episode shy from being over), and I hope that isn't a major factor. We deserve a Wander plush toy.

I hope Penn Zero and Star are indications of where Disney plans to take their next level of original animated programming. Pickle and Peanut seems to be way too post-post-post modern (though, I can't lie, it's the best show Noah Jones has done so far, though it's not saying much) and somehow an ill fit for Disney. On the other hand, I do give them credit for greenlighting something offbeat.

I've been saying since the dreaded 2005 era that Disney swept all their animation under the rug for live action pop star soundtrack tie in type shows that Disney needed to step up their animated programming game. I really liked The Replacements and Emperor's new School, but you can tell they didn't care for the success of either. One being a show based on a movie they pretty much pretend didn't exist. Disney does seem to barely be warming up to the fact ENG has a sizable cult fanbase, but let's not forget the thing took a back seat in promotion and merchandise to the unwatchable 102 Dalmatians franchise film. And the choice was between that, a Robin Hood cartoon they couldn't re-purpose as a TV/EI rerun on ABC Kids to fulfill everyone's favorite media bill tack on, and a terrible hipped up Aristocats series. They basically threw away potential money by not making a POTC animated series (even though they had character designs and even toys with an animated series look to them).

Then came an idea by two former Rocko's Modern Life writers that they've been trying to pitch since the 90's. Now, I don't know if the inclusion of HSM talent was what twisted their arms or not, but whatever happened, the show was a success, and I haven't seen a Disney cartoon TV show get that much of a merchandising push since The Disney Afternoon! Shame they treat it with the coldest of shoulders now that its over, but if it wasn't for the success of P&F, we wouldn't have Star, GF, or Penn. They need to keep that up.

 

[mr3urious]

This is old news, but we officially won't be seeing any of the original voice cast return, according to Terry McGovern.

http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/news/Ducktales-Cast-Not-Returning-for-Reboot/

I'm not completely torn up by this news, as Alan Young and June Foray are in their 90s now (and the other VAs are quite aged as well), but hopefully this means they'll at least keep Tony Anselmo on as Donald for consistency's sake, if he ever makes appearances in the reboot. And hey, at least the surviving cast got to re-unite in Remastered.

 

[Drtooth]

I really don't get why they'd bother casting anyone else. Disney isn't really one to juggle the official voice actors the way Warner Bros does with Looney Tunes. If it's to get a younger, fresher cast in out of fear that someone's going to pass on, I can see that. But most of them are still quite alive and prominent. Russi Taylor is essentially an employee anyway, being the official Minnie Mouse. Don't see why they need to recast anyone that isn't way up there or passed on outside of that. It's not exactly a deal breaker, but it's certainly not good news with this series.

That said, the actors they did recast because of death for the video game, I hope to see most of them back. Eric Bauza's Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck was pretty spot on. Forgot who was Hal Smith's replacement for Flintheart was, but he was just as good.

If they did a Darkwing Duck without Jim Cummings, however, there's no point in doing it.

 

[Drtooth]

The first look at this series has popped up.

While the first look I had I was a little mixed, closer inspection brings to mind current Italian Scrooge McDuck comics. It looks like the boys and Webby have grown up a little, giving Webby a better look than miniature Daisy Duck with cartoonish bow. Hopefully she's a much stronger character in this series.