The epic proportions of Duck Tales.
Posted by epidemicsaints@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 105 comments
Looking up how many episodes there are shocked me. There are only 100.
Watching this in rerun syndication every weekday, this is a mere 5 months. Not even a school year.
If I was a 10 or 11 year old watching it on streaming now, I could easily get through the whole show in 2 weeks, that would be about 2.5 hours a day.
It blows my mind how much story and lore got packed in so effectively. The way I remember it, I was fully engaged and interested in it for its entire run, never felt like I was outgrowing it, and my brother also enjoyed it and he was two years older. It was the only timeslot we didn't argue over, we both loved it.
Hollerado@reddit
All the Disney cartoon from the late 80s and mid 90s were really good.
Gummie bears, dark wing duck, duck tales, tailspin, gargoyles, I might be forgetting some. But they all were engaging as a child.
LemurCat04@reddit
Ch-ch-Chip and Dale! Rescue rangers!
thunderingparcel@reddit
The recent chip and dale movie is worth your time.
derioderio@reddit
Having the bad CGI sonic be a significant character alone makes it worth your while
Ok_Choice_8957@reddit
Ugly Sonic, uglier crimes
ShepardCommander001@reddit
You can leave darkwing duck off that list
leostotch@reddit
You could but why would you?
ShepardCommander001@reddit
Cringy show. Nothing like the others.
leostotch@reddit
No accounting for taste, I suppose.
Hollerado@reddit
What was so cringey?
Slowly-Slipping@reddit
Hollerado@reddit
Don't you tell me how to live my life.
Prossdog@reddit
TransportationOk657@reddit
Definitely my favorite cartoon from Disney. I'd place it second overall right behind TMNT
abernathym@reddit
Did you ever watch Gargoyles?
El-Royhab@reddit
This show introduced me to Shakespeare, Norse mythology and so many other things.
abernathym@reddit
They did the multiverse before it was a thing.
DETRITUS_TROLL@reddit
The boat doesn’t take you where you want to go, it takes you where you need to be.
Love Gargoyles.
Has a fair amount of the TNG cast in it too which I love.
abernathym@reddit
Very talented cast, up there with the Batman cartoon.
Greedy-Invite3781@reddit
I hope everyone here has seen this masterpiece.
abernathym@reddit
It's such a good show. It's a shame what they did to that last season.
Greedy-Invite3781@reddit
abernathym@reddit
Dude was so cool he got a TV trope named after him.
MothyBelmont@reddit
Gargoyles is the shit. I collect the comics and they’re so good.
TransportationOk657@reddit
I did a little bit. I was 15 when it came out, so I wasn't watching many cartoons (or any TV for that matter). I spent most of my time out of the house around that age.
abernathym@reddit
Yeah, it was a later one. I caught up on them later in life; I didn't realize how good it was until I watched them all in order.
LadyBogangles14@reddit
That theme song slapped.
Better_than_GOT_S8@reddit
That and Darkwing Duck.
bridge1999@reddit
I can’t stand the voice of Darkwing Duck now
ShepardCommander001@reddit
It’s super cringy and always has been. You just grew up.
dunsdidthehare@reddit
Yeah Darkwing had so many cool elements, riding the wave of Batmania, just sucked/dumbed down in execution
Better_than_GOT_S8@reddit
I grew up with the Dutch voice actor, but I have to admit watching it now isn’t the same.
ShepardCommander001@reddit
Darkwing Duck was the first cartoon for autistic kids. Every single one of them I knew loved it unabashedly.
sed2017@reddit
Let’s. Get. Dannnngerous!
Ggobeli@reddit
Let's get dangerous.
sanebyday@reddit
I still say, "Let's. Get. Dangerous."
darksunshaman@reddit
TaleSpin too!
epidemicsaints@reddit (OP)
I really liked Rescue Rangers too but I outgrew it in a way that I didn't with Duck Tales.
TransportationOk657@reddit
Loved that show, too. Along with Darkwing Duck and TaleSpin.
YoMommaBack@reddit
Just here to spread the gospel of this version of the Duck Tales theme song that has taken over my brain for the past few years.
https://youtu.be/t8X_DPy9KSU?si=3GLv4UrUiQr853LJ
Kizenny@reddit
Watch the new ones, also really great!
Aetherometricus@reddit
Life is like a hurricane.
Slammogram@reddit
Here in Duckburg.
GrammiGummi@reddit
The 2017 reboot is also amazing. Definitely worth a watch. I'm sad there's only three seasons.
Slammogram@reddit
Yes, I was just going to say that.
Confident-War-3469@reddit
First let me say I hated the twist ending, but everything else was so good, it was forgivable. The reboot was a love letter to the franchise as a whole including the comics and video game ( realizing Paget Brewster was singing the melody from the Moon level made me laugh so hard at the reference). They touch on some great comic lore like how Glomgold (by far the best character ) was actually originally South African and how Disney influenced the whole Anime art style via Astroboy, and many more stories. Referencing almost all of the Disney after school line up from Gummi Bears and Talespin ( my favorite, I’m still obsessed with Art Deco Dieselpunk as a result), down to how bad Quackpack was. Three seasons was too short but they didn’t ruin it like SVTFOE and Amphiba. They also left the door open for a Darkwing Duck reboot by which we will be able to revisit Duckburg on occasion through Launchpad. I now know which color is which nephew which is a first. Absolutely stellar cast if you haven’t seen it I highly recommend. It is very respectful to the source material unlike many of the modern, cash grab, reboots that have tainted the memories of my childhood.
emozolik@reddit
it was so so good. My kids were the same age my wife and I were when the orig series came out. We were so happy to re-experience the series as a family!
lordnecro@reddit
I had trouble at first with the new voices and different personalities... but really enjoyed it after a few episodes.
KahBhume@reddit
Of all of them, I had a hard time adjusting to Scrooge's voice. I mean, I love David Tennant in everything he's in, and I know he's Scottish so not just trying to make up an accent. But Alan Young's version was so engrained into my brain throughout childhood that it was hard for me to truly accept the change.
TacosAreJustice@reddit
The like third episode is a tribute to the warriors… it’s amazing.
non_clever_username@reddit
Agreed! I was really surprised how much I liked it. I was expecting it to be some awful nostalgia money grab.
But I’d almost say it’s better in some ways, primarily giving the boys their own personalities versus being basically carbon copies in different colored shirts in the original.
Oraistesu@reddit
I also adore Webby 2.0.
I think the only personality change I'm never quite sold on is Launchpad's increased doofiness.
non_clever_username@reddit
Yeah in the original he just crashed all the time, but was otherwise normal.
In this one, he’s a complete klutz and borderline special needs. I don’t like that change either.
OhMyItsColdToday@reddit
In the late '80s I taped the episode "Earth Quack" which was my favorite, and I watched it hundreds of times. To my immense dismay one day I forgot the tape in the VCR which was set to record automatically and overwrote it. In my country Duck Tales was never syndicated again, then when internet and streaming arrived I was "old" and I've never seen it since. And now I wonder if I just stream it if it will ruin the magic (but I can still sing the theme song to this day!)
PersianCatLover419@reddit
The NES game was fun too!
superschaap81@reddit
I think it had the appeal of being so great that we didn't even blink that it was being re-run on us. Put it in with the rest of the Disney afternoon, and you had 2 solid hours of Disney cartoons. I wasn't gonna complain about seeing episodes more than once every so often.
Scurrymunga@reddit
Samurai Pizza Cats is a show that has the same vibe. IYKYK.
ImitationCheesequake@reddit
That era of Disney Afternoon shows was fantastic for the rewatchability. Duck Tales spun off Darkwing Duck and it went 91 episodes. Talespin had a great universe as did Rescue Rangers which both had 65 episodes.
epidemicsaints@reddit (OP)
I think Spongebob is what eventually took up the torch. As an outsider, the cultural impact is ridic. The kids who grew up with that are still referencing it every day as adults, and I think it really nailed appealing to everyone with eyes. It encompassed that niche that Ren & Stimpy and Beavis and Butthead did for teenagers while still catering to small children too. And like Duck Tales, it has a lot of real stuff going on with characters and story.
blondeviking64@reddit
I don't think it was as big as ninja turtles or Garfield were at one point. But it certainly hit a single demographic really hard. I don't know anyone my age who watched it. I work with high schoolers, and it seems to have disappeared from kids' references about 4 years ago. I used to see and hear it ALL the time. Now, it comes up occasionally at my school but is often ignored or flatly missed by some of the kids when it does come up. Those same references 5 or 6 years ago would get a rise out of an entire class. So I think it's fading now. But it was EVERYWHERE for a while. This could also only be the demographic at my school, so take it as the anecdotal evidence it is.
ImitationCheesequake@reddit
I think it was really on the cusp of so many more kids networks and after school options where we mostly just had Disney Afternoon/Kids WB & Fox Kids, Nick & Disney were playing shows for the youngest demographics until 5PM iirc. Spongebob definitely was an even larger phenomenon where it seemed to get an audience from age 3 to 30 in a larger share than any cartoon I can really remember before it. Meanwhile all the “kids sitcoms” grew to be far more popular and lasted longer than a lot of the short lived stuff we had outside of Punky and Saved By The Bell.
Snoo-33147@reddit
Let's get dangerous
JWWBurger@reddit
I love that Indiana Jones ripped off Duck Tales and not the other way around.
AlilAwesome81@reddit
Duck Tales, TMNT, and Ghostbusters. I loved others but those 3 cartoons stay with me
lieutenantLT@reddit
Ducktales and Gummi Bears were my two favorite cartoons growing up
VVrayth@reddit
If you haven't yet, I strongly, strongly recommend watching the 2017 reboot series. It was made by people who have a deep love and appreciation of DuckTales, and Carl Barks specifically.
zoom518@reddit
For those talking about a 65-episode season, it used to be the norm for syndicated cartoons:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SixtyFiveEpisodeCartoon
It just so happened Ducktales was popular enough that they made some more.
Mr402TheSouthSioux@reddit
Loved all those Disney projects at that time. Darkwing Duck was the pinnacle and so many people slept on that.
Maint_guy@reddit
My wife scored me the VHS collection of biker mice from mars.
derioderio@reddit
I always thought Biker Mice from Mars and Street Sharks were bad imitations trying to cash in on the TMNT popularity.
Maint_guy@reddit
They kinda were but at that young of an age, I didn't care. TMNT was the show to copy though.
Binford6100User@reddit
This was my favorite, by a large margin. Between this cartoon and my stepdad purchase of an '85 CR250, I started a love affair with motorcycles that hasn't yet waned.
Would love to find a copy of this show.
Adrasteia-One@reddit
Heck yeah, that is the old Disney quality that I miss. The storylines were engaging, well-written, fun, and very memorable.
derzeppo@reddit
These guys know how epic it was
soundofthecolorblue@reddit
And the music in it was also phenomenal.
john_the_quain@reddit
I was surprised TaleSpin only had 65 episodes because I felt like I watched it non-stop.
sjd208@reddit
My favorite Duck Tales trivia is 1) it was super popular in Germany and 2) there was a man known as the Duck Tales Bandit in Berlin
https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-strange-story-of-dagobert-the-ducktales-bandit
Smooth-Apartment-856@reddit
Blatherin’ blatherscyte.
rangeghost@reddit
Someone pointed out the other day that there was only one, long, 65 episode season of TailSpin. That blew my mind as well.
It's just they they aired these shows non-stop for several years, that it feels like there were a lot more of them.
BoomersArentFrom1980@reddit
It really skewed a lot of our generation's views on economics. Keeping your wealth in a vault of gold is a horrible idea, the DJIA always has more or less always outpaced gold by 5-15x.
Actually, the only time gold has outpaced the DJIA was in the early 1980s... when they were making this show. Ok, now it makes sense.
ProfessionalCoat8512@reddit
Life is like a hurricane.
Electrical-Pie-8192@reddit
Theme song still hits, as does the metal version. I've got both in my playlist
WaitUntilTheHighway@reddit
Such a great cartoon. The opening sequence with the pool of gold is so foundational as a magic, imagination-fueling image
derioderio@reddit
The quest for the City of Gold was also the 5-part pilot: it introduces all the characters, puts them together, then sets them all on the adventure together.
FlintGraySalmon@reddit
Our memories are funny like that. For me, it seemed to last forever, too.
An even more shocking one is to look up how many times the villain in Scooby Doo said “I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!” (or some variation there of). It’s something like six times.
sidurisadvice@reddit
Just looked it up. It's three times on the original Scooby Doo Where Are You? series and doesn't happen the first time until 11 episodes into its original run. That's crazy.
FlintGraySalmon@reddit
I would have guesses 40 times.
blyzo@reddit
A+ video game for the NES too.
Far_Dragonfly_3748@reddit
My fav! Watched it every day after school. Saw the DVD boxset at a store and couldn't leave without it. Tried getting my 11yr old to watch it but he thought it was old and lame, lol
TragicaDeSpell@reddit
My kids loved it! They watched every single episode. I am so glad they think some part of my childhood wasn't cringe.
cheffartsonurfood@reddit
Don't forget that Ducktales for NES was the shizz back in the day.
Just watched Ducktales the Movie with my kids a couple days ago.
myloveisajoke@reddit
A lot of cartoons were like that. There'd be like 7 episodes that's they'd rerun. Seemed like there was hours and hours of it but there was only 3.5 punctuated by toy commercials.
Far-Education5778@reddit
The sea monster ate my Ice cream!!
robkillian@reddit
Ooh wee ooh
obeekaybee7@reddit
The video game rules too!
OrcOfDoom@reddit
I would love a retelling of the story with scrooge as the actual villain he was.
kieran_dvarr@reddit
The other week i started rewatching Gargoyles and realized the same thing. There is only 78 episodes in total. But it felt so epic back then.
Space-Ape-777@reddit
This and Gummies Bears.
whyneedaname77@reddit
Some of those shows had crazy seasons. I just looked it up season 1 was 65 episodes.
Thorbertthesniveler@reddit
My kingdom for a clear pic of Lady de Lardo! With the diamond in a wheelbarrow. Where my love of massive jewelry came from!
blue-marmot@reddit
The average streaming show puts out like 10 episodes a year now though.
epidemicsaints@reddit (OP)
Right but that isn't really related to daily shows for kids that are 22 minutes.
elphaba00@reddit
I'm 100% positive that I have seen every episode multiple times. I remember the TV station playing them in order, and once they got to the end, they would just start at the beginning. Did I care? Absolutely not. So now I'm thinking: how many times did I go through all the episodes?
epidemicsaints@reddit (OP)
That's exactly what I am getting at! It was such a rich story I watched it every day for years and cannot believe it was 100 episodes over and over, and that I was still engaged at probably 13.
Indubitalist@reddit
Same, definitely watched every episode. A fun adventure every day. It was must-watch, as was The Simpsons. I remember in syndication at one point they were showing 2-3 episodes a day on broadcast TV.