All in a Disney Afternoon Chapter 5: Darkwing Duck

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It's fall of 1991 and The Disney Afternoon has officially passed on year on the air. The block has proven a massive success with the initial four shows, three of which finish their runs and the newest of the bunch TaleSpin runs through its entire series. As we enter the new season, things begin to shift. Gummi Bears is officially finished and makes its exit from the block with DuckTales, Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin shifting down. Which leaves the last part of the block to be occupied by Disney's latest animated series. It's the terror that flaps in the night. The review article that takes longer to get finished because of other projects. It's Darkwing Duck!

So, how did Darkwing come to be? After Rescue Rangers wrapped up, Tad Stones began work on the next Disney animated series. However, it wasn't initially Darkwing Duck. It was a reboot of The Rocky and Bullwinkle show. You see, Tad and his crew thought that Disney had the rights to the series and began work on a new animated series based on the moose and squirrel, only to soon discover that Disney had the rights to distribute the show on home video, not the rights to create new products. So next was plan B.

Remember the DuckTales episode "Double-O-Duck" where Launchpad became a secret agent for S.H.U.S.H and took on the evil Foul? Well, Stones initially intended to adapt that episode into its own series. However, eventually Launchpad was given the backseat and a new character would be given the role instead. One that wore a very familiar looking hat and cape. Eventually the concept had also adapted much of the "Masked Mallard" episode idea as well. Everything looked to be going in the right directions, until the Ian Fleming estate stepped in with a cease and desist of the use of "Double-O" as it was exclusive to James Bond. So, eventually things got tweaked a bit more until we got a character that was less a take on James Bond and more a version of The Shadow, complete with a penchant for the self-monologue.

It didn't hurt matters that Darkwing was released a couple years after the 1989 Batman movie, which revitalized interest in the Superhero genre. But Darkwing wasn't intended to be a straight laced serious caped crime fighter affair. It was going to be more of a tongue in cheek take on the genre, with heavier focus on comedy and adventure than brooding and darkness. What Darkwing did with the genre would be something refined with The Tick later on. Much like the previous shows, Darkwing started with an early preview on The Disney Channel before its official release on September 8th, 1991. The show ran 91 episodes. The standard 65 for syndication and The Disney Afternoon block, and 26 episodes for two separate seasons on ABC.

The show is set in St. Canard, a metropolis filled with some of the craziest criminal scum there is. The only cure for this plague of perilous perpetrators? Darkwing Duck, of course! Along with his sidekick Launchpad McQuack, his adopted daughter Gosalyn and her friend Honker Muddlefoot, they stop some the wicked scum of the city like Megavolt, Bushroot, Liquidator, Quackerjack and even Darkwing's own twisted doppleganger Negaduck. Not only does Darkwing have to deal with the life of a superhero, but also has to deal with his second life of being Drake Mallard, father of Gosalyn.

Darkwing Duck/Drake Mallard is the protagonist of the series. We get bits and pieces of Drake's past. As a kid he ended up working for a crime gang until Darkwing and Gosalyn from the future helped him become a crimefighter. Ah good old convoluted cartoon writing. Darkwing is a very interesting superhero. He's extremely altruistic, and always fights for the side of good, but, to put it kindly... he's also a massive egotist. Usually believing himself to often be better than others, deserving of the love and respect of the people, and constantly monologuing to himself. Despite those flaws, Drake is still a good father to Gosalyn and a good friend to others. He uses a variety of weapons in his fight against evil, including a gas gun, his motorcycle the Ratcatcher and his plane the Thunderquack. Jim Cummings once again returns to another Disney show as the voice of Darkwing.

Launchpad McQuack is back once again. No real big explanation as to how he ended up in St. Canard (although it's also believed that this is technically different canon, so yeah). The real answer is he's a remnant of the Double-O-Duck era, but the in-series excuse that Scrooge eventually let him go (probably for crashing too many planes). He's Darkwing's biggest fan in the pilot episode and quickly becomes his sidekick. He also serves as Darkwing's pilot as he was the one who actually built the Thunderquack, the crime plane that Darkwing uses to fight crime. Terry McGovern reprises his role as Launchpad.