one of the most fondly-remembered animated television shows of all time was recently relaunched when the all-new ducktales debuted on disney xd. though it's still early in its first season, the show has been successful so far in drawing in new viewers along with longtime fans who grew up enjoying the original incarnation.
related: 25 years later, darkwing duck is still a little dangerous
whether you grew up watching disney's animated television line-up in '90s or not, it's likely you've at least heard of chip 'n dale: rescue rangers, disney's talespin and, of course, darkwing duck. the terror that flaps in the night's show aired for only three seasons between 1991 and 1993, but its 91 episodes built a fanbase that would love to see the eponymous water fowl get dangerous once again.
most fans probably believe that darkwing duck and ducktales exist within the same universe, but according to show creator tad stones, the two are, in fact, separate. despite this separation, the character launchpad mcquack popped up in both series, scrooge mcduck is mentioned in darkwing duck, and it has been announced that darkwing duck/drake mallard will be making an appearance in the new ducktales series.
related: darkwing duck and ducktales are set in separate universes
of course, that's not nearly enough. now that we know darkwing duck is sharing the same universe with this incarnation of ducktales, it's time to get dangerous again and bring everyone's favorite duck superhero back to television in his own series.
not only was it a successful after-school television series, darkwing duck spawned comic books, video games and many other forms of media that have continued to perpetuate the zeitgeist. in 2010, boom! studios released the duck knight returns, written by aaron sparrow and ian brill with pencils by james silvani. the series was intended to be a four-issue miniseries, but was so successful it quickly became an ongoing title. unfortunately, the series came to an abrupt conclusion in 2011 when boom! lost its disney license. five years later, silvani and sparrow relaunched darkwing duck in a new series.
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it's time to get dangerous... again!
this far, the new ducktales series has performed well for disney xd. ratings and reviews are good to great, making it reasonable to expect the show will remains on the air for a long time to come. the popularity of ducktales in the '90s was one of the main reasons we got to see an expansion of the duckiverse's into disney's talespin and darkwing duck. it only makes sense, then, for disney to endeavor to repeat that success by creating a similar lineup of comparable television shows.
ramping up a new animated series takes a lot of time and money, so it makes sense that disney would test the waters by reintroducing darkwing via ducktales rather than leaping ahead to giving him a second cartoon.
everything appears to be hinging on how well the new version of darkwing duck goes over with audiences. the merging of duckverses will certainly be interesting, given the nature of each being somewhat different. some concept art has been leaked showing magica de spell, megavolt, quackerjack and ratcatcher, so we can surmise that scrooge, huey, dewey and louie might find themselves in danger and in need of a superhero to come along and save the day.
thus far, disney has been quiet on any details, even keeping the actor who will provide the voice of darkwing duck a secret. in his original series and throughout his appearances in other series and video games, he has been voiced by jim cummings, who is still active in the world of voice acting today. the cast of talent for the new ducktales series has been entirely new, however, so it seems likely somebody other than mr. cummings will get a chance to take a crack at the terror that flaps in the night.
while ducktales is still in its first season, disney xd has already given the green light for a second. the series has a rating of 100% on rotten tomatoes, and the fans appear to love it. it's the adherence to the principals of the original series that are bringing in the older crowd as well as a new generation of viewers. that spark is going to continue to grow and will eventually, hopefully, lead to a new darkwing duck series within the next couple of years.