Darkwing Duck - Der Schrecken der Bösewichte

Probably the best cartoon to come out of Disney in quite a while, Darkwing Duck was somewhat darker than the average Disney fare and managed to touch upon some serious issues. However, it also could be extremely funny, with Darkwing's over-dramatic entrances, his ego 'the size of a small planet' and his arguments with his daughter.

There's a whole new set of villains to be thwarted by the terror that flaps: NegaDuck, Megavolt, Quackerjack, Liquidator (a parody of Penguin from Batman) and Bushroot; collectively the Fearsome Five. Not to mention the evil F.O.W.L. and its chief agent, Steelbeak.

Fortunately, DW has help. DuckTales' Launchpad McQuack is on his usual form, performing some excellent crashes in DW's Thunderquack and playing a good sidekick; GizmoDuck occasionally shows up fresh from Duckberg to drive DW crazy; Gosalyn, his daughter (who has a greater capacity for getting into trouble than Huey, Dewey and Louie put together!); and, last but not least, Morgana McCawber, sorceress and one-time crook.

As you can probably tell, this is my favourite Disney cartoon bar none. A couple of videos were released in Britain, and DW played on the Disney Channel for a while, but it has been far too long since Darkwing graced our terrestrial screens. Any Americans who have the Disney Channel and/or Toon Disney should count themselves very lucky indeed to be able to watch this absolute gem.

I wouldn't have been surprised if Paul Verhoeven or Tim Burton directed one or two of the episodes of this show! I can't believe Disney let it through, of all studios!! This is real biting stuff, and it's twisted, demented and weird. I loved it. It was my favourite Saturday morning cartoon and my pick as the best of Disney's animated series'. This was a show like "The Simpsons", where every scene was a rip-off of something. And yet it existed in its own imaginative world, not so over-the-top that it doesn't make some kind-of sense. Darkwing's enormous ego is the best rip-off of superheroes I have ever encountered. And those villains!!!! Batman would have stopped to say: Nice powers. As far as TV goes, especially animated TV, this is among the best of it, I think!

A fun cartoon series for the family, Darkwing Duck was a clever parody of DC and Marvel comics. Unlike all those other parodies, this show was smart and could pull it off. The stories were inventive right up to the end of the show. And even though it was smart, it didn't mean it had to be serious. This was a crazy, funny and zany cartoon.

Hey, what would life have been a decade ago without DARKWING DUCK?

I actually bought a video years back for my (then) young kids who were transfixed by the deeds of Mr Darkwing. Obviously lifted from the BATMAN concept and with nefarious villains around to allow DARKWING DUCK to win out ultimately, bringing with each victory some social lesson to be learned, each episode was a feathered triumph to savor. As his inimitable "Bruce Wayne" alter ego Drake Mallard, Darkwing would defend to the death the honor of the least threatened creature while reminding us of many of life's little obligations.

Multi-layered animation for the aware.

In short........ DARKWING DUCK ROCKS! IT'S ONE OF DISNEY'S BEST! IT'S BRILLIANT!!!!! IT'S CRAZY! IT HAS SOME OF THE BEST SUPERHERO PARODIES EVER!

Who could forget the episode where we learned the "real," origin of Darkwing, which was a parody of Superman. Or the Spider-man parody episode? Or that Darkwing's rogues gallery mirrored other comic book supervillains?

This was hilarious, with of course due thanks to Jim Cummings, who provided Darkwing's voice. What can I say, he's a genius! It's so funny when Darkwing is constantly trying to get attention, but failing to do so, or losing it to someone like Gizmo-duck!

I have a question though: why'd they change the theme song? It was played on the Disney Channel when DD first appeared, but after it was moved to Fox, they changed it, and it has stayed that way since. I have an original episode that plays the first version of the theme song, and I prefer it much more.

BOTTOM LINE: A funny cartoon! A Disney great! Too bad now they're making junk like Teacher's Pet.