Paquet de charlatan

Hello, my name is iam_moriya and I'm a donaldist.

That means that I'm a big fan of Donald Duck, but also a fan of the duck-universe. The comic books by Carl Barks and Don Rosa, the earlier cartoon shorts, DuckTales, I love'em all. But with all the things starring Donald and the Duckfamily their is one show that has been very underrated. A thing that I found very unfair.

I'm speaking of the show Quack Pack. Starring Donald Duck, his three nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie and the love of his life Daisy Duck. Often seen as a "sequel" to DuckTales it is best to watch this show on it's own terms. Because Quack Pack is a whole different animal, still entertaining, but different.

While DuckTales was based on the comic book stories written by the late master Carl Barks Quack Pack seem to take it's inspiration more from the earlier cartoon shorts. And it has allowed it's characters to actually *age*. I guess this threw of a couple of fans, but I've got nothing against it. It's a TV-show for crying out loud, you don't have to consider it canon if you don't want to.

Now, making the characters a bit older allowed the writers to write something new and fresh, while still paying tribute to the characters roots. For example, while older Donald still hasn't cooled his temper and he is still cursed by his bad luck. And the nephews proves that boys will be boys, just boys who has grown into their teens and therefore acting like teens do.

I recommend you to give this show a second chance. It's funny, smart, thrilling at times and most importantly: entertaining. If you can accept the fact that this isn't DuckTales, nor is it suppose to be, you will probably find out that this isn't a bad show at all, in fact, it is actually quite good.

Quack Pack did something truly shocking and revolutionary for the world of cartooning--it allowed their characters to -age-! Huey, Dewey, and Louie are now teenagers rather than the little tow-headed tykes they've always been, and their long-suffering "Uncle D" appears to be middle-aged. Everybody has gotten a much-needed makeover, and when I say the boys are teenagers now I'm NOT kidding...they are -definitely- teenagers. As in...well, they chase girls. Constantly.

The best thing about Quack Pack, in my opinion, is how they write the main characters' personalities. They really do seem like the SAME people, only evolved. Making Donald into a frantic, and (rightfully, considering the boys) suspicious, but still very -loving-, "parent", really gives him a lot more depth. Daisy is a very modern '90s woman with some rather odd quirks, and the boys? They kick...tail-feather! Their main personality traits (Huey=the leader, Dewey=the smart one, Louie=a bit clueless, but sweet) are all much stronger now--mixed with hormones, to add a bit of extra spice to the proceedings. They now have individual "hair" styles and outfits, rather than matching...they're now their own, individual, -people-. They are emphasised as individuals first, identical triplets -second-.

Also, they don't talk or act in unison or one after the other anymore...they would rather go their own ways, and often FIGHT each other! And frankly, considering the almost saccharine cuteness of before, a bit of hot-blooded rivalry is really quite -refreshing-...

The show's other main good point is the humour--biting, sarcastic, witty, and very intelligent, containing even references to classic literature and so forth that I'm sure the little kids in the -ostensible- target audience would NOT get. (Example: In one quick "throw-away" line, Huey paraphrased George Orwell's "1984".) No, this show is--as were DuckTales and Darkwing Duck--written BY adults, FOR adults. It just happens to be G-rated enough so that little kids can come and play if they -want- to...It may be a cartoon, and it may even be Disney. But it is NOT kiddie-fied or dumbed down...

Quack Pack's WORST points are that it's rather silly, and often the plots make little or no sense, stuff just basically...happens. Also, this show is hard to fit into the continuity of DuckTales, even though it -claims- to follow it. There are humans everywhere in Duckburg...though they weren't there before...and they're drawn VERY exaggerated, which makes it hard to suspend my disbelief. However, Quack Pack doesn't care, it has the flippant attitude of: "Hey. It's a cartoon. That means we can do ANYTHING WE WANT! BWAHAHAHA!"

Despite the silliness and slapstick, however, the show is rather more adult than you'd expect. Between the intellectual humour, the boys' obvious lusting after any female who crosses their paths, Donald's very real parenting concerns, and some (implied) rather nasty violence occasionally, this show has an...-edge- to it, a bite, that's unusual for a "children's cartoon".

From the very first ripping electric guitar chord of the theme song, to the very last biting, sarcastic, intelligent quip, Quack Pack SCREAMS one consistent message at the viewer:

THIS AIN'T YOUR FATHER'S DISNEY! ...and sometimes, that's a -good- thing. :)

The concept was interesting, different in allowing the cute and rascally Heuey, Duey and Louie of the old Disney cartoons and DuckTales to age but one that did have potential to work. Is Quack Pack as good as DuckTales? In terms of consistency, maybe not. Is it worth watching? I absolutely think it is. Quack Pack is fun and very underrated in my opinion. Perfect it isn't, with some of the slapsticky scenes a little overly silly and some instances where something happens and it happens for no reason or doesn't make much sense. But the good far outweigh the bad. The animation is bright and colourful, and is suitably fluid also. The music is very catchy with the instrumental writing really quite electric, the writing manages to be witty and intelligent(and above all very smart) and the story ideas are crisply paced and mostly interesting. The characters have differences to before, mainly that they have aged and Clarence Nash doesn't voice them, but I was surprised at how true generally they were to the original shorts and DuckTales. Even when they're older and with different interests, Huey, Duey and Louie are still cute and rascally, Donald is still the easily frustrated yet loving parent figure and Daisy still has the odd but somewhat endearing quirks. There is also an improvement in regards to the nephews for me, in the original shorts I wasn't so sure as to who was who, as of now because of the different personalities and stuff I do now. The secondary characters aren't as interesting, but still make an impression. The voice acting is great, there are some very talented voice actors here(Tony Anselmo, Kath Soucie, Elizabeth Daily, Corey Burton and Jim Cummings) who really give their all. Overall, underrated and very smart show. Not one of Disney's very finest but one that deserves more attention. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Disney made another good cartoon, all right!!!!! It was in 1996 and the name of the program was "Quack Pack," which had Donald Duck instead of Scrooge McDuck taking care of Huey, Dewey, and Louie this time, all grown up!!!!! In it, the three ducks have done some crazy and wacky things in all the episodes!!!!! It had that wonderful Disney feeling that many of the past movies and shows had; plus, because these are characters that I know of and recognize, I had known what to expect throughout the whole entire series!!!!!

"Quack Pack" is a wonderful and an excellent show from the minds of Disney. This would end up being one of the last cartoons that I have watched on the local television station; that and "Mighty Ducks" which I will review next. I'm just saying that because I started to like the Disney Channel a lot the year after!!!!!

10 stars

Okay, firstly, I know that most Disney duck fans may consider this show to be their least favorite and the fact that for several reasons it's inferior to Duck Tales and Darkwing Duck. Aside from having Huey, Dewey, and Louie aged into teenagers, there are other things that made the characters' universe go into the left-field. Such as, I agree with the fact that despite the setting still being (or even considered/called) Duckburg, it's mostly populated by humans instead in this. I wonder whose idea it was to keep the name/setting, but change the majority of its inhabitants. If someone was going to feature human characters, have Donald and his nephews move to some other city and change the setting. I wonder, whose idea that was and why the rest of the crew/staff that worked on this show went along with it? That's one beef I, too, have with that. And because of that, that's one of the things that doesn't quite make it feel like a complete continuation of Duck Tales and is too different from the previous Disney show. Not many viewers weren't expecting that. That's one negative thing about it I just mentioned. But as for the positives, I love Daisy's revamped appearance in this. Another bright spot is getting to see Donald's early design again in one episode ("Can't Take A Yolk") and another featuring a rare animated appearance as a baby/toddler. I like that the nephews are given more distinctive personalities as well. Due to some moments that I say still make this worthwhile, despite its flaws, I enjoyed it nonetheless. The two, other, previous Disney duck series may be superior, but I never found this one to be a total loss or wasted opportunity. I took and still can take it for what it is anyway. I still recommend anybody who is interested and curious enough in seeing a different side of the nephews to check it out, as I don't find it to be quite the best nor the worst. Rather an average, but decent show. A mid- point rating is what I give it.