DuckTales

DuckTales is an animated series produced by The Walt Disney Company starring characters from the Scrooge McDuck universe as largely created by Carl Barks. The pilot episode first aired on September 11, 1987. The main stars of the series were Scrooge McDuck himself and his grandnephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. Duckburg was the show's setting.

Other characters from the comics include Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, Glittering Goldie O'Gilt, Magica De Spell, Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys.

The series also introduced many original characters, such as Launchpad McQuack, Mrs. Bentina Beakley, Webby Vanderquack, Doofus Drake, and Duckworth the Butler.

DuckTales was the most successful of Disney's early attempts to create high-quality animation for a TV animated series (earlier shows included The Wuzzles and The Gummi Bears in 1985). Disney invested a far greater amount of money into the TV series than had previously been spent on animated shows of the time. This was considered a risky move, because animated TV series were generally considered low-budget, throwaway investments for most of the history of TV cartoons up through the 1980s.

Many critics say that Disney's own animation studio had lost most of its luster during the period from Walt Disney's passing through the 1980s. However, the studio took a number of risks that paid off handsomely, and DuckTales was one of those risks that won big. The studio gambled on the idea that a larger investment into quality animation could be made back through syndication--a concept that worked well with live-action TV reruns, but which had only been used with inexpensive cartoon series that either recycled theatrical shorts from decades past or only featured limited, low-budget animation.

The 1987-1988 season of DuckTales consisted of 65 episodes (the standard length for a Disney TV show nowadays). The next season (1989-1990) included an additional 35 episodes (bringing the total to 100 episodes - making DuckTales the longest-running Disney show episode-wise). In the second season, Bubba the Caveduck and his pet triceratops, Tootsie, and Fenton Crackshell and his alter ego Gizmo Duck appeared.

The show was so successful it spawned a feature film, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, and two spinoffs series: Darkwing Duck and Quack Pack. The success of DuckTales also paved the way for a new wave of high-quality animated TV series, including Disney's own The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1988.

The new for 1989 series Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers was paired with DuckTales in an hour-long syndicated show through the 1989-1990 television season. In the 1990-1991 season, Disney expanded the idea even further, to create The Disney Afternoon, a two-hour long syndicated block of half-hour cartoons. DuckTales was one of the early flagship cartoons in the series.

DuckTales inspired competing studios such as Warner Bros. to make their own investments in animation with Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs.

Hewey, Dewey, and Louie all appeared in the drug prevention video Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.

As for DuckTales itself, it was last seen on Toon Disney, Disney's (so-called) all-toon network. Due to bad scheduling and the addition of JETIX, it has vanished completely off the network. It is unknown if it will ever return, and Disney currently has no plans to release the series on a DVD set.

Episode list

1. Treasure of the Golden Suns (1) - Don't Give Up the Ship
2. Treasure of the Golden Suns (2) - Wrongway in Ronguay
3. Treasure of the Golden Suns (3) - Three Ducks of the Condor
4. Treasure of the Golden Suns (4) - Cold Ducks
5. Treasure of the Golden Suns (5) - Too Much of a Gold Thing
6. Send in the Clones
7. Sphinx for the Memories
8. Where No Duck Has Gone Before
9. Armstrong
10. Robot Robbers
11. Magica's Shadow War
12. Masters of the Djinni
13. Hotel Strangeduck
14. The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan
15. Duckman of Aquatraz
16. The Money Vanishes
17. Sir Gyro de Gearloose
18. Dinosaur Ducks
19. Hero for Hire
20. Superdoo!
21. Maid of Myth
22. Down and Out in Duckburg
23. Much Ado About Scrooge
24. Top Duck
25. The Pearl of Wisdom
26. The Curse of Castle McDuck
27. Launchpad's Civil War
28. Sweet Duck of Youth
29. Earthquack
30. Home Sweet Homer
31. Microducks From Outer Space
32. Bermuda Triangle Tangle
33. Back to the Klondike
34. Horse Scents
35. Scrooge's Pet
36. The Firefly Fruit Contest (1) - A Drain in the Economy
37. The Firefly Fruit Contest (2) - A Whale of a Bad Time
38. The Firefly Fruit Contest (3) - Aqua Ducks
39. The Firefly Fruit Contest (4) - Working For Scales
40. Merit-Time Adventure
41. The Golden Fleecing
42. Ducks of the West
43. The Time Teasers
44. Back Out in the Outback
45. Raiders of the Lost Harp
46. The Right Duck
47. Scroogerello
48. Double-O-Duck
49. Luck o' the Ducks
50. Duckworth's Revolt
51. Magica's Magic Mirror / Take Me Out of the Ballgame
52. Duck to the Future
53. Jungle Duck
54. Launchpad's First Crash
55. Dime Enough For Luck
56. The Duck in the Iron Mask
57. The Uncrassable Hindentanic
58. The Status Seeker
59. Nothing to Fear
60. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck
61. Once Upon a Dime
62. Spies in Their Eyes
63. All Ducks on Deck
64. Ducky Horror Picture Show
65. Till Nephews Do Us Part
66. Time is Money (1) - Marking Time
67. Time is Money (2) - The Duck Who Would Be King
68. Time is Money (3) - Bubba Trubba
69. Time is Money (4) - Ducks on the Lam
70. Time is Money (5) - Ali Bubba's Cave
71. Super DuckTales (1) - Liquid Assets
72. Super DuckTales (2) - Frozen Assets
73. Super DuckTales (3) - Full Metal Duck
74. Super DuckTales (4) - The Billionaire Beagle Boys Club
75. Super DuckTales (5) - Money to Burn
76. The Land of Tra-La-La
77. Allowance Day
78. Bubbeo and Juliet
79. The Good Muddahs
80. My Mother, the Psychic
81. Dough Ray Me
82. Metal Attraction
83. Bubba's Big Brainstorm
84. The Big Flub
85. A Case of Mistaken Secret Identity
86. Blue Collar Scrooge
87. Beaglemania
88. The Bride Wore Stripes
89. Attack of the 50-Foot Webby
90. Yuppy Ducks
91. The Unbreakable Bin
92. The Masked Mallard
93. A DuckTales Valentine
94. Ducky Mountain High
95. Attack of the Metal Mites
96. The Duck Who Knew Too Much
97. New Gizmo Kids on the Block
98. Scrooge's Last Adventure
99. The Golden Goose (1)
100. The Golden Goose (2)

For episode synopses, see Duck Tales episodes.

Spin-off merchandise

DuckTales had two series of comic books. The first series was from Gladstone and ran for 13 issues from 1988 to 1990, and the second series was from Disney Comics and ran for 18 issues from 1990 to 1991.

The series also spawned two video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, DuckTales and DuckTales 2, both by Capcom, as well as a computer game for the PC, Amiga and C64, called "Duck Tales - The Quest for Gold".

External links

• Official web page at the Toon Disney Channel (http://psc.disney.go.com/abcnetworks/toondisney/shows/ducktales/)
• Template:Imdb title
• A petition to release DuckTales on DVD (http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/ducktalesdvd/)
• Duck Tales on Big Cartoon Database (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Walt_Disney_Studios/Television/DuckTales/index.html)bg:Патешки истории

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