DuckTales (1987)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


The series

  • Adaptation Displacement: Depending on where you live. The comics that the show was based on seem to have grown rather obscure in America, but in most of Europe, the comics are still far better known than the cartoon.
  • Awesome Music: Pretty much the entire instrumental score, rich with leitmotifs and themes that uplift and inspire. Pay any attention to the music, particularly during the "Treasure of the Golden Suns" five-parter, and it becomes apparent how much love Ron Jones poured into scoring this series. It's a positive tragedy that, to this day, Disney Records still hasn't released the BGM to the public on a CD collection. It's perhaps an even more appalling tragedy that even among DuckTales (1987) fans, those who pay enough attention to the score to merit a CD release comprise a very small pocket fandom.
  • Ear Worm: The Title Theme Tune.
    • "D-d-d-danger, watch behind you - there's a stranger out to find you! What to do? Just grab onto some Duck Tales, oo-oo!"
    • This song is in the repertoire of the University of Oregon pep band, due to its catchiness and because the U of O mascot is a duck.
    • And let's not forget the Boogie Beagle Blues, either. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_INPnuByMlc
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Launchpad, who later went on to become Darkwing Duck's sidekick. Ironically, when Launchpad started appearing in non-DuckTales related comics, he was poorly received by comic readers and accused of being an unnecessary carbon copy of Donald. Which is really weird, considering that Launchpad hardly ever gets angry or complains about doing what he's told to do. Donald's defining characteristic, on the other hand, is his temper.
    • It's really not that weird. Launchpad isn't similar to Donald personality-wise, but the role he played on DuckTales was an obvious stand-in for Donald's usual role in the comics. Since the comics already have the actual Donald, Launchpad is a rather pointless character in most of his comic appearances. This, coupled with writers not knowing what to do with the character, probably led to some readers thinking of Launchpad as, essentially, "Donald minus his personality".
    • Glittering Goldie, who appeared in a handful of episodes despite only appearing in one Carl Barks story. Rosa also padded out the character a lot in comics that mostly came after the show, including his epic masterpiece.
    • Gizmo Duck, plain and simple. He turned an accountant into the most powerful array of mechanical components and accessories who is a bodyguard and security guard for Scrooge, as well as a super hero to Duckburg and even went on to help Darkwing Duck protect St. Canard.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Magica De Spell, Circe, Cinnamon Teal, and Boom-Boom Beagle.
  • Memetic Mutation: "A sea monster...ATE MY ICE CREEEEEEEAM!!"
    • This show was just as memetic when...THAT LOUSY, ROTTEN, BUMBLING, POLECAT McQUACK (*gasp*) LOST US THE BATTLE AT DUCK RIDGE!
  • Memetic Sex God: Magica De Spell, Circe, Cinnamon Teal and Boom-Boom Beagle.
  • Moral Event Horizon: The Beagle Boys mainly resort to burglary and thievery throughout the show, and don't really harm anyone. However, they cross this line BIG time in the series finale, when they turn Huey, Dewey, and Louie into golden statues, essentially killing them...though the effect is reversed at the end of the episode. They get their comeuppance when they suffer the same fate.
  • No Problem With Licensed Games: The Duck Tales NES game is very much in the running for being the best example of this trope; the game actually became a classic and is considered one of the finest games made during the 8-bit era, by Capcom or anyone. Its sequel is rare, but had similar reception. In modern times, it's ranked up along with Golden Eye 1997 and Kingdom Hearts (which is, interestingly, another Disney property) as an example of a licensed game done right.
    • Hell, Game Informer and EGM have BOTH placed it at #2 of all-time...
  • The Scrappy: Bubba. And Webby to a handful of people, for the reason stated below.
  • Tastes Like Diabetes: Music of this kind almost always plays whenever it involves Webby.
  • Toy Ship: There's some fanfiction pairing Webbie with one of the three nephews... Unfortunately for them, "Duck to the Future" hints that she ends up married to Doofus.
    • To be fair though That episode is a Bad Future where the boys are evil so the doors still open
    • Also: Crossover Ship. You'd be surprised how much fanfiction there is pairing one of the boys, usually Louie, with GosalynMallard.
  • The Woobie: Webby, so very much.

The games

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