"Animato" Article on Darkwing Duck

Disney's "Darkwing Duck" has a fan following that almost resembles an underground cult. Most "serious" animation fans I know hesitate to admit they watch it... unless they're talking to someone else who does.

Perhaps the problem is its Disney pedigree, which brings unfair images to some minds, either of standards which the show's television-sized budget could never hope to reach, or of animators in shackles menaced by hordes of account- ants and market researchers.

If this is true, I hope that those individuals can set their prejudices aside for one half hour and give "Darkwing Duck" a try. It may not set the animation world on its ear, but it almost always gives me much needed laughs at the end of the work day.

The stories are a unique blend of cruelty, strangeness, and sweetness that remind me of the scripts the late Michael Maltese wrote for Warner Brothers. While the writers are hip enough to have a sequence where cutesy Care Bear types are terrorized by a 1950's B movie-type monster, they aren't so jaded that Darkwing and his preteen daughter Gosalyn can't have heart-to-heart talks without falling out of character.

As for strangeness, one of the funniest episodes, "Night of the Living Spud", has the populace of Darkwing's home base, St. Canard, menaced by Posey, an eight foot high mutant vampire potato in a wedding dress. David Lynch and David Cronenberg would be hard pressed to think of something more bizarre than that.

The main villain of that episode is Dr. Reginald Bushroot, a nerdy half- duck, half-plant loosely spoofing Swamp Thing. He's a terrific creation, because unlike most of the heavy-handed villains of recent cartoons, the writers encourage the audience to sympathize with him rather than Darkwing.

Bushroot is basically a nice guy who resorts to robbery, murder and conspiracy to overthrow the government only when some of the same things that annoy us all happen to him, such as peer pressure or rejection.

In "It's a Wonderful Leaf", it's the typical rudeness of last minute Christmas shoppers at the St. Canard Galleria which pushes him over the edge. After watching him being beaten up in the checkout line while attempting to pay for his purchases, it's hard to begrudge him a chance to get even with the people who took his purchases out of his hands.

Not all the villains in St. Canard are as likeable as Bushroot. Negaduck, Darkwing's counterpart from an alternate universe, would scare "Sleeping Beauty"'s Maleficent. Although he enjoys stealing, he prefers wanton destruction or subjugating the other members of his gang, the Fearsome Five.

The stories featuring Negaduck are usually strong because Negaduck's total lack of any redeeming qualities allows Darkwing to be somewhat more vicious in response, leading to slapstick of a sort I haven't seen since the networks started watering down "Looney Toons".

Darkwing himself is a complex character. Perhaps he's not exactly an ideal role model ( he's the sort of ego-driven guy who carries a stash of autographed pictures of himself, and asks the local desk sergeant to alert the media when he drops a crook at police headquarters ), and his plans often fail because his keen eye for obscure details is blind to the blatantly obvious. ( In one episode Negaduck uses a crust of bread from a room service sandwich to lure Darkwing to his hideout, since he'd missed the huge banner with Negaduck's picture on it. )

However, while his excesses provide some great gags, the writers rarely allow him to win by default. For all his faults, Darkwing can also be brave and selfless, and he usually comes to his senses in time to save the day.

The voice cast for "Darkwing Duck" is another source of its charm. Jim Cummings, the gifted impressionist who breathes new life into such characters as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Louie the Ape and the Tasmanian Devil, shows as much skill in creating original voices for Darkwing and Negaduck. His readings bring a subtle layer of emotion to his characters that may not have been originally intended. He's also quite good as Darkwing's meddling neighbor Herb Muddlefoot, using the Andy Devine voice he perfected for "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".

Terrence McGovern and Hamilton Camp are fine recreating their "Duck Tales" roles of Launchpad McQuack and Gizmoduck, and Christine Cavanaugh's ( of Nickelodeon's "Rugrats" ) sweet delivery makes Gosalyn lovable despite her sometimes obnoxious behavior. ( I maintain that Gosalyn is there to help parents remember the joys of monster movies, junk food and flagrant disobedience, rather than to give kids someone to identify with. )

Darkwing's rogues' gallery has an impressive array of talent behind them. The hour-long pilot, "Darkly Dawns the Duck", features Tim Curry as crime boss Taurus Bulba. Dan Castellanta, the voice of Homer Simpson, does double duty as the suave evil secret agent Steelbeak[*] and an electrically charged screw loose named Megavolt. In a future episode, Phil Hartman, best known as the gentle Frankenstein monster on "Saturday Night Live", will voice a ghostly villain named Paddywhack.

Given the expected limitations of budgets, "Darkwing Duck" is a nice looking show. The various cityscapes of St. Canard are beautifully detailed and very distinctive. Toby Shelton did almost as fine a job on the individual character designs as he did on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". ( If you look quickly, you'll see that the switch that opens the door to Darkwing's secret hideout is located in a statue of another Shelton character, Basil of "The Great Mouse Detective". )

If you want to see a cartoon show that's well put together and full of maniacal 'toon fun, take a chance on "Darkwing Duck". Or to quote the Masked Mallard of Mystery himself, "Let's get dangerous!"

* = This information is wrong, Steelbeak's voice actor is Paul Ruebens.