I watched both versions and can’t get my kids (who loved the reboot) interested in the original. I think it’s just a generational thing; I was the right age and target demographic for the first Ducktales when it came out in the 80s and my kids are the right age and target demo for the new one.
That said there was a lot of stuff I liked about the reboot too, like how the show finally got to explore the relationship between Donald and his sister Della (the triplets’ mom) as well as why Donald was the one tasked with raising them.
Main thing I remember about Donald’s appearances was other characters who weren’t previously familiar with him asking “What’s the matter with his voice?”
It has been historically difficult to think of Disney animated properties as anything other than a monolith, mostly because that’s how Disney curates things. I’ve never been particularly aware of film auteurs, but have been blasting through the Blank Check podcast backlog and am having my eyes opened. When they tangented into the different directors of different classic Disney animated films, or even eras, I realized that I’d never even thought about Disney animated films even having directors with voices.
I suppose that becomes easier in the current era where “Disney Movie” doesn’t really mean anything anymore, that could be a Marvel movie, a Star Wars movie, an Disney animated, a Pixar animated…the list will undoubtedly get longer. It’s funny to think my kids won’t really experience the blob of Snow-White-thru-Lion-King arc as a unified thing the way I did…
I have no idea where, but I heard they toned down Mickey to make him an unoffsensive mascot. He wasn’t even in many things for awhile. I guess after a few decades of that they thankfully changed their mind.
Agreed that Uncle Scrooge is the best Disney character, but you’re not being entirely fair to Mickey. He’s suffered several decades of being a bland corporate mascot, but it wasn’t always like that. Floyd Gottfredson’s version, the scrappy middle-class hero, is a goddamn delight.
The whole Della storyline made the show for me. I actually grew bored with the first season and abandoned it partway through. Then I caught the finale…and the end of the finale, panning up to the moon while playing the moon theme from the NES game pulled me right back in. Della’s reuniting with Scrooge pulled my heartstrings, and then the dynamic between her and Donald thereafter (y’know, once he returned from the moon) was played perfectly.
On the note of Donald’s being tasked with caring for the triplets, their introduction came at a weird time in the media when niblings were introduced as characters just dropped off with known characters, often indefinitely. The Nancy comic strip spawned from that practice. I’m curious if this was based on a common practice in the 20’s and 30’s or if it was just in the “creative” air at the time.
The ubiquity of multiple births is what gets me. There are three lesser-known duck nieces, April, May and June. Mickey had some nephews (usually two twins but sometimes a set of triplets, and with inconsistent names) that appeared about 5 years earlier, and Pete has twin nephews that appeared much later on.
Then again, given that these creatures are animals that tend to give birth to broods and litters, I guess multiple births should be expected as the norm, not the exception.
I had forgotten about them, but then I watched all of the new DuckTales.
Don’t forget that Minnie also had nieces. Disney was rife with fertile off-screen siblings. I’m happy you made the connection that animals have multiples. That makes sense in a world that otherwise doesn’t have to.
I also just learned that the Beagle Boys (all from one big litter?) also had two younger sets of triplet relatives known as the Beagle Brats and the Beagle Babies.
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