11 ms·

DuckTales invented a new animated wonderland—that quickly disappeared

225 points by Lightning 14y ago

gcatalfamo 14y ago
duck tales and darkwing duck were the absolute best...good times
- yareally 14y ago
  Don't forget Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Gummy Bears and Tailspin. On the Warner Brother's side, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Pinky and the Brain are almost as good as the original Looney Tunes (which I also loved as a kid and still do). I know Looney Tunes was originally geared towards adults (as short films before movies), but grown ups and kids alike love them. I've recently gone back to watch the classic Looney Tunes[1] and was surprised at how much satire was in them related to the 30s, 40s and 50s. It's the kind of stuff you would only really noticed if you studied the history of the era and are somewhat aware of the pop culture then. They were definently not meant for children, but the slapstick comedy and music draw in all audiences. Looney Tunes was my first real introduction to classical music. I would later go on to play Violin (probably somewhat influenced from Looney Tunes) for a number of years in school and still listen to classical music when I program quite often. I don't know what happened to cartoons, but nothing seems to be interesting that's also geared towards children these days. Most just seem like some half-hearted attempt to educate children while attempting to be entertaining, instead of being entertaining and also subtly educating at the same time. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes_Golden_Collection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes_Golden_Collection edit: elaboration
  - elijahtaylor 14y ago
    > I don't know what happened to cartoons, but nothing seems to be interesting that's also geared towards children these days I don't disagree entirely, but there are still some gems today that are enjoyable for kids and adults. Speaking of Looney Tunes, the new "The Looney Tunes Show" is pretty great. And there are some things on Cartoon Network that are passable, like Adventure Time and reruns of other niche shows from the past 10 years. I think the options are fewer, or the ocean of content is vaster, so it seems like there's nothing there when there is.
    - yareally 14y ago
      Ah yeah, I've heard of the Looney Tunes show and looked at some clips online. I was kind of turned off when I saw they had Yosemite Sam rapping though[1]. Just seemed like they were trying too hard to be relevant to kids. I know that might be premature judgment, so I'm keeping an open mind and have a question for anyone who has watched it. How is it outside of that? Is it pretty faithful to the original Looney Tunes? I know my example could be somewhat of a hyperbole, so I would love to get another opinion on it before passing final judgment. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2qEo8j2KM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2qEo8j2KM
      - elijahtaylor 14y ago
        Yeah, the new "Merrie Melodies" (of which that clip you linked) are the worst part of the show IMO. They only lasted the first season, probably for good reason. A couple were funny/interesting but most were not. Other than that, it's a show I really look forward to watching. You may be disappointed if you're looking for original Looney Tunes, it's not really like that. The characters are the same, their personalities are more fleshed out and exaggerated, the times are modern and they live "ordinary" lives. Some of the reviews I've seen on Amazon for it accurately labeled it as Looney Tunes meets Seinfeld (they were being pejorative but I find the comparison apt and view it in a positive light). Try watching an episode from Season 2 (the currently airing season) before writing it off. It will only take ~21 minutes out of your life if it's not your thing.
        yareally 14y ago
        I'll check out Season 2 and see how it is. I don't mind if it's not one-off clips like the original as long as they ditched things like the youtube clip, haha. Thanks for the reply :)
jacques_chester 14y ago
I can't tell whether the 90s were a little renaissance in animation, or whether it's just my imagination. As gcatalfamo and yareally pointed out, Disney had Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Chip n Dale and so on. Meanwhile at Warner Brothers they had Tiny Toons, Animaniacs and of course the excellent Batman: The Animated Series. I rewatched it recently and, unlike a lot of my nostalgic favourites, it has held up beautifully. MTV backed Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux. Fox backed King of the Hill and was riding the wave of some of the best of the Simpsons. And let's not forget Klasky Csupo -- most famous for Rugrats and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, they were also responsible for my favourite "cartoon for grownups", Duckman. I love that show -- if it'd been around for the DVD era we'd probably still be watching it. Edit: and Nickolodeon (forehead smack) with The Ren & Stimpy Show and Rocko's Modern Life.
- noonespecial 14y ago
  Don't forget "Gargoyles". Where else can you find a Disney 'toon voiced by half the cast of TNG? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyles_(TV_series) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyles_(TV_series)
  - chimeracoder 14y ago
    Gargoyles was amazing. The movie (which shows the story of their "creation") and some of the early episodes can get surprisingly dark (but deep). Another show along those lines is "Batman Beyond" (a dark "reboot" of Batman in which an aging Bruce Wayne enlists a young protege to be the next Batman in the near future). In both shows (particularly Batman Beyond), if you ignore some obvious elements that point to them being shows for kids/teenagers, they almost seem like they were originally intended for adults, and then later rewritten to be targeted towards younger audiences.
    - noblethrasher 14y ago
      If you enjoyed Gargoyles and you're still inclined to watch animated shows, please check out two of Greg Weisman's other creations: The Spectacular Spider-Man (not to be confused with the currently airing Ultimate Spider-Man [1]) and Young Justice (currently in its final season). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacular_Spider-Man_(TV_series)#Reception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacular_Spider-Man_(TV_seri... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Justice_(TV_series)#Reception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Justice_(TV_series)#Recep... [1] emphatically not.
danso 14y ago
Duck Tales is by far the best, most fulfilling cartoon I can remember watching. I don't know how old I was when I saw that episode where they bring bottle caps to Shangri La, but I've never forgotten how inflation works since then :)
- contingencies 14y ago
  Hah, I gotta find that episode. I am near a place the Chinese government renamed "Shangri-la" for tourism purposes recently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhongdian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhongdian
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    Zhongdian and ducktales, those are two things I'd never thought would be put together in a hackernews post. Awesome mountains though, we stayed up there for a couple of nights in '06.
- danielweber 14y ago
  I was a fan of the old Barks comics, and I loved it when episodes like this one would reuse old storylines.
- 0xABADC0DA 14y ago
  What I like about Duck Tales is its morality and ethics. Sure Scrooge is a greedy miser, but like the unquoted part of Nixon's "I'm not a crook" speech he earned every cent of it. Unlike his arch-enemy Flintheart Glomgold, Scrooge doesn't cheat or steal he got rich by "working smarter, not harder". This show really teaches fairness, honesty, and empathy and it's simply a cut above other kids cartoons. Several cuts above.
dottrap 14y ago
More! More! I want to see more! DuckTales: 25th Anniversary Retrospective http://bit.ly/PUUCKE http://bit.ly/PUUCKE
vanderZwan 14y ago
And instead of drawing its inspiration from a toy line or popular movie (like other pioneers in the afternoon animated-syndication market), DuckTales drew its inspiration from a series of comic books that weren’t terribly well-known in the United States. I think the author suffers a bit from US-centric short-sightedness here. If the goals was world-wide syndication, then the Carl Barks stories were the most logical option, as they have always been Disney's most popular comics internationally speaking.
- kleiba 14y ago
  Just to give a counter-example: I am from "international", but until you just mentioned him I never heard of Carl Barks. I do know Donald Duck an Co. though, they were wildly popular among children when I was growing up.
  - vanderZwan 14y ago
    Well, do you know who the authors of the Donald Duck comics you read were? Maybe I should have said Donald Duck comics in general, but Carl Barks created the majority of that particular comic universe. (The funny thing is, I still don't know any authors except Barks and Don Rosa, but I can see if a Donald Duck comic originates from the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, etc.)
- mladenkovacevic 14y ago
  I think I must've read "Back to Klondike" (in Serbian) about 60 times at least.
- hencq 14y ago
  Yeah, the Carl Barks stories and Donald Duck in general are very popular in the Nederlands for example. Most families will have a subscription to the weekly Donald Duck magazine; supposedly for the kids, but I think all the parents read it too.
msg 14y ago
Oh, my young life. And yes, the 90s were a Golden Age. My son and I watched DuckTales together for the first time this year. I was pretty disappointed that the discs stopped before the last season, although I did feel the earlier shows were more atmospheric and classic. I had massive deja vu for every single frame of the GizmoDuck 5-parter. We must have taped it and I must have seen it many many times. The other thing I really love about this show is that it's so sweet. The characters really mess up and have feelings and make important choices. Scrooge many times walks away from money for family and friends and is better off for it (he gets the money in the end too but that's not the chewy center).
malkia 14y ago
The adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is what I grew with in Bulgaria - it was very popular show (also Pink Panther, Flinstones) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Teddy_Ruxpin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Teddy_Ruxpin we still use some of the abbrevations from the movie (LB) but in Bulgarian when we talk to other people
businessleads 14y ago
And all the full episodes are on YouTube!!! LINK: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKbjh13l4YB9KHRCl5SjMsuEBZyjYlGSF http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKbjh13l4YB9KHRCl5SjMs...
jstalin 14y ago
Does anyone remember the Pirates of Darkwater?
- hmsimha 14y ago
  yes!
- msg 14y ago
  And yes. Watched it with my father.
bengoodger 14y ago
Ducktales inherited much of its sophistication from the comics on which it was based. Carl Barks, creator of Scrooge and most of the rest of the Duckburg universe, was an avid reader of National Geographic and sought to expose his readers to the wonders he found within. I'm incredibly thankful to have been exposed not only to this show but the comics which were also briefly resurgent in the mid-late 1980s (published by a small company out of Arizona called Another Rainbow under the Gladstone mark). The editors recognized the importance of these works not just as simple stories for kids and filled the comics with analysis alongside reproductions of the golden age works. It was around this time that Don Rosa (who was featured on Hacker News last week) emerged as a modern day torch bearer. What a great time to be a kid! It's a shame this stuff has faded from popularity and public consciousness.
spc476 14y ago
I must be an outlier because I can't stand Duck Tales. I grew up reading Uncle Scrooge comics (and even at age 8, I could tell a Carl Barks story just from a glance, even if I didn't know who Carl Barks was at the time) but the first episode of Duck Tales I saw just infuriated me. They ruined Carl's stories. For instance, the one episode they link to in the article, "Back to the Klondike" is nothing like the comic story. In the comic, Glittering Goldie stole Scrooge's gold nugget by drugging him---he goes back to town, forces Goldie to give him his gold back, plus sign an I.O.U. for the rest, with interest. The story is him going back to collect on the I.O.U. with a now penniless Goldie and him intentionally throwing a contest (via a subplot of him losing his memory) to let Goldie "win". The show? Too much changed and I couldn't even watch it past the 10 minute mark when they introduced two new characters never in the original story. Goldie was presented as a love interest (there is no love story in the original comic) and the subplot leading to Scrooge throwing the contest was dropped entirely. Given that I stopped watching a very painful episode for me, I don't know what else Disney did to the story, but I just can't stand the show. Okay, I can somewhat understand Disney's reluctance in using Donald, but really? Launchpad McQuack? And you really needed April's nieces in the stories? Ahhhhh! I also can appreciate and admire the animation quality for a TV show. But I think I'm just too much a fan of Carl Barks stories to enjoy the TV show.
- jacques_chester 14y ago
  And how did you feel about the Lord of the Rings movies, about 2/3rds of anime or 12% of the BBC's output? Stories transposed into different media are under no legal or moral obligation to produce 1:1 copies of any previous version.
  - TillE 14y ago
    I think if someone wants to use that excuse, they should produce a substantially different adaptation of the source material, like some of the crazier variations of Shakespeare. LOTR was mostly well done (yes please, cut Tom Bombadil and that whole pointless detour), but they also made changes for no apparent reason. The Harry Potter movies were perhaps the worst offender, substituting perfectly decent dialogue from the books with cringeworthy kids movie crap. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
danso 14y ago
Duck Tales is not on Netflix Instant, but Season One is streaming on Amazon Instant, FYI http://www.amazon.com/DuckTales-Volume-1-Alan-Young/dp/B000AXWGRC http://www.amazon.com/DuckTales-Volume-1-Alan-Young/dp/B000A...
- nhebb 14y ago
  Given that it's a Disney property, I'm stunned that they are available on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ducktales+full+episodes http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ducktales+full+e...
- devolve 14y ago
  Weirdly enough, they are available on Netflix in Sweden (http://i.imgur.com/QhWX8WN.png http://i.imgur.com/QhWX8WN.png).
nhebb 14y ago
The last line: it’s surprising to look back at it today and realize just how thoroughly it was shaped by the world that required it, a space on the TV schedule that simply doesn’t exist anymore. ... makes me wonder. Looking at what channels like HBO, AMC, and Fx have done with adult programming, you'd think there would be a market for a channel that focuses on well-done animated series. I have three kids 10, 16, and 18. In the late 90's I'd watch cartoons with the older two, and many of the shows weren't half bad (I still wish Samurai Jack had continued). Luckily, though, my youngest prefers watching sports over cartoons because I don't think I could tolerate watching most of the stuff that's on today.
- agscala 14y ago
  Well, there's a lot of good anime. I know it's cliche or whatever, but a lot of it is very entertaining and sometimes mature and thought provoking.
umjames 14y ago
I was a Duck Tales junkie but my love of good cartoons goes before that. I was raised on Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry, before they were censored and rehashed multiple times. I remember religiously watching Danger Mouse, Bananaman, and Count Duckula on Nickelodeon in its infancy. Most people remember the original Thundercats, but I was more into Silverhawks which was around at the same time as Duck Tales. I always came home from school to cartoons, whether it was Looney Tunes, something from Hanna-Barbera, Transformers, G.I. Joe, old anime like Speed Racer and Robotech (Macross), TMNT, or the various Disney and Warner Bros.-inspired cartoons mentioned in the article. I still watch cartoons, and always will.
- mbrameld 14y ago
  "Right DM, but what if somebody's parked there?" "Penfold, shush." I miss that show.
  - umjames 14y ago
    Yes. The Tower of Terror. The bad luck eye of the little yellow god. The custard mite episode. That show was always funny. My first real taste of British humor.
  - steverb 14y ago
    On Hulu now, if you feel nostalgic. I still have a VHS of DM episodes that I taped during the 80's , I still dig out the VCR once a year and watch it (with commercials) just to get the nostalgia hit.
pm90 14y ago
I'm glad they included the hindi version of the title theme! It was a great hit in India too, where they were completely, but artfully, dubbed into Hindi
loso 14y ago
I was a big fan of DuckTales, Thundercats and a lot of the other cartoons of the time. As a military brat what would always amaze me is the different afternoon cartoons that would come on depending on what region of the country you were in. I know it had to do with syndication but whenever I moved or visited somewhere as a kid they would have different afternoon cartoons than I was used to. This was probably noticeable a little more before the DuckTales effect happened as stated in the article. For example, when I lived down south I would see Tennessee Tuxedo, Sherman and Peabody and several other different cartoons. But when I would visit my grandmother in Delaware I would see cartoons like Chilly Willy, Inspector Gadget and Heathcliff. The only time I would get consistent cartoons was when they came on basic cable stations like TBS. When I moved to Massachusetts they had afternoon cartoons like Dinosaucers and Denver the last dinosaur, two cartoons I had never heard of before moving there. The big budget cartoons (Transformers, Ducktales) were for the most part a constant no matter where I lived. But the next level cartoons that I described earlier I would only see depending on what part of the country I was in at the time.
kriro 14y ago
Some of the stuff I enjoyed: * Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs * BraveStarr * Defenders of the Earth * M.A.S.K. * Thundercats * Ulysses 31 (80s series but ran in the 90s here) Fun anecdote: I watched Ulysses 31 and the day before one of my Latin exams in school they aired the episode where he returns home and proves it's him via the bow. The great thing was that the exam was an experimental one where instead of the usual translation+grammar we got a pretty long text and had to summarize it and answer questions about it. As soon as I recognized some key words (name of the hero, arcum tendere construct) I basically wrote down the stuff from the episode (-the space theme) and hoped they stayed true to the original story :D Least painful Latin exam ever.
- sputknick 14y ago
  M.A.S.K. was awesome! I have trouble finding people who remember it. They also had the second best toys (after Transformers). I wonder if this stuff is on Netflix...
- StavrosK 14y ago
  Goddamn, Ulysses 31 was creepy. I remember the one with the dead people floating around or something. Anyone remember Silverhawks?
famo 14y ago
Another duck-based animated series that passes the nostalgia test for me is Count Duckula. The heated exchange in the Who Might You Be segment reminds me of some HN comment threads I've read: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnuFmrQtMU&sns=em http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnuFmrQtMU&sns=em
rwhitman 14y ago
My girlfriend is very into nostalgia and a few months ago put DuckTales on her Netflix queue... At first I laughed at her but quickly realized that the show holds up surprisingly well as an adult - as the article mentioned, the stories are top notch, the animation is of shockingly high quality and its pretty funny to boot. I'm glad I'm not the only person to pick up on how entertaining this show really was.
zavulon 14y ago
Duck Tales was the first American cartoon series shown in post-Soviet Russia and it was incredibly popular over there. Every single kid that had a TV watched it in the early 90's, along with Ghostbusters the animated series, Tailspin, Gummi Bears, and Winnie the Pooh.. but Duck Tales was always the best and most loved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp3Q1x4gKjw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp3Q1x4gKjw
evolve2k 14y ago
'The Mysterious Cities of Gold'. What can I say, pure gold and personal favorite of most of me and most friends that watched it. I remember thinking this show has the best graphics ever! The gold shining in the sun off the flying bird plane when they first discovered it is etched in my memory forever. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold
lifeisstillgood 14y ago
I know this has 91 comments, I know its on the front page, I know that three days ago I got slapped for being on the other side of this issue, but, really... this thread is HN worthy?
- steauengeglase 14y ago
  Yes. It tells an important story about product creation. DuckTales had to make it over 65 episodes and under budget. It had simple goals and it accomplished them. Look at Apple at their brightest hours. You can say that the iPhone was Apple throwing down the gauntlet and rejecting the tyranny of buttons and saved us all, but the reality is simple. Touch was expensive and bad for a long time, so Apple waited until touch was cheap and good, then they solved for X. They didn't care if you didn't buy iWorks for your iMac and your iPad, they just wanted to sell hardware. That is the secret to success for many products and avoiding it is the road to failure for many others: if affordable{solve for x();} else {do something else();} MS and Disney have shot themselves in the foot numerous times. MS making sure they didn't hurt other product lines created huge waste and left consumers hesitant. Disney obsessed with the Disney Princess and drove away everyone but the pre-teen girl and parents didn't bother taking their kids to see The Princess and the Frog because Dad would lose his mind and empty his walled if he thought he'd have to spend another second in Hanna Montana-ville. Instead of just solving for X, they lost consumers who assumed they'd get screwed down the road somewhere.
- msg 14y ago
  Spoken like a DuckTales virgin. ;) This is a story about a finely crafted work of art being influenced by a commercial market. Not everything on the site is a "how to succeed in business without really trying" morality play, linkbait product announcement, or self-help column. The guideline is "stuff that is interesting" and it's intentionally vague. Just let it roll, like water off a duck's back.
Zimahl 14y ago
...but most of Barks’ comics about the Disney ducks centered on Donald, a character the DuckTales writers couldn’t use for reasons both corporate (Disney didn’t want to overexpose such a key character on an afternoon series) and practical. And then Disney went on to expose Goofy in 'Goof Troop'. Other than Duck Tales, I think what happened to a lot of those shows is their quality slowly went downhill in the race for syndication. A lot of them devolved into slapstick comedy that was 'too easy' for the more maturing audience. As an example, in the beginning of TaleSpin, Don Carnage is a ruthless air pirate who almost lays waste to Cape Suzette with a lightning gun. By the time you get near the end of the series, he's simply comic relief. I think the audience also grew up and moved on to the MTV shows (Beavis & Butthead, Aeon Flux), Fox's Batman: The Animated Series, and The Simpsons put the shows focus on Homer and marginalized Bart, which was genius.

225 points by Lightning 14y ago

gcatalfamo 14y ago

duck tales and darkwing duck were the absolute best...good times

yareally 14y ago
Don't forget Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Gummy Bears and Tailspin. On the Warner Brother's side, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Pinky and the Brain are almost as good as the original Looney Tunes (which I also loved as a kid and still do). I know Looney Tunes was originally geared towards adults (as short films before movies), but grown ups and kids alike love them. I've recently gone back to watch the classic Looney Tunes[1] and was surprised at how much satire was in them related to the 30s, 40s and 50s. It's the kind of stuff you would only really noticed if you studied the history of the era and are somewhat aware of the pop culture then. They were definently not meant for children, but the slapstick comedy and music draw in all audiences. Looney Tunes was my first real introduction to classical music. I would later go on to play Violin (probably somewhat influenced from Looney Tunes) for a number of years in school and still listen to classical music when I program quite often. I don't know what happened to cartoons, but nothing seems to be interesting that's also geared towards children these days. Most just seem like some half-hearted attempt to educate children while attempting to be entertaining, instead of being entertaining and also subtly educating at the same time. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes_Golden_Collection http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looney_Tunes_Golden_Collection edit: elaboration
- elijahtaylor 14y ago
  > I don't know what happened to cartoons, but nothing seems to be interesting that's also geared towards children these days I don't disagree entirely, but there are still some gems today that are enjoyable for kids and adults. Speaking of Looney Tunes, the new "The Looney Tunes Show" is pretty great. And there are some things on Cartoon Network that are passable, like Adventure Time and reruns of other niche shows from the past 10 years. I think the options are fewer, or the ocean of content is vaster, so it seems like there's nothing there when there is.
  - yareally 14y ago
    Ah yeah, I've heard of the Looney Tunes show and looked at some clips online. I was kind of turned off when I saw they had Yosemite Sam rapping though[1]. Just seemed like they were trying too hard to be relevant to kids. I know that might be premature judgment, so I'm keeping an open mind and have a question for anyone who has watched it. How is it outside of that? Is it pretty faithful to the original Looney Tunes? I know my example could be somewhat of a hyperbole, so I would love to get another opinion on it before passing final judgment. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2qEo8j2KM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP2qEo8j2KM
    - elijahtaylor 14y ago
      Yeah, the new "Merrie Melodies" (of which that clip you linked) are the worst part of the show IMO. They only lasted the first season, probably for good reason. A couple were funny/interesting but most were not. Other than that, it's a show I really look forward to watching. You may be disappointed if you're looking for original Looney Tunes, it's not really like that. The characters are the same, their personalities are more fleshed out and exaggerated, the times are modern and they live "ordinary" lives. Some of the reviews I've seen on Amazon for it accurately labeled it as Looney Tunes meets Seinfeld (they were being pejorative but I find the comparison apt and view it in a positive light). Try watching an episode from Season 2 (the currently airing season) before writing it off. It will only take ~21 minutes out of your life if it's not your thing.
      - yareally 14y ago
        I'll check out Season 2 and see how it is. I don't mind if it's not one-off clips like the original as long as they ditched things like the youtube clip, haha. Thanks for the reply :)

jacques_chester 14y ago

I can't tell whether the 90s were a little renaissance in animation, or whether it's just my imagination. As gcatalfamo and yareally pointed out, Disney had Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Chip n Dale and so on. Meanwhile at Warner Brothers they had Tiny Toons, Animaniacs and of course the excellent Batman: The Animated Series. I rewatched it recently and, unlike a lot of my nostalgic favourites, it has held up beautifully. MTV backed Beavis and Butthead and Aeon Flux. Fox backed King of the Hill and was riding the wave of some of the best of the Simpsons. And let's not forget Klasky Csupo -- most famous for Rugrats and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, they were also responsible for my favourite "cartoon for grownups", Duckman. I love that show -- if it'd been around for the DVD era we'd probably still be watching it. Edit: and Nickolodeon (forehead smack) with The Ren & Stimpy Show and Rocko's Modern Life.

noonespecial 14y ago
Don't forget "Gargoyles". Where else can you find a Disney 'toon voiced by half the cast of TNG? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyles_(TV_series) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyles_(TV_series)
- chimeracoder 14y ago
  Gargoyles was amazing. The movie (which shows the story of their "creation") and some of the early episodes can get surprisingly dark (but deep). Another show along those lines is "Batman Beyond" (a dark "reboot" of Batman in which an aging Bruce Wayne enlists a young protege to be the next Batman in the near future). In both shows (particularly Batman Beyond), if you ignore some obvious elements that point to them being shows for kids/teenagers, they almost seem like they were originally intended for adults, and then later rewritten to be targeted towards younger audiences.
  - noblethrasher 14y ago
    If you enjoyed Gargoyles and you're still inclined to watch animated shows, please check out two of Greg Weisman's other creations: The Spectacular Spider-Man (not to be confused with the currently airing Ultimate Spider-Man [1]) and Young Justice (currently in its final season). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacular_Spider-Man_(TV_series)#Reception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacular_Spider-Man_(TV_seri... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Justice_(TV_series)#Reception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Justice_(TV_series)#Recep... [1] emphatically not.

danso 14y ago

Duck Tales is by far the best, most fulfilling cartoon I can remember watching. I don't know how old I was when I saw that episode where they bring bottle caps to Shangri La, but I've never forgotten how inflation works since then :)

contingencies 14y ago
Hah, I gotta find that episode. I am near a place the Chinese government renamed "Shangri-la" for tourism purposes recently: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhongdian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhongdian
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  Zhongdian and ducktales, those are two things I'd never thought would be put together in a hackernews post. Awesome mountains though, we stayed up there for a couple of nights in '06.
danielweber 14y ago
I was a fan of the old Barks comics, and I loved it when episodes like this one would reuse old storylines.
0xABADC0DA 14y ago
What I like about Duck Tales is its morality and ethics. Sure Scrooge is a greedy miser, but like the unquoted part of Nixon's "I'm not a crook" speech he earned every cent of it. Unlike his arch-enemy Flintheart Glomgold, Scrooge doesn't cheat or steal he got rich by "working smarter, not harder". This show really teaches fairness, honesty, and empathy and it's simply a cut above other kids cartoons. Several cuts above.

dottrap 14y ago

More! More! I want to see more! DuckTales: 25th Anniversary Retrospective http://bit.ly/PUUCKE http://bit.ly/PUUCKE

vanderZwan 14y ago

And instead of drawing its inspiration from a toy line or popular movie (like other pioneers in the afternoon animated-syndication market), DuckTales drew its inspiration from a series of comic books that weren’t terribly well-known in the United States. I think the author suffers a bit from US-centric short-sightedness here. If the goals was world-wide syndication, then the Carl Barks stories were the most logical option, as they have always been Disney's most popular comics internationally speaking.

kleiba 14y ago
Just to give a counter-example: I am from "international", but until you just mentioned him I never heard of Carl Barks. I do know Donald Duck an Co. though, they were wildly popular among children when I was growing up.
- vanderZwan 14y ago
  Well, do you know who the authors of the Donald Duck comics you read were? Maybe I should have said Donald Duck comics in general, but Carl Barks created the majority of that particular comic universe. (The funny thing is, I still don't know any authors except Barks and Don Rosa, but I can see if a Donald Duck comic originates from the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, etc.)
mladenkovacevic 14y ago
I think I must've read "Back to Klondike" (in Serbian) about 60 times at least.
hencq 14y ago
Yeah, the Carl Barks stories and Donald Duck in general are very popular in the Nederlands for example. Most families will have a subscription to the weekly Donald Duck magazine; supposedly for the kids, but I think all the parents read it too.

msg 14y ago

Oh, my young life. And yes, the 90s were a Golden Age. My son and I watched DuckTales together for the first time this year. I was pretty disappointed that the discs stopped before the last season, although I did feel the earlier shows were more atmospheric and classic. I had massive deja vu for every single frame of the GizmoDuck 5-parter. We must have taped it and I must have seen it many many times. The other thing I really love about this show is that it's so sweet. The characters really mess up and have feelings and make important choices. Scrooge many times walks away from money for family and friends and is better off for it (he gets the money in the end too but that's not the chewy center).

malkia 14y ago

The adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is what I grew with in Bulgaria - it was very popular show (also Pink Panther, Flinstones) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Teddy_Ruxpin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Teddy_Ruxpin we still use some of the abbrevations from the movie (LB) but in Bulgarian when we talk to other people

businessleads 14y ago

And all the full episodes are on YouTube!!! LINK: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKbjh13l4YB9KHRCl5SjMsuEBZyjYlGSF http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKbjh13l4YB9KHRCl5SjMs...

jstalin 14y ago

Does anyone remember the Pirates of Darkwater?

hmsimha 14y ago
yes!
msg 14y ago
And yes. Watched it with my father.

bengoodger 14y ago

Ducktales inherited much of its sophistication from the comics on which it was based. Carl Barks, creator of Scrooge and most of the rest of the Duckburg universe, was an avid reader of National Geographic and sought to expose his readers to the wonders he found within. I'm incredibly thankful to have been exposed not only to this show but the comics which were also briefly resurgent in the mid-late 1980s (published by a small company out of Arizona called Another Rainbow under the Gladstone mark). The editors recognized the importance of these works not just as simple stories for kids and filled the comics with analysis alongside reproductions of the golden age works. It was around this time that Don Rosa (who was featured on Hacker News last week) emerged as a modern day torch bearer. What a great time to be a kid! It's a shame this stuff has faded from popularity and public consciousness.

spc476 14y ago

I must be an outlier because I can't stand Duck Tales. I grew up reading Uncle Scrooge comics (and even at age 8, I could tell a Carl Barks story just from a glance, even if I didn't know who Carl Barks was at the time) but the first episode of Duck Tales I saw just infuriated me. They ruined Carl's stories. For instance, the one episode they link to in the article, "Back to the Klondike" is nothing like the comic story. In the comic, Glittering Goldie stole Scrooge's gold nugget by drugging him---he goes back to town, forces Goldie to give him his gold back, plus sign an I.O.U. for the rest, with interest. The story is him going back to collect on the I.O.U. with a now penniless Goldie and him intentionally throwing a contest (via a subplot of him losing his memory) to let Goldie "win". The show? Too much changed and I couldn't even watch it past the 10 minute mark when they introduced two new characters never in the original story. Goldie was presented as a love interest (there is no love story in the original comic) and the subplot leading to Scrooge throwing the contest was dropped entirely. Given that I stopped watching a very painful episode for me, I don't know what else Disney did to the story, but I just can't stand the show. Okay, I can somewhat understand Disney's reluctance in using Donald, but really? Launchpad McQuack? And you really needed April's nieces in the stories? Ahhhhh! I also can appreciate and admire the animation quality for a TV show. But I think I'm just too much a fan of Carl Barks stories to enjoy the TV show.

jacques_chester 14y ago
And how did you feel about the Lord of the Rings movies, about 2/3rds of anime or 12% of the BBC's output? Stories transposed into different media are under no legal or moral obligation to produce 1:1 copies of any previous version.
- TillE 14y ago
  I think if someone wants to use that excuse, they should produce a substantially different adaptation of the source material, like some of the crazier variations of Shakespeare. LOTR was mostly well done (yes please, cut Tom Bombadil and that whole pointless detour), but they also made changes for no apparent reason. The Harry Potter movies were perhaps the worst offender, substituting perfectly decent dialogue from the books with cringeworthy kids movie crap. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

danso 14y ago

Duck Tales is not on Netflix Instant, but Season One is streaming on Amazon Instant, FYI http://www.amazon.com/DuckTales-Volume-1-Alan-Young/dp/B000AXWGRC http://www.amazon.com/DuckTales-Volume-1-Alan-Young/dp/B000A...

nhebb 14y ago
Given that it's a Disney property, I'm stunned that they are available on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ducktales+full+episodes http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ducktales+full+e...
devolve 14y ago
Weirdly enough, they are available on Netflix in Sweden (http://i.imgur.com/QhWX8WN.png http://i.imgur.com/QhWX8WN.png).

nhebb 14y ago

The last line: it’s surprising to look back at it today and realize just how thoroughly it was shaped by the world that required it, a space on the TV schedule that simply doesn’t exist anymore. ... makes me wonder. Looking at what channels like HBO, AMC, and Fx have done with adult programming, you'd think there would be a market for a channel that focuses on well-done animated series. I have three kids 10, 16, and 18. In the late 90's I'd watch cartoons with the older two, and many of the shows weren't half bad (I still wish Samurai Jack had continued). Luckily, though, my youngest prefers watching sports over cartoons because I don't think I could tolerate watching most of the stuff that's on today.

agscala 14y ago
Well, there's a lot of good anime. I know it's cliche or whatever, but a lot of it is very entertaining and sometimes mature and thought provoking.

umjames 14y ago

I was a Duck Tales junkie but my love of good cartoons goes before that. I was raised on Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry, before they were censored and rehashed multiple times. I remember religiously watching Danger Mouse, Bananaman, and Count Duckula on Nickelodeon in its infancy. Most people remember the original Thundercats, but I was more into Silverhawks which was around at the same time as Duck Tales. I always came home from school to cartoons, whether it was Looney Tunes, something from Hanna-Barbera, Transformers, G.I. Joe, old anime like Speed Racer and Robotech (Macross), TMNT, or the various Disney and Warner Bros.-inspired cartoons mentioned in the article. I still watch cartoons, and always will.

mbrameld 14y ago
"Right DM, but what if somebody's parked there?" "Penfold, shush." I miss that show.
- umjames 14y ago
  Yes. The Tower of Terror. The bad luck eye of the little yellow god. The custard mite episode. That show was always funny. My first real taste of British humor.
- steverb 14y ago
  On Hulu now, if you feel nostalgic. I still have a VHS of DM episodes that I taped during the 80's , I still dig out the VCR once a year and watch it (with commercials) just to get the nostalgia hit.

pm90 14y ago

I'm glad they included the hindi version of the title theme! It was a great hit in India too, where they were completely, but artfully, dubbed into Hindi

loso 14y ago

I was a big fan of DuckTales, Thundercats and a lot of the other cartoons of the time. As a military brat what would always amaze me is the different afternoon cartoons that would come on depending on what region of the country you were in. I know it had to do with syndication but whenever I moved or visited somewhere as a kid they would have different afternoon cartoons than I was used to. This was probably noticeable a little more before the DuckTales effect happened as stated in the article. For example, when I lived down south I would see Tennessee Tuxedo, Sherman and Peabody and several other different cartoons. But when I would visit my grandmother in Delaware I would see cartoons like Chilly Willy, Inspector Gadget and Heathcliff. The only time I would get consistent cartoons was when they came on basic cable stations like TBS. When I moved to Massachusetts they had afternoon cartoons like Dinosaucers and Denver the last dinosaur, two cartoons I had never heard of before moving there. The big budget cartoons (Transformers, Ducktales) were for the most part a constant no matter where I lived. But the next level cartoons that I described earlier I would only see depending on what part of the country I was in at the time.

kriro 14y ago

Some of the stuff I enjoyed: * Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs * BraveStarr * Defenders of the Earth * M.A.S.K. * Thundercats * Ulysses 31 (80s series but ran in the 90s here) Fun anecdote: I watched Ulysses 31 and the day before one of my Latin exams in school they aired the episode where he returns home and proves it's him via the bow. The great thing was that the exam was an experimental one where instead of the usual translation+grammar we got a pretty long text and had to summarize it and answer questions about it. As soon as I recognized some key words (name of the hero, arcum tendere construct) I basically wrote down the stuff from the episode (-the space theme) and hoped they stayed true to the original story :D Least painful Latin exam ever.

sputknick 14y ago
M.A.S.K. was awesome! I have trouble finding people who remember it. They also had the second best toys (after Transformers). I wonder if this stuff is on Netflix...
StavrosK 14y ago
Goddamn, Ulysses 31 was creepy. I remember the one with the dead people floating around or something. Anyone remember Silverhawks?

famo 14y ago

Another duck-based animated series that passes the nostalgia test for me is Count Duckula. The heated exchange in the Who Might You Be segment reminds me of some HN comment threads I've read: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnuFmrQtMU&sns=em http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnuFmrQtMU&sns=em

rwhitman 14y ago

My girlfriend is very into nostalgia and a few months ago put DuckTales on her Netflix queue... At first I laughed at her but quickly realized that the show holds up surprisingly well as an adult - as the article mentioned, the stories are top notch, the animation is of shockingly high quality and its pretty funny to boot. I'm glad I'm not the only person to pick up on how entertaining this show really was.

zavulon 14y ago

Duck Tales was the first American cartoon series shown in post-Soviet Russia and it was incredibly popular over there. Every single kid that had a TV watched it in the early 90's, along with Ghostbusters the animated series, Tailspin, Gummi Bears, and Winnie the Pooh.. but Duck Tales was always the best and most loved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp3Q1x4gKjw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp3Q1x4gKjw

evolve2k 14y ago

'The Mysterious Cities of Gold'. What can I say, pure gold and personal favorite of most of me and most friends that watched it. I remember thinking this show has the best graphics ever! The gold shining in the sun off the flying bird plane when they first discovered it is etched in my memory forever. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold

lifeisstillgood 14y ago

I know this has 91 comments, I know its on the front page, I know that three days ago I got slapped for being on the other side of this issue, but, really... this thread is HN worthy?

steauengeglase 14y ago
Yes. It tells an important story about product creation. DuckTales had to make it over 65 episodes and under budget. It had simple goals and it accomplished them. Look at Apple at their brightest hours. You can say that the iPhone was Apple throwing down the gauntlet and rejecting the tyranny of buttons and saved us all, but the reality is simple. Touch was expensive and bad for a long time, so Apple waited until touch was cheap and good, then they solved for X. They didn't care if you didn't buy iWorks for your iMac and your iPad, they just wanted to sell hardware. That is the secret to success for many products and avoiding it is the road to failure for many others: if affordable{solve for x();} else {do something else();} MS and Disney have shot themselves in the foot numerous times. MS making sure they didn't hurt other product lines created huge waste and left consumers hesitant. Disney obsessed with the Disney Princess and drove away everyone but the pre-teen girl and parents didn't bother taking their kids to see The Princess and the Frog because Dad would lose his mind and empty his walled if he thought he'd have to spend another second in Hanna Montana-ville. Instead of just solving for X, they lost consumers who assumed they'd get screwed down the road somewhere.
msg 14y ago
Spoken like a DuckTales virgin. ;) This is a story about a finely crafted work of art being influenced by a commercial market. Not everything on the site is a "how to succeed in business without really trying" morality play, linkbait product announcement, or self-help column. The guideline is "stuff that is interesting" and it's intentionally vague. Just let it roll, like water off a duck's back.

Zimahl 14y ago

...but most of Barks’ comics about the Disney ducks centered on Donald, a character the DuckTales writers couldn’t use for reasons both corporate (Disney didn’t want to overexpose such a key character on an afternoon series) and practical. And then Disney went on to expose Goofy in 'Goof Troop'. Other than Duck Tales, I think what happened to a lot of those shows is their quality slowly went downhill in the race for syndication. A lot of them devolved into slapstick comedy that was 'too easy' for the more maturing audience. As an example, in the beginning of TaleSpin, Don Carnage is a ruthless air pirate who almost lays waste to Cape Suzette with a lightning gun. By the time you get near the end of the series, he's simply comic relief. I think the audience also grew up and moved on to the MTV shows (Beavis & Butthead, Aeon Flux), Fox's Batman: The Animated Series, and The Simpsons put the shows focus on Homer and marginalized Bart, which was genius.