DuckTales is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. The broadcast began in syndication on September 18, 1987, spanning 100 episodes across 4 seasons, with the final episode airing on November 28, 1990.
Based on Uncle Scrooge and other Duck universe comic books created by Carl Barks, the show follows Scrooge McDuck, his three grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and close friends of the group. Most episodes involve various adventures, most of which either involve seeking out treasure or thwarting the efforts of villains seeking to steal Scrooge's fortune or his Number One Dime.
DuckTales has inspired video games, merchandise, and comic books, along with an animated theatrical spin-off film entitled DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, that was released to theaters across the United States on August 3, 1990. It is the first Disney cartoon to be produced for weekday syndication, with its success paving the way for future Disney cartoons, such as Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers and TaleSpin, creating the syndication block The Disney Afternoon. The show's popular theme song was written by Mark Mueller. Launchpad McQuack, a side character, later returns to appear in another Disney animated series, becoming a main character in Darkwing Duck.
In February 2015, Disney XD announced the revival of the show, with the intention of rebooting the series. The rebooted series premiered on August 12, 2017, and concluded on March 15, 2021.
Premise
When Donald Duck decides to join the US Navy, he enlists his uncle Scrooge McDuck to look after his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Although he is reluctant to do so due to their hyperactivity, along with his continual pursuit of increasing his wealth and maintaining harsh business ethics, he takes them into his manor. Eventually, he warms up to them upon them proving their skills and brings them on several adventures. Scrooge McDuck is well known for his characteristic Scottish accent, spats, and top hat. We later learn in the series his family comes from Castle McDuck, a large but mysterious castle. He came to America when he was young by creating shoe-shining machines, learning how to "work smarter not harder". In addition to them, the show features frequent appearances by Gyro Gearloose, an established comic book character, as well as guest appearances by Donald in the first season – this was either a full appearance, or in a cameo scene when Scrooge and his nephews read letters he sends to them, and a few minor appearances by Scrooge's old flame, Glittering Goldie, whose character was adapted from the comic books. The show introduced new characters to the Duck universe; while some were minor including the nanny Mrs. Beakley, whom Scrooge hires to babysit the nephews; Mrs. Beakley's granddaughter Webby; Scrooge's pilot Launchpad McQuack; Doofus Drake, an admirer of Launchpad and a close friend of the nephews; and the McDuck Manor butler, Duckworth. The second season later introduced three new additional characters as part of the show's stories: "caveduck" Bubba Duck and his pet triceratops Tootsie; and Fenton Crackshell, Scrooge's personal accountant who secretly works as a superhero named Gizmoduck.
The show's primary villains consist of those from the comics: Flintheart Glomgold, who seeks to replace Scrooge as the "richest duck in the world"; the Beagle Boys, who seek to rob Scrooge of his fortune and often target his money bin; and Magica De Spell, who seeks to steal his Number One Dime. A few changes were made to these villains – unlike the comics, Flintheart is of Scottish descent and wears a couple of pieces of Scottish attire, including a kilt; Magica, who is Italian in the comics, has an Eastern European accent, always saying "darling" (which shocks Scrooge in an episode when Magica changes into the form of Mrs. Beakly). She has a brother named Poe, who was transformed into a raven; the Beagle Boys have individual personalities and are headed by their mother, Ma Beagle, who sometimes springs them from jail to conduct schemes with her, but always avoids being caught by the police. The animated series also featured a list of minor villains, most of whom sought to either claim Scrooge's wealth or beat him to treasure.
Most of the stories used in the show revolve around one of three common themes – the first focuses on the group's efforts to thwart attempts by various villains to steal Scrooge's fortune or his Number One Dime; the second focuses on a race for treasure; the third focused on specific characters within the show. Although some stories are original or based on Barks' comic book series, others are pastiches on classical stories or legends, including characters based on either fictional or historical persons. DuckTales is well noted for its many references to popular culture, including Shakespeare, Jack the Ripper, Greek mythology, Ancient Egypt, James Bond, Indiana Jones, Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, Dinosaurs, Sherlock Holmes and others. After its first season, the show moved away from globe-trotting stories, with adventures focused mainly within Duckburg the city in which it is set.
Cast
- Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck
- Russi Taylor as Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck and Webby Vanderquack
- Chuck McCann as Duckworth the Butler, Burger Beagle, and Bouncer Beagle
- Terry McGovern as Launchpad McQuack (entire series) and Babyface Beagle (season 1)
- Frank Welker as Bigtime Beagle (entire series), Baggy Beagle (entire series), Poe (season 1), and Bubba (seasons 2–4)
- Hal Smith as Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold
- Joan Gerber as Mrs. Bentina Beakley, Glittering Goldie and Additional voices
- Hamilton Camp as Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck (seasons 2–4). Additional voices in season 1
- June Foray as Ma Beagle and Magica De Spell
- Peter Cullen as Bankjob Beagle and Admiral Grimitz (season 1)
- Brian Cummings as Doofus Drake and Bugle Beagle (season 1). Additional voices in season 3
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck (season 1)
The show also featured a range of additional voice actors who voiced several minor characters, most frequently including the following:
- Susan Blu
- Corey Burton
- Jim Cummings
- Miriam Flynn
- Kathleen Freeman
- Linda Gary
- Richard Libertini
- Tress MacNeille
- Howard Morris
- Alan Oppenheimer
- Rob Paulsen
- Will Ryan
History
Production
<!--Editors may wish to research how the cartoon was pitched before production began-->
Walt Disney Television Animation began production on DuckTales in 1986, intending to have it ready for a premiere in 1987, and its episodes airing within a 4–6 p.m. placement, at a time when more children would be watching television, rather than within a morning timeslot. Seeking to create a cartoon with high quality animation, in comparison with other 1980s cartoons which had much lower budgets, the animation was handled by Wang Film Productions (some 1987 and 1989–1990 episodes only), Cuckoo's Nest Studio, Tokyo Movie Shinsha (season 1 only), and Burbank Films (1 episode only) having previously been used on two other Disney cartoons in 1985 – The Wuzzles and Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears – both of which had demonstrated better quality cartoons on TV than in previous years. Although the Japanese provided them with more available artists for the cartoon, this also increased production costs, due to the currency exchange rates between the yen and the dollar, though Disney intended to invest heavily in its DuckTaless production, with plans to recuperate its money by having it syndicated via its syndication unit, Buena Vista Television, with a 2.5/3.5 syndicator/station ad split. Following its departure from the Disney Afternoon, DuckTales reruns remained in syndication until 1995. On April 19, 1997, reruns began airing on ABC's "American Broadcasting Company" Saturday Morning block, up until August 30, 1997. Two days later, on September 1, 1997, Ducktales began reairing again in a new syndication run. Reruns continued on the Disney Channel from October 1995 to 2000, where it was at first part of a new two-hour programming block called "Block Party" that aired on weekday late afternoons, with it returning to syndication between 1997 and 1999. Reruns were later shown on Toon Disney between 1999 and late 2004.
Legacy
The show proved an immense success for Disney, who decided to commission other cartoons with a similar level of quality, which included Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and TaleSpin. In addition, DuckTales also spawned its own feature-length movie, entitled DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, which was released to theaters on August 3, 1990, along with a franchise of merchandising, including toys, comic books and video games, a spin-off series, and eventually a revival in 2017, that rebooted the series. In 1990, the same year the original show ended, Russi Taylor-the voice of regular DuckTales characters Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby- obtained more voiceover work outside of Disney when she began providing the voices of some recurring characters on The Simpsons.
Episodes
Home media
VHS releases
10 VHS cassettes, containing two episodes each, were released in the United States.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! VHS title !! Episode(s) !! Release date
|-
| "Fearless Fortune Hunter" || style="text-align:center;"|'Earth Quack'<br />'Master of the Djinni' || rowspan="3"|May 31, 1988
|-
| "Daredevil Ducks" || style="text-align:center;"|'The Money Vanishes'<br />'Home Sweet Homer'
|-
| "High-Flying Hero" || style="text-align:center;"|'Hero for Hire'<br />'Launchpad's Civil War'
|-
| "Masked Marauders" || style="text-align:center;"|'Send in the Clones'<br />'Time Teasers' || October 4, 1988
|-
| "Lost World Wanderers" || style="text-align:center;"|'Dinosaur Ducks'<br />'The Curse of Castle McDuck' || rowspan="2"|May 9, 1989
|-
| "Duck to the Future" || style="text-align:center;"|'Duck to the Future'<br />'Sir Gyro de Gearloose'
|-
| "Accidental Adventurers" || style="text-align:center;"|'Jungle Duck'<br />'Maid of the Myth' || rowspan="2"|September 28, 1989
|-
| "Seafaring Sailors" || style="text-align:center;"|'Sphinx for the Memories'<br />'All Ducks on Deck'
|-
| "Raiders of the Lost Harp" || style="text-align:center;"|'Raiders of the Lost Harp'<br />'The Pearl of Wisdom' || rowspan="2"|August 14, 1990
|-
| "Space Invaders" || style="text-align:center;"|'Where No Duck Has Gone Before'<br />'Micro Ducks from Outer Space'
|}
Also, the episode "Ducky Horror Picture Show" was released with the Goof Troop episode "FrankenGoof" on a VHS cassette entitled Monster Bash in 1993.
UK, Australia and New Zealand VHS releases
10 VHS cassettes, each containing two or three episodes, were released in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! VHS title !! Episode(s) !! Release date
|-
| "Earthquack" || style="text-align:center;"|'Earth Quack'<br />'Back to the Klondike' || September 11, 1992
|-
| "Micro Ducks from Outer Space" || style="text-align:center;"|'Micro Ducks from Outer Space'<br />'Scrooge's Pet' || September 11, 1992
|-
| "The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan" || style="text-align:center;"|'The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan'<br />'The Money Vanishes' || September 11, 1992
|-
| "1001 Arabian Ducks" || style="text-align:center;"|'Master of the Djinni'<br />'Merit-Time Adventure' || September 11, 1992
|-
| "High Sea Adventures" || style="text-align:center;"|'Maid of the Myth'<br />'Send in the Clones' || September 11, 1992
|-
| "Hotel Strangeduck" || style="text-align:center;"|'Hotel Strangeduck'<br />'Superdoo!' || September 11, 1992
|-
| "Fool of the Nile" || style="text-align:center;"|'Sphinx for the Memories'<br />'Top Duck'<br />'Much Ado About Scrooge' || September 10, 1993
|-
| "Little Duckaroos" || style="text-align:center;"|'Ducks of the West'<br />'Magicia's Shadow War'<br />'Sir Gyro De Gearloose' || September 10, 1993
|-
| "Jailhouse Duck" || style="text-align:center;"|'Where No Duck Has Gone Before'<br />'Duckman of Aquatraz'<br />'Home Sweet Homer' || September 10, 1993
|-
| "Runaway Robots" || style="text-align:center;"|'Robot Robbers'<br />'Sweet Duck of Youth' || September 10, 1993
|}
DVD releases
North America (Region 1)
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has released the complete series on DVD; four volumes have been released in Region 1 featuring all 100 episodes of the series in its original NTSC format. The first was released on November 8, 2005 (containing episodes 1–27), the second on November 14, 2006 (containing episodes 28–51), and the third volume on November 13, 2007 (containing episodes 52–75). The fourth and final volume was released as a Disney Movie Club exclusive on September 11, 2018 (containing episodes 76–100). The first three volumes were packaged in a box containing 3 slipcases, one for each. The 2013 re-releases of the first three volumes packages the discs into one DVD case. 99 out of 100 episodes are available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon as well (the episode "Sphinx for the Memories" is not available).
DuckTales: Destination Adventure!, a DVD compilation release of episodes from the 2017 reboot, contains two episodes from the original series as bonus features: "New Gizmo Kids on the Block" and "Ducky Mountain High". These episodes were available before their inclusion in the Volume 4 release.
The episodes are in the order that they originally aired (except for the five-part serial "Treasure of the Golden Suns", placed at the beginning of Volume 2). None of the DVD sets contain any special features.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+DuckTales home video releases
! colspan=3 rowspan=2|Season !! rowspan=2|Episodes !! Release dates
|-
! Region 1
|-
| style="background:#423797|
! 1
| style="text-align: center"|1987–88 || style="text-align: center"|65 || Volume 1: November 8, 2005<br>Episodes: "Send in the Clones" – "Micro Ducks from Outer Space"<hr>Volume 2: November 14, 2006<br>Episodes: "Don't Give Up the Ship" – "Too Much of a Gold Thing" • "Back to the Klondike" – "Take Me Out of the Ballgame"<hr>Volume 3: November 13, 2007<br>Episodes: "Duck to the Future" – "Till Nephews Do Us Part"<hr>4-Pack Collection (Volumes 1-3 + Treasure of the Lost Lamp): January 20, 2019<br>Episodes: Entire season featured
|-
| style="background:#F67036|
! 2
| style="text-align: center"|1988–89 || style="text-align: center"|10 || Volume 3: November 13, 2007<br>Episodes: Entire season featured<hr>4-Pack Collection (Volumes 1-3 + Treasure of the Lost Lamp): January 20, 2019<br>Episodes: Entire season featured
|-
| style="background:#204e99|
! 3
| style="text-align: center"|1989 || style="text-align: center"|18 || Volume 4: September 11, 2018 (Disney Movie Club exclusive)<br>Episodes: Entire season featured
|-
| style="background:#296159|
! 4
| style="text-align: center"|1990
| style="text-align: center"|7 || DuckTales (2017): Volume 2: Destination: Adventure: June 5, 2018<br>Episodes: "Ducky Mountain High" • "New Gizmo-Kids on the Block"<hr>Volume 4: September 11, 2018 (Disney Movie Club exclusive)<br>Episodes: Entire season featured
|}
International (Region 2)
In the United Kingdom and Europe, Disney released one Region 2 volume in 2007, titled DuckTales First Collection. Despite the set being similar to the North American version, the DVD contained only 20 episodes, while having 5 language tracks: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Other regional versions were distributed to other countries, but only going up to episode #20. On November 12, 2012, the UK received two further releases of Collection 2 and Collection 3, being a Region version of the 2nd and 3rd volumes from North America. Unlike the first release, these 3-disc sets include a Disney's FastPlay mode, and only four language tracks: English, Dutch, German and French, but subtitles have not been added. The packaging is adjusted regionally (artwork, language, age certification stamps), but all sets appear to contain identical content.
Episodes 26–32 are missing from the European PAL DVDs ("The Curse of Castle McDuck", "Launchpad's Civil War", "Sweet Duck of Youth", "Earth Quack", "Home Sweet Homer", "Bermuda Triangle Tangle", "Micro Ducks from Outer Space"). In the US NTSC release, these were included in the first collection (27 episodes). There are currently no plans to release the rest of the series, or the seven episodes missing between the first two sets.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! DVD title !! Ep # !! Release date !! Language
|-
| Ducktales – 1st Collection || style="text-align:center;"|20 || February 12, 2007 || English, French, German, Spanish and Italian
|-
| Ducktales – 2nd Collection || style="text-align:center;"|24 || rowspan=2| November 12, 2012 || rowspan=2| English, Dutch, German and French
|-
| Ducktales – 3rd Collection || style="text-align:center;"|24
|}
Hindi language (Region 2, 4, 5)
In India, where DuckTales was dubbed in Hindi for TV broadcast on Doordarshan and syndication on Star Plus, 60 out of the first 70 episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 were released by Sony DADC India under license from Disney India, on 20 DVD volumes and video CDs in PAL format. These discs support Regions 2, 4 and 5. However, due to the limited number of copies, they quickly went out of stock. Each DVD contains 3 episodes encoded at a bit rate of 8000 kbit/s. Episodes 8, 10, 11, 22, 23, 24, 36, 55, 61 and 70 to 100 are missing from the released set and are yet to be released in Hindi on DVD.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! DVD volume !! Episode number !! Episodes
|-
| Vol. 1 || 42, 37, 7 || | Ducks of the West | Catch as Cash Can: A Whale of a Bad Time | Sphinx for the Memories
|-
| Vol. 2 || 38, 43, 44 || | Catch as Cash Can: Aqua Ducks | Time Teasers | Back Out in the Outback
|-
| Vol. 3 || 39, 45, 49 || | Catch as Cash Can: Working for Scales | Raiders of the Lost Harp | Luck o' the Ducks
|-
| Vol. 4 || 41, 46, 47 || | The Golden Fleecing | The Right Duck | Scroogerello
|-
| Vol. 5 || 48, 53, 52 || | Double-O-Duck | Jungle Duck | Duck To The Future
|-
| Vol. 6 || 50, 62, 54 || | Duckworth's Revolt | Spies in Their Eyes | Launchpad's First Crash
|-
| Vol. 7 || 57, 56, 58 || | The Uncrashable Hindentanic | The Duck in the Iron Mask | The Status Seekers
|-
| Vol. 8 || 59, 60, 63 || | Nothing To Fear | Dr. Jekyll & Mr. McDuck | All Ducks on Deck
|-
| Vol. 9 || 64, 65, 66 || | Ducky Horror Picture Show | Till Nephews Do Us Part | Time Is Money: Marking Time
|-
| Vol. 10 || 67, 68, 69 || | Time Is Money: The Duck Who Would Be King | Time Is Money: Bubba Trubba | Time Is Money: Ducks on the Lam
|-
| Vol. 11 || 33, 29, 28 || | Back to the Klondike | Earth Quack | Sweet Duck Of Youth
|-
| Vol. 12 || 32, 35, 18 || | Micro Ducks from Outer Space | Scrooge's Pet | Dinosaur Ducks
|-
| Vol. 13 || 16, 14, 25 || | The Money Vanishes | Lost Crown Of Genghis Khan | Pearl of Wisdom
|-
| Vol. 14 || 12, 51, 21 || | Master of the Djinni | Magica's Magic Mirror and Take Me Out of the Ballgame | Maid of the Myth
|-
| Vol. 15 || 19, 9, 17 || | Hero for Hire | Armstrong | Sir Gyro de Gearloose
|-
| Vol. 16 || 40, 31, 34 || | Merit-Time Adventure | Bermuda Triangle Tangle | Horse Scents
|-
| Vol. 17 || 26, 6, 20 || | The Curse of Castle McDuck | Send in the Clones | Superdoo!
|-
| Vol. 18 || 13, 27, 1 || | Hotel Strangeduck | Launchpad's Civil War | Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Don't Give Up The Ship
|-
| Vol. 19 || 2, 3, 15 || | Treasure of the Golden Suns: Wronguay In Ronguay | Treasure of the Golden Suns: Three Ducks Of The Condor | Duckman of Aquatraz
|-
| Vol. 20 || 30, 4, 5 || | Home Sweet Homer | Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Cold Duck | Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Too Much Of A Gold Thing
|}
Video on demand
Season One of DuckTales was released on Amazon Video in 2013 and was free for Amazon Prime members but as of February 28, 2014, DuckTales Season 1 is no longer accessible through Amazon Video or Amazon Prime accounts.
As of December 11, 2015, some episodes from Season 1 have been made available on Netflix in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In Denmark, at least, only 20 episodes from season 1 are available on Netflix. The episodes available do follow the correct airdate order but some episodes are simply missing. For instance, the episodes on Netflix do not include a lot of Season 1 episodes, even though they have indeed been dubbed into Danish. Amongst the episodes missing are the Five-Part Miniseries, "Treasure of the Golden Sun", "Duckman of Aquatraz", and "Top Duck".
The entire series is currently available for purchase on Amazon Instant Video in Germany, with the episodes split into eight different seasons.
iTunes and Amazon Instant Video in the United States currently offer the entire series (except the episode "Sphinx for the Memories") for purchase in SD format, split into six volumes at $9.99 per volume.
The series has been available to stream on Disney+ since its launch on November 12, 2019, however some episodes are out of order and the episodes "Sphinx for the Memories" and "Launchpad's Civil War" are missing.
Music
Episode musical scores and background cues were principally written by Ron Jones, who composed and conducted an extensive library of cues to be reused throughout the series beginning with his score for the episode "Armstrong". In contrast to how other composers were creating a "patronizing" and "cute" score for the show, Jones says he composed the music with regard to the audience and their intelligence. "I would not play the score like a kid's show at all. If (the characters) went on an adventure I would play it serious like Raiders of the Lost Ark." Jones' score for DuckTales has received critical acclaim from fans of the series.
Other musicians who worked on the series included Thomas Chase and Steve Rucker, who were credited (as Thomas Chase Jones and Stephen Rucker, respectively) for scoring the episode "Dinosaur Ducks" under the notation "Additional Music".
On January 27, 2026, Intrada Records released a two-CD set featuring selections from Ron Jones's score. This marks the first time that DuckTales has seen an official soundtrack release apart from its theme music.