Apart from not being entirely certain when the Darkwing Duck reboot is going to launch, this is already sounding like a return to childhood for a lot of adults that were growing up during the early 90s that might have seen the masked duck in action. The fact that he shares the same universe as Ducktales is great since the main protagonist makes use of Launchpad McQuack, who’s also a constant on Ducktales and has been seen to bounce back and forth between the two shows pretty frequently. Despite only lasting for three seasons, Darkwing Duck managed to leave an impression that had a lot of people hoping for more, but at one point it became less appealing to keep him around. One has to remember that a lot of things were changing rather frequently in the 90s though, and DD was dropped when Goof Troop was added to the 2-hour block of cartoons that were being shown together at the time. Considering that DD was popular but not nearly as popular as Ducktales, Talespin, Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, or even Goof Troop, it wasn’t too surprising to see that it was cut. There was a rumor that DD was coming back a couple of years ago, but that was debunked pretty quickly as the character went back to the comics where he’s been since.
Reruns have been possible to see and he was added to Disney+, but otherwise, Darkwing has been kind of an idea more than a reality since he’s been kept largely to the comics in terms of new material and anything else that might be shown to the fans. For anyone that doesn’t know, DD is kind of like the Shadow, Batman, and Sherlock Holmes (kind of) rolled into one and given feathers and a beak. He’s the kind of character that really takes his persona seriously and yet when presented with a real supervillain or threat that goes beyond his capabilities becomes kind of ineffective. There was one episode in which he was transported to a reality in which he was the anomaly since he was the only individual without superpowers, but in the end, this saved him since the villain in that particular episode was targeting those with superpowers, and DD ended up saving the day. So to be fair to the character, he’s not useless, but he’s often a better detective than a crimefighter since his allies, Gosalyn and Launchpad, are often a little more capable than he is. Yes, I actually said Launchpad, a character that’s about as bright as a brick, is more useful than someone since he’s a great pilot and he’s not entirely dumb.
Speaking of DD as a character it would be nice if the reboot could keep him as is, but perhaps find a way to make him a little more effective since in the original cartoon he was kind of hard to get into largely because he could get the job done, but he wasn’t always that effective. But we’ll have to see what happens since changing him too much could skew the entire thing. An update is going to happen no doubt since the cast of Ducktales was given an update and the three nephews don’t sound exactly alike any longer and have been given pretty distinct attitudes, as has Webby, and a few other characters have gone through some noticeable changes as well, which is to be expected since the same thing isn’t going to work as it did back in the day. But if anyone has watched Ducktales in the current era, and a lot of people likely have, there are definitely a few things that wouldn’t have been accepted back in the day, if only because they appear to be a little too advanced for kids. But considering what kids are allowed to watch these days, a cartoon is hardly a concern since the reality of it is never in question, it’s all for fun. With Ducktales and Darkwing Duck though the fun is partly in how ridiculous it can get since that’s a part of the charm.
There are probably still quite a few of us out there that can remember just how much fun it was to watch the 2-hour cartoon block that Disney dominated so long ago, but it’s enough to be grateful to think that Disney is bringing back this cartoon since it would appear that the plan is to bring back a part of childhood that a lot of people enjoyed so that new generations can do the same thing. Quite often I’m one of those that will condemn bringing back too much of the past, but more often than not, there’s an understanding that to do so isn’t always a sign of a lack of creativity, but a return to something that was enjoyable the first time around, so long as it can be made so the second time.
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