TV Episode Review: Darkwing Duck - Darkly Dawns the Duck

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Great characters; fun story

Cons: Out of print as VHS but available on DVD

The Bottom Line:

Darkwing's pilot shows

To see how it all began

Find the DVDs




Hardly a Dark Beginning

Back in the 90's, Disney produced several series of afternoon cartoons. This is the pilot for one of them, Darkwing Duck.

Darkwing Duck is the hero of St. Canard. Or he would be in the media would actually tell his story. Of course, since he just catches run of the mill criminals, there is little for them to report on. Still, with a secret hideout in the bridge and lots of cool gadgets, he's sure his day will come.

And that day comes when he crosses paths with Taurus Bulba. Taurus is a master criminal using the perfect hideout, a jail cell. But he's concocted a scheme to steal an invention. He just needs the inventor's granddaughter, Gosalyn, to tell him the secret code.

Naturally, Darkwing can't have that. The problem is, Darkwing has no experience fighting a true criminal. Can Darkwing save the day?

Meanwhile, Darkwing has stumbled upon his biggest fan. Launchpad McQuack (yes, the same character from Duck Tails), has been following Darkwing's exploits. He longs to become "DW's" sidekick, but Darkwing works alone. Will Darkwing Duck change his mind?

This video is the pilot episode, and provides some cool moments for fans of the show. We get to see how our three main characters met, and we get our first look at DW's hideout.

Fortunately, many of the elements that made this show great are already in place. Darkwing Duck has so many character flaws, including an ego the size of a large planet, and these constantly get him into trouble and lead him to funny situations. Gosalyn is cute, but still the spitfire she would prove to be time and time again. And Launchpad does a great job as "hero support," providing his own equipment to the team.

And there's a great story. Watching it again, I was surprised at how simple it really was. I remembered a few more complications. Still, it was entertaining, well worth watching, and kept me hooked the entire time.

The show uses a bunch of talented voiceover actors that are not that well known outside of animation. The three leads are voiced by Jim Cummings, Terence McGovern, and Christine Cavanaugh. The most famous voice on this tape is Marcia Wallace of Bob Newhart Show and Simpsons fame, who plays Bulba's secretary.

This video includes both part of the two part pilot. That means there's only 46 minutes of entertainment here. Even worse news is that the video, produced in the late 90's, is long out of print. The good news? These two episodes are part of the Darkwing Duck Vol. 1 DVD.

Since the elements of the show are still being introduced, not everything is quite in place. Still, the important elements are all here, and fans of the series will love remembering how everyone met in "Darkly Dawns the Duck."