Carstairs Considers....: TV on DVD Review: Darkwing Duck Volume 2

Sunday, April 14, 2013

TV on DVD Review: Darkwing Duck Volume 2

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Plenty of laughs and action

Cons: Episodes in no discernible order

The Bottom Line:

Bring back memories

With this funny TV show

Spoof superheros

"And Reveal My Criminal Scheme? What Do You Think This Is, a Cheap Cartoon?"

Darkwing Duck was a wonderful TV show from Disney during the early 90's. It was a spoof of superheroes, science fiction, and just about anything you can name. Heck, there's even an episode that spoofs Bond in this set.

By day, he is Drake Mallard, mild mannered citizen raising daughter Gosalyn on his own. But at night he dawns a cap and mask and becomes Darkwing Duck, vigilantly of justice, keeping the streets of St. Canard safe with the help of his sidekick Launchpad. And St. Canard is lucky to have him, too, because St. Canard has a team of villains all their own. There's electro charged Megavolt, crazed toymaker Quackerjack, the Eggmen of F.O.W.L., and Darkwing's own evil side Negaduck.

This is the second set of cartoons released from the show. The three disc set contains 27 more episodes. While it picks up right where the first set left off, that's not a good thing. Why not? Because the episodes are in broadcast order, which bears little relationship to production order or story order or anything. And that can be down right confusing. Take, for example, Morgana, Darkwing's occasional girlfriend. When we first meet her, she is a criminal before Darkwing helps turn her to the good side. On these discs, we see them dating in one episode and on opposite sides of the law on another. Negaduck is another example. We have yet to get the episode that introduces him, yet he is the main villain in several of these episodes. And we finally get Liquidator's origin story here, yet we've already fought him in both sets.

But that's the only real complaint because there are some very fun episodes here. Darkwing faces off against a villain set on gold plating the city in a very punny episode. He faces pirates in an out of the ordinary episode set up as a tale Darkwing is telling us. He discovers the flip side of things in the Negaverse. Launchpad gains psychic powers. Darkwing is kidnapped by a tribe that plans to sacrifice him to a volcano. He faces a town overrun by cabbages from outer space. Thanks to Quackerjack's Time Top, we find ourselves in the middle ages and the future. In a brilliant spoof of the Bond films, Darkwing finds that his cinematic hero, Blunt, doesn't have nearly as exciting a life as his movies portray. He gets an image makeover when the citizen begin to get frightened of his tactics. Heck, Darkwing even has to face off against death when he crashes a motorcycle without wearing a helmet.

The show borrows heavily from the Batman comics. Liquidator's origin is similar to that of the Joker. And Darkwing himself fights crime with no superpowers, but with gadgets and pure dumb luck.

And that's what makes the show so much fun. Darkwing has a giant ego much bigger then he truly deserves. I get as much of a kick out of that as I do the rest of the antics on the show.

Being a cartoon, there is lots of violence. Frankly, in real life Darkwing wouldn't last through one episode with the punishment they put him through. If that bothers you, you won't enjoy this show. Frankly, I just brush the cartoon violence off for what it is and enjoy the show.

This set just contains the 27 episodes of the series. There are no bonus features what so ever. However, the full frame picture and sound are all wonderful.

Because of all the spoofs, Darkwing Duck Volume 2 is a set that adults will enjoy just as much as kids. It's silly, but it's highly addicting.

Volume 2 Cartoons:

1. All's Fahrenheit in Love and War

2. Whiffle While You Work

3. Ghoul of My Dreams

4. Adopt-a-Con

5. Toys Czar Us

6. The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck

7. Up, Up and Awry

8. Life, the Negaverse, and Everything

9. Dry Hard

10. Heavy Mental