Is Disney+ Teasing Darkwing Duck, Talespin, Ducktales & Chip N Dale?

Disney+ seems to be taking the Disney Afternoon into the digital frontier, as the streaming service tweeted out an “ideal afternoon schedule” which seemingly suggests that they will be making a number of popular kids’ shows from generations past available on their platform. According to the tweet, which you can see below, the company’s lineup would include DuckTales, Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck. While DuckTales has been revived in a new form, the rest of the series have not, and even DuckTales has their “classic” art style in the preview image shared in the tweet below.

The hit ’80s and ’90s series can be streamed — if you pay to buy or rent them — on Amazon Prime and some other platforms, but do not stream free anywhere as far as we can tell. Darkwing Duck does not appear to be streaming even if you pay for it. For years, it was impossible for fans to get their hands on decent-quality copies of the shows in question, with DVD releases coming fairly late to the game. A number of older series that Disney has in their vault, such as the original Muppet Babies and House at Pooh Corner, are still unavailable at all.

DuckTales centered on Scrooge McDuck, Donald’s uncle, as he was given temporary custody of Donald’s unruly nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. The miserly Scrooge and his young charges used to get up to all manner of hijinks, usually centering around heists or treasure hunts. Both Darkwing Duck had direct crossover with DuckTales, but even the Jungle Book-themed TaleSpin and the antics of Chip, Dale, and the rest owe their existence as ’90s TV series to the success of DuckTales.

Chip ‘n’ Dale Rescue Rangers revolved around a team of talking rodent characters (mice, rats, chipmunks) who saved the day by foiling the plans of a human villain. Darkwing Duck was a superhero tale with a Duckburg twist, playing with some of the same tropes that Batman: The Animated Series did. And TaleSpin took characters from The Jungle Book and put them in a contemporary setting, where Baloo was a freighter pilot and Shere Khan was the head of a competing business. The series aired on both ABC’s Saturday morning lineup and the “Disney afternoon” bloc in synidcation.

Disney+ will launch its service in November. if these shows are part of it, one has to wonder whether other Disney Afternoon series like Gargoyles, Gummi Bears, and Goof Troop will follow suit.