DuckTales‘ producer detailed the long process for them to get the Rescue Rangers into the latest episode. It’s been quite a road for Frank Angones and his crew. They’ve been steadily adding more elements of the old Disney Afternoon universe to their new DuckTales show. Well, there were certain lines that they couldn’t cross and Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers was one of them. Careful viewers might have peeped the bread crumbs leading to the acknowledgment of Chip Dale, Gadget, Monterey Jack and Zipper. Well, they made their grand debut this week, and Angones told the entire story on Twitter.
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“It’s pretty well known at this point that at the start of the show, we were told Mickey was pretty much off limits. He’s a big icon and mascot that requires all kinds of approvals. Lesser known is the OTHER property we were told was off limits: the Rescue Rangers,” Angones explained. “For the past couple years, various departments at Disney have been kicking around a big RR project, most recently that feature idea from Lonely Island announced in development a while ago. Bigger projects were in play that would restrict our ability to use them.”
At some point, I think everybody just got on board with it, and we had proven ourselves a bit. So we got away with turning a small Easter Egg featuring a character we were NEVER allowed to use into an extended cameo featuring everybody AND the theme song. #DuckTales
— Frank Angones (@FrankAngones) April 11, 2020
“Until S3 when we started breaking the story for “Double 0″. We needed a lab animal for Heron to test her Intelli-Ray on. Someone brought up the idea that maybe it was Gadget. The room went silent, followed by hushed whispers: ‘No, we couldn’t. It’s not allowed!’” he continued. “We decided to focus on just one. And we only ever referred to her as “Intelligent Rodent” in script and design because if anyone noticed, the idea would be shot down for sure. It was a cameo in one shot.”
“It became a game of chicken: how far could we push this before we got caught & (rightfully) stopped? I was shocked when I saw the first boards and suddenly ALL OF THE RESCUE RANGERS were suddenly in it. @theironwrist’s response: ‘If we’re gonna do it, we gotta DO IT,’ Angones admitted. “Thankfully, when our show execs caught on, they saw how cool it could be and, much like “Mikey Melon” before them, conveniently looked the other way.”
I’m really thankful that Disney let us get away with it. And I love the idea that the versions of all the versions of the Heritage characters in our world have some connection to Scrooge & co. #DuckTales
— Frank Angones (@FrankAngones) April 11, 2020
All’s well that ends well for the DuckTales crew. Their daring resulted in kids getting introduced to some classic characters from the Disney Afternoon slate. For Millenial viewers, DuckTales presents an amazing show to get into and these nods to cartoons from the Disney Channel heyday are hard to beat. Darkwing Duck appearing and TaleSpin references will get me everytime. Just last week, the show confirmed that Max and Roxanne from A Goofy Movie existed. So, who knows what other secrets are in store this season.
Have you been keeping up with DuckTales‘ latest season? What’s your favorite old-school Disney show? Let us know in the comments!
