Nostalgia is awesome. It’s also a major selling point for the new Disney+ streaming service. The House of Mouse launched the service with a couple of new original projects, like The Mandalorian and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, but many of its highly-touted scripted titles won’t arrive for quite a while. On the front end, the hope is that beloved shows and movies from the past will keep everyone engaged. Spoiler alert: It’s been working.
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Disney+ gained a whopping 10 million subscribers in its first 24 hours and a couple of TV shows on the service quickly began trending on social media. The Mandalorian‘s attention was expected, but there were two other projects that people must have forgot they loved, because they were all over the Internet on Tuesday. Darkwing Duck was an immediate hit amongst fans, likely boosted by the character’s resurgence on Disney Channel’s recent reboot of Ducktales, and the love for Gargoyles spread so quickly that a there is already a movement on Twitter to bring the show back. And that would be awesome! But I’m a little disappointed that it seems like no one is talking about the best and easily most underrated ’90s cartoon on Disney+. Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series is an absolute treasure, and it’s time to start showing some respect.
Gargoyles and and Darkwing Duck are both fantastic, don’t get me wrong. This isn’t a jab at either of those shows. It’s great that everyone is discovering or re-discovering those characters today. But Mighty Ducks is being completely overlooked in the wake of the attention these other shows are getting, and that just doesn’t fly. Mighty Ducks is the most wonderful brand of lunacy you’ll find on Disney+. Seriously, it’ll take just one episode to find out exactly what you’re missing.
Mighty Ducks is about, wait for it, a team of humanoid ducks from a planet in an alternate universe called Puckworld, where hockey is more than just a sport, it’s a way of life. When the planet is taken over by a reptilian overlord, Lord Dragaunus, a hero named Drake DuCaine puts together a group of resistance fighters, who are also excellent a hockey. The only true weapon DuCaine and these heroes have to fight the evil forces of Lord Dragaunus was a high-tech goalie mask that could send the villains into dimensional limbo. During an encounter with Dragaunus in the first episode, DuCaine sacrifices his own life to stop an ELECTROMAGNETIC WORM INSIDE OF A DIMENSION PORTAL, but not before passing the mask on to the squad’s goalie, Wildwing, telling him he’s now the team captain. Once they escape the portal, the rest of the team winds up on earth where, as a disguise, they somwhow convince the National Hockey League to give them their own franchise and they play professional hockey against real human people between missions to save the planet, hopefully one day returning to rescue their home world. Oh, and their secret base and spaceship are hidden beneath the hockey rink where they are apparently paid money to play.
Let’s be clear, not a word of this is a joke or a lie. This is a real television show that aired in 1996 for 26 total episodes, and it is glorious. Hockey-playing duck aliens inspired by a professional sports franchise and a family sports film trilogy. Oh, and did I mention the theme song is performed by Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship? Because it is.
The concept alone makes Mighty Ducks must-see TV. You’ve probably already stopped reading to go watch it right now, and I totally understand that. But if you’re still here, allow me to mention that creators Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir, and David Wise put together a legendary vocal ensemble for this series.
Ian Ziering, of Sharknado and Beverly Hills 90210 fame, voices Ducks leader Wildwing. The rest of his squad consists of names like Brad Garrett and Jennifer Hale. The one and only Tim Curry brings life to evil Lord Dragaunus and one of his minions is voiced by Mr. Krabs himself, Clancy Brown. The human agent that represents the Mighty Ducks and all of their hockey interests? Oh that’s just good ol’ sitcom star Jim Belushi. Jim Cummings, Dennis Franz, and David Hyde Pierce also appear as guest stars.
The voice cast is stacked. The animation is great for a series made in 1996. The character designs for these ducks are brilliant (they made for some stellar action figures and McDonald’s toys back in the day, just give “Mighty Ducks figures” a search on eBay). We’ve already established that the story is insane in the best way possible, bursting at the seams with all of the best the 1990s had to offer.
But most importantly, Mighty Ducks is free to stream right now on Disney+. That’s really all you need to know. Get out of here with all your Darkwing Duck tweets and Gargoyles petitions. My heart belongs in Puckworld, and so does your attention.
If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can do that here.
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