DuckTales (2017 TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids DuckTales
Genre	Adventure Comedy
Based on
Developed by	Matt Youngberg Francisco Angones
Voices of	David Tennant Danny Pudi Ben Schwartz Bobby Moynihan Kate Micucci Beck Bennett Toks Olagundoye Tony Anselmo Paget Brewster
Theme music composer	Mark Mueller
Opening theme	"DuckTales" by Felicia Barton
Ending theme	"DuckTales" (Instrumental)
Composer(s)	Dominic Lewis
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	68 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Matt Youngberg
Producer(s)	Suzanna Olson
Editor(s)	Jasmine Bocz (also animatic) Jon Price (also animatic) Susan Odjakjian (assistant)
Running time	22 minutes 44 minutes (special episodes only)
Production company(s)	Disney Television Animation
Release
Original network	Disney XD (2017, 2020–present) Disney Channel (2018–19)
Original release	August 12, 2017 (2017-08-12) – present
Chronology
Related shows	DuckTales (original series)

DuckTales is an American animated television series, developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones, and produced by Disney Television Animation. The series is a reboot of the original 1987 series of the same name, which focused on the lives of Scrooge McDuck and his family as they engaged in a variety of adventures around the world, as well as in the fictional city of Duckburg. The reboot itself focuses on newer elements and deeper character stories, including a greater involvement of Donald Duck.

The series premiered on August 12, 2017, with a 44-minute long pilot episode on Disney XD, before the first season was green-lit for broadcast from September 23 that year on Disney XD; between May 2018 to September 2019, the series was moved to Disney Channel for the second half of the first season and the duration of the second season, then back on Disney XD for its third season. Since its release, the reboot has generated positive reviews from critics and audiences, as well as a comic book series and several online episodes. On December 2, 2020, it was announced that the third season would be the final season. The show will conclude with a 90-minute finale titled "The Last Adventure!" on March 15, 2021.

Premise

Left to Right: Dewey, Huey, Donald Duck, Louie, and Scrooge McDuck, as they appear in the series.

After not speaking to each other for ten years, Donald Duck reunites with his estranged uncle Scrooge McDuck when he asks him to babysit his three triplet nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the day. The boys rekindle Scrooge's sense of adventure, and he invites Donald and the boys to live at McDuck Manor with him, along with his housekeeper Mrs. Beakley and her granddaughter Webby Vanderquack. Together, along with Scrooge's chauffeur and pilot Launchpad McQuack, the Ducks go on many new treasure hunting expeditions and globetrotting adventures while contending with villains like Flintheart Glomgold, the Beagle Boys, and Mark Beaks.

In season one, Dewey and Webby set out to find the truth about Scrooge and Donald's strained relationship and the unexplained disappearance of the boys' mother and Donald's twin sister, Della Duck. The sorceress Magica De Spell secretly manipulates events to facilitate her return, seeking revenge on Scrooge for imprisoning her in his Number One Dime for 15 years.

In season two, Scrooge and Glomgold compete to become the richest duck in the world by the end of the year while Louie tries to start up his own multi-million dollar business in hopes of following in Scrooge's footsteps. Della reunites with her family after she escapes from the Moon and adjusts to her newfound motherhood, unaware that the Moonlanders are planning to invade Earth.

In season three, the Ducks discover the journal of legendary explorer Isabella Finch, detailing several lost treasures and artifacts, and begin a globetrotting expedition to find them all. However, the criminal organization F.O.W.L. plots to eliminate the Ducks and obtain the treasures first.

Episodes

Voice cast

The show's main voice cast includes:

• David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck
• Danny Pudi as Huey Duck
• Ben Schwartz as Dewey Duck
• Bobby Moynihan as Louie Duck
• Kate Micucci as Webby Vanderquack
• Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack
• Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley
• Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
• Paget Brewster as Della Duck (main season 3, recurring season 2, guest season 1)

Production

Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones grew up watching the original series and had always wanted to develop an updated version for a newer generation. Youngberg said, "We're hoping that in thirty years, the kids who watch our show will then be bringing back the next version of DuckTales because they loved what we did so much."

In May 2015, Terry McGovern, the original voice of Launchpad McQuack, stated in an interview that the entire voice cast from the original series would not be returning for the reboot, which made him "heartsick" at the news. The new voice cast for the series was revealed on December 16, 2016 in a video where they sing an a cappella version of the original theme song in promotion of the news. The following May, Lin-Manuel Miranda was announced as the voice of Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera / Gizmoduck. The character was changed to being Latino due to Lin-Manuel's heritage and because Angones felt that there were not enough positive Latino superheroes. In June, more cast members, including Tony Anselmo reprising his role as Donald Duck, were announced, and during the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con, Disney announced that Darkwing Duck would also make an appearance in the TV series.

At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, several characters from other Disney Television Animation cartoons were revealed to appear in the show's third season; the Rescue Rangers from Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers; Kit Cloudkicker and Molly Cunningham from TaleSpin; Rhinokey and Butterbear from The Wuzzles, and Gosalyn Mallard and Taurus Bulba from Darkwing Duck, as well as Chip 'n Dale (based on their Rescue Rangers incarnations), Goofy (based on his Goof Troop incarnation), and Daisy Duck.

The art style of the show is heavily influenced not just by Carl Barks' original Uncle Scrooge comics, but also some of Barks' paintings. The theme song, written by Mark Mueller for the 1987 series, was re-recorded for the 2017 reboot. It was arranged by Michael "Smidi" Smithand and TJ Stafford and sung by Felicia Barton.

Donald Duck has a larger role in this version compared to the 1980s version. The earlier version had been restricted by an edict from The Walt Disney Company stating that the television studio could not use Donald or any of the other stars from Disney's Golden Age shorts, only allowing Donald to make short cameos to set up storylines; this restriction was lifted shortly after the original version of DuckTales ended.

Release

Broadcast

The 44 minute pilot, titled Woo-oo!, premiered on August 12 at 12:00 AM and was repeated consecutively for the next 24 hours. Two days later on August 14, the pilot was also released on YouTube, though it has since been set to private. The pilot also aired on Disney Channel on September 17, 2017. The series officially premiered on September 23, 2017, coinciding with the original show's 30th anniversary. On May 1, 2018, the show moved to the Disney Channel, with new episodes airing on Fridays beginning May 4, 2018. With season three, the series will once again air on Disney XD.

On October 20, 2020, "Let's Get Dangerous!", the 44-minute Darkwing Duck–themed episode from season 3, was made available for free on Disney XD's YouTube channel.

In Canada, the pilot premiered on Disney XD on August 12 and the full series started on September 23, 2017. In Australia and New Zealand, the show premiered on Disney Channel on October 13, 2017. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the pilot premiered on Disney Channel on November 4, 2017. The full series debuted on March 1, 2018 on Disney XD.

Marketing

On December 7, 2016, a teaser trailer was released for the series. The first season was announced to consist of 21 half-hour episodes and two hour-long specials. On March 10, 2017, a trailer for the series aired on Disney Channel during the premiere of Tangled: Before Ever After, and on June 14, 2017, the title sequence for the series, featuring a re-recording of the theme song written by Mark Mueller and performed by Felicia Barton, was released.

Home media

A DVD titled Woo-oo! was released on December 19, 2017 in the US and on July 9, 2018 in the UK and Ireland. The DVD contains the pilot episode and all 6 Welcome to Duckburg shorts. A second DVD titled Destination Adventure! was released on June 5, 2018. It contains the episodes The Beagle Birthday Massacre!, The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!, The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!, The Spear of Selene!, The Missing Links of Moorshire!, and Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!, as well as 2 episodes of the original 1987 series previously unreleased on DVD (New Gizmo Kids on the Block and Ducky Mountain High).

Video on demand

iTunes and Amazon Prime Video in the United States offer the first and second season, split into four volumes.

The first and second season have been released on Disney+ since its launch, but users have noted episodes being out of order. The series had its episodes arranged in the proper order on June 26, 2020.

Printed media

Prose books

In 2018, Disney Press published "DuckTales: Solving Mysteries and Rewriting History!", a companion book covering the majority of season one, as seen from the perspective of Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby. It is written by Rob Renzetti and show writer Rachel Vine.

Comics

An ongoing comic book series based on the show is being published by IDW Publishing, with Joe Caramagna, Joey Cavalieri and Steve Behling sharing writing duties, and Luca Usai, Gianfranco Florio and others providing the art. Ducktales #0 was released on July 19, 2017, and #1 of the monthly series followed on September 27.

The individual issues are also collected in trade paperbacks:

• "Treasure Trove", collecting issues #0-2
• "Mysteries and Mallards", collecting issues #3-5
• "Quests and Quacks", collecting issues #6-8
• "Fowl Play", collecting issues #9-11
• "Monsters and Mayhem", collecting issues #12-14
• "Mischief and Miscreants", collecting issues #15-17
• "Imposters and Interns" , collecting issues #18-20

List of comic book stories

Merchandise

See also

In Spanish: Patoaventuras (serie de televisión de 2017) para niños