Gosalyn, Darkwing Duck and Launchpad in Slime OK, You're OK
81. Slime OK, You're OK
Episode 57 May 1992 Animation: Wang Film Productions Co. Ltd.
Drake is annoyed with Gosalyn for taking advantage of Launchpad as a friend. Bushroot creates Formula IQ2U, intended to mutate vegetation into a mutant plant. Gosalyn touches it and turns into a hungry, gelatinous form, Yucky Duck.
The episode is about how we shouldn’t take advantage of friendship, but it doesn’t really focus on this until over halfway into the episode. The exact definition of friendship varies throughout. Despite causing all of the episodes chaos, Bushroot is shown sympathy at the end, in what is his final series episode.
A gag involving infrared goggles and a red traffic light is a high point of the episode. Bushroot’s pet monster, Hedgie, has an appealing, luminous lime green design, as does Gosalyn, as the dangerously unintelligent Yucky Duck. The gooey, neon green creatures are the embodiment of the toy slime phenomena that was popular with children of the era.
The reduced colour palette of purple and green is generally great to look at throughout. Wang provide some well rendered lighting effects too.
We are introduced to The Darkwing Remote Alarm Terminal, a high powered workstation that cannot locate crime scenes. It is set up as a running gag but is only used twice in the first half of the episode.
Darkwing Duck in Paraducks
82. Paraducks
Episode 11 September 19, 1991 Animation: Sunwoo Animation
Darkwing stops off with Gosalyn to make a delivery to SHUSH, involving time travel technology. While there, they accidentally travel back to the 1950s, where they find younger Drake Mallard troubled by bully Lamont and his brother, The King. Gosalyn convinces Darkwing to not interfere with the past. Darkwing travels back to the present, but discovers the King is now ruling St. Canard and Drake Mallard has become his assistant. Darkwing decides to travel back to the past and help younger Drake become a hero.
Drake presents an idealised version of his childhood to Gosalyn, only for her to see the reality first hand. The opening sequence at a covert SHUSH research centre is delightful to watch. The wrap around is very clever, and sets up the time travel well. A golf cart controlled by an audio cassette of Polka tunes makes for a very funny time travel machine. The surreal time travel sequence is equally hypnotic as it is hilarious. The idea of a superhero watching his former self learning to stand up to bullies is also thoughtful. There are wonderfully arranged, catchy original songs in a period 1950s style.
Much of the episode focuses on villain The King, who doesn’t seem to be much more than a thug Elvis impersonator (which Darkwing mentions without directly naming Elvis), leading a crime gang. He is also genuinely musically talented, with his only weakness being his secret baldness. His little brother Lamont has no quirks of his own.
The episode is dialogue driven and makes little use of its unique period setting. At one point, the heroes travel to an alternative present, and the scene is set entirely in an undressed warehouse, relying on costume to communicate the time period. The present King resembles 1970s Elvis, and the cars could be from the 1970s too. It is only once they leave this setting that Gosalyn clarifies what we just saw and the exact time period.
It’s not clear how a music themed, petty thief and the absence of Darkwing Duck would alter history to the point of SHUSH becoming a mechanic garage service.
Launchpad, Gosalyn and Herb Muddlefoot await to be served by Morgana in Malice's Restaurant
83. Malice's Restaurant
Episode 90 December 5, 1992 Animation: Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd.
Morgana is opening her own restaurant, The Shadow Chateau, and Darkwing has ill-advisedly invited the Little Lost Bunnies to the event as celebrity guests. He feels they would counteract the creepiness and help improve the restaurants chances of survival. Negaduck, who wants to destroy the Lost Bunnies, learns of the occasion and also plans to gatecrash it. In the meantime, Morgana spends an afternoon with Darkwing’s friends, The Muddlefoots, to prove that he’s not ashamed of her.
Darkwing has to learn to accept his partner Morgana for who she is and not worry about what others think of her. It is the closest we get to a closing episode for the series.
As with Steerminator, there are enough ideas and premises here for more than one episode. Morgana opening a doomed restaurant and Darkwing introducing Morgana to the Muddlefoots to prove he isn’t ashamed of her are both interesting situations, as is the Little Lost Bunnies getting a dark makeover. Another issue is that throughout the series, the Muddlefoots were never true friends of Darkwing, so it’s unclear if the scene at their house wins over their acceptance of Morgana or if it’s just an uncomfortable situation for Drake. Later on in the episode, a restaurant critic is introduced to show the approval and disapproval of the Shadow Chateau, but is then never seen again.
Only half of the episode takes place in the restaurant. As mentioned, there is a lengthy scene at the Muddlefoot household, where Morgana wins acceptance of the Muddlefoots and their support of her restaurant. The finale takes place at a film studio, where Negaduck has kidnapped the Bunnies and dressed them for his scary film The Metalloid Skull Bunny Warriors.
A joke is made about how standards and practices will never allow the bunnies to wear the Metalloid costumes. ABC, who commissioned this season 2 episode, had their own standards and practices separate to Disney at the time.
Negaduck ends up riding a contraption called The Nega Blaster. This mechanised device is coloured in red and yellow, looking similar to the technology worn by Taurus Bulba in episode Steerminator.
A Honker glove puppet in Return of the Revenge of the Brainteasers, Too!
84. Return of the Revenge of the Brainteasers, Too!
Episode 81 September 26, 1992 Animation: Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd.
Honker dreams of being a hero, despite having been rejected by the little league baseball team. Meanwhile, In a galactic prison on Planet Fez, Honker is worshipped for having previously captured alien villains The Brainteasers. However, the Brainteasers escape prison and want to frame him as a criminal, after he had previously had them locked away.
Thematically very similar to Battle of the Brainteasers, but this time Honker dreams of being a hero rather than having to overcome the bullying of Brother Tank. With their evil influence, the parasitic hats specifically acted as a symbol for bullies in the first Brainteasers, but here we have a retread without that resonant theme. There is a minor running gag involving Herb Muddlefoot’s toupees that links to the motif of hats. It is paid off well and leads to the ending. He even sings the Beatles, (sort of).
Honker’s fame as a puppet TV show and comic book star on the Planet Fez is imaginative and wonderfully rendered. There is a great prison escape reversal, in which a cake is produced from a metal file. The opening shot of St Canard is quite breathtaking too.
Most of the episode takes place during the daytime with a lot of dialogue and exposition, unlike the original Brainteasers episode, which was a highly atmospheric paranormal piece.
Oddly, for an episode involving aliens coming to Earth, we never see any space travel and only one spaceship launch. Most of the episode is set in the Muddlefoot house.
Dr. Denton meets Darkwing Duck, Launchpad and Gosalyn in Extinct Possibility
85. Extinct Possibility
Episode 91 December 12, 1992 Animation: Sunwoo Animation
After finding himself encased in amber at the History Museum, Darkwing travels back in time using Quackerjack’s Time Top to the prehistoric era in order to make sense of it. He is taken by dinosaur Dr. Denton to Duckbillville, a city where backward attempts are made at developing technology. It is controlled by a Biker gang lead by villain Johnny T.
The great book-end gag with Darkwing Duck preserved in amber provides one of the best pay offs of the series. The idea of Dinosaurs having a backward logic is fun, for example with concrete tyres on rubber roads or a self cleaning oven that cleans clothes. It effectively illustrates how some things are best left in the past.
Most of the plot concerns Johnny T and his Dinosaurs, who are a 1950s style biker gang existing in this prehistoric world. There is a nice visual joke when a Dinosaur falls off a cliff and pulls the surrounding forest like a blanket into the hole with him.
The friendly Dr. Denton is given a lovely animated voice performance by Stuart Pankin. In a passing moment of dialogue, Denton mentions how multiplying, hairy ape creatures had previously been stopped from attempting to overrun the planet.
The animated apparition effects of the Time Top travelling are truly spectacular. Darkwing usually time travels in the machine made by SHUSH, but here he inexplicably uses the Time Top, the device of Quackerjack, who isn’t in the episode.
Gosalyn, Darkwing Duck and Launchpad in Apes of Wrath
86. Apes of Wrath
Episode 6 September 12, 1991 Animation: Sunwoo Animation
Darkwing is assigned by SHUSH to a jungle island to save famed anthropologist Dr. Beatrice Brute. He flies out with Launchpad and Gosalyn, who insists on going. Once there he meets Major Trenchrot, who is fighting an army of gorillas that he believes have abducted Dr. Brute. Trenchrot says he wanted to make a partner in her banana plantation. Gosalyn wants to explore the plantation, but Trenchrot is surprisingly resistant, and appears to be hiding something. Gosalyn is then taken by the apes, and Darkwing follows…
Things are not always what they appear to be on the outside, in this jungle set mystery adventure. Dr. Beatrice Brute, a fun play on real life primatologist Jane Goodall by way of Biruté Galdikas, is a unique character, but only appears over halfway through the episode in a plot twist. Major Trenchrot, a deliberately unlikable South African World War 2 soldier stereotype, does not conceal his villainy prior to the twist. There is extensive dependency on dialogue throughout the episode.
There are a some successful physical gags: Darkwing jumping from the Thuderquack while evading a bomb, Darkwing is punched through trees and spins around the moon after drinking a spicy coconut and a cuckoo clock with a machine gun. The best moment is when Drake states to an angry Gosalyn that she will not be attending the expedition, and we then humorously transition to the Thunderquack flying with her onboard towards the island.
The jungle setting has little visual variation or atmosphere, however Brute’s treehouse hideout is well designed, and Trenchrot's proposed resort (which seems to be the same one from episode In Like Blunt) also looks like the Disney Grand Floridian Hotel.
The percussive soundtrack is catchy.
Drake Mallard, Binkie and Herb Muddlefoot arrive at Jock Newbody’s Hale and Hardy House of Health in You Sweat Your Life
87. You Sweat Your Life
Episode 18 September 30, 1991 Animation: Sunwoo Animation
Darkwing stops two suspects from stealing the feather of Mel the Conquerer from the St. Canard Museum. They leave behind a logo for a health spa: Jock Newbody’s Hale and Hardy House of Health. Darkwing decides to visit as Drake. However, the Muddlefoots decide to join him too. Binkie is a lot more enthusiastic than Herb. At the spa, The suspects meet with their 122 year old boss to present the bad news. He wants to create a fountain of youth using a single feather from a pure hero, which could be Darkwing Duck.
The highlight of the episode is the twist finale, in which the villain’s plot for eternal youth reduces all characters into baby form. The high-pitched baby dialect and sped up movements of the characters are very funny. There’s also a witty cutaway to Binkie gaining a manicure. Her later health spa makeover, at odds with her character, is a fun close to the episode.
Herb’s aversion to exercise is entertaining to watch, as he eventually uses athleticism to escape the health facility. The whole episode is about how people can’t completely change who they are.
Hamilton Camp provides an entertaining, non-Gizmoduck performance. The disco workout music heard during an exercise session is great.
The episode takes place mostly at a health spa, full of bare rooms.
Bianca Beakly as the Bugmaster in Fraudcast News
88. Fraudcast News
Episode 87 November 7, 1992 Animation: Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd.
Drake feels jealous that Gosalyn’s idol is newscaster Bianca Beakly. However, Beakly is frustrated with low TV ratings, particularly because of popular mime Meriweather the Cockroach. She then takes on the costumed alias of The Bugmaster. This new supervillain enables Beakly to boost her ratings.
At it’s core, this is set up as a tale of jealously, in which Darkwing competes for Gosalyn’s attention with her idol Bianca Beakly, who is trying to win TV ratings. However, the episode mostly focuses on Beakly as the Bugmaster and Darkwing admiring himself on television.
Gosalyn, who is barely present in the first part of the episode, immediately deduces the Bugmaster’s identity, and halfway through the episode confronts her about it, becoming integral to the plot, but without ever really threatening her relationship with Drake enough for either to learn anything.
One of the shots of the Audoban Bay Bridge has a design so off-model it’s barely recognisable. A visual gag of Meriweather the cockroach, positioned next to handcuffs that he is supposed to wearing, appears unclear.
Honker and Gosalyn look on at Darkwing Duck in Star-Crossed Circuits
89. Star-Crossed Circuits
Episode 82 October 3, 1992 Animation: Sunwoo Animation
Darkwing aquires a D2000 Supercomputer that can effectively manage his entire life for him. Launchpad feels replaced by the machine, which doesn’t have emotions. Gosalyn inserts a VHS cassette of the soap opera the Young and the Brainless to let it understand emotions whilst Honker reprograms it. This turns D2000 into a character from the show, who becomes romantically obsessed with Darkwing.
The episodes clear message is that you can’t replace true human interactivity with artificial means. The central idea is quite forward facing, as the D2000 is conceptually a proto-smart device. There is a great, prophetic moment where Darkwing is arrested after his computer data has been taken advantage of.
The episode starts with Launchpad feeling replaced by the D2000, but less than half way in Darkwing also feels inadequate. The conflict then shifts to the computer becoming a melodramatic soap opera character. Both ideas could have been their own separate episodes.
The marriage of soap opera fiction with artificial intelligence asks a lot of interesting questions. However, the soap opera character Dede Loveloss, whom the D2000 becomes, is only seen very briefly in the opening scene, giving us little time to become familiar with them.
The episode briefly features villains The Cheese Gang, a group of rodent gangsters who specifically use guns that squirt cheese. They appear in one robbery scene.
Ample Grime and her sister Ammonia Pine in Dirtysomething
90.
Dirtysomething
Episode 63 May 18, 1992 Animation: Sunwoo Animation
Ammonia Pine is ordered by FOWL to work with her dirt obsessed sister, Ample Grime. They must implement Emergency extortion plan 23B; creating a vehicle that sucks up all the money in St. Canard. Gosalyn, who has been told off for the untidy state of her bedroom, also decides to recycle Darkwing’s crime fighting equipment to make money to buy a video game.
Launchpad and Darkwing riding public transport and a comedy bicycle called the Quack-cycle are the episodes highlights. Also, the animated blueprint sequence for 23B is very well illustrated exposition.
There is an overly cartoonish tone, in which Gosalyn and Honker fly through the air after drinking soft drinks, and Gosalyn creates a photo-realistic backdrop of her bedroom that fools Drake into thinking she tidied it up. Gosalyn, recycling all of Darkwing’s crime fighting equipment, doesn’t seem consistent with the character as seen throughout the rest of the series.
The character of Ample Grime is designed to appear utterly revolting, with an apple core around her neck, trash can on her back and slime all over. The overall effect makes it hard for the viewer to know exactly what they are looking at.
The episode broadly concerns refuse and recycling, but isn’t unified by a clear central theme. Ammonia Pine and Ample Grime’s contrasting personalities and clean/dirty sisterly conflict are eclipsed by the unrelated 23B and recycling plots.
Oddly, recycling is portrayed only in a negative light here as an abused system, with annoyance expressed at how items of high value are sold off cheaply.