93 Fun Facts About DuckTales

DuckTales was based on comic books about Scrooge McDuck created by which artist?

Carl Barks meant Scrooge as a one-off rich uncle for a 1947 Donald Duck story, but the old miser proved so useful that he had a comic book of his own by 1952.

Which 'caveduck' follows Scrooge home in the 1988 DuckTales serial Time Is Money?

Bubba stows away in the time machine with his pet triceratops Tootsie after Scrooge's trip lands a million years in the past, and so ends up living in the present day.

Why does Donald Duck leave his nephews with Scrooge at the start of the original DuckTales?

He joins the US Navy, which turns the comics' leading duck into an occasional guest star and leaves Scrooge and the three nephews to carry the show.

What prized possession are villains, especially Magica De Spell, forever trying to steal from Scrooge?

His Number One Dime is the first coin Scrooge ever earned, for shining a pair of muddy boots as a boy in Scotland; Magica wants to melt it into an amulet with the Midas touch.

Who voiced Scrooge McDuck in the original DuckTales and for more than 40 years overall?

Alan Young, Wilbur on Mister Ed, found the broad Scottish accent easy because his father was a Scottish miner and he spent his first years in Edinburgh; he kept the role from 1974 until he died in 2016.

Which voice actress played all three of Huey, Dewey and Louie, plus Webby, in the 1987 DuckTales?

Russi Taylor voiced all four ducklings and, from 1986, Minnie Mouse; in 1991 she married Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey, making Mickey and Minnie husband and wife off screen.

Which youth organisation do Huey, Dewey and Louie belong to, carrying a guidebook that seems to hold every answer?

The Junior Woodchucks began in the comics as a gentle satire of the Boy Scouts, complete with buckets of badges; their Guidebook somehow covers any crisis the nephews meet.

Which superhero identity does Scrooge's accountant Fenton Crackshell secretly adopt?

Gizmoduck is born by accident: the robot suit's inventor picks 'blatherskite' as its secret codeword, unaware that the word is part of Fenton's favourite exclamation.

In DuckTales, which kilt-wearing villain schemes to replace Scrooge McDuck as the 'richest duck in the world'?

Flintheart Glomgold is Scottish and wears a kilt in the TV version, unlike the comics; in the reboot he and Scrooge bet their companies on who will be richest by year's end.

In DuckTales, which character heads the gang of masked robbers who target Scrooge's money bin, springing them from jail?

Ma Beagle was invented for the show and modelled on the real gang matriarch Ma Barker; in the comics the gang's occasional leader is a grandfather, Blackheart Beagle.

Magica De Spell is Italian in the comics, but what accent was she given in the DuckTales cartoon?

Eastern European was June Foray's choice, an accent close to her Natasha Fatale in Rocky and Bullwinkle; the comics' Magica is an Italian sorceress who lives on the slopes of Vesuvius.

What is the name of the city where DuckTales is set?

Duckburg began, in the comics' lore, as the British outpost Fort Drakeborough; settler Cornelius Coot took it over and renamed it, since a drake is a male duck.

DuckTales was Disney's first cartoon produced for what?

DuckTales was Disney's first cartoon made for weekday syndication, sold station by station rather than to a network; its success paved the way for Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin and the Disney Afternoon block.

DuckTales premiered in 1987 with which television movie, later split into a five-part serial?

The Treasure of the Golden Suns sends Scrooge after a lost hoard of gold, and by the last chapter he has caught 'gold fever' and cares about nothing but the treasure.

The DuckTales theme song opens with 'Life is like a' what?

A hurricane is the image that opens the lyric by pop songwriter Mark Mueller, who says Disney paid him a 'whopping' $1,250 for the song.

In the original DuckTales, Magica De Spell's brother has been transformed into which bird?

A raven is the shape her brother is stuck in, which is why the writers named him Poe, after the author of The Raven; he serves his sister as her familiar.

Which nanny does Scrooge hire to mind his nephews in the original DuckTales, bringing along her granddaughter Webby?

Mrs. Beakley is a kindly housekeeper in the 1987 show, but the 2017 reboot rewrote her as Agent 22, a retired spy who once went on missions with Scrooge.

Composer Ron Jones said he scored DuckTales seriously, like which film, rather than as a kids' show?

Raiders of the Lost Ark was his model: Ron Jones said he never patronises an audience, so he pitched treating the ducks 'like real people on real adventures', and got the job.

Which Back to the Future actor voiced the sorcerer Merlock in the DuckTales movie?

Christopher Lloyd voices Merlock, a shape-shifting sorcerer who once used the lamp's wishes to destroy Atlantis and Pompeii; his talisman lets him ignore the limit on wishes.

In the DuckTales movie, which animal does Webby wish for from the Genie?

An elephant, still a baby, appears in the library and runs amok through Scrooge's mansion; the children also wish up a giant ice cream sundae, and Webby later brings all her toys to life.

In the DuckTales movie, whose long-lost treasure is Scrooge hunting when the magic lamp turns up?

Collie Baba, a pun on Ali Baba, hid the lamp among his treasure after stealing it from the sorcerer Merlock, who has spent the centuries since trying to get it back.

Which company developed the 1989 NES game based on DuckTales?

Capcom gave the licence to key Mega Man staff, among them artist Keiji Inafune, which is why Scrooge's adventure plays so much like a Mega Man game.

In the NES DuckTales game, what does Scrooge bounce on like a pogo stick to squash enemies?

His cane doubles as a pogo stick for bouncing on enemies and over hazards; the makers of Shovel Knight later borrowed the move for their hero's downward shovel bounce.

Which of these is one of the five levels in the NES DuckTales game?

The Moon stage's music is the game's best-known tune, and the 2017 reboot brought it back as a lullaby sung by the boys' mother; the other stages are on Earth, from the Amazon to Transylvania.

Which studio made DuckTales: Remastered, the 2013 HD remake of the NES game?

WayForward redrew the 8-bit game with hand-drawn characters and brought back the surviving 1987 voice cast to record a full script for a game that had never had speech.

Which Doctor Who star voices the richest duck in the world in the 2017 reboot?

David Tennant, the Tenth Doctor, gives Scrooge his own Scottish accent; almost every role was recast for the reboot, though Tony Anselmo, Donald's voice in the 1987 show, stayed on.

Which character, Donald's twin sister and the triplets' mother, made her animated debut in the 2017 DuckTales reboot?

Della Duck took Scrooge's rocket, the Spear of Selene, before her sons hatched and vanished into space; the mystery of what happened to her drives the reboot's first season.

Which Community actor voices Huey in the 2017 DuckTales reboot?

Danny Pudi, Abed on Community, plays Huey, with Ben Schwartz as Dewey and Bobby Moynihan as Louie; the cast announced itself in 2016 by singing the theme a cappella.

Which Hamilton star voices Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera in the 2017 DuckTales reboot?

Lin-Manuel Miranda's Fenton is a young scientist interning for Scrooge's inventor rather than the 1987 show's accountant, and he gained the Spanish surname Cabrera.

Who voices Webby Vanderquack in the 2017 DuckTales series?

Kate Micucci, half of the comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates, plays a very different Webby: the timid girl with a doll in the 1987 show became an athletic, adventure-hungry action hero.

What is the title of the 2017 reboot's 44-minute pilot episode?

'Woo-oo!', named for the theme's signature cry, premiered at midnight on Disney XD on August 12, 2017, and was looped for the following 24 hours before the series proper began in September.

Which criminal organisation hunts the McDuck family in the DuckTales reboot's third season?

F.O.W.L., the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny, led by Bradford Buzzard, wants to end adventuring for good; the family meanwhile chases artifacts from the journal of explorer Isabella Finch.

Which Disney Afternoon hero got a 44-minute crossover episode in the DuckTales reboot's final season?

Darkwing Duck starts out in the reboot as nothing more than an old TV show; Drake Mallard, an actor who grew up watching it, ends up putting on the cape to fight crime for real.

In the 2017 DuckTales finale, Webby learns that she is what?

Scrooge's clone, grown from his DNA by the villains and rescued as a baby, Webby turns out to be the old miser's daughter rather than just a family friend.

Tokyo Movie Shinsha, which animated much of DuckTales' first season, also made which anime film?

Akira came out of the same studio in 1988; Disney sent DuckTales to Japan because it wanted animation far better than the cheap TV cartoons of the day.

Which of these DuckTales characters was created for the TV series rather than taken from the comics?

Launchpad McQuack was invented for the show to fly Scrooge to his adventures, and proved popular enough to co-star in a spin-off; Gyro, Goldie and Glomgold all came from the comics.

Scrooge McDuck made his first appearance in which 1947 Donald Duck comic story?

Christmas on Bear Mountain introduced Scrooge as a bearded recluse who curses 'that silly season when everybody loves everybody else' and dresses as a bear to test Donald's courage.

Scrooge McDuck takes his name from the miser in an 1843 holiday novella by which author?

Charles Dickens's miser came full circle in 1983, when Scrooge McDuck was cast as Ebenezer Scrooge himself in Mickey's Christmas Carol.

Which former music-hall singer is Scrooge's old flame, turning up now and then in the original DuckTales?

Glittering Goldie was modelled on a real Yukon entertainer, 'Klondike Kate' Rockwell; in the comics she and Scrooge fell for each other in the gold rush and never admitted it.

In the 2017 reboot, Launchpad initially works for Scrooge in what job before becoming his pilot?

Limo driver is Launchpad's job when the reboot begins, though he dreams of flying for Scrooge; in the 1987 show he was a pilot from the start, and his reboot plane is the Sunchaser.

Which former SNL cast member voices Launchpad McQuack in the 2017 DuckTales reboot?

Beck Bennett, then a Saturday Night Live regular, took over the crash-prone pilot from Terry McGovern, who had voiced him since 1987; the reboot recast almost every role.

Which colour does Huey wear in both DuckTales series?

Red is Huey's colour, and a Disney archivist offered a way to remember all three: the brightest hue is red, dew is blue, and that leaves Louie, since leaves are green.

Why is Hungary's 'DuckTales generation', born in the 1980s, so called?

A PM's death was announced mid-episode: on 12 December 1993 Hungarian state TV broke into the cartoon to report that József Antall, the first freely elected premier since communism, had died.

Despite his name, Scrooge McDuck's butler Duckworth in DuckTales is actually which kind of animal?

A dog is what Duckworth really is, 'Duck' in his name or not; he was invented for the 1987 series, where he doubles as Scrooge's chauffeur.

Which Marvel film star voices Donald Duck in the 2017 DuckTales after a gadget makes him easy to understand?

Don Cheadle is the smooth voice Donald gains in the first-season finale, after inventor Gyro Gearloose makes him swallow a voice modulator.

Inventor Gyro Gearloose stands out from most of the DuckTales cast because he is which kind of bird?

A chicken is what Gyro has been since his comic-book debut in 1952, and his 'thinking cap' is a nest-shaped hat with three birds living inside it.

Scrooge McDuck first struck it rich as a young prospector during which real gold rush?

Klondike gold made Scrooge his first million after he dug up an egg-sized nugget, a backstory that both DuckTales series keep.

The original DuckTales voice of Scrooge McDuck starred as Wilbur Post in which 1960s television sitcom?

Mister Ed cast him as the owner of a talking horse from 1961 to 1966, years before he began four decades as the voice of the world's richest duck.

Fenton Crackshell's armoured alter ego in DuckTales was first pitched under a name spoofing which sci-fi film?

RoboCop inspired the working name 'Roboduck', one of three ideas Tad Stones pitched for the second season, alongside a caveduck and a never-used 'Spaceduck'.

At the end of DuckTales the Movie, Scrooge McDuck uses his final wish to turn the Genie into what?

A real boy is what the Genie becomes, and with nobody left inside it the lamp crumbles to dust, ending its magic for good.

Which business magazine has ranked Scrooge McDuck first on its list of the richest fictional characters?

Forbes placed Scrooge at number one on its Fictional 15 and, in 2011, put a real-world price on his hoard: $44.1 billion, lifted by rising gold prices.

The Phantom Blot, a villain in both DuckTales series, began as a comic-strip enemy of which cartoon star?

Mickey Mouse first outwitted the Blot in a newspaper strip by Floyd Gottfredson; the 2017 DuckTales recast him as a magic hunter hiding inside a mascot costume.

In the comics behind DuckTales, sorceress Magica De Spell lives on the slopes of which real volcano?

Mount Vesuvius is her address near Naples, and she plans to use the volcano's fires to forge an amulet that grants the Midas touch.

In DuckTales, the nickname of young adventurer Webby Vanderquack is short for which full first name?

Webbigail is her full name, and the 1987 original was never without a doll called Quacky-Patch; the reboot turned her into a fearless adventure nerd.

Which 1996 DuckTales spin-off reimagined Huey, Dewey and Louie as teenagers travelling with their uncle Donald Duck?

Quack Pack sent the teenage trio around the world with Donald, now a TV news cameraman, and lasted a single season of 39 episodes.

The 2017 DuckTales reboot premiered with a 24-hour marathon of its pilot on which cable channel?

Disney XD looped the pilot for 24 hours straight; the series later spent a spell on Disney Channel before returning for its third season.

In DuckTales the Movie, the sorcerer Merlock used past wishes to destroy Pompeii and which other legendary place?

Atlantis and Pompeii were, in the Genie's telling, popular holiday spots until Merlock wished them away; another of his wishes was for eternal life.

June Foray, the 1987 DuckTales voice of Magica De Spell, also voiced a title hero of which classic cartoon series?

Rocky and Bullwinkle gave her two roles at once, the flying squirrel Rocky and the spy Natasha Fatale, decades before DuckTales.

In DuckTales, inventor Gyro Gearloose is helped by a tiny robot assistant with what in place of a head?

A light bulb tops the little robot, known as Little Helper in the comics and Little Bulb in the 2017 series, where he runs amok until fitted with a lower-watt one.

Donald Duck's old friends José Carioca and Panchito Pistoles join him in the 2017 DuckTales as which musical trio?

The Three Caballeros reunite as Donald's college band, which once practised in Scrooge's garage; the trio first shared the screen in Disney features of the 1940s.

Sky pirate Don Karnage, who menaces Dewey in the 2017 DuckTales, was first the villain of which other animated series?

TaleSpin made Karnage its chief villain in the 1990s, and the reboot kept his airborne pirate base, the Iron Vulture.

Which classic cartoon character, absent from the 1987 DuckTales, first meets Donald in a stuck elevator in the reboot?

Daisy Duck gets trapped in the lift with Donald during a party, and the pair, strangers until then in this version, end up a couple.

In its third season, DuckTales was paired in an hour-long block with which other new adventure cartoon?

Rescue Rangers joined DuckTales for the 1989–90 season, the first of the hit follow-ups that the duck show's success had made possible.

Peter Cullen, heard in the 1987 DuckTales as Bankjob Beagle, is famous as the voice of which Transformers leader?

Optimus Prime got his steady voice from Cullen's older brother Larry, a Marine captain who served in Vietnam, a far cry from the burly Beagle Boy of DuckTales.

Which flamboyant comedian, famous for showering audiences with confetti, voiced the Genie in DuckTales the Movie?

Rip Taylor phoned in pages of rewritten Genie dialogue from a radio studio in Atlantic City, repeating them seven times as the script kept changing.

In DuckTales the Movie, which thieving guide leads Scrooge McDuck to the treasure while secretly serving Merlock?

Dijon, a kleptomaniac created for the film, later keeps the lamp for himself and wishes his way into Scrooge's entire fortune.

DuckTales the Movie was animated chiefly at a new studio set up in which European country?

France hosted the Paris studio where a mostly European crew made the film; its lone American animator had to explain the script's slang to his colleagues.

The 1989 NES DuckTales game was produced by key staff from which other platforming series?

Mega Man veterans, including character designer Keiji Inafune, built the game, which went on to sell more than a million copies on the NES.

In the NES DuckTales game, which treat restores Scrooge McDuck's health after replacing hamburgers during development?

Ice cream took over from hamburgers as the health pick-up, one of several late changes that also took the crosses off the coffins in the Transylvania stage.

Which impossibly lucky cousin of Donald Duck turns up in both DuckTales series, much to his relatives' annoyance?

Gladstone Gander never needs to work because fortune simply falls into his lap; in the 1987 series a sorceress tries to harness his luck for a theft.

Which friend of the nephews in the 1987 DuckTales idolises pilot Launchpad McQuack and tags along with him?

Doofus Drake is the pilot's devoted sidekick in the original; the 2017 reboot turned him into a spoiled, unhinged rich kid who keeps his own parents as servants.

In DuckTales, the young caveduck adopted by Scrooge McDuck arrives with Tootsie, a pet of which dinosaur kind?

A triceratops, Tootsie stowed away with the caveduck in a time machine; the 2017 series recast the pet as a fierce dinosaur from a far earlier age.

The 1987 DuckTales episode Where No Duck Has Gone Before, about a TV cast launched into space, spoofs which franchise?

Star Trek is the target: props built by Gyro for a science-fiction show really blast off, and Launchpad saves the day as the only real pilot aboard.

Which short, cunning Beagle Boy serves as the gang's second-in-command in the 1987 DuckTales?

Bigtime is the short one who gives the orders; the 2017 reboot made him far dimmer and forever desperate for approval.

What colour is the coat Scrooge McDuck wears in the 1987 DuckTales, a look the 2017 reboot dropped?

Blue was the 1987 look; the reboot went back to the comic-book coat, complete with visible pockets and black cuffs.

The 2021 DuckTales podcast spin-off, hosted by Huey, parodies the title of which popular public radio show?

This American Life lent its name and format to the seven-episode spin-off, which launched two weeks after the series finale with the reboot's own voice cast.

In both the comics and the 2017 DuckTales, Scrooge McDuck was born in which city before seeking his fortune abroad?

Glasgow is where, in the comics, the young Scrooge shined boots before sailing to America at 13 as a cabin boy on a cattle ship.

Which cartoonist's saga The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck first named the tycoon's parents Fergus and Downy?

Don Rosa's 12-part saga supplied the names the 2017 DuckTales gave Scrooge's parents, though he has said the reboot bears virtually no similarity to the original comics.

In the Latin American Spanish dub of DuckTales, Scrooge McDuck goes by which name?

Rico McPato leads Pato Aventuras, the show's title there, while the nephews keep the names Hugo, Paco and Luis from older dubbed cartoons and comics.

Ithaquack, a Greek realm seen in both DuckTales series, takes its name from the homeland of which Greek hero?

Odysseus ruled Ithaca, the island Homer has him spend ten years trying to reach; the reboot's Ithaquack is home to gods such as Zeus and the mighty Storkules.

In the 1987 DuckTales, Scrooge McDuck bets he can make money from the Hindentanic, which is what kind of craft?

A blimp, the Hindentanic carries a name that echoes two famous disasters at once, the airship Hindenburg and the liner Titanic.

In the 1987 DuckTales episode Scrooge's Pet, which small animal runs off with the combination to the vault?

A lemming makes off with the combination, in a plot taken from the 1955 comic story The Lemming with the Locket.

Which voice actor has played Donald Duck in both the 1987 DuckTales and the 2017 reboot?

Tony Anselmo was trained by Clarence Nash, the original Donald, and inherited the role after Nash died in 1985, just as his mentor had wished.

Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin is famously said to hold how much cash, in an impossible unit of measure?

Three cubic acres is the figure, first quoted in a 1950 comic story; an acre measures area, so nobody can say what a cubic one would be.

The two-part finale of the original DuckTales in 1990 centres on which fabled creature guarded by a secret brotherhood?

The Golden Goose can turn anything to gold, and in the last episode its runaway transformations threaten to bring about the end of the world.

Hal Smith, the 1987 DuckTales voice of Gyro Gearloose, played town drunk Otis Campbell in which classic sitcom?

The Andy Griffith Show made him famous as Otis, who would let himself into a jail cell to sleep it off; friends said Smith himself did not drink.

In the climax of DuckTales the Movie, Merlock pursues the falling Scrooge McDuck as which mythical beast?

A griffin is his last disguise; when Scrooge knocks the talisman from his grip, the sorcerer turns back to normal in mid-air and falls.

At a society ball in DuckTales the Movie, Scrooge McDuck grabs which piece of tableware, mistaking it for the lamp?

A gravy boat fools him in the scuffle, so the real lamp and the Genie are left behind for a thief to pick up.

In the 1987 DuckTales, Fenton Crackshell's mother spends her days in a trailer, in curlers, watching what?

Soap operas keep M'Ma glued to the set in the original; the reboot kept the habit as a love of telenovelas but made her a police detective.

In the 1987 DuckTales, Scrooge McDuck is hounded by a conquistador's ghost while seeking which legend in Florida?

The Fountain of Youth tempts Scrooge because he fears old age is slowing him down; the armoured ghost haunting the swamp is a spoof of the explorer Ponce de León.

In a 1987 DuckTales episode, Scrooge McDuck searches the Himalayas for the lost crown of which conqueror?

Genghis Khan's crown is guarded by a snow beast in the episode, which was adapted from a 1956 Uncle Scrooge comic story.

In DuckTales the Movie, Merlock punishes his disloyal henchman by wishing him into which animal?

A pig is the shape he is stuck in until Merlock's defeat, after which he is caught stuffing his trousers with Scrooge's cash.

A statue of which pioneer, founder of Scrooge McDuck's home city, is a landmark in the comics behind DuckTales?

Cornelius Coot turned an old fort into a trading post that grew into the city, and the 2017 series built an episode around his golden armory.