Many cartoon trends, like the use of anthropomorphic creatures, started to spread throughout the western animation industry in the 1990s. The popularity of animated films that are based on live-action movies has also grown. A programme that fulfills both requirements is Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series.
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were transformed into humanoid ducks from another dimension who become stranded on Earth in the animated series, which was based on a beloved sports movie trilogy.
In this video, we will delve more into the show’s plot, characters, and setting.
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What The Cartoon Television Series Is All About
The Mighty Ducks movies came first, and they served as the basis for Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series. And it goes without saying that hockey and the National Hockey League team have an impact. The animated series ran for one season and twenty-six episodes after debuting on ABC and Disney Afternoon, from September 6, 1996, to January 17, 1997. Additionally, it was the final animated film to receive a spot in Disney’s afternoon schedule.
The television programme stands alone as a distinct entity from its live-action feature equivalent. These hybrid duck-human beings are from Puckworld, a place where ice hockey penetrates every facet of daily life and popular culture.
While pursuing Dragaunus, a reptile villain who has turned their world into a wasteland, the Resistance Team of Puckworld uses a spatial portal that the enemy himself has opened to arrive on Earth.
They discovered ice hockey on Earth and began playing it. They were physically superior to every other hockey team ever, and as a result, they quickly earned the nickname “Mighty Ducks.” They were successful athletes, living on Earth as professional hockey players, searching for Dragaunus and fighting him constantly.
The animated series quickly gained popularity among the younger hockey fans of the 1990s because of its premise, which placed a strong emphasis on hockey. In actuality, Wildwing Flashblade, who served as the mascot for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim ice hockey team, was the major character (a Disney-owned professional team).
The live-action film trilogy aside, the animated series kicked off with a movie named ‘Mighty Ducks The Movie: The First Face-Off’, which was aired as three separate episodes. The first two episodes gave us insight into how the Mighty Ducks ended up on Earth and the episode ‘Duck Hard’.
The animated series is quite different from the films and the hockey team, in the sense that it is set in a fantasy universe, where there are humanoid ducks who come from a different planet known as Puckworld. The planet is an icy globe, giving it the perfect environment for ice hockey to thrive. As a result, ice hockey is a crucial part of the lives of the anthropomorphic ducks in Puckworld, as it occupied their day-to-day lives and their pop culture.
In the past, Puckworld had been invaded by an alien race called the Saurians; but legend has it that they were saved by a duck named Drake DuCaine (who had a cybernetic mask that could help fight the Saurians). However, the Saurian Overlords return in the animated series and attack Puckworld. To fight them off, seven ducks (the Mighty Ducks) form a resistance. Their plans work out to an extent, but the Saurian Overlord Dragaunus manages to escape. One thing leads to another and the ducks and Dragaunus enter a wormhole that transports them to Anaheim, California, on Earth.
Here, they meet a human named Phil Palmfeather, who turns the Mighty Ducks into a successful ice hockey team that competes in the National Hockey League or the NHL. Meanwhile, their arena, the Pond, is also used as the formal headquarters of the Mighty Ducks who fight Dragaunus and other villains, alongside being professional hockey players. Talk about being productive!
Main Characters And Cast Of The Show
As a cartoon, Mighty Ducks targets a younger audience, which means that the show is a lot more fast-paced than the Mighty Duck movies. Plus, there’s the whole supernatural element to it. And when it comes to cartoons, the characters and their individual quirks often stand out. So, before we dive into the episodes that talk about the origin of the Mighty Ducks, their beef with the Saurians, and their status as hockey players in detail, it is essential to revisit the characters once again.
We start with the primary protagonist, Wildwing Flashblade, who is the leader of the Mighty Ducks – both as fighters and as ice hockey players. Wildwing is the goalie of the Mighty Ducks ice hockey team and wears the jersey number ‘00’.
During their fight against the Saurians before they ended up on Earth, Wildwing’s best friend Canard (who initially had the mask of Drake DuCaine) ended up in Dimensional Limbo to save them. He had previously saved Wildwing on Puckworld, and with Canard gone, the mantle of leadership and the mask were passed down to Wildwing.
He has a reputation of being able to stand tall and strong, no matter what. He is brave, intelligent, and believes in justice. As a fighter, he uses the mask of Drake DuCaine and a Puck Launcher to fight. He also has his body armor.
He was voiced by Ian Ziering, who is best known for his portrayal of Steve Sanders in the show ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’. He has also given his voice to Vinnie from ‘Biker Mice From Mars’ and Gludge from ‘Aaahh!!! Real Monsters’.
Then we have Wildwing’s younger brother, Nosedive Flashblade. He ends up on the Resistance team against the Saurians as a result of Wildwing’s wish, and on Earth, becomes a part of the hockey-playing Mighty Ducks (with 33 being his jersey number) as well as its crime-fighting unit. Unlike his brother, who is more controlled and leader-like, Nosedive is quite immature. His childish nature also results in him being more impulsive and it is often believed that he was modeled after Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Nosedive also happens to be very extroverted, easygoing, and friendly. Unlike his brother, who uses a Puck Launcher, he uses a Puck Blaster, which is a device that shoots explosive hockey pucks. On top of that, he has his Duckcycle.
He was voiced by Steve Mackall, who has voiced the title character from ‘Marsupilami’ and Dr. Happy from ‘Timon & Pumbaa’.
Following Nosedive, we have Duke L’Orange (whose name puns on the French dish duck à l’orange). He is a notorious ex-jewel thief with a Brooklyn accent and used to be the leader of a gang in Puckworld called ‘The Brotherhood of The Blade’. His experiences from this era resulted in Duke being the most experienced Mighty Duck. His eye patch and chipped beaks are also likely to be something he had acquired during his shenanigans as an ex-thief. He is also a part of the Mighty Ducks hockey team and wears jersey number thirteen.
Following the return of Lord Dragaunus and the threat posed by the Saurians, Duke L’Orange changed his criminal ways to fight for the Resistance, and by extension, justice, finally using his abilities for the right cause.
But due to his past, his teammate Mallory still remained suspicious of him. Fortunately for Duke, their leader Wildwing seemed to have solid faith in him, especially with Duke being quite levelheaded (barring the occasional egotistic behavior).
Duke L’Orange is seen using a Puck Blaster in several episodes, but his weapon of choice is the golden sword known as the Ducksaber (which, like a lightsaber, dematerializes into the hilt of the sword once deactivated). He also has a grappling hook on his wrist. And last but not the least, he carries lock picks (which is something he has great experience with).
He was voiced by Jeff Bennett, who is renowned for voicing Johnny Bravo. He has also voiced Dexter’s dad in ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ and Petrie in ‘The Land Before Time’ franchise.
The Mighty Ducks also have the fiery Mallory McMallard. She is known for her sharp tongue and excellence in a version of the martial arts that is native to Puckworld. She also used to be a part of the ‘Puckworld Special Forces’, which is her planet’s military. As a result, she has a very strong moral code and a black-and-white mindset (which is why she cannot bring herself to trust Duke). This also results in her being quite stubborn, disciplined, and a staunch follower of the chain of command.
Nosedive, who is very different from her with his easygoing personality, often finds himself at the receiving end of Mallory’s criticism.
Her weapon of choice is the Puck Blaster and her jersey number is fifteen.
Mallory McMallard was voiced by Jennifer Hale, who has voiced Princess Morbuck in ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ and Zatanna Zatara in the DC Animated Universe.
Up next, we have Tanya Vanderflock, who is not as good a fighter as the other Mighty Ducks. But what she lacks in brawns, she more than compensates for in brains. She is the resident genius of the Ducks with her excellence in mechanics and even the leader himself turns to her for advice.
She also has really bad allergies and low self-confidence, but her wry humor makes her shine. Instead of using offensive weapons like the other ducks, Tanya uses the Omnitool (a multipurpose tool that allows her to disassemble, fix, and even reprogram gadgets whenever necessary). She has created most of the gadgets that the Mighty Ducks use, including their supercomputer known as Drake One.
Apart from being a tech genius, Tanya plays for the Mighty Ducks hockey team and wears jersey number twenty-three. She was voiced by April Winchell, who has given her voice to Ms. Finster in ‘Recess’ and Sylvia in ‘Wander Over Yonder’, among several others.
The Mighty Ducks have Check ‘Grin’ Hardwing, who is the strongest member of the team. He is massive in size but unlike a stereotypical strong character, Grin does not rush headfirst into fights. Instead, he is wise, enlightened, philosophical, and extremely honorable. However, he was not always this way and has spent a fair share of his younger years with terrible temper. But after he trained with the ice hockey master known as Tai Quack Do (which seems to be a play on the term Taekwondo), he changed.
In the Mighty Ducks hockey team, he wears jersey number 1. He was voiced by Brad Garrett, who is best known as Robert Barone from ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’.
Technically Canard Thunderbeak should be a part of the Mighty Ducks as well, especially with him being their original leader and Wildwing’s best friend. However, due to him being stuck in Dimensional Limbo, he is generally seen in flashbacks.
That’s it for the heroic ducks. But on the other end, we have the big bad guy of the show, Lord Dragaunus. He is the evil, fire-breathing, terrifying leader of the Saurians and seeks to dominate the world. He is so ruthless that if one of his underlings makes a mistake, he will kill it on the spot and feel no remorse at all. This makes life for his cronies Wraith, Chameleon, and Siege very hard.
He got stuck on Earth with the Mighty Ducks and now, has trouble with the fuel for his flagship known as The Raptor. The ship required Balerium Crystals to fly and function. With Dragaunus and the Raptor being stranded on Earth, he spends a lot of his time and effort, scheming for ways to find alternate fuel sources for the ship.
He also does not have much faith left in Saurian dark magic and instead, opts for more technologically advanced ways and weapons. He is no stranger to using blasters, teleporters, rays, cloaking devices and rockets.
He was voiced by Tim Curry, who is best known for playing Dr. Frank-N-Furtur in ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’.
The Origin Of The Mighty Ducks And Their Constant Strife With Dragaunus
Now that we are done with knowing the individual characters (at least the important ones), we can get into the meat of the animated series.
It starts with ‘The First Face-Off’ Part 1, where the Mighty Ducks are seen for the first time, winning a pro game of ice hockey. They are cheered on by their manager Phil Palmfeather, while Captain Klegghorn (a man from the Anaheim Police Department) demands to know about the ducks. And so, Phil tells him the tale of how the Mighty Ducks came to Earth.
We are taken to Puckworld, a planet in a different galaxy and a different dimension. We meet Canard, Wildwing, and Nosedive for the first time. Here, Nosedive also mentions the mythical legend of Drake DuCaine, who had apparently used his mask to drive the Saurian invaders away hundreds of years ago. The mask, which looked like an ice hockey goalie mask, doubled as a high-tech mask that could send things into a Dimensional Limbo. According to legend, this is how Drake DuCaine had sent the Saurians into the allegedly inescapable place.
However, the worst comes to life as Saurian Overlord Dragaunus breaks out of the limbo and returns to attack Puckworld once again with his robotic attack ships and henchmen. He is terribly evil and seeks to dominate the world, and no one in Puckworld is strong enough to stand against him. Naturally, the planet falls and several ducks (Wildwing and Nosedive included) are captured and sent as slaves to labor camps, so that he could use them to expand his domain all across the galaxy. However, before push comes to shove, they are rescued by Wildwing’s best friend, Canard.
Turns out, Canard has also found Drake DuCaine’s mask (with which he can see through the magic of the Saurians and their invisibility cloaks) and he recruits Wildwing and Nosedive into the Resistance forces to fight against the Saurian invaders. We are also introduced to the other characters – the weapon’s specialist martial artist Mallory, Puckworld’s most notorious jewel thief Duke L’Orange, science-expert Tanya, and the wise and incredibly strong Greg.
The ducks group together and find the Aerowing, a space ship that is responsible for bringing them to Earth. With the ship and Drake DuCaine’s mask at their disposal, they storm Lord Dragaunus’s Master Tower with Tanya and Mallory trying to destroy the building and Nosedive tasked with guarding the ship. The rest were made to handle Dragaunus’ henchmen while Wildwing would go against the main bad guy himself.
Unfortunately, the plan falters and they are soon overpowered with Wildwing almost being compromised. But thanks to Nosedive, they are able to escape. On the other hand, Dragaunus and his henchmen also escape the exploding Master Tower in his flagship, The Raptor.
The Saurian Overlord then generates a dimensional gateway for his escape, but the Ducks pursue him. Dragaunus soon releases an electromagnetic wormhole to get rid of the Ducks and their Aerowing, but Canard prevents that from happening. He jumps out of the ship and into the wormhole to close it. In the process, he ends up in Dimensional Limbo while the Aerowing and the other Ducks get away. Now that the wormhole has swallowed Canard, it disappears. However, before sacrificing himself, Canard had handed over Drake DuCaine’s powerful mask to Wildwing.
Soon, the Raptor and the Aerowing come out of the dimensional gateway and they find themselves on Earth.
In ‘The First Face-Off Part 2’, the Ducks are stranded in Anaheim, California, on Earth. They try to locate Dragaunus, but instead, find themselves in Captain Comics. They look around to get an idea of the planet and also meet their human friends Thrash and Mookie. Soon, Thrash shows them the hockey arena known as the Anaheim Pond, where the Ducks want to give it a shot, now that the resident team has moved. The Pond was named after the original stadium where the Anaheim Mighty Ducks played, known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.
The former manager of the relocated team, Phil Palmfeather, watch them play a mean team called the Destroyers. However, due to ice hockey being the way of life for these anthropomorphic ducks from Puckworld, plus them having superior physical prowess, the Ducks outclass the Destroyers.
Phil is super impressed and decides to manage the Ducks with them as a newly enlisted team in the National Hockey League or the NHL. They soon end up as a raging success. Interestingly, their uniform designs in the cartoon were based on the uniforms of the original team.
Now star athletes, the Mighty Ducks make good money and put it all to good use. For them, it is the headquarters below the Pond where they dedicate themselves to tracking Dragaunus. The place is super cool and hi-tech, thanks to Tanya’s excellence and genius with mechanics. They begin to fight all types of crime, and not long after, they manage to find Dragaunus, who they battle in the mountains.
Despite the Ducks doing so well, the Aerowing is still no match for Dragaunus’ Raptor. So, they choose to infiltrate the Raptor to take down the Saurians from within. In the battle, the power source of the ship is destroyed, thanks to Tanya and Grin. Soon, Dragaunus personally battles the new captain Wildwing, who has been hesitant about using Drake DuCaine’s mask, as he is eagerly waiting for Canard’s return. But when Dragaunus overpowers him, cloaks himself to turn invisible, and mentions Canard’s absence, Wildwing wears the legendary mask. The tide of the battle turns with Wildwing overpowering Dragaunus, while the power source of the ship is destroyed.
The Mighty Ducks escape and the Raptor heads towards the city for a crash. But before anything can happen, the Saurian flagship disappears, causing immense disappointment to the Mighty Ducks. However, they do not give up. Meanwhile, Dragaunus hides in his ship and plans his revenge.
In the show, we do not see humanoid ducks aside from the Mighty Ducks themselves. But on the off chance we do see one, it is often in flashbacks. The third episode is different in that sense, since another anthropomorphic duck plays a key role in the episode, but not in the way you would imagine.
In ‘A Traitor Among Us’, Dragaunus tries to get his hands on something known as a Proteus chip. With it, he can turn his cannon into a ginormous weapon of destruction and lay waste to any city in the globe. But he is unable to figure out what to do, because it is somewhere in a vast desert. Chameleon suggests Dragaunus use Wildwing and his mask to find the chip. So, Dragaunus hires Lucretia DeCoy, a duck from Puckworld who works as a spy for the Saurians and is a traitor to her own people.
Lucretia heads to the Pond and finds Tanya, who happens to be the only one to know who she is. She ties Tanya to the top rafters of the arena so that she cannot alert the Mighty Ducks about Lucretia’s true identity. She then heads to the headquarters, where her attractive and sensual appearance cause Nosedive and Duke L’Orange to become absolutely smitten with her. Mallory is suspicious of her, but Lucretia lies by saying that Tanya asked her to come up. When Mallory asks her for Tanya’s whereabouts, she lies and says that she has gone to a place called Electric Land.
Nosedive and Duke L’Orange soon get into a rivalry to flirt with Lucretia and win her affections. She introduces herself as Vonda McDrake and claims she does not know how she ended up on Earth from Puckworld. When she finds out that Dragaunus is here, she ‘helps’ the Ducks in finding and fighting him, claiming that she has a score to settle with him, just like the Mighty Ducks do.
The Saurians stage an act to make it look like they are attacking something in the desert. Their plan works and the Mighty Ducks fall into their trap. They soon manage to win the fake fight as the Saurians disappear again. Wildwing deduces that they were excavating something in the middle of the desert, prompting him to use his mask to find what is it that seems to be so precious. Grin is then made to use his strength on a huge pile of rock to break it and find what’s within.
As the rock breaks, a temple is revealed to be hidden within it and inside it is a spaceship that houses the Proteus chip. The Ducks take it to their headquarters to keep it safe and analyze it. Later, Lucretia or ‘Vonda’ sends Nosedive and Duke to bring her food and steals the Proteus chip. She teleports it to Dragaunus and the Ducks soon find out that she has sent the chip to him. However, Lucretia pretends to be a damsel in distress who had no other option because Dragaunus had abducted her parents and was forcing her to do his bidding. She promises to help the Ducks in finding Dragaunus, provided they rescue her parents.
Meanwhile, Phil finds Tanya and releases her while the Mighty Ducks head to find Dragaunus. Wildwing switches the Proteus Chip with ‘Vonda’ with a fake but before he can carry out his plans, she traps them within a machine where she releases ten thousand gallons of water to kill them. She also breaks the controls so that they cannot be saved.
Thankfully, Tanya arrives on time and breaks the machine from the outside. Meanwhile, Dragaunus uses the Proteus Chip, but it causes his cannon to combust instead. He realizes that Lucretia has failed her mission and gotten a fake, and believes that she did it intentionally. He then sends her off to Dimension Limbo as punishment.
What Happened To The Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series?
Unlike the animated series, the movies revolved around Gordon Bombay, a lawyer who was arrested for drunk driving. For community service, he is made to coach a kids’ ice hockey team due to his experience in the game. However, things escalate even though Bombay is not too pumped to return to hockey and he grows to appreciate the kids’ hockey team as he leads them against the odds to come.
The animated series quite evidently has an extremely different setting and saying that it is loosely based on the film is not right either, because there really isn’t much in common minus the thing with ice hockey and some of the names.
However, many people believed that the cartoon was way better than the trilogy and surprisingly, a lot more fun than it should have been. On the other hand, some believed that something about ducks playing hockey while being from a different dimension was straight up weird (which is strange if you think about it because by this time, people should have been quite okay with anthropomorphic animals on screen).
A lot of popular 90s cartoons were abruptly canceled due to issues such as poor ratings, the show running its course, and so on and so forth. In the case of Mighty Ducks, there’s no such standard reason as to why it was cancelled after a few months. And the criticism does not seem to be a likely reason, because it did have a good fan following. Maybe it had run its course as well.
What is even more interesting is that there were a good number of petitions that wanted to bring back Mighty Ducks. It is a case where the spinoff turned out to be better than the originals, which is something that is extremely rare. It was also one of the first Disney shows to incorporate CGI. It is possible that the reason why people fondly remember this show is that it ended sooner and quite early, because when you drag something out, it often loses its essence.
And with that, today’s video comes to an end. What did you think of Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series? Did you enjoy this video? If yes, then don’t forget to like and comment on this video. Till then, goodbye. And have a nice one!