"Darkwing Duck" was one of the great animated treasures of my childhood. I was only about six-years-old when this show began its original run on ABC, which was also during the same time that a wealth of animated cartoon shows were popping up featuring anthropomorphic animals as its lead characters. "Darkwing Duck" was one of the best to come out during this time. With its hip, New Jack-inspired opening theme song, the show is about its titular character, Darkwing Duck, a Batman-like, non-super-powered superhero who fights crime in St. Canard (surely this show's animated version of Batman's Gotham City). He's capable of getting the job done, surely enough, but he's very egocentric and desperate for fame and attention from the city's citizens and police officials. In his civilian identity, he is Drake Mallard, a typical, unassuming suburbanite who tries to be a good father to his adopted daughter Gosalyn, who learns of his superhero alter-ego pretty early within the series. Drake's best friend Launchpad McQuack is also his sidekick and pilot. "Darkwing Duck" is a fun show. Being a fan of comic book superheroes including Batman (who this show seems to delight in routinely parodying), I've always gotten immense enjoyment from watching it. One of the best things that can be said about "Darkwing Duck" is that it has a great, recurring cast of super-villains, including Megavolt (who can control electricity), Quackerjack (an insane former toymaker), Bushroot (a half-duck/half-plant mad scientist), Negaduck (an evil version of Darkwing Duck himself from an alternate dimension), and my personal favorite The Liquidator (whose entire body is made out of water). Each one is powerful enough to give Darkwing a significant challenge whenever they come to blows, but nonetheless Our Hero always triumphs in the end - this IS a kid's show, after all. "Darkwing Duck" was unfairly taken off the air a lot earlier than it should have been. This was during a boom time when there were all sorts of animated superhero cartoon shows on the air, like "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" and "Batman: The Animated Series." Thank goodness the advent of DVD has allowed this show a new after-life for a newer generation of TV-goers and old-school fans - like me - who grew up watching this show.
10/10
10/10