Quack Pack Explained

Genre:	Animated sitcom
Creator:	Toby Shelton Kevin Hopps
Theme Music Composer:	Jeff Martin (arranged by Randy Petersen)
Opentheme:	"Quack Pack", performed by Eddie Money
Endtheme:	"Quack Pack" (Instrumental)
Composer:	Eric Schmidt
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Channel:	Syndication
Company:	Walt Disney Television Animation
Num Seasons:	1
Num Episodes:	39
Runtime:	22 minutes

Quack Pack is an American animated sitcom produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, featuring Donald Duck and his nephews.^[1] The show debuted on September 3, 1996 as a part of the "Disney Afternoon" programming block, following the success of Goof Troop, and ran for one season with 39 episodes.^[2]

Plot

The show centers around Donald Duck, who works as a cameraman alongside his girlfriend Daisy, a reporter for the TV show What In the World. The pair travels around the world with his now-adolescent nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, looking for noteworthy news stories.

Huey, Dewey and Louie have more distinct personalities than their younger selves had. They usually resort to extreme measures to achieve their ambitions without being punished by their uncle, often by tricking him only to feel guilty about it afterwards. The brothers share similar passions such as listening to rock music, getting revenge on those who anger them, impressing girls, getting money, pulling pranks, playing games and reading comics, as well as a profound knowledge of cars and mechanics.

Characters

• Donald Duck (voiced by Tony Anselmo) is Huey, Dewey and Louie's uncle/guardian who refer to him as "Uncle D" if not "Uncle Donald". All of them live together in Donald's house. He is also Daisy's boyfriend and cameraman for her TV show. Despite being an especially notorious prankster, well known for being fiery-tempered and impatient, he tries to be a good parental figure and is sometimes less than willing to trust Huey, Dewey and Louie. However, he has shown that he deeply cares about them and is very protective of them. He portrays himself as a father figure towards them and regards them as his boys.
• Huey (voiced by Jeannie Elias), the oldest of Donald's nephews, usually acts as the leader of the three brothers and strongly believes that the concepts of fate and coincidence are somehow mysteriously linked together. This makes Huey possess a more persevering character than his brothers as he is usually the last to give up trying to get something when the trio want anything. Huey is also the lothario among the boys.
• Dewey (voiced by Pamela Adlon), the middle child of the trio, is usually the most level-headed out of the three boys. Even though the trio love practical jokes, Dewey is the main practical joker and considers himself a master prankster due to his good knowledge of technology, such as using projectors to create ghosts and fog machines for a more spooky atmosphere.
• Louie (voiced by E. G. Daily), the youngest of the siblings, is a huge fan of comic books and sports – more so than his brothers, with his favorite comic book hero being Mantis Boy. Unlike his brothers, Louie is a nature and animal lover, in addition to being the kindest of his siblings.
• Daisy Duck (voiced by Kath Soucie) is Donald's girlfriend and the reporter of a TV show called What In the World, working for Kent Powers. She does everything she can to try to get a story, sometimes even to the extent of intentionally endangering others. She has a blue pet iguana named Knuckles who eats almost anything. Daisy is a mother figure to Huey, Dewey and Louie and is willing to trust them more than Donald does as he often believes they are up to no good, although he is often proven correct. She also puts up with Donald's equally dodgy and impulsive antics.
• Kent Powers (voiced by Roger Rose) is a narcissistic TV personality, and both Daisy's and Donald's boss. Although Donald is specifically employed as his cameraman, Kent specifically makes Donald his personal assistant without paying him any extra and frequently bullies him for so little as a cheap laugh. Despite his popular image, he is egocentric, selfish, untrustworthy, aloof, domineering and mean-spirited, but unlike Donald has no redeeming qualities. Kent hates Donald, and eagerly takes every opportunity to attempt to fire him unless otherwise instructed.
• Ludwig Von Drake (voiced by Corey Burton) is Donald's uncle and Duckburg's resident genius and inventor, whom Donald and his nephews visit when they need his advice or gadgets, though they tend to make matters worse for those involved.
• Gwumpki (voiced by Pat Fraley), an immigrant from a country called Gladismorkia, is a good friend of the quintet and owner of the local restaurant where the boys loiter in. He is generally kind-hearted, though he often gets angry when the topic of the boys' unpaid tab is brought up.
• Knuckles is Daisy's pet iguana.
• The Claw (voiced by Frank Welker) is an intimidating criminal named for the metal claw replacing his hand. The Claw first appears in "Ready, Aim... Duck!" when Donald claims that he was responsible for breaking the triplets' virtual reality helmet (in reality, Donald himself was the one who broke it). This causes The Claw to seek out Donald in anger. In his second appearance, "Long Arm of the Claw", the Claw reappears as a fully rehabilitated "good citizen". However, he relapses back into his violent nature whenever he sees gold and calms down only when he hears the sound of a ringing bell.
• Moltoc (voiced by Tim Curry) is a sneaky European villain who intends to take over the world by stealing a golden orb in "Recipe for Adventure" and finding a buried treasure in "Hit the Road, Backwater Jack".
• The Zalcrovian Overlord (ZO) is an alien overlord whose plans to take over Earth were accidentally foiled by Donald in "The Late Donald Duck"; thus, he returns in "The Return of the T-Squad" for revenge.
• Dr. Horton Letrek (Jeff Bennett) is a mad scientist who in "Island of the Not So Nice" invented a ray that turns lifeforms into prehistoric versions of themselves and in "Heavy Dental" invented a mind-control device.

Production

Co-producers Kevin Crosby Hopps and Toby Shelton turned to Donald Duck shorts for inspiration for Quack Pack. Shelton noted that in the shorts, Donald mostly interacted with humans, and decided to incorporate humans into the world of Quack Pack. This contrasted with DuckTales, a previous Disney Afternoon series, where the world is inhabited by other anthropomorphic animals. Shelton considers Quack Pack as more of an extension of the original Donald Duck shorts than of DuckTales.^[3] Because of this, many characters from the DuckTales cartoons and comics, including Disney characters, such as Scrooge McDuck, Launchpad McQuack, and Mickey Mouse don't appear in the series, although Ludwig Von Drake does make a couple of appearances.

In the show, the previously interchangeable nephews were given their own voices and personalities. Huey was the smooth-talker and schemer, Louie was the athlete and oddball, and Dewey was the intellectual and prankster.^[3]

The original title of the show was Duck Daze, but was changed to Quack Pack before release.^[4] There are still references to Duck Daze in the theme song.

Release

After Quack Pack left the Disney Afternoon block and following the launch of Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC, it eventually resurfaced in reruns on Disney Channel, and later on Toon Disney. The show was removed from the channel's line up along with several other Disney shows in November 2004.

This show was aired on Disney Junior in Turkey, Netherlands, Flanders, Japan, and Southern Africa, on Disney Channel in Germany, India, Mexico, Poland and Turkey, and Disney XD in Scandinavia and Latin America.

All episodes of the series are currently available on the Disney+ streaming service.

Home media

VHS releases

In the summer of 1997, three 45-minute VHS cassettes containing six episodes were released in the United States.

VHS Name	Episode Titles	Release Date
Alien Attack!	"I.O.U a U.F.O." "Ducklaration of Independence"	July 15, 1997^[5] ^[6]
Ducks Amuck!	"Ducky Dearest" "All Hands on Duck"	July 15, 1997^[7]
House of Haunts	"The Boy Who Cried Ghost" "Cat and Louse"	August 26, 1997^[8]

DVD releases

United States

The episodes "Transmission: Impossible", "Heavy Dental" and "Feats of Clay" were released as the first Region 1 volume Quack Pack: Volume 1 in the United States on February 14, 2006.^{[9] [10]}

International

A one-off Christmas special compilation DVD titled Disney's Christmas Favourites was released in Region 2 on October 31, 2005, and contains the Quack Pack episode "Snow Place to Hide", along with the Mickey Mouse Works short segment "Mickey's Mixed Nuts", the episode "A Christmas Cruella", and the short Toy Tinkers.^[11]

Reception

Critical reception

Zach Gass of Screen Rant called Quack Pack one of the "classic Disney cartoons," writing, "It's not the most original idea, but it's definitely an animated '90s time capsule. With its choice of design, dialogue, and certain plot devices, it's unarguably a product of its time, for better and for worse."^[12] Catherine Hug of CBR.com said, "While Quack Pack only had one season in 1996, it featured the hilarious antics of Donald Duck and his three nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie. While Donald tried working as a TV Cameraman, he also had to watch over his three rebellious nephews."^[13] Susana Polo of Polygon stated, "Quack Pack wasn’t all bad ideas. Like our modern DuckTales reboot, it seized upon the idea of giving Huey, Dewey and Louie differentiated personalities."^[14]

Legacy

Quack Pack served as inspiration for the 2017 DuckTales episode of the same name, wherein the main characters find themselves trapped in a 1990s sitcom and are forced to contend with the human studio audience, which they view as monsters since humans are not part of the series.^[15] Additionally, in the series finale 'The Last Adventure!', it was revealed that Donald kept a Hawaiian shirt similar to the one he wears in Quack Pack, and Della, sarcastically, asked if the year was 1996, which was the year the series released.

External links

• Official Website
  • Quack Pack at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016
  • Quack Pack at MickeyMouseAthletics.com

Notes and References

1. Book: Perlmutter . David . The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows . 2018 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1538103739 . 485.
2. "Donald Duck's role with the Quack Pack "
3. http://tobyshelton.blogspot.com/2011/01/huey-dewey-louie-model-sheets-quack.html Toby Shelton: stuff i did: Huey, Dewey & Louie Model Sheets (Quack Pack) 1993
4. Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 647–649.
5. Web site: Quack Pack Alien Attack! Vhs Video: Everything Else . Amazon . 2009-09-09 . 2014-05-06.
6. Web site: Quack Pack: Alien Attack! VHS . Familyvideo.com . 2014-05-06.
7. Book: Disney's Quack Pack – Ducks Amuck [VHS]: Tony Anselmo, Jeannie Elias, Elizabeth Daily, Pamela Adlon, Kath Soucie, Roger Rose, Frank Welker, Corey Burton, Jim Cummings, Pat Fraley, Gregg Berger, Cam Clarke, Kevin Campbell: Movies & TV |asin=6304515626 ].
8. Book: Quack Pack: House of Haunts [VHS]: Tony Anselmo, Kath Soucie, Jeannie Elias, Pamela Adlon, Elizabeth Daily, Joe Nipote, Joe Lala, Tim Curry, Pat Fraley (II), Cam Clarke, April Winchell, Roger Rose, Corey Burton: Movies & TV |asin=6304401019 ].
9. Web site: Quack Pack, Volume 1: Tony Anselmo, Jeannie Elias, Elizabeth Daily, Pamela Adlon, Kath Soucie, Roger Rose, Frank Welker, Corey Burton, Jim Cummings, Pat Fraley, Gregg Berger, Cam Clarke, Kevin Campbell: Movies & TV . Amazon . 14 February 2006 . 2014-05-06.
10. Web site: Quack Pack Products | Disney Movies . Movies.disney.com . 2014-05-06.
11. Web site: Disney Christmas Favourites – THIS IS A SINGLE DISC ONLY DVD: Amazon.co.uk: DVD & Blu-ray . 31 October 2005 . Amazon.co.uk . 2014-05-06.
12. Web site: Gass . Zach . 2022-02-20 . Disney: 10 Classic Cartoons To Watch Before The Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers Movie . 2022-08-28 . ScreenRant . en-US.
13. Web site: Hug . Catherine . 2022-06-15 . 5 Disney Animated Series Unjustifiably Canceled After 1 Season (& 5 That Went On For Too Long) . 2022-08-28 . CBR . en-US.
14. Web site: Polo . Susana . 2017-08-15 . There was a DuckTales reboot in the '90s, too — and it was weird . 2022-08-28 . Polygon . en-US.
15. Quack Pack!. DuckTales. 2020-04-04. 3. 49.