THE PLUCKY DUCK SHOW

THE PLUCKY DUCK SHOW

(FOX, September 19-December 12, 1992)

Warner Bros. Animation, Amblin Entertainment

MAIN CAST:

Joe Alaskey – Plucky Duck, Ed Norton, Danny DeVito, Plucky’s dad, various

John Kassir – Buster Bunny (1 episode)

Charlie Adler – Buster Bunny

Tress MacNeille – Barbara Ann “Babs” Bunny, Julia Roberts, Plucky’s mom, various

Don Messick – Hamton J. Pig, various

Maurice LaMarche – Tim Burton, Dick Clark, Ed McMahon, The Terminator, various

Danny Cooksey – Montana Max

Cree Summer – Elmyra Duff, Michelle Pfeiffer, Oprah Winfrey

Kath Soucie – Fifi La Fume

Frank Welker – Ralph the Guard, Dustin Hoffman, Chewcudda, various

Gail Matthius – Shirley “The Loon” McLoon

Candi Milo – Sweetie Bird

            While Tiny Toon Adventures was a ratings success for FOX, FOX didn’t order any additional episodes beyond what was already being produced for the network. Rather, they wanted to try and expand that success with a spin-off.

Plucky as Batduck.

The Plucky Duck Show was centered around Plucky Duck (Joe Alaskey), who was prominently featured in every episode. While the first episode, “The Return of Batduck,” was a story created for the series, the remainder of the show was made up of segments that had previously appeared or would soon appear on Tiny Toons proper. Because of that, “Batduck” was the only episode to feature new Buster Bunny voice actor John Kassir as it was made after Charlie Adler quit the show. “Batduck” would later be re-edited to fit the Tiny Toons format and aired as part of that show.

Plucky and his usual dupe, Hamton.

One segment ended up being exclusive to the series in North America. “Wait ‘Till Your Father Gets Even” was intended to be part of a horror-themed episode that ended up being banned from airing by FOX over the disturbing content in another segment. The entire episode was aired in Australia and later released to VHS before it was finally seen on Nickelodeon in 1995.

Plucky trying to sell his life story as a movie.

            The Plucky Duck Show began on September 19, 1992 on FOX’s Fox Kids programming block. The series utilized a theme similar to the one composed by Bruce Broughton and written by Tom Ruegger and Wayne Kaatz for Tiny Toons, except Plucky was the primary singer and the lyrics were modified to center on him. The show was a co-production of Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Entertainment, with Steven Spielberg serving as a producer. It failed to attract much of an audience and the series was cancelled after just 13 episodes, allowing the production go focus on their next venture for FOX: Animaniacs.            

           

EPISODE GUIDE:

“The Return of Batduck” (9/19/92) – Plucky stars as Batduck in a new movie.

“Ducklahoma / Video Game Blues / Yakety Yak / Party Crasher Plucky” (9/26/92) – For revenge, Buster has Plucky star in “The Anvil Chorus” remixed with “Oaklahoma!” / Plucky and Fowlmouth sing about Plucky’s addiction to video games. / A music video set to “Yakety Yak”. / Plucky convinces Shirley to take him to a celebrity party, but he keeps getting kicked out.

“Minister Golf / Particle Man / Istanbul / My Brilliant Revenge!” (10/3/92) - Plucky Duckling takes to miniature golf. / A music video set to “Particle Man”. / A music video set to “Istanbul”. / Plucky plans to get revenge on Hamton for destroying his bagpipes.

“Kon Ducki!” (10/10/92) - Plucky and his crew set sail to prove the origin of his ancestors. / Buster narrates the making of Kon Ducki, which was created by Plucky.

“Inside Plucky Duck / Bat’s All, Folks / Wild Takes Class” (10/17/92) – Buster, Babs and Calamity travel around Plucky’s head. / The origin of Plucky’s other alter-ego: Batduck. / Plucky ends up stuck as a giant eyeball while demonstrating Daffy’s advanced wild takes.

“A Quack in the Quarks” (10/24/92) – Plucky Duck has to save Planet X from Duck Vader.

“A Ditch in Time” (10/31/92) – Plucky invents a time machine so he can do his homework, but accidentally sends himself, Buster and Babs to prehistoric times.

“Going Up / Wait ‘Till Your Father Gets Even / Never Too Late to Loon” (11/7/92) – Plucky Duckling’s enjoyment of the elevator leads him to stopping a robbery. / Hamton loses his father’s bottlecap collection to Plucky. / Plucky has Shirley the Loon turn him into Einstein in order to pass a test.

“Just-Us League of Supertoons / A Bacon Strip / Migrant Mallard” (11/14/92) – Batduck and Decoy are rejected by the Just-Us League until Wex Wuthor attacks them and Batduck needs to save them. / Hamton’s clothes are stolen when he skinny-dips in Max’s pool and he has to get home naked. / Plucky tries to modernize going South for the winter.

“Hollywood Plucky” (11/21/92) – Plucky drags Hamton on a Hollywood adventure to try and get his movie made.

“The Potty Years / Milk, It Makes a Body Spout / The Anvil Chorus” (11/28/92) – Plucky Duckling is fascinated by the toilet flushing and flushed everything he could find. / Buster and Plucky try to make Hamton shoot milk out of his nose. / Plucky tries to avoid anvils that fall on him as an orchestra plays.

“Slugfest / Duck Dodgers Jr. / Duck Trek” (12/5/92) – Pretending to be Immature Radioactive Samurai Slugs leads Plucky and Hamton to encounter their enemy—for real. / Plucky serves as Duck Dodgers’ eager new space cadet. / Plucky and his crew land on a planet in search of a toupee for him, but find a hair monster instead.

“Best O’ Plucky Duck Day / One Minute ‘Till Three / Sticky Feathers Duck / Duck in the Dark” (12/12/92) - Buster introduces the contractually-obligated episode centered on Plucky. / The clock refuses to strike 3 as Granny assigns lengthy term papers for wrong answers. / Hamton and Plucky feel guilty after stealing a candy bar from a store. / Plucky spends the night at Buster’s and suffers nightmares after overdosing on horror movies.