September 3, 1996 – The Animated Series Quack Pack Premieres
“I feel like quacking so I think I will. I’m gonna quack quack quack until I get my fill.”
On September 3, 1996, the animated series Quack Pack made its debut in the Disney Afternoon lineup. The series centered around Donald Duck and his nephews, who are now teenagers, and given their own personalities, as opposed to how they were portrayed in the DuckTales series. The series itself was considered an extension of the Donald Duck short film series rather than the DuckTales series and comics, with Donald interacting with humans rather than with other anthropomorphic animals. It lasted one season, with only thirty-nine episodes; reruns eventually ran on Toon Disney, but were taken off the air in 2004. Quack Pack starred Tony Anselmo as Donald, Jeannie Elias as Huey, Pamela Adlon as Dewey, E. G. Daily as Louie, Kath Soucie as Daisy, and Roger Rose as Kent Powers.
The first episode, “The Really Mighty Ducks,” begins in the very messy room of the nephews, who sit around reading comic books. Donald stumbles into the room and is amazed at the filth, and demands they make it spotless. The nephews make excuses to not clean up, but Donald, who has been trapped in part of the mess, demands that they clean or else. They stop by Professor Ludwig von Drake’s lab, and ask him for something that will clean the room for them. The three find that he has a “superhero machine,” and decide to use it. The trio emerges as Brain Boy (Dewey), Captain Muscle (Louie), and The Really Incredibly Fast Guy (Huey). The Professor tells them to step back in and return to normal, but the boys refuse, stating that Donald can’t make them do anything anymore, since they have powers and he is “mere mortal.”
The Professor soon receives a call from the President of the International Organization of United Neighbors (IOUN), who asks if he knows of any superheroes. The boys soon volunteer, and the President dubs them the Tremendously Talented Trio of Truly Trusted Troubleshooters, or the T-Squad, for short. The three then go save the world with great fanfare, and are given an outer space station as their headquarters. However, their tasks to save the world are rather mundane, which include retrieving a kite from a tree and finding a man’s lost sock. Back in the boys’ room, Donald is still fuming about the mess they left behind. He then heads to Professor von Drake’s and finds the superhero machine. When he is inside, he is turned into a supervillain named The Duck of Doom, and vows to make the boys clean their room.
Donald flies out and finds the T-Squad’s headquarters, attacking them with a boulder, then a plane. The boys find a note attached to the plane: “Clean your room, or else. Love and kisses, your uncle, the Duck of Doom.” Huey declares that they must fight the Duck of Doom, and sends a note back: “No way, Jose!” The battle rages on, with Donald playing pranks, but the T-Squad doesn’t take him seriously. In a fit of rage, Donald gathers all the televisions in the world and threatens to destroy them all unless the boys clean their room. Daisy, who has a job as a television reporter, appears on the scene to narrate the story, but decides to play the bagpipes when she realizes that she’s not broadcasting to anyone. The head of the IOUN tells the T-Squad they must do something, and the T-Squad decides they have to declare war. Donald then smashes the televisions with a giant hammer when the boys refuse to clean, and when they try to fight their uncle, they are easily defeated.
When they reach their headquarters to find something to defeat him, they realize that they can’t find what they’re looking for, as they’ve left it in a huge mess. The boys soon decide that their uncle may be right, and head back to the Professor’s lab for help. The Professor fixes the machine to make it seem like the entire debacle never happened, and the boys rush home to clean their room, much to Donald’s surprise.
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