DuckTales (1987)

Woo-hoo!


The series that jump started the trend of Disney television cartoons. Inspired By Carl Barks' classic comics (and loosely adapting a few of his plots), the story centers on Scrooge McDuck, the billionaire uncle of famous Disney rage-a-holic Donald Duck. As the series begins, Donald ships out to sea with the Navy, and Scrooge comes into the guardianship of his mischievous triplet nephews -- Huey, Dewey, and Louie -- and gains the one thing he could never buy with his amazing wealth: family.

Also in the cast:

  • Gyro Gearloose, Bungling Inventor.
  • Duckworth, the loyal butler.
  • Launchpad McQuack, a great pilot who could never get the hang of landing.
  • Mrs. Bentina Beakley, the elderly housekeeper and nanny brought in to help raise the boys. Her first name was only ever heard in the pilot.
  • Webbigail "Webby" Vanderquack, Mrs. Beakley's granddaughter, who moves in with her and becomes Scrooge's particular pet.
  • Doofus Drake, a chubby Junior Woodchuck, who is Huey, Dewey, and Louie's friend and Launchpad's biggest fan.
  • The Beagle Boys, an extensive clan of seemingly unsocial criminals led by their "Ma".
  • Flintheart Glomgold, Scrooge's greatest business rival.
  • Magica de Spell rounded out the villain cast as a sorceress obsessed with the magic held within "Scroogie Dahling's" Number One Dime.
  • In later seasons, Good with Numbers accountant Fenton Crackshell, and his cybernetic Superhero alter ego Gizmoduck, an Affectionate Parody of RoboCop.
  • Likewise, Bubba Duck and Tootsie, a prehistoric Caveduck and his pet triceratops picked up during a Time Travel adventure, joined the cast later on.
  • Gladstone Gander, Donald's Born Lucky cousin, would also make occasional guest appearances.

At 100 episodes over three seasons, DuckTales was notably one of the longest-lived of Disney's television cartoons (its predecessor, Adventures of the Gummi Bears, lasted for twice as many seasons, but only 65 episodes total). It spun off a theatrical film in 1990, titled DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. Also, the show's two video game adaptation on the Nintendo Entertainment System, like many other Disney-based games developed by Capcom, were examples of truly good licensed games. See Video Game: DuckTales for the tropes they give examples to.

Of course, even DuckTales has its detractors. Don Rosa hated it to the point of feeling like he was selling his soul by writing one DuckTales comic because he needed the money. Hopefully viewers let the great show work as a gateway for them into the world of the even greater comics.

Speaking of comics, Boom Studios -- the same studio that brought back Darkwing Duck and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers -- also brought back DuckTales, with Warren Spector as the writer. Between Executive Meddling by the people at Boom to rush it out and the Disney licenses going to Marvel Comics, however, the ambitious globe-trotting plot that could have lasted as a Myth Arc was compressed to four issues and rushed as hell; at the very least, though, the brief series will go out in a blaze of glory as it crosses over with Darkwing for the first time since The Legend of the Chaos God.

Oh yeah, one more thing: the theme song will never leave your head. Ever.

Now has a reboot: DuckTales (2017)

DuckTales (woo-hoo) provides examples of:
  • Absent-Minded Professor: Gyro Gearloose had his moments of this.
  • Absentee Actor: Scrooge notably does not appear at all in three episodes of the series: "Superdoo!", "Sir Gyro de Gearloose", and "Launchpad's Civil War". Huey, Dewey, and Louie missed about 7-8 episodes total in the series.
  • Absolute Cleavage: Circe in "Home Sweet Homer" displayed this.
  • Adipose Rex: In the episode "Status Seekers", the protagonists visit a remote island where the king is fat precisely because in their culture the fattest person is made king. Various attempts to bribe him with Worthless Yellow Rocks fail, and then Mrs. Beakley thinks of trying to bribe him with fattening processed foods instead.
  • Adventurer Outfit: Launchpad.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Scrooge hired Gyro to invent a security robot for his money bin that was so adamant about its job, it wouldn't even let Scrooge near it. This failure prompted Gyro to create the Gizmoduck suit for a person instead (since Scrooge wanted a security robot with "a brain").
  • Air Vent Passageway
  • All Animals Are Dogs: Bubba's pet triceratops Tootsie acted much more like a dog than a dinosaur.
  • Alliteration:

Scrooge: Now, keep your peepers peeled for priceless plunder.
Launchpad: Personally, I'd prefer to protect my posterior from predators.
("A DuckTales Valentine")

  • Always Second Best: Flintheart Glomgold always plays second fiddle to Scrooge. As you can imagine, he's none too happy about it.
  • Always Someone Better: A rare subversion in that the Someone Better was the protagonist. Flintheart Glomgold is the one who's fanatically obsessed with beating Scrooge in the wealth game and becoming the World's Richest Duck.
  • And I Must Scream: The Golden Death in "The Golden Goose".
  • Animation Bump: Two main studios were responsible for the show's animation; TMS Entertainment did most of the first season, while Wang Film Productions took over for a lot of the latter episodes. Fans generally agree that the TMS episodes are way better animated than the Wang episodes, though the latter episodes are still pretty decent.
    • On top of that, there were two Stateside production teams as well; one headed up by Fred Wolf and Alan Zaslove, which worked on all the seasons, and one led by Bob Hathcock (who later directed The Movie), which also started working on the show in the second season after Wolf got involved with a certain other cartoon. The differences between the two American teams are less pronounced, though many feel that the Wolf/Zaslove team did a better job with action sequences, while Hathcock's episodes were visually richer and had more of a "Disney-esque" feel.
  • Anti-Advice: In one episode, Scrooge teams up with Gladstone Gander, whose luck has been supernaturally cursed. Scrooge exploits this by asking Gladstone which direction to go, then heading the opposite way.
  • Artifact of Doom/Eldritch Abomination: The Golden Goose. It comes in the form of a small statue that can turn anything into gold, but when away from its fountain for too long, it comes to life and can turn anything to gold at will. Eventually, everything around it will involuntarily turn to gold, causing The End of the World as We Know It.
  • Art Shift: Scrooge's nightmare at the start of "The Unbreakable Bin".
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: "Attack of the 50-Foot Webby".
  • Auction
  • Ax Crazy: Admiral Grimitz, who "loves it when things go Kablooie."
  • Back from the Dead: Merlock, the villain of DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, somehow survived his fall from the stratosphere and went on to antagonize Donald Duck on one of his video games.
    • His first wish was immortality.
  • Badass Family: The McDuck/Duck family. Uncle Scrooge, Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are all pretty badass in their own way (yes, even Donald can be badass when the chips are down... well in the episodes where he's present at least).
  • Badass Grandpa: Age has not affected Scrooge's spryness or spirit of adventure. The same can be said for El Capitan, who doesn't let the fact that he's apparently over 400 years old stop him from hunting his precious gold.
  • Badass Spaniard: El Capitan from the first five episodes, based on the fact that he will not allow himself to die until he finds more treasure.
  • Bad Future: "Duck to the Future".
  • The Bad Guy Wins: In the end of "Till Nephews Do Us Part", the Beagle Boys actually succeed in robbing the bank.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: "Master of the Djinni" and DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp.
  • The Bermuda Triangle: When many of Scrooge McDuck's ships were disappearing in the Triangle, He sets out to locate his fleet and finally finds it, along with other ships, trapped in a huge mass of seaweed.
  • Berserk Button: Never try to steal Scrooge's number one dime under any circumstances.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Many characters qualify, but Scrooge's nephews and Webby especially stand out here.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Webby does this in "Back Out in the Outback", and it's epic.
    • Also Goldie does this in "Till Nephews Do Us Part", and it's amazing.
  • Big Eater: Doofus and Burger Beagle.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Millionara Vanderbucks.
  • Blame Game
  • Breakout Character
  • Brought Down to Normal: Gladstone by Magica de Spell in "Dime Enough for Luck"... which, if you're at all familiar with the Gladstone of the comics, is incredibly satisfying.
    • Although she doesn't so much remove his luck as invert it; everything now goes wrong for him, which Scrooge is able to use to defeat Magica. Still pretty karmic punishment for some of his behavior in the comics, although the animated version was much less of a Smug Snake.
  • Bungling Inventor
  • Butt Monkey: Dijon.
  • By the Power of Greyskull: "Blathering blatherskite!"
  • Canada, Eh?: Parodied in "Ducky Mountain High".
  • Cane Fu
  • Captain Crash: Launchpad, to the point of needing to be the picture of this trope.
  • Captain Ersatz: Launchpad for Donald, presumably to keep Donald from stealing Scrooge's spotlight -- and because of Donald's voice.
  • Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: In a Show Within a Show.
  • Cardboard Prison: Try to keep the Beagle Boys in jail. Just try.
  • Catch Phrase: Quite a few actually.
    • Scrooge: "Blow me bagpipes!" and "Curse me kilts!"
    • Huey, Dewey, and Louie: "Quackeroony!"
    • Launchpad: "No problem, Mr. Mc D!"
    • Fenton: "Blabberin' Blatherskite!"
    • Admiral Grimitz: "I love it when things go kablooie!"
  • Cheerful Child: Webby.
  • Chick Magnet: Scrooge got the attention of Glittering Goldie, Millionara Vanderbucks, Magica De Spell, Mrs. Crackshell, and Ma Beagle. Even if he is the richest duck in the world, that's still quite an accomplishment.
    • Also Launchpad was pretty popular with the ladies considering he attracted Feathers Galore, Sensen, and many other girls along the way.
  • Chromatic Arrangement
  • Chronically Crashed Car: The team's pilot would crash whatever he was provided with Once an Episode -- including a living condor and a gadget plane that accidentally folded into a suitcase mid-flight.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Bubba the Caveduck was introduced with much fanfare at the start of Season Two, only to vanish without a trace after a dozen or so episodes, mostly due to his unpopularity with the writers. He's never mentioned again.
  • Classical Mythology: Because sometimes it went beyond mere Homage.
  • Clear Their Name: The nephews have to do this for Scrooge in the episode where Glomgold frames him for burglary.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Donald Duck and Launchpad.
  • Cold Cash: Gyro Gearloose once did this to an invention by accident.
  • Comic Book Adaptation: Yes, there's a Comic Book Adaptation of a cartoon based on a comic book based on a cartoon. Just go with it.
    • Also includes a Shout-Out to Darkwing Duck, generally considered a Spin-Off to the series. In one comic, where Scrooge's moon rock cufflinks lead to the group stranded on the moon and out of fuel for the rocket (long story), Launchpad mentions that the cufflinks, actually a cheaply synthesized artificial gem, can be picked up for a nickel in St. Canard. He then adds that he knows this "screwy duck and his daughter" over there.
  • Conspicuously Light Patch: In the opening credits even.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: When Glomgold gets caught framing Scrooge, the judge orders him to always keep a portrait of the world's richest duck in his house. Thus, Glomgold has to put up with Scrooge grinning down at him constantly.
  • Cool Big Sis: The Beagle Babes become this to Webby.
  • Cool Old Guy: Scrooge McDuck -- he's done it all, and isn't afraid to be called to prove that he's done it.
    • Also El Capitan from the five episode pilot due to the fact that he's over 400 years old and has stayed alive solely on willpower and determination to find more treasure. Less cool is his psychotic obsession with the Treasure Of the Golden Suns.
  • Cool Old Lady: Mrs. Beakley definitely qualifies for this.
    • Not to mention Glittering Goldie.
    • Also Ma Beagle, who unlike her sons actually manages to evade the police most times she commits a crime.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Flintheart Glomgold is insanely jealous of Scrooge's status as the World's Richest Duck, and is willing to pull any kind of dirty trick he can think of to undermine his rival. That, and he's a conniving, thieving bastard in general...
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Launchpad has his moments of this.
  • Daddy's Girl: More like Grandpa's Girl, to describe the relationship between Uncle Scrooge and "my darlin' Webbigail."
  • Deadpan Snarker: Scrooge.
    • Duckworth has his moments as well.
  • Death by Materialism: Nearly El Capitan in "Treasure of the Golden Suns"; Scrooge as a Running Gag.
  • Debut Queue: The Five Episode Pilot.
  • Demoted to Extra: Donald was a major player in the original comics, but is just an occasional guest star in the show. Within the show itself, Launchpad and Doofus had drastically-reduced roles in the second season (Doofus only getting a non-speaking cameo in one episode). Uniquely, Bubba the Caveduck was Demoted to Extra immediately after the five episodes that set him up as a main character.
  • Descriptive Ville: A series about anthropomorphic ducks takes place in a city called Duckburg.
  • Determinator: Scrooge and the Beagle Boys qualified for this and also El Capitan who refuses to die until he finds more treasure.
  • Disaster Movie: Parodied in "The Uncrashable Hindentanic".
  • Distracted by the Luxury
  • Dogfaces
  • Dumb Muscle: Bubba. Justified due to him being a prehistoric cave duck relying on primitive instincts.
  • Enthralling Siren: In a retelling of The Odyssey. They're not bird-women, but, on the other hand, the main characters are bird-people.
  • Establishing Character Moment:

"Penny for the poor?"
Scrooge: They're not worth it!

  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The Beagle Boys were tough as nails, but would do anything Ma Beagle asked without a second thought.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: In the episode "Till Nephews Do Us Part", after Flintheart comforts Millionara, she starts flirting with him when she learns that he's the second richest duck in the world, and he immediately runs away for the sake of protecting his money.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: Fenton for Gandra. Also Future Doofus for Future Webby.
    • Also Bubba for Julie in the episode "Bubbeo & Juliet".
  • Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: The Beagle Boys has Burger Beagle "torture" some hostages with bagpipes in the episode "Full Metal Duck".
  • Evil Counterpart: Scrooge is a tough, hard-beaked business-duck, but he's genuinely honest. His arch-nemesis Flintheart Glomgold has all of Scrooge's ambition and determination, but none of his morals or ethics.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Magica de Spell, Circe, and Merlock.
  • Expy: Webby is theorized to be a scandal-free stand-in for Dickie Duck, Scrooge's ex-girlfriend's granddaughter, or possibly a condensed version of Daisy's nieces.
    • Fenton is a definite stand-in for Donald. In the second season, whenever the plot is based on a Carl Barks comic, Fenton (at least when he's not Gizmoduck) fulfills Donald's role the way Launchpad did in the first season.
  • Faked Rip Van Winkle
  • Family Theme Naming: Huey, Louie and Dewey. Also their female counterparts, April, May and June.
  • Fate Worse Than Death: The Golden Death from "The Golden Goose".
  • Fat Idiot: Burger Beagle, and to a lesser extent, Doofus.
  • Fiction 500
  • Fiery Redhead: Robotica from "Metal Attraction", so very much.
  • First Girl Wins: No matter what happens, Scrooge will always love his first girlfriend Goldie more than any other girl.
  • Fish People: They appear in "Aqua Ducks" and "The Ducky Horror Picture Show".
  • Five-Bad Band: The Beagle Boys usually take this role with varying positions.
  • Five-Man Band: This varies depending on the circumstance.
  • Flowers for Algernon Syndrome: "Bubba's Big Brainstorm" and "Superdoo!".
  • Foe Yay:
    • Scrooge and Magica de Spell.
    • Also Scrooge and Ma Beagle.
  • Forgot the Call: Happened to Scrooge where a whack on the noggin causes him to lose his accent, start working at his own plant as a menial laborer, organize a labor strike protesting the unfair business practices he himself imposed, and begin a relationship with Fenton Crackshell's mother.
  • For the Evulz: Presumably the reason Glomgold framed Mad Dog in "Duckman of Aquatraz".
  • Four Finger Discount: Dijon, notoriously so.
    • Also the Beagle Boys.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Webby.
  • Furry Confusion: This is especially interesting in the episode "Back Out in the Outback" where Webby says "Animals Are My Favorite People".
  • G-Rated Sex: This was attempted by Feathers Galore with Launchpad in the episode "Double-O-Duck".
  • Gag Boobs: Boom-Boom Beagle.
  • Genie in a Bottle: Twice. "Master of the Djinni" and DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp.
  • Genius Ditz: Launchpad is a great pilot, but will crash almost every time he flies.
    • Also Launchpad's little sister Loopy despite her initial ditzy qualities, is a pretty capable pilot and mechanic.
  • Gentle Giant: Launchpad, Mrs. Beakley, and Gizmoduck.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar:

Babyface: We're number 1! We're number 1!
Burger: I was gettin' tired of bein' treated like number 2.

    • Also, from the episode "Where No Duck Has Gone Before":

Doofus Launchpad says he wouldn't know an asteroid from a...
Nephews Shhh!

    • In the episode "A Case of Mistaken Secret Identity":

Launchpad I'm going to bare my soul.
Huey Can you do that on television?!

    • In "The Good Mudduhs" Boom-Boom Beagle's prison number is 382238. (38-22-38)
      • That's right, the busty and sexy beagle's measurements are also her prison number. Well done, Disney, well done.
    • In the episode "Sir Gyro de Gearloose", Gyro and the others defeat the dragon by blasting its mouth with wine until it is drunk and tipsily flies off into the distance. Also (as described in more detail under Edited for Syndication above), Merloon's accent turns the phrase "Work, Work, Work!" into an accidental Precision F-Strike.
    • In "Once Upon a Dime", when Young Scrooge is in jail with the Beagle Boys, one of them sees Scrooge's kilt and calls it a nice skirt that his mother would kill to have, and that she has before.
    • Also the attempted G-Rated Sex scene between Feathers Galore and Launchpad in the episode "Double-O-Duck".
    • The animators hid naughty pin-ups in the background of several episodes. The one in "The Treasure of the Golden Suns: Wronguay in Ronguay" (Part 2) was too visible, and the scene was trimmed to remove it when it was rerun on the Disney Channel.
  • Glacier Waif: Bubba and Tootsie.
  • Glass-Shattering Sound: A bird in one episode is capable of breaking all glass within a several-mile radius. This leads to problems for all the valuables that Scrooge stores in glass cases.
  • Gold Digger: Millionara Vanderbucks.
    • Also Ma Beagle when she fakes a marriage to Scrooge so she could be legally entitled to half of his fortune if he divorced her.
  • Gold Fever: Identified by name.
  • Gold Makes Everything Shiny
  • Good Is Not Nice: Scrooge.
  • Grand Finale: "The Golden Goose".
  • Grandma, What Massive Hotness You Have!: Even Scrooge's nephews admitted that Goldie was attractive despite her age.
    • Also Future Webby qualifies for this considering that she's around 50 years old, and looks like she's still in her twenties.
  • Great Big Book of Everything: The Junior Woodchuck guidebook. Includes topics on building remote controlled shark fins, homing devices to be mounted on drone planes, and magical thunderstorms (though that's debatable).
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Just the ducks. Averted by Scrooge however, in the instances where he wears his kilt.
  • Heel Face Turn: Scrooge's evil adult nephews turn on Magica when they learn that she sent him into the future so she could take over his business.
  • Hell Hound: The hound's disguise in "The Curse of Castle McDuck", specifically the hunter type.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Launchpad for Feathers Galore.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Bubba chooses to permanently abandon his prehistoric time and life to be with Scrooge and saves his life in the process.
  • Homage: Mostly to Greek mythology -- stories and characters from the Trojan War, Greek gods, King Midas...
  • Hot Amazon: Scrooge and Launchpad meet some in the episode "Launchpad's First Crash".
    • Also Feathers Galore.
  • Hot Chick in a Badass Suit: Millionara Vanderbucks.
  • Hot Witch: Magica De Spell and Circe.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Launchpad's parents Ripcord and Birdy fit this description.
  • Idiot Hero: Launchpad.
  • If I Can't Have You: Robotica nearly kills Gandra and almost destroys the money bin to make sure Gizmoduck would be hers alone.
  • Implacable Man: The Minotaur from "Raiders of the Lost Harp".
    • Also Big Time Beagle in a suit of armor is able to bypass all of the traps in Scrooge's money bin, except Scrooge's tank on the inside of the vault.
  • Impossible Hourglass Figure: Boom-Boom Beagle.
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: "Micro Ducks from Outer Space".
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Pretty much all of the characters' names (at least those who were introduced in this show, and even then, some who weren't).
  • Inside a Computer System: "Scrooge's Last Adventure".
  • Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: The Beagle Boys steal some in one episode.
    • Not to mention Fenton the accountant becoming Gizmoduck, Duckburg's greatest super hero.
      • Also Scrooge's nephews and Webby when they wore the shrunken Gizmo suit.
  • Interspecies Romance: Played straight with Bubba who's a duck who falls in love with Julie who's a pig, but subverted by Scrooge who's a duck that's forced to be in a fake wedding with Ma Beagle who's a dog.
  • I Surrender, Suckers: Scrooge does this to the Beagles in the first episode.
    • He also does this to Magica's shadows in "Magica's Shadow War".
  • Jail Bake: Used by the Beagle Boys.
  • Jerkass: Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys.
  • Jerkass Genie: Played straight in the episode "Master of the Djinni", but averted in DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Scrooge had his moments of this.
  • Jungle Opera: It sometimes has this.
  • Kids Are Cruel: "We created that magic rain cloud with our junior woodchucks chemistry set... JUST TO RUIN YOUR DAY!"
    • Except, in this case, they were just Scrooge's worst fears brought to life in that one episode.
  • Last-Name Basis: Many people don't know that Mrs. Beakley's first name is Bentina.
  • Leitmotif: Several: the villains' themes are more noticeable than others, however.
  • Lighter and Softer: Scrooge himself is this compared to his original comic counterpart; in the comics Scrooge tended to shift between Jerk with a Heart of Gold displaying a Jerkass Facade and being a genuine Jerkass, who who could just as easily be the villain as the hero of a story. The Scrooge of DuckTales is much more jovial and less irritable, and can even be openly sentimental. Donald as well: in earlier incarnations, he loved cigars and really loved brawling while spitting out the Angrish. No more for DuckTales.
  • Living Lie Detector: The magic harp from "Raiders of the Lost Harp". In singsong, "You are fibbing fibbing fibbing!"
  • Living Shadow: "Magica's Shadow War".
  • Logic Bomb
  • Loud of War: During an escalating feud between Scrooge McDuck and his new neighbors, one of his assaults is to break out his favorite bagpipes and a speaker system. The neighbors' response? Accordion.
  • Lounge Lizard: A literal one in "The Unsinkable Hindentanic".
  • Man in the Iron Mask: "Duck in the Iron Mask".
  • Meaningful Name: Many characters on the show had these.
  • Mind Control Eyes: Cinnamon Teal is able to use her gaze to control Donald into stealing the navy's master control for their new submarine.
  • Minion with an F In Evil: The Beagle Babes.
  • Mistaken for Badass
  • Money Fetish: Scrooge swims in it.
  • Money is Water: Do not attempt to dive into a pile of metal coins in Real Life. Even in the show, Scrooge is the only one with this ability. This fact leads to several villain concussions.
  • Monster Mash: "The Ducky Horror Picture Show".
  • Mr. Vice Guy: Scrooge.
  • My Name Is Not Durwood: During part 2 of Bubba's introductory story arc, everyone in Tupei addresses Scrooge by Bubba's pet name for him, "Scooge" ("That's Scrooge!" "Whatever.").
  • The Napoleon: The ironically named leader of the Beagle Boys, Big Time.
    • In the episode "Status Seekers", the Blueblood Beagles counterpart to him is appropriately named Bonaparte.
  • New Old Flame: Glittering Goldie.
  • Nice Hat: A top hat like Scrooge's never goes out of style.
    • Also Flinheart and Gladstone had some of these as well.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Several minor characters are parodies of Real Life celebrities, including Elvis Presley, Burt Bacharach and Gloria Swanson.
  • Not Blood Siblings: Scrooge lets Webby call him "Uncle Scrooge" even though they're not biologically related.
  • Number One Dime: Another Trope Namer.
  • Oh Crap: In one episode, Launchpad visits Ma Beagle. He saw a picture of her with her children... the Beagle Boys.
  • Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List
  • One-Winged Angel: Merlock turns into a Gryphon for the final battle. But he loses the source of his powers and falls to his Disney Villain Death.
  • Overly Long Gag: "A sea monster ate my ice creeeeeeeam!!" To the point of becoming a meme.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: The Beagle Boys were fond of these.
    • Especially their iconic masks, to the point where they'd probably be stealthier by not wearing them.
  • Parent Trap Plot
  • Parent with New Paramour: "Til Nephews Do Us Part".
  • Police Are Useless: They'd have to be if the villains are able to trick them into arresting Scrooge three times in the show's run.
  • Pooled Funds: Naturally, since it stars Scrooge McDuck.
  • Pun-Based Title
  • Punny Name: The witch's name is Magica De Spell, or "Magic Spell".
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: El Capitan.
  • Redheaded Hero: Launchpad.
  • Reset Button: In "Master of the Djinni", Flintheart Glomgold's lack of care with his wishes got him stranded in a desert island with Scrooge. Forgetting he still had a wish, he unwittingly used it to wish he had never seen the lamp. Because of that wish, the past was altered so the explosion that allowed Scrooge and Flintheart to enter the cave also caused the lamp to fall from its pedestal into a pile of rubble, where it remained unseen by everyone who entered the cave.
  • Robot Girl: Robotica, obviously.
  • Rogues Gallery: Flintheart Glomgold, Magica De Spell, and the Beagle Boys have been tormenting Scrooge for years.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: This show was pretty good about this. King Arty managed to temporarily hold off Lestred's invasion in the episode "Sir Gyro de Gearloose". Then Homer helps Scrooge and his nephews reclaim his kingdom of Ithaquack from Circe in "Home Sweet Homer". Also the true ruler of the kingdom Roy, after the mask is removed was able help Scrooge and his friends save his kingdom in the episode "Duck in the Iron Mask".
  • Running Gag: There have been a couple of episodes where someone's name has been mispronounced, when they correct the crowd, they reply with "Whatever".
    • From "The Duck That Would Be King":

Crowd: Hail "Skooge!"
Scrooge: That's SCROOGE!
Crowd: Whatever!

    • From the same episode:

Scrooge: Now get us out of here.
Mysterious Woman: You got it, Skooge.
Scrooge: That's SCROOGE.
Mysterious Woman: Whatever.

    • And from the ending of the episode:

Crowd: Farewell, Scrooge!
Scrooge: That's SKOOGE! *Double Take* ...whatever!

  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Flintheart Glomgold is essentially Scrooge's complete opposite (see Evil Counterpart above). He's a lying, cheating scoundrel who's more than willing to pull every dirty trick in the book to get what he wants.
    • Also, Magica's evil nightmare version of Scrooge: "I'm rich! I can do anything! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
  • Screw the Money, I Have Rules: Scrooge McDuck in a nutshell. He loves his money to an almost disturbing degree, but: "I made [my money] on the seas, and in the mines, and in the cattle wars of the old frontier! I made it by being tougher than the toughies, and smarter than the smarties! And I made it square!"
    • And he makes it very clear that as much as he loves his money, he loves his family more.
  • Seers: Fenton's mother for an episode.
  • Self-Made Man: Scrooge.
  • Servile Snarker: Duckworth.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Scrooge, Flintheart, and Gladstone.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Magica De Spell actually looks pretty attractive when she transforms into "Vanna Flight" in the episode "Dime Enough for Luck".
    • Also Mrs. Beakley to a certain extent.
  • Shiny Midnight Black: Magica De Spell, Cinnamon Teal, Sensen, and Circe's hair colors can be described this way.
  • Shout-Out: In the first episode, Scrooge chastises a worker by telling him "there'll be no whistling while you work!". Also "Where No Duck Has Gone Before" shouts out to Star Trek: The Original Series.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Dijon is a sneaky thief while his older brother Poupon is an honest monk.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: Scrooge and Goldie.
  • Space Does Not Work That Way: This applies to every time space exploration was in the episode.
  • Species Surname: Par for the course with Disney character cartoons. Oddly enough, Duckworth appears to be a dog of some kind.
    • In the episode "Ducky Horror Picture Show", he mentions a butler's convention in "Dogburg".
  • Stalker with a Crush: Robotica, to the case of being a borderline Yandere.
    • Also Bubba from the episode "Bubbeo & Juliet", which actually led to them becoming friends.
  • Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Sensen, so very much.
  • Theme Naming: On many occasions.
  • Thief Bag: The Beagle Boys commonly use these.
  • Time Stands Still: "Time Teasers".
  • Title Montage: As with most Disney Afternoon series, many of the clips in the opening come from the series itself. There are a few exceptions, though.
  • Title Theme Tune: One of the catchiest of all time.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Fenton Crackshell when he became Gizmo Duck. Also adult Doofus and Webby in the episode "Duck to the Future". Then there's Scrooge when he becomes the "Masked Mallard".
  • Took a Level In Dumbass: Launchpad had his moments of this. Especially when he becomes the "Webbed Wonder", and is tricked into robbing banks for the Beagle Boys because they tell him it's for a movie.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Scrooge's adult nephews in the episode "Duck to the Future".
    • Also Scrooge himself when it came to dealing with Bubba. This got so bad that his own conscience was ashamed of him.
  • Total Eclipse of the Plot: In "Allowance Day".
  • Treasure Is Bigger in Fiction: Complete with the search of huge gemstones.
  • Trigger Happy: Goldie.
  • Trrrilling Rrrs: Scrrrooge. He is Scottish, after all.
  • Tsundere: Goldie.
  • Uncle Pennybags: Scrooge himself, naturally. He plays hardball when it comes to business, but he's an old softie when it comes to his family.
  • The Unintelligible: In one episode, some of Donald Duck's shipmates (and even his own admiral) panic because they can't understand a word of what he's saying.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Scrooge.
    • Also it runs in the family, as Scrooge's nephews join forces with Magica De Spell in the future during one episode.
  • Up to Eleven: You know about Scrooge's Money Bin, right? Gigantic building filled to the brim with cash? All that moolah is what Scrooge made himself. The rest of his fortune is spread throughout his businesses, industries, and resource operations.
  • Valley Girl: Launchpad's little sister Loopy is one of these.

Like, totally to the ma-ax!

  • The Vamp: Magica De Spell, Feathers Galore, Cinnamon Teal, Circe, and Boom-Boom Beagle.
  • Waif Prophet: Sensen.
  • The Walls Are Closing In: An episode had Scrooge and his nephews trapped in an Egyptian tomb with a wall with spears closing in on them. They're saved by pressing a hidden button activating a trapdoor.
    • Also one of the rooms in the temple from "Bubba's Big Brainstorm".
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Inverted at the end of "Top Duck" where Launchpad thinks that his parents are ashamed of him, and learns that his parents actually couldn't be prouder of him.
  • Wingding Eyes
  • Witch with a Capital B: This will come to mind every time Scrooge calls Magica "You witch!" or "That witch!"
    • Justified due to the fact that Magica is actually a witch.
  • World of Funny Animals
  • Yandere: Robotica at least until the end of "Metal Attraction".
  • Your Worst Nightmare: "Nothing to Fear".
  • You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: Gizmoduck tries invoking this (along with Wouldn't Hit a Girl) to stop a security robot from attacking him. It doesn't work.
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