The Good
An entertaining show that makes us wonder about the secret lives of ducks at night.
The Bad
No extras. This a cartoon for crying out loud! There should have at least been a few.
Flying through the skies of St. Canard the folks of this city can sleep safely knowing that in Darkwing Duck, Vol. 2 the title character is in fact keeping them safe (or at least trying to). Aided in his efforts by Launchpad McQuack and his daughter Gosalyn, Darkwing Duck f going up against the lowest of the low and the highest of the high in so far as crime is concerned. Battling against evil beings from space, Negaduck, christmas trees and lord knows what else, this 3 disc, 26 episode set is sure to bring a smile to more than a few faces. Whether Darkwing is hatching some hairbrained scheme, or rallying the troops to give the good fight another go, there is an uplifting nature to Darkwing Duck, Vol. 2 that makes you want to see this character succeed, even when it seems like all is hopelessly lost.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Setting a positive example for youth and birds alike, Darkwing Duck, Vol. 2 has a place in a family DVD collection as well as one in collectors of animation.
Features
None.
Video
1.33:1 - These shows seemed to be compressed quite nicely. I didn’t see too much dust or dirt on the images, and more importantly there was a sharpness to this show that made it stand out. I also appreciated that even though we were following a zany cast of characters, I never felt like the animation styles, or what was being presented on screen was out of control. It is this contained, very steady hand that makes this release play as strongly as it does.
Audio
The audio on this release was good. Once I got things leveled on my set a little less than halfway, everything played fine over all three discs. I wouldn’t go so far as to call the audio rich but it did have a nice kick to it. Unfortunately, I didn’t watch this release on a really nice system so, chances are, I really didn’t give the DVDs in this set a chance to really shine as much as they could in this capacity. All told, everything sounded as good as I thought it would but I am sure a better system would have helped matters.
Package
Darkwing Duck, holding up his fingers in what looks like a victory symbol, takes over almost all of the entire cover here. Behind him is a shot of the St. Canard skyline at night. The back showcases some more images from this show, it offers up a quick description of what Darkwing and his buddies are up against, and it also has some system specs. The three discs that make up this set are stored inside this slim packaging, which contains more artwork and episode information for your perusal.
Final Word
I think what impressed me the most with Darkwing Duck, Vol. 2 was the skill level in the animation. As a TV show, I could have seen animators being content to simply phone in their work in this episodic realm. Look, rightly or wrongly film is seen as sadly being more important than television when television has (lately) been putting out better product. There was a warmth and a depth to the way that many of the scenes played here. Also, I loved the detail in the images. Oftentimes, I found that in various scenes there were things happening in the background that had a nice amount of detail. These are subtle things that maybe viewers would or would not notice. However, when added into the greater whole of what was being presented here, it made Darkwing Duck, Vol. 2 a rewarding viewing experience.
