Almost every child since 1937 knows exactly who Huey, Dewey and Louie are. Together with their trillionaire uncle Scrooge McDuck, we went on many adventures with the troublesome triplets.
This month - 81 years later - we are introduced to Disney’s rip-roaring new animated series, DuckTales. Story editor and co-producer Francisco Angones gives us some insight into the new production.
What’s new in the series?
DuckTales is a globe-trotting adventure with tons of laughs, adventures and epic treasure hunts. There’s always a lot going on!
Life is like a hurricane in DuckTales. Even when the triplets are chilling at home, they are at Scrooge McDuck’s mega mansion. Plus, the city where they live - Duckburg - is one of the most dangerous cities in the Disney duck world.
Where do we pick up the story?
When our story begins, Huey, Dewey and Louie don’t know they are related to Scrooge McDuck. All they know is that he has this amazing, crazy legacy.
They discover they come from an amazing family of the world’s greatest adventurers - and they want to explore the world.
Tell us about the characters and their personalities.
We spent a lot of time working on the triplets’ personalities. We decided that Huey would be the oldest triplet, Dewey would be the middle duck and Louie would be the youngest.
Being the oldest makes you a little more responsible than the others. Being in the middle makes you want to stand out a little more. Being the youngest makes you feel like you can slide under the radar and get away with a lot.
Those are the characteristics we infused into our crazy characters.
What inspired Disney to make a newer version of DuckTales?
DuckTales is based on the Emmy Award-winning series from the 1980s, plus, there have also been DuckTales comic books and video games.
Our new show is inspired by all of these versions of the characters. We’ve had a lot of fun trying to fit some of the beloved characters from the comics and the 1980’s show into our new stories.
How does the team decide when to add a character from the comic books to the script?
When we come up with a story idea, we think about what character is right for the story.
Tell us more about the voice-over artists.
The creative team let the voice artists go wild in the recording booth. We have a script that everyone will read through, but some of the biggest laughs in the premiere episode were from lines that were improvised by the cast.
In the recording booth, we always get the cast to read the script first - but then we get them to explore a little and see what they come up with.
The new animated comedy-adventure DuckTales launches with two back-to-back episodes every day from April 23 to 26 at 4pm on Disney XD, DStv Channel 304.