Toon Zone Talkback - "Duckman" Seasons 3 and 4: A Step Down, But Still Near the Top of the Stairs

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This is the talkback thread for "Duckman" Seasons 3 and 4: A Step Down, But Still Near the Top of the Stairs.
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Though season 4 isn't consistently good, I do have to say it's awesome to finally have all of Duckman on DVD. Never thought that would happen.
 
Great review. I'm also rather surprised we got the whole series on DVD as quick as we did.

It was such a clever and unique show, it's weird that I actually like it more now than I did when it was originally on.
 
So, like the first thread, favorite episodes? Besides the ones I mentioned in the review, I like:

-Aged Heat: Well-directed episode with the debut of Agnes Delrooney. OK, so the shtick of Duckman looking crazy when he convinces the family that Grandma-ma isn't really Grandma-ma is old hat (as is the climax when both Grandma-ma and Agnes are side by side), but it's executed well and the jokes all hit ("My spine!"). It's a shame John Eng, the director of this episode, didn't stay past season 3, because he was probably my favorite to work on the show.

-They Craved Duckman's Brain!: "Please, sit." (Duckman's already sitting; stands up and sits back down) The villain's lecture on cancer was a bit heavy handed, but Ron Perlman's delivery of it made it enjoyable. Also enjoy the moment when the family (and Cornfed) go off on a tangent about Star Trek.

-Apocalypse Not: Love the whole bit where Duckman keeps missing the news about the city-wide drill through various means, and I crack up every time this scene occurs: Bernice: "Knowing your father, he could be stumbling around town in a bondage mask right now." (cuts to Duckman stumbling out of a store in a bondage mask. :p )

-How to Suck in Business Without Really Trying: I'm not a huge fan of the episode, but there's a joke in the opening scene that just slays me, when the guy with lung problems laughs with the rest of the board meeting but has chest pains and falls on the table in pain. The way it's timed just tickles my funny bone.

-Bonfire of the Panties: "Jim Slate, Big Black Dick!" "Run, waste basket, run!" "Last one in the car has to deal with the greek." "Let's face it, when it comes to women, dad's no Larry King." "Tonight, call me... Vandalay. I wish you had brought that duck suit." "I knew the capitol of France wasn't France Town!" "Oh, I must say I'm surprised at how readily you boys bastardized your code of ethics in order to justify a morally dubious decision. That was very grown-up of you." Lots of funny lines in this one.

BTW, listen carefully to the end credits for "With Friends Like These". Satan makes an audio cameo. ;)
 
That's hard. There are so many episodes in the set, but I guess my favorite would be "Noir Gang", as it really is a dead on parody of noir. "Apocalypse Not", is very interesting, too. I never saw it before and it totally took me by surprise. The climax is particularly strange and inventive, what with the storyboards and all.

Though, I also agree with the review in that most of my favorites are relegated to the third season. Though the fourth is pretty strong in it's own right.

... Damn, I gotta go back and watch them again. I think I blew through them too fast on the first go. :sweat:

My only real negative is the obvious one. The cliffhanger. I don't remember how many times I saw the show on comedy central and eagerly awaited the next week (or day) to see how it ended. But it never came.
 
LOL. A week ago is actually when I first saw "Three Weddings Inconceivable", believe it or not. Had been wanting to see it for years. When I finally saw it, I actually quite enjoyed it, especially the part when everyone argues about how the wedding should be. As for the ending, I suppose if I had seen it when it first aired, I'd have been super pissed that they left us hanging like that, but watching it now, twelve years after the fact, all I can do is laugh in disbelief and say to myself, "Wow, that took guts to deliberately annoy the audience like that."
 
Call me crazy, but I actually liked the finale. I was genuinely pleased to find out that:

Duckman's late wife Beatrice was still alive the whole time. It could be because I'm not a big fan of dead spouses in fiction, but seeing that genuinely made me happy, even though deep down I knew that meant we wouldn't be getting any more episodes. What was weird was how Cornfed revealed that he knew Beatrice was alive all along, but simply chose not to tell Duckman about it. Makes you wonder what else he's not telling...
 
BTW, anybody else notice that the ending text for "You've Come a Wrong Way, Baby" has been changed? It used to say "Ironically, the Duckman production staff smoked 45 cartons of cigarettes during the production of this episode.", while on the DVD it has a mock dedication to one of the deceased cigarette mascots mentioned by Bernice earlier in the episode. Was this something they changed for reruns, or new to the DVD?
 
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