DVD review: Darkwing Duck, Volume 2

I, like many of my friends and colleagues, like to reminisce on the cartoons we loved as children. As most of us now agree (and probably our parents before us), the quality of cartoons have gone heavily downhill, as companies have resorted to cooler effects and other gizmos at the expense of quality stories and fun, memorable characters. That conclusion, of course, comes from seeing the occasional commercial for today's children programming.

But think back to the 1990's, and you may or may not remember "Darkwing Duck". About twice a year I get on the conversation of what television shows I loved as a kid, and as we list off dozens (how the heck did we manage to watch so much TV?), we get lost in the memories of yesteryear. Alas, not once has "Darkwing Duck" been mentioned... at least not until I received an email saying that Disney's "Darkwing Duck: Volume 2" was coming to DVD (since I'm sure Disney, who sent me the DVD, wants me to pitch the film a little bit, I'll mention it hits stores Tuesday, August 7th at 12:56am. Don't wait in line, because I made that last part up and all stores will be closed).

"Darkwing Duck" is as good as I remember it. Of course, now that I am 25, there is no possible way I'm ever going to watch all 27 episodes, let alone four or five, but parents should be taking full advantage of all these classic cartoons that are coming to DVD. "Darkwing" may not be as classic as some of the others, I'll admit, but how can you go wrong when you essentially turn Daffy Duck into a crime-fighting superhero, tack on a hot daughter (just kidding there) and a lovable sidekick named Launchpad McQuack? The show is funny, well-written and has an enjoyable, idiotic main character whose ego so gets in the way that often he boggles his crime fighting attempts. The show actually is a bit dynamic, as compared to the carbon copy shows of today.

I can't imagine that too many fans of the show are scooping these DVD sets up for the special features, which is probably why there are none (unless you count a French language track). So what you see on the cover is what you get, 27 episodes from the middle of the series.

Parents and children can enjoy "Darkwing Duck" together - why not let your kid watch some quality programming for a change?