DUCK DAZE -- VERY IMPORTANT!!!!

David A Gerstein David.A.Gerstein at williams.edu
Mon Nov 15 03:32:20 CET 1993


	This is a matter that concerns me greatly, folks.

	In 1995 Disney TV is to have a half-hour series about Donald,
the Nephews, and other ducks including (I believe someone on the
network said this) Uncle Scrooge and Ludwig Von Drake.  As I have
discovered from monitoring the ranger-list (something that doesn't
interest me much of the time, but that I feel I should keep informed
with), the show's management appreciates Barks, but has no
understanding of the comic book Ducks as the REAL Ducks.  This is
due to this country's underexposure to any consistent non-animated
version of the Duck characters.  Tad Stones, one
of the folks in charge of the series, had this to say recently:

	"David A. Gerstein had questions on DUCK DAZE.  I'm fascinated
that there is a very large contingent of fans who think that the only 
way to treat the ducks is to rigidly follow the lore laid down by Carl
Barks.  Now I'm the first to say that I would've liked DuckTales more 
if it stayed closer to Barks...but Donald and the nephews existed long
before the comics.  DUCK DAZE will be a new show, not a remake of 
DuckTales or an adaptation of the universe of Carl Barks.  This isn't 
a "terrible failing" on the part of Disney, just recasting.  For that 
matter, it's literally impossible for Donald to say the dialogue in a 
typical Barks adventure."

	To which I responded (please, read the whole thing):

        I respect your opinion -- that DD and the kids were around
long before the comics -- but if you're going to use Uncle Scrooge,
the very *real* creation of *Carl Barks* in the series, you need to
have some respect for Barks.  For every fan outside of the United
States -- where Disney promotes its characters as animated characters
for people under ten -- the characters are largely promoted as Barks'
comic book characters, which were based on the Ducks as they appeared
in cartoons from the late 1930s through the early 1940s.  When Barks
left the Studio the consistency of the cartoons disappeared, and DD
became a character who in many cartoons merely played a role.  In one
later cartoon ("Donald's Diary", 1954) the nephews actually played the
roles of Daisy's little brothers!

        The later animated world of the Ducks made no sense, but
that's no reason to discard the earlier one or particularly the comic
books.  In the comic books, the characters have more personality than
anywhere else -- but because Disney in the US -- unlike in Europe --
does not appreciate this, the comic fans have to sit through shows
that misinterpret the REAL versions of the characters.

        I don't mean that the show must REPLICATE the comics.  Of course
Donald doesn't have to do as much talking in DUCK DAZE as he does in
the comics (tho' *I* have always understood his speech perfectly).
But that doesn't mean that the comics must be ignored.  If people at
Disney were conscious of the fact that their characters actually
appear in comic books -- which are not popular in this country simply
because of the violence infatuation that is U. S. comic culture,
whereas one of Don Rosa's Scrooge stories was voted the best comic
strip in the world in Norway in 1992 -- they would look at DUCK DAZE
as contrary to not just one interpretation of the characters that
doesn't matter more or less, but to the characters themselves.

        Donald's nephews *began* as comic characters.  They were
developed by Al Taliaferro in early 1937 for use in the Donald Duck
Sunday strip, which was then a subsidiary of the "Silly Symphonies"
syndicated feature.  Shortly after this, Carl Barks and others in the 
studio story crew adapted them to animation.  The only real change 
made in them at this point was that they became a little shorter and 
their eyes -- formerly just like Donald's -- became smaller.  For the 
origin of the Nephews in more detail, see the article about Al 
Taliaferro's life published a few years ago in WALT DISNEY'S COMICS 
AND STORIES 523.  Please, Mr. Stones, before you decide on a
"recasting," look at why the Nephews were originally developed.

	* * * * *

	PLEASE HELP ME, FOLKS.  BRIEFLY JOIN THE RANGER LIST
(ranger-list.request at taronga.com) AND WRITE LETTERS EN MASSE TO MR.
STONES.  NOT OPENLY HOSTILE LETTERS (THE RANGER LIST IS MODERATED),
BUT CONSTRUCTIVE, HELPFUL LETTERS THAT CAN TURN DUCK DAZE AROUND
BEFORE IT BURIES BARKS' DUCKS FOREVER IN THE PAST.

	(Please note:  I would offer Tad Stones' E-Mail address if I
had it, but it is deleted from all of his letters that appear in the
ranger list, obviously on purpose, by Stephanie Da Silva, the
administrator.  We will not be able to get it from her.)

	IF THIS SHOW IS PRODUCED AND GIVEN USUAL DISNEY-STYLE
PUBLICITY, THE CLASSIC COMIC-BOOK DUCKS -- WITH THEIR LITTLE EXPOSURE
IN THIS COUNTRY -- WILL BE REGARDED AS INCORRECT VERSIONS OF THE
CHARACTERS.  I KNOW, RIGHT NOW THEY'RE LOOKED ON AS UNIMPORTANT -- FEW
PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY KNOW OF THE COMICS -- BUT AT LEAST THE COMIC
VERSIONS ARE ACCEPTED AS THE REAL ONES.  HELP.  PLEASE.

	David Gerstein




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