Mighty Ducks - The Animated Series
Save the
Ducks
In September of 2011,
the show will celebrate it's 10th anniversary.
However, the show only lived for a single television season,
and has since been run in syndicaton periodically. We fans
have been striving since the date of its cancellation to get
Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series back on the air with new
episodes, or to get the show officially released by Disney
on DVD or Blu-ray. We want to give the show the run that it
deserves. Here's where you can get the skinny on the
fandom's efforts to save our Ducks!
The
Rise and Fall of the Ducks
The original
concept for MD:TAS was reportedly the brainchild of Disney
CEO Micheal Eisner. Pre-production went very quickly for
even a TV series, with the head writer David Wise given mere
weeks to create the show's premise, and a week's time to
write two episodes as pre-production went on. Despite the
haste, the result was one of the biggest hits that Disney TV
Animation has ever known. Ratings on both of the original
airing networks were high, as well as sales of merchandise.
So why end it
with merely one season? My personal theory is because of a
change in management at Disney TV Animation. In 1997, then
president of Disney TV Animation Dean Valentine was replaced
by the former president of Nickelodeon. The change in
management drastically changed Disney's direction with its
shows. Nearly all of the shows in production at the time
were cancelled, including the Ducks. Replacing them were
shows like Recess, Pepper Ann, and the new incarnation of
Doug. A shift from superhero-oriented programs to those
intended for a younger, family-friendly audience also
drastically affected the ratings for Disney's animation
blocks.
So
what can we do?
After so many
years, a quest for the Ducks to regain airtime seems
hopeless. The idea of having the show released on disc is
also a distant hope, given Disney's very shallow library of
animated shows released to DVD. However, such a worthy cause
deserves attention. Wouldn't you go a little out of your way
to see the Ducks back in action? Of course you would. Here's
some things you can do to make a difference:
Write: Letter
campaigns are more effective than people think. A constant
trickle of just a few letters from a few fans every month
ensures that something gets through to Disney. After three
years of trying to get some response from the pencil-pushers
in California, I received this reply:
Thank you
for your letter regarding "Mighty Ducks: The Animated
Series." We are very glad that you like the show so
much. It is always nice to know that what we do here is
appreciated. You may know that there are 65 episodes of the
series. We do not have plans at this time to make any
further episodes, but we have other shows that you might
enjoy...
Blah blah
blah, the rest of this is a form letter advertising other
Disney shows on the air at the time. The only thing in this
letter worthy of mention is the mention of 65
episodes. This is a far cry from the 26 episodes
that were aired. This is the only mention of more episodes
that has been heard of in the fan community from any
official source. Is it possible that Disney produced the
episodes and then decided not to air them? Highly unlikely.
Unfortunately, it's probably just at typo.
Want to write
a letter of your own? Here is the address of the man who
wrote the letter above:
Jeff White
09-4K1-5300
500 South
Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA
91521
To write to
the president of Disney TV Animation, address your letter
here:
Walt Disney
Television Animation
500 South
Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA
91521-7600
Also, don't
forget the voice actors! Although they have no say in
whether or not the Ducks get back on the air, they deserve
praise for their roles on the show. Check out my
Cast
and Credits page for their addresses!
Petition:
Online petitions spring up all of the time. Do a general
search on the Internet and you're sure to come up with
something. Petitions offer a unique way to collect
signatures around the theme of renewing the show, and send
them all off to Disney at once! So go ahead and sign away,
or start one of your own.
Good luck
Ducks fans!
A note on site content: A lot of what appears here has been
personally tracked down, scanned, compiled, and posted by
myself. I very much appreciate the donated and shared
content, and respect and admire the wonderful community that
Ducks fans have shared online for so many years. However I
ask my visitors to help this website maintain its integrity,
by keeping things in their respective places. In other
words, please don't leech files from my site to another. If
you'd like something from this site on yours, please ask
first. 99.9% of the time I'll say yes.
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