VIDEO: Porco Rosso (1992)

by · March 25, 2014

We’re sorry...

This video is no longer available due to the shutdown of Blip.tv.

Yes, pigs do fly, and so does Sofie… While watching this, movie that is.

Scroll down to comment on this video...

Tags:

Tag: Movie Dorkness: Miyazaki March

You may also like...

  • Muthsarah

    “[…]There is even talk of a sequel to this movie–”

    NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

    “[Miyazaki is] even talking about writing it […]”

    ….

    *pauses*

    *thinks*

    …

    NOOOOOO!!!!!

    Joe Hisaishi? hee-saw-ee-shee (say it very quickly or not at all). He composed one of my favorite miscellanous tracks. Something that, as it wasn’t directly tied with a movie he was scoring, you MAY not have heard of:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEbD0BHzLws

    Apparently, it was “inspired” (or something) by the idea of making a score for The Great Gatsby, or something else 1920s. Beautiful era for romanticization, and this track does it better than any other I know. It would have made a specTACular theme to a Miyazaki movie.

    • Muthsarah

      OK, totally, 100% unrelated to anything Nostalgia Critic may or may not be doing, what are your feelings on Tale Spin? The TV show. It has aiiiiiir piiraaaaaaates!!!!!

      ?

      • Sofie Liv

        DUDE! That is one of the golden time Disney Shows.

        The thing about those shows is that when I was a kid, I only had three TV Channels in my house, so the only time I could see cartoons were Saturday and Sunday morning and..
        Then there was Disney hour, every single Friday, at Six o’clock sharp, and I watched it RELIGIOUSLY!

        It is exactly what it sounds like, one hour exact with Disney, and it would ALWAYS be two of those twenty minutes episodes from either Tale-spin, Alladin, Duck tales, Darkwing Duck, The little Mermaid, Tale Spin.. ext.. Meaning, there would be two series running at a time, and they show one episode from each until they had run out and begin on the next one, and then two of those old ten minute shorts. You know, the really old classic ones.

        And I loved ALL of it, me and my sister had our parents reschedule bloody meal time so we could watch Disney hour, no shit, they always made sure that our friday meal time would be before or after it, otherwise me and my sister would just sit looking longingly at the TV.
        And to this day, I LOVE all of those shows, so much nostalgia, garh!

        Also, Don Karnage is one of the best characters of those shows. I do love when a pirate Captain stands out as different, but is definently still a pirate Captain.
        Don Karnage is so much fun, and really his own character, LOVE IT!

        • Muthsarah

          Six o’clock? Savages….We watched it at the entirely more-civilized tea-time hour of four o’clock.

          And you needn’t lecture me on the Disneyed Afternoon. I’m older than you are, missy. And I was closer to the source. I knew them years before you did. I have seniority!

          It still astonishes me today that they’d prepare four new episodes every single week. Today’s minimum-wage Korean animation-companies are so lazy compared to the minimum-wage Korean animation-companies of my youth. They used to have standards.

          Still, I’m positively tickled to hear you gush so about something I actually also grew up on. Seriously, once you’re done with this, maybe do your own Disney retrospective?

          EDIT: I just clicked through your backlog, due to my typical paranoia that you perhaps have already done a Disney retrospective. And I see that you reviewed Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. All joy. Turned to bile. So fragile, we humans. Memory is a curse…..

          EDIT AGAIN: Yeah, that has nothing to do with anything, I know. Nostalgia’ing always makes me especially dotty and of-the-momentful. Anyway, what were your four favorite Disney Afternoon shows?

          • Sofie Liv

            Well just that Disney hour was and… actually still is a thing here in Denmark, is a joy.

            Favourites? Urhmm… Well, I think that would at least have to be Aladdin and Darkwing Duck.

            One of those two are my absolut favourite, Aladdin was my favourite as a child, I remember that pretty clearly, though as an adult.. there’s so many things I learn to appreciate about Darkwing, and though people love it in genneral, I do think the show is still under appreciated and dismissed as “Just another cheap show.” when it actually raises the bar to more than that, and if ANY of these shows deserves to come back and get another season, it’s Darkwing.

            Of course I have a big weakness for Duck Tales as well, as I grew up reading tons and tons of Donald Duck comic books, and Don Rosa’s “The life and time of Scrooge McDuck.” is one of my favourite comic boobs of all time.
            I would so love for Disney to make a animated show based only on those comics.. sigh.

            So that’s three.. urhm.. fourth one. Huh, I actually think that “Bonkers.” is an forgotten pearl I highly enjoyed as a child.

            I know, I know, some-one out there wants me to say Gargoyls, but well here’s the thing, you asked me about the favourites of the shows I watched as a child and… Gargoyls never made it to Denmark.
            I have since then watched it as an adult on youtube, and I like it, of the newer shows I also think that Phineas and Ferb are one of the funniest animated shows currently available, it’s a great show, and the TV movie they made is also just pure great.

            My least favourite were definetely “Quack Pack.” I really think it tried way to hard to be “Hip.” and so on, and ended feeling quite mean spirited at times, which sucks.
            I mean yeah, Darkwing and Gosalyn could yell at each other, because they both have such overblown spirits, but by all times you can sense the warmth and heart between them, and you know that Darkwing only scolds Gosalyn because he is deeply worried for her safety, which is important.
            And those two are so great together because it’s so obvious that need each other and actually ground each other, keeping each other safe from extreme danger.
            Gosalyn burst Darkwings bubble when it needs to be bursted for his own safety, Darkwing pulls Gosalyn down, when she needs to be restricted also for own safety, it’s a great relationship. Donald and the Quack Packs just… erhh.. I miss that warmth by a lot…

            Making a disney retro-spective is actually some-thing I have been wanting to do ever since i started making videos, I have just never gotten around to do it.

            I’ve been wanting to make a “Duck month.” also ever since I started making the videos, where I would take the time to both talk about The Donald Duck comics I grew up with, Duck tales as a televised version of those Donald Duck comics, Darkwing Duck as the AMAZING spin off series, and well. “life and times of Scrooge McDuck.”
            Which ones again, is one of my favourite comic books of all time.

            I just love it so much, I love the heart, the art style, the humour, the character exploration, the depth.. sigh.. wonderful, wonderful comics!

            And yeaah.. did go through Alice in Wonderland, boy that sure has been a while.
            Can only agree with the NC really, and he as always makes better put together, smarter videos than I can ever hope to do.

            Next thing you go next December he is also going to go over all the Studio Ghibli movies and I can only sit back thinking. “Oh fudge!”

          • CaptainCalvinCat

            Show was called “Disney Club” in Germany, it was aired on saturday noon and – I didn’t watch it that much. I remember watching one or two episodes of Chip & Dale (or Chip & Chap), but I watched the shows, when they were aired on Super RTL years and years later. I liked Duck Tales, Darkwing Duck, Tale Spin (Captain Balu und seine tollkühne Crew (Captain Baloo and his daredevil crew)), Bonkers and Aladdin. And of course the Gummy bears. ^^ I think, they were the first cartoon I ever saw. ^^

            Later they aired Gargoyles, together with Mummies alive and Roswell Conspiracies…

            And honestly – I don’t agree with the critic, concerning Aladdin and Timon/Pumbaa. I enjoyed the adventures of Al, but I just didn’t like Timon / Pumbaa.

            What I liked was “Jungle Book kids”… that was kinda neat.

            The german rap-version of the “Bare necessities” (which was the intro for “Jungle Book kids”) was provided by Stefan Raab, a.k.a. Alf Igel, a.k.a. the guy that was on the Eurovision Song Contest with “Wadda hadde dudde da?” and later with Max Mutzke (“Just can’t wait until tonight baby”) or Lena Meyer-Landruth (“Satellite”):

          • Sofie Liv

            Oh god, the jungle book kids, that’s right, that was a show… didn’t really like it to be honest.

            I do have a soft spot for Hercules though.. don’t ask me why, in retro-spect the show was not that good, but well.. pff.

            House of Mouse is a show I did not initially like, but as I re-watched some of it in its original english, I simply had to appreciate some of the clever self satire and commentary, also dammit, they get to pull out some of the duck comic characters I like so much.

            I wonder if they are going to go ahead and make more shows based on their movies.

            I mean, Dream works seems to be pretty busy making shows based on their movies.. I be damned if we wont see a new “Sherman and Mr. Peabody.” show coming out based on the movie very soonish.

            And well, I wonder.. since Disney went so much out of their way to use Olauf the snowman as their marketing tool for Frozen, even made a bloody Game around his character and released it.. are they working on an animated show focusing on Olauf?

            I would be…. compleately indiffent to that, he is cute and all, and it would just be a cute innocent show.. I dunno.

            They are currently making “Princess Sophia the first.” which is their first computer animated show made for Disney channel, using all these disney princess’s as cameos. I don’t know.

            It’s first right now I managed to watch the NC’s video, LOVED IT! though he forget one single show.

            How could he forget Adventures of Winnieh the Pooh???
            That show was amazingly put together, so innocent and yet captured the wonderfullness of Winnieh The pooh so perfectly.

            I am actually of the opinion that the popularity of Winnieh the Pooh for years had much more to do with that show than the old movie, I for one certainly had a far great attachment to the show than the movie, the movie which I only saw like.. ones or twice as a kid, the show I watched every week for a while at Disney hour and loved the hell out of.

            Oh well.

          • Sofie Liv

            Awww man Darkwing!
            I have been wanting to make a video about Darkwing duck for soooo god damn long.
            Thing just is, the day I DO make that video.. fuck no I don’t want to make it just a regular video, I want to indulge dammit!

            I want to play Superhero and spew out catch-phrases and what’s not, it might turn out to be a sucky video, i usually starts sucking when enternet video producers start playing that they are directors.
            But fuck it! I soooo want to indulge in that, I am itching, it’s some-thing i’ve been wanting to do for so long, god!
            And now when it’s brought up I can’t stop thinking about it.

            Sigh! It was even bloody last summer I had been planning on making two lists.
            “Top ten heroes that enjoy being heroes.” and “top ten villains that enjoy being villains.” and just indulge the shit out of it, dressing up as a hero, dressing up as a villain, just because!

            Because there is some-thing I think that modern interpretation of heroes lack, and I love so much.
            Heroes that just freaking enjoy what they do.

            And I think Darkwing is a top contender for that, I LOVE the idea, that the only real reason he is a hero. There’s only one reason as far as I am concerned, and that reason is.. he wants to be a hero!
            He LOVES it! He loves the entire idea behind the concept, he is so indulgent in himself that it becomes a blast!

            MovieBob even brought up the Scarlet Pimpernel yesterday, another one of my favourite heroes of all time, and ones again, him and Zorro seems like pretty similar characters as they actually LIKES being a swushbuckling heroes, and indulges in themselves, you can see them taking pure joy out of screwing around with the villain, playing the villains for absolut fools while pretending to be fobs.
            GOD we need more of that soon.
            My god Tyrone Powers version of Zorro is just so great when he screws around with the evil gouvernour, he is just so laid back, you can tell he is having a great time. It’s almost like a funny game to him, it’s so indulgent, I love it!
            Part of what makes Sherlock in the new BBC show kind of redeamable to, yes he’s an ass-hole, yes he’s morals are very questionable.
            But god dammit he knows what he is and he likes it! And he loves doing what he does, it’s the best to him.
            It’s so childlishly indulgent, I love it… sorry for big ramble, I just GARH! I am in the mood now!

          • Muthsarah

            Well, do it before someone else does.

          • Sofie Liv

            As you can hear.. it is not exactly ideas or imagination I lack for videos… at all.

            What I lack is time, resources and some-times even energy to cast myself over these projects.. I kind of stand alone in this still, though it’s my dream to some-day some-how have a team to work with.

            I know this sounds.. not very passionate off me but.. Making these Miyazaki videos has just been a great for me to buff up my video library so I have content to show for, people can go back and check out.
            I feel when I am finished with this video, I will be at a pretty good place in regard to back-log and library so any new viewer can in fact go back and say.
            “Oh.. Okay, this chick has done stuff, I can now lean back and just let this play on auto-play if I feel like it, familerise myself with this chick and her really weird accent.”

            Which leaves me comfortable enough to try my hand on bigger projects that may take way longer to make and be released, but hopefully also grap the attention of new viewers.

            I have not exactly decied what will come after Miyazaki March, but I do believe it will be some kind of a list, for fun.
            Because, lists are fun and are always quite popular, it’s a good way to snatch up a few viewers that usually don’t watch your stuff..

            I know I know, it would sound cooler if I was all like. “I don’t care for the number of viewers! I do it only for passion!”
            But well.. I also have a buisness part inside of my head that keeps reminding me, I am going back to freaking Alcon and hang out with Brental Floss again this September!
            I am on this site, I am soooo lucky, this is my golden chance to really work for it and maybe.. just maybe, if I make the right decisions, in spite of my accent, which I know is a big turn off for a lot of people, and is the main reason why I probably will never ever be one of the huges.
            But still, maybeee, if I play this right.. I can really be along-side Brent and the TGWTG gang as an equal, having really cool stuff and support to show for, that would definetely be teh big dream at this point.

          • Mike

            How could he forget Adventures of Winnieh the Pooh???
            That show was amazingly put together, so innocent and yet captured the wonderfullness of Winnieh The pooh so perfectly.

            It’s because Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was never part of the Disney Afternoon Lineup in the U.S. It aired on Saturday Mornings on the ABC network.

    • Sofie Liv

      It is Miyazaki himself that want to write and make that Sequel.. it’s not to bad though is it?

      It would mean at least one more movie written by Miyazaki, and though he wouldn’t direct it, I am pretty sure he would have a hard time staying away from such a movie production, he would probably also become a producer on it and have a hand in the creation process.. so well.. who knows.

      They said it all depended on the succes of “the Wind rises.” .. it has done pretty well hasn’t it? So Porco Rosso 2 is definetely a possibility..

      The mans repetoaur is INSANE, he has written the music for over a HUNDRED movies and Television shows.

      Which would make sense.. for a cheap hack that works in cheaper lower lays and just grind himself through scores to make a living.

      But.. There is nothing cheap nor hacking over any of his works I have heard so far, he is just an absolutely INSANE talent.

      Thanks in the pointers of how to pronounce his name! :)

  • Zee Panda

    I have a complicated history with this movie. The first time I saw it I thought it was beautifully rendered and I liked the supporting characters a lot, but I did not like Porco Rosso himself so much that it hindered my appreciation of the movie. By the end of it, I had a lot of mixed feelings and I decided it was an okay movie but not a great one. But then I found myself thinking about it more. LIke you say, there are a lot of layers here and the more I thought about it, the more I came to appreciate it. It is a story that is both simple and complicated at the same time and there are a lot of different ways to look at it. I like it as an adventure story and I like it for the great visuals but I also like it for how it makes me think.

    • Sofie Liv

      Yeah, I also find it to be one of those movies where reading the creators thoughts about the movie makes it a lot better, just gives it meat.

      Small details like, in the plane scene, where Marco sees the plane of his falling comrades rising to the sky, Bollini’s plane (Gina’s at the time husband.) Had number one written on it, while Marcos plane had a number four on it.

      Why? It’s meant to symbolise that Bollini is Husband number 1, and Marco is going to become husband number 4 one day.. huh.

      Also note, the movie never ever says, that that was the exsperience that turned Marco into a pig.

      Miyazaki has stated quite clearly that Marco did it to himself, and seeing all his men die in front of him, is just one of the things that made him question all his prior actions and even his own humanity.

      The real reason he defected was actually due to the rise of fasicm in Italy, which Marco recognised as being a very bad thing, and not some-thing worth putting other mens life on the line for.

      Most people do assume that Marco turned into a pig upon his vision, but I actually like to think that maybe.. Marco returned to Ginas resturant, saw the picture of his younger self realising that the other three boys on the picture are now dead due to the war, and because he wasn’t good enough a commander, got ashamed and scratched out his own face, and that’s how he turned into a pig.

      No-body ever stated that any-where, but that’s just my imagination running wild.

      Also, even though Porco is the one character Miyazaki has written to be “the depressed downer character.”

      Even for that, I think Porco is a pretty funny character, he has a good laugh, some funny lines, love some of his face expressions, and yeah man.. oh the layers of this movie, I love it.

      You also gotta love how he keeps on sporting that moustacio.. human or pig, he keeps that moustacio, and damn straight it looks good on him, that big, biiig moustacio, XD

      • Muthsarah

        Well, who would find a clean-shaved pig attractive?

        • Sofie Liv

          It is a VERY impressive moustacio, that thing is big on his human self.
          He totally pulls it off XD

  • danbreunig

    How is it no one mentioned the resemblance between Porco Rosso and Mister Mendo?
    Not the pig face, just…the rest of the face.

    Just in quick response to the below illuminatingly detailed posts:
    You guys have a nice discussion going about 90s Disney shows–so much history I didn’t know about. Pity I wasn’t a kid anymore then :(

    About those dream projects: Indeed! If there’s anything tougher than not having imagination and talent, it’s actually having imagination and talent but no time/money/tools/equipment/schooling/connections/etc. Makes me wish we could all just plug a cord between head and computer and immediately show the world what we’re thinking. Then again there wouldn’t be websites anymore so um…

    Totoro is on its way so I should get to see it in the next month. There’s a waiting list for one copy, would you believe it!?

    • Sofie Liv

      Actually if you have the time, I do recommend that you check Darkwing Duck out.
      That is actually a show I appreciate waaaay more as an adult, than I did as a child.
      I mean, as a child.. I liked it, I liked it a lot.
      But as an adult, my god! As the NC pointed out, making funny superheroes is not a new concept at all, it’s old.
      But some-how, even though Darkwing is an old figure now, he still seems so fresh and new, and as a new clever twist on the superhero genre.
      I love how he is neither stupid nor incompetent, he is actually quite clever, though his one big achelis heel that gets in his way, is yes.. his ego.
      So not stupidity, not the clumsy Clusoe behavior people wants to pull off.. his ego.
      Which is very fresh in my world, when every-body else make comedy superhero shows, it always seems to me their approach is to make the hero a well meaning but stupid person.
      The Tick, Freakazoid, Earthworm jim.. it’s just such a tired formular if you think about it, and yet, no one has tried to go the Darkwing route, he is entirely unique and thus fresh.

      The world he inhabits is also just so cool and fresh, the villains being clever takes and twists on old arche types that now feels fresh.. STILL feels fresh.
      And the show has a lot of hear to, in the centre of it all, we have the fact that Darkwing is in fact a father, and genuinly cares about that part of his life a lot, he loves Gosalyn beyond all else, he is ridicoulesly devoted to her.
      Which makes his ego flaw compleately forgivable.. yet he is still very entertaining, and he can carrie an episode without Gosalyn just fine, there are episodes where she’s not present, which works just as fine.
      There should be a few episodes available on youtube, I highly recommend you go check it out, see if you can find the two parter series starter, a really great entry point that actually do tell the origin.. not of Darkwing, it’s a pretty neat thing how his origin is never explained and he just does what he does.. because. But! it tells the origin of how he came to meet and adopt Gosalyn as well as team up with Launchpad, it’s a really neat little story setting every-thing up perfectly for the rest of the series.

      And yeah… yeah.
      But well, I guess that’s the test for such people, if you really mean it and really want it, you have to work for this shit, nothing comes without putting an afford into it.

      And by god you’re right.. I think it’s the sun glasses and cigar, but yeah.. dammit, not I can’t help thinking Mendo in a nice red plane..

      • danbreunig

        That’s him, alright. Just take away the pig snout and you get Mendo. There was a custom-made joke about it just sitting right there. You’ll at least have one ready for your next crossover with him, hm?

        Here, I’ll make you a deal about recommended shows:

        I’ll check out Darkwing if you check out Gatchaman. You know, that anime series that I never shut up about. For really the same reasons:

        “That is actually a show I appreciate waaaay more as an adult, than I did as a child.
        I mean, as a child.. I liked it, I liked it a lot. But as an adult, my god!…making funny superheroes is not a new concept at all, it’s old. But some-how, even though Darkwing is an old figure now, he still seems so fresh and new, and as a new clever twist on the superhero genre…”

        I grew up on its very tame toned-down translated American version Battle Of The Planets when I was barely alive and watched alongside the always-on-TV-in-one-manner-or-another Bugs Bunny, DC Superfriends, and Marvel based shows (and even Sunday night Disney Movie features!–cool parallel, huh?). The actual original Japanese series I first watched in 2005 and it stayed with me since, even relaunching a whole rediscovery of old shows I use to watch as a kid and for the most part appreciate in a whole new perspective. Jeez Sofie, you got me nostalgic in your own forum! …getting back on track here…

        Gatchaman as a series is a heroes-versus-villains show centered around a team of teen/twentysomething heroes with a huge bird theme (this show is loaded with that Japanese cultural sense of imagination), in constant conflict with an alien/mob/underground organization bent on hoarding Earth’s resources for their eventual takeover. Most episodes involve an eventual fight and defeat with the villains’ commander-of-the-day and mecha/monster/vehicle based on some animal. If that sounds like any Power Rangers series, that’s because the Japanese series those shows were based on had that “team of young heroes fighting main villains’ machine-monsters” feel carried over from this particular show that started the trend.

        Sounds simple, but there’s more emphasis on characters’ depth than just heroes blowing up villains’ stuff for another day. Each of our heroes has some personal baggage and back-story that affects his/her decisions and growth, and the main villain isn’t without internal conflict, mostly about fear and worth in relation to the head villain and giving in to his/her (you’ll understand if you watch it) own ego. At its core we get characters who behave and function like a pseudo-family; there’s a mix of sympathy, frustration, concern, selfishness, bliss, love and grief inherent in any real family. Externally the series deals with the very nature of War without showing any glorification in it. The heroes (mostly) save the day and the villains (mostly) return another day, but death and destruction is everywhere, oftentimes having assassinations and entire cities of innocent bystanders killed, more so than the heroes and villains themselves–just like real war in this world. Just as frequently we also see an occasional glimmer of hope for a potentially peaceful future just out of reach. Consequently the heroes become equally justified and hypocritical about their own cause, with some realizing their individual and collective flaws more than others.

        That may sound like any anime out there, but I give this series the nod for being one of the first to deal with this premise as deep and effective as it did. And it doesn’t feel like a soap opera (I do NOT enjoy those) where if you aren’t there to watch it everyday and miss two or three episodes, you lose half of the series plot. Most episodes are stand-alone with minimal story arcs, but there is a huge collective story arc running throughout the series with a massive payoff at its very end. It may take a while to get going at first, but if you pay attention you’ll feel that undercurrent building. Most of all though, this show has what I want most in any show: HEART. Emotions in characters and viewers run the full spectrum. You get a nice balance of drama that’s not Nolan Batman-level gritty and brooding, and innocent, silly, funny, and playful moments that aren’t dumbed-down saccharin sweet.

        I’ll warn you that this show is old–originally broadcast in 1972, 105 episodes in two years, and eventually having two subpar sequel series, plus the 1978 U.S. BOTP. It won’t feel like One Piece (except for bizarre one-off characters) or Attack On Titan (except for ongoing war) or any Miyazaki movie (that’s what this should be about, right?).

        If anything I want to recommend this particular anime among others to show that an anime doesn’t need to be made in only the last decade to have depth, weight, and heart. The only datedness is the fashion, some technology (i.e. tape-reel computers), and original film-stock, which may limit the flashiness often seen in current animes. If you get past those, then you have a series with enough meat to it to stand on its own regardless of whether it’s 1972 or 2014. I simply ask that if you pass on this series, to at least not reject it just because it’s not current. YouTube has plenty of episodes if you want to see one or two, most dubbed in English.

        Wow. I didn’t mean to spew a mouthful this time. It’s just with all these animes and Disney shows you recommend I at least wanted to offer an anime series suggestion in return which meant a lot in my own childhood (and even more in adulthood), and one that is and isn’t a norm in anime.

    • Muthsarah

      “Totoro is on its way so I should get to see it in the next month. There’s a waiting list for one copy, would you believe it!?”

      Not really (EDIT: I mean the exact opposite), the film’s very famous (so happy happy when that happens to truly good movies). I went by my local video store for my weekly run, and they had displayed a list of their best-selling DVDs/BluRays of 2013. Totoro was #3! :D

  • Mike

    Wow a lot to talk about. One this review was something of an improvement for me over the last too since I got a little more feel for what where to make of the main characters. I know it’s difficult to describe a “day in the life” type of movie, but I think in order for those kinds of movies to work you have to at least find something about the characters to grab onto. It doesn’t even necessarily have to be the living characters. Sometimes in those slice of life movies the settings can become a character all to themselves, because you become immersed in the world the living characters reside in.

    Anyway on to more childlike bits of nostalgic glee brought on by the conversation below. Just hearing you guys talk about childhood favorites gets me feeling nostalgic as well and yes the NC Disney Afternoon video had a lot to do with that.

    Sofie you’ve gushed about Darkwing Duck a lot and I’ve been waiting for to do a video for that, but since there is no way to knowing when that will happen maybe know is the time to address some problems I have with my memory of the show. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched it mind you and there more you write about it the more I thinks it’s something I need to look back on, but I most confess it wasn’t one of the Disney shows I remember most fondly.

    Part of it was the character himself. You and NC both pointed out he is driven more by ego that personal angst or a greater cause, but that made it a very difficult for me to route for him. An egotistical villain I can enjoy, even if he’s not very good at being a villain and is just so much of an overgrown child he can’t even recognize his own incompetence, but an egotistical hero? Honestly as I recall DW treated his allies so coldly and was so quick to screw things up by trying to do everything himself that at times I just wanted to slap him. Granted I do remember him a fairly charming fatherly relationship with Gosalyn, but I may not have seen as many episode where she played a major role, so maybe that’s only my fault.

    However, what really turned me off and was probably the main reason I didn’t watch as often as some of the others ways the inconsistent approach to standard super hero peril. Despite having an awesome theme song that suggest maximum action climax’s (which it did delivery in the pilot to be sure) too often the conflicts were treated as a joke.

    There was an episode (maybe you’ve seen it) where we have the standard hero falling from a tall building and no is coming to save him cliffhanger set up. Than we come back from the commercial break and what happens? He just falls to floor, causes a hole in the shape of his body, and walk out limp! Ha Ha Ha?

    Than at the end of the same episode when he and the villain of the day have become bigger than a planet (don’t ask) he starts throwing stars like there ice chucks?! Look a comic approach to superhero stories is one thing, but that’s straight up farce. If were really supposed to care when our hero dares to “get dangerous” shouldn’t we believe the danger is really? At least with Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers you actually believe these characters could get hurt or even die. As I recall there was one episode where DW actually did die but…wasn’t that also mostly treated as a joke?

    Anyway I’ve been ponder how to say this for some time now, because I value your insights, love your positive outlook, and as I’ve said before sometimes we need to give certain works a second look to fully comprehend what the creators were doing. Just though is someone who seems to understand the appeal of Darkwing Duck can maybe explain away the problems I addressed.

    Anyway look forward to see what you’ve go coming next, especially since I didn’t quote grasp what you were talking about at the end of this video.

    • Sofie Liv

      Well, some-times the show went directly over to Looney Toon mayham and logic, where Darkwing himself was a bit of a Daffy Duck..

      Darkwing is a very ego centristic character, it is his main flaw as a character, but also his main standout characteristic.

      Also it is important to note, he does over-come this flaw in himself and recues the day very often.
      When-ever Gosalyn is invovled and she is in danger, Darkwing will forget any ideas of his own ego, it’ll all be about keeping her safe, he is beyond devoted to her, and loves her very much, he is even… quite often a very doting father.
      Darkwing also just loves the very idea of heroes and what they are supposed to stand for, he does care about being a hero in the right way.
      It is also indicated very often that his real self worth is… not very good.
      It even went so far ones that he just down-right stopped being his alter Ego Drake Mallard, really. just stopped, abandoned that part of his life, and was Darkwing Duck all the time until he met Gosalyn and got reason to pull his alter ego out of the closet.

      He is not a very social person, but you can see he cares deeply for the few people gets in, and he wants to be the best he can be for them, getting upset when other people seemingly does better than him.. almost loosing all self worth.
      He really does have the mind of a child very often, and one whom needs to get re-affirmed that he does well enough to not loose it.
      He loves and adores the very idea of a hero or what a hero does, it seems quite clearly that all he wish to be and do, is to be a real hero. And dammit, he is going for it!

      Yes he died in one episode and became a ghost.. though that episode was actually banned at some point in the US due to.. turning children into satanists or I don’t know..
      But it also becomes a pretty poignant story for Darkwing as it becomes about him not wanting to leave Gosalyn behind.
      In the beginning he is upset because he can’t be a hero any-more, but by the end, it all becomes about. “What about Gosalyn? Who’s going to look after her! how can I make sure she is going to be safe now?”

      That is one thing you can be sure off, when-ever Gosalyn is in danger, Darkwing just forget ANY-THING that was an issue prior.
      Any ego trip about not wanting to cooporate, any crippling self doubt (which happens to him quite often.) Every-thing just gets thrown out of the windown instantly so he can do what-ever he must to keep Gosalyn, and that is his one big saving grace.

      Hell, I thought his finest moment, was in the episode Steerminator, which is also by far the most suspensful episode.
      Where Taurus Bulba whom tried to kill Gosalyn and Darkwing in the first episode returns.
      Darkwing has a broken leg in this episode, so he is actually physically handicapped, and as Bulba returns, Darkwings first reaction is just to get extremely worried for Gosalyn and overprotective.. though neglects to tell her why because he doesn’t want to worry her.
      Which courses Gosalyn to miss-read the situation and go out on her own, only to be captured by Bulba whom uses her as bait to bait Darkwing out.
      Darkwing is sitting there confined to a wheel chair with a broken leg, Bulba nearly killed him the last time where he was at his fullest but… Gosalyn is in danger, so obviously knowing the odds are very much against him.. he goes any-way and tries to rescue her.
      And it seems very in character for him, this core behaviour really makes him very loveable to, and you can’t help but root for him, I at least can’t.
      There’s just… so many other aspects of him than just the Ego..

      His Ego is his achilles heel for sure, and is ever present, his own crippling self doubt often getting a number two spot when it appears.
      But, his strenght is definetely his deeply devotion and love for Gosalyn and people he consider friends, it’s his joy in being what he is, going for his dream and loving the hero ideal, he will come through by the end of the day, and safe the day. Because he actually is quite clever when he overcomes his ego, he is a smart all though some-times pretty pesimistic person, whom is stll a child at heart. For a cartoon Duck living in a world where Daffy Duck logic often applies, he sure has a lot of layers to him.

Advertisements

Popular Posts This Week