"With hockey, all things are possible."
-- Grin
INTERGALACTIC HOCKEY-PLAYING SUPERHERO DUCKS?!?!
BUENA VISTA TELEVISION'S
'MIGHTY DUCKS'
TEAM UP FOR HOCKEY-COMEDY-ACTION
(AND SAVING THE PLANET FROM IMPENDING DOOM)
Ian Ziering, Jim Belushi, Tim Curry and Dennis Franz
Lend Their Voices to New Animated Series Premiering on
"The Disney Afternoon" and ABC's Saturday Morning Line-Up
Hold on to your helmets, hockey-sci-fi-action-comedy-animation
fans! The Mighty
Ducks have arrived!
No, they're not the beat-all-odds Mighty Ducks hockey team
from the two hit
Disney films ('The Mighty Ducks' and 'D2: The Mighty Ducks').
And nope, they're not
exactly the popular, real-life NHL Mighty Ducks hockey team based
in Anaheim,
California. We're talking about a new, ahem, breed of Mighty
Ducks: a dynamic team of
intergalactic, crime-fighting, hi-tech-smart, goal-scoring, zanily
hilarious, hockey-star-
superheroes, starring in television's wildest new animated adventure
series.
The 'Mighty Ducks' make their smash debut on Earth with three
premiere
appearances. A one-hour special scheduled to air on Friday, September
6 on 'The Disney
Afternoon,' (check local listings) is followed by encore performances
Friday, September 6
at 8:30 PM (ET/PT) on ABC, and Saturday Morning, September 7 at
9:00 AM(ET)/8:00
AM(PT) on ABC. In addition, a prime-time special hosted by Ben
Savage and featuring a
'Mighty Ducks' episode back-to-back with Buena Vista Television's
other new duck-
related series, 'Quack Pack,' will also air in syndication this
Fall (check local listings for
date and time). Twenty-six original episodes of the series are
being produced this season:
thirteen half-hour episodes will air Fridays on 'The Disney Afternoon,'
the award-winning
two-hour syndicated children's programming service; and, thirteen
additional episodes will
air exclusively on the ABC Saturday Morning line-up.
Mixing action, comedy, hockey, and ducks in ways that have
never before been
attempted by humans, 'Mighty Ducks' follows the adventures of
six young half-
human/half-ducks who have traveled across the galaxy to save the
Earth from their arch
enemy, the very reptilian Dragaunus, and his equally odious henchmen
. . . and to play
some serious hockey.
At the Anaheim Pond (home of the real-life Mighty Ducks hockey
team), the
Mighty Ducks take the ice in the arena before crowds of hockey-loving
fans. But below
the rink, in their secret, super-cool-hi-tech headquarters, they
strategize the defense of
civilization from Dragaunus' plans to enslave it. And when they're
not thrilling their fans
with hockey magic or saving the world with the help of specially
made puck-launchers,
duck sabers, martial arts, and their way-out-there, sarcastic,
self-deprecating sense of
humor, they hang out at the mall across the street.
"'Mighty Ducks' pushes the boundaries of an animated
series," says Dean
Valentine, President, Walt Disney Television and Walt Disney Television
Animation. "The
comic book action, larger-than-life villains, and action set pieces
provide kids with plenty
of eye candy, while the witty dialogue makes the series fun for
grownups as well."
They're Talking Duck
'Mighty Ducks' racks up the points with a championship voice
cast. Ian Ziering
('Beverly Hills 90210') sets the pace as the Ducks' team captain,
the courageous
Wildwing. Funnyman Jim Belushi ('Race the Sun,' 'Mr. Destiny')
voices Phil, the
team's brash, no-deal-is-ever-a-bad-deal business manager who's
always on the lookout
for the next merchandising opportunity. Film star Tim Curry ('The
Rocky Horror Picture
Show') is the bad-guy Saurian Overlord Dragaunus; Dennis Franz
('NYPD Blue') brings
his distinctive Andy Sipowicz-style to Police Officer Klegghorn,
who harbors strong
suspicions about the Ducks' heroic exploits; and ESPN sports anchor
Roy Firestone calls
the shots as the Anaheim Pond announcer.
Several guest voices also join the all-star line-up, including
David Hyde-Pierce, the
Emmy-winning star of 'Frasier,' who lends his talents to the unctuous
Baron von
Lichtenstamp, a hunting fanatic determined to capture the ducks
for a very special duck
pate. Real-life Mighty Ducks hockey star Guy Hebert also voices
an animated character --
himself.
From Puckworld to Our World
It all starts long ago in the icy universe of Puckworld, where
hockey is more than
just a way of life -- it is a sacred art. Puckworld was taken
over by the dark forces of the
Saurian Overlords and, after centuries of destruction, the last
remaining Overlord, the
dastardly Dragaunus, escapes with his henchmen through a dimensional
gateway to a
parallel universe -- and our planet.
Totally bummed out at having their hockey interrupted, a scrappy
band of rebels --
the Mighty Ducks -- follow Dragaunus, vowing to end his evil rampage
once and for all.
Using their amazing hockey skills as a cover, the Ducks do their
best to thwart the villain's
efforts to steal all the electricity on earth or find the Proteus
Chip that will power the all-
destroying ray-cannon. Along the way, they try to help each other
adjust to their new
home and their 'strange ducks in a strange land' situation, as
well as dodge their manager
Phil's latest attempt to land a fast-buck endorsement deal. ("Serves
me right getting mixed
up with an animal act!" Phil complains.)
The 'Mighty Ducks' team consists of Wildwing (Ziering), the
daring, idealistic
young team captain who is transformed into a superhero when he
wears The Mask (a goalie
mask with special powers enabling him to become a superhero);
Nosedive (Steve Mackall),
Wildwing's 'wisequacking' younger brother whose headstrong attitude
often leads him
and his teammates into trouble; Tanya (April Winchell), the team's
whiz-bang scientific
expert; Grin (Brad Garrett) who uses a lethal (and often hilarious)
combination of brute
strength and Zen philosophy to thwart his enemies ("No one
who plays the noble sport of
hockey can be all bad," quoth Grin); Duke L'Orange (Jeff
Bennett), a former cat burglar
who now employs his style and charm to fight crime; and Mallory
(Jennifer Hale), a
dangerous martial arts expert with a fondness for shopping.
The Team Behind the Team
'Mighty Ducks' producer/director Joe Barruso recently joined
Walt Disney
Television Animation from his Emmy Award-winning stint on Fox's
"Where on Earth is
Carmen Sandiego?" He is joined by story editor David Wise,
a uniquely talented writer
who has scored animation awards since he was eight, and won his
first Emmy for the
cartoon version of 'Star Trek' while still a teenager.
"'Mighty Ducks' pairs hard-edged action with an absolutely
wild sense of fun to
play out stories against a backdrop of real danger," Barruso
explains. "At the same time all
this action is happening, the characters break the fourth wall
to create layers of comedy."
Wise notes, "We went for an eclectic mix of characters
-- a sort of 'Dirty Dozen'-
'Seven Samurai' combination of wildly disparate personalities
brought together by a single
unifying goal -- both on and off the ice. All our players have
more than one layer -- they're
not at all simple cartoon characters. And the humor acts like
a blast of nitroglycerine into a
fuel mixture, to take the adventure to a higher level -- the two
elements supercharge each
other."
The hockey games, used to help advance the story, aren't simple
either. Barruso
and his crew have worked hard to make the hockey segments as accurate
as possible in
terms of uniforms, equipment and the rink itself. Working from
computer-generated
drawings, the animation team has recreated the interior world
of the Anaheim Pond.
Barruso also screened hours of real-life hockey footage to capture
the essence of a stride, a
swing or a slapshot.
"Joe and David make a fantastic team," says Barry
Blumberg, Vice President of
Series Development for Walt Disney Television Animation. "We
thought the combination
of David's unique brand of smart and funny action comedy and Joe's
innovative, always-
take-chances style of animation would result in something new
and different -- and it most
definitely has."
'Mighty Ducks' is produced by Walt Disney Television Animation
for Buena Vista
Television, subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company. Joe Barruso
is Supervising
Producer, David Wise as Story Editor and Writer, with Doug Murphy
and Frank Squillace
serving as Directors. The President of Walt Disney Television
Animation is Dean
Valentine.