~IAN ZIERING, JIM BELUSHI, DENNIS
FRANZ AND TIM CURRY
QUACK IT UP IN
WALT DISNEY TELEVISION ANIMATION'S
COOL NEW SERIES~
'MIGHTY DUCKS'
Guest Voices Include David Hyde-Pierce,
Hockey Star Guy Hebert,
and ESPN Announcer Roy Firestone
Sure, you think it's easy finding just
the right voices for an animated series about a
team of superhero hockey-playing ducks from another galaxy. But
since this isn't exactly a
character-type found on most actors' resumes, the producers of
"Mighty Ducks" -- the all-
new animated series making its syndication debut Friday, September
6 on 'The Disney
Afternoon,' and on the ABC Television network Saturday morning,
September 7 -- have
turned to a stellar line-up of TV and film character actors.
And, to a real-life Mighty Duck.
Leading the team is 'Beverly Hills 90210'
heartthrob Ian Ziering as the brave,
courageous Wildwing. "It's not often that I get to play
an intergalactic freedom-fighting
duck," notes Ian Ziering about Wildwing, the idealistic captain
of the 'Mighty Ducks'
hockey team, who always plays by the book, and is a consumate
sportsman and role model
for the team's young fans. "What's fun about doing this
is I get to live vicariously through
Wildwing," Ziering says. "It's exciting for me to voice
a really big, 'in your face'
character, because I don't get to do that on camera."
Comic actor Jim Belushi ('Taking Care
of Business,' 'Curly Sue') runs
interference as the team's non-stop-talker, always-on-the-move
business manager, Phil.
Only one human on earth knows of the secret mission of the world's
favorite hockey team,
and that's Phil. "I based the voice on a combination of
my agent and my lawyer -- I stole
their rap!" Belushi laughs. With a cel phone perpetually
attached to his ear, Phil wheels
promotion deals for the team ("Let's do a little business,
Calvin! Underwear?! Sure,
ducks wear underwear!"). "Phil's just a guy trying to
make things happen," says Belushi.
Phil might be the Ducks' most loyal fan, but he only reluctantly
supports their mission to
save the planet, because it takes too much time away from what
they really should be doing
-- making money for him.
Tim Curry ('The Three Musketeers,' 'Rocky
Horror Picture Show') stirs up
trouble as the Mighty Ducks' evil nemesis, Lord Dragaunus. Dragaunus,
the reptilian
renegade, escaped defeat in the Puckworld galaxy by traveling
through a space-time vortex
to earth, where he is plotting to enslave the planet. Little
did he know when he made his
escape that the Mighty Ducks were right on his tail, determined
to thwart his diabolical
plans. Curry can also be heard as the villain Moltoc in 'Quack
Pack,' the new Walt Disney
Television Animation series starring Donald Duck and premiering
concurrently with
'Mighty Ducks' on 'The Disney Afternoon.'
Dennis Franz ('NYPD Blue') attempts
to keep the peace by joining the Anaheim
Police as Officer Klegghorn. Well-known to 'NYPD Blue' fans for
his Emmy-winning
role of Detective Andy Sipowicz, Franz lends his voice to a blustering,
junk-food-eating
disciplinarian who has suspicions about the Mighty Ducks. Klegghorn
wonders why the
appearance of the Ducks hockey team just happens to coincide with
the appearance on the
scene of a six-duck vigilante crime-fighting team. Franz explains
how he performs the
voice of Klegghorn: "I have three styles that I draw upon:
loud, louder and loudest!"
Guest voices throughout the season include
'Frasier's' Emmy-winning David
Hyde-Pierce, who voices the very Germanic hunting fanatic Baron
von Lichtenstamp; and
real-life Mighty Ducks hockey star Guy Hebert, as himself.
The .Mighty Ducks. voice line-up also
features ESPN sports anchor Roy Firestone
as the ever-present Anaheim Pond rink announcer; comedian Brad
Garrett ('Everybody
Loves Raymond,' 'The Pursuit of Happiness,' 'The Tonight Show')
as Grin, the largest
of the Mighty Ducks, whose huge physical size and Zen-like philosophy
of life ("You must
return to the True Way of Hockey") are a lethal combination
for his foes on and off the ice;
Jennifer Hale as Mallory; Steve Mackall as Nosedive; and April
Winchell as Tanya.
'Mighty Ducks' is produced by Walt Disney
Television Animation for Buena Vista
Television, subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company. Supervising
Producer: Joe
Barruso. Story Editor/Writer: David Wise. Directors: Doug Murphy
and Frank Squillace.