DuckTales Had Everything That Makes Comic-Con Worth Going To

Between David Tennant, Community‘s Danny Pudi, the hope of new footage, and the immense amount of nostalgia has for the beloved Disney cartoon, the DuckTales panel at San Diego Comic-Con was packed. And boy, did Disney XD make it worth their while.

It wasn’t just that a bunch of concept art was “accidentally” shown — featuring Gizmoduck, Megavolt, the Beagle Boys, Magica De Spell, Negaduck, Quackerjack, and, to rapturous cheers, Darkwing Duck — it was the whole experience. Throughout the whole thing, you saw how excited and in love with the show everyone was. And if anyone had any doubt that the people making it were fans, co-producer and story editor Francisco Angones made a nod to the famous theme song with, “The writers are not allowed to use the word aeroplane, I always change it it aeroplane” — just as it’s pronounced in the original theme song.

When a fan question asked for Tennant to do a patented Scrooge McDuck freakout, the writers scrambled to write one down (which they called “The Comic-Con Debacle”) on scrap paper and then handed to Tennant. It was delightful, and even watching video of it doesn’t do justice to the energy in the room.

David Tennant performing a spur of the moment Scrooge McDuck moment. #SDCC2017 #DuckTales pic.twitter.com/Bp7XoAdu4E

— Michelle Garrison (@Metro575) July 21, 2017

Ben Schwartz (Dewey) followed that up with a request for a scene where Dewey reads all of War and Peace, out loud, from memory. He was dutifully handed a piece of paper and read out “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Ugh, this book is the worst of times.” We will forgive them for going with a Tale of Two Cities quote instead, as it was very last second and the moment itself was so much fun it is beyond nitpick.

Asked which actor and character pairs would make a good team on an adventure, a few people got giant laughs. Schwartz said he and Dewey would “be a disaster. Dewey Duck and me is basically someone going after adventure and a Jewish muppet following him, puppeteered by someone who does not know how to.” Beck Bennet only had to say he and Launchpad would be a “huge success” which got laughs.

This was a panel that had everything: clips, news (DARKWING), moments that you had to be there for, and a cast and crew deeply in love with the material. The passion and affection drove the room and reminded people why, as gruelling as it is, it’s worth getting in line.