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Life is like a hurricane, here in Duckburg…

For animation fans of a certain age, those lyrics immediately conjure the globetrotting adventures of a certain Scottish duck who’s tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties…who made his money square.  Over the course of 100 episodes originally aired between 1987 and 1990, Walt Disney Television Animation’s DuckTales vividly brought to life the adventures of Uncle Scrooge McDuck.  Introduced by writer-artist Carl Barks in the 1947 comic book story “Christmas on Bear Mountain,” Uncle Scrooge quickly became one of pop culture’s most indelible creations.  Barks earned fans including George Lucas and Steven Spielberg with his intricate, often history-based adventures, and the creators behind DuckTales endeavored to translate that spirit to television animation.  A key ingredient in the best Disney tradition was music, and DuckTales tapped Ron Jones to pen much of the score.  (Mark Mueller wrote the familiar theme song.)  Now, Intrada is bringing a number of Jones’ cues to CD for the very first time.

DuckTales: Original 1980s Television Soundtrack presents, on 2 CDs, over 80 tracks including high-flying music from eight episodes, Mueller’s classic theme song (in original, extended, and alternate versions) and the end credits music.  Jones came to Disney after having worked on such Hanna-Barbera cartoons as The Smurfs and The Snorks; his credits also included such live-action series as The A-Team, Hardcastle and McCormick, and Magnum, PI, all with the team of Mike Post and Pete Carpenter. Also beginning in 1987, Jones would compose music for Gene Roddenberry’ Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Though DuckTales naturally took departures from Barks’ source material – perhaps most notably replacing Donald Duck as a main character with such new creations as accident-prone pilot Launchpad McQuack – the choice of Jones as composer indicated the series’ determination to preserve the sense of wonderment and high adventure that characterized Barks’ work.  (He was ultimately credited with source material for ten episodes, though characters and concepts he created – including Duckburg itself – proved the very foundation of the series.)

After first voicing Scrooge in 1983’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Alan Young (Mr. Ed) returned to lead the cast which also included Russi Taylor as Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby; Terry McGovern as Launchpad; Frank Welker, Brian Cummings, and Peter Cullen as the nefari0us Beagle Boys; Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck; Joan Gerber as Mrs. Beakley; Hal Smith as crackpot inventor Gyro Gearloose and Scrooge’s arch-rival Flintheart Glomgold; June Foray as the villainous pair of Magica DeSpell and Ma Beagle; and Chuck McCann as loyal butler Duckworth.

DuckTales’ legacy remains strong, having spun off numerous comic book series (including one that continues to this day), video games, a full-length film, Treasure of the Lost Lamp (the soundtrack of which was also released by Intrada), and a 2017 spinoff starring David Tennant as Scrooge which ran for three seasons and 69 episodes.  Uncle Scrooge still headlines comics around the world, while creators including Don Rosa, William Van Horn, Daan Jippes, Marco Rota, Giorgio Cavazzano, and the late Romano Scarpa all built on Barks’ legacy.

The success of the original series led to the flourishing of The Disney Afternoon programming block which also featured such memorable series as Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, and DuckTales spinoff Darkwing Duck.  In 1991, Carl Barks was honored as a Disney Legend; he died in 2000 at the age of 99.  Ron Jones went on to score such series as Family Guy; he composed music for the first twelve seasons of Seth MacFarlane’s bawdy cartoon hit.

Ready to relive some Duckburg memories with the music of Ron Jones?  The soundtrack to DuckTales is shipping now from Intrada at the links below.

Ron Jones, DuckTales (Original 1980s Television Soundtrack) (Intrada ISC 530, 2026)

* composed by Mark Mueller

Disc 1

1. DuckTales Main Theme *

“Treasure of the Golden Suns” (Episodes 1.1-5 (prod. code #124-128 – 9/18/1987)

2. Another Happy Day in Duckburg
3. Pranks
4. Mrs. B to the Rescue
5. Parachute Home
6. Battle with the Condors
7. Just in Time/Escape from the Valley of the Golden Suns
8. Raiders of the Lost Sun

“The Money Vanishes” (Episode 1.16 (prod. code #4412-007) – 10/5/1987)

9. The Beagle Boys’ Dirty Deeds
10. Bad Guys Groove
11. Beagle Boys #1
12. Beagle Boys #2 – The Plan
13. Trouble
14. Beagle Boys Chase
15. Something’s Up Groove #2
16. Rock Chase
17. DuckTales Theme

“Master of the Djinni” (Episode #1.12 (prod. code #4412-010) – 9/29/1987)

18. Adventure Through the Boys’ Eyes
19. Search for the Lost Vault
20. Old Enemies
21. Adventure Chase #2
22. Glomgold’s Theme
23. Desert Chase
24. Adventure
25. You’re Not Too Old, Uncle Scrooge

“Armstrong” (Episode #1.9 (prod. code #4412-014 – 9/24/1987)

26. Rocks on the Tracks
27. Launchpad McStunt
28. The Race
29. Toy Wars
30. Air Battle
31. Hot Chocolate

“Imagination Suite”

32. Happy Opener #1
33. Something’s Up in Duckburg
34. Dreams
35. The Journey
36. Something’s Up Groove #1
37. Something’s Up Groove #2 (Alternate Version)
38. Rock Quest
39. DuckTales Theme (Alternate Version)

Disc 2

1. DuckTales Theme (Extended Version) (released on The Disney Afternoon – Walt Disney Records 60810-2, 1990) *

“Time is Money” (Episodes 2.1-5 (prod. code #201-205) – 11/24/1988)

2. The Deal
3. Quake
4. Blast to the Past
5. Run from T-Rex
6. Bubba’s Cave
7. Escape from T-Rex
8. Reentry
9. The Great City of Tupei
10. Giving All
11. Shopping Cart Chase
12. The Big Goodbye

“Super DuckTales” (Episodes 2.6-10 (prod. code #206-210) – 3/26/1989)

13. Happy Opener #2
14. Duckburg Groove
15. Marching Band Source
16. Feelings of Adventure
17. Get the Scoop on the Loot
18. Captured by Bots
19. Meet MEL
20. No Hope
21. The Duel
22. The Adventure

“A DuckTales Valentine” (Episode 3.18 (prod. code #4305-034) – 2/11/1990)

23. Valentine Card
24. Plans
25. Treasure Adventure
26. Underwater Treasure
27. Shark Attack
28. Mumbo Jumbo
29. Aphroducky
30. The Trouble with Arrows
31. The Love Scheme
32. Scrooge Gets It
33. Sad Cupcakes
34. Operation Allergy
35. Jealous
36. Plane to Catch
37. It’s Barbecue Time
38. True Love
39. DuckTales End Credits *