Hey everybody, Dane here, Welcome to tune in with Jim Cummings. Now this week we're going to be doing things a little bit different. We're going to be giving you all free access to one of our Patreon exclusive episodes of Comings Commentaries where myself, Guy Chris, and Jim we all sit down and go back and revisit an episode of Dark Wren Duck. Oh and we may all end up. He's joined by Yes, Dark Wren Duck himself. I've got Jim's Patreon. We've also got an episode where we revisit an episode of
Bonkers. And in the next episode of Cominges Commentaries, we're going to be watching an episode of Tailspin. So if you're a fan of the old Disney shows, you're gonna want to check out that. Now, don't worry. Next week we shall be returning to our regular programming with upcoming episodes covering themes such as Leatherhead, The Lion King, Dumbo Circus, the Christopher Robin film, and so much more. Plus we've got some very exciting guest lined up
for the coming weeks as well. So thank you all once again for your support so far. It means the world to us. All. Jim truly appreciates it, but for now, sit back and enjoy our comingies commentary episode of Duck Rin Duck. Catch you all next week. You're doing no dare It's me Tigger, am dark Wing Duck. It's me Buncos keep babcat All right, young did agree your favorite biberplack you design Old Old no Go.
My name is Jim Cummings and welcome to tune in. Hello, everybody, welcome to the very first Cummings commentary track here on the tuned in Patreon channel. I am Brenda Dando John right now by the professor of pop culture. Here is Guy Davis. Very nice to be here, and oh my god, the crowd is going wild and the crowd went mild. Yes, as well as our producer Chris Over in the studio there, Hey doing Chris good.
How's everybody doing. We're doing fantastic And of course we're very excited because we are joined right now by not only the met himself, mister Jim Cummings. Jim, how you doing, Oh superb thank you for asking, but also it is the men of the ad When we come to doing this Cummings commentary, it is dark being Duck, Darkming, mister Duck, how are you well? I am the terror that flaps in the night, the win get scourged, the pexeter nightmares, a duck Egg Duck, and you are
really good for a treat today, folks, So stay tuned. I've got to be honest, I'm incredibly excited, but you know, I'm also equally terrified because it's not every day that I get to meet my favorite animated heroes of the nineties, such as yourself, Darkwing. I understand your position. You poor a little mortal person who's not me, But you know, what are you going to do finding myself on my best behavior because don't want to work do anything to intimate well, you know, get on the wrong side
of the scourge of crime. We're going to be talking about beauty and the beat. So this actually isn't the pilot episode of Darkwing Duck. The pilot episode of Dark Green Duck was a two parter which added a couple of days prior to this. This is actually the third one that aired, but I believe this might have been the first one that was produced because I think I'm Disney. Plus they put up the production order of episodes, so This is Beauty and the Beat, the Birth of bush Root. Do you have any
memories of this one? Before we hit play and do a commentary, Jim like, do you have any memories of this episode at all? I can rewatch? Ye, Yes I do, Yes, I do. It was very interesting, you know, Tino and Sanna the late great He was such a sweet guy and I we would laugh about it because he's supposed to be this evil, terrible plant have plant have human mastermind, and he was just a pumpkin. You know. It was hard for him to get drown it, you know, I mean it was like like it was kind of like
a male Shirley Temple. He seems like a very not timid person, but a very very gim cumming zact person. Just a very soft teddy bear, you know, nice nice fellow Greek Greek god rest assul. Alrighty, well shall we get into it, gentlemen? I think so okay, Well, everybody listening at home right now, I hope you've planned ahead and have the Dark Wing Duck episode Beauty and the Beat pause and ready to go. At the beginning, I'm about to give you the countdown and when I say three
on the one two three. That's when we're all going to hit play. So one two click, all right, So ready here we go, one two three all right. So the first I want to talk about, Jim, is the the intro. What were your memories of the of the intro of Dark Wing Ducks. I feel like those Disney Afternoons, early nineties Disney shows, they all had such iconic theme songs that you might not even remember the show, but you always remember the theme songs. So what are your
memories of the Dark Wing Ducks song? Oh gosh, you know I can remember, well that that line right there, Let's Get Dangerous. You know that that was that was quite a tagline, you know, and that was always always something to look forward to, because it meant it was going to hit the fan, you know. Now, Dark Wings man, Okay, someone's gonna pay. One might say that it's a kind of line that's made for merch. It's something you can put on a T shirt, even Jim.
Yeah, well sure, I'll have to think about that. Yeah, okay, Jim is wearing his Let's Get Dangerous show. Is that from the original days or not just something you've picked up at a store since then? Is that Dark wing Duck shot you wearing here? No, I had these made, I had these made, these made. Oh yeah, just allowed to do that. Actually my wife probably first knowing her, she's much more industrious than I. But yeah, it's a very very smart woman. Yeah.
Yeah, what we would have been some of your favorite Disney theme songs, like Duck m duck would have been up there, right, because Duck McDuck's one of your favorite characters in general. Oh yeah, yeah, that's for sure. You know, I really liked all the you know, the Disney Disney Afternoon theme songs. In fact, they came out. I think I've I've got a gold record around here somewhere, like, It's not like I have that many of them, but it was for you know, some
of the songs that came out of it. Yeah. Uh, And it's uh, you know, I was just so honored that people got a kick out of him, you know that they liked it. Chris Held are you your late twenties aunt? She did you? Did you go up with these cartoons or a little bit before your time? Yeah? No, I definitely grew up with these. I'm a I'm thirty two, and yeah, this was coming home after school you know, I was always upset if it's the late bus, because that was that would mean I would miss out on the
three to four o'clock programs. And yeah, yeah, this was definitely near and dear to home to meet. So looking at here on the scream, we've got bush froot here. So as you're sending a Tina, what do you what are your memories of Tina? He said, He's a very sweet man. But did you work in the studio at the same time when you're recording this show with Tina or was it just recording separate times? Had it all go? Yeah? Yeah, back then we did a lot of recording
in the studio together. And you know, and I preferred it because I've said it before. It's it was just so much more natural and uh and if somebody ad libbed and it worked, that person could come in right behind it, whereas if they did it separately, there following line might not fit and then they had to come in an ad RT and come in and re record. And you know, and I'm notorious for ad libbing. So is that sort of like pot of your contract that's Jim must be allowed to add
libya? No, but I well, you know what. I don't know that this constitutes, but I've told him before. I hope I'm not repeating myself, but they're you know, all of every Dark Wing Duck show when there's a call to arms, and that would be it. You know, he'd get up and he'd be on the on the Saint Canard pridges day. I am the tariff that flaps in the night. I am the winged scourge that peck Cetern nightmares. I am Duck, Wang Duck, and off we
go. Then then we're off to the race as well. You know, I would always do it as written, and then when we're doing a second run through, because you usually do them the different scenes, you do them at least twice, you know, just to give the animator some something to work with. And U and about the seventh or eighth show in this the line was I wish I saved this, but the script was I am the terror that flaps in the night. It doesn't matter what I write here,
you know, Jim's gonna say something else anyway. I am dark Wang Duck. So from that point on they just started writing, I am Dark Wing Duck. Insert gem. You know, were you improvising this early on, because this was the third one to ever go to air, or was it very much stick to the script in the early days and as the show evolved a little bit later, because I think you said you record them mostly in
one big block, but this was still very early days. So were you sort of more hesitant at that point to improvise or were you just done hope from the beginning. Nope, I wasn't hesitant. Yeah, okay, fact, as I recall, now, we've got the words up on the screen, right, so even if they do. Yeah, okay, well that's
unfortunate. I mean that's good because yeah, all I could say is, kids, if you're following a lot of home, you have to read the words on the bottom of the screen because you never know what sneaks past the sensors. Who did I tease that, Well, I don't know. It felt pretty teas are terrific. Was that sort of like a goal for you? Was how can I sneak some not adult but more not non you see stuff through that through the senses with a goal of yours. It's just something
you just did on the fly and it's coming. No. I would never do that because you're a very non PC person, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I I I always tried to see uh you know what I could sneak past, and you know the trick is to make it work, you know, within the scene because oh god, uh Steve mackel or Rob Paulson has a story about working for mel Brooks and he ad lips something and he goes and everybody laughed, and he goes, add lips are
shit. You know, they don't do a god damn thing, especially if I didn't write them. Now say it what I said. They're like, oh, okay, So there's different schools of thought on there aren't there depend depends on who you're working for. And while I'm sorry, J while you gentlemen been having a nice chat, I've been watching the episode ye something that we don't want to interrupt you, do we You're enjoying my TV. You're
interrupting my TV tank something. I'm really digging about this episode yea darkwing Dug has clearly made for the young uns, but I mean, like the Simpsons, well, it is just chock full of references both visual and and one liners and character names that you know they grown up walking through the room or you know, dropping off hot pocket to the kids might go, wait a minute, those signers are named Gary and Larsened Gary Larsened in the far side,
or you know that that that the lady scientists are named rhododendron, which is great, given up the whole visual reference to Frankenstein where bush roots, you know, on the on the operating tables and raised operating tables. Absolutely they must be, yeah, they must be incredibly creatively fertile environments, these kind of places where everyone's like throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Oh yeah, oh absolutely, you know I remember, you know, just going over there and uh, in fact, I think it was Jim Megan made a joke about it. And here's where the writers are. Jim, well, you'll actually be saying some of these lines so as you written, as you wrote them too, So keep up the good work, you know. And that was like the running gag. I guess. But what was some of your favorite look at bush here? What was some of your
favorite villains from Darkwen? Can you remember many of them? Oh? Sure? While Tim Curry was Dorris Bulba and uh I did not know that. Oh yeah, yeah, Tim Curry, he had a he he was he is a great guy, you know, and he I think he was slumming, you know, and he kind of descended to do a few cartoons here and there, and we were all the better for it. Was that the mental because animation now I was considered you know, it's it's highly acclaimed.
But even in like the late eighties, it was kids stuff, right, was it still like, can you remember when you were doing these shows? Was it a case of are you on those kids shows? Or was it still did adults consider it quality television even though they were kids shows? Like we're saying earlier, there's plenty of adult references in these shows as well, and they're made by adults. A lot of it, you would say, is for adults as well. Oh, I would agree, yeah, yeah,
it's it would. I think that's one of the things that the good animation, good good cartoons. That's what they do. You know. They have an appeal for the kids and a little something for mom and dad too. Dark Wing, what are your thoughts on on bush Root? Do you remember? Yeah, yeah, yeah, old Nemesis bush Root? Dark Wing, Well, here's a weed that needs to be pulled, and I'm the guy to do it. Pass me the fertilizer, because I'm gonna you're getting
fertilized, buddy. Anyway, going back to that the theme song earlier, did did you have much input Jim into into the theme song? Uh no, not a bit, sorry to say, but no. Daring Duck a mystery champion of right. Can you can you remember when you were singing these songs? How how much? How much do you enjoy singing when as opposed
to just acting? Oh boy, I love them both, you know, and I and I always, I always, you know, I have a mini philosophy that if if a cartoon show, any cartoon show, has a song in it, uh, you know, from being a father, I know I know that this is true. Uh you know, my my, my two older girls, whenever they're you know, we watch sitting around watching TV after Disney afternoon, and a song would come on and they'd get up
and march. They'd get up and dance, so I know they it was literally a call to arms or feat and uh, you know, it's just it's it's an upgrade, it really is. And and you'll notice the more successful shows, with the exception probably of the Simpsons, you know, because that's just for adults. Anyway. I think they all incorporate music into them. We just had we got launch put launch pad on the screen. Here, let's talk about Terry McGovern. I'm you're still friends with Terry. I'm
ashaming. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We've done a few conventions together, any number of times. Yeah, and boy, I'll tell you it's funny. He we just fall right into it. Well, I don't know, what do you think LP, Well, I'll tell you a d W Well, you know, and it's boom, It's just right there. After all these years, it's it hasn't gone anywhere. Was I just like working
with the was this just like working with your best friend. Look, you can you can really sense the chemistry with between these three characters on the show. Oh yeah, And you know what's weird is we only did the first episode I think with Terry here. He didn't live here. He lived in San Francisco. Yeah, he was a he was a DJ in the morning
drive in San Francisco. Yeah. I don't remember the station, but yeah, and so he was don't get that sort of sense of chemistry that you got with a Tina, for example, when you're in the same room with him. So it was a bit different. But what's that's even more credit to you because you wouldn't know it from the way the show goes off. You know, Oh, well, good well to him as well. I mean, I did my part, but but no, it was It's true.
We just did the one episode with him in the room, maybe one towards the end, but no more than two because and you'd swear we're in the same room. And a lot of times they would do him first, and sometimes for a crucial scene they would play it, you know, in the headphones, and then you know, I'd go off that just to just to make it a truer response. You know, how does it feel when you find a co style like that or a co worker like that that you're
just sort of instantly simpatico with. I mean, that just must be the best feeling, like you know, like you're playing tennis with someone who's really good at it and may up your game, or you just feel like we're really in the We're really in the Oh yeah, oh, it's very true. You know, you know, we're like you say, simpatico, that's a really good word. And uh, you know, whenever you can have that, it upgrades everything In fact, you'll you'll hear one of my other
favorite guys here, Frank Welker, and he's playing Spike. Uh he's I'm sorry, Spike is a Spike? Is that the Is that the pet's name? No? Well he I'm sure he was that too, but uh but he was the professor there. I'm sorry I forgot, Yeah, but that was that was him. He's you know, and Frank is like, he's he's the Beatle. Yeah, he's the Beatles, and everybody else is trying to be like, you know, the clash or something. Oh, here we go, right, Yeah, that's nothing. Ticked me off worse than
somebody when somebody messed up my hat. Did you have any when as a show went on? Did you have any sort of input into the stories at all? Did you sort of cause you sort of I feel like you are one and the same with Dark Ring. I feel like you could really think of creative ways for Dark Ring to foil the villains. Uh, you know, I didn't didn't really have a ton because they were they were They really had them down. I mean, they had storyboards down, they knew what
they wanted. And I'm sorry, I'm trying to where are we Chris, is there a certain spot here that we're looking for? I know one of my favorite lines is coming up. Oh, we got a bush for it. Here he's looking listening through the these little portable like earphone things. Listen to what wrote us telling all? That was Jennifer Darling, great gal, another great actress. What are memories of Jennifer? Oh, she was a
doll. You know. I worked together with her a lot. We did the visionaries, We did any number of things over at Hannah Barbera, the old Hannah Barbera, which is not there anymore. You know, I'm just glad I'm still here. I feel like the old Disney Afternoon's team. It's almost like they used the same actors across so many different shows. It was like one family just did the lot. Is that was that what it was
like? Yes, it felt that way. You know, as years got went by and I thought, Wow, I'm I'm getting really lucky here. I'm you know, I was dark Wing and then I was bonkers and uh you know two of the title characters, which is really an honor, and uh King Louis. Then you're steal You're stealing roles and Peter Cullen. Yeah, sure, that was it. Wait wait, we're on the wrong show here, right, that's that's a separate show. I'm gonna I do have to ask, though, Dark Wing, what what made you go with the
purple? Was there something about the purple color that for the for the outfit? What was purple? Well? No, I think it was a sort of a hat tip to the fact that I think while the Shadow was I think he was black because because there's like two or three characters here, the scarlet pimper, pimper now pimp or now not just pimp, and uh, you know the shadow and like I said before, he was the spirit is
in there, an old Paul p hero. And I think they just put him together and said, well, we can't have him in black because he is a good guy. So they had him in a dark a darker color. And you know, I think it worked. It worked like a charm. I think it has a really cool uniform. And I always get a kick when ivens and they'll always be, like I said, two or three
dark Wings walking around. There's that great long tradition of yeah, of gentleman heroes in the wide brimmhat and and the cape or of the long coat or something. It stretches back really fib but it's fantastic. I agree. I agree. Were much of a comic fan growing up, Jim, what's that? Were much of a comic fan growing up? Comic book? Yeah? Oh yes, Lily still am still what do? Yeah? Yeah? Oh yeah, I'll be I'll be down at the local, uh comic book shop.
Didn't Dark Wing Duck get his own comic book series? I'm pretty sure he did? Why, Yes he did? Do you have one here? You look like you're looking for one. I can see, I can see a book behind you actually on the screen. Yeah, I've got them all. You know, people and you know, like I said, when I go to conventions, people come up to me and the inevitably have a few of them from me' Is it strange when you read those comics and you're reading
it in your own voice? Uh? I guess you know. I never thought of it, but but yeah, it's uh, you know, I I'm sorry, I'm looking for this line. I have to confess. What's the line you're after? Oh, it's it's you'll know it when I will know it. I think, I think producer Chris, I think we just I think we just passed it. Oh, no way, it arg what was he's chasing him down, says it's time to toss some salad. Is that what he said? It's time to toss this salad? And yes,
he said that. So was that in the script or was that a Jim Cummings improv? Well, I'd like to think it was an improv that I snuck past them, because it probably was, but I'm not exactly sure. I mean, it might have been just an innocent See, I wasn't gonna tell anybody I was saying, no, hey, it was it. I didn't write it, although I probably did google that term. Or don't it's funny how they sneak some of those things in, or you know, it's
I always get such a kick out of that. Like when I heard that line, I just kind of sat up and I was like, did I just hear that correctly? Like, you know, and he's throwing out he's throwing out plant puns the whole time, you know, the whole time he's in Hobart. Soon he's throwing out all the puns. So it it just goes in with the flow of everything. It doesn't stick out that much unless
you're looking for it? Yeah, yes, do you feel do you feel like you could get away with a lot more back then with kids shows than what you could now, Like with Hondo, you get away with something, But do you feel like if Hondo was a character in the early nineties you could have got a lot more past the senses? Do you think they're more focused now making sure nothing gets part and it gets by them? But it's hard to say, you know, prepared to eat dirt? Well, I
keep waiting to see if it's going to come up. Sorry, but no, I you know, I think in general they've all gotten a lot more crude, you know. So I mean there's more adult based shows now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And you know, and I liked the idea of coming up with actual funny, you know, as opposed to just crude and let's see what we can get away with and see what we can sneak back the sensors. And I did my share of that too. I was
trying to think. I can't think of what the show was. It might have been raw tunage or something, but there were I was playing a coyote or a couple. Anyway, it was a hill billy anthropomorphized animal. Uh, and it was. And the line was, well, where did that come from? And I said, it's not mine, it must be yearing and and I had to go back and they caught that one. So they called me back in during eighty R and they go, okay, okay, very funny, Okay, it's not mine, it must be yours. Would
it kill you to say yours? And that's well, I guess if you think so. I can imagine I'm banging the office, going, we can't let that get on television. You guy telling, now, you guy telling, now, you guy telling. But the really great thing about a Nick double on Tonder is like, I'm just completely innocent here. Man, you're the one with the dirty mind. If you're reading that in right, that's right. I'm just talking about tossing some salad. You know you take that.
I'm talking about an a nice on deep salad here. I don't know what you got in mind? Yeah? Are you telling me? There's another way? Please? And lateness, won't you? Yeah? That would go over a while. So when you were making when you were making these shows, how long before they were on TV were you recording the dialogue? Oh? Before I got it? Probably I don't know, maybe nine months, nine months. It seems to be the average time. That's what the Simpsons
take about. Nine months. Yeah, it's amazing that it takes that long. I feel like it should be quicken now with the computer animation. But one thing I did also want to touch on was the I got back and watch these shows, these early nineties shows like Tailspin and Dark Wing Dark And I know I'm biased being a nineties kid and Chris the same, but I just feel the animation is so much tidier and nicer to look at them, like, for example, I want to bring up like that the duck Tails
reboot. I don't know why they have to make them look all pointy and odd looking. Now it's you look at the nineties shows and it's just say, yeah, nice, it's so neat hung you know the animation. Yeah, yeah, that's Oh here's the line. Here's the line right here. Sorry, here we go, it's coming up. What did jump side of
the tractor? You know. That's one thing I've loved about doing our Simpsons podcast four Finger Discount for the last eight years is finding all of those moments that got by the sensors and completely slipped me by as a kid and almost discovering my favorite show again for what feels like the first time, and just appreciating it for entirely different reasons. But you know, I wanted to get
back to Tera McGovern. Did you know I was telling I was actually telling Jim the other day while we wait for it, that Ary McGovern, he came up with the term wookie for all you Star Wars fans. What that's pretty wild. Yeah. Yeah. He was driving the car with George Lucas and George says, what was it? What was that? Guys? I think I was hit a wookie? And he kept it into the movie. Yea, all good stories start where I was driving the car with George Lucas.
Yeah, yeah, I'll never forget that to him. I wasn't. So they're on their way to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters. Yeah, there is the end of the episode with bush Root. Now he's now it looks like a let us there bush Rout. But anyway, yeah,
he's the first comings commentaries of Duck Wing Duck. So I think the next one we'd like to go back and then review the actual pilot, which was a two part of you look when you when you went into the studio Gym to do the first Dark Wing Duck, could you tell from the get go, from the scripts and the references to the old episodes and whatnot that this was going to be a show that was gonna be a big hit? Like can you could you get a sense of what was going to be hit
and what wasn't or was it just luck of the draw? Well, I could tell it was going to be a big hit because I was in it. That's not true, Okay, I made that part up. No, I you know, I kind of like most of them, and some of them, I you know that I don't think are gonna you know, I can't explain it, but but they do just well. And some of them that are really really weird animation. And I would feel funny saying the names of these shows because my friends are all in them, and I'm thinking,
okay, that now that's just strange and weird. But nowadays it's kind of like open season. Anything goes, you know, And I don't think you have one thing that I will say that The writing is less clever now because it doesn't have to be, because they can they can be really crude and get a big reaction, and it seems like it's based on getting a big reaction as opposed to getting a positive good reaction. You know that that slasher movie comes out and saw and it got a big reaction. But it ain't
Shakespeare. That was actually made just up the road here, wasn't it, guy? I was it made in Melbourne? That movie? So the original version was Yeah, I mean there are a couple of kids from Melbourne who we made it. Yeah, did the sort of a student film version here in Melbourne and then really and they sold the rice and they got out. Yeah, their parents must be so proud or I'm pretty sure they probably enjoyed the Beach House to Yeah they're not bad. Yeah, they may not be
proud, but they're not complaining. What's that great? What's that great? Michael Kane quote? You always bring up, guy about Jaws four? Oh that's right, someone asking me, he's like Jaws four not a very good movie, Michael, have you seen it? Us? I haven't seen it, but I have seen the beach House that they bought, and it's very nice. Yeah. Yeah, from from a terrible, terrible voice in person to one who's really really good at it I apologize Jim never doing another Michael
Gain impersonation. Let it happen again, don't. I should have to chastise you. You don't want that, and that was my bargain basement. Michael Kane can duck wing duck? Can you do a Michael Kane impersonation duck win you're putting it? Yeah, that's a head scratcher. You have the terror that flips in the night. I have the winged scourge. What pecks at your nightmares? I and my god, no, I am dark Wayne duck in it and not a lot of people know that. And you gotta throw
I think you have to throw in it. I'm not even sure what in it means, but you have to know when to say it. According to us, well, I am married to an English girl, so whenever she makes fun of Australian slang terms for words, I'll go, yeah, it's weird in it and she goes, you're right, yep, you're right, Yeah, yeah, that's funny. We also butcher the language, we know, typically banging on the door right now saying stop those gentlemen butchering in my
eggs. Yes, yeah, no, right now, Nicholas, lovely, but as is Margaret. But thank you Jim and dark Wing and Chris and Guy for Johnny Sea for the first comings commentaries. This is a lot of fun. What what shows you'd like to tackle in the future. I think we should do the pilot of Dark Green Dark Were there any gym that you
would like to to do commentaries on in the future. Any of your old nineties Disney shows that come to mind, Tailspin, Chippendale's, any of them, Chipperdales you mean the dancers or no, no, I yeah, Chiperdales prefer that would be great. That would be great. Should we have all our shirts off for that one? Or well, as long as I was in all of them that that's That's a biggie. Those are the ones I
enjoy the most. We should all So I'm be thanking all the people listening right now because if they're listening right now, that means they're supporting us on Patreon. So thank you very much for your support here on Jim Cummings tuned in Patreon page. You guys are absolute champions. But once again, guys, thank you for joining me and we'll catch you all in the next episode of Cummings Commentaries here on The Jim Cummings Patreon page is here.