Ultimate Pop Culture Wiki

We're looking to revitalize this wiki! For more information, click here.

READ MORE

Ultimate Pop Culture Wiki
Advertisement

The Donald Duck universe is a fictional shared universe which is the setting of stories involving Disney cartoon character Donald Duck, as well as Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Scrooge McDuck, and many other characters. The world is a part of the Mickey Mouse universe, but is more detailed. Life in the Donald Duck universe centers on the city of Duckburg, usually located in the fictional U.S. state of Calisota, analogous to Northern California. The world also incorporates several other real and fictional locations, as well as historical figures and a fictional timeline, which is followed with varying degrees of consistency.

Disney comics are the primary medium for Donald Duck stories. Contributors include Americans Carl Barks, Ted Osborne, Don Rosa, Tony Strobl, Al Taliaferro, and William Van Horn, as well as Italians Giovan Battista Carpi, Marco Rota, and Romano Scarpa. Other media includes short films in the Donald Duck series, children's books such as Little Big Books and Little Golden Books, television series such as DuckTales (1987–1990), Darkwing Duck (1991–1992), and the Ducktales reboot (2017–), and video games such as QuackShot (1991), Goin' Quackers (2000), and DuckTales: Remastered (2013).

"Donald Duck universe" is not an official Disney term, but is sometimes used by fans. Don Rosa has also used the terms Barks Universe and Italian Duck Universe to describe different versions of the world's continuity.[1] The terms "Barksian" or "Barksian facts" has also been used to describe the canon of the Donald Duck universe, as many comic book creators and fans only consider the stories by Carl Barks as factual, since he is the creator of many of its major characters, locations and ideas. Don Rosa is an example of this when creating his comic book series The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, with most of his stories being based on the works by Barks. Additionally, the stories by Al Taliaferro and Ted Osborne are also considered canon by many fans, being that they are the creators of Huey, Dewey and Louie and Grandma Duck, and part of their work precedes Barks' work.

History[]

The core Duckverse family dates back to the golden age of American animation, generally introduced in Disney shorts, weekly newspaper comics, or comic books of the period as supporting characters for Donald Duck, who premiered in 1934 in The Wise Little Hen (but was mentioned as a friend of Mickey's as early as 1931). Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, first appeared in 1937 in Silly Symphony. Daisy Duck, Donald's on-again-off-again girlfriend premiered in 1940 in Mr. Duck Steps Out. Grandma Duck appeared in 1940 as well in Donald's own comic strip. Scrooge McDuck, the family's elderly uncle and "richest duck in the world", was created in 1947 by Carl Barks for the comic book Christmas on Bear Mountain.

Comic books[]

Other media[]

Scrooge McDuck appeared in the 1960 Disneyland Records LP, Donald Duck and His Friends, in a plot that involved Donald and the Beagle Boys. With the exception of Scrooge's brief cameo in The Mickey Mouse Club opening theme, this marked the first appearance of a Barks-created character in a medium other than the comics and story books. Later, in 1963, the Beagle Boys played a role in Chipmunk Fun, an LP that also mentioned Scrooge.[2][3]

Most of the characters have appeared in the 1980s Disney cartoon series DuckTales. Disney's Darkwing Duck series is nominally set in the separate DuckTales universe, in a metropolis called St. Canard, although aside from sharing the denizen Launchpad McQuack, and a few crossover episodes involving Gizmoduck, there is no interaction. Much of the DuckTales and all of the Darkwing Duck material do not appear in Barks' comics, as the two TV series was created decades after Barks's active years as a comic artist. Later, a few characters would be the main characters in the show Quack Pack.

However, in the magazine Disney Adventures, there was a five-part crossover/storyline titled "Legend of the Chaos God" which began with TaleSpin, and continued with Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Goof Troop, and DuckTales, then concluded with Darkwing Duck.

Duckburg was the setting of the 1987 animated series DuckTales. The cartoon's version of Duckburg was based loosely on the comics' version. Duckburg appeared in the 1990s animated series Quack Pack. In Quack Pack, Duckburg was populated almost entirely by human beings, with Donald, Daisy, and Donald's nephews as the only anthropomorphized animals that usually appeared. Moreover, the Money Bin is nowhere to be seen. Duckburg was the setting for one of the three initial levels of the video game Quackshot and also for the second level of the video game Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers.

Duckburg was also used for the setting of Mickey's Birthday land (later Mickey's Starland) at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom from 1988 to 1996. It even included Grandma Duck's Farm and a statue of Cornelius Coot, though it was more of a rural town than a burgeoning metropolis. The connection to Duckburg was removed as the land was renovated in 1996 to become Mickey's Toontown Fair. However, the Cornelius Coot statue remains.

Duckburg[]

Money Bin[]

Number One Dime[]

The Number One Dime is the first coin that Scrooge McDuck ever earned (or, according to some stories, produced). The Number One Dime first appeared in the story The Round Money Bin, created by Carl Barks and first published in Uncle Scrooge #3 (September, 1953).[4] In this story, the dime is so old that it has become thin as a razor blade and allows Scrooge to cut binding ropes and escape from the Beagle Boys. In later stories, it is insinuated that the dime brings good luck to Scrooge and has helped him become a rich man, and in some stories he instantly starts losing money whenever the dime is no longer in his possession. In fact, in some series, Scrooge is so attached to the dime that he becomes hysterical, to the point of losing his mind, whenever he loses possession of the dime.

It is never made clear whether the dime actually brings good luck or if Scrooge merely believes in it so much that he is distressed and makes bad decisions whenever he no longer has the dime. Since Barks never actually said that it was because of the coin that Scrooge was the richest duck in the world, Don Rosa, after various informational exchanges with Barks, for a faithful production of Life and Times Of Scrooge McDuck, clarified that The Number One Dime is not actually an amulet, and that this vision was just a myth. The Number One Dime is just a sentimental object that happens to be the first coin Scrooge received for his work. Rosa made clear, also, that Scrooge made his fortune working hard and being honest.[5] This point is heavily reinforced in the DuckTales TV series where Scrooge tells his nephews about the value of hard earned cash.

The dime is a key plot point in practically every story featuring Magica De Spell, a character invented by Carl Barks, as the main villain. Magica believes that by stealing the first coin earned by the richest person in the world and melting it down to a magical amulet, she can gain the power of the ancient King Midas, so that everything she touches becomes gold and she can be rich beyond her wildest dreams. The fact that this will only work if the coin indeed belongs to the richest person in the world at the time, and is the first coin that person earned, is crucial, and is made into a plot point in some stories. However, the dime only has magical value because of these circumstances and not on its own. Magica once successfully stole the dime while helping the Beagle Boys rob McDuck, stopping when she realized this would mean McDuck would no longer be the world's richest person, rendering the dime worthless.

According to a comic story by Don Rosa,[6] it is an 1875 Seated Liberty dime, but in a comic story written by Pat and Carol McGreal and drawn by Maximino Tortajada Aguilar,[7] the last two digits have been swapped, making it an 1857 Seated Liberty dime.

Scrooge earned the dime in 1877 in his hometown of Glasgow, when he started working as a shoeshine boy on his tenth birthday.[8] Before that it belonged to Howard Rockerduck (the father of John D. Rockerduck). The customer who paid it to him, a ditch-digger called Burt, seemingly "cheated" Scrooge. In reality, Scrooge's father, Fergus McDuck, gave Burt the dime specifically for paying Scrooge for his services. Scrooge McDuck never learned that fact, although Fergus did reveal it to Scrooge's sisters Matilda and Hortense. Burt and Magica De Spell, who learned about this when she traveled in time to the day Scrooge earned the Dime, are the only other ones who know. McDuck kept it as a reminder not to be fooled again in the future. When he emigrated to the US three years later, he carried it with him. Scrooge still has the dime and keeps it on a pillow under glass because of its sentimental value. Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and Gladstone Gander among many others think it is really a lucky charm, but Scrooge himself rejects any claims beyond sentimentality.[5]

Characters[]

Donald Duck and his maternal uncle Scrooge McDuck received nearly equal exposure in comics. (The reduced emphasis on Donald in the 1980s version of DuckTales was largely due to a Disney mandate that forbade its nascent television division from using major characters from the Golden Age of Animation, including Donald and Daisy.[9]) Other primary characters include Donald's three young nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and girlfriend Daisy Duck.

Several secondary characters have also achieved star status in certain publications, such as Grandma Duck, Donald Duck's grandmother; Gladstone Gander, Donald Duck's incredibly lucky cousin; Gyro Gearloose, an inventor who is often patronized by Scrooge; and Ludwig Von Drake, a knowledgeable professor. Scrooge also has several enemies, such as the Beagle Boys, a gang of robbers and escaped prisoners; Magica De Spell, an Italian sorceress; and South African Flintheart Glomgold and English-American John D. Rockerduck, both rival business men of Scrooge.

Some characters have appeared alongside Donald primarily in animation, such as chipmunks Chip 'n' Dale (Chip an' Dale, Toy Tinkers) and Humphrey the Bear (Rugged Bear, Grin and Bear It), as well Mickey Mouse (The Dognapper, Magician Mickey) Goofy (Polar Trappers, Frank Duck Brings 'Em Back Alive), and Pluto (Donald and Pluto, Window Cleaners), who are more often associated with the Mickey Mouse universe.

The Junior Woodchucks[]

The Junior Woodchucks are the Scouting organization to which Huey, Dewey, and Louie belong. They have a uniform with a coonskin cap. The Junior Woodchucks were created by Carl Barks in 1951, in the story "Operation St. Bernhard" (Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #125). Later stories introduced a similar organization for girls, Junior Chickadees, to which Daisy Duck's nieces, April, May and June belong. The hallmark of the Junior Woodchucks is their spirited dedication to environmental protection and animal welfare, as well as the preservation of knowledge and the furtherance of science. They are also known for their exalted titles and ranks (Huey, Dewey, and Louie being promoted to become Ten-Star Generals in the 1952 story of the same name) and the awarding of buckets of badges, along with severe ideals as to decorum. In this way Barks poked gentle but pointed satire at aspects of the Boy Scouts.

Brutopia[]

Brutopia (a portmanteau word from brute and Utopia) is a fictional country appearing in several Donald Duck stories. It was created by Carl Barks in the story A Cold Bargain from 1957. Brutopia is a hostile country, aiming for world domination. It is clearly a caricature of the Soviet Union. In the Duck universe, Brutopia occasionally attempts to steal Scrooge's money so as to devastate the American economy, and to fund the creation of doomsday weaponry. Its national coat of arms has been shown either as a dagger[10] or the hammer and shackles.[11]

Whether Brutopia is a stand-in for all of the USSR, or just for part of it, varies with the story. Sometimes parallels to Russia are drawn directly. Don Rosa has suggested that Brutopia might instead represent the eastern part of Siberia.

The language of Brutopia often looks somewhat Slavic. On some occasions it is written in Cyrillic script. On the other hand, Brutopians seem to speak perfect, non-accented English; and other stories show English language texts being used by Brutopians.

In 1957, Brutopia's military spending budget amounted to one trillion dollars plus all the kitchen sinks of its happy people (a number that on closer inspection turned out to be five). Scrooge McDuck outbid the Brutopian government by paying one trillion dollars and six kitchen sinks for a sample of the recently discovered substance of bombastium.

Bombastium[]

Bombastium is a fictional chemical element.[12] Its atomic number and atomic symbol are unknown. Bombastium is stated to be the rarest element in the world. Even though it is very coveted, its usage potential is not entirely known. One characteristic is that it tastes different every time you try it, and scientists eventually discovered that one atom of bombastium dropped into a barrel of water becomes one barrel of ice cream - a different flavor of ice cream each time. The element is orange-brown in color and is about the size of a soccer ball. To avoid evaporation, bombastium must be kept frozen.

The only piece of bombastium known to exist was found in the Belgian Congo, and it was soon after its discovery acquired by Scrooge McDuck in the 1957 story "A Cold Bargain" by Carl Barks, but at that time it was also heavily sought after by the hostile nation of Brutopia. Brutopia's military spending budget that year amounted to one trillion dollars plus all the kitchen sinks of its happy people. Scrooge McDuck therefore had to pay one trillion dollars plus six kitchen sinks to win the auction.

The element was also used for the 5-part DuckTales episode "Time is Money," which introduced Bubba the Caveduck. In this cartoon episode, bombastium is the fuel for one of Gyro Gearloose's inventions, a time traveling helicopter named the Millennium Shortcut. The bombastium itself must be kept frozen in order for it to be usable as fuel (a small freezer is equipped on board the Shortcut for this purpose). Otherwise, the Shortcut could not travel through time.

One of the treasures that can be obtained in the computer game DuckTales: The Quest for Gold is bombastium. Unlike the other treasures, bombastium is worth more than just money, as Gyro Gearloose can use it to build a matter transporter which takes away the risk of flying from place to place while having the possible downside of sending the player to a location they hadn't intended to go.

Squiggs[]

Squiggs are fairly small fish that are typically eaten "oolated." The fish were a key plot element in the Don Rosa story "Oolated Luck," and the words "squigg" and "oolated" were coined by Rosa's idol Carl Barks in an earlier story, which Rosa based his story on.

Conserved oolated squiggs are fairly cheap and wholesome food but don't taste particularly good, and smell worse. Donald Duck and Gladstone Gander once took part in a competition organized by a company producing oolated squiggs, where the grand prize was an ocean liner cruise. Donald won the grand prize and Gladstone won a year's supply of oolated squiggs.

Notes[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. Rosa, Don (2009). "The Making of 'Raider of the Copper Hill'". The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. 1. Los Angeles: BOOM Kids!. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-60886-538-3. 
  2. "Donald Duck's Quacked Records". Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  3. "Disney's "Chip 'n' Dale" on Records". Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  4. Barks, Carl (September 1953). Uncle Scrooge #3. Walt Disney Company. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 Grøsfjeld jr., Sigvald. "The number one dime". The D.U.C.K.man. Archived from the original on 2011-05-14. Retrieved 2011-04-11. {{cite web}}:
  6. The Last of the Clan McDuck p. 5
  7. See Kalle Anka & C:o issue 1-2/2010 p. 66-69.
  8. The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa
  9. Bentley, Rick (November 19, 2014). "Disney TV Animation Is 30 Years Old, and It's Going Strong". Valley News. The Fresno Bee. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093955/http://www.vnews.com/news/nation/world/14417461-95/disney-tv-animation-is-30-years-old-and-its-going-strong. Retrieved April 21, 2015. 
  10. "A Cold Bargain". coa.inducks.org. Retrieved 2016-03-10. {{cite web}}:
  11. "The Swamp of No Return". coa.inducks.org. Retrieved 2016-03-10. {{cite web}}:
  12. Uncle Scrooge #17 by Carl Barks

External links[]

Template:DuckTales

Advertisement