a curated selection of thoughts collected within a 1 gb limit
on june 16, 2022, it was announced by his family that two days prior, animator and cartoonist everett peck passed away. you may know his work on several covers for magazines such as playboy and time magazine. you may know him as a character designer for old cartoons like jumanji or extreme ghostbusters. you may even know him as the guy who made that cartoon network series, squirrel boy. but when his name is brought up, the first thing that always pops up for most, if not all, people is a little animated series that further pushed the envelope for what could be possible in adult animation. this is duckman.
duckman is an animated primetime show that aired on the usa network, which wasn't exactly the juggernaut network that it is today. remember, this was before they got a hold of chucky, mr. robot, and WWE. and for that, this only ever stuck around for 70 episodes...wait what? yeah, for a show that aired on a network that not many people watched back then, it sure has been treated as well as it was. i mean, it had multiple DVD releases, it aired on comedy central at one point, and overall it had a pretty decent run. it's not really on streaming, but it's somewhere. can't say the same thing about any other obscure animated show from the 90s. remember liquid television? the only "high quality" footage of it that you can find are two DVD compilations and a couple of vimeo uploads if you're lucky enough.
now, duckman follows the daily life of...duckman, a recently-widowed duck with glasses for eyes (literally) who's at worst lewd and egotistical and at best self-loathing and bitter. as played by the ever-talented jason alexander, he lives with his family of three kids and sister in-law, aunt bernice, who often argues with duckman for acting so aloof. his kids include charles and mambo, two conjoined twins with all the smarts, and ajax, the oldest and much rather "slow" teenage son. not exactly stupid, but not that smart either. fun fact, ajax is voiced by none other than the late and great frank zappa's son, dweezil. come to think of it, there's quite a bit of that zappa influence in the first season. it even uses some of his music in the background. then there's grandma-ma. she farts.
aside from family life, duckman also works as a private detective with his partner cornfed, a fast-talking, monotone pig who knows his stuff when it comes to fighting crime. also within the office are assisstants fluffy and uranus, two care bear knockoffs you could probably win at a carnival who are not only the embodiment of all things disgustingly cute, but they're apparently immortal, too. there's basically a whole compilation online of duckman killing fluffy and uranus over and over again. i think there's a scene where he rips off one of their heads, shoves it down the other's mouth, and sets them both on fire. classic. other reoccurring characters include king chicken, who's played by tim curry of all people. i guess he always wanted a duck as an archrival. he's basically the foil to duckman and has an irresistable evil laugh. look, half the time i don't know how to describe certain things. just keep reading and you'll be fine.
the one word i would use to describe this show would be "unapologetic" and nothing but that. here's what i mean. the standout part of the show is its ingenius writing. this has to be one of the funniest shows of its era. it's not exactly the first animated show to be written like this. i mean, the simpsons and beavis and butthead were already cemented into pop culture by then. however, it's definitely not afraid to be itself. it's also one of those shows that likes to occasionally poke fun at political correctness. before you close that tab, it's not that type of anti-PC humor. at least, not the type that discourages actual progress, anyway. no, we're going after performative activism that benefits no one and only serves to make corporate higher-ups look better to the general public. you know what i mean? that type of political correctness.
while on that topic, another highlight of the writing is duckman's rants. any time where it's serious duckman's turn to shine is where jason alexander's performance is at its best. just pure, unadulterated yelling and anger. one of the most popular rants is the one where he talks about how comedy should provoke and challenge instead of playing it safe as manufactured mush. a lot of people hear this and use it as an excuse for all the edgy comedians that like to punch down. but what i like is that there's that acknowledgement that humor can indeed alienate. the point is to not let anyone tell you what you should laugh at. you know, take mind of actual prejudices being spouted and make of that what you will. it's not arguing in defense of humor that's just baselessly making fun of a group of people without a punchline, but it's also demanding more of the comedy aspect of comedy. there needs to be that balance. laugh with, not at.
at least that's what i think it's trying to say. i dunno. point is there's a lot of really good rants. this one below is especially my favorite. i think it's the buildup and amount of anger that makes it for me.
another "unapologetic" aspect is its artstyle. personally, i love the grungy look. sometimes it looks awful and some characters look like sleep paralysis demons, but otherwise it suits the show extremely well. again, i must stress that everett peck was a one-of-a-kind artist. be sure to check out his archive of work on instagram if you love surrealist art. the animation was also done by none other than klasky-csupo, which actually explains a lot. if there's anyone who can translate peck's style into animation, it's klasky-csupo.
one more "unapologetic" aspect that i'd like to talk about is its use of emotion. sure, it's funny enough. but it's the serious moments that put it ahead of its time. let me make it clear: the stuff we have now is insane in terms of storytelling in animation. shows like bojack horseman or moral orel have that power to tell a serious story and balance it out with some occasional fun bits. even tuca and bertie, which is a delightfully silly show, knows when to dial it down to its most meaningful moments. duckman is no different. we see this loud-mouthed bird practically salivate over some hot chicks (no pun intended) and the next thing we know, we start exploring his insecurities and viewpoints. he's still grieving over his dead wife and even questions his place in his own family. there's an especially great episode, about face, where duckman starts going out with this woman named angela yet he doesn't even know what she looks like. the initial reaction is, to put it lightly, shock. but over time, he starts to fall in love with the woman that's inside to the point where he'd take down anyone that judges her looks. angela eventually gets a makeover and gets showered by attention from anyone who's even in a five-mile radius from her. but this only makes duckman realizes that maybe he's no good for her. he would've met up with her again to talk about it, but he's not showing up anytime soon. it's those moments that make duckman so grounded in reality. can he dial down his pervy attributes? absolutely. however, it's not like he's all bad. he's just in a battle with himself and it seems like he can lose at any given moment.
i can't say this show is perfect. i mean they end on a really pathetic cliffhanger and duckman himself kinda started getting flanderized a tad bit near the end. christ, the second-to-last episode is a star trek parody. you can imagine what i think about that. but the show is so important to me, i can end up forgiving all that. this must've been one of the first shows that i ever binged, and it stills holds up as well. off the top of my head, the ones i remember the most are tv or not tv, psyche, joking the chicken, about face, america the beautiful, once and future duck, the girls of route canal, haunted society plumbers, and ebony, baby. that last one i remember being a parody of blaxploitation films of the 70s but i mostly just liked the visuals. it's taken me a long time to write this only because there's nothing more i can say other that you need to see duckman for yourself. i'm sure there's videos online that do this show better justice. to tell you the truth, i only got into this show because there was a rebeltaxi video about it. maybe it's best that it leaves on a cliffhanger. if i were in charge of the show, i'd pull out all the stops and not elaborate any further. hopefully this convinces someone out there to try out the show for themselves. from start to finish, it's a genuine riot that knows when to be honest with itself. it will always have a place in my heart as one of the best to ever do it.