What the McDuck?! They made a movie about those adventurous mallards? It’s a surprise to us as well. Regardless, these thirteen things about Ducktales The Movie will have you screaming whoo hoo all the way to the bank.
13. First Disney animated movie to be spun off from a television series.
12. There were originally plans to have a Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers movie released the summer following this movie’s release, along with a Goof Troop movie. However, Disney decided to pull the plug on that project, and retool the Goof Troop movie into A Goofy Movie, since this movie underperformed at the box-office.
11. Someone dressed like Indiana Jones is briefly seen at the Explorer’s Club.
10. Released on the big screen with the classic Donald Duck cartoon “Dude Duck”.
9. Side characters from DuckTales, like Gyro, Doofus, Bubba the Cave Duck, and Gismoduck are absent, as the filmmakers didn’t want to confuse newcomers who have not seen the Disney Afternoon cartoon. This is also why none of any of the show’s villains, like the Beagle Boys, Magica DaSpell, and Flintheart Glomgold are present.
8. The plot point of Scrooge finding and digging a pyramid out of the sand, is taken from a Carl Barks story “Pyramid Scheme” from the Scrooge comics.
7. Error: During the treasure of Collie Baba sequence, when Scrooge orders Dijon to bring their sacks, his “treasure-hunting” outfit briefly returns to his trademark waistcoat.
6. The events of the film take place between the third and fourth seasons of DuckTales.
5. The initial voice-overs took one year, and another six months were spent on re-takes. Although Alan Young had never worked with Christopher Lloyd or Rip Taylor before, he said he would “‘sit there in awe’ watching them at work.”
4. When the film was released in theaters, the theme song was reprised twice during the end credits, with both times sung. For some reason, the VHS only has the first time sung, while the second time is instrumental only.
3. In the 2000 video game Donald Duck Goin’ Quackers, Merlock plays the game’s main villain.
2. The film made only $18 million at the box ofice, causing it to be a failure and killing all future theatrical sequels.
1. Critics in the USA, generally considered the film an Indiana Jones rip-off. It was also a betrayal to Carl Barks’s Uncle Scrooge comic books which DuckTales was based on. Noted movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert didn’t even bother reviewing this film for their tv show Siskel & Ebert at The Movies
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990)
G | 1h 14min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 3 August 1990 (USA)
Scrooge McDuck takes Huey, Dewey, and Louie to Egypt to find a pyramid and magic lamp.
Director: Bob Hathcock
Writer: Alan Burnett (animation screenplay)
Stars: Alan Young, Christopher Lloyd, Terence McGovern
