Dynamo Duck () was the main character in the children's series ''The Adventures of Dynamo Duck'', which aired on television in the early 1990s.

Overview

The origin of the series lies with the French film maker

Jean Tourane Jean Tourane (1919–1986) was a French filmmaker known for his footage of small animals. His birth name was Jean Briel. Among others he filmed a television series about a small duck named "Saturnin" during the 1960s. In the 1990s, clips from this ...

. During the 1960s, he filmed for a children's television series ''Saturnin le canard'' about the

duckling Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ta ...

Saturnin who had all kinds of adventures. The series was produced using real animals, dressed up with sunglasses, hats, etcetera, inside a miniature world. The series, first produced in 1964 (according to the

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

) was shown on French television. Years later, the footage was bought by the American producer Nathan Sassover. Originally, clips of it, with voices re-dubbed, were used as bumpers leading into and out of commercials on the

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

network. Later, Sassover had the different pieces of film edited in a new way and hired writers to create new characters and storylines to produce a ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

''-style show in a series of two-minute shorts. Again, a small duck was the main character, fighting crimes of the evil Dr. Mortek (a monkey) and other assorted villains. The animals wander around on miniature sets with scale models of trucks and other vehicles. The duck, this time going by the name of "Dynamo Duck", was driving around in a miniature Jaguar. What makes this series unique prior to the advent of computer animation was the way the mouth movements of the animals, specifically the ducks, with the precise dialog dubbed in gives the appearance of the animals speaking. The principal duckling was voiced-over by

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta ( ; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, ...

, using a terse, clipped style parodying ''

The Untouchables Untouchable or Untouchables may refer to: People * Untouchability, the practice of socially ostracizing a minority group of very low social status * Untouchables, word for the Dalits or Scheduled Castes of India * Untouchables (law enforcement), ...

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. The first season aired in 1991 on

. The shorts aired once a week during the Fox Kids' Saturday morning line-up in between the half-hour programs. Where it appeared on the schedule wasn't announced and aired at inconsistent times. Even the

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for the series narrated by Dynamo says ''"Saturday mornings on FOX"'', but no specific time ever revealed. For fans to follow and collect the series, it was often necessary to record the entire morning line-up so as not to miss it. At the end of every show, Dynamo Duck said ''"We take care of our animals, and so should you!"''. The second season of Dynamo Duck is widely regarded as vastly inferior to the first that relied more heavily on reuse of footage, and recycled storylines. Dynamo's voice-over was modified in a manner similar to

Don Adams Donald James Yarmy (April 13, 1923 – September 25, 2005), known professionally as Don Adams, was an American actor. In his five decades on television, he was best known as bumbling Maxwell Smart (Secret Agent 86) in the television situa ...

' ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the Spy fiction, secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Bu ...

'' role of

Maxwell Smart Maxwell Smart may refer to: * Maxwell Smart, fictional character in the television series ''Get Smart'' * Maxwell Smart, a Holocaust survivor and subject of the 2019 documentary '' Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust'' and the 2023 film '' Th ...

. There are over 100 shorts in the series. Later, in the mid-1990s, the series had a brief afterlife airing overnights on the now defunct

Network One Network One was a small "independent" network, consisting of mostly low-powered television stations, scattered across the Continental United States, similar to Urban America Television, America One, or the better-known Ion (formerly PAX). The ...

(N1). The episodes were five minutes in length, including end credits. Many of which were expansions of their two-minute counterparts from Fox Kids. Some combined two two-minute shorts to make a five-minute double episode with bridges either at the beginning, middle or end of each story, or a combination thereof. Due to the limited number of indie and low-powered stations that carried Network One, the series aired nearly unnoticed except by night owls. The scoring was provided by a number of composers often multiple people on the same shorts, including: Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker, Nathan Sassover, Paul Menichini, Misho Segal, Peter Frampton, ''et al.''

The characters and their roles

Dynamo Duck is the top secret agent of D.U.X., which stands for ''Dynamic Undercover Excellence''. Dynamo's nemesis, Dr. Mortek, is the leader of S.K.U.Z., which is ''Sleazy Killers, Usurpers, and Zealots''. It was also referred to as the ''Society of Killers, Usurpers and Zealots''. Many other crime and espionage organizations were known by their acronyms. Such as H.O.A.X. (''the Horrible Organization Against Excellence''), S.N.O.B. (''the Secret Nefarious Order of Blowhards''), Y.A.H.O.O. (''Yokels Against Happiness, Optimism and Order''), G.O.O.F.U.S. (''Goons On the Orders to Foul Up Society''), T.O.X.I.C. (''Totally Obnoxious, Extremely Insidious Criminals''), W.H.O.M. (''Wiley Horrendous Obnoxious Maniacs''), L.U.S.H. (''Low, Underhanded Sot-faced Hitmen''), and S.N.O.R.E. (''Slumbering Nemesis Of Righteousness Everywhere''). The Loonies are a religious cult living like medieval knights. Loonies is not an acronym. Many of the agents working for these organizations were, but not limited to, weasels.

External links

Dynamo Duck (1990)
on IMDB
Saturnin, le petit canard (1964)
on IMDB
Saturnin on planete-jeunesse.com
(French)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duck, Dynamo French children's comedy television series 1964 French television series debuts Anthropomorphic ducks Fictional ducks Children's television series about talking animals Television series about ducks Fox Kids es:Las Aventuras de Saturnino