Sitting Ducks (TV series)
Sitting Ducks is an animated children's television series based on the 1977 "Sitting Ducks" lithograph and the 1998 children's book of the same name, created by the poster artist Michael Bedard. The series first premiered internationally before debuting in the United States on Cartoon Network; reruns also aired on Qubo from 2007 until 2012.
The show lasted for two seasons each comprising thirteen episodes, with the last episode shown on July 5, 2003.
Synopsis
Sitting Ducks stars Bill, a duck who likes to hang out with his socially outcast best friend Aldo, the alligator. The duration of the show revolves around the daily life of the two, while also having the two seek to overcome the stigma between duck and gator-kind in their world and bring forth tolerance between the two species. The citizens of Ducktown are taught to fear and treat the alligators as monsters, while the alligators of Swampwood are taught to eat ducks, and ducks only; both of these ideas are an integral part of the culture of both respective towns.Bill seeks leisure in planes and painting, but more often than not he's constantly pestered by the likes of Ed, Oly, and Waddle, his gluttonous next-door neighbors. The brothers always mooch off of Bill and friends and use them for their own advantages; in essence, they are greedy, self-centered freeloaders. Bill also shares his apartment building with Fred, a melancholy immigrant penguin from the region of Antarctica.
Secondary characters such as Bev and Cecil provide support for the main characters in the show; Bev is the owner of the characters' hangout spot the Decoy Café and has the second closest friendship with Aldo. Cecil is the "only dentist in a toothless town" while also acting as scientist and an inventor. Raoul is a Spanish crow who provides snarky remarks, constantly making fun of Bill and his ambitions.
Aldo, on the other hand, resides in Swampwood and is surrounded with temptations to consume ducks. He consistently overcomes this instinct, while also encountering resistance from fellow alligators who advise him to end his interspecies friendship with Bill; Aldo remains unwavering in his dedication to their relationship.
Characters
- Bill is an anthropomorphic diminutive duck who waddles to a different beat, a very kind-hearted, good-natured fellow who is always there when needed. One of his dreams is to fly. With the help of his friend Dr. Cecil, he tries again and again to fly, and eventually is told that the reason he cannot is because ducks became too terrestrial. Bill's main appearance difference, apart from his smallness, is his bow tie which he changes every year at the Ducktown Picnic. Bill lives in an apartment with his pet parrot, Jerry. He has been called a "gator lover" for his rare efforts to turn alligators into allies of Ducktown.
- Aldo is a lumbering but kind-hearted alligator from the town of Swampwood. He is Bill's best friend, though he often receives grief from his fellow gators on being a "duck lover". He has a blind uncle named Artie and a younger cousin named Andy. He was once the cook at the bowling ball factory, but transferred to the assembly line after he befriended Bill, as he did not want to cook any more ducks. He also fights his carnivorous instincts so he will not eat ducks.
- Bev – Owner of the Decoy Cafe, where many ducks go to eat. She is a sweet duck who also has an alias, Madam Bevousky, as whom she offers fortune telling services to the residents of Ducktown. She is also the focus of Bill's romantic interests.
- Ed, Oly, and Waddle are three brothers and friends of Bill who live next door to him. These three goofy and lazy freeloaders tend to scheme their way into things and are usually the ones behind some plot or a practical joke, from which they always try to distance themselves when things go awry. Ed wears a tropical shirt and speaks with a New York accent. Oly wears a green beret, has big, soft feathers and speaks with a "beatnik" accent. Waddle is the shortest, fattest, youngest and has a childish voice.
- Cecil is Ducktown's only dentist and an inventor. Cecil speaks in a British accent and is always there to offer advice to Bill or the others. Naturally, Aldo is typically his only customer, being the only person in town who actually has teeth. He also provides beak adjustments for the ducks.
- Claire is Cecil's wife who was scared of alligators, just like Aldo in the first episode.
- Fred is a melancholic, but sometimes nervously hyper penguin, who migrated from Antarctica to Ducktown, in which he has citizenship. He's somewhat of a loner most of the time, always seen surrounding himself with bags of ice or air conditioning to remain comfortable in the intolerable heat. He has a duck girlfriend, Dot Cable, and a stylish cousin, Gelata.
- Raoul is a Spanish-accented crow who tends to be the freeloading troublemaker in Ducktown, and likes trading insults with Bill and mocking Bill's attempts to fly.
- Drill Sergeant Duck is a tough police duck who makes it hard for Aldo to come into Ducktown, as she also is the leader of the Duck Defense League, an anti-gator organization, and the Ducktown Scooter Shop and Driver Station.
- Other characters that have appeared in the show have been voiced by Dale Wilson, Brian Dobson, Sylvia Zaradic, Chantal Strand, Chiara Zanni, Pauline Newstone, Paul Dobson, Lee Tockar, Garry Chalk, and Scott McNeil.
Production
In 2000, the pitch pilots for Sitting Ducks and the sister project The Santa Claus Brothers were released. Several test animations produced by Flat Earth Productions and Metrolight Studios were included in the pilot, which consisted of scenes from the Sitting Ducks book, now in animated form. Information about the show's characters and setting were narrated by Bill's pet parrot, Jerry. Some of these animation tests were included on the Duck Cravings, Bill & Friends, and Ducktown Adventures DVDs released outside of the United States.In 2006, Elias Entertainment, one of the show's production companies, had released a mobisode of the show titled "Duck-A-Licious", including clips from several episodes from the first and second seasons. All of the clips from season two were shown in widescreen format. Only three full segments of the show have been found in widescreen format, alongside short clips and still frames.
In its American release, the first episode of the show, "Running Ducks/Duck Naked", contained music composed by both Kick and Charlie Brissette. Uploaded on the Internet Archive in 2024, both the original versions of the episodes were found to have contained music completely composed by Kick. The version containing music from Brissette and Kick can be found on the American DVD release of the show. The Kick version was allegedly stated to have been released on Netflix.