DuckTales (Ron Jones): episode-by-episode analysis

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

Over the past couple of years I've been studying Ron Jones's score for DuckTales and compiling an episode-by-episode documentation that breaks down every single cue heard and recycled throughout the series. I wanted to have this whole thing completely polished up before I showed it to the public, but my patience came to a head, and I felt I just couldn't wait any longer.

It's very rough right now, and some of the mistakes are ones I've since learned better of (such as the one labeled "Webby's Theme" being listed under "Treasure of the Golden Suns, Part 3" instead of "Part 4"), but it's not worth bringing up all its current imperfections here. Just rest assured I plan on clearing out all the blemishes for the final draft. Either way, as Disney still hasn't released the final DVD volume (though a dedicated group of fans are working to bombard them with phone calls and letters until they stop ignoring fan demand for such things), the documentation currently stops at the end of Super DuckTales.

There were somewhere around 330 cues composed for the series, and not all of it was Jones - there are a few musical numbers, a few ghost-written pieces when Jones was tied up with Next Generation, the different incarnations of the theme song (if you want to include material from the read-along storybooks and the Disney Afternoon soundtrack) - and a Tom Chase and Steve Rucker are credited with "Additional Music", which I believe could be the score for the "Dinosaur Ducks" episode. I've done the math with rough estimates, and a complete release would almost certainly come out to 4 discs.

No animated television score deserves a complete release more than this diamond in the rough. Ron Jones approached DuckTales in a way the other composers Disney auditioned hadn't dreamed of (or at least dared to go), and it worked marvelously. I can tell you as a six-year-old boy I found myself spending recess wandering around on my own, and humming the beginning notes of "Welcome To Duckburg", "Dire Straits", and other cues* while I pictured having my own animated work; and when I was at home actually watching the show on VHS tapes, I would rewind a scene back and forth obsessively if it featured any of my favorite cues.

This beautiful score is rich with emotion, color, and several character/place/concept leitmotifs, all of which added so much hope and wonder to my childhood that it would be no exaggeration to say it fueled and helped inspire my longing to become an animation director, for the thrill of one day seeing my work backed by similarly gorgeous compositions.

I know from recent posts that DuckTales isn't exactly high on Doug's list, if in fact it's on his list at all, but here's me making sure my voice is heard. I hope my work on this project is difficult to ignore, and I'm crossing my fingers it leads to good things.

*These are my own, fan-given titles, not the official ones.

TerraEpon · **Joined:** Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:45 pm **Posts:** 785

Wow, that's some work you've done.

tharpdevenport · **Posted:** Sun Feb 10, 2013 6:36 am

In regards to Tom Chase and Steve Rucker. They scored the pilot. I asked one of them and was told some of the score was tracked throughout the series.

Indeed, many ghostwriters. I remember checking BMI and ASCAP.

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

By the pilot, do you mean "Treasure of the Golden Suns"? I... I'm having trouble believing that (it doesn't seem to make sense to me), but if so... that really scrambles my brain. Y'mean all this time Jones had nothing to do with the "Golden Suns" score, which I consider DuckTales vintage?!

I know stuff from both "Golden Suns" and "Dinosaur Ducks" was recycled many, many times throughout the series (although they stopped using "Dinosaur Ducks" music with the end of season 1 - and that was the same time Chase & Rucker's names disappeared from the credits).

tharpdevenport · **Posted:** Sun Feb 10, 2013 10:40 am

Yes, all I know is I found it odd, too, but Jones is credited as the main composer.

Chase the Rucker did a number of animation scores for Disney. they were likely originally hired to score the pilot themselves and are probably unaware most of the score has been replaced by Jones.

I did that interview with Richard Lewis Warren a week ago and he was totally unaware they had replaced a score by him on "Moonlighting"; first time he's hearing about it in about 25 years.

Did he score "Super ducktales", too?

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

Yavar Moradi · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2013 9:09 am

Since this is more of a scholarly project than just a suggestion (which had already been made), I think this belongs more on the main board.

Personally, I'd love Lukas K. to produce a complete DuckTales set (at least complete Jones).

Yavar

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

tharpdevenport · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2013 2:45 pm

I particularly asked about "Ducktales". They are credited with additional music in the pilot, like the subsequent episodes. So obviously not all the music heard is his. But that's okay, we can't expect every composer to know what happens before or after his or her involvement.

Did you show him your massive list?

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

tharpdevenport · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:44 pm

He probably can't legally give you that information. Plus, even if he could, it's a crapload to type up or scan, after it is all located.

I wonder if that 70-piece orchestra is for the documentary film "Fight for Space", which he was hired to score last year. Or maybe one can hope something else besides another Seth score.

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

It did cross my mind that he wouldn't be able to legally tell me what the real cue names are, but I didn't entertain the thought for very long. I don't know much of anything about composer contracts, so I wouldn't know for myself whether or not there's a stipulation saying he can't even give out cue names. He hasn't said anything specifically about that yet.

Don't think I don't realize how much work it would be. It's only because he's my only hope right now of finishing this project, as accurately as possible, that I ask him about these things at all. That's why I make sure not to badger him beyond merely bringing it up; he has no obligation to me in the first place.

tharpdevenport · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2013 3:37 pm

Disney holds onto things pretty tightly.

Try badgering him after the season finales of the MacFarlane series, so you know he has some free time. Also giving a little window of rest and relaxation. :wink:

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

kenisu3000 · **Joined:** Fri Dec 28, 2012 2:46 am **Posts:** 41

Update! Added cue durations for episodes 13-35, as well as some more polishing.

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DuckTales (Ron Jones): episode-by-episode analysis

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