Sitting Ducks (TV series)

Sitting Ducks
Promotional poster
Genre	Children Comedy Animated
Created by	Michael Bedard (lithography)
Developed by	Sitting Ducks Productions
Directed by	Walt Kubiak
Creative directors	Terry Shakespeare (Season 1) David Molina (Season 1) Gary Selvaggio (Season 2)
Voices of	Ian James Corlett Dave "Squatch" Ward Phil Hayes Louis Chirillo Jay Brazeau Kathleen Barr Paul Dobson Garry Chalk Michael Benyaer Sylvia Zaradic Scott McNeil Pauline Newstone Dale Wilson Cathy Weseluck Lee Tockar
Theme music composer	Kick
Composers	Kick (Season 1) Charlie Brissette (Season 2)
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Michael Bedard Elizabeth Daro Loredana Cunti (Season 1 only)
Producers	Eliot Daro Steve Granat and Cydne Clark (co-producers, Season 1 only) Walt Kubiak and G. Sue Shakespeare (supervising producers, Season 1 only) George Elliott and Brian Irving (line producers, Season 2 only)
Editors	Billy Jones (Season 1) Steven Kingsbury (Season 2) Supervising editors: Craig Russo (S01), and Billy Jones (Season 2)
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	The Krislin Company Creative Capers Entertainment Krislin/Elliot Digital Sitting Ducks Productions Universal Television
Distributor	Universal Worldwide Television
Release
Original network	Cartoon Network
Original release	September 13, 2001 (2001-09-13) – July 5, 2003 (2003-07-05)

Sitting Ducks is a children's animated 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.^[1] Sitting Ducks first appeared in 2001 in Europe, later debuting in the United States on Cartoon Network, in Australia on ABC3, in Canada on CBC Television, in the United Kingdom on CITV and Boomerang, and on the Japanese version of Cartoon Network.^[2]

The show lasted for two seasons each comprising thirteen episodes, with the last episode shown on July 5, 2003.

Background[]

The show takes place in a town called Ducktown and focuses on a duck named Bill and his best friend Aldo, an alligator from the neighboring town of Swampwood. The pair usually end up in varied situations and adventures, getting around on Bill's scooter.

Episodes[]

Characters[]

• Bill (voiced by Ian James Corlett) – 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 can't 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's been called a "gator lover" for his rare efforts to turn alligators into allies of Ducktown.
• Aldo (voiced by Dave Ward) – A lumbering but kind-hearted alligator from the town of Swampwood. He's Bill's best friend, though he often receives grief from his fellow gators on being a "duck lover". Has a blind uncle named Artie and a younger cousin named Andy. Once was the cook at the bowling ball factory, he transferred to the assembly line after he befriended Bill, as he didn't want to cook any more ducks. He also fights urges so he won't eat ducks.
• Bev (voiced by Kathleen Barr) – Owner of the Decoy Cafe, where many ducks go to eat. She's 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 (voiced by Louis Chirillo, Phil Hayes, and Jay Brazeau respectively) – Three brothers and friends of Bill who live next door to him. These three goofy and lazy freeloaders are similar to The Three Stooges and 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 (as seen in "Fowl Weather Feathers") and speaks with a "beatnik" accent. Waddle is the shortest, fattest, and youngest and has a more childlike voice.
• Cecil (voiced by Ian James Corlett) – 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 – Cecil's wife who was scared of alligators, just like Aldo in the first episode.
• Fred (voiced by Phil Hayes) – a melancholy, but sometimes nervously hyper penguin, who migrated from Antarctica to Ducktown (possibly to get away from the killer whales and leopard seals), 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 (to him) heat. Has a duck girlfriend, Dot Cable, and a stylish cousin, Gelata.
• Raoul (voiced by Michael Benyaer) – A Latin-accented crow who tends to be the freeloading troublemaker in Ducktown, and likes trading insults with Bill. He especially enjoys mocking Bill's attempts to fly.
• Drill Sergeant Duck (Cathy Weseluck) – 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.

Home media[]

VHS releases[]

DVD releases[]

Merchandise[]

Sitting Ducks proved to be a big hit with the European children's show market, and as a result toys, clothing and other merchandise were created.

Print[]

The cartoon itself also spawned a few books. Quacking Up is a joke book written by Rick Walton featuring the characters from the TV show, and Plucked Duck a children's picture book by Danielle Mentzer and Annmarie Harris based on the episode "Duck Naked". Both books were released in 2004, roughly one year after the show had ended.

Video games[]

In May 2003, Light and Shadow Production and Asobo Studios picked up the rights from Universal to create games for Sitting Ducks.^[3] Then, during 2004, Sitting Ducks was released for Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation 2.^[4] An Xbox version was also planned to include a multiplayer racing option, but was quietly cancelled.^[5]

References[]

External links[]

• Sitting Ducks at IMDb