Just like Goof Troop, Quack Pack came along at a time when the Disney Afternoon had a slot to fill. The gap created by the departure of shows like Ducktales, Darkwing Duck, Talespin and Rescue Rangers left things open for new concepts. Unfortunately by 1996 the long running popularity of Disney Afternoon was starting to wane and the well of ideas was starting to run dry. Trying to make lightning strike twice, Disney opted to bring Donald and his nephews back into the spotlight with the familiar locale of Duckburg.

Of course, this wasn't the Duckburg that we all grew to know and love. Radical changes were afoot and instead of taking place in a town overrun by ducks, birds and beagles; it was populated by mostly human characters. Scrooge and his money bin were nowhere to be found either so while some things may appear familiar, this was indeed a different show. The tone was completely altered as well and instead of featuring adventures and excitement the show rolled out with slapstick humor and situational comedy.

Huey, Dewey and Louie were portrayed as much older teenagers this time around and each had their own personalities. In Ducktales the brothers all thought alike and wore juvenile innocence on their sleeve like a badge of Junior Woodchuck honor. The older version didn't jive as well with fans and probably played a part in the show's short-lived existence. Not even Donald and Daisy could save this series from being cancelled after one season, but even so there were still some decent episodes.

Much to the delight of fans everywhere, shows like Ducktales, Rescue Rangers, and now Quack Pack have been released on DVD. Unfortunately Donald's series follows suit with Goofy's Goof Troop and doesn't get a boxed set. Instead the show finds itself being released on a single disc with less than a handful of random episodes. I don't understand the decision behind releasing both series in this manner, but hope that the policy changes when it comes time for Darkwing Duck and Talespin to be announced. To say it's disappointing in these cases would be an understatement.

The episodes on this first volume disc are "Transmission Impossible", "Heavy Dental", and "Feats of Clay".

The first episode here is from a haphazard point in the season so don't expect to be introduced to what's going on in the show. "Transmission Impossible" was mediocre at best in terms of plot but it did have a few funny moments. Huey, Dewey and Louie steal and destroy Donald's ninja movie and lie about it. That basically means their credibility is shot and the story boils down to the whole "boy who cried wolf thing". Anyways, there is an art thief (excuse me…historian) who is using a TV and a high powered frequency to tap into security cameras from around the world and teleport objects into his basement. When the boys have the cabbage diamond dropped in their laps they realize something is up and have to convince everyone about what's really happening.

Even though the idea is a little off the wall (most of Quack Pack usually was), I really enjoyed "Heavy Dental". An evil genius invents a device that has the ability to control people's minds when its user speaks. A fateful trip to the dentist has Huey getting implanted with this machine instead of its target, Agent X. The real treat here happens when Huey goes crazy and tries to take over the world with his new set of braces then has to fight a homicidal robot. "Feats of Clay" takes place around an Asian archeological dig site where some clay statues have been unearthed. When a string of robberies hits a museum, the boys suspect that the statues are the ones pulling off the heist. The story in this episode was pretty predictable from the start but it certainly had its charm.

Just like Goof Troop, it was pretty disappointing to have this show be released in this fashion. Pulling random episodes from the season to feature on a single disc is no way to win fans over or give viewers a complete collection. This may technically be called "The Best of Quack Pack", but would it really have been all that difficult to pony up and release a boxed set?

Originally being broadcast back in 1996, Quack Pack is presented with a 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio. The show's image quality is on par or better than prior Disney TV efforts, but that mostly has to do with the later production date. Even so there is still quite a lot of grain and speckle in the video as well as quite a few points where the colors seemed off. Some whites came across as dull grays in many scenes and the transfer shows that no attention was paid to remastering the original print for a cleaner presentation.

When it comes to a show that aired on TV back in the 90s you can't really expect much more than a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Just like Goof Troop Volume 1, Quack Pack offers English and French languages as well as subtitles for the hearing impaired. The sound quality is decent enough though I felt that the music was a little overbearing compared to the rest of the audio. I wasn't disappointed by the sound presentation but I wasn't exactly blown away either. All in all I'd say that this disc features quality that is on par with prior Disney TV releases.

A few Disney Sneak Peaks are all that you're going to see on this disc for "bonus content".

Let's get one thing out of the way here; the three episodes that are included on this disc are pretty entertaining and probably are some of the best that Quack Pack had to offer. That's not an excuse for only getting three episodes out of sequence and no retooling of the video and audio though. Another thing that I found to be slightly "odd" was the fact that the packaging on the disc doesn't state anything about it being simply a "Best of" while the DVD menu blatantly says that. This could lead to unwitting fans being disappointed if they splurged for a purchase. Because of all of this I'm going to suggest a rental for fans and a skip it for the average viewer. Rent It

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