The Mighty Ducks (1992)

The Mighty Ducks film trilogy home release cover art.

After being pulled over for drunk driving, Minneapolis-based attorney Gordon Bombay is sentenced to 500 hours of community service, coaching youth hockey. There he meets the District 5 peewee hockey team perennial losers who finish at the bottom of the league standings year after year. They are shut out every game and lose by at least five goals. The players learn Bombay was once a player for the Hawks and the team in the same league but left hockey because of the embarrassment that followed after a failed attempt at a penalty shot at the end of regulation causing them to lose in overtime costing them a peewee championship. (The only year that the Hawks ever lost.) With the help of Coach Bombay and a desperately needed infusion of cash and equipment from Bombay's law firm, the players learn the fundamentals of the sport. Soon enough the District 5 team now christened the Ducks after Bombay's employer Gerald Ducksworth start winning games and manage to make the playoffs, reaching the finals and adding new player Adam Banks, an ex-Hawk who is a talented player and an asset for the Ducks. Bombay faces the Hawks, the team he grew up playing for still led by Jack Reilly, the same coach Bombay played for. Fittingly, the Ducks win the title game on a penalty shot by Bombay's protege Charlie. The movie was released in the UK, Australia and South Africa as Champions. It was directed by Stephen Herek.

D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994)

Inspired by his own players, Bombay decides to try out in the hockey minor leagues and becomes the star player for the fictional Minnehaha Waves, with an easy pathway to the NHL. After a career-ending knee injury, he is offered a chance to coach a team representing the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games. For this, he reunites most of his Ducks(while 5 of them have moved away) and introduces them to five new players from across the country to form Team USA. While they win several early games, the lure of celebrity eventually becomes a distraction to both Bombay and the players, and reality kicks in when they lose against Team Iceland in an embarrassing defeat. Frustrated, Bombay drives his players even harder, yet Team USA continues to suffer, until they come across a street hockey team who teaches them how to play like "the real Team USA". New player Russ Tyler (Kenan Thompson), who earlier heckled Team USA during its matches, is recruited into the roster. Bombay realizes the most important thing is to have fun and after a change in attitude, the Ducks redeem themselves by working up the playoff ladder to meet Team Iceland in the finals. Team USA proves to be a match for Iceland, but the game ends in a tie, resulting in a shootout which - due to fast glove of new goalie Julie Gaffney - Team USA ends up winning the championship. They win the trophy.

D3: The Mighty Ducks (1996)

The movie shifts focus from Bombay to protégé Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson). After their victory at the Junior Goodwill Games, Charlie and his teammates are awarded scholarships to Eden Hall Academy (a fictitious name from crossing Southwestern suburb Eden Prairie, Cretin-Derham Hall, and Saint Thomas Academy), a prestigious Minnesota high school Bombay attended. Their arrival is met with hostility from the varsity team (mainly consisting of players who are members of rich families, whose younger siblings were cut from the junior varsity team to make room for the Ducks), as well as Bombay's hand-picked successor, Ted Orion (Jeffrey Nordling), whose emphasis on defensive two-way hockey irks Charlie. Not wanting to be on a team led by Orion, who he believes to be a washed-up former professional player, Charlie leaves the team, but rejoins as he learns the truth about Orion from Bombay. Charlie and Orion quickly bond in time for the JV-Varsity Showdown, and thanks in large part to the work of Charlie, the Ducks win on a shorthanded goal in the dying seconds of the game from unlikely goal scorer Greg Goldberg (who is converted from goalie to defenseman). E

Animation

Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, aired on the American Broadcasting Company for one season consisting of 26 episodes, from 1996-1997. Created in a collaboration between Marty Isenberg, Robert N. Skir, and David Wise, the show ran regularly during The Disney Afternoon block. The series takes place in a futuristic alternate anthropomorphic-universe, and follows the adventures of humanoid-duck superheroes.

The series theme song, written by Carl Swander Johnson, was performed by Mickey Thomas of Jefferson Starship and Starship fame.

Live-action

A live-action television series based on the original films was in the early stages of development at ABC Signature Studios, with screenwriter Steven Brill and producer Jordan Kerner being attached to the series.^[1] The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers was released for Disney+ streaming service.^[2]

The plot centers around a 13-year-old boy - whose mother helps him assemble a new team, find a coach and build a rink where they can play - when he gets kicked off the junior division of the Mighty Ducks hockey team. Emilio Estevez reprised his role as Coach Gordon Bombay in the series.^[3][4][5] The series premiered on March 26, 2021,^[6][7] running for 2 seasons.

Fictional team roster

The following is the roster of the fictional players for the team.^[8] Provided are their jersey numbers, playing positions and indication of their appearances in movies and television series.

No.	Player	Hometown	Position	D1	D2	D3	GC
00	Guy Germaine	St. Paul, Minnesota	F	Y	Y	Y	Y
1	Terry Hall	Minneapolis	F	Y	N	N	N
2	Tommy Duncan	Minneapolis	D	Y	N	N	N
4	Lester Averman	Brooklyn Park, Minnesota	F	Y	Y	Y	Y
5	Tammy Duncan	Minneapolis	F	Y	N	N	N
6	Julie Gaffney	Bangor, Maine	G	N	Y	Y	N
7	Dwayne Robertson	Austin, Texas	F	N	Y	Y	N
9	Jesse Hall	Minneapolis	F	Y	Y	N	N
11	Dave Karp	Minneapolis	D	Y	N	N	N
16	Ken Wu	San Francisco	F	N	Y	Y	Y
18	Connie Moreau	Minneapolis	F	Y	Y	Y	Y
21	Dean Portman	Chicago	D	N	Y	Y	Y
22	Luis Mendoza	Miami	F	N	Y	Y	N
24	Peter Mark	Minneapolis	D	Y	N	N	N
33	Greg Goldberg	Philadelphia	G/D	Y	Y	Y	N
44	Fulton Reed	Stillwater, Minnesota	D/F	Y	Y	Y	Y
56	Russ Tyler	Los Angeles	D	N	Y	Y	N
96	Team Captain Charlie Conway	Minneapolis	F	Y	Y	Y	N
99	Adam Banks	Edina, Minnesota	F	Y	Y	Y	Y

Box office performance

Critical and public response

Legacy

The Mighty Ducks series has become a cult classic.^[18][19][20] Several professional athletes have expressed their appreciation for the series, with NFL Arizona Cardinals' J.J. Watt and MLB Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper among the trilogy's fans.^[21][22]

Season statistics

Video game

An electronic, handheld LCD game titled, Mighty Ducks and based on the animated series of the same name, was released in 1996. The game was developed, created, and released by Tiger Electronics.

Theme park attractions

Podcast

A podcast channel dedicated to the trilogy titled The Quack Attack, has over 200 episodes dedicated to the topic.^[37]