MIghty Ducks Season 2: Who We Need To See Return

Season 1 of Mighty Ducks Game Changers just concluded on Disney plus. I personally enjoyed the show more than I thought, it had some flaws and room for improvement. Overall it was a strong season with a very nostalgic ending for diehard fans. 

Spoiler Alert 

The Don't Bothers win back the Mighty Ducks name.

Spoiler Alert Over 

While Disney has not officially announced a Season 2, much like the Cobra Kai series it has become customary for fans to make a wishlist of which franchise characters they'd like to see in forthcoming season(s). Like I did at the end of Cobra Kai season 3, here's my wishlist of Mighty Ducks characters I'd love to see in the next season.

McGill & Larson (Mighty Ducks)

McGill (Michael Ooms) & Larson (Casey Garven) were teammates of Adam Banks when he played for the Hawks and frequent bullies of the District 5 team. The three seemed inseparable but it turns out they really weren't friends once Adam moved to the Ducks.

McGill & Larson were last seen in D2 along with an unnamed teammate tied to a tree by Fulton when they attempted to sabotage the Ducks. It'd be interesting to see if they're still living the cake eater life and how far their hockey careers went. It also be cool if one of them was the modern day coach of the Hawks using some of Coach Riley's philsophies for a new generation. 

Bringing the Legacy Hawks back into the fold would also allow Bombay to revisit his past as a member of the team, and looking back what's wrong with the pressure kids were under then and now to win. 

Side gripe: There was a Hawks team in the same league as the Don't Bothers, but it was clearly a different Hawks team with a different lineage. Those Hawks wore orange and Blue, when we need the black and white Hawks. Unless as I'm hoping it's saved for additional seasons, waste of a great storyline potential.

Don Tibbles

Don Tibbles made his only appearance in the franchise in D2. An executive with Hendrix Hockey he's the one who persuaded Bombay to coach Team USA. He also introduced Bombay to a potentially lucrative career and lifestyle that took his focus from coaching Team USA.

Don is a good guy just a guy who's trying to make money and keep his job. Don would obviously be retired by this time but he may still have connections to Hendrix Hockey (which gets a Easter egg in episode 1). His connections could help out the new Ducks in season 2 regarding gear or maybe upgrades to the Ice Palace to become the Hendrix Ice Palace. 

Michael Tucker who played Tibbles is in his late 70's and I'm honestly not sure if he's fully retired from acting but a small cameo would be very rewarding to long time fans.

Coach McKay

Coach McKay (Kathryn Erbe) was the tutor of the Ducks while they competed in the Junior Goodwill Games as Team USA. Side rant: it was never made explicitly clear in the film, but I was always under the assumption the competition took place in the summer to account for teams of minors traveling from all over the world to compete. So I always confused why they had an tutor. Anyway she joined the team as an assistant coach out of necessity and was an catalyst for Gordon realizing the error of his changing behavior. 

Honestly the character didn't offer much more than that. However as an educator she could be helpful in helping Bombay and Alex navigate the tricky landscape of student atheletes in todays world and all the rules that come along with it. She may also help some of the team with a school subject they're struggling with, showing the delicate balance these kids must endure being student atheletes. 

Casey Conway

Charlie Conway played by Joshua Jackson is the heart of the Mighty Ducks franchise. When the series was announced fans were clamoring for Conway to make an appearance, but Joshua's schedule and covid made appearing this season impossible.

There is hope Charlie can appear in a season 2 in the event that he can't, an appearance from his mom would be an welcome addition.

Casey played by Heidi Kling could appear and provide some detail on Charlie's whereabouts. It was hinted at in episode 6 during an appearance by the OG Ducks that Charlie holds some resentment towards Bombay. Casey could further that storyline and give Bombay an idea of where the resentment stems from, until he and Charlie can hash it out once he makes an apperance. She also kind of had an romantic relationship with Bombay in the first film, maybe they take steps to try again or just have an friendly conversation that helps Bombay find a spark he's missing.

Coach Orion

Ted Orion played by Jeffery Nordling appeared in D3 as the Ducks new coach at Eden Hall. Orion wasn't an believer of the Ducks pee-wee hockey style. As such his style didn't mesh well with many of the Ducks and he came across as harsh and dismissive of the Ducks way. The two sides eventually learned from one another and defeated the Varsity Warriors.

The Orion character was written to show how things change in life and how you have to adjust. While we didn't get to see the character lead the Ducks to championships, it'd be interesting to see how his life turned out the past 25 years.

Did he lead the JV Eden Hall Ducks to state championships? Did he move to coaching Varisty when the Ducks moved up? If so did they win the state championship those 2 years? Is he still at Eden Hall? Could he be the athletic director of the school now?

Based on what we know him and Bombay have mutual respect for one another. Bombay could call him in for a coaching session of the new Ducks. Providing them hockey skills Bombay doesn't posse to make them more well-rounded players such as playing two-way hockey.

More O.G. Ducks

Besides Charlie Conway who everyone wants to see, fans are clamoring for more O.G. Ducks anyway we can get them. Kenan Thompson who played Russ Thompson is the biggest star out of the Ducks and he's rumored to have agreed to make an appearance in season 2, should scheduling line up. The six who appeared in season 1 were Fulton (Elden Henson), Connie (Marguerite Moreau) and Guy (Garette Henson), Averman (Matt Doherty), Ken Wu (Justin Wong), and Adam Banks (Vincent Larusso). 

That leaves characters like Portman (Aaron Lohr), Julie Gaffney (Colombe Jacobsen), Jesse (Brandon Adams), Luis Mendoza (Mike Vitar), Dwayne Robertson (Ty O'Neal), and Goldberg (hopefully Shaun Weiss works through his issues.) There's also members who were never mentioned again after the first film including Jesse's brother Terry (Jussie Smollet). Karp (Aaron Schwartz), Peter (J.D. Daniels), and siblings Tommy (Danny Tamberelli) and Tammy (Jane Plank).

If they bring several O .G. Ducks in for an episode at once or sprinkle cameos throughout the season, fans would be elated either way. Every one of them could bring something to the table in guiding the new Ducks to success. I for one am looking forward to seeing how the originals are bought back into the fold.  

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Documentaries Wish List

 I recently stumbled on a documentary on Hulu about the golden years of Nickelodeon called The Orange Years. Watching how Nickelodeon was formed and classic shows such as All That, Guts, Secret World of Alex Mack, Doug, and Salute Your Shorts came to be. Made me remember just how awesome and big of a deal Nickelodeon was during the 90s.

After watching the documentary, I started thinking about other topics I wouldn't mind seeing documentaries about. I love a good documentary so here's my top 5 wish list.

5. Cartoon Network

Depending on who you talk to Cartoon Network may have the edge over Nickelodeon, in which one was the top kids channel of the 90's. Debuting in the mid-90s Cartoon Network utilized the Warner Bros and Hanna Barbera library owned by Ted Turner to build it's network. It introduced kids of the 90s to older cartoons from the 70's like Jonny Quest and The Jackson five cartoon, it also introduced us to Space Ghost with his coast to coast series.

It wasn't until the network started developing it's own cartoons it really took off. Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, and Courage The Cowardly Dog made the network. It would be interesting to hear from the power players of that era about the network as a whole and the respective shows that put it on the map.  

4. Sega Channel

The Sega Channel was so ahead of its time. A monthly subscription service through certain cable providers, there was a cartridge to insert into the Sega Genesis console. That cartridge afforded subscribers access to video games and the game library rotated every month. Sound familiar? 

The Sega Channel debuted in 1994 long before Cable TV On Demand features and streaming services. One of my closest friends had it when we were kids, man he was the coolest kid around and at the time rich in our eyes. I would love a in depth documentary on how the Sega Channel was born and why it didn't catch on like it should have. Was it cost for consumers? Was it the infrastructure? or was it just Sega was losing popularity in the console wars? Questions that need answers.

3. BET

Cable network BET was founded January 25, 1980 a full year before MTV hit the airwaves. Starting out in the new wave of Cable TV as a two hour program block on another feed, it eventually became it's own full-fledge 24 hour network in 1983. Over time giving the culture programs such as Video Soul with Donnie Simpson, Rap City, Teen Summit, Planet Groove, 106 and Park, and BET Uncut (some wild videos including Tip Drill played on Uncut). The network also gave several comedians of the 90's exposure with the hilarious Comic View.

BET was sold to Viacom in 2001 for $3 Billion, it'd be interesting and educational to hear how Robert Johnsons vision came about. The growth of BET through the years to include substations and even BET restaurants. It'd also be interesting to hear some of the resistance BET faced for many years when it often tried to change programming methods and move away from playing music videos all day.

2. ABC TGIF

During the early to mid 90's especially you were likely doing one of three things on Friday nights going out for a good time, going to Blockbuster to pick up a movie, or sitting in front of the TV for two hours of ABC's TGIF TV block. It was must watch TV and a cultural phenomenon which even included it's own jingle to kick the night off. TGIF gave us Family Matters, Full House, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Boy Meets World, Dinosaurs, Perfect Strangers, and Step By Step. It also gave us some eh type shows and duds like Baby Talk, Clueless, You Wish, Teen Angel, Two Of A Kind, and Aliens In The Family. 

I'll admit many of those shows have not aged well, but it was a wonderful moment in time. 90's nostalgia is still going strong it's time someone tells the story of how TGIF came together, reached massive heights and came crashing down as staples ended or moved to other networks (CBS stole a few shows and tried to emulate the success towards the end of the 90's). Somebody, anybody make this happen. 

1. New Jack Swing

If you know me you know I love the New Jack Swing era of music, I always felt like I was born 10 years too late and was actually suppose to be an young adult living life during the height of the era in the early 90's. Anyway it's about time this genre of music which was an fusion of hip hop and r&b to get it's well deserved recognition and it's story be told.

New Jack Swing was founded by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle in the late 80's and soon other producers such as Babyface and L.A. Reid and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis utilized this sound. Soon entire labels like Uptown and Laface were built on the New Jack Swing sound. Legendary artist Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, TLC, Boyz II Men, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Guy and so so many more built their careers off of this genre. From it's beginnings to the influence it still holds on music today, it's time the New Jack Swing story gets told. 

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