As someone who grew up in the ‘80s, but more memorably into the ‘90s, I can look back on a number of moments connected to entertainment during that era. In 1992, specifically, a handful of famed Disney productions were released and I could seemingly not get enough of any of it. While “Aladdin” was probably the biggest film that they put out that year, there was another, which became a big success in its own right. It was called “The Mighty Ducks.” Though it did not make nearly as much money at box office as the aforementioned title did and it was not nearly as well-received by critics at the time, its moderate level of success led to two, additional sequels: “D2: The Mighty Ducks are Back!” and “The Mighty Ducks 3.”
I can vaguely recall my experience during the first two movies, but by the time the third film was released, I had all but lost any interest in the franchise. I guess you could say that the teen version of me had outgrown it, somehow. Over the years, I never really returned to any of it, but like most people who had reached the age of nostalgia, I eventually became curious to re-experience it all, again, but this time, through the eyes of an adult. Do you remember someone ever telling you to, “Never meet your heroes” and wondered what it meant? Well, I would add that, sometimes, you should never try to relive your childhood memories, for possibly the same or similar reasons…
What I was trying to say, in so many words, is that the original “Mighty Ducks” films are only as good as nostalgia will carry you and that beyond any of this, the movies are objectively bad, on numerous levels. I found myself feeling pretty frustrated by what the filmmakers had tried to push out. As someone who has grown to understand the game of hockey as a sports commentator, the gameplay does not hold up well and as someone who now watches movies from a much more analytical perspective, the stories are largely flimsy and shallow. Oh, and forget about continuity between the three movies; they were all directed by someone differently from the one prior. Some characters were even written out without any real explanation in the story, itself, but I digress.
When word got to me that Disney was bringing back the franchise with an all-new streaming series, “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,” I hoped for the best, but feared for the worst. Of course, I had probably already seen the worst and standards have certainly changed since the 1990s. So, what could possibly go wrong?…
It begins with ‘Episode 1: Game On!’ Lauren Graham (“Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life) is Alex Morrow, a single, hard-working and under-appreciated mother of a child, Evan, played by Brady Noon. He is trying out for the Mighty Ducks, who are now a powerhouse hockey team in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, but in order to keep things that way, they must recruit only the best and Evan is not among them. At least not now. For anyone familiar with the franchise, this team is now very reminiscent of the Hawks from the very first film, back in 1992, although the colors are different. Alex does not seem to understand the concept of “dedication at any level” and the present coach of the Ducks, Coach T, played by Dylan Playfair, seems to lack the requisite sympathy to truly care for any of the kids participating. Shortly after things unfold, Evan and his mother plan to start up a brand new team, very much like the plot in 1994’s “The Little Giants.” Nick Ganz, played by Maxwell Simkins, and Koob, played by Luke Islam, are recruited early, along with Lauren, played by Bella Higginbotham, and Maya, played by Taegan Burns. Logan, played by Kiefer O’Reilly, and Sam, played by De’Jon Watts, round out the rest of the primary players on the team that soon becomes known as the “Don’t Bothers,” who dress up like the Wyoming Cowboys of the NCAA, in a hideous arrangement of brown and yellow, which actually fits the team nicely, in my view. 
Oh, and of course, the immortal Emilio Estevez (“The Public”) reprises his role of Gordon Bombay, but is now down-and-out and “hates hockey.” I can only imagine where this is going to go from here.
The next two episodes, ‘Dusters’ and ‘Breakaway,’ are about the early growing stages of a new team that seemingly cannot compete with anyone in the league that they have just joined. They lose their first couple of games by a combined score of 29-1, including a 17-1 defeat at the hands of the Mighty Ducks. What everyone on the Don’t Bothers realizes quickly is that losing and losing big are not fun; competing is too important to “not bother with.” However, with their last-second goal versus the Ducks, the Don’t Bothers have scored for the first time in the season and there seems to be some hope for the future, as a result, but it comes with some assistance from an outside source and the new coach, Alex, is really struggling, though it is understandable as to why. Meanwhile, Nick has developed a crush on the snack stand waitress, Winnie Berigan, played by Em Haine, who seems to shuffle through young men associated with the various snack ingredients, such as cocoa and mustard. As Nick joins the new hockey team, he is also replaced by the father of the girl whom he once broadcasted games with: Mary Jo (aka “MJ”), played by Lia Franklin. Her dad, Terry, is quite humorous filling in for Nick, bringing back memories of the second man in the booth for the “Major League” movies of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
Episode 4: ‘Hockey Moms’ pits Alex with her boss from work, Stephanie, played by Julee Cerda (“Madeline’s Madeline”), who has has a child playing with the Ducks, Trevor Reddick, played by Kasra Wong. An awkward dinner involving Bombay as Alex’s date with Stephanie and her husband leads to a competitive showcase on the ice, where one mom edges out the other, but only due to a strange technicality. The cute side stories seem to continue mostly with Nick, who invites Evan over for a sleepover, but Koob winds up being included and shines as a singer who can manipulate parents when he so chooses. At some point, the duo of mom and son, Alex and Evan, meets with Bombay, to form a triangle. Does that seem familiar?
Episode 5: ‘Cherry Picker’ might be the strongest episode in the series. Here, we see the development of bonding between two of the girls on the team, Lauren and Maya; one is part of the “in” crowd at school, while the other likes to wear capes and cosplay with her circle of friends. Wha you come to see is that either one of them is capable of being judgmental of the other. In other words, it is a two-way street. Elsewhere, Evan reunites with his wayward dad, who bonds with Bombay during a wing-eating contest, involving Cholula hot sauce. The bonds are strong enough to translate to the Don’t Bothers’ first win of the season, 5-4, over the Hawks, and Evan scored every meaningful goal in the game, resulting in a 1-5 record on the season.
The following two episodes, ‘Spirit of the Ducks’ and ‘Pond Hockey,’ represent the next stage of the team’s development. Sofi Hanson-Bhatt, played by Swayam Bhatia, has become good friends with Evan and switched over to the Don’t Bothers from the Mighty Ducks, strengthening the roster in the process, but now Evan has earned the right to rejoin the Ducks and must make a decision on what to do next.
Bombay sees an old group of Ducks and the real story about his past and why he left the club comes to the surface. Alex is now beginning to look and sound like a real coach and the Don’t Bothers continue to string together more victories, albeit, their methods are still quite silly.
For the final three episodes, we have: ‘Change on the Fly,’ ‘Head Games’ and ‘State of Play.’ Success is breeding confidence for Coach Alex and the Don’t Bothers, but at least one player is still struggling, though he has a lot going for himself, elsewhere. 
Bombay finds a way to teach him how to be effective on the ice and now he appears to have the total package, at least according to one teammate. As the hockey season draws to a close, some major shifts occur at the coaching position, back and forth, between Alex and Bombay, but not for the reasons you might presume. At times, the story begins to feel like something from “Cobra Kai,” which I do not mean as a bad thing. It comes down to how the players behave around each other, especially when players from the other teams are in the mix. As you know, young people are quite fickle. When the final tournament ensues, the team that should win does, but the team you want to win finds victory in another variation and as a result, there is a major turn of events to close out the series. It is a meaningful and satisfying finish, in my opinion.
The way “Game Changers” wraps up makes me wonder if Disney was feeling very confident about how the reaction might turn out for this show. There was such a significant ending that the story seemed mostly unbelievable, at that stage. If it had occurred over the span of two or three years, it would have made a lot more sense, but how much reality do we really want or need, under the circumstances?
I think those who were involved found a nice balance between nostalgia and originality for this series, overall, but the writing was still weak at times, too. I certainly enjoyed myself and found more that I liked about this show than I did not like. I would even say that the quality of this series was better than the previous movies. So, modern times have affected this franchise in a largely-positive way. That is what I think about it, anyway.
Original Network: Disney+
Original Release: March 26th, 2021 to Present
