Saturday, June 4, 2011

Ducktales, Season One, Episode Fifty-One: "Duck in the Iron Mask"

Dewey gets annoyed with being confused with his brothers, and dresses in a bizarre costume to assert his individuality. I'm somewhat certain that I've read some comic somewhere that did something like this (I'm not thinking of Rosa's "Eye for Detail"), but where? Who can say. Anyway, Scrooge, Launchpad, and HDL visit Dumasparodyland, where Scrooge's friend, Count Roy (Roy?) has had the throne usurped by his evil twin brother, Ray (Ray?). Everyone's tossed in jail (the episode features Pete as the guard captain, and this is Adorable Pete as seen in "Pearl of Wisdom," so even though he's way eviler than he was in that episode, you still just wanna give him a big hug), and--naturally--Dewey is the one to formulate an escape plan. There's some pretty good sneaking around and a pretty good final sword fight sequence.

This episode is a big improvement on recent; certainly the best since "Duckworth's Revolt," at least. The idea of a plot focusing on one of the brothers' dissatisfaction with not being seen as an individual was a good one, and the duke and his evil twin make a nice counterpoint to this. I can't say I found the resolution wholly satisfying, but expecting much more probably wouldn't have been realistic in a show like this. Also, there's a cute Barks reference at the end: "...and never again return to Monte Dumas, my evil brother, or I will see that you become...the Duck in the Iron Pants!" That's sure to put me in a good mood.

Stray Observations

-"The three of us are twins!" So is the joke that HDL would somehow be unfamiliar with the word "triplets," or were the writers? I don't find either of these alternatives hugely satisfying.

-…and yeah, the idea that the guard would be fooled by a mirror image into thinking all three brothers were present? Hmm.

-Reminds one a bit of "Monarch of Medioka," but given that that story is basically "Prisoner of Zenda," and given that the whole thing is a kind of broad Dumas pastiche, that's probably meaningless.

3 comments:

  1. You may be thinking of "Happy Birthday Times Three", where Huey, Dewey and Louie had have enough with having a shared birthday party and set out to gain different personalities, forcing Donald to throw 'em individual parties. One joins a soapbox racing group, another one becomes a skater, and the remaining nephew ends up a surfer.

    It was published on WDCS 685, and incidentally, it was penned by Pat and Carol McGreal.

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  2. I can buy the guard being fooled by the mirror images. The guard is an anthropomorphic pig, and pigs are colorblind, so he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a red, blue, or green shirt, anyway.

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