Monday, September 19, 2011

Ducktales, Season Three, Episode Ten: "A Case of Mistaken Secret Identity"

Well…HDL become convinced that Gizmoduck is Launchpad, which, there's no getting around it, is an incredibly stupid thing to be convinced of, given that they have quite unambiguously seen Gizmoduck and Launchpad together on several occasions; plus, Launchpad obviously has the wrong body type. It's just not good characterization to depict the nephews as being this dimwitted--and absolutely insufferable about their wrongness, too. Boy oh boy.

Actually, an episode dealing with Fenton's frustration at being unable to get any of that Gizmoglory is a good idea, and there IS quite a funny bit where he's arguing with himself over whether to tell the kids the truth: "Oh yeah? I'll tell you who he is! But…oh, I shouldn't! I must! No no! Yes! Gizmoduck is…no! I won't say! Oh! I just gotta! Never! Never! I must! Gizmoduck happens to be…" But in general, this was NOT the right way to handle this.

Anyway, due to a series of contrivances, the whole public becomes convinced of the veracity of this dubious idea; ultimately, Launchpad accidentally gets crammed into the suit and, not being familiar with the controls, disaster results; Fenton saves him and gets some measure of acclaim, and everyone accepts that Launchpad isn't Gizmoduck. And then, the kids decide that Mrs. Beakley is the next-most-likely candidate. Sigh.

Stray Observations

-This episode features "Oprah Webry" (who was also in the last one) and "Geralduck Rivera," who appear to be normal humans in every respect except that they have beaks. This looks really strange.

-"I'm gonna bare my soul!" "Jeepers--you can do that on television?"

-Like the way Launchpad immediately gets groupies after everyone becomes convinced he's Gizmoduck.

1 comment:

  1. For some reason, HDL lost about sixty IQ points apiece once Season 3 started.

    Is anyone else concerned that ordinary people can make reasonably functional Gizmoduck suits? Doesn't this distract from Gyro's accomplishment a bit? Sure all some of them do is sprout flowers, but it shouldn't be too hard to switch out flowers with nuclear missiles.

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