Oh me oh my…the idea is that the Beagles are going to steal the jackpot from this "America's Next Top Band"-type thing, but they get caught, so they have to quickly pretend they're there to sing, performing a song that Ma Beagle hastily scribbles on a napkin. And from there they become big stars with their own money bin. Which they're able to swim in, contradicting previous episodes.
Now, obviously this is goofy as hell, but it's clear that this is just going to be That Kind Of Episode, and That Kind Of Episode can be quite good. And indeed, the initial performance of that song--the "Boogie Beagle Blues"--isn't bad. But man, after that, this episode gets horribly tedious horribly quickly. I think my feelings on the Ducktales Beagles are no secret to anyone at this point, but I'm not saying this episode couldn't have been a clever music-industry satire. But no; it's all very broad and toothless, and yeah, those fucking Beagles do grate, not least because this is easily the least duck-centric episode yet--the Beagles get by far the most screentime.
Strange as it sounds to say it, given that they've always been goofy in their own way, the reason I don't like these Ducktales Beagles (I mean, aside from the fact that, regardless of context, they're just annoying) is that they rob the Barksian originals of their dignity, with their stupid voices and their stupid individual gimmicks. The Barks Beagles were, at times, quite canny, and they actually represented a legitimate threat to Scrooge. Who can picture these jokers being a serious threat to anyone?
Anyway, that's by way of saying that I have nothing cogent to say about "Beaglemania." It's just a big ol' null set, as far as I'm concerned.
Stray Observations
-"Gold seven times over"--shouldn't that be some variety of platinum? Oh, wait, I forgot: I don't care.
The most disturbing part of this episode is that Ma Beagle apparently mugs that rock music interviewer for her clothes and rainbow wig, and not only do the clothes stretch enough for her to wear them, but she's able to keep up the pretense for several days. So... since this is Disney, we can assume that Ma didn't actually kill her, but do we then have to presume that the interviewer was left naked and unconscious in the bushes for several days before she was rescued and then jailed for public lewdness?
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