LA LA LA WATCHIN' DARKWING DUCK EPISODES OUT OF ORDER
Yeah, I'm doing this because Ryan Wynns told me too, and I always mindlessly do what I'm told. I'd be a good cult member, I think. The idea was to get acquainted with this crazy new Negaduck before seeing him team up with other villains, I believe.
Actually "crazy" might be pushing it a bit. Negaduck is Darkwing in a yellow coat and red hat, and from this episode, at least, he's kind of generic. I liked the big-eyebrow "bad" Darkwing best. That guy had moxie!
The idea, at any rate, is that this guy hits DW with a special ray thing and inadvertently grants him super-speed (and also the ability to kind of hover, apparently), so he has fun with that for a while, but wouldntchaknowit, it turns out that he also ages super-fast, and he becomes old and decrepit and bearded, since we all know that beards are one of the main signs of aging.
So while he's sitting around knitting and stuff, Negaduck takes over the city. Fuck! But when he sees that LP, Gosalyn, and Honker have been captured, DW nonetheless creaks to the rescue, and I've gotta say…the way he de-ages himself is really pretty half-assed--apparently, moving backwards really fast does the trick. There's a somewhat cute bit where he really quickly goes and becomes a scientist and gives papers and does lab work and finds an antidote for the accelerating ray, but it's a li'l too-little-too-late for my taste. I found this episode to be pretty uninvolving. I feel like so far at least, this show lives and dies on the strength of its villains; hence, episodes with weak villains like Negaduck here and Steelbeak in "Water Way to Go"--as well as "Apes of Wrath" with the random hunter dude as villain--don't succeed very well. Hey, I'm not saying these guys can't come into their own at some point in the future. But they haven't yet.
Holy crap, you just called Negaduck a weak villain! Prepare for the fangirls to swoop down and tear you to pieces.
ReplyDeleteI'll admit that I DO find the idea of Negaduck fangirls unspeakably terrifying...
ReplyDeleteI was gonnna say something similar to what Mike said -- it's been REALLY interesting to see Geo's reaction thus far to Negaduck. In Darkwing circles, I've ONLY ever gotten the impression that it's totally assumed and taken for granted that it's a basic fact of life that Negaduck is The Greatest, Most Divine Thing Ever. To see Geo write, "I strongly question the this episode's whole conception of good-vs-evil!", as well as, "Negaduck is Darkwing in a yellow coat and red hat, and from this episode, at least, he's kind of generic" has me questioning how much I have subconsiously bought into cultish fan dogma!
ReplyDeleteGeo, your first paragaraph had me laughing out loud -- but I really hope everyone knows you're joking! :D As I explained to Geo, "Just Us Justice Duck" Parts One and Two were the first episodes featuring Negaduck "II" to both have been produced and to have aired produced and aired following the only appearance of Negaduck "I"f in "Negaduck". I'd swear on my life that the narrative thrust of "Justice Ducks" expects the viewer to already be familiar with "this" Negaduck and not wonder how he's managed to return after Darkwing's "'trons" were put back together -- hence why I suggested that Geo watch an episode with Negaduck II as the "solo" villain after watching "Negaduck" and before watching "Justice Ducks". However, Tad Stones' saw the show's wacky, continuity-eschewing, sometimes surreal nature as making the disparity between the two versions of the character a non-issue. Thus, this order that I've suggested to Geo is decidedly not the director's cut order! (...yep, Geo, I was beaming when I realized why you referenced George Lucas in this post's title!)
(I'd contend that there's a clear distinction between "regular" episodes that take place in the show's established "reality" and highly distinguished, insular-functioning episodes that completely break the fourth wall, like "Comic Book Capers" and several others that Geo has yet to get to. Yes, many episodes have a moment or two of fourth wall-breaking, and virtually every episode has absurd, Looney Tunes-esque content. But that's the show's style -- those are the type of gags that are par the course during its "routine", "conventional", clearly-grounded-in-the-series'-"reality" episodes. Which "Negaduck", "Going Nowhere Fast", and most later Negaduck episodes as being. On the other hand, you have the free-for-all, throw-everything-out-the-window, let's-do-something-completely-different episodes. And that's not what "Negaduck", "Going Nowhere Fast", and most later Negaduck episodes strike me as being. But, that's just me!)
I find your assessment of this episode completely accurate, Geo. I actually picked it because of its genericness -- my rationale was, "Pick out the most generic example-of-Negaduck-as-recurring-villain episode you can find, and not one produced too much later than "Just Us Justice Ducks". Using Negaduck as the villain in this plot seems virtually arbitrary to me! Perhaps you'll find him in better form, and more in his element, later.
Ryan
The more I see of this show, the more absurd the idea of this Ducktales/DW crossover (which I haven't read yet) seems. Before I started watching, I'd assumed that the two would have a more or less equivalent tone. Not the case, obviously; the idea of smashing the two universes together…um. It seems like you might as well do a Dexter/Dexter's Laboratory thing.
ReplyDelete