OH WELL.
So the plot of this episode is that this toy museum has a jack-in-the-box containing an evil spirit (how did they obtain this thing? Stop asking dumb questions). Ultimately, it escapes from the box and possesses Quackerjack's Mr. Banana Brain doll; they work together for a while, but then the spirit--Paddywhack--decides that there must be more than this provincial life, and turns on QJ. Ultimately, he and DW have to work together to defeat it.
I had mixed feelings about this episode. I liked some things about it, but I also feel like it missed its share of opportunities. There's an obvious story here: I've always said that Quackerjack is the most "evil" of the recurring DW villains, so what we have here is the opportunity to show that Paddywhack is a REAL badass by showing that Quackerjack is only a piker compared to him.
But the thing is, in spite of its intentions, the episode doesn't *really* show that Paddywhack is uniquely evil. He basically thinks and behaves in standard-villain mode. The writers try to differentiate him from Quackerjack by having QJ assert that "Darkwing Duck always ruins things! It's no big deal; it's just part of the game," which in a way is kind of interesting, but in another way shortchanges his character a bit. The idea being, at any rate, that QJ is not *that* bad, so PW can be worse--if you have to play down the initial villain to make this conception work, you're not doing it right. And in any case, Paddywhack really is NOT all that horrific. He uses the same sort of slapstick-y methods that any villain does, and although the way DW and QJ team up to beat him is kind of amusing, it's not really any more difficult or climactic than the way any OTHER villain goes down. Mah. The guy's ably voiced by Phil Hartman, which lends him a certain amount of gravitas, but to me, he does not go down in the annals of great villains. Also, I think it would be cooler if we only ever saw him as a shadow, rather than his "true form" actually manifesting itself.
Still, there's a somewhat amusing framing device where Drake, LP, and Gosalyn are each competing to tell the story in their own way.
Stray Observations
-Quackerjack gets pissed off when Gosalyn gets bored of the toys and wants to go play videogames--I like that the writers remembered QJ's origin story.
-"Mr. Banana Brain! Your voice has changed!" I also like the fact that he apparently doesn't realize that the doll's normal "voice" is just himself talking squeakily.
A big part of why I like the Darkwing Duck comic so much is because it lacks some of the Disney Afternoon censorship and let them tell real stories about the characters: Something that wasn't always true of the show. Taurus Bulba was largely the greatest threat to Darkwing Duck, because he was very specifically Not Funny, and everyone else... is. Paddywhack included. So we're pretty much exactly in agreement on why the show has issues in episodes like this, and the good stuff too.
ReplyDeleteWhat you're seeing with Quackerjack in this episode is actually a big part of why I like The Duck Knight Returns so much. He has essentially become aware that the writers shortchange him, and has made serious, Not Funny efforts to correct it... by basically becoming a less lethal version of The Joker.
Good luck on the later DW arcs... it's... uh... it's gonna... Aaron Sparrow apologized for them, because it wasn't his or James Silvani's fault.
I'd like to hear more about why you think Quackerjack is the "most evil." Personally, I think that the villains fall into three main categories: villains who through free will choose to be evil (Negaduck, Steelbeak, Liquidator, Taurus Bulba), villains who are mad or deranged (Quackerjack, Ammonia Pine), and comic, often sympathetic villains who, it is implied, could become good guys if they were only given sufficient care and affection (Megavolt, Bushroot). Of these, I would say the most evil ones are the ones who choose to be evil, but I'd be interested to read why you might think differently.
ReplyDeleteQuote: 'Course, there's no denying that some of the comic's potential impact is gonna be lost on me: if you'd seen this episode back in the day, you'd read the comic and think, dude--that guy's back! COOOL!
ReplyDelete...actually, for me, it was more like, "Dude, I think I vaguely remember that episode, but more for Quackerjack ... why is this guy who was a prop/plot device in a Quackerjack episode being treated like he's such a big deal?" ;) :D
-- Ryan
quote: "Mr. Banana Brain! Your voice has changed!" I also like the fact that he apparently doesn't realize that the doll's normal "voice" is just himself talking squeakily.
ReplyDelete...okay: never thought of it 'til now, but if it doesn't already exist, there needs to be a piece of fan art of Quackerjack-Mr. Banana Brain shooting the breeze with Mr. Garrison-Mr. Hat and Cartman-Jennifer Lopez. (...on my mind because a fwe days ago, I finally saw South Park's infamous "200" and "201".) ;)
-- Ryan