Wait are ALL these titles supposed to have exclamation points? No, I say! You can't force me to act excited!
Um. Well, I liked the "Ottoman Empire" joke. But otherwise, man, I just can't fuckin' deal.
Um. Well, I liked the "Ottoman Empire" joke. But otherwise, man, I just can't fuckin' deal.
This episode though man, I don't know.
I would not hesitate to call it the weakest of the three so far, and
I'll readily admit that I may just be acting like a socially
maladjusted, impossible-to-please comic book NERD, but this whole
thing I do not like it and coherent sentences cannot I write dammit.
Okay, so I knew from comments here and
there that Gyro's characterization would be, ah, distinct from the
one we know and love. And yes, I have read this. But, uh, I mean, COME ON, do I really have to express my feelings
here? I think it's not fair that this show keeps demanding I get mad
as hell at its bullshit. I'm just trying to keep body and soul
together here, man. I don't need this. Let me just quote this bit:
"We have a lot of love for original, kind-hearted, absent-minded
Gyro (who, in the comics, COULD go pretty dark or deadpan when an
invention went awry)." I'm going to go ahead and say...no, you
don't. Otherwise you wouldn't have DONE this. Feel the force of my
ineluctable logic. And fuck that parenthetical, by the way. Yes,
Real Gyro could get annoyed when inventions didn't pan out, but that
has NOTHING to do with anything YOU'RE trying to do, so lay off the
weak tea justifications. Dammit. I mean, I guess there's nothing to
say, but, I mean, they try to pander in the most mortifying way to
comics fans ("Dawson, Lillehammer, El Dorado, and Culebra"
YES WE GET IT you've read some Don Rosa comics you want a medal or
what), and yet when it comes to shit that ACTUALLY MATTERS...jeez.
HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ENJOY THIS? HOW?
I suppose I could also complain that
it's kinda weird that Ms Quackfaster is deranged, but I don't suppose
anyone has any great store of emotional attachment to the character,
so WHATEVER. But the thing I REALLY don't like is, oh gawd, ALL the
business with Della. It's like, motherfuckers, what the hell gives
you the RIGHT to just clomp on in with your half-ass fan-fictional
"solving" of something that didn't need to be solved? In
what sense have you earned that? I mean, I could MAYBE see this as
being borderline okay if the show went on a few years and proved
itself, but this? BAH. BAH BAH BAH. And we KNOW Della's going to
appear as a character real soon, considering that she's going to be
in next month's DT comic.
Argh I can't, as the kids say, even. I
mean, there's admirable shit about this whole venture, sure. Plenty
of it (and okay okay granted the character arc with Louie was okay)!
But it's all just mixed up with other shit that I CANNOT ABIDE. I
guess it's the age-old problem: you get emotionally invested in
characters and feel a sense of ownership that isn't at all supported
by the facts of the situation and then when people do something you
don't like you feel more upset than you should BUT SERIOUSLY WHO ARE
THESE FRIGGIN PARVENUS MAKE THEM STOP FUCKING WITH MY CHARACTERS.
And FUCK ME maybe it's just an artistic
vision that's different than what I envision but it's totally
legitimate and I just respect them for following their muse and shut
the hell up or at least try to appreciate it for what it is. But
shutting the hell up is not what this blog is about! Nor is
appreciating things! It's about intemperate moaning about stuff I
can't control! So there!
What struck me in Angones' comments was "the big push overall to make Scrooge seem more dangerous/risky." Hence, antisocial Gyro and deranged Quackfaster. I can see how A leads to B, but I really don't understand A. Why does he need to seem more dangerous or risky? As I said on Feathery: "Edgy is good entertainment? Edgy is grown-up?" Not buying it. Yes, Original DuckTales had some kiddie elements and soppy sentimentality, best rebooted away. But if Rosa showed us anything, it is that you can make really great entertainment for adults as well as kids with stories featuring the characters in true-to-(50's)Barksian-form.
ReplyDeleteIf to satisfy their own artistic vision they needed to surround Scrooge with bizarro employees, then I wish they had just invented new characters for the purpose. It's just ridiculous for Angones to say "we pushed Gyro a little out of his typical comfort zone." No, you turned him into an entirely different character, just admit it, dammit! "Pushing Gyro a little out of his typical comfort zone" would be, say, having him date someone (like Dana Dana), or having him plan to leave Duckburg because he's tired of Scrooge's treatment of him (Korhonen's "Mr. Gearloose Leaves Town"). These people have pushed Gyro into the Mirror Universe.
I think that push was to contrast with Donald and his parenting. So you got Donald who is overprotective and Scrooge who is... this.
DeleteAnd I get that but how does it lead to Gyro being this? Gyro already was a dangerous character. He regularly leaves dangerous inventions laying around and just loans them to children...
Actually, this makes me glad that New Gyro doesn't look much like Real Gyro. Maybe if some DT watchers new to the Ducks are lured into the classic comics universe, the visual difference will keep them from getting the two characters confused.
ReplyDeleteGeox, Geox, Geox... Don't you see? The way they change Gyro is just them being thrue to "Being smart makes you an asshole" trend from "Bubba's Big Brainstrom". There! I hope that reminding you of that episode existance made the entire thing better...
ReplyDeleteI didn't like Gyro's portrayal either, but I've been enjoying the show so much in such a short run time that I'm not losing hope yet. Besides, I just can't convey how overly excited I am at the idea that Ludwig von Drake will be in it, and probably as a regular. Heck, they even hinted that Grandma Duck and even Fethry will appear!
ReplyDeleteAnd they hinted Rockerduck!!! :)
DeleteP.S. Actualy the way Gyro is now acting would fit VonDrake much more as he is more of an ego-maniac and can be a bit of a jerk sometimes.
Aside from not being super not sure how to feel about Gyro (there where few moments where I did hope they will do something that will make him feel like the old Gyro but maybe it was my imagination filling up the blanks plus I love his voice actor Jim Rash who can be funny as hell in "Mike tyson Mysteries" and felt like perfect choise when I heard they cast him) I did enjoy this episode.
ReplyDeleteI think it was clever from story-telling perspective (of the season beaing one big story arc) that they dedicate entrie early episode highlighting the Money Bin and difrent location and people working in it, as well THE NUMBER ONE DIME especialy BEFORE they will introduce Magica De Spell. In oryginal show they made like 60 episodes before having Scrooge tells the story how he earn the dime and why it means so much for him, so for casual viewer before the episode, the dime was just some McGuffin Magica was trying to get with no real meaning behind it other then Scrooge won't even get ONE dime bee stolen. So yhe, I think it is important to establish the importance of the dime first.
The fan-service bit when they mention all the random location from Rosa's stories DID felt forced as you point out but I like all the other easter eggs for the fans.
Un-like Gyro The Little Helper/Bulb was fine (he did more in this episode then he did in entire Oryginal DuckTales - where I belive he only appear three times plus the intro, and all where just small cameos) by me and yhe, I don't think there are many fans who care enough for miss Quackfaster to complain about her makover/character chage.
I did mention this on Feathry forum but - man, that moment where Louie get sting with a needel (to test his DNA) did felt somehow off for me. Like it wasn't cartoonish pain but realistic one... strange.
Accounts vary widely as to exactly what transpired that day on the Ducks Cartoons Revue.
ReplyDeleteTyping error! That's how they explained it later. Someone must have accidentally hit Caps Lock! Fifteen times in a row.
It was a bit more difficult to explain what caused the "BAH BAH BAH BAH" cries to happen, as it was proved that no sheep were present for the event.
But it wasn't too hard to account for the swearing! What else would one expect when a cartoon strays from established characterizations and don't explain it to the fans' satisfaction?
Some said it had all been due to the depiction of Della Duck as a prostitute -- On the Robot Chicken show, back in 2011, six years prior!
The whole incident was probably exaggerated in the many retellings that followed. Possibly, it didn't actually happen at all!
But this was the era of the birth of legends, and the non-stop life of the Disney Ducks fandom paused that day to watch a new character enter the story-books alongside Carl Barks and Don Rosa...
GeoX, the Intemperate Moaner About Stuff He Can't Control!
Della being a prostitute would answer WAY too many questions, really. And not just why SHE abandoned her children, but why their father did, as well, and why no one seems to know who he is... And then there was that Barks cartoon where the nephews drag three girls around on chains...
DeleteNo, lets not go that way. That way lays madness, and much squick.
Well, let's be fair here. The scene where the Nephews dragged girls on chains was part of a dream Scrooge had. ^_^
DeleteI wouldn't take the "Della as a prostitute" thing seriously... it was, as I hinted, a part of a Robot Chicken skit. Essentially the skit was about a prostitute duck who got killed, and then the scene cut to HD&L asking Donald when their mother would come home, and Donald going "I don't know, boys... I just don't know."
It was about as funny and clever as your average Robot Chicken skit, which is to say not very. ^_^
Sorry about that, couldn't resist. ^_^ Anyway, I liked the episode. Thought it was fun, different characterisations and all.
ReplyDeleteI did want to comment on one thing... your remark about the inclusion of Della is "solving something that didn't need to be solved."
Over the last couple of months, I've been talking to, interacted with, observed, read articles by, and watched reactions of, people who came to the new DT cartoon completely blank -- either they vaguely remembered having seen the old show, of they just knew Donald Duck but none of the other characters. A few of them were kids -- like the target audience for the show.
The one question they ALL asked, or at least almost all of them, after seeing the first half of the pilot: "Where are the parents?" And then, after having seen the revelation of Della in the last few seconds of the pilot: "Oh, they're going to tell us what happened to the parents. All right."
It's possible that the ones I talked to/observed/read/whatever weren't typical for the show's audience, but... judging how often the "where are the parents?" question was asked, it sounds like it was something that DID need to be addressed, especially if the show was hoping to reach a new audience.
Apparently, "they live with their uncle, now shut up about the parents" isn't a satisfactory response for the audience of today.
I have to imagine that even YESTERDAY'S readers wondered about HDL's parentage. We just didn't have the internet--or even comic-book letters sections--where they could speculate. I really don't think this is anything new, and I really think it's an anti-artistic impulse to say that everything needs an explanation. But then, I AM a fan of avant-garde literature, so I WOULD say that.
DeleteThat's true Hyaroo. When it was 80 birthay cellebration of Donald Duck I was ask to do presentation for kids and "Where are HD&L parents?" was the Question they all ask...
DeleteI don't think ALL the question must be awner, I just think that the "We going to awnser the BIGEST QUESTION DISNEY COMICS FANS ASK FOR" is an good way to give the reboot an extra point, so it's not jsut rehashing old stuff but adding something new to the table and gives the long time fans something they been wondering for a long time.
That, Geo, is where our opinions differ. I never held with the idea that you shouldn't answer questions. Okay, sure, maybe we don't need minute details on how every single Disney story ever fits together (they don't), but if it makes for a good story? I'm all for it.
DeleteI mean, a huge part of Don Rosa's career has consisted of answering questions that we "didn't need to know." It's called "The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck."
So, yeah! I'm all for telling Della's tale if it makes for a good story! And like Pan Miluś points out here, this cartoon is pretty much the perfect opportunity to explore it.
Is it weird that I've never bothered myself with this question ? For me the parent of HDL were never a incredibly complex question and I didn't care about what they were doing instead of... raising their children. Also, this over-representation of girl power seems odd to me.
DeleteI support Hyaroo's above point — and, so far, I think they've been handling the Della Duck explanation pretty well, considering.
ReplyDeleteI quite agree with you on Gyro in theory — just make up your own character dammit — but am a little less enraged because I rather like that new character they're passing off as Gyro. He's fun. Sort of like Ludwig von Drake without the accent, spliced with Doctor Zantaf.
Also, the link that by all appearances should point to Frank Angones's relevant blog post is blank. You may want to correct that.
Yeah, I didn't like the reinvention of Gyro either. Thing is, I think it very much speaks to the mentality of this show's writing: The ethos with every character's revamp seems to have been to make them edgier, more aggressive and louder. With some characters, such as Beakley and Webby, who were genuinely dull and saccharine characters, it's a welcome change. Whereas with Gyro, who was already a good and well-rounded character despite being a Milquetoast Nice Guy, it feels gratuitous and just works to make him blander.
ReplyDeleteI have similar feelings on Quackfaster. The original wasn't a super memorable or dynamic character or anything, but she made sense. Making her utterly deranged and insane can't just strikes me as kind of desperate and creatively bankrupt, as if the writers don't trust the kiddies to stay invested unless there's non-stop stimulation.
Excellent way of looking at it. "Edgier, more aggressive, and louder" would also sum up my issues with Louie (though as I said, he wasn't as bad in this episode).
DeleteI think you are spot on. Notice also the clear influence of modern Disney cartoons, particularly Gravity Falls. This new Webby is clearly inspired by Mabel. Speaking of Webby, she is so different that she might as well be a new character here.
DeleteLink still not working by the way.
ReplyDeleteMan, I'm not even a big fan of Gyro, and this episode made me angry. I'm so tired of reboots and revamps that have the gall to think they know better than the original creators, especially geniuses like Barks.
ReplyDeleteThe show's winding up like some bizarre contradiction of itself. The writers want to please long-time fans with references and fixing flawed characters, and yet they also arbitrarily change things that would obviously aggravate them. I have no idea what they're doing.
I hope I won't sound like a pert know it-all but "as a person who works in animation and has some expiriance in working on adaptations of books or revamping things" (there, I sound like a smugg dick already) I honestly understand why they making these changes... heck, that's includes old show for that matter.
ReplyDeleteSome things are just standards (Let's add more dynamic female characters) other just work better in the animation medium like making Beagles or now the nephews have various personalities.
It's actually better from scripwriting perspective to focus on one characters and develope his personality rather then group of three indentyical characters, that could very well be replace with one for most part. And variating them makes it for more efective storytelling as it helps to know them better and it's more easy to create conflict.
And yhe, making Louie an stereotype of the time is a way to them reach today's kids as the character is mainly touching on stuff they can relate to... and to be fair it's not like they gloryfing his behavior as much making fun of it and poiting out the flaws as well be a bit topical with his obssesion over the tablet. I can honeslty understand why kids today would look on oryginal versions of the nephews (from old DuckTales anyway) and see them as strongly out-dated... as been represented by Huey so far.
And I DO love the orygnial nephews and I will take them over new version anyday. I just get why they updated them in such ways.
In same reagard Glomogld was change for visual resons. It's just works better in animation when character have diffrent body type and the oryginal. We, the hardcore geek are use to the oryginal so it's more distracting for us, sure but it's just a stylistic choice.
I do think it shows they have all the best intentions (aside from countles in-jokes and easter eggs) since stuff that work and people love the most - Scrooge, Lunchpad - are not changes or they are giving more of what people ask for - Donald, little Helper.
Gyro is sadly an example of them carying to far away with the update... "Oh, let's make the character more exciting by making him more energetic and insane" would be ok in small dose but here they went all the way and turn him into socialy-chalange jerk. I still have hope they will make up for in the future but we see...
...or maybe they just found my fan-fiction and asume it's some lost Barks & Rosa colaboration story and now they seting his character as more demented for future adaptation... We see.
Oh, hm, GeoX, how to put this. You're not going to like this. Not. One. Bit.
ReplyDeleteSo. They're rebooting Terries and Fermies. Someone leaked a storyboard……
Ummm…
Just…
Watch…
https://78.media.tumblr.com/e30a79c2add20f42505365ca90376187/tumblr_owyamu8gT51rj44oro2_400.jpg
Wait, IS THAT REAL? THAT CAN'T BE REAL. Because as much as I try to be open-minded (really, I do!), my very strong impulse upon seeing that is to just say FUCK THIS GARBAGE SHOW.
DeleteNow, now. It's only an animatic/storyboard... It may make more sence in the context.
DeleteUhuh, that's real. Frank Angones's blog does state this will be "explained" in the episode, be that as it may.
DeleteTo be clear, while I will defend Zantaf!Gyro to an extent, I am totally joining you in the "Enraged Yelling" camp on this one unless the show gives us a really, really good explanation.
DeleteIt just seems part and parcel with the show's focus on increased "edginess," is the thing. That's why it's easy to believe it'll be as bad as it looks.
DeleteWhat I'm hoping for is that what we're seeing is a "dream sequence" of sorts. The newspaper clipping about "Terrie-Fermian sightings" in the pilot established the Terrie-Fermians as being known as cryptids in Calisota, so maybe the monstrous glowy-eyed versions are what HDL are afraid they'll be like (based on the rumors), to be contrasted later when we meet the smaller, rounder and friendlier creatures we know and love.
DeleteFailing this admittedly somewhat unlikely scenario, here's another one I find it a tad more likely: while what we're seeing is their true design, they're not actually agressive or monstrous — they still have their old personality, and what we're seeing is a "scare fakeout" — you know, the thing where the first meeting has both sides find the other scary and yell at the top of their lungs which only feeds into the loop, even though both participants are actually safe, friendly and harmless.
Yeah, I've been thinking along these lines too. It DOES seem plausible, so here's hoping.
DeleteOh yes, it is real. It is the next episode in the schedule, in fact.
DeleteI suppose I shouldn't have expected an objective review from a long-time fans of the duck comics. Eh, this is more entertaining anyway, even if I don't necessary agree (I'm a newbie™ to the duck fandom anyway, so these major changes don't affect me as much).
ReplyDeleteWait till he realizes that this episode suggests Gyro's new character combines that of Gyro and Fenton/Gizmoduck.
ReplyDeleteWell, we know that Fenton is going to appear as his own character, so I'm not really bothered any more by that than I am by anything else.
DeleteTo be fair, Gyro's comments at the end are a tad confusing. Is Gyro going to go full cyborg, or what? Please tell me they are NOT going there...
DeleteI think it's just hint of the Gizmo suit. That was the point of making it in the oryginal show. Scrooge wanted a roboot that won't get mind of its own and go nuts so Gyro wanted made a robot control by human.
DeleteWhat I fear most about all this is that some little kid who hasn't seen the original (or better yet, read the comics) is going to develop a preference for this reboot.
ReplyDeleteIt's very divisive to do this kind of thing. We've discovered in the past ten years or so, quite painfully, that without frequent reruns/reprints, younger generations don't learn about old cartoons/comics (and by extension, our cultural past). This is very seriously bad- I mean, do I really need to use the old saying "Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it"?
I saw this happen when they made "The Looney Tunes Show" a few years back, and they made a character who was once a strong, talented, smart female character into a dumb ditz. It was blatantly sexist, but somehow people tried to defend it.
Some people for God knows what reason absolutely loathe anything that isn't brand new, and hate anybody who has the guts to criticize bad creative decisions.
I expressed my dismay at this phenomenon on my Tumblr, and I've already had to deal with about five people who unjustifiably defend it, and called me "old" and "curmudgeonly" for it. Instead of wanting to unite generations with continuing artistic traditions, they want to believe that ALL change is good and we should just accept every bad new idea.
Maybe I'm waxing poetic about it, but it's alarming and infuriating.
I'm not complaining about what they did to improve Webby and Mrs. Beakley. I'm complaining about unneccesary and tasteless changes to 60-70-something-year-old characters who didn't need improving- Gyro Gearloose and the Nephews.
I hope this doesn't sound overly serious, but this is something I'm genuinely concerned about. I need *someplace* to say this, without some jerk jumping on me just for having an unpopular opinion.
Old Lola Bunny is honestly more sexist than the ditz one. The whole point is that while the old one was just hot chick for sexual titillation, the new one was made an equal to the other Tunes- a silly character with a clear comedic hook, in this case, the way she's over-enthusiastic with everything.
DeleteYou REALLY think that a character that's as smart and as skilled as Bugs... is MORE sexist? Look past her appearance, for goodness sake.
DeleteHey! I really like Ms Quackfaster and I'm invested in her character! But considering she is already pretty different in the Italian comics I can deal with this but... she doesnt have much to her.
ReplyDeleteI'm very invested in Glomgold personally, and I just... it's not him, you know? But sure whatever a different version and all-
However, you got to then take the effort to make me care and so far I still don't even know enough of this Scrooge to care.