And now, this. We had the big
cliffhanger where the caballeros, and also Sheldgoose and Felldrake,
DIED last time, and now they're in the afterlife, which seems sort of
dismal, to tell the truth. AMJ and Sandra try to help in their own
ways. And also, hey, look Clinton Coot! That's pretty cool. I
mean, it's not like he's characterized all that strongly aside from
being generally cheerfully avuncular, but it's still fun. Unless I'm
mistaken, he was only ever a picture on Rosa's family tree before, so
why not? I can get behind this; it's a comics reference, but, like,
a natural one; it doesn't feel forced or gratuitous as these things
generally do in new ducktales.
Well, to tell the truth, this episode
was maybe a little thin plotwise. A lot of lore, which is, eh, fine.
But the actual story...well, it was fine too, I guess! I thought
the yokai were cool, and I just wish they'd done more with the
"ghostly" abilities that you apparently get in the
afterlife. Still. A bit, to repeat myself, thin, perhaps. The AMJ
stuff was particularly notable in its pointlessness; they don't
accomplish anything except to mildly inconvenience the caballeros in
their escape efforts.
Still, I don't want to seem too down on
this episode. I liked it, and I wish there were more than just the
thirteen of them.
I enjoyed this episode a lot. If it were a comics story, it would not enter headcanon for me, because for me Rosa established the Ducks' afterlife as Fluffy Cloud Heaven à la "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" and other classic Hollywood comedies. But I enjoyed the mix of mythologies here. I liked meeting Clinton Coot. Given that the series had Coot be the one who started this whole set of adventures by willing Donald the cabana, it makes sense that they'd meet him in the underworld and get some backstory.
ReplyDeleteTrue, AMJ's seance doesn't do much...though it *does* occasion the "that guy" joke, and maybe is worth it just for that! What made up for the useless seance in my mind was Xandra's heroics. I thought the sequences with her piloting Charon's cruise ship were great. She is even undaunted by the threat (which seems legit at the time) that she'll be stuck piloting this boat forever! Oh yeah? Never mind, I've got a job to do!
One other thing I should've asked: that "Devil Donald" at the end: what's that from? It looks so familiar. Must be from a specific cartoon.
ReplyDelete"Donald's Better Self" (where Donald is portrail as a school boy I belive) HOWEVER image of Donald as a devil pop-out in some other place - he even turns into one himself in some cartoons when he had a wicked idea and horns would start growing on his head and he got all red and such.
DeleteDonald also turns into a devil in "Soup's On" in a sequence that is probably the best ending of a carton featuring the nephews.
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ReplyDeleteTrue AM&J subplot didn't help but it was funny and I more serve the role of compliacting stuff for the guys.
ReplyDeleteOne of my top favroite episodes of the show, maybe my seond faorite. Panchito had some great moments in particular.
I belive Coot was also drawn by Rosa in "W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N." in some flashback scene (great story btw, Wish SOME funny blog would review it)
I did like how the episodes uses dirent ways of geting to Afterlife - AM&J try a seans while Xandra do it old fashion way by pulling a Dante (or Oprheuss) and just going there like it was a phisical place you can travel to.
I also like the fact that the "unfinished business" AMJ use to lure back Ghost Panchito is pizza.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they could have built a monument to the Caballeros, and then the Ghost Caballeros could have come to inhabit it, à la the Ghost Presidents!
Fun suggestion. Or they could possess their fighting-gear, Bedknobs and Broomsticks-style? How amazing would that be?!
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