Well...better get this over with. Boy, that's REALLY not the positive, can-do attitude that we need around here, is
it?
I'm just kind of afraid I'm not the
right person, in general, to say anything about this show, due to my
intense apathy about the whole thing. Yeah, there are individual
episodes that I think are okay, but just EVERYTHING about the
conception rubs me the wrong way, so even if there are things to
praise, I just can't help but have this background irritation about
the whole thing. If that makes sense. And certainly no impulse to say much about it.
This episode...is what it is. I think
the reason I liked Fenton in the original series was that he provided
a comics-Donald-esque character in a world that needed such a thing.
He doesn't really...do that here, thusfar, so it's hard for me to
have feelings about him. Lin-Manuel Miranda is totally
unrecognizable in the role, also too. Here we have his
soap-opera-watchin' mother, who is now a police officer. I guess.
Why not. Fine. Again: trying to have an opinion here; not having
much luck.
So this is the one where Mark Beaks
takes control of Gizmoduck and tries to make him part of an app.
And...Huey worships him but then he doesn't but then he does.
And...that's what happens in this episode. If I were forced at
gunpoint to say something positive about this, I guess it would be
that Beaks is sort of sinister here. But that's a lift.
Anyway. That's that. Oh, and is that
title meant to be an Ayn Rand reference? 'Cause I am NOT down with
that, let me tell you.
Too Many Characters. TMNL. WTFC.
ReplyDeleteAnd, to make another reference to the discussion on "Agent 22": I do find both Fenton and his mama likeable enough, which makes them stand out in the bleak landscape that is New DuckTales. But still, TMC. I can't bring myself to care about them.
"Lin-Manuel Miranda is totally unrecognizable in the role" - sorry to jump your one piece of opinion but... Isn't that the point? He is an actor after all. He won't simply voice a character with his own voice, he will create a new unique voice that will fit the character. At least they don't using cellebrities for cellebrity sake, they are using their talents here.
ReplyDeleteI personaly loved this one, Beaks wen't from annoying upstar character to actualy interesting villian (he's like evil more narrcistic Elon Musk... well... as narrcistic... well ok not as much) I loved the plot and all the cool action. The next one is a Lena/Magica episode agian and it's their best so far.
Well, the point is, anyone could've played the role. The stunt-casting is pointless.
DeleteTrue, but as long he is doing a good job I'm down with that. I prefer when they bring cellebrities who in fact have vocal talents and can put them to good work and don't just appear to paly themselves (like on "The Simpsons")
DeleteGeoX, if you're not enjoying the "Ducktales" reboot (personally, I really like it), why not just post an open discussion thread with the episode title and official description? I enjoy reading your posts when you really like– or dislike– a story, but blogs like this are supposed to be fun, and I don't like thinking you're making yourself miserable writing a post that you'd much rather not, just so the rest of us can talk about the show.
ReplyDeleteWell, I mean, let's be real: my commitment here amounts to twenty-one minutes a week plus the five minutes or whatever it takes me to write one of these. It's not a big one, and to say it makes me "miserable" would be a bit of an exaggeration.
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ReplyDeleteThis episode felt like an attempt at recreating the plot of the 5-part "SuperDucktales" serial in miniature. It's practically a backdoor pilot for a "Gizmoduck" spinoff series..maybe they should do that just to get their boring-as-dirt take on this character out of the way.
DeleteI'm tempted to say that Mark Beaks is meant to be the Ducktales counterpart to John D Rockerduck and he fills that dynamic in the rivalry between the three tycoons. It's just that his schtick is well-worn sitcom material.
It's been strongly hinted that forthcoming episodes of the show are going to coast so much on guest star cameos and nods to the past that it'll look like a reboot of "House of Mouse" without the nightclub setting.
Which is extra interesting seeing how the creators of Duck Tales announce on Comiccon that Rockerduck among the characters that will apear in season 2 (only he get's more of a oil tycoon image)
DeleteBut true, Beaks so far pretty much played the role of Rockerduck from the comics (proposing Scrooge an Old vs. New challange by investing in much more moder technology and representing what people expect from a modern billionare's public image, which is something Scrooge has hard time handling) mixed with satire on people like Steve Jobs/Elon Musk/BilL Gates/that facebook guy, which is fiting... Only he got more sinister in this episode - which I like a lot and I think it's great direction to make him more obssesed/psychotic over lusting for Gizmoducks glory... exept that's something I can't imagine Rockerduck doing. Rockerduck is Scrooges rival but in last decades he grow to be more like Scrooge's Gladstone or naighbor Jones - They hate each other and Rockerduk can play some dirty tricks but he would never stood so low to actualy stealing something from a person (in this case the-Gizmosuit) Like some recent comics pointed out he's quite moraly unambiguous unlike modern Glomgold and isn't a criminal. So I like that even if Beaks started out inspired by Rockerduck he gone in his own direction... which looks like is a road to darkness, but still.
I wouldn't say Rockerduck becoming this sorta friend-character to Scrooge is even all that recent... It was always a part of the character even from the beginning. In some of the early comics they're very friendly! And similarly him being the same as Scrooge morally or more moral has been an occasional thing from the very beginning...
DeleteYou could have perfectly well fitted Rockerduck into the role they gave Mark, it's not like they are being faithful to comics anyway and focusing on the 'young competitor' bit from the Italian Rockerduck and expanding onto it would have worked as well as anything else they do.
Then again Rockerduck being younger and more modern is an Italian invention so they might just ignore it.
DeleteYou say it's "an Italian invention," but isn't the entire CHARACTER basically an Italian invention? Sure, he first appeared, in a somewhat ill-defined way, in a Barks story, but if the Italians hadn't run with him, he'd be languishing in one-shot purgatory with the likes of Cuthbert Coot, Katie Mallard, and Aunt Drusilla.
To be fair, Barks's Rockerduck (while not quite there yet) is pretty damn close to the Italian characterization, minus Lusky. Also, Dick Kinney.
DeleteWe just had a Rockerduck discussion on Feathery Society (on the long, undifferentiated "DuckTales 2017" thread). If you look at the stories index accessed via the Rockerduck character page on Inducks, the list goes: Barks, Barosso brothers, first Kinney story, then seven more Italian stories by various in 1964/5, then second Kinney, followed by more S-coded stories by Kinney and others and more Italian stories. So I think you have to give Kinney and the Italians more or less equal credit for rescuing Rockerduck from one-shot status.
DeleteYes, I'd say the Italians really made him into a full-fledged character, but it's not like the Barks version is a complete blank. Mostly him being a fairly honest business man rival for Scrooge was something that already existed in Barks.
DeleteBut my point was, the way DT is approaching lot of things, and from what we've seen of Johnny's character, it wouldn't surprise me if DT just took bits and pieces from the Barks story. Thus my comment of the qualities that were an Italian addition.
Or Don Rosa tbh. I'm a bit unclear on when exactly Rockerduck became more 'canonly' younger in the Italian comics and if Don Rosa solidified it. (Guido Martina for example gave Johnny a backstory that he had been born the exact same day Scrooge had)
But still, Rosa never used him apart from L&T so 'younger competitor' use of the character is all Italian.
was kind of shock when I read "Boat Bastard" for the first time after reading dosens of Italian Rockerduck stories knowing "Oh, boy! This is his first apperance! I wonder what big splash did he made in this one story that left such big impression on people. Oh, boy oh boy, let's get into some good hat-eating goodness"
Delete...and then to learn he dosen't do much in the story.
But to be fair Bark *WAS* a genius. Maybe he known what he was doing developig this character as something that he known just the right touches to attract the European market. Who knows?
I would love to read GeoX reiew of hat one ^_^ (hint, hint)
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ReplyDeleteIn most of the stories reprinted in the U.S. featuring Rockerduck, he's interchangeable with Glomgold, but the stories are more farcical in tone; when Glomgold DOES appear, it's as a more straightforward villain/rival.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind seeing new stories featuring Rockerduck that reused Barks' s original design, since "quintessential" Rockerduck looks like Fethry dressed in a suit and glasses.