New Ducktales, Season One, Episode Twenty-One: "The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck"

Okay...we WILL get through this. Well, we'll get through the end of this season, at any rate. Then, we'll see. We shall see.

So. I mean, I guess in theory, there's nothing wrong per se with having Scrooge's parents be alive. People have interpreted these character in radically different ways, soooo...why not? Well, I can write that. And yet, every fiber of my being cries out THIS IS COMPLETELY WRONG WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!? I'd certainly be more willing to forgive it if they did anything interesting or creative with them, but no, it's really just the most generic, hackneyed sort of daddy issues. And. Really. People. People.

THE IDEA THAT FERGUS ARRANGED FOR HIM TO EARN HIS NUMBER ONE DIME IS THE STUPIDEST FUCKING THING THIS SHOW HAS EVER DONE AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING.

I trust I have made myself clear.

Yes, well. And then there's the stuff with the kids. I supposed it's better than the other plot thread by default, but that's not saying much. This whole "Webby's obsessed with Scrooge" thing is dumb as hell, and the business with Dewey trying to discourage his brothers from finding shit out...I mean, it's pretty dumb anyway, but given how poorly they're all characterized, I just could not care less about any of the family drama.

Sorry for being so negative...well, no, obviously, I'm not. I'm sorry the show MAKES me so negative. I feel I've come far enough that I should see this season out, but I am just not sure it's done enough to deserve any kind of further attention from me.

New Ducktales, Season One, Episode Twenty: "Sky Pirates in the Sky"

Okay okay, let's try to get back into this. This, of course, is the Tailspin Crossover one. Whoo. Now, I will say some things in its favor: I certainly can't not get into song-and-dance numbers. The ducks watching in bemusement as the pirates took their treasure was undeniably amusing. I also like that the episode was basically just a thing, without trying to unwieldily bang together extra mythology that really has no place anywhere. The fact of the Tailspin-crossoveriness was...I mean, it was fine, I guess, since it's not, as far as I can tell, pretending to be a lead-in to any sort of larger mythology. It's just there. Does it have any reason to be there? No, not really. Is it basically just gesturing emptily and going "hey, here's a thing you remember!"? Of course. But, you know, that doesn't offend me.

Still. I didn't love this episode. It's not entirely clear to me whether this is actually worse than the norm or if I've just become more sensitive to it, but the nephews and Webby babbling at each other in the beginning was kind of intolerable to me ("I am offended that you would try to taint this treasure hunt with learning," seriously, just go to hell). It just emphasizes the massive gulf between them and the real versions of their characters (okay, I suppose I'll allow that Webby can be the "real" version of Webby. You know what I mean). And then the conflict of the episode, such as it was, where no one cares even a tiny bit about Dewey so he becomes a pirate captain, as you do, was forced as anything. Care for it, I did not. WHATEVER.

Not related to this episode per se, but let's not that the original theme song went "tales of derring-do bad and good luck tales," whereas with the new one it's just "tales of daring bad and good" etc. Now, if I liked this show better, I wouldn't say (or think) anything about that, but since I don't, I'm just going to say, oh look, they dumbed it down on the basis that "derring-do" is an idiom that The Kids Today are too illiterate to know. Whoo-oo. Whoo-oo, indeed.

I KNOW I KNOW

Service WILL resume.  I've just been a bit distracted/busy with other things lately, and it's been a bit stressful.