Well, I guess I ought to keep up with
Ducktales, regardless of how much I'm feeling it (but, I often
wonder: why?).
I don't think it's just the Three
Caballeros influence: I'm pretty sure I would've fucking hated this
episode regardless of anything else. As we open, Scrooge is stealing
food from Glomgold's party like some kind of hobo. Then, yeah,
WHATEVER, Goldie appears, looking unreasonably young thanks to some
guff about a fountain of youth ("she's my ex," says
Scrooge, shattering all ambiguity or subtlety). And her first line
is: "Please, Scrooge, I wouldn't steal from children, unless
they had something I really wanted, or unless I was bored, or..."
There are different ways to portray the character. She's different
than Barks in Rosa and different than Rosa in Original Ducktales.
And she's different here, too. In a way I hate.
In her second OD appearance, the show
was able to get away with a surprise TWIST ENDING. Once. But now
that ending is apparently her whole personality. It's just so
overdetermined and lazy, and I guess we're supposed to find their
love-hate relationship appealing, but WOW do I ever not. "How
could you do this to me?" "Because I'm Goldie O'Gilt."
Okay, COOL, I'll stop hoping for anything more interesting. Of
course, that follows on the heels of "Wait, but how?" "I'm
Scrooge McDuck!" when Scrooge does something completely
impossible, because, ha ha, why should we bother with good writing
when we can just rely on the laziest possible postmodern irony? Oh,
and sorry, but that "we were stuck in a glacier for five years" thing is too dumb to tolerate. I know they were going for
"dumb in a self-aware way," but they just got stuck at
"dumb."
Oh, and I guess it's a bit overshadowed
by the dumbness of the Scrooge/Goldie thing, but Glomgold is also at
his absolute worst here, worthless in a way that makes it completely
impossible to understand how he could ever have gotten rich. Though
I guess we DO have a prominent counter-example in our current
discourse. Sorry to ruin a perfectly good rant with an allusion to
politics.
That's neither here nor there, though.
The point is, FUCK THIS EPISODE.
Sorry to quote from Internship of Mark Beaks, but… "oh no! GeoX's broken!"
ReplyDeleteI suppose one more deviation from the comics on a key point was too much for you to bear. As to me, I actually really liked this one, in the same way I manage to like New!Gyro or New!Glomgold: ignore that they're based on previous characters, just enjoy the new stuff for what it's worth. Yeah, this Goldie has frighteningly smack-dab to do with the original Goldie we know and love, but to me she is a compelling character and a good foil/love-interest for this Adventurer-Scrooge.
Concerning Glomgold, I didn't think he was at his worst here. His nadir is undoubtedly Mark Beaks. Here, unlike there, he may act like a bumbling idiot (though, I find, in an amusing way, largely thanks to the voice acting), but he still manages to pose a very credible threat. If not for that Eye of Demogorgana Deus Ex Machina nonsense, he would have succeeded in murdering Goldie there, and Scrooge too.
What really sold me to this episode was the final duel. Firstly, this is just about the first time in the whole goddamn series that I've noticed the music in a particularly positive way, but I did, and it is great! And secondly… if you can, look past the angular designs, and look at this animation. This is some great hand-drawn.
I do agree that the "5 years in a glacier" thing is dumb, though. A much, much shorter timespan would have made a lot more sense and achieved the same thing. And having Scrooge spell out "my ex" was also really stupid, especially since the rest of the episode doesn't otherwise depart too strongly from ambiguity about the two's relationship; mind, there's no doubt they do love each other, but were they ever in an actual romance, we never find out.
One complaint I will not stand for, however, is that Scrooge stuffing himself at Glomgold's party makes him "some kind of hobo". I thought it a very in-character thing for Scrooge to do. That he'd do the same thing at any ol'party might be going a step too far and into "uninspired Barks one-page" territory, but that he'd do that at Glomgold's expense feels right at home for either version of Scrooge.
Speaking of great animation, how great was that little segment where Glomgold retells what happened at the ball? The gag itself wasn't that great, but the comic-like style of it was pretty great. It reminded me of the bit in L&T where Angus and Buffalo Bill imagine themselves as increasingly handsome and muscular versions of themselves beating up criminals.
DeleteI would appriciate that sequence if not for the fact that :
Delete1) I've seen similiar joke made way to many times before in other shows.
2) It felt tad forced like the episode was missing 30 seconds and they thrown some filler. It's almost a "Family Guy" cutaway.
Yhe, I'm more-or less with Achile here. Scrooge taking away as much free food he can at Glomgold's party felt very, VERY in character (plus made me laugh) It reminded me a lot of the way Scrooge is in some Italina stories where he actualy would do things like go to the park and search the trash bins for recent newspapers (to save 5 cents!!!)
ReplyDeleteI agree that the glacer thing was stupid (Like why five years? Two weeks would be just fine) and Glomgold acting like a angry child to undercut a bit moments of the character being a threat - which this episode finally did near the end.
I also DID in fact liked this version of Goldie. I'll be honest - While I love the oryginal, I just don't have the as strong attachment to the character like I do with Gyro or Scrooge. These character I seen hundret of times in difrent scenerios. But how many stories there are with Goldie?
Plus how great it is to finally get a Scrooge-centri story where the kids (heck Webby only makes a cameo) plays episodic roles.
So yhe, this episode had few flaws but I mostly enjoy it and... DON'T HIT ME GOX! PLEASE!
Remember, in the first two minutes of the first episode of the Original Ducktales, Scrooge fills his top hat with free cheese samples.
ReplyDelete"In her second OD appearance, the show was able to get away with a surprise TWIST ENDING" - Errr... Which episode was that agian?
ReplyDeleteThe one with Millionara Vanderbucks, the "evil Brigitta McBridge" character. There's no sign of Goldie throughout the episode, but just when Scrooge is about to go through with marrying Millionara, a shotgun-wielding Goldie bursts out of the wedding cake and chases Scrooge away.
DeleteYhe, I gues that what Geox had in mind but I just don't get how that relates to Goldies personality in the new show mentioning that twist is her whole personality now.
DeleteI WAS REFERRING TO DUCK MOUNTAIN HIGH SHEESH. I didn't even remember that other one 'til you mentioned it.
DeleteOoooh... You mean like she con Scrooge on the end of that one? Ok, now I see where you where you where going.
DeleteFor the record I wish that episode was in season one (minus Bubba) after "Back to Klondike" but before Goldie's two othe apperances. It's doing a better job of establishing her personality to the audiance and would make her other two minor apperances much stronger - just a personal opinion. :P
It's weird, because Glomgold actually straight up murders Goldie here (the deus ex machina was dumb as hell, but hey), and suddenly he's a threat for a second. A big issue with the show is not so much the characters or how they're changed, but that the constant meta-jokiness undermines all tension an episode has. It's telling that some of the better episodes lean more on character interaction rather than being a gag reel. Speaking of meta-jokes, the one here about "how old are you, Scrooge?" (he has to be something like 140 years at this point) was a really bad one. Just allow for the suspension of disbelief like all modern comics with Scrooge in them do.
ReplyDeleteGoldie's character worked, I think, and it makes sense that Scrooge was attracted to her. Let's be real, Goldie's character in the comics was never a particularly satisfying one - she's memorable because it reveals hidden depths for Scrooge, but the whole unrequited love for how many damn decades is really awkward. Giving them an on-off relationship makes a lot more sense.
I'm with you on this Goldie, GeoX. I was astonished on FeatherySociety to see that some people whose opinions I respect actually *liked* this version of Goldie and the Goldie/Scrooge interaction. I really think I would have hated this Goldie even if I didn't have an attachment to earlier versions of Goldie. Is that "reasons I would steal from children" line supposed to be funny? It is not. Nor is it clever. And given the way she is characterized, as completely untrustworthy and amoral, I can see no reason for anyone--including Scrooge--to find her attractive. In any case, *I* don't find her attractive, or funny, or intriguing, or anything of the kind. Nor did I find the repartee between Goldie and Scrooge to be funny or clever.
ReplyDeleteOn FeatherySociety Pan, by the way, said the "I'm Scrooge McDuck" harks back to the "I'm Batman" meme...he also says this Goldie is reminiscent of Catwoman. While Scrooge MacDuck (you know who you are!) says she is a Duck version of River Song (Doctor Who). I am familiar with neither of these.
Yes, the animation of the duel was well done. And the music. But I HATED this episode, and I wish I could wash it out of my brain.
I didn't even try to say anything on FeatherySociety about Goldie's character. I just commented on the whole thing about Scrooge and Goldie being 140+ years old. I won't repeat that all here, but I hate that, too. If you want to keep the Klondike gold rush backstory and have Scrooge operating in the present, Unknown is right, you should just handwave it. It's a huge mistake in my opinion to try to explain it by coming up with supernatural means by which both of them could be alive (and Goldie young-looking!) at 140+, because that just creates more discrepancies, like the fact that SCROOGE CAN'T BE DONALD'S UNCLE. Not to mention (but I will, again!) the fact that everyone they knew in their first half-century of life is long dead. Another reason why I couldn't stand this episode.
I didn't even necessarily mind Scrooge just glaring at a nephew when asked how old he is; I don't love it, but I can deal with it. But Scrooge and Goldie explicitly talking about what they were doing a century ago? That's just unforgivably mimesis-shattering.
DeleteShe felt very Catwoman-like in being an romantic foil for main hero who also a master criminal and they have the I love you/I hate you relation with her flirting while also trying to con main much MUCH more moral heroe (that part when she pulls guys wallet and Scrooge puts it baack was pretty much a typical Batman/Catwoman moment) Even the way she talk/looks reminded me Michael Phipher version.
DeleteHeck, that dance scenes reminded me Dark Knight Rises :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK056dWK7ts
Heck, Glomgold as annoying third wheel, reminded me her relationship with Penguin/Oswald Copelpott in Burton's Batman Returns :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO_0np2IbtY
So yhe, you can see strong inspiration there - yet it had enough of it's own twist to not feel like a ripoff.
An even better example :
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5Jbttrb3u4
Honestly, I personally would have gotten around the age thing by setting it in the 50's but in a scifi 50's where technology evolved way faster because of all the discoveries Scrooge and tbh mostly Gyro, made. It's not going to be realistic anyway historywise so why bother?
ReplyDeleteI can see why they'd go for this sort of a thing for Goldie but... her being a love interest isn't necessary.
By the way, Don't worry GeoX. The next episode will make up for this one. The preview shown it feature debute of Doofus...
ReplyDeleteLoud scream in
5... 4... 3... 2...
What honestly bothered me the most was the fact that they made them partners for the sake of...feminism? A dancehall singer who drugs miners and robs them being too lewd? I think it's the former but it bothers me a lot, in Barks and Rosa Goldie had agency and was incredibly interesting, in this she just came across as boring and flat.
ReplyDeleteThe dialogue was awful, the subtlety was worse than Rosa's in Prisoner of White Agony Creek, and the episode was jumbled and confusing (I honestly think that's one of the biggest problems with the new series, every episode feels "action-packed" in a bad way that makes it messy and confusing.
I really didn't like that they had the mammoth be alive and brushed over it, like?? That would be super weird? I thought Glomgold was unbearably stupid (I found him really funny in the Mark Beaks one but I just couldn't get into it here).
The new series definitely has a similar problem as the Life and Times--Scrooge is always the winner, he's just unbelievably awesome and good at everything. I can't stand that; it's super annoying.
I honestly think Goldie and Scrooge's relationship has a lot of potential for a good story. For that to work, though, they can't admit that they like each other. They tried to bring back the romantic tension with HDL repeatedly bringing up Scrooge having a "crush", but it didn't work at all considering he'd already said they were "exes" and they'd danced together? It just annoyed me and would have been really confusing if I didn't know what they were going for.
I try to be open to new things and not shit on them too hard just because they're new and different, but this episode was just sad and painful.
Also, I hate how they draw the female character's eyes! In the original, yeah they all have eyelashes etc. but the eye shape is the same as Donald's, or if they're children, as HDL's. I don't like the new floaty girlduck eyes with the thick eyeliner. It just looks stupid and it bothers me that they would change the female characters so much and make them all "badasses" (which they did terribly imo), and then increase the gap of duck sexual dimorphism. Also, Goldie looking really young bothered the hell out of me. What's wrong with a skinny, wrinkly old lady? I would have loved to listen in on the writer's room discussion for the making of this episode.