Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Legend of the Three Caballeros, Episode Thirteen: "Sheldgoose Square Dance"


I am disappointed by the distinct lack of square dancing in this episode--and, in fact, I'm finding that title a bit inscrutable. What does it mean?

I suppose the problem with a climactic episode in a show like this is that it was never really building towards a climax, or if in theory it was, that was really just an excuse to have more or less unrelated adventures along the way. Thus, when you get to the end...hmm. Same reason the climactic MCU movies have generally fallen flat, I think.

Well...but actually, I'd say the problem here is that it's basically a not-that-interesting boss fight. I like how it manages to involve all the characters, but...still. It's just not that gripping, and as for the part where Sheldgoose and Xandra are doing dueling cameos from previous episodes I am, perhaps, not more excited by it than I've ever been by anything before. Also, da hell is the deal with "the wizard Blazebeak," who appears out of goddamn NOWHERE and talks about how, oh, I've been protecting you and then disappears and WHUH? I would not describe this as deft plotting.

Oh well. It was reasonably watchable, I suppose, and my overall impression of the series is positive. I'm kind of baffled that they're content to allow non-Filipinos to view it via internet leaks. Surely it'll be released more widely at some point, but the current situation kind of dulls the probable impact of that. WEIRD. Well, here's hoping for a season two.

12 comments:

  1. I kind of agree this last episode was not that great, though I did find it enjoyable.

    A little something in this and last episode I'm surprised you didn't comment on: both Felldrake and Donald are explicitly shown as hatching from eggs! Given that I tend more towards the Ducks being actual but anthropomorphic ducks rather than humans-of-a-different-feather that's fine with me, but I know you're of the latter persuasion, so what are your thoughts there? I note that this does not seem to square with Jose's 'We're not birds' line though (of course, not just birds lay eggs).

    I'm also quite curious about your thoughts on this show's universe in general. For example, does Donald's extended family beyond Scrooge (especially HDL) even exist here or are we looking at an alternative interpretation where he really is the sole living heir to Clinton Coot (meaning no Elvira, Gladstone, HDL, Della or Gus)?

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    1. I don't really mind too much whether the characters lay eggs or not; it does feel a little odd to me, but I'm pretty flexible. I can roll with it either way.

      The idea that a lot of the established characters don't exist here is quite a radical thought. I had never considered it (and honestly, I doubt the show runners had really thought about it one way or the other). I guess it's possible, and would even be interesting in its way, but I have my doubts. I strongly suspect that in the next season (I keep treating a "next season" as a fait accompli; I hope that's true), we'll at least see a cameo or two from one or more of them.

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    2. Re: Coot's will. I don't think there's any implication that Donald is Clinton's sole heir. He's just the *right* one to carry on the Caballeros mantle. Also, I was assuming that Clinton died some time ago and the legacy was time-delayed, linked to Donald's whateverth birthday (hence the caretaker for the cabin). This would help explain why Donald didn't know Clinton before meeting him in the underworld.

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  2. I propably saving this for Wrap-Ups but I do wonder how do you overall feel about Jose and Panchito in this show. I think they presented them in realy fun way, I just think it's a shame they never got more of a individual solo focus episode (like Donald did) Well Panchito sort-of got in the Mexican one but I wish they would play around with them more individualy.

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    1. I'm not sure if I have enough to say about this show to justify a whole wrap-up post. However, I do think that you point to a real issue in the show: Jose and Panchito are fine...but I don't feel like they ever really got the opportunity to develop as characters as you might like. With Donald, there's already an established character to build on, but with the other two there's just the movie, which isn't much (and yes I know that's not technically true and that Jose especially is a highly entrenched comics character, but I certainly never got the impression that they were drawing on that past). So, there's not as much to them as I might like. I think that developing them further should be a primary goal for the second season.

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    2. In Joses introduction scene in the very first episode they made a joke or two about him being broke/owning people money all the time/bum with class - which from what I understand was his thing in the Brasilian comics but they didn't do much with that characteristic after the first episode. The element of him being a lady's man which was in his introducion scene also came up only few time. He's mostly just a charming guy which is fine and I think he has some of the best lines on the show but I think it's a shame he never got more of an individual focus (aside from the Nasca episode where they had a running theme of him being to naive... which is ironic since after the first episode a lot of people asumed his ment to be some sort of con-artis, while he is in fact a perfect con-victim)

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  3. Concerding Blazebeard: this was my feeling too, but combined with the fact that we never learn just what happened to the original Caballeros after Xandra's book was closed, I think they were just saving up more backstory for Season 2.

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  4. Man, I hate to pull the "I work in cartoon industry for years so I know how things are down" card agian, as it makes me feel like some sort of know-it-all snob... and yhe I may be far from a oracle in some cases so screw my opinion, but the reason why I'm confident there is a season 2 or at very least they had all things ready for produciton is the fact that 26 episodes is like a bare minimum for cartoons shows, ESPECIALY for a big company like Disney where they usualy plan a show for 52 episodes in mind.

    Plus the fact this end on a clifhanger just makes me extra-confident they already where working on season 2 at this point, since... well, they woudn't bother if they waren't conidfent at this point they will have more episodes. It's not like "Well production on season 1 is over (brushes off hands) Let's start season 2" - usualy pre-production for the second one is already started before the first one is over (at least on a script/animatic stages)

    At the sadest event they pulled the plog becose the finished show had some very poor reception with the test audiance, which is hard for me to belive seeing the quality of this but still possible.

    Then agian when that was case for "Bonkers" they simply did some new episodes fixing the errors (giving Bonkers more funny partner) and they saved the poor recived episodes for the last season. They won't just trown in waht they did into the trash... and it thie case of the Caballeros it would be an extra odd for them to realease half-finished show (ending at cliffhanger etc.) For SOME Polish company perhaps, but not for a closus like Disney.

    As for the strange lack of American realse I would dare to guess they simply want to play low with the Caballeros for now since, well... Duck Tales and they don't want to muddle things to much having two shows marketed as "STARING DONALD DUCK!!!" (not to mention Jose and Panchito will be in season 2) plus Donald also already appears in the new Mickey Mouse shorts and "Mickey and the Roadster racers", so giving him four show at once would feel like a overload. So they will wait as soon Duck Tales won't be as hot/over - plus with people being reminded of Jose and Panchito there is more of an extra reason to pull out entire show about them. And hey if they smart enough to fallow the reactions on the internet I'm sure the "OMG! THIS CARTOON IS AWSOME" reception the "Cabaleros" got after the leaks will be helpfull...

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  5. If this was subcontracted from Disney, there's always the possibility that Disney didn't renew their contract, or that the studio producing this series either ran out of money or went under.

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  6. Boy that Geox! Just look at him playing the long game! He knows darn way that end of season 2 od "Duck Tales" is at our door so he slowly prepering to review the entire thing with one blow of reviews... What a sly fox he is that Geox, huh? Always calculating to be one step before us.

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  7. Right, so this isn't just a reminder to maybe review DuckTales 2017's Season 2 sometime soon — but also: on Twitter, the creators have confirmed that they've planned for six seasons of Legends of the Three Caballeros, so that would explain Blazebeard, yes.

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  8. THE RUMOR states that we shall be geting season 2 soon, soon, soon ^_^

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