Dewey gets annoyed with being confused with his brothers, and dresses in a bizarre costume to assert his individuality. I'm somewhat certain that I've read some comic somewhere that did something like this (I'm not thinking of Rosa's "Eye for Detail"), but where? Who can say. Anyway, Scrooge, Launchpad, and HDL visit Dumasparodyland, where Scrooge's friend, Count Roy (Roy?) has had the throne usurped by his evil twin brother, Ray (Ray?). Everyone's tossed in jail (the episode features Pete as the guard captain, and this is Adorable Pete as seen in "Pearl of Wisdom," so even though he's way eviler than he was in that episode, you still just wanna give him a big hug), and--naturally--Dewey is the one to formulate an escape plan. There's some pretty good sneaking around and a pretty good final sword fight sequence.
This episode is a big improvement on recent; certainly the best since "Duckworth's Revolt," at least. The idea of a plot focusing on one of the brothers' dissatisfaction with not being seen as an individual was a good one, and the duke and his evil twin make a nice counterpoint to this. I can't say I found the resolution wholly satisfying, but expecting much more probably wouldn't have been realistic in a show like this. Also, there's a cute Barks reference at the end: "...and never again return to Monte Dumas, my evil brother, or I will see that you become...the Duck in the Iron Pants!" That's sure to put me in a good mood.
Stray Observations
-"The three of us are twins!" So is the joke that HDL would somehow be unfamiliar with the word "triplets," or were the writers? I don't find either of these alternatives hugely satisfying.
-…and yeah, the idea that the guard would be fooled by a mirror image into thinking all three brothers were present? Hmm.
-Reminds one a bit of "Monarch of Medioka," but given that that story is basically "Prisoner of Zenda," and given that the whole thing is a kind of broad Dumas pastiche, that's probably meaningless.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Ducktales, Season One, Episode Fifty: "Dime Enough for Luck"
A Ducktales episode named after a novel in which a guy has sex with his clone? I'd buy that for a dollar!
So yeah, here's Gladstone. What's he like? Well…not much, really. He's very much toned down from the original Barksian version--he has an enthusiastically youthful, slightly smarmy-sounding voice that makes him sound like a guy in a beer commercial or something, which doesn't really comport with what I would have imagined the character sounding like; and he's only very mildly obnoxious, and not malevolent at all. Ultimately, he doesn't make much of a splash.
Anyway, the idea is that Magica hypnotizes him and uses him to get at Scrooge's dime, and having done this, "because [he] used [his] luck for wicked purpose," he suddenly has BAD luck, which seems like a highly dubious extrapolation of how the character works, and anyway, how would Magica possibly KNOW this? But they get the dime back anyway, Scrooge figuring how to make Gladstone's bad luck work in their favor.
I dunno…I certainly HOPE I'm not just losing whatever taste I had for this show, because the last handful of episodes have all struck me as really mediocre, and this is no exception. There's just not much exciting here, and it endorses more clearly than anything else I can remember the idea that the dime does indeed grant Scrooge "luck," occasional boilerplate to the contrary notwithstanding. And the idea that the dime could just disappear from his bin, and he wouldn't even notice until Gladstone fessed up? I do not think so.
Seriously, Ducktales, I need you to get better in a hurry. I'm starting to lose faith.
Stray Observations
-Gladstone falls into a sewer, but this is "lucky" because he finds a dollar bill? Even if the alternative WAS getting splashed with water, that is not a tradeoff that *I* would find particularly fortunate.
-One of the traps that Scrooge has installed in his bin involves--with no advance warning--a huge piston coming out of the ceiling and just smashing the SHIT out of the floor. It's true that Barks was known to depict baroque, cartoony traps in the bin, but I don't think he ever drew anything that would both be totally unexpected and instantly, unambiguously fatal to anyone running afoul of it. The problems--both legal and practical--of a system like this are certainly so obvious as to go unstated.
-When Gladstone's going through the laser, supposedly avoiding it, he TOTALLY touches it, on multiple occasions. It's not even slightly subtle. What is this?
-"It [Scrooge's dime] will control all other dimes in the world, not to mention dollars!" Not totally sure what this means, but it's the clearest--only, as far as I can recall--statement from Magica about what she actually expects to accomplish with the dime.
So yeah, here's Gladstone. What's he like? Well…not much, really. He's very much toned down from the original Barksian version--he has an enthusiastically youthful, slightly smarmy-sounding voice that makes him sound like a guy in a beer commercial or something, which doesn't really comport with what I would have imagined the character sounding like; and he's only very mildly obnoxious, and not malevolent at all. Ultimately, he doesn't make much of a splash.
Anyway, the idea is that Magica hypnotizes him and uses him to get at Scrooge's dime, and having done this, "because [he] used [his] luck for wicked purpose," he suddenly has BAD luck, which seems like a highly dubious extrapolation of how the character works, and anyway, how would Magica possibly KNOW this? But they get the dime back anyway, Scrooge figuring how to make Gladstone's bad luck work in their favor.
I dunno…I certainly HOPE I'm not just losing whatever taste I had for this show, because the last handful of episodes have all struck me as really mediocre, and this is no exception. There's just not much exciting here, and it endorses more clearly than anything else I can remember the idea that the dime does indeed grant Scrooge "luck," occasional boilerplate to the contrary notwithstanding. And the idea that the dime could just disappear from his bin, and he wouldn't even notice until Gladstone fessed up? I do not think so.
Seriously, Ducktales, I need you to get better in a hurry. I'm starting to lose faith.
Stray Observations
-Gladstone falls into a sewer, but this is "lucky" because he finds a dollar bill? Even if the alternative WAS getting splashed with water, that is not a tradeoff that *I* would find particularly fortunate.
-One of the traps that Scrooge has installed in his bin involves--with no advance warning--a huge piston coming out of the ceiling and just smashing the SHIT out of the floor. It's true that Barks was known to depict baroque, cartoony traps in the bin, but I don't think he ever drew anything that would both be totally unexpected and instantly, unambiguously fatal to anyone running afoul of it. The problems--both legal and practical--of a system like this are certainly so obvious as to go unstated.
-When Gladstone's going through the laser, supposedly avoiding it, he TOTALLY touches it, on multiple occasions. It's not even slightly subtle. What is this?
-"It [Scrooge's dime] will control all other dimes in the world, not to mention dollars!" Not totally sure what this means, but it's the clearest--only, as far as I can recall--statement from Magica about what she actually expects to accomplish with the dime.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Ducktales, Season One, Episode Forty-Nine: "Launchpad's First Crash"
…or, per the title card, "Launchpads First Crash," clearly a Finnegans Wake reference, or else grammatical dumbness. It's also clearly not his first crash, if you recall the episode with his family. But aside from that, the title's A-okay!
These episodes are like student papers sometimes: they're bad, but it's hard to articulate exactly why they're bad in any coherent way. They're just uninspired and generally poorly done.
From a frame narrative where Scrooge and Launchpad crash on a desert plateau, we go into the story of their first meeting, in which Launchpad appears to be about twelve (obviously, reconciling this with any kind of Barks/Rosa chronology would be a tall order). He's kind of annoying, too; none of his usual dopey charm. Nonetheless, Scrooge hires him to take him to try to find a lost city of diamonds. They crash in a land at the center of the earth (yup, Ducktales has a hollow-earth view of the world, it turns out) and have to deal with Amazon-types and their miniature, male servants--and mating stock, one presumes, although this being a Ducktales episode, this can't be stated, obviously; feels like a bit of a weird omission nonetheless. They find the city, destroy the city, some banal action-stuff occurs, some involving albino bats, and they escape, the end. I would've liked to know more about what the deal is with this lost city--an intriguing concept in theory!--but this being Ducktales, that was never gonna happen.
Blah. I seriously have nothing else to say about this. It doesn't merit deep discussion. Next up is Gladstone's speaking debut; let's hope that shocks some life back into the show.
Stray Observations
"I knew I could count on you, Launchpad, my boy!" "Sure thing, Mr. McD! Being blown to smithereens doesn't bother me!"
"We're about to do the impossible, if possible!"
-Yes, diamonds are hard, but that doesn't mean you can just cut through metal by rubbing them against it. Jeez.
These episodes are like student papers sometimes: they're bad, but it's hard to articulate exactly why they're bad in any coherent way. They're just uninspired and generally poorly done.
From a frame narrative where Scrooge and Launchpad crash on a desert plateau, we go into the story of their first meeting, in which Launchpad appears to be about twelve (obviously, reconciling this with any kind of Barks/Rosa chronology would be a tall order). He's kind of annoying, too; none of his usual dopey charm. Nonetheless, Scrooge hires him to take him to try to find a lost city of diamonds. They crash in a land at the center of the earth (yup, Ducktales has a hollow-earth view of the world, it turns out) and have to deal with Amazon-types and their miniature, male servants--and mating stock, one presumes, although this being a Ducktales episode, this can't be stated, obviously; feels like a bit of a weird omission nonetheless. They find the city, destroy the city, some banal action-stuff occurs, some involving albino bats, and they escape, the end. I would've liked to know more about what the deal is with this lost city--an intriguing concept in theory!--but this being Ducktales, that was never gonna happen.
Blah. I seriously have nothing else to say about this. It doesn't merit deep discussion. Next up is Gladstone's speaking debut; let's hope that shocks some life back into the show.
Stray Observations
"I knew I could count on you, Launchpad, my boy!" "Sure thing, Mr. McD! Being blown to smithereens doesn't bother me!"
"We're about to do the impossible, if possible!"
-Yes, diamonds are hard, but that doesn't mean you can just cut through metal by rubbing them against it. Jeez.
Ducktales, Season One, Episode Forty-Eight: "Jungle Duck"
Yeah okay it's a kids' show and all, but still, it's pretty incredible how this episode telegraphs its intentions. Here are some of the actual notes I took while watching:
GEE WILL THEY MEET THE LOST PRINCE BEAKLEY MENTIONS IN THE JUNGLE?!?
"The Phantom's Territory"--GEE COULD THE PHANTOM BE THE LOST PRINCE???
WILL THE SMELL OF BEAKLEY'S FOOD ATTRACT THE PRINCE?!?
WILL HE KIDNAP BEAKLEY AND THEY HAVE TO RESCUE HER UNTIL THEY REALIZE HIS TRUE IDENTITY???
Really, now. And they really, really drag this revelation out, as if they hadn't made it super-obvious, and even if you didn't get the picture, the fact that his name is "Prince Greydrake" would be a pretty big giveaway. Not that interesting to watch when it's that dully predictable, I have to say!
Anyway, they discover the truth and they have to get back so the prince can be crowned king (this is all taking place TWO DAYS before the scheduled coronation, handily enough), and thwart his uncle, who they all decide is evil based on what I must say is pretty damned flimsy evidence. There's no addressing at all of the moral/philosophical question of whether entering civilization is the right thing for him under the circumstances.
Oh, also, there are savage natives, and I must say, it just completely fucking baffles me how Disney can ban or censor old comics and cartoons for things like this, but when it's Ducktales, it's A-okay. Not that we didn't already know that their philosophy vis-à-vis censorship was wildly inconsistent, but this seems even more absurd than usual.
I suppose it wasn't notably incompetent or anything, but I must say, I found this to be a pretty bland viewing experience overall. Sometimes it's easy to lose track of the fact that this show can actually be good at times.
Stray Observations
"This here's a genuine 1934 Douglas DC2 with Twin 9-Cylinder radio air-Cooled engines packing seven hundred ten horsepower each!" "How'd you know that?" "Lucky guess."
-Someone at the coronation who looks awfully like Gladstone, though he lacks the usual curls.
-The video quality is noticeably worse in this third DVD set. Extraordinarily lame, Disney.
GEE WILL THEY MEET THE LOST PRINCE BEAKLEY MENTIONS IN THE JUNGLE?!?
"The Phantom's Territory"--GEE COULD THE PHANTOM BE THE LOST PRINCE???
WILL THE SMELL OF BEAKLEY'S FOOD ATTRACT THE PRINCE?!?
WILL HE KIDNAP BEAKLEY AND THEY HAVE TO RESCUE HER UNTIL THEY REALIZE HIS TRUE IDENTITY???
Really, now. And they really, really drag this revelation out, as if they hadn't made it super-obvious, and even if you didn't get the picture, the fact that his name is "Prince Greydrake" would be a pretty big giveaway. Not that interesting to watch when it's that dully predictable, I have to say!
Anyway, they discover the truth and they have to get back so the prince can be crowned king (this is all taking place TWO DAYS before the scheduled coronation, handily enough), and thwart his uncle, who they all decide is evil based on what I must say is pretty damned flimsy evidence. There's no addressing at all of the moral/philosophical question of whether entering civilization is the right thing for him under the circumstances.
Oh, also, there are savage natives, and I must say, it just completely fucking baffles me how Disney can ban or censor old comics and cartoons for things like this, but when it's Ducktales, it's A-okay. Not that we didn't already know that their philosophy vis-à-vis censorship was wildly inconsistent, but this seems even more absurd than usual.
I suppose it wasn't notably incompetent or anything, but I must say, I found this to be a pretty bland viewing experience overall. Sometimes it's easy to lose track of the fact that this show can actually be good at times.
Stray Observations
"This here's a genuine 1934 Douglas DC2 with Twin 9-Cylinder radio air-Cooled engines packing seven hundred ten horsepower each!" "How'd you know that?" "Lucky guess."
-Someone at the coronation who looks awfully like Gladstone, though he lacks the usual curls.
-The video quality is noticeably worse in this third DVD set. Extraordinarily lame, Disney.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Ducktales, Season One, Episode Forty-Seven: "Duck to the Future"
Okay! No more dicking around! I'm back from vacation, and it's time to get back in the swing (with everybody and everything)!
Magica steals Scrooge's dime and dumps him in the future, where she is now in charge. That about sums that up.
This episode kind of annoys me, because it there are a few extremely funny things, but also a LOT of extremely dumb shit, and it's not always possible to separate them. So, f'rinstance, the idea that Scrooge's off-hand advice to HDL on how to cut costs for their lemonade stand would turn them into yuppie-asshole corporate raiders in the future is absurd--and yet, the depiction of them as such, with incongruously deep, rough voices, is just hilarious. Likewise: the idea that Scrooge would be able to con his way into Magica's office with a lame traveling-salesman disguise is absurd…but the American accent that he affects for this disguise is priceless.
Still, I'm afraid the dumb kinda predominates. This episode does the thing that the show sometimes does of pitching the characters as being much dumber than they should be: so in the beginning, HDL proudly tell Scrooge that they've made fifty-six cents selling lemonade, and then--just as proudly--that "we spent all our allowance!" (six dollars) for the ingredients. Or…well, it's accepted canon that Disney characters must always be super-easy to fool with really obvious disguises, so one can't complain too much about Scrooge being gulled by Magica pretending to be a fortune teller, but the idea that he wouldn't put two and two together in the future, even though the megacorporation that runs everything is called "Magica-McDuck Enterprises?"* And that he'd actually BELIEVE her line that he can go back in time using the subway? C'mon.
*Magica is partnering with HDL. This would be an interesting idea to explore, but the episode never does.
And as far as dumb shit goes, how 'bout the idea that "payday's the day we turn our earnings back over to the bosses," due to the "Privilege-of-Working-for-Magica-McDuck-Enterprises Tax?" I mean, yeah, I know, you want to show how greedy and EEEE-vil Magica is, but surely there has to be a less nonsensical way to do this.
In the end, you have the "quick visits to different historical eras" bit, which REALLY feels like making time and nothing more. And then an incredibly heavy-handed, sanctimonious speech from Scrooge to the effect that "making money at the expense of others is no bargain." The tension between the desire to make the show family-friendly and the realities of capitalism and what the creation of Scrooge's empire obviously entailed are enough to cause cranial combustion.
Meh. Gotta learn how to emphasize the good bits of your episode and excise the bad, guys.
Stray Observations
-Kind of amazed that such stereotyped "redskins" got through--and in this case it's even more offensive than it would be otherwise, given that the Native Americans were quite clearly the good guys (or, you know, as much so as it's possible to label ANY side in a war as such) in the Battle of LIttle Bighorn.
-I didn't even mention Webby and Doofus being married, because it's kinda boring. Still, I note that the idea is clearly that they have achieved their Full Potential; ie, he's ripped and she's hot, and that's about all one can say about them. I find the implications of this are highly disturbing.
-Sheesh...another one that I MUST have seen back in the day, because I remembered Doofus's mention of "dilithium crystals." But again--that's all. Aside from that one scrap of memory, nothin.'
Magica steals Scrooge's dime and dumps him in the future, where she is now in charge. That about sums that up.
This episode kind of annoys me, because it there are a few extremely funny things, but also a LOT of extremely dumb shit, and it's not always possible to separate them. So, f'rinstance, the idea that Scrooge's off-hand advice to HDL on how to cut costs for their lemonade stand would turn them into yuppie-asshole corporate raiders in the future is absurd--and yet, the depiction of them as such, with incongruously deep, rough voices, is just hilarious. Likewise: the idea that Scrooge would be able to con his way into Magica's office with a lame traveling-salesman disguise is absurd…but the American accent that he affects for this disguise is priceless.
Still, I'm afraid the dumb kinda predominates. This episode does the thing that the show sometimes does of pitching the characters as being much dumber than they should be: so in the beginning, HDL proudly tell Scrooge that they've made fifty-six cents selling lemonade, and then--just as proudly--that "we spent all our allowance!" (six dollars) for the ingredients. Or…well, it's accepted canon that Disney characters must always be super-easy to fool with really obvious disguises, so one can't complain too much about Scrooge being gulled by Magica pretending to be a fortune teller, but the idea that he wouldn't put two and two together in the future, even though the megacorporation that runs everything is called "Magica-McDuck Enterprises?"* And that he'd actually BELIEVE her line that he can go back in time using the subway? C'mon.
*Magica is partnering with HDL. This would be an interesting idea to explore, but the episode never does.
And as far as dumb shit goes, how 'bout the idea that "payday's the day we turn our earnings back over to the bosses," due to the "Privilege-of-Working-for-Magica-McDuck-Enterprises Tax?" I mean, yeah, I know, you want to show how greedy and EEEE-vil Magica is, but surely there has to be a less nonsensical way to do this.
In the end, you have the "quick visits to different historical eras" bit, which REALLY feels like making time and nothing more. And then an incredibly heavy-handed, sanctimonious speech from Scrooge to the effect that "making money at the expense of others is no bargain." The tension between the desire to make the show family-friendly and the realities of capitalism and what the creation of Scrooge's empire obviously entailed are enough to cause cranial combustion.
Meh. Gotta learn how to emphasize the good bits of your episode and excise the bad, guys.
Stray Observations
-Kind of amazed that such stereotyped "redskins" got through--and in this case it's even more offensive than it would be otherwise, given that the Native Americans were quite clearly the good guys (or, you know, as much so as it's possible to label ANY side in a war as such) in the Battle of LIttle Bighorn.
-I didn't even mention Webby and Doofus being married, because it's kinda boring. Still, I note that the idea is clearly that they have achieved their Full Potential; ie, he's ripped and she's hot, and that's about all one can say about them. I find the implications of this are highly disturbing.
-Sheesh...another one that I MUST have seen back in the day, because I remembered Doofus's mention of "dilithium crystals." But again--that's all. Aside from that one scrap of memory, nothin.'
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Ducktales, Season One, Episode Forty-Six: "Magica's Magic Mirror"/"Take Me Out of the Ballgame"
Two episodes in one means…two times the fun? Well, in this case, I'm afraid it only means, at best, a very small percentage of the fun. I really can't imagine why they decided to cram these two unrelated stories together. It might have been interesting to see a "treehouse of horror"-type anthology episode in which the show throws to the winds all ideas of canon, but neither of the mini-episodes here do much of anything to justify their existences.
In "Magica's Magic Mirror," she tricks Scrooge into accepting a mirror that can allegedly see into the future; it actually just connects with another mirror in her possession, and she's gonna use it to trick Scrooge into coughing up the dime. There's potential here, I guess, but the ways in which she tricks the ducks into thinking the mirror shows the future are pretty dumb and rely on a lot of convenient happenstance; the whole thing is pitched considerably dumber than the better sort of Ducktales episode. It does have this going for it: Magica transforming into a vulture is pretty cool-looking. And the ending--in which the kids use the mirror to stage a skit to unmask the plan, in which they smash a Magica doll--is pretty funny. But that's about it.
"Take Me Out of the Ballgame" has a premise that might seem funny, in theory--Duckworth has to coach the Woodchucks' baseball team--but the execution is pretty dismal. The first sign of trouble is when we learn that they're playing against--god help us--the Beagle Brats. Seriously, out of all the obscure characters from duck-comicdom, these were the ones you chose to revive, Ducktales people? Damn you! But the real dumb kicks in as Duckworth sabotages his own team in painfully moronic ways--he won't let them slide into base because that would smudge their uniforms; he won't let them steal bases. After he proved highly capable in his starring role last episode, there's no excuse for him to do dumb shit like this. But never fear! He comes around at the end, and, with the team behind by double-digits, he shows them how to win by playing "like golf," which somehow--the "how" remains unexplained, because that would've required a greater level of thought than anyone cared to put into this--allows them to always hit the Beagles' rigged baseball and score dozens of points at a clip. And then Doofus hits the winning run when Duckworth advises him to "pretend the ball is a great, gooey cream puff," and apparently we're supposed to believe that Doofus's love of sweets would cause him to want to get rid of this cream puff as expeditiously as possible. Really, really stupid stuff all 'round.
Stray Observations
-"Great Grandma Tragica"
-What the hell is the deal with the kid at the picnic dressed as Glomgold?
-Mozambique becomes "Nose'n'Beak." Right, then.
-Dammit, when I saw the bit with Doofus hitting the winning run, I suddenly KNEW I'd seen this episode before, but I have absolutely no memory of anything else about it. Memory is weird!
-The one moment of awesome in "Take Me Out of the Ballgame:" the kids are trash-talking before the game, and a murderous-looking Webby yells "let's make the little creeps cry for their mommies!" That is the Webby we need to see more of.
In "Magica's Magic Mirror," she tricks Scrooge into accepting a mirror that can allegedly see into the future; it actually just connects with another mirror in her possession, and she's gonna use it to trick Scrooge into coughing up the dime. There's potential here, I guess, but the ways in which she tricks the ducks into thinking the mirror shows the future are pretty dumb and rely on a lot of convenient happenstance; the whole thing is pitched considerably dumber than the better sort of Ducktales episode. It does have this going for it: Magica transforming into a vulture is pretty cool-looking. And the ending--in which the kids use the mirror to stage a skit to unmask the plan, in which they smash a Magica doll--is pretty funny. But that's about it.
"Take Me Out of the Ballgame" has a premise that might seem funny, in theory--Duckworth has to coach the Woodchucks' baseball team--but the execution is pretty dismal. The first sign of trouble is when we learn that they're playing against--god help us--the Beagle Brats. Seriously, out of all the obscure characters from duck-comicdom, these were the ones you chose to revive, Ducktales people? Damn you! But the real dumb kicks in as Duckworth sabotages his own team in painfully moronic ways--he won't let them slide into base because that would smudge their uniforms; he won't let them steal bases. After he proved highly capable in his starring role last episode, there's no excuse for him to do dumb shit like this. But never fear! He comes around at the end, and, with the team behind by double-digits, he shows them how to win by playing "like golf," which somehow--the "how" remains unexplained, because that would've required a greater level of thought than anyone cared to put into this--allows them to always hit the Beagles' rigged baseball and score dozens of points at a clip. And then Doofus hits the winning run when Duckworth advises him to "pretend the ball is a great, gooey cream puff," and apparently we're supposed to believe that Doofus's love of sweets would cause him to want to get rid of this cream puff as expeditiously as possible. Really, really stupid stuff all 'round.
Stray Observations
-"Great Grandma Tragica"
-What the hell is the deal with the kid at the picnic dressed as Glomgold?
-Mozambique becomes "Nose'n'Beak." Right, then.
-Dammit, when I saw the bit with Doofus hitting the winning run, I suddenly KNEW I'd seen this episode before, but I have absolutely no memory of anything else about it. Memory is weird!
-The one moment of awesome in "Take Me Out of the Ballgame:" the kids are trash-talking before the game, and a murderous-looking Webby yells "let's make the little creeps cry for their mommies!" That is the Webby we need to see more of.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Ducktales, Season One, Episode Forty-Five: "Duckworth's Revolt"
[insert "Sir, Duckworth is revolting!" joke here]
Well, if we're judging episodes by their openings, whaddaya make of one in which anthropomorphic vegetables in a cornucopia-styled spaceship abduct an anthropomorphic elephant in a bathtub--a girl anthropomorphic elephant in a bathtub with the traditional pink bow in her hair--who seems surprisingly unfazed by this turn of events?
What you make is a pretty solid episode, albeit one just about as batty as the preceding would indicate. The kids accuse Duckworth of being like a SLAVE, so Scrooge fires him so he can go make his fortune. This is undeniably highly dubious, but things get better from there: the vegetable aliens, it turns out, are abducting people from all planets to work in their ship's garden, and Duckworth and HDL are next. Duckworth seems all subservient and stuff at first, but then he plans a revolt--though it's not entirely clear whether we're meant to buy his claim that he was just faking cowardice all along, or whether he actually grows a backbone. Regardless, it's neat to see him take a starring turn.
The episode is admirably committed to its "human vegetables" concept (the leaders are a broccoli stalk, a squash, and a clove of garlic), to the point that it's kind of hysterically--but appealingly--goofy (my favorite is a zucchini beating a drum as on a galley ship). It's easy for things like this to seem like they're straining for zaniness, but this one feels mostly natural.
My only real objection with the episode--but it's a substantial objection--is this: it flirts with asking questions about the morality of Duckworth's employment (what with the kids calling him a slave and all), but it never has the courage to follow through, instead contenting itself with assuring us that, well, he's not literally a slave, so there's no cause for concern. But that's so trivially true that if it's all you're gonna say, there was no point in bringing it up in the first place. Of course he's not literally forced to work for Scrooge--I mean, fucking duh. If you think this is an important question to address--and I think it is; there's always the somewhat uncomfortable feeling in the comics that, notwithstanding all his "earning it square" talk, he's exploiting his employees as much as he possibly can--you should bloody well address it. Otherwise, don't bother.
Still a good episode, however.
Stray Observations
-Hey, guess what: we're fifty percent of the way through the series! Well, okay, if you want to count the movie, then we actually won't get there until about fifteen minutes into episode forty-seven. But the point is, we've gone through fifty episodes. Kerpow!
-"Don't come back until you've discovered the joy, the enchantment, the sheer ecstasy of making big butts!" Er…yes. It's rarely remarked upon that Ducktales was in fact the inspiration for "Baby Got Back." Tell your friends!
-"And I thought elephants NEVER forgot!" "What's an elephant?" Funny commentary on the idea that just because an alien LOOKS like an earth creature, it would think of itself in the same way as one.
-"There comes a time when one must choose between trusting one's enemy or colliding with a gourdy green planet!" Words to live by.
-"Why don't we go to my quarters and have a chat over some nice, hot onion tea?" How would that not be cannibalism?
-Vacation Van Honk!
Well, if we're judging episodes by their openings, whaddaya make of one in which anthropomorphic vegetables in a cornucopia-styled spaceship abduct an anthropomorphic elephant in a bathtub--a girl anthropomorphic elephant in a bathtub with the traditional pink bow in her hair--who seems surprisingly unfazed by this turn of events?
What you make is a pretty solid episode, albeit one just about as batty as the preceding would indicate. The kids accuse Duckworth of being like a SLAVE, so Scrooge fires him so he can go make his fortune. This is undeniably highly dubious, but things get better from there: the vegetable aliens, it turns out, are abducting people from all planets to work in their ship's garden, and Duckworth and HDL are next. Duckworth seems all subservient and stuff at first, but then he plans a revolt--though it's not entirely clear whether we're meant to buy his claim that he was just faking cowardice all along, or whether he actually grows a backbone. Regardless, it's neat to see him take a starring turn.
The episode is admirably committed to its "human vegetables" concept (the leaders are a broccoli stalk, a squash, and a clove of garlic), to the point that it's kind of hysterically--but appealingly--goofy (my favorite is a zucchini beating a drum as on a galley ship). It's easy for things like this to seem like they're straining for zaniness, but this one feels mostly natural.
My only real objection with the episode--but it's a substantial objection--is this: it flirts with asking questions about the morality of Duckworth's employment (what with the kids calling him a slave and all), but it never has the courage to follow through, instead contenting itself with assuring us that, well, he's not literally a slave, so there's no cause for concern. But that's so trivially true that if it's all you're gonna say, there was no point in bringing it up in the first place. Of course he's not literally forced to work for Scrooge--I mean, fucking duh. If you think this is an important question to address--and I think it is; there's always the somewhat uncomfortable feeling in the comics that, notwithstanding all his "earning it square" talk, he's exploiting his employees as much as he possibly can--you should bloody well address it. Otherwise, don't bother.
Still a good episode, however.
Stray Observations
-Hey, guess what: we're fifty percent of the way through the series! Well, okay, if you want to count the movie, then we actually won't get there until about fifteen minutes into episode forty-seven. But the point is, we've gone through fifty episodes. Kerpow!
-"Don't come back until you've discovered the joy, the enchantment, the sheer ecstasy of making big butts!" Er…yes. It's rarely remarked upon that Ducktales was in fact the inspiration for "Baby Got Back." Tell your friends!
-"And I thought elephants NEVER forgot!" "What's an elephant?" Funny commentary on the idea that just because an alien LOOKS like an earth creature, it would think of itself in the same way as one.
-"There comes a time when one must choose between trusting one's enemy or colliding with a gourdy green planet!" Words to live by.
-"Why don't we go to my quarters and have a chat over some nice, hot onion tea?" How would that not be cannibalism?
-Vacation Van Honk!
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