'Toon Reviews 5: DuckTales Vol 1 Part 7

Master of the Djinni

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five years before the release of the animated classic, Aladdin, this episode was Disney’s closest association with the tale.  It features Scrooge on a mission to retrieve Aladdin’s magic lamp, which contains a genie who grants three wishes, before Flintheart Glomgold does.  The biggest highlight of the episode is Scrooge and Flintheart’s dynamic rivalry.  When they find the lamp and release the genie, they’re challenged to race back to Duckburg, and whoever gets there first is the genie’s master.  In addition to the race being a great setup for the story, it also offers a great contrast to how Scrooge and Flintheart work as characters.  While they’re both always thinking of money, Scrooge is the one who knows how to play fair while Flintheart allows his greed to go to rule-breaking lengths to achieve victory.  These different personalities work off each other very well which gives the race a humorous and entertaining layer.  In addition to Scrooge and Flintheart’s rivalry, their race back to Duckburg is enhanced by the role the genie plays.  Rather than a supernatural blue being with a liking to pop culture references, he’s a round, bumbling goofball trying to stick to the rules of the lamp.  He’s fun to watch, and he also adds on another layer to the main conflict.  Through a collection of humorous scenes of the genie getting served by the staff of Scrooge’s mansion, he’s shown to enjoy being free of being anyone’s master, and uses his magic to send Scrooge and Flintheart back in time so that they’ll never finish the race, and he can remain being served as opposed to being a servant.  It’s a menacing move, and it’s really impactful  coming from such a goofy character.  Anyway, the genie’s actions lead Scrooge and Flintheart on a suspense-filled adventure where they’re put into dangerous situations when a desert kingdom accuses them as being spies with their only hope of survival being a desert princess who gets everyone drowsy by telling tales which is another great and creative moment for the episode.  This episode is a collection of great moments from the storytelling and characterizations, but it ultimately leads to a conclusion where after he and Scrooge get back to the present, Flintheart wins the race, and one of his wishes is that the lamp was never found.  It’s led into by another funny bit of rivalry and the genie gets some satisfying comeuppance, but it does kind of make the whole adventure pointless.  It’s pretty sad considering how exciting what we went through was.  This isn’t a big issue though since the episodes are mostly self-contained anyway, so I’m still able to appreciate how great the adventure we get here really is, even if, as a Disney Aladdin story, it pales in comparison to the animated feature we have today. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1.      Robot Robbers

2.      Magica’s Shadow War

3.      Armstrong

4.      Master of the Djinni

5.      Sphinx for the Memories

6.      Send in the Clones

7.      Where No Duck Has Gone Before

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Scrooge and the gang are put through all the excitement of a haunted house when they set up "Hotel Strangeduck."

If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.