One thing I believe is a normal thing to go through at a
certain point in anyone’s life is that people would feel too old to do things
the way they did when they were younger.
With that in mind, I think it’s believable for people to relate to
Scrooge in this episode. At the start,
he starts to feel old and believes he’s not as fit and full of energy as he
used to be through backing out of a mission which he claims to have never done
before, and getting a rocking chair for his birthday. That’s essentially an embodiment of that
relatable scenario.
The plot gets going when Scrooge learns about the Fountain of Youth, a
magical fountain designed to bring eternal youth to anyone who drinks from it
discovered by Ponce de Loon, and sets out to find it with Launchpad and the
boys in tow. The search for the Fountain
of Youth is mainly constructed from scenes of the characters trying to get
around the Okeefedokee Swamp with run ins with quicksand,
getting around the swamp by converting Launchpad’s helicopter into a riverboat
via the Junior Woodchucks guidebook, the group getting separated, and what
appears to be a ghost shooting arrows and catching intruders in nets. These scenes are enhanced by the quirks of
the characters involved as they show off their resourcefulness, and
light-hearted humor. We also witness a
lot of Scrooge surviving in and navigating the swamp well on his own amidst him
lamenting his old age, set to lead to the eventual message, but still showing
off the appeal of his character. Plus,
there are some nice twists to the adventure.
They include the supposed ghost turning out to be a random guy living in
the swamp for half his life who’s also set on finding the Fountain of Youth
while wearing Ponce de Loon’s old armor, the location of the fountain cleverly
hidden in the armor which the boys creatively uncover, and the biggest twist of
all, what the Fountain of Youth really does.
As it turns out, when everyone eventually does find the Fountain of
Youth, all it does is show reflections of people’s youth, not physically make
them younger. It’s a nice subversion of
what we’d expect from a depiction of the fountain, but this disappointment is
benefitted from by Scrooge. He realizes
that you’re only as old as you feel, and that he survived the whole adventure,
including the moments I highlighted earlier, despite his age. With that, the episode is capped off nicely
with a scene of Scrooge energetically getting back to civilization while
everyone else tiredly lags behind. At
its core, this is a pretty basic mid-life crisis story, but the character
moments, clever twists, and strong sense of adventure help the episode make a
name of itself. 9/10
The Ranking
- The Curse of Castle McDuck
- Hotel Strangeduck
- Maid of the Myth
- Hero for Hire
- Top Duck
- Robot Robbers
- Much Ado About Scrooge
- Magica’s Shadow War
- Duckman of Aquatraz
- Launchpad’s Civil War
- Armstrong
- Sir Gyro de Gearloose
- Master of the Djinni
- Sphinx for the Memories
- Send in the Clones
- Sweet Duck of Youth
- Down and Out in Duckburg
- The Lost Crown of Genghis Kahn
- The Money Vanishes
- Where No Duck Has Gone Before
- Dinosaur Ducks
- Pearl of Wisdom
- Superdoo!
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the show gives a creative reason behind earthquakes in "Earth Quack."
If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far. 
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