After getting the first taste of Scrooge McDuck and the
nephews in the first part of this story arc, we move forward in the second part
that not only has them progress towards a huge stash of gold, but also gives an
introduction to Scrooge’s rivalry with Flintheart Glomgold. As we’ve seen in the first DVD volume of the
series, Flintheart’s main objective as an antagonist is to beat Scrooge as the
richest duck in the world, and does so in some pretty dastardly moves sometimes
going as far as to try and get Scrooge arrested.
Still, the rivalry is mostly comedic through how much banter the
business rivals have during constant bets to see who can make the most
money. Such a bet is the major focus of
this episode when Scrooge and Flintheart set out to see who can make the most
money in two weeks, which Scrooge uses as an opportunity to hunt down the
gold. This also leads to the
introduction of another prominent element in the series, Huey, Dewey, and
Louie’s expert problem-solving skills, mostly relating to their Junior
Woodchucks status achieved in the previous episode, which make them stand out
from average kid characters. It plays a
huge role in Scrooge’s hunt for the gold since it’s them who uncover its
location in Ronguay, South America, the meaning of the frequently repeated
word, “monsapis,” and ways their ship works as a map. The boys’ moments sell their appeal as
competent adventurers especially when it encourages Scrooge to keep going when
he’s briefly despondant, and also set up how they’d operate in the episodes to
come. We also get a good sense of the
lengths Flintheart goes through just to one-up Scrooge such as rigging his
plane to Ronguay with a bomb, leading him into quicksand caused by the
torrential downpours that are monsapis, and laying low in the gold ship he
eventually finds just to spring on him.
In addition to also giving an idea of what we’ll see of Flintheart for
the rest of the show, we see more appeal to El Capitan. Although he’s a standard greedy villain whose
sole motivation is to get gold, his overdramatic tendencies on the subject make
his single dimension something to laugh at don’t make this a huge issue. It all leads up to an exciting climax on the
ship of gold, which creatively includes gold planks and gold sails. Even after apprehending Scrooge and the boys
and taking the ship for himself, Flintheart shows some heart by leaving his
rival with a single gold coin. Giving
even a bit of the treasure away infuriates the greedy El Capitan which sends
him overboard and the treasure is sunk again.
In a clever turn of events though, Scrooge having the one coin
Flintheart gave him has him win the bet and brings on a hilarious comeuppance
point for Flintheart. As an episode to
set up the adventure norm of the series, this leaves us a lot to take away in
terms of comedy, creativity, and character moments. 10/10
The Ranking:
1. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay
2. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Scrooge's single coin brings on the next part of the story arc and we meet Launchpad McQuack for the first time in "Three Ducks of the Condor."
If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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