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Time is
Money Part 1: Marking Time
The second season consists solely of two story arcs, and the rest of the DVD is their separate
parts. This episode is the first part of
the first arc. It’s about time travel to
the past, making for a prehistoric adventure of dinosaurs and caveducks. The arc starts as a standard fortune hunting
plot, but then focuses on incorporating some of the prehistoric elements into
the main series. The following few
reviews will elaborate on how good of a change this is.
The fortune hunt starting it all is as
enjoyable as always. Scrooge further
impresses with deal-making when he buys his rival Flintheart Glomgold’s
westernmost island. It seems worthless
compared to the other islands, but that’s Scrooge’s brilliance at play. That island has a cave filled with coal that
turned into diamonds over millions of years.
This has got to be one of the best moments of Scrooge making a fortune
out nothing.
However, he’s not without
drawbacks here. Flintheart eavesdrops on
Scrooge’s claim of the diamonds and separates the island so the diamond cave
isn’t the westernmost, all unbeknownst.
Because his greed won’t let him put up with going without the find he
justly bought, Scrooge has Gyro Gearloose make a time machine to go back in
time to reclaim the cave. Right here, we
have a problem. The story has Gyro make
a time machine powered by a huge clock and a popsicle-like fuel source,
bombastium. While that’s very creative,
the episode, and the whole arc, ignore the fact that Gyro already has a time
machine Scrooge can use, the time tub.
That wasn’t even a one-off invention. It’s been used and mentioned
multiple times. With no mention of the
time tub, it seems this new time machine was made just so the arc could occur,
even if it doesn’t make sense. It’s this
time machine’s complications that cause Scrooge, the boys, and Launchpad to end
up on the island a million years off the mark.
Now, if you can ignore this leap in continuity, this prehistoric
adventure is enjoyable enough. It’s also
cute through the appearance of a caveduck named Bubba. When he first sees Scrooge appear out of the
time machine, he sees him as a god-like figure and shows him loyalty with any
random object around to offer. This,
along with his lonely cave home with only a pet triceratops given the name
Tootsie for company, hint that he’s all over Scrooge because he’s never had his
own true family. If that’s the case,
then that makes Bubba’s bonds with the gang endearing. That said, Bubba is also very reckless with
his antics adding to the group’s already stressful conflict and doesn’t provide
much productivity apart from hanging out with the boys. Along with his scrappy voice and broken
English, it’s clear that Bubba is all right for one appearance, but isn’t
exactly the best character to see a lot of.
That said, finding Bubba does prove beneficial to Scrooge’s goal. Bubba’s cave is where Scrooge found the
coal-turned diamonds, so he leaves marks to claim the cave a million years
ahead of his deal with Flintheart. Near
the end of this episode, Bubba also plays a big part in helping the group
escape a huge T-Rex. Even so, the
problems with Bubba persist, so it’s a bit conflicting when he and Tootsie end
up on board the time machine with the others.
These feelings are only going to grow for the rest of the arc.
In spite of a few disregards of continuity
for the plot to work and minor character gripes, this is a thoroughly fun
adventure to start the arc. Now we move
onto where the time machine sends everyone next…
A-
The Ranking
- Once Upon a Dime
- Duck in the Iron Mask
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck
- Spies in Their Eyes
- Nothing to Fear
- The Uncrashable Hindentanic
- Dime Enough for Luck
- Duck to the Future
- Launchpad’s First Crash
- Jungle Duck
- Ducky Horror Picture Show
- Time is Money Part 1: Marking Time
- All Ducks on Deck
- Till Nephews Do Us Part
- The Status Seekers
The next DuckTales review is about the time period Scrooge and the gang end up in... which has nothing to do with the rest of the arc.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "The Beeper Queen" and "Oskar Can't Read" from Hey Arnold.
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