DuckTales (Volume 1)
Basic
Premise
Disney is the number one provider of quality
animated entertainment in this world.
Most of their work comes from their long line of 50+ animated feature
films, the masterfully revered features of their associated studio Pixar, and
animated shorts by the thousands, specifically those starring their
original characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Disney has also left their animated entertainment
mark in the television medium. Ever
since the mid-1980s, they’ve made quite a few animated TV series. While not all of the programs they’ve made
over the years were winners, most of them gained some major popularity that
lasts even to this day. One such program
is one of the earliest Disney animated TV series, DuckTales.
Based on a series of comics by some guy named Carl Barks,
this show is about the adventures of the greedy yet lovable Scrooge McDuck who
is constantly in search of treasures to add to his wealth accompanied by his
grand-nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie who are staying with him while their Uncle
Donald is enlisted in the navy. That’s a
very basic premise for a show, but I trust that given its huge popularity and
Disney’s talents of animated storytelling, the execution makes everything work
though, at least I hope it will. The
thing is, I’ve never actually seen this show before, not even in my childhood. I’ve heard it be praised in reviews, seen it
listed in lists of the best animated series, and even watched the incredibly
catchy theme song online many times, but I have no knowledge of the actual episodes. I always had it on my mind to look into the
show eventually since it sounds fun overall, and it’s always good to look at
the best material featuring the ducks of Disney, and now that day has finally
come, perfect timing too with the reboot having just premiered. Now, the way these reviews will
work is that I won’t be looking at the episodes in the order of its first
season considering that it consists of a whopping 65 episodes which I feel would be major overkill. Instead, they'll be reviewed in the order they appear in on the Volume 1 DVD release of the show, consisting of 27 episodes,
so to better emulate the feel of watching this classic animated series for the
very first time. I’m excited to get a
genuine feel of this show, and I hope those who also have never seen it feel
that way too. Now let’s pop the discs in
the player, get a good listen of the theme song, and discover the appeal of
this set of early episodes, which BTW, according to my research does not
include the pilot episodes (those will have to wait when I eventually review the episodes on Volume 2 for some unexplained reason).
Now on with the reviews:
Send
in the Clones
This episode is easily a great example of how well this show
handles storytelling, comedy, and characterization. It features one of the many antagonists of
the show, Magica de Spell, hatching a plan to get Scrooge’s “Number One Dime” in
order to take over the world with aid from the robber trio known as the Beagle
Boys. The plan involves Magica transforming
the Beagle Boys into Huey, Dewey, and Louie so they can easily infiltrate
Scrooge’s mansion and steal the dime.
Much of the episode focuses on the chaos that ensues from the Beagle
Boys taking part in the spell which only increases when Magica later steps in
by posing as the mansion’s nanny, Mrs. Beakley.
We have Scrooge struggling to make sense of the boys’ strange behavior
while being interviewed, Mrs. Beakley being unsure of what to make of the boys
after seeing them as the Beagle Boys through a mirror, the boys thinking Mrs.
Beakley is being taken over by aliens after returning from a movie, and the Beagle
Boys being forced to put up with being parented. It could be easy for these setups to get old
quick, but the writers manage to keep every bit of the chaos we experience both
fresh and funny. This is mostly due to
how lovable the characters are, and how a lot of interactions between different
characters are worked in including the diabolically over-the-top Magica with
the greedy and clueless Beagle Boys, Scrooge with the intrepid, truth-seeking
reporter, and the Beagle Boys with the stern and easily disturbed Mrs.
Beakley. Plus, everything we see leads
to an exciting climax where both Huey and Mrs. Beakley are involved in a
battle with the Beagle Boys where they're constantly transformed by
Magica’s spells and potions, and a moment of cleverness where Scrooge finds a way to save both Huey and his
dime. With so many great performances
from the characters involved, and memorable comedic moments that still flow
together as one coherent story, this episode is a great fun watch to get you
into this show. 9/10
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Scrooge and the nephews set out to save Donald from an ancient Egyptian curse in "Sphinx for the Memories."
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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