As I’ve viewed this show, Launchpad McQuck turned out to be
one of my favorite characters in the cast.
Yes, he often causes problems mostly through crashing everything he
operates and is pretty unintelligent, but he always shows that he has a good
heart and usually turn out to be a productive ally to those he’s closes to in
the end. This is mostly the case here,
but the way to it just takes Launchpad’s habit of messing things up to the
extreme which doesn’t do justice for his character. In the opening scene, harkening back to “Hero for Hire,” Launchpad messes up one of
Scrooge’s prized valuables which gets Scrooge to fire Launchpad who’s left to
lament his failure with only Doofus Drake around for moral support. However, the lamenting part doesn’t last
nearly as long as the earlier episode when Launchpad decides to try out for a
newly opened astronaut position to prove to everyone that he’s not an idiot
pilot. For the first part of his time as
an astronaut, he’s put through training exercises against a monkey so the
scientists can determine who’s better fit for space travel, and the reason all
of Launchpad’s moments with the training backfire is because the monkey keeps
sabotaging him from doing his best. Even
when Launchpad gets a chance to one-up the monkey, he keeps getting the short
end. Also, even though he still gets to
go into space, it turns out that it doesn’t mean anything good for his social
stance because the scientists were looking for the dumbest astronaut the whole
time. The thing is though, even with this sympathy towards Launchpad from all
the mistreatment he gets from this part of the episode, his problem-making
habits are on such a full display that it becomes too overbearing to enjoy,
and that undermines the established sympathy.
He first mixes up the instruction of what rocket he’s supposed to board
and then set it off with himself and Doofus, who comes along after learning the
truth about the astronaut the scientists want, inside. This doesn’t sound so bad nor is it out of
line with the usual Launchpad antics, but there’s more than that. We have
Launchpad idiotically convincing a tyrannical alien king of Mars to blow up
Earth, he's too clueless to break himself and his friend out of the prison the
king puts them in leaving Doofus to finish that job, and the ship he takes
control of turns out to be the missile being used for Earth’s destruction. The point is, Launchpad messes up way too
many times here making him look not just stupid, but also incapable of
anything. His heart is still there, but
given that he’s shown to find a smart solution to big problems many times
before, how he’s portrayed in this episode is very concerning especially since
his own number one fan, Doofus starts doubting him. Thankfully, the conclusion is solid enough
when Launchpad stops the missile in time through randomly pushing buttons and
he’s honored for saving Earth in the end.
The monkey who got him sabotaged gets off scot-free by becoming the new
emperor of Mars, but whatever. As for
Launchpad, this may overall be one of his weaker episodes, but at least him
saving the world redeems him somewhat. Along
with some solid comedy and appropriate sympathy, even with Launchpad’s
problematic moments, this episode is ultimately still pretty good. 7/10
The Ranking:
1. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 5: Too Much of a Gold Thing
2. Catch as Cash Can Part 2: A Whale of a Bad Time
3. Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy
4. Back to the Klondike
5. Raiders of the Lost Harp
6. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay
7. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck
8. Time Teasers
9. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship
10. Catch as Cash Can Part 4: Working for Scales
11. Ducks of the West
12. The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 3: Three Ducks of the Condor
13. Merit-Time Adventure
14. Back Out in the Outback
15. Catch as Cash Can Part 3: Aqua Ducks
16. Scrooge’s Pet
17. Horse Scents
18. The Golden Fleecing
19. The Right Duck
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode, a gender-bent version of Cinderella starring Scrooge, "Scroogerello."
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