Sunday, January 28, 2018

'Toon Reviews 12: DuckTales Vol. 2 Part 20: Scroogerello

Scroogerello
 
Episodes that place characters of shows in a fairy tale go both ways.  They can be creative ways for a show to step out of its comfort zone, but can also be big timewasters for not affecting the show’s actual world.  This episode falls into that category, yet it’s still pretty good.  The episode is about Scrooge being put to bed due to a cold, and he’s difficult with everyone trying to tend to him.  We finally ease into the fairy tale bulk of the episode when Webby decides to read to Scrooge to cheer him up, and Scrooge winds up imagining himself in the story of Cinderella.  The fairy tale itself is mostly a gender swap version of the familiar tale with Scrooge acting as the main protagonist, Flintheart Glomgold as his stepfather, the Beagle Boys as his step-brothers, and even Glittering Goldie as his the love interest he meets at the ball.  Other roles are more in-line with the genders and roles of other characters of Cinderella like Huey, Dewey, and Louie as Scrooge’s helpers, and Webby and Mrs. Beakley as Scrooge’s Fairy God People, although Webby as the Fairy Godchild is far more prominent.  We have Scrooge, or Scroogerello as he’s called, being forced to serve Flintheart and the Beagle Boys, which leaves him unable to attend a ball designed to find a suitor for the Princess Goldie.  It’s here though where the twists to the average Cinderella story become noticeable.  Rather than just wanting to go to the ball, when Scroogerello hears that Flintheart and the Beagle Boys want to win over Goldie, his desire to go to the ball has more to do with making sure the princess ends up with the right man, and that selfless desire is what brings on the fairies and their magic.  This original aspect to the tale adds in some depths to what we’re familiar with which make it more interesting.  More twists to the story help enhance the feel, namely how Scroogerello doesn’t just leave the ball when midnight strikes, but leaves to rescue Goldie with the boys and the Fairy Godchild when his stepfamily kidnaps her for their own gain.  There’s a chase in a car made of Junior Woodchuck cookies (which like Scroogerello’s ball appearance disappears after midnight ala the events of Cinderella), fun antics from a literal frog prince portrayed by Launchpad on their way to his castle where Goldie is held prisoner, and a fun chase to rescue Goldie from said castle.  While mostly fun, the adventure does have some detracting factors like Webby getting a lot of exposure as the Fairy Godchild without being a big help most of the time which makes her cutesy ways a hindrance to the enjoyment, and some pointless gags in the final castle chase. The biggest one is when our heroes lead the stepfamily upstairs past Goldie for no reason when they could’ve easily saved her right then and there.  After that chase though, the story ends as you’d expect with Goldie finding Scroogerello with the gold top hat he left behind fitting only him.  The fairy tale sequence, however, ends just as the stepfamily catches our hero to force him into servitude again just as Scrooge wakes up.  It hardly matters that the fairy tale ends with no resolution because Scrooge sees it as a reminder that some love, like his for Goldie, is better for fairy tales, which is interesting coming from a happily-ever-after company like Disney.  It makes the episode a rare product from them that’s more realistic than their perceived ideologies.  So, even if it adds very little to the show and has pretty noticeable problems with the story, for what it is, this episode is a good fresh take on a fairy tale that’s worth listening to. 9/10 
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.  Scroogerello
16.  Catch as Cash Can Part 3: Aqua Ducks
17.  Scrooge’s Pet
18.  Horse Scents
19.  The Golden Fleecing
20.  The Right Duck
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Launchpad is mistaken for a spy called "Double-O-Duck."

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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