Tuesday, January 9, 2018

'Toon Reviews 12: DuckTales Vol. 2 Part 4: Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck

The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In addition to continuing the story arc and giving us an exciting artic adventure with several great moments, this episode gives us a proper introduction on what to expect from Mrs. Beakley and Webby.  At first, Huey, Dewey, and Louie show a major disdain towards them both, which honestly portrays them as incredibly dense little boy archetypes who have no real reason to dislike them just because their female, and in Webby’s case, really wanting to join them in their fun.  This is evidenced by the opening scene of them pranking them with a tuning fork which interestingly enough, works as a bit of foreshadowing as we’ll see later on.  However, they slowly grow to appreciate them when they get word of Scrooge landing in Antarctica while searching for the other half of the map to the Valley of the Golden Suns, prompting them to stow away on Launchpad’s supply plane while Webby tags along and Mrs. Beakley runs after her for protection.  They all land in Antarctica where they get up to an adventure filled with several memorable elements.  For one thing, the icy environment from the ice caves to the snowy cities filled with penguins are well designed and capture the feel of the setting nicely, which makes the whole episode visually unique.  There’s also some depths to how the penguins who live there work with them being shown to dislike being nothing but black and white, stealing anything colorful from newcomers they later imprison and storing the objects in their own color museum, as shown when we see how Scrooge became lost in the first place.  This point about the penguins really shows how they don’t value themselves for who they are which make them relatable, yet the lengths they go through to get what they want make them legit threats.  This also makes for an exciting climax where everyone has to scramble to escape to the plane while avoiding an army of penguins (who even have their own tanks) along with an escaped prehistoric walrus.  Going back to the two newcomers, the strongest of them is Mrs. Beakley.  She really proves to be more than a simple house servant through showing a clear readiness for action aside from apparent maternity and fear for safety.  She’s quick to jump onto the plane when she finds Webby onboard, finds a way to track Scrooge down when the group first notices his tracking beeper all alone, busts Scrooge, the boys, and Launchpad out of penguin jail, calling back to the tuning fork bit from earlier, and even plays a role in taming the giant walrus which she was scared of at first.  Mrs. Beakley’s capability here shows her great appeal as an adventurer in a housekeeper’s attire, and if some episodes reviewed from Vol. 1 are any indication, what she does here is a great introduction to what to expect from her, not to mention get the boys to finally learn that characters like her can be strong.  As for Webby, she brings the adventure down a bit with a lot of time devoted to her overly cutesy nature as she bonds with a little penguin called Skittles which, like in many of her future appearances shown in Vol. 1, doesn’t fit the adventurous tone very well.  To be fair, she does have her moments like using her crayons to make a copy of Scrooge’s map at the color museum when the group has to leave without it, and Skittles is a nice representation of the penguins’ color problem and it’s easy to feel glad for her when she gets a colorful break from black and white through being friendly in the end.  Overall, this is one of the most appealing parts of this story arc with mostly strong character moments, creative and thought-provoking bits, and a visually appealing setting.  9.5/10
The Ranking:
1.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay
2.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck
3.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship
4.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 3: Three Ducks of the Condor

 
Be sure to stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of the "Treasure of the Golden Suns" arc with the review of "Too Much of a Gold Thing."
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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