Duckworth’s
Revolt
Aside from a few little appearances as an obedient,
high-class servant, Duckworth has yet to have a chance to shine as a fully
fleshed-out character. That all changes
with this episode where we get to know exactly how he feels about serving
Scrooge. Although it seems like he’s
harshly put through work that never ends, he doesn’t mind it at all, and feels
that it doesn’t matter if he could make as much money as Scrooge with his
skills. As insightful to Duckworth’s
character as this reveal is, Huey, Dewey, and Louie see what Duckworth does as
slave work resulting in a conversation with him that results in Scrooge
overhearing it, taking things the wrong way, and firing Duckworth. The boys’ mindset continues to be in effect
when they and Duckworth are abducted by the creative anomalies of alien
vegetables who, in a shocking twist, freely abduct random beings from other
planets to force them to work in their garden which is pretty dark considering
that this could happen to any being minding their own business. Anyway, whenever the boys try to rebel
against the vegetable overlords keeping them and the other beings against their
will, Duckworth instead insists that they obey the orders of the captives,
further getting the boys to see his willingness to be a servant as a negative. While it may seem that they have a point with
Duckworth not seeming to want to put up a fight with aliens who really are
enslaving him, it’s after that where their butler finally makes a point of
devoting his life to serving. He
encourages all the other imprisoned gardeners to fight for their rights since
they’re working for aliens forever when they don’t want to, whereas when he
usually does his butler thing, it’s his own choice. Duckworth really makes himself clear with the
prisoners and the rest of the episode is them fighting for their rights. Not only that, but he even gets himself an
audience with one of the vegetable overlords in charge, Brigadier Broccoli,
where it’s revealed that these aliens aren’t just heartless kidnappers who love
enforcing slave labor. Their home planet
was destroyed and they’re trying to start over and recruit beings from other
planets for help. Even if the aliens are
in the wrong, it’s good to know that they have believable reasons for their
actions, preventing them from being one-dimensional. The aliens’ motives also help make the conclusion
work. After an exciting climax where
Huey, Dewey, and Louie take control of one of the aliens’ vehicles and get
Duckworth out of his audience, Duckworth signals the other gardener slaves to
start fighting back and the opposing forces are taken out, Duckworth actually
trusts Brigadier enough for him to take control of the ship when they’re about to hit
an oncoming planet. Instead of
double-crossing Duckworth like you’d expect antagonists to do, Brigadier actually lands the
ship safely on the planet and sends the slaves home. The reveal of the planet is pretty convenient
and you have to wonder if it’s okay for the vegetables to inhabit the planet
since the possibility of life existing there exists, but those just feel like
little, meaningless blips compared to the episode’s many strengths. Then, everything wraps up as you’d expect
with Duckworth willingly going back to work for Scrooge, with everyone aware of
the slave vs. servant mentality. That’s
a relatable theme to get across here, and coupled with Duckworth’s character
development, other great character moments, and creativity from the concept of
the opposing forces, everything comes together to form a great episode. 9.5/10
The Ranking:
- The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 5: Too Much of a Gold Thing
- Catch as Cash Can Part 2: A Whale of a Bad Time
- Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy
- Back to the Klondike
- Double-O-Duck
- Raiders of the Lost Harp
- The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay
- The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck
- Time Teasers
- Duckworth’s Revolt
- The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship
- Catch as Cash Can Part 4: Working for Scales
- Ducks of the West
- The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 3: Three Ducks of the Condor
- Merit-Time Adventure
- Back Out in the Outback
- Scroogerello
- Catch as Cash Can Part 3: Aqua Ducks
- Luck O’ the Ducks
- Scrooge’s Pet
- Horse Scents
- The Golden Fleecing
- The Right Duck
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the last episode on the Volume 2 DVD which is the only time an episode is composed of two short cartoons. The first one is about the antics of "Magica's Magic Mirror," and the second one features Duckworth coaching baseball in "Take Us Out of the Ballgame."
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