Thursday, January 31, 2019

Nothing to Fear (DuckTales Vol 3 Part 8) - 'Toon Reviews 25


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Nothing to Fear


A common theme in good stories and real life is learning to face anything that causes fear.  It allows for relatable growth in getting by in the world.  The theme especially stands out when the fears are creatively represented.  This concept is commonly seen in animation depicting anything the people behind the work dream up.  In this fear-themed episode, the fears of all the characters involved fit the creative standards. 
It starts as just an ordinary day for everyone, but then a strange storm cloud appears as an anomaly being one that only rains on the McDuck mansion and nowhere else.  As it rains, everything they fear appears right in front of them.  They start out as monstrous forms of minor frights such as Huey, Dewey, and Louie threatened by characters from their video game and Scrooge dealing with bill collectors.  However, some of the early fears are a bit nonsensical and don’t always make sense.  Duckworth sees Scrooge’s limo turn into a monster which is odd because he seemed more bored of washing and driving it, so why would it be his biggest fear?  Also, Doofus Drake is attacked by monstrous versions of the food he eats, particularly a banana he has at the moment.  They make for fun monster designs, but it’s hard to believe he’d fear they wouldn’t like being eaten on account that he had no problem eating a lot in all his appearances.  It does make for a legit argument that maybe it’s something on the back of his mind, so maybe it does make more sense than it lets on. 
The weight of the fears grow from here as they become more realistic while the storm cloud magically follows the group beyond the mansion.  Scrooge’s money bin is empty, justifying the threats of the bill collectors. Doofus is hounded by a vision of a school bully.  Huey, Dewey, and Louie are frightened by a monstrous version of their teacher Mrs. Quackenbush tying into them not doing their homework.  Then come the fears that turn out to be more personal so to sell the magnitude such things can have over people.  While it is fitting that Duckworth and Doofus aren’t involced since theirs have mostly been ridiculous, it begs the question why they were even major parts of the story to begin with.  What we do get is still impactful for the thing Scrooge and the boys fear the most involves family.  The boys fear Scrooge snapping at them and forcing them out of his life which makes sense considering the events of the series pilot.  Scrooge fears that the boys will stop trusting him, rob him, and kick him out.  It’s honestly heavy that these close family members think that the other could be so cold. 
Eventually, it turns out that the magical phenomena was of course the work of Magica de Spell to scare Scrooge and all in his mansion into giving her his lucky dime.  Giving into her demands is the easy way out, but the way out of this that Scrooge and the boys go for is truly the most mature way to go.  They face all their fears big and small and point out the logic errors behind their existence, which is a defining way to get the fears to disappear.  It still feels empty that we don’t get Duckworth and Doofus doing something about their fears, but with how strong the strengths are from those who do, this factor can be overlooked. 
With a little magic, this episode is an enriching look at what it’s like to have fears and how powerful it is to beat them and develop for the better.
A

The Ranking
  1. Duck in the Iron Mask
  2. Nothing to Fear
  3. The Uncrashable Hindentanic
  4. Dime Enough for Luck
  5. Duck to the Future
  6. Launchpad’s First Crash
  7. Jungle Duck
  8. The Status Seekers
That’s it for the first disc of this set.  Next time we start on the second where Scrooge is under a spell where he keeps changing into a figure who gives away his money.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another fear exploration with "The Nightmare Spirit" from Hilda.

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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