Time is Money Part 2: The Duck Who Would Be King (DuckTales Vol 3 Part 16) - 'Toon Reviews 25

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Time is Money Part 2: The Duck Who Would Be King

Rather than our heroes returning to the present right away, this second part of this arc sends them on a completely different adventure in the past.  At least it’s well done with an interesting setting and lore, and creative ways to bring everything together. 

Scrooge and the others end up in an ancient Chinese kingdom, Tupei and hope the locals can fix their time machine.  They meet Sen-Sen who insists that the prophesy of the Great One will soon be fulfilled.  Because of the claims of royal advisor Mung-Ho, no one believes Sen-Sen and commission her to be executed along with Scrooge and Launchpad who speak up in her favor. 

It’s just Scrooge’s luck that Bubba the Caveduck tagged along with him.  It’s a unique setup for a prehistoric child having something to do with a Chinese prophesy.  Bubba is considered the Great One since the prophesy says he’d ride in on a giant lizard, i.e. Tootsie.  From there, the story takes a comedic turn with this little caveduck in charge of the kingdom.  It shows when Tupei takes pleasure in imitating Bubba’s way of talking be it his imitation of modern radio talk or mispronuncing Scrooge’s name.  Of course, it’s appropriate that Scrooge’s main priority is getting the time machine fixed.  That is a major factor to this episode with time spent on Launchpad, Huey, Dewey, and Louie going up the mountains to refreeze the melted bombastium for the machine. 

However, Bubba as the Great One brings another subplot.  During a tour of the royal palace, attention is drawn to the royal treasury.  While swimming in the money, Scrooge deduces that Mung-Ho stole it from the people.  When he and Bubba expose him, it seems like a good place to end the subplot.  Then Mung-Ho reveals that he did earn the riches, having the people pay him for beating back bandits every year, something Sen-Sen didn’t tell Scrooge.  There’s an opportunity to give interesting layers to the characters.  Maybe Sen-Sen has ulterior motives to the prophesy and Mung-Ho is more caring of his kingdom than he seems.  Instead, they both turn out to be as black and white as they appear when it’s revealed that Mung-Ho is working with those bandits.  Not only that, but with the young Great One, he sees this as an opportunity to defeat him and fully take over the throne.  This wouldn’t be so disappointing if it wasn’t so convincing that he may have a caring side. 

At least what the reveal brings on is very fun.  In the climax, Scrooge impressively holds out strong and even takes out a few bandits until he gets conked out and young Bubba comes in to save him.  The bombastium subplot then merges with this when the boys and Launchpad enter in a giant snowball to save the day.  Also an earlier Launchpad gag is made relevant when the inside of an iron duck statue turns out to be a robot which scares away the bandits. 

While this adventure is overall enjoyable, there’s a big problem lingering through the whole thing.  What does this episode have to do with the rest of the arc?  It barely ties into its major elements, and anything to do with Tupei is never brought up again.  At best, it could be argued that it has Scrooge warm up to Bubba, but there’s still issues.  He’s hesitant to bring Bubba back and even considers leaving him in Tupei.  If this was a separate episode, there’d be no real issue.  Since it’s part of an arc, the episode is mostly a distraction despite how good it is. 

If you can get past it seeming like a detour though, you’ll really enjoy the world-building, plot structure, comedy, and all the makings of an entertaining adventure.

B+

The Ranking

1. Once Upon a Dime
2. Duck in the Iron Mask
3. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck
4. Spies in Their Eyes
5. Nothing to Fear
6. The Uncrashable Hindentanic
7. Dime Enough for Luck
8. Duck to the Future
9. Launchpad’s First Crash
10. Jungle Duck
11. Ducky Horror Picture Show
12. Time is Money Part 1: Marking Time
13. Time is Money Part 2: The Duck Who Would Be King
14. All Ducks on Deck
15. Till Nephews Do Us Part
16. The Status Seekers

Although Disc 2 ends here, the “Time is Money” arc continues in the third and final disc on the set with a proper continuation of the arc which sadly does not do great justice for Bubba's character.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Hey Arnold review on "Helga's Parrot" and "Chocolate Turtles."

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