The Beagle Birthday Breakout (DuckTales 2017 Season 1 Episode 5) - 'Toon Reviews 51

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The Beagle Birthday Breakout

This may be a reboot, but with this episode, it really starts standing as something all its own with a great new core element not seen anywhere in DuckTales before.  That new element happens to be a new recurring character in the cast bringing solid development for herself and to one of the main characters. 

It starts with Webby, adventurous as ever, ready to join Huey, Dewey, and Louie on their own sea voyage, but there’s no room for her in their boat.  The boys end up brushing her off, but refreshingly, unlike how they’d do so for petty reasons in the original series, they’re actually reasonable and gentle about leaving Webby.  For that, it’s good to know that they do still make an effort to be good friends to her.  

Anyway, while left out, Webby comes across a series of messages in bottles that seem to suggest help, but turn out to be pranks.  This is where she meets the new character in question, Lena, who instantly shows great appeal.  Lena is very laid-back and smooth-talking, doing as she pleases and being her own person.  It’s a major contrast to Webby who’s more energetic and outgoing and wants to make friends.  Despite these differences, there’s an instant bond and care for each other and they instantly feel believable as friends.  

It’s all felt throughout to ensuing adventure where Lena shows Webby more of her rebellious side.  She brings Webby along to crash a party which sounds fun at first until Webby recognizes the guests.  They’re all members of the Beagle family, and they’ve gathered at the junk yard to celebrate Ma Beagle’s birthday.  Because these criminals have a soft spot for their mom, once Webby and Lena are spotted, they set out to honor her order to catch them.  Adding weight to this, Ma Beagle wanting to bring Webby to justice is a direct result of being captured by her a few episodes back.  

Webby and Lena now have to escape the Beagle family by making it back to McDuck Manor for safety, and their adventure stands out in some notable ways.  As they outrun different groups of Beagle Boys, there’s a sense of how big this family is.  Unlike this reboot’s incarnation of the main Beagle Boys who all act the same, the other ones are far more imaginative.  There’s a group of daredevil bikers, silent tumblers, and even friendly hospitable types that are still on the villain side; it’s a versatile ensemble.  No matter who they run into though, Webby and Lena are always able to outrun them and even outwit them as shown in an amusing scene where they pretend to be British.  

There’s also a break in the action for more emotional moments.  Webby talks about how great it is to have friends and family while Lena demonstrates a lack of trust in such things.  She even points out that Webby’s perception on friendship is blind to how the boys left her alone earlier.  At that time, Huey, Dewey, and Louie appear again, but even as they act sympathetic over leaving Webby, Lena still assumes the worst in them.  It seems like the new friendship ends before it can really develop as Lena leaves Webby who opts to protect the boys from the Beagle family.  

However, it’s ultimately Lena who’s captured by them, and after getting a message in a bottle from her that’s not a prank, Webby sets out to save her.  During that time, Lena reveals that a big reason she can’t stand families is because of the constant fighting as proven by an argument Huey, Dewey, and Louie get into. This opens questions over how much of a bother this is to Lena, but Webby sees this as an opportunity.  When all the Beagle Boys are present, she leads them all to argue over which group is the best, turning them against each other, and allowing herself, Lena, and the boys to escape.  It’s clever wit and care for others that solve this issue, and it seems that Lena’s grown to see this if her clear chemistry with Webby is an indication.

This could be a solid ending point for the episode, but the actual final scene goes even further.  It appears to build huge mysteries over whether Lena is trustworthy, and it all relates to an amulet she wears.  The moment it’s brought up in a conversation has Webby build suspicion of what it does, and the ending scene doesn’t hesitate to show that off.  When alone, Lena chants an incantation, and the amulet reveals her to have a connection with notable DuckTales villain, Magica de Spell.  Whether people know the character or read the context of the scene, this is enough to raise questions if Lena’s friendship with Webby was truly genuine.  In time, those answers become clear, mainly through showing what her relationship with her aunt Magica is like, but for now, it’s an effective mystery that can go either way.

This episode is an effective mix of familiarity and adding unique flairs through how it adds extra layers to established characters as well as fresh new characters.  With this particular new character, she astounds as a great addition with an enjoyable personality, plenty of layers, believable chemistry, and huge mysteries.  It’s a well-crafted adventure fit to show off this reboot’s capabilities,

A+

Series Ranking

1.      The Beagle Birthday Breakout

2.      The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest

3.      Daytrip of Doom

4.      The Great Dime Chase

5.      Escape To/From Atlantis

6.      Woo-oo

The next review puts Donald in the spotlight as he's called to help his lucky cousin Gladstone.

Next time are more exciting reviews from Amphibia.

If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

My Mother the Psychic - (DuckTales Vol 4 Part 5) - 'Toon Reviews 50

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

My Mother the Psychic

This episode is another one to give the impression of this show now belonging to Fenton Crackshell, further spelling a downgrade in engagement from the early days.  However, its execution brings about an endearing look into his family and home life.  As a favorable measure, it develops his mother known for being completely obsessed with watching her favorite TV shows.  It’s like she literally never leaves the couch at the risk of abandoning her precious TV.  

Fenton wishes for his mother to spend time with him, but her habits and crotchety attitude suggest no progress.  Then, when trying to fix the TV signal, Mrs. Crackshell gets an electric shock which gives her psychic powers.  She’s able to sense any event before it happens like it’s nothing, and the episode does not hesitate to show off what can be done with this new ability.  Scrooge happens to catch sight of this and proceeds to take advantage of what Mrs. Crackshell can do.  He has her serve as a consultant to sense the details of various new deals and sales.  As a result, Scrooge’s position in the stock market absolutely skyrockets to the point where no one can possibly compete.  Mrs. Crackshell even gets a good deal out of this through watching her favorite shows on a state-of-the-art flat screen TV as opposed to her small faulty one in her trailer home.  

There is a major drawback on an emotional level though when Fenton gets involved.  He still wants to spend time with his mother, but the new arrangements with Scrooge make it less likely than ever, and he’s further frustrated that his mother isn’t even interested.  It’s this reaction that shows a genuine heart amidst Mrs. Crackshell’s cold exterior when her psychic powers reveal that her son is literally never going to talk to her again.  She’s actually saddened by this and sets out to make amends, making it clear that despite seeming uncaring, she really does love her son.  

Another drawback to Mrs. Crackshell’s powers shows what happens when they fall into the wrong hands.  In this case, Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys are dumbfounded by Scrooge’s major rise in the stock market.  Upon finding out his secret weapon, they play to Mrs. Crackshell’s guilt over her failure as a mother and trick her with a fake ad for a self-help line.  Mrs. Crackshell falls for it and is at the mercy of becoming the new psychic to enhance Flintheart’s affluence.  It’s around this time when Fenton learns what’s happened to his mother, and he maturely doesn’t let his frustrations with her keep him from saving her.  He arrives as Gizmoduck, and said superhero guise seems set to solve the problem, but Flintheart is apparently formidable as a villain.  He traps Gizmoduck with a magnet and is nearly successful in using it to send him to the moon.  However, Gizmoduck proves even cleverer as he finds a way to save himself by steering the magnet.  This ultimately stops the villains and brings down a cable tower, cutting off Mrs. Crackshell’s psychic powers.  While Scrooge is pretty insensitive lamenting he won’t be on top of the stock market anymore, Fenton and his mother get some nice reconciliation.  Mrs. Crackshell may be without her powers, but she’s grateful to spend time with her son just as he’s glad to spend time with her.  Indeed, this is an uplifting endearing way to close an episode built on a unique premise.  

Fenton Crackshell may be far from the most interesting member of the cast, but this is one of his and his family’s better starring roles.

A

The Ranking

1.      My Mother the Psychic

2.      Allowance Day

3.      The Land of Trala La

4.      The Good Muddahs

5.      Bubbeo and Juliet

The next review looks into Fenton's love life where he has to balance a date with Gandra Dee, and a flirtatious maid robot.

Next time from the reboot, you're invited to "The Beagle Birthday Breakout."

If you would like to check out other DuckTales reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Mother of Olms / Grime's Pupil - (Amphibia Season 3 Episode 13) - 'Toon Reviews 53

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Mother of Olms

Often, the most passionate parts of a story-driven series are anything that actively advances the big plot of the series, leading to something truly grand and exciting.  This cartoon may be a very plot-relevant one, but it’s unfortunately held back by a number of noticeable issues. 

It picks up exactly where the previous cartoon left off with Anne, Sasha, and the Plantars taken to see the mother of olms after saving their city of Proteus.  As everything goes on, the more it starts to seem like the whole ordeal they faced back in that cartoon was completely pointless.  Nothing from there is ever mentioned, no one seems affected about the city being mined, and Lysil and Angwin aren’t even present.  

In addition, Mother Olm is completely different from the general jerky nature of most of the other olms, and not just in her huge appearance.  She’s actually very warm, caring, and patient with anyone who comes to talk with her.  This alone makes it seem like the protagonists will be able to learn more about the message on that ancient vase, and the obstacle that does get in the way isn’t out of her own malice.  She can’t remember the destiny the vase message says she’s supposed to guide the way to due to her memories literally being faded due to her age.  

To help, the kids have to go inside her head and rub special brain cream on her head to unlock her memories.  Unsurprisingly, this direction is not very pleasing with several encounters of gross bodily substances like earwax and snot.  It’s very unappealing from an audience perspective, but the disgust is lessened by humorous whines from Sasha complaining about it all.  Not only is it funny, but it’s a humane reminder that for all of Sasha’s growth and focus on the task at hand, she’s still a teenager with standards.  

As the kids go through their mission to assist the elder Mother Olm, there’s a reflection of the effects of her aging through Hop Pop.  Throughout this cartoon, he constantly laments how he’s getting old and his body’s starting to work against him, and how that makes him feel useless to the group.  It’s well-staged and relatable for sure, but it honestly doesn’t feel like a good fit for Hop Pop.  He’s proven to be capable many times throughout the series and never complained about his age.  Why is it suddenly an issue now?  At least it makes for a good bond between him and Mother Olm as well as a neat visual of him relaxing in a giant teacup.  

There’s also some good reassurance for him as his elder wisdom proves vital in saving the kids from Mother Olm’s head when things get difficult and filled with bat-mosquito hybrids. His knowledge of herbs helps create something to make Mother Olm sneeze everyone out of her nose; needless to say, the end results are affective but gross.  To add insult to injury, this entire mission was pointless because the brain cream was expired, and what Mother Olm was trying to remember was written above her all along.  All those gross moments could have been avoided which doesn’t help the quality. 

However, there’s still a strong payoff with a reveal on the built-up destiny.  It relates to the power of the music box that brought Anne and her friends to this world and how many have tried to use that power for their own gain.  This in turn created a creature that seems to fit the nature of The Core.  However, the prophesy talks of three stars, representing Anne, Sasha, and Marcy, who will use the powers for good and lead to a new era of peace.  Anne already having glowing blue powers is an example of this, and it’s revealed that Sasha and Marcy can get these powers too.  Of course, now they have to save and reunite with Marcy and retrieve the music box from Andrias so everyone can get powers and the tide can be turned once and for all.  It’s a simplistic reveal, but still effectively delivered. 

While it does have good heart and relatable conflicts, it shows how much meandering is involved in the way to the big reveal.  In fact, some might say it’s indicative of the quality of this season.  It knows what parts are big and exciting, and those parts really deliver and build anticipation for what’s to come.  However, it does not have much thought put into how to get to those parts.  This and the previous cartoon have moments that didn’t need to happen along the way and are never referenced again, and the whole thing feels longer than necessary.  It’s good overall and the care is clear, but with how noticeably padded the adventure is, it’s disappointingly not the best it can be.

B

Grime’s Pupil

There’s an interesting class system present throughout the atmosphere of this show very in line with the superiority of actual amphibians.  Newts are the biggest and most authoritative with them depicted with the best living conditions; toads aren’t as big as newts but still domineering in their own way which is why they’re depicted as tough soldiers over all beneath them; and frogs are on the low end consisting of simple townspeople and farmers.  They all have varying status which naturally leads to conflict among different group, bringing relatable political undertones to what seems like a simple frog show.  In this cartoon, this interesting setup is realized well at a time when all classes need to put their differences aside to help a common cause.  

The resistance aims to take initiative in building their forces by recruiting the other amphibians to join the frogs in their army against King Andrias.  They’re currently appointing the toads whom frogs have a very heated disdain for, and this is especially reflected with Anne’s friend Sprig, and Sasha’s second-in-command Grime.  In addition to the complicated political relationship between frogs and toads, Sprig and Grime have personal grudges with each other.  Most notably is how Sprig beat Grime in a one-on-one battle in Newtopia, and Sprig never lets up on it while Grime can’t stop complaining about it.  

It doesn’t help when the head of the toad army, Grime’s sister Beatrix, taunts him for associating with inferior frogs.  Grime becomes so offended by this that he does something very reckless.  He calls for a cage match where one of the frog recruits has to fight Beatrix and whoever wins get the army of their opponent, and Sprig is the chosen opponent.  With Anne and Sasha horrified that their resistance is at huge risk, desperation is big for Grime to train Sprig in the toad ways of fighting so he stands a chance in the cage match.  

Out in the woods where the training is to take place, Sprig and Grime can’t stop arguing, all the while feeling very understandable on both sides.  Sprig never lets Grime forget all the ways he and the other toads oppressed all frog-kind for years as well as how he tried to kill Hop Pop while Grime excuses his actions as part of his job.  This along with the humorous staging and voice acting really helps take the bite out of what would usually be something very unpleasant.  It also makes it understandable why Grime’s brutish toad ways of fighting ultimately become too much for Sprig, prompting him to ditch his training.  However, there’s heart to the conflict when Sprig runs into a pack of creatures that cross bees and hyenas, and it’s Grime’s aggressive fight moves that save him.  

Afterward, Sprig comes to see benefit in Grime’s ways and is more willing to listen to his teaching.  Grime says that the key to fighting is channeling one’s anger to a goal at hand, and that improves Sprig’s fighting immensely.  

It all finishes with the long awaited cage match between him and Beatrix.  It doesn’t seem like he stands a chance after all at first, but through remembering what Grime told him, at the last minute, he wins the match with an effective headbutt.  In the end, the hierarchy of amphibians begins to come together as the toads are successfully recruited into the army, and Grime gets to gloat that his sister too was beat by a frog.  

As for this cartoon, it ends up as one of the better resistance-based ones for its heart and interesting subjects.

A

Fan Art

Series Ranking

1.      True Colors

2.      Hopping Mall

3.      Reunion

4.      Marcy at the Gates

5.      Anne-sterminator

6.      Olivia and Yunan

7.      Toad Tax

8.      The First Temple

9.      Froggy Little Christmas

10.  Turning Point

11.  Battle of the Bands

12.  Barrel’s Warhammer

13.  Escape to Amphibia

14.  Anne vs Wild

15.  The Domino Effect

16.  The Third Temple

17.  Toadcatcher

18.  Prison Break

19.  The Second Temple

20.  Temple Frogs

21.  A Day at the Aquarium

22.  Mr. X

23.  Anne of the Year

24.  Contagi-Anne

25.  The Shut-In

26.  Best Fronds

27.  After the Rain

28.  Family Shrub

29.  Fixing Frobo

30.  If You Give a Frog a Cookie

31.  Commander Anne

32.  The New Normal

33.  The Dinner

34.  Hop-Popular

35.  Anne Hunter

36.  Wally and Anne

37.  Children of the Spore

38.  Fight at the Museum

39.  Friend or Frobo

40.  Grime’s Pupil

41.  Sprig’s Birthday

42.  A Night at the Inn

43.  Bessie and MicroAngelo

44.  Handy Anne

45.  Scavenger Hunt

46.  Lily Pad Thai

47.  Dating Season

48.  Anne or Beast?

49.  Combat Camp

50.  Little Frogtown

51.  Cursed!

52.  Thai Feud

53.  Snow Day

54.  Civil Wart

55.  Maddie and Marcy

56.  Stakeout

57.  Croak and Punishment

58.  Taking Charge

59.  Flood, Sweat, and Tears

60.  Bizarre Bazaar

61.  The Plantars Check In

62.  The Sleepover to End All Sleepovers

63.  Wax Museum

64.  Return to Wartwood

65.  Sprig Gets Schooled

66.  Swamp and Sensibility

67.  Trip to the Archives

68.  Sasha’s Angels

69.  Toad to Redemption

70.  Anne Theft Auto

71.  Adventures in Catsitting

72.  Hop Luck

73.  New Wartwood

74.  Ivy on the Run

75.  Night Drivers

76.  Quarreler’s Pass

77.  Hop Pop and Lock

78.  Plantar’s Last Stand

79.  Fort in the Road

80.  A Caravan Named Desire

81.  The Big Bugball Game

82.  Fiddle Me This

83.  Hollywood Hop Pop

84.  Truck Stop Polly

85.  Family Fishing Trip

86.  Mother of Olms

87.  Olm Town Road

88.  Hop ‘Til You Drop

89.  Spider-Sprig

90.  The Ballad of Hoppediah Plantar

91.  Girl Time

92.  Breakout Star

93.  Grubhog Day

94.  Cane Crazy

95.  Sprivy

96.  Lost in Newtopia

97.  Sprig vs Hop Pop

98.  Cracking Mrs. Croaker

The next review has a hunt for more resistance members land the group into a familiar mushroom cult, and we learn about the past of King Andrias.

Next time, this blog is looking in on where it left off with the two incarnations of DuckTales.

If you would like to check out other Amphibia reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.