The Day of the Only Child (DuckTales 2017 Season 1 Episode 15) - 'Toon Reviews 51

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The Day of The Only Child

Not every adventure should be expected to be spectacular, but when a show hits a such a consistent good streak, weaker entries end up sticking out a lot more.  That is the case with this episode where the whole conflict and escapades are less engaging than normal.  It’s not bad as it does have a clear goal and structure, but there are notable issues with the overall subject and the logic behind it.  

The premise is the nephews deciding to make today Only Child Day where they all go about acting like they’re the only child in their family.  On investigation, it’s pretty clear that this is mainly at Dewey’s request as he’s the one who hypes it up a lot.  They claim to Webby, who’s disturbed by the idea that the trio would just separate like this, that they need time to be away from each other to do their own thing.  That is a fair point, so there’s not much to complain about here other than it’s just kind of blah as a premise for an episode considering the usual big adventures and creative concepts.  

Unremarkable as this plot may be, one notable thing to it is the format.  Each act of the episode follows a different nephew going about as an only child doing their own goal all coming together in the end.  This is a much more effective way than focusing on each nephew at once, and the audience can better absorb what they each set out to do and how they feel about all this.  In the first act, Huey takes the focus with the most interesting take on Only Child Day.  While the other nephews see it as a positive with chances to fulfill goals to have in mind, Huey questions how it’s truly a good thing, particularly with his own goal.  He’s going after a cookout badge at the Junior Woodchucks, but needs to be part of a trio to be eligible.  If his brothers were here, he could get the badge, but now of course, this is just not possible.  Launchpad gives him the option of two other teammates in his place, but Huey can easily see that they’re two of the Beagle Boys in disguise.  However, his ego easily allows him to choose getting a badge and possibly getting killed over it over the safe option.  In doing so, there’s an amusing setup of taking advantage of the Beagle Boys stupidity.  He acts like their friend telling him how to make a proper pit trap and rope knot, and teaches them moral values like fairness.  At first it seems like he successfully has them on his side as they turn against their far more intelligent leader Bigtime leading to him tied up a tree.  Huey, being very moralistic, won’t have it and opts to get Bigtime down only to land in trouble when the other Beagles start cutting the tree down while Huey’s up there.  There’s a suggestion here that Huey isn’t as clever as he thinks on his own, but then again, he was the least on board with Only Child Day.  As Huey lands in danger, there’s a cut to the next nephew living as an only child.  

What Louie has in mind is not just an attempt to gain great fortune, but is also a reference to an element of the original DuckTales.  Specifically, he’s attending a birthday party of one of the richest residents of Duckburg, Doofus Drake.  The big thing about this is that the character is a callback to one of the original series’ least likable characters.  Doofus back there wasn’t bad, but he certainly had nothing very appealing to him.  He was just short, fat, and overall generic, not to mention seeming very pointless as a kid character when Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby were already sufficient.  Nothing about him really stood out as interesting or substantial to the series, and perhaps audiences shared this opinion as he disappeared after the first season.  As for this reboot, considering that Doofus was an unintentionally unsympathetic character, here he’s reworked into a character meant to be disliked.  And disliked is a good way to describe Doofus as the moment he appears, there’s something unsettling.  This feeling grows as Louie introduces himself as his friend while Doofus proceeds to call him a “friend present.”  This seems innocent enough at first as Louie spends much of the party having fun with Doofus.  Eventually, the disturbance grows to extremely noticeable degrees with how he treats his servants, notably noticing they’re not smiling and acting like everything’s normal.  Not only that, but Louie later learns that the servants are actually Doofus’ parents, meaning their child has no discipline, being allowed to order his parents around.  As for the “friend present” claim, Louie soon finds out what it means when an arm brace Doofus gave him clamps him to the floor, making him unable to leave.  This in turn is an effective way of having Louie learn that being an only child isn’t as easy as he thinks.  

Then comes the last act focusing on the nephew most excited to be an only child, Dewey.  At first, one might think he was just looking forward to just having a normal fun day all by himself without any specific plan.  Then it turns out, he does have a plan.  He starts his own talk show called Dewey Dew-Night all about him.  It has all the fitting setup of a show that places well to Dewey’s sense of self promotion, and it’s easy to tell this is why he was so excited about Only Child Day.  However, it’s this show that gives him the most gradual sense of realization that being alone isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.  He soon becomes lonely running the show all by himself right down to the point of getting random props for him to voice to pose as his brothers.  It’s clear he misses his brothers, and something enhances that very directly.  

As a payoff to an earlier setup, offhand remarks about a robot attacking him appears to get the attention of an established security robot.  Dewey then gets into his designated mess as the robot goes after him.  As a twist though, he figures out that it was a ruse by Webby to get him to see that he needs to be with his brothers.  The moral value feels kind of wasted since Dewey already figured this out and doesn’t need to be told that.  The danger isn’t through though as the security robot starts to actually go on a rampage as a result of Webby’s reconfiguring.  The resulting chase soon leads all three nephews back to each other where they’re surrounded by all the Beagle Boys, Doofus Drake, and the robot together.  They decide to be brothers again, and as all their escapades suggested, they’re effective in solving their problems by working together.  This would suggest that the final moral would be that being a family has more benefit than being alone.  It’s here when the entire story gets muddies.  After going through everything, the boys explain to Webby that they do like being together as a family, but need time alone.  In the first place, that’s almost exactly what they explained to her earlier, so that’s just repetition.  Plus, the whole idea of Only Child Day is kind of pointless.  The boys claim that this is the only day they’re their own people, but there have already been plenty of episodes of them doing their own thing away from each other.  Why even make a big day of something they do, and continue to do, on a regular basis?  This is a matter of causing confusion out of such little matters.  

While the overall episode has merit with its structure and set of moments, it’s held back by a less engaging than average subject and confusing logic behind it.

B-

Series Ranking

1.     The House of the Lucky Gander

2.     The Beagle Birthday Breakout

3.     The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest

4.     Terror of the Terra-Firmians

5.     The Missing Links of Moorshire

6.     McMystery at McDuck McManor

7.     The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra

8.     Daytrip of Doom

9.     The Great Dime Chase

10.  Escape To/From Atlantis

11.  Woo-oo

12.  The Spear of Selene

13.  The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks

14.  Day of the Only Child

The next episode features Launchpad dealing with the rise of technology and introduces the reboot's version of Gizmoduck.

Next time, this blog finally completes Season 4 of Ed Edd n Eddy.

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

Yuppy Ducks - (DuckTales Vol 4 Part 13) - '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:

Yuppy Ducks

The material in this set of episodes that focus on Huey, Dewey, and Louie seem to cover a common theme.  That theme would be having these young boys using business to enhance their desires for fun only to learn that business is far more complex than they let on.  So far, they’ve tried stretching the truth about the day of the week to get more allowance, and doubling their money, both of which resulting in havoc.  The trend continues with this episode where the nephews believe that they can run a successful business only to realize the complexities the hard way.  

A nuisance about the local malt shop having only three milkshake flavors has the boys wish that they had their own business so they can run a shop with all sorts of flavors.  As their uncle Scrooge informs them that they’re too young for that, a series of events put the boys’ desire into motion.  Scrooge suddenly comes down with a case of loot lice as a result of his obsession with maintaining his fortune.  A lot of time is spent on him building up to discovering his condition via a comedic scene of him going to the cheapest clinic and being unable to convince the doctor he’s rich.  Then there’s a long bit of him being placed in the hospital for a week while the lice are fumigated all while sharing a room with one of the Beagle Boys.  The point here is that there’s so much focus on Scrooge that it can easily catch the audience off guard when Huey, Dewey, and Louie eventually take back the spotlight.   

Fortunately, once they do, there’s interesting and well-realized subject matter for the rest of the episode.  The boys (as well as Bubba the caveduck who’s just kind of there) end up answering calls on Scrooge’s private business line since he’s not around to do it.  Their innocence of having a company buy a baseball team and suggest trading baseball cards surprisingly go well.  When they end up coming clean to a bunch of investors and dealers, they’re impressed with how well they handled the deals, and the boys use this as an opportunity.  They claim themselves as the heads of McDuck Enterprises, and with their new power, they set out to make business deals that fit their personal desires for fun.  For one thing, they set up a chain of malt shops that has all sorts of flavors like they wanted which work out well.  Then they take things further with other ideas for products like FM radio earrings and their own car design.  Considering that they pulled off their previous business deals well, it does seem like they know what they’re doing.  They even work the money bin’s security system well when the entire Beagle family tries to rob it.  

However, it turns out for how well the boys seemed to handle things, they still prove that their youth is their own undoing in business deals.  Their product ideas prove too ridiculous to be successful, resulting in many failed deals.  The investors are now in debt after spending so much on making said products, resulting in Scrooge’s money bin being completely emptied.  The boys have the right idea to make money on their own in a day, but it’s still not enough.  Once Scrooge is well enough to come back, the way events play out for the rest of the episode gets pretty messy.  First, the boys’ attempts to keep Scrooge away from the bin go completely wasted when he notices it empty anyway.  Then he's suddenly sent back to the hospital after the emotional shock of the sight.  The boys are with him for a while which looks like they’re going to explain to Scrooge what happened.  Instead, there’s a sudden cut to a scene where they’re running away without anything to establish that’s what they were planning.  

During this plan, they find a way out of the mess when they learn from a policeman that investors can’t make business deals with young kids like them; serving as the business lesson for the episode, this is a matter of breaking child labor laws.  It’s all a clever way of working in a real world issue, but this is where the logic must be questioned.  If child labor laws are a big matter, how could none of the investors have considered them when making those deals with the boys?  Surely, they would have easily been able to tell that they just can’t make deals with literal children just by looking at who they were talking do.  It kind of makes this loophole just a matter of plot convenience with it only being considered at the right time.  On top of that, while it easily solves the problem by getting Scrooge’s fortune back the way it was in an instant, they seem to be absolved from owning up to their mistake.  Scrooge is just happy things are back to normal, and the episode ends with the boys easily moving on with their lives.  Some could say it’s a mixed message for the boys to not face any consequences, but they did still learn and fixed their mistake, and there’s no harm done now.  Overall, unlike things like the investors being too dense to consider child labor laws until it matters, this direction is fine.  

Ultimately, this episode is a solid continuation of the trend of working in interesting business lessons into childhood antics.  It still suffers from sudden shifts in focus and resolutions feeling like conveniences, but it doesn’t make the merits any less notable.

B+

The Ranking

1.     Blue Collar Scrooge

2.     My Mother the Psychic

3.     Allowance Day

4.     The Big Flub

5.     The Land of Trala La

6.     Yuppy Ducks

7.     The Good Muddahs

8.     Dough Ray Me

9.     A Case of Mistaken Identity

10.  Bubba’s Big Brainstorm

11.  Beaglemania

12.  Metal Attraction

13.  Bubbeo and Juliet

The next episode features Scrooge stuck in an arranged marriage with Ma Beagle, but first a look at an episode of the reboot.

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

 

The Spear of Selene - (DuckTales 2017 Season 1 Episode 14) - 'Toon Reviews 51

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:

The Spear of Selene

In addition to being another fun adventure, this episode is also one to help develop a major arc for the series.  Greek mythology is the name of the game here, and it ultimately offers development for the arc in question as well as a good deal of solid character moments.  

Scrooge and the gang crash land in Ithaquack, home of mallard versions of famous Greek gods on top of being a reference to a location from the original DuckTales.  It features Zeus as the leader as is commonly expected, but the real standout qualities come from the other gods on the island.  One of them is the cheerfully heroic Storkules who has an apparent fondness for Donald, further adding intrigue to this iconic character.  The truth is both Donald and Scrooge are extremely apprehensive about Ithaquack and want to leave as soon as they crash land on the island.  It’s not just because of Storkules’ extreme attachment to Donald who’s clearly uncomfortable about the god’s disregard for space, but something bigger on Scrooge’s end.  For now though, the focus is on how they ended up in Ithaquack to begin with.  

This was all a big ploy on the part of Dewey and Webby who made sure they’d crash land on the island.  When no one is suspecting, they sneak off to explore further areas of the island which is said to hold major information on the nephews’ mother, Della.  At this point, all they have as a clue is a message from her to Scrooge saying that she took something called the Spear of Selene.  As Selene is the name of one of the Greek gods, clearly Ithaquack is the best place to learn about such a spear.  Venturing to the Temple of Heroes and faced with all sorts of challenges from obstacles to get artifacts to strange creatures, there are interesting perspectives on the main matter.  Webby, known for her love of adventure and conspiracy, constantly points out all the bad things that could connect to Della taking the Spear.  Dewey, however, keeps holding onto hope for the best, thinking of all the possible good reasons his mother had for taking the Spear.  It makes for a very authentic portrayal of dealing with matters that no one has any answers to.  You can always hope for the best, but hoping is not the same as knowing for a fact that the best is so, and the possibilities of the worst still exist.  This is felt in every obstacle Dewey and Webby face, and as long as they don’t have answers, it keeps getting harder for Dewey to hold onto hope.  

It all comes to a head when they’re just steps away from entering the chamber of Selene, and Dewey straight up prevents him and Webby from entering.  Eventually, it turns out that Dewey is just plain scared of finding out the truth about his mother because of all the possibilities of her taking the Spear of Selene for bad reasons.  This adds a whole layer of appeal to this usually trendy, upbeat, overly ambitious character.  Dewey is expected to be all about diving into adventure and getting results without thinking things through.  This time, he’s considerate of any possibility, including the bad ones, and is nervous about which one ends up being true.  Perhaps something as big as the truth about his long-lost mother is allowing him to look at things more seriously.  In an equally endearing move on Webby’s part, she is respectful of Dewey’s feelings, agreeing that this is a question they don’t have to get answers to if he doesn’t want to.  Then, all of a sudden, Dewey decides to press forward anyway.  Now, this move is kind of inevitable since the truth about Della means a lot to him, and it would just keep bothering him until he gets answers.  The confrontation is a fitting move to convince him to continue through the mission too, especially since they’re so close.  The issue is that it happens almost immediately after Webby acts respectful of Dewey feeling they shouldn’t keep going.  If there was time of Dewey actually thinking about the implications and a clear sign that he’s changed his mind, the later events would have made more sense and enhance the theme.  

One thing’s for sure, despite the issues to the execution of its build up, the big reveal is pretty satisfying.  Behind the doors is Selene herself, goddess of the moon, and what comes from her goes two different ways.  She apparently didn’t have a spear, and certainly doesn’t know of something called the Spear of Selene.  This could mean Dewey is still without answers on what his mother was like, but there is some reassurance to his fear.  Selene reveals to have been good friends with Della about whom she has many good things to say.  Ultimately, this is reassuring to Dewey, even if it still leaves him without many substantial answers.  Still, he is given enlightening advice to not give up on his search, for Della never would.  Not only does this main plot of the episode meet the adventure criteria, but it also does a commendable job with relatable drama and interesting character building.  

Speaking of adventure, much more of that is found in what the rest of the family gets up to.  Looking back on Scrooge’s unease about Ithaquack, it relates to tensions he has with Zeus himself.  A long time ago, he came to Ithaquack with Donald and Della to engage Zeus in challenges.  Zeus, however, doesn’t take it well that Scrooge always beat him in these challenges causing the other gods to not respect him as much.  It’s a pretty petty conflict all things considered, and Scrooge and Donald are right to sort out the ridiculousness of this whole thing.  Still, they’re all caught up in Zeus’ ego issues, forced to try and beat him in a series of challenges.  

The biggest thing to show in this part of the episode is the challenges themselves.  Zeus has his own son go against the rest of Scrooge’s family in feats of strength.  Storkules definitely has much to offer with strength, but Scrooge’s family always best him with their wit.  Specifically, it’s Huey and Louie who provide the wit to win everything.  Donald is there too, but he flat out refuses to take part, and there’s some solid depth for that.  Storkules is very fond of Donald, constantly talks about how the duck is his best friend with a strong spirit of adventure, much like what Della was to Selene.  Speaking of Della, when Donald alludes to her not being with them, Storkules is very sympathetic, but doesn’t immediately see the connection to Donald not doing adventures anymore.  It becomes clearer later on when during Zeus’ challenges, Storkules confronts Donald on this matter.  The big takeaway is Donald solemnly saying that the reason his adventurous ways are gone is that someone always gets hurt.  This is no doubt indicative of how affected he is by the loss of his sister, and even with the funny duck voice, the emotional weight of his reveal is very sincere.  It’s a good example of how Donald can very well be the core Disney character to best resemble a versatile actor.  

However, he ultimately doesn’t let that stop him from helping when things get tough.  Zeus’ pettiness brings on a very intense challenge where the opponents have to try to take a golden fleece from a girl. The catch is that the girl singing creates a fierce storm, and it doesn’t help that Zeus brainwashes his own son beat the opponents back.  Thanks to his bond with Storkules, Donald is able to step in and help his nephews overcome the challenge.  It’s ultimately Louie’s conman ways that stop the girl, but Donald’s little contribution is still of note as it slowly reignites his spirit of adventure.  As for the resolution of this whole conflict with Zeus, it kind of falls flat in intrigue where the family is let out of the challenges when they take a dive in one last challenge.  Zeus is quick to gloat over this like a child, and there’s not a hint of humbleness.  Perhaps, there’s some merit with Scrooge admitting all this was because of pride and egotism, something he himself is guilty of too, thus leaving nobility to throwing the game.  Still, the way Zeus reacts to this makes this stance one-sided.  Despite that, this part of the episode does still have good character moments.  

In fact, it’s character moments that add to the appeal of this episode not just in helping for their sake, but for thematic and plot-driven purposes.

A-

Series Ranking

1.     The House of the Lucky Gander

2.     The Beagle Birthday Breakout

3.     The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest

4.     Terror of the Terra-Firmians

5.     The Missing Links of Moorshire

6.     McMystery at McDuck McManor

7.     The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra

8.     Daytrip of Doom

9.     The Great Dime Chase

10.  Escape To/From Atlantis

11.  Woo-oo

12.  The Spear of Selene

13.  The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks

The next episode has the nephews make a day out of doing their own thing even though they've constantly done so already. 

Next time on this blog is Ed Edd n Eddy.

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

Blue Collar Scrooge (DuckTales Vol 4 Part 11) - '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:

Blue Collar Scrooge

Considering the usual format of these types of episodes, this one can best be described as refreshing.  Not only does it feature the character most tied to the series, Scrooge McDuck, in the lead, but it’s one that suits him very well.  At the same time, it also makes for a very interesting conflict that those in the working class can really relate to.  

The story takes some of Scrooge's most prominent traits of greed and cheapness, and crafts something that feels right for the character on top of being interesting to dissect.  After a general display of him being cheap, it finds a center in one of his many businesses made notable for this episode, a skateboard factory.  Now, the work environment doesn’t seem too bad, but there are points of concern, such as everyone making sure they’re rushing to get work done the minute he appears.  However, their biggest concern is Scrooge potentially selling off the factory to a man named Mr. Trumpcard.  Given this character’s familiar resemblance, it’s understandable why the factory would be concerned and dread him running this business the same way they’d dread him being president.  This is meant to depict Scrooge’s greed being so out of line that he’s set up to go through something to show him sense.  

Sure enough, he gets that when a skateboard hits his head, and this blow is enough to make him forget who he is, subjecting him to amnesia.  From here, Scrooge is given a mandated identity crisis that comes from amnesia.  Not only does he have no regard for money or how expensive things like food are in town, but is sincerely sad that he has no idea who he is.  He noticeably doesn’t even have his Scottish accent, with his voice sounding more like the natural voice of his original actor, Alan Young.  Basically, there are several creative factors to make this identity crisis stand out emotionally.  

Soon, things start coming together for Scrooge as he's offered a place to stay by Mrs. Crackshell and later gets an idea that he’s meant to work at the skateboard factory.  During his time there, there are notable ways the episode ties into real-world working-class issues with things like very short lunch breaks and no real benefits other than just working.  As he gets an idea of the working class, Scrooge goes on to inspire a revolution by convincing the workers to go on strike.  At first, it’s because of the conditions he experienced, but he’s particularly pushed to his limit upon hearing about the factory being sold to Mr. Trumpcard.  All the while, it’s amusing to see Scrooge act like this, working at a company he actually runs.  

Things get even more out of hand when Fenton Crackshell gets really involved in the matter.  With Scrooge missing, it’s decided that he should be portrayed by Fenton to manage the passing of the skateboard factory.  After coaching him My Fair Lady style, Fenton is convincing enough as Scrooge, accent and all, and to add to that, he gets very into character with his most negative traits too.  It can be argued that Fenton gets a little too in character, almost as if he forgets he’s meant to pretend to be Scrooge.  Everything comes to a head at the time the skateboard factory is to be sold to Mr. Trumpcard.  There’s a clash of mistaken identity with Scrooge, without his memories, leading a revolt against Fenton who’s thinking too much like Scrooge, all to amusing effect.  Two characters who clearly don’t feel like themselves are going at each other; it’s the basic definition of a comedy of errors.  

It even comes to a notable climax when the police try to subdue Scrooge by arresting him, and the energy of the situation picks up as he runs through the factory trying to get away.  This results in another bump on the head which, as is the case with these sorts of storylines, is enough for Scrooge to regain his memory.  However, the climax doesn’t stop there as Scrooge and Fenton get into a heated argument about who’s the real Scrooge.  As fun as the way these two play off each other is, it’s at this point where Fenton is a bit much, and it’s easy to wish he’d drop the act now that Scrooge is back.  Thankfully, everyone comes to their senses when Mrs. Crackshell uncovers that she was harboring Scrooge this entire time.  What’s more, Scrooge himself is shown to have grown from the experience by cancelling the sale of the factory, and opting to give the workers better treatment.  

There has been a notable lack of the series’ more engaging setups at this point, but this episode is ultimately a breath of fresh air.  By taking a familiar amnesia story and working in universal societal themes with solid character moments and high energy, it reminds audiences of what makes this show the joy it is.

A

The Ranking

1.     Blue Collar Scrooge

2.     My Mother the Psychic

3.     Allowance Day

4.     The Big Flub

5.     The Land of Trala La

6.     The Good Muddahs

7.     Dough Ray Me

8.     A Case of Mistaken Identity

9.     Bubba’s Big Brainstorm

10.  Metal Attraction

11.  Bubbeo and Juliet

The next review covers a creative look at a reboot episode featuring golf, talking ponies, and petrifying mist. 

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