Time is Money Part 5: Ali Bubba's Cave (DuckTales Vol 3 Part 19) - 'Toon Reviews 25

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Time is Money Part 5: Ali Bubba’s Cave

Here’s one last race against time as Scrooge explores Bubba’s cave for the perfect diamond to buy it.  The results are a mixed bag with exciting moments and devaluing story directions. 

Most of the episode is an exciting fortune hunt in which Scrooge has the ambition, the boys have the wit, and Launchpad has the humor when it comes to his crash record.  The cave entrance is blocked by Flintheart Glomgold and the Beagle Boys, and from here, things get confusing with how they keep Scrooge from completing his purchase.  They can completely destroy Scrooge’s chances since the markers he left in the cave make it part of the purchase.  Flintheart can destroy the marks so even if Scrooge pays him in time, the cave won’t be buyable.  Instead, he and the Beagle Boys lounge in the diamonds and let Scrooge freely try to pay.  At least the series’ spirit is felt through our heroes finding another way to the cave.  Launchpad’s crashes humorously reveal an underground path, and to keep the diamond trek exciting, the group also runs from a strange monster. 

Meanwhile, there’s a subplot of Bubba returning to his time but feels more at home with Scrooge.  Amidst his caveduck mannerisms, these scenes are actually kind of cute through his limited vocabulary.  Bubba then uses what’s left of the bombastium to find Scrooge through child innocence particularly with the hijinks from the random times he ends up in.  He eventually gets to Scrooge and takes out that monster.  The paths now crossed lead to precision, wit, and ingenuity to find the diamonds and get through Flintheart’s last obstacle. 

However, in a huge twist, Scrooge doesn’t win.  He pays Flintheart with the diamond too late.  Honestly, he shouldn’t have been allowed to pay with it anyway.  Until the purchase, the diamonds belonged to Flintheart, so Scrooge was basically paying with his rival’s money.  Anyhow, this outcome is a striking formula shift. Scrooge is set up to truly get that family matters more than fortunes.  Then one of Scrooge’s stunts erupts all the diamonds out of the cave and onto the part of the island he does rightfully own.  While Fintheart losing the diamonds is fine, all of them landing on Scrooge’s island cheapens what could’ve been a mature resolution. It’s not even convincing that the diamonds would land in piles on that specific spot.  It’s still all right as a resolution, as is Scrooge investing in a dinosaur park for Bubba now part of his family. 

Speaking of Bubba, it works emotionally since this arc showed a lot of Scrooge warming up to him.  However, it ignores the legit importance of Bubba needing to go back where he came from.  What about the big hole in time?  Won’t all of time be messed up because of this?  It would’ve been fine if all those earlier fears were just in Scrooge’s head, but at least one moment made a big deal of this.  Since nothing bad happens with time here and anywhere else in the show, what was the point of bringing that up in the first place?  Plus, for all the heart of Scrooge’s farewell with Bubba in the last part, it’s wasted because of Bubba staying.  It makes the whole arc much less impactful than it could have.

That doesn’t mean it’s bad though.  There’s still plenty of exciting action and character moments, and its heart is in the right place.  It’s just held back by noticeable plot holes and plot points that appeal more to just kids than universal audiences.  It’s entertaining, but it’s safe to say that this is where the series starts losing steam.

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 4: Ducks on the Lam
13. Time is Money Part 1: Marking Time
14. Time is Money Part 2: The Duck Who Would Be King
15. All Ducks on Deck
16. Till Nephews Do Us Part
17. Time is Money Part 5: Ali Bubba’s Cave
18. The Status Seekers
19. Time is Money Part 3: Bubba Trubba

The next DuckTales review is the start of another arc, "Super DuckTales."

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Back to School" and "Egg Story" from Hey Arnold.

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

Time is Money Part 4: Ducks on the Lam (DuckTales Vol 3 Part 18) - 'Toon Reviews 25

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:

Time is Money Part 4: Ducks on the Lam

Who’d have thought a mediocre episode of Bubba messing everything up would get an exciting follow-up?  This is one of the better parts of “Time is Money” with exciting action, creative sequences, and much-needed heart. 

The episode follows the Beagle Boys’ takeover of Scrooge’s money bin, and they revel in getting the fortune by themselves.  It’s appropriate that they gloat to Flintheart Glomgold about what they did without his help.  However, the episode knows the Beagle Boys are still wanted criminals as they’re surrounded by all the forces at Scrooge’s command.  It shows that the Beagle Boys still function best when someone else is in charge of them.  At Flintheart’s command, they man the money bin’s security system easily.  As a result, there are many creative gags that stop the forces from breaking in.  Also, when Scrooge goes to the banks for money, Flintheart sabotages that too. He has the Beagle Boys impersonate Scrooge reporting an imposter of himself.  This is honestly a weak point where the cops are easily fooled by what is obviously a portrait of Scrooge with his arms and eyes cut out making the call.  It cheapens the conflict by making them all dumb enough to fall for the trick.  In a few bank trips, the banks’ false conceptions gets Scrooge getting arrested…again.  

While this goes on, there is some redemption for Bubba where, on his own terms, he feels bad for messing up and not being well-liked.  At first since he still resorts to his destructive ways at a park, but those acts get him arrested too.  What follows is one of the strongest heartfelt scenes of the episode.  When Scrooge finds Bubba in jail, he reflects on the few good moments he had with the caveduck.  Then Bubba gives Scrooge a “shiny” coin he got in the last episode. Scrooge is moved that someone would give him their whole fortune.  It’s a convincing way of showing that for all his destruction, Bubba truly has a good heart. 

For the rest of the episode, he’s at his most competent in serious situations.  Bubba easily breaks Scrooge out of jail and even forges a great escape route to his mansion.  This leads to a fun and creatively structured sequence where Scrooge races through Duckburg in a shopping cart.  Flintheart and the cops chasing after him adds to the excitement, as is Scrooge dangling from Flintheart’s car phone calling the boys to prepare for his arrival.  It’s a fun chase sequence made better by stemming from Bubba being a commendably active player. 

Because of this, when they get to the mansion and Gyro brings the time machine, it’s emotional when Scrooge tells Bubba it’s time for him to go back to his own time.  Everyone else saying good-bye adds to the genuine pathos of the scene.  After that, the arc is set up for the next part as Scrooge and the boys set off to that island to get the diamonds to fully pay for that diamond cave island.  As for the imposter subplot, it resolves itself when Duckworth tells the cops that the duck who just took off is the real Scrooge, and they take his word for it.  It’s not exactly the most fleshed out resolution for something they were dead certain of.  In fact, it’s a cheap half-baked storytelling direction.  That’s nothing compared to what they do with the impact of Bubba’s emotional sendoff, but that’s for the next part of the arc. 

For now, with fun, heart, and mostly good direction, as an episode by itself, this is solid jailbreaking entertainment.

A-

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 4: Ducks on the Lam
13. Time is Money Part 1: Marking Time
14. Time is Money Part 2: The Duck Who Would Be King
15. All Ducks on Deck
16. Till Nephews Do Us Part
17. The Status Seekers
18. Time is Money Part 3: Bubba Trubba

The next DuckTales review is the very mixed conclusion of this arc.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Grudge Match" and "Polishing Rhonda" from Hey Arnold.

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

Time is Money Part 1: Marking Time (DuckTales Vol 3 Part 15) - 'Toon Reviews 25

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:

Time is Money Part 1: Marking Time

The second season consists solely of two story arcs, and the rest of the DVD is their separate parts.  This episode is the first part of the first arc.  It’s about time travel to the past, making for a prehistoric adventure of dinosaurs and caveducks.  The arc starts as a standard fortune hunting plot, but then focuses on incorporating some of the prehistoric elements into the main series.  The following few reviews will elaborate on how good of a change this is. 

The fortune hunt starting it all is as enjoyable as always.  Scrooge further impresses with deal-making when he buys his rival Flintheart Glomgold’s westernmost island.  It seems worthless compared to the other islands, but that’s Scrooge’s brilliance at play.  That island has a cave filled with coal that turned into diamonds over millions of years.  This has got to be one of the best moments of Scrooge making a fortune out nothing. 

However, he’s not without drawbacks here.  Flintheart eavesdrops on Scrooge’s claim of the diamonds and separates the island so the diamond cave isn’t the westernmost, all unbeknownst.  Because his greed won’t let him put up with going without the find he justly bought, Scrooge has Gyro Gearloose make a time machine to go back in time to reclaim the cave.  Right here, we have a problem.  The story has Gyro make a time machine powered by a huge clock and a popsicle-like fuel source, bombastium.  While that’s very creative, the episode, and the whole arc, ignore the fact that Gyro already has a time machine Scrooge can use, the time tub.  That wasn’t even a one-off invention. It’s been used and mentioned multiple times.  With no mention of the time tub, it seems this new time machine was made just so the arc could occur, even if it doesn’t make sense.  It’s this time machine’s complications that cause Scrooge, the boys, and Launchpad to end up on the island a million years off the mark. 

Now, if you can ignore this leap in continuity, this prehistoric adventure is enjoyable enough.  It’s also cute through the appearance of a caveduck named Bubba.  When he first sees Scrooge appear out of the time machine, he sees him as a god-like figure and shows him loyalty with any random object around to offer.  This, along with his lonely cave home with only a pet triceratops given the name Tootsie for company, hint that he’s all over Scrooge because he’s never had his own true family.  If that’s the case, then that makes Bubba’s bonds with the gang endearing.  That said, Bubba is also very reckless with his antics adding to the group’s already stressful conflict and doesn’t provide much productivity apart from hanging out with the boys.  Along with his scrappy voice and broken English, it’s clear that Bubba is all right for one appearance, but isn’t exactly the best character to see a lot of. 

That said, finding Bubba does prove beneficial to Scrooge’s goal.  Bubba’s cave is where Scrooge found the coal-turned diamonds, so he leaves marks to claim the cave a million years ahead of his deal with Flintheart.  Near the end of this episode, Bubba also plays a big part in helping the group escape a huge T-Rex.  Even so, the problems with Bubba persist, so it’s a bit conflicting when he and Tootsie end up on board the time machine with the others.  These feelings are only going to grow for the rest of the arc. 

In spite of a few disregards of continuity for the plot to work and minor character gripes, this is a thoroughly fun adventure to start the arc.  Now we move onto where the time machine sends everyone next…

A-

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. All Ducks on Deck
14. Till Nephews Do Us Part
15. The Status Seekers

The next DuckTales review is about the time period Scrooge and the gang end up in... which has nothing to do with the rest of the arc.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "The Beeper Queen" and "Oskar Can't Read" from Hey Arnold.

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