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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
- Duck in the Iron Mask
- Nothing to Fear
- The Uncrashable Hindentanic
- Dime Enough for Luck
- Duck to the Future
- Launchpad’s First Crash
- Jungle Duck
- 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.
