'Toon Reviews 12: DuckTales Vol. 2 Part 9: Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy

Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kicking off another multi-episode story arc presents this one with a highly creative premise made more appealing by humorous antics, moments that take you to places perceived as unreachable, and great character moments.  The setup that drives the whole arc is that Scrooge and Flintheart Glomgold are challenged to prove who the true richest duck in the world is by gathering their riches together so they can purchase the rights to sell a special illuminating fruit called Firefly Fruit from the city of Macaroon.  It’s already established that Flintheart is willing to do anything to one-up Scrooge, and this episode has him do the ultimate scheme by calling upon the group who specializes in trying to rob Scrooge’s fortune, the Beagle Boys, for help.  As a result, much of what we get here consists of scenes of the Beagle Boys attempting to break into the money bin, first by bringing in the whole Beagle family to raid at a time when Scrooge and the boys are all alone to defend.  It’s interesting and cool to see that even with Scrooge completely nervous about losing to Flintheart in the challenge, he can still find creative ways to beat the whole family back.  However, Scrooge’s obsession also turns out to be his downfall when his own plan to take out anyone who dares come into the money bin to rob it rids the whole building of every cent of his fortune.  From there, there’s never a dull moment as Huey, Dewey, and Louie jump down to the sewers and chase after Scrooge’s money while Scrooge frantically tries to track where his money is going and the main Beagle Boys plot to flow the money into the reservoir so they can rob it easily.  We have many standout moments in the sequence like the boys riding the roaring sewer waters in a boat made from a common barrel, the Beagle Boys opening the floodgates on them when all seems well and later get scared off by an alligator, and Scrooge battling the Beagle Boys in using the water valves to redirect the cash flow.  All the excitement from the chase for the money even continues to the very end of the episode when Scrooge’s money winds up in a random penthouse.  We mostly get some humorous banter from Scrooge, the penthouse owner, and a random couple wanting to buy it as Scrooge haggles them into buying the penthouse and the whole building, and even a humorous meltdown from him as he hopelessly tries to hide his money with the Beagle Boys in very close pursuit.  The way he and the boys finally do outwit them is both really funny and highly clever which is then followed by the tone finally calming down, but given that this is the first part of an arc, you can tell the quest to protect Scrooge’s money is not over yet.  In the end, this episode offers a thrilling start to the story arc that fully delivers and gets you excited for what’s to come. 10/10

The Ranking:

1.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 5: Too Much of a Gold Thing

2.      Catch as Cash Can Part 1: A Drain on the Economy

3.      Back to the Klondike

4.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 2: Wronguay in Ronguay

5.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 4: Cold Duck

6.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 1: Don’t Give up the Ship

7.      The Treasure of the Golden Suns Part 3: Three Ducks of the Condor

8.      Scrooge’s Pet

9.      Horse Scents

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next part of this arc and make sure a sea monster doesn't eat your ice cream or else you'll be in for "A Whale of a Bad Time."

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

'Toon Reviews 1: Hey Arnold Season 1 Episode 16

Abner Come Home

 

 

 

 

One of Arnold’s many unique aspects is that he has a pet pig.  However, as this cartoon shows, it’s one thing to have a certain animal for a pet that most people don’t, but it’s another to do something different with the animal from ones commonly kept as pets.  The thing about Arnold’s pet pig, Abner, is that he doesn’t seem to behave differently from other pets, namely dogs.  He begs and pants like a dog, enjoys playing fetch, and even has his own doggie door set up for him.  Basically, Abner may be a pig, but at heart, he’s no different from your average pet.  Still, the opening sequence of him and Arnold enjoying being together is very nice and it really demonstrates their strong bond which in turn gets you to feel for Arnold when Abner gets lost.  Then again, the way Abner gets lost is based around a pretty stupid move on the pig’s part.  Given that Abner behaves like a dog, he gets the urge to chase a cat in the middle of the night, resulting in him getting out of the boarding house and into the real world where he could easily be caught and made into food or a football.  All this because he felt that getting a cat was more important than his family.  This not only gives dogs a bad name, but it also builds the cartoon’s entire conflict on a dumb decision lowering the appeal.  Still, it’s got a lot of strong heartfelt parts throughout the duration.  Since the bond between Arnold and Abner has been established to be a strong one, there’s a genuine feel of despair and sympathy when Arnold realizes Abner is gone and is nowhere to be seen.  As more time is spent focusing on Arnold trying everything he can to find him akin to ways anyone would try to find a lost pet, it’s easy to get invested and hope he finds him.  There’s even a nice moment between Arnold and Grandpa where Arnold is given some nice strong advice on getting over his loss by remembering all the good times he had with Abner which inspires an admittedly clever idea to get Abner home involving creating a scent of his favorite things to follow.  Plus, Abner himself gets a nice moment of heart when he’s reminded of home after catching sight of one of Arnold’s “lost pig” signs.  These moments lead to a joyous conclusion where Abner finally follows the garbage scent back home and he and Arnold reunite while rolling around in garbage, which is an appropriate way of showing the happiness of them being back together with a touch of funny pig mannerisms.  This cartoon is pretty standard when it comes to lost pet plots, but it’s worth a watch for being told well and showing off why Abner coming home is worth hoping for. 8/10

The Sewer King

Here’s another cartoon that explores the out-of-the-ordinary yet highly creative and imaginative lives of the strange inhabitants of Arnold’s city, major emphasis on creative which is just what I like to see in an animated product.  The story gets off to a nice and simple start with Arnold being tasked by Grandpa to get a special pocket watch for him, which is a task he hardly entrusts to anyone.  After Arnold purchases the watch, the creative angle really starts to take effect.  It starts when Arnold and the kids come across a demolition team blowing a hole in the road, resulting in a long way down to the sewers of the city, which is something you certainly don’t come across every day.  Anyway, the watch falls down the hole into the depths of the sewer prompting Arnold and Gerald to venture down to try and retrieve it no matter what happens.  We’re treated to some impressive designs of the sewer which consists of pipe formations, waterfalls, and rats crawling throughout the darkness, all the makings of an adventure that takes you to places you could only imagine going to, in this case the sewers.  Then, we meet the titular Sewer King.  He has a rather interesting way of life, living in the sewers, having only rats for friends, and considers anything from the surface world his rats find to be a “royal icon.”  It’s because of these ways of life that the Sewer King doesn’t just give up the watch to Arnold and Gerald.  Then, of all things, the boys find that the only way to get the watch back is to beat the Sewer King in a game of chess.  Arnold does win every time, but the catch is that the Sewer King keeps making them play until he wins.  Eventually, Arnold catches on to the act and just up and grabs the watch from the Sewer King, resulting in an entertaining chase through the sewers culminating in an escape that reveals another interesting trait about the Sewer King.  He fears the light of the surface world, which could possibly be the reason why he lives the way he does.  So, our heroes escape with the watch that’s rightfully theirs.  Unfortunately, the story ends on way too strong of a downer note.  After all that trouble Arnold went through to get the watch, Grandpa accidentally drops it down the drain and it ends up back with the Sewer King making the plot of getting the watch back from him completely pointless.  Even more pointless is the plot of this cartoon in general as Grandpa later reveals a bunch of backup watches meaning there was really no reason for Arnold to do what he spent the entire cartoon doing.  Then, for his troubles, Grandpa gives him another task to do which really doesn’t seem appropriate.  Still, as much as a major downer the ending is, this is still a highly enjoyable cartoon for its creativity and likable characters. 9/10

The Rankings

1.      Pigeon Man

2.      Haunted Train

3.      Stoop Kid

4.      Arnold’s Hat

5.      Wheezin’ Ed

6.      Spelling Bee

7.      Helga’s Makeover

8.      Mugged

9.      Tutoring Torvald

10.  The Baseball

11.  Olga Comes Home

12.  The List

13.  Das Subway

14.  The Vacant Lot

15.  Downtown as Fruits

16.  The Old Building

17.  Field Trip

18.  The Sewer King

19.  Sally’s Comet

20.  Roughin’ It

21.  Gerald Comes Over

22.  6^th Grade Girls

23.  The Little Pink Book

24.  Abner Come Home

25.  Arnold as Cupid

26.  Snow

27.  Eugene’s Bike

28.  Door #16

29.  Heat

30.  Benchwarmer

31.  Operation Ruthless

32.  Cool Jerk

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the 17th episode of this season: "False Alarm/World Records."