DuckTales reboot coming to Disney XD in 2017

[Christopher]

As an in-joke, both of the "cute pony" kelpies were played by lead actresses from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, including the great Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle).

Kind of fun, but I hate what they're doing with Glomgold. An arch-nemesis should be effective enough to pose a genuine threat to the heroes. This Glomgold is such a self-sabotaging idiot that there's no suspense. He hires a golf pro to help him cheat, then fires him before the game even starts, evaporating any tension. If you're going to have a villain defeat himself with his own arrogance and character flaws, fine, but at least save it for the climax.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

As an in-joke, both of the "cute pony" kelpies were played by lead actresses from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, including the great Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle).

Ah, I wondered about that but then forgot to look it up. They seemed a little too much like My Little Ponies to be a coincidence.

Kind of fun, but I hate what they're doing with Glomgold. An arch-nemesis should be effective enough to pose a genuine threat to the heroes. This Glomgold is such a self-sabotaging idiot that there's no suspense. He hires a golf pro to help him cheat, then fires him before the game even starts, evaporating any tension. If you're going to have a villain defeat himself with his own arrogance and character flaws, fine, but at least save it for the climax.

Yeah, I admit as much as I enjoy his antics in the new series, it doesn't really fit with his character profile. That said, I'm not too bothered by it since I never really cared for Glomgold in the first place. I was always more of a Ma Beagle fan myself.

 

[Christopher]

That said, I'm not too bothered by it since I never really cared for Glomgold in the first place.

The character's history doesn't really matter to me, since new adaptations are free to reinvent characters. I just want them to be reinvented in effective ways. Webby and Mrs. Beakley have both been reinvented in ways that make them interesting as characters. The nephews have been reinvented effectively to the extent that they now have distinct personalities instead of being interchangeable. But Glomgold has been reinvented as a worse character than before. He's not a credible rival to Scrooge, he's just an annoying imbecile.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

The character's history doesn't really matter to me, since new adaptations are free to reinvent characters. I just want them to be reinvented in effective ways. Webby and Mrs. Beakley have both been reinvented in ways that make them interesting as characters. The nephews have been reinvented effectively to the extent that they now have distinct personalities instead of being interchangeable. But Glomgold has been reinvented as a worse character than before. He's not a credible rival to Scrooge, he's just an annoying imbecile.

True, but perhaps they did that so they could bring greater emphasis and focus on Magica de Spell when she finally appears?

 

[Christopher]

True, but perhaps they did that so they could bring greater emphasis and focus on Magica de Spell when she finally appears?

I don't see why you'd have to diminish one villain to emphasize another. It's not a zero-sum game. They didn't have to make the Penguin and the Riddler useless in order to make the Joker impressive. On the contrary, what makes the Joker impressive is that he's the most outstanding villain of a strong and deep rogues' gallery.

After all, you use the same writing muscles for every character. If you want one character to be well-written, practice writing every character as well as you can.

 

[Kelthaz]

Scrooge isn't Batman and Duck Tales isn't a superhero show. It's a children's adventure show that focuses on comedy over action. A comical, ineffectual primary antagonist works well for that style of show. Just because it's not your preferred interpretation of the character doesn't make it poor writing.

 

[Christopher]

Scrooge isn't Batman and Duck Tales isn't a superhero show. It's a children's adventure show that focuses on comedy over action.

I am always shocked to hear anyone say that if something is made for children, it doesn't require quality. That's horrific! What if we applied that logic to food or medicine or safety equipment? Surely children deserve the best we know how to give them, including their entertainment. The original Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comics, and the original DuckTales based on them, are so well-remembered because they were done with quality and care, as much as would be put into any adult-oriented fiction.

Batman was just the example I happened to choose to illustrate a more universal principle of competent writing. You do not make one character stand out by deliberately doing shoddy work on the other characters. No way. That's just crappy writing. You make a character stand out by striving to make all your characters stand out, by keeping the overall quality of your work as high as you can. Your characters are an expression of your own talent, and if you deliberately lower your standards, that will hurt all your characters.

A comical, ineffectual primary antagonist works well for that style of show.

Not this ineffectual. Not so much that he sabotages the entire scheme in his first scene and is just there to be annoying for the rest of the episode. Hell, he wasn't even an antagonist here. He was more of a victim of Louie's greed. If anything, Louie was the villainous one, extorting money out of Glomgold before being willing to save his life.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Well, that episode was laid-back silliness. Not the new show's best effort, but it was fun to see the villains all gathered as one in failed attempts to exact revenge at Scrooge. I figured from the beginning that Scrooge disappeared himself and was manipulating everything else from behind the scenes, but I didn't expect an actual appearance of Duckworth despite the sudden name dropping. Still, it's good to have him finally appear in the new series and I hope he stick around in his corporeal form because that's a nice little twist on the character.

That said, I did think for the briefest of moments that this was going to be the triumphant introduction of Magica de Spell considering the shadow of Dewey we briefly saw at the beginning of the party before Scrooged tackled him. However, considering Lena was nowhere to be seen, I figured that probably wasn't the case.

 

[Christopher]

This was a rather weird one. I was a bit shocked (and unaccountably sad) at the early offhand mention that Duckworth was dead. I figured they wouldn't just put that in there for no reason, and I expected that it would turn out he was still secretly alive. I was half-right -- he did show up at the end, but he is actually dead. Giving Scrooge a ghost butler is possibly the weirdest, most random thing this show has done yet. And unexpectedly macabre for a kids' show.

 

[Snaploud]

I loved Webby's reaction to seeing ghost Duckworth.

 

[zarkon]

Beakley's too. "I prefered it when you were dead" was a pretty great line.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Yup, both of those were great responses, as was Scrooge's genuine affection to see Duckworth again. All of that is why I hope he'll stick around in his ghostly form.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

"Adventure leads to treasure, treasure helps the company, the company helps the town through appreciating investments in long-term civic fiduciary interests."

Lena and Magica return and this time Magica moves forward with a daring plan to steal Scrooge's Lucky Number One Dime. I like how Lena's not-so-fake friendship with Webby was the crux of the episode. Even if Magica has a strong hold on Lena forcing Lena to forsake the friendship bracelet, I expect this won't be the last time Lena will defy her aunt. I just wonder how terrible Magica's scheming will have to get for Lena to turn again. Probably after Webby finds out the truth and feels heartbroken.

I also loved Launchpad's one-track devotion in trying to rescue Dewey. "Oh, no! Dewey's brothers!"

 

[Christopher]

The Webby-Lena storyline is probably the most emotionally engaging thread on this show, which is pretty uneven otherwise. The ending here, with Scrooge having to stand by and let criminals abscond with his loot because of publicity, was a weird comic beat that didn't really work. I mean, if the reporter had actually been trying to pressure Scrooge to give the money away for charity, that would've been one thing, but she could see that criminals were running off with it and she still kept up the pretense. Why? That was just dumb. The gag worked against itself.

Also, Glomgold tries to set off a bomb and kill Scrooge live on camera with the whole city watching, and nobody cares? What???

 

[The Nth Doctor]

At last, Goldie has returned! The whole adventure crossed with the the love/hate relationship between Scrooge and Golide was very sweet, but what really sold the episode was, pardon the pun, the golden rapport between David Tennant and Allison Janney. Mind you, Tennant has wonderful chemistry with just about every female lead, but this particular pairing was especially grand. I look forward to Goldie's eventual return for more love/hate shenanigans.

 

[Christopher]

This was one of the better episodes, largely because it's pretty much the first real Scrooge focus episode we've gotten, at least without the nephews being equally dominant. A fairly nice relationship story -- and in the flashback, a nice Carl Barks homage, with the opening image recreating one of his famous paintings of Uncle Scrooge. But Glomgold is still really annoying and overused.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I really enjoyed this one even if the "Only Child Day" was a silly set-up. Nice exploration of the three triplets on their own, while showing the strength they get from each other while maintaining their own individuality. Plus, nice contrast to Webby who is actually an only child and longs for that special bond that the triplets have with each other.

Interesting how one of them (I forget which, but I'm guessing Louie because of his storyline) mentioned that his butler is a ghost, which suggests that Duckworth has stuck around. I sure hope so because I still think that's a fascinating change for the show.

Also, it was great to finally see the Junior Woodchucks in action, complete with Launchpad as a counselor.

The one odd note for the episode was changing Doofus from an annoying nerd to a self-absorbed rich brat. I might not have been the biggest fan of the old Doofus, but I definitely didn't like this one.

 

[Christopher]

The one odd note for the episode was changing Doofus from an annoying nerd to a self-absorbed rich brat. I might not have been the biggest fan of the old Doofus, but I definitely didn't like this one.

That was weird, yeah. Pretty weird episode all around, though the Huey/Beagle Boys subplot worked best.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

I'm just getting to episode 16. I can see why they might make Doofus a spoiled brat instead of a loveable fat kid. They changed Burger Beagle to skinny to avoid fat jokes.

 

[Orac]

What kind of a cartoon avoids making fat people the butt of jokes?