DuckTales reboot coming to Disney XD in 2017

[Christopher]

I don't get the deal with these really long comedy shorts the Disney Channel shows during the breaks in the episodes. (I watch the afternoon showings on TDC because my current cable package doesn't have Disney XD.) The purpose of commercial breaks is supposed to be to pay for the show, as advertisers pay for the opportunity to run ads during the program. But if most of the stuff shown in the breaks is the network's own promotional content, then it's not really helping to fund the show, is it? And in that case, it isn't really necessary to interrupt the show with it for an annoyingly long time. I wish they'd save it for between the shows.

 

[Orac]

You're supposed to get up and do something active for a few minutes like going to the toilet.

 

[Christopher]

You're supposed to get up and do something active for a few minutes...

And if they saved the breaks for between the episodes, then viewers would have a good 8-9 minutes to do active stuff, and still be able to get a whole 20-odd-minute episode without the constant really long, annoying interruptions. That's how they handle ads in some other countries, I gather, and I've often wished they'd do it here. I can grudgingly see the logic of putting ads during the shows, since the advertisers want them to be seen, but I don't see the point of interrupting an ongoing story with entirely different programming like the comedy shorts/vignettes they run. It's like interrupting a novel by inserting a separate short story between chapters. It would make more sense to put the short stories at the end of the novel.

 

[publiusr]

I wonder if they picked that up from Anime...often serious runs are broken up with something from out of the blue.

 

[Teelie]

Uhh... from my ears, when I listened to the scene.

I definitely heard it too.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

"Time Treasures, a subsidiary of Louie, Inc. It's not a crime if it's lost to time."

Another excellent episode, ranking among favorites of the new series. It was only inevitable that Louie's quick-rich schemes would eventually lead to time travel shenanigans. Not just any time travel shenanigans, but time travel shenanigans that finally lead to the reintroduction of Bubba and Tootsie! While their arrival was limited to a one-time appearance as oppose to the extended arc in the original series, it was great to see them and I wouldn't be surprised if we get to see them again (especially considering the final scene).

I loved how Louie's time travel shenanigans not only tied in with Huey's dream of publishing an entry in the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook on caveducks, but it also tied into Mrs. Beakley's and and Della's discussion of proper parenting. I wonder if the repercussions of Della's deciding to ground Louie for his actions will play into future episodes.

Lastly, I want to see episodes that covers everyone's adventures lost in time.

 

[Christopher]

I'm not fond of the nephews' personalities (or voices) in this show, and Louie's "get rich by cheating/being lazy" arc this season is especially obnoxious. Hopefully Della putting her foot down at last will put a stop to it, because I'm sick of it.

I like that they left it to us to notice the thing Louie overlooked in his "take the items just before they disappeared" scheme -- that obviously they disappeared because he took them. They could've spelled that out blatantly, but they left it as an implicit joke. Although that would suggest a fixed time-loop model of history rather than a mutable-history model, and it doesn't track with him putting everything back later.

 

[Maurice]

Random aside: I happen to know the voice of the original Launchpad McQuack. He's the same actor known for the line, "These aren't the droids we're looking for." He taught acting to a number of actors I've used in various projects.

 

[Christopher]

Random aside: I happen to know the voice of the original Launchpad McQuack. He's the same actor known for the line, "There aren't the droids we're looking for." He taught acting to a number of actors I've used in various projects.

The story goes that Terry McGovern also invented the name "Wookiee" in ad-libbed voiceover dialogue for THX-1138 ("I think I just ran over a Wookiee" during a vehicle chase), and Lucas was struck by the name and used it later.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

It was inevitable that Scrooge's greatest enemies would team-up to take down Scrooge and his family once and for all! Of course, the whole thing is driven my Glomgold's newest harebrained scheme, complete with bickering among the ranks, most notable between himself and Magica for the tile of Scrooge's greatest rival. And naturally, the whole thing falls apart when he gets outsmarted and accidentally admits in front of them that he was going to betray them all.

I was very happy to see that Louie's grounding was immediately continued and given direct focus in this episode. I loved how Della was one step ahead of all of Louie's schemes to get out of it, right up until Glomgold shows up and Louie decides to team up with them. I figured Louie had a plan that would ultimately defeat Glomgold, but I was genuinely surprised to see the episode end on a cliffhanger with Louie undecided about turning over to Scrooge the riches he stole from Scrooge's enemies. Imagine that particular dilemma will play out throughout the entirety of the next episode. I wonder if that will threaten his newfound understanding with Della about responsibility.

A minor complaint but it was awfully convenient that Glomgold's photo of Scrooge's family didn't have Donald on it, thus allowing his absence to continue until the finale at the end of the week. It makes sense Della wasn't in it since I don't believe Glomgold has faced Scrooge since her return (or at least not with Della at Scrooge's side), but surely he would've known Donald?

Good to see Scrooge and Glomgold's year-long money contest conclude, even if I didn't realize it had already been a year since they started (in world, of course). Nice to see it play out different than from the original series.

 

[Christopher]

I'd forgotten all about the bet. And I'm still annoyed by Louie, though I like the continuity between episodes.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Oh, I knew forget to mention something earlier: I loved Glomgold's take of the opening sequence.

 

[Christopher]

Oh, I knew forget to mention something earlier: I loved Glomgold's take of the opening sequence.

Apparently you're watching the earlier showings on Disney XD, but The Disney Channel has shown that same "GlomTales" sequence as part of a running skit they do -- one of those cartoon-short things they do in the breaks rather than commercials -- called "Theme Song Takeover," where (apparently) supporting characters from TDC shows do parody versions of the theme songs. There's another one that's been running for the past week with Launchpad doing the theme. And I wasn't watching too closely, but the end of the Glomgold "Takeover" sequence went on beyond where the episode theme did, ending with Glomgold getting in trouble for copyright infringement and yelling "Curse you, copyright law!"

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Louie's time as the richest duck in the world went about as well as expected, you know, give or take an ancient curse that was never mentioned before. I'm not surprised that Scrooge sat back on his laurels, waiting for Louie to learn humility in his newfound position, and I particularly liked how he decided to return to his roots despite the bumps in the road ("Building a fortune was a lot harder than I remember" ). The curse itself was fairly mundane although it was curious how it decided to wander off after Louie gave back his fortune (along with Glomgold's, etc.) to Scrooge, nor did Scrooge seemed concerned about recapturing it on Falcon Island.

The side story with Della reflecting on her relationship with Penumbra was sweet and then bittersweet, even if it was an obvious set-up for tomorrow's hour-long finale. With Penumbra's last-minute warning of the impending Moonvasion, Della seems to return to the idea that Penumbra was always her friend (despite obvious evidence to the contrary). I hope the true nature of their relationship is explored in the finale, while also growing into something better.

One thing I had expected that didn't occur: I figured Donald would show up at the end of the episode as the warning for the impending Moonvasion, so that was a pleasant turn of events. I wonder if we'll get some explanation why it's taken him so long to get back to everyone after crashing seemingly close to Duckburg.

Poor Owlson. She's had nothing but bad luck in the world of business, first saddled with the sheer incompetence of Glomgold and then Louie's inflated ego. I hope she sticks around and works for Scrooge who, on his best days, is a pretty good person.

 

[Christopher]

I'm reminded of the 5-part weeklong miniseries (plural) that the original DuckTales did, including the series opener and the ones that introduced Bubba and GizmoDuck. They seem to be going for a similar 5-part serial here.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Kind of but those serials were more directly connected with each episode and featured a solid overall arc (the search for the city of gold, the lost in time traveling adventure, the bet between Scrooge and Glomgold, etc.), whereas these are more individual episodes with some loose reoccurring storylines.

 

[Christopher]

Kind of but those serials were more directly connected with each episode and featured a solid overall arc (the search for the city of gold, the lost in time traveling adventure, the bet between Scrooge and Glomgold, etc.), whereas these are more individual episodes with some loose reoccurring storylines.

To some extent, yeah, but they were fairly episodic, with just a loose background arc unifying a sequence of individual episodes. The bet storyline you mentioned was an example; each episode told its own distinct story, but it ended in a way that set up the events of the next episode, and each part was a different complication along the way toward resolving the bet -- in Part 1, the Beagle Boys stole Scrooge's money and they had to get it back before the contest, in Part 2 they nearly lost it to Glomgold while shipping it overseas on Donald's ship, in Part 3 they tried to recover it from the ocean floor and encountered a race of merpeople, and in Part 4 Glomgold and the Beagles teamed up to stop Scrooge from reaching the contest site. So each part was still a separate story, but one led into the other and there was a goal the characters continued to pursue from one to the next.

These past three have been very much like that, with the end of each episode directly setting up the next episode -- but there isn't a single shared MacGuffin or plot arc, just the unifying arc of Louie's character progression. I wonder if that will continue into tomorrow's finale to unify it further, or if the focus is shifting to Della and Penumbra.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

The difference being a plot arc versus a character arc.

I hope the focus shifts towards Dell and Penumbra for the reasons I mentioned before.

 

[Christopher]

The difference being a plot arc versus a character arc.

I'm not saying they're 100% identical, I'm saying it seems that the makers of this show are trying to do something similar to the original show's multi-episode arcs. Countless things on the new DuckTales have been direct homages to things from the original show without being absolutely exact copies of them. What we have here is a 5-episode arc debuting on consecutive weekdays, with the end of each episode leading directly into the next episode. The parallel is obvious, even without a single overarching MacGuffin or plot arc.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

"You expected our best, not our dumbest!"

Of course the big finale with the Moonlanders would follow the footsteps of two episodes ago and gather all of Scrooge's friends and family to fight against them (although Goldie and Owlson didn't have an active role in any of it, they're both glimpsed at the end during the big gathering). I like how, despite their best efforts and clever subterfuge (like Scrooge and Darkwing Duck swapping places), Lunaris was one step ahead of Scrooge's plans. Then, in sheer lunacy, the best plan against Lunaris was the one he would least except, the dumbest scheme in the world, courtesy of Glomgold, of course (who made a valid point how he managed to escape all the villains after turning against them).

I particularly liked how the episode focused on Della's fears of losing her family led her to becoming stranded again. Lucky break how, of course, it was the same island Donald has been stuck on this whole time (complete with long beard which brushes pass the timeline problems). Donald's Wilson, I mean, Mickey the Melon was a great side gag, especially considering how with his Mickey voice, he's actually understandable.

I loved how Fenton's mom jumped to Gizmoduck's rescue when the Moonlanders showed their true colors.

I also loved how Scrooge's escalating announcements of various grand weapons invoked The Tenth Doctor at his most dangerous.

Just about my only complaint about the episode is the lack of Penumbra, which meant no further immediate exploration of her relationship with Della. I'm glad she finally showed up at the end to rescue everyone, but it's still a missed opportunity. The trade off was the focus on Della and her relationship with her kids (and then Donald), which is fair enough. Hopefully now that Penumbra appears to be sticking around on Earthy, we'll see more of that relationship.

I wondered about midway through the episode what the direction of the third season would be, following the build-ups to Magica and the Moonlanders, so I was thrilled by the final scene, showing a secret cabal of "lesser" known villains, led of course by the buzzards of Scrooge's company board. I don't think I noticed before, but I love that lead buzzard is voiced by Mark Evan Jackson. I can't wait to watch his villainy unfold next season.