I love that
my childhood encompassed both the 1980’s and the 1990’s, I love that I got to
enjoy such classic shows like He-Man,
Transformers, G.I. Joe and….
*Go bots?
But then,
immediately around the corner from all those great (toy commercials) shows, I
got to partake in the original Disney Afternoon lineup of programming. With shows like Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers,
Talespin, Darkwing Duck
*Even Bonkers was pretty good. That’s right, I said it.
And of
course, the iconic Ducktales. Now for me
personally, I was always more of a Darkwing Duck and Talespin kind of guy. Darkwing laid claim to my heart long ago, and
I don’t see it becoming unseated any time soon.
That’s not to say Ducktales had no special place in my past. Ducktales was the pivot point for many of the
shows I love. Without the success of
Ducktales there would have been no Disney Afternoon. At the time, the adventures of Scrooge McDuck
and his family was one of the best written shows on. It was thrilling, scary, and at times
moving. Whatever you were interested in,
whether it was science fictions, noir, comedy, there was something for
everybody. This not only built a strong
fan base, but kept them loyal throughout the years. Even without a show on the air, Ducktales stood the
test of time because of what they had built and how they treated their fans.
That’s how
strong a property it was, even the video game for the Nintendo Entertainment
System was a massive hit that spawned a successful reboot. And now, over thirty years later, the beloved
cartoon is brought back to us in glory! Look,
there is nothing that can replace the original show. It was lightening in a bottle, it was a magic
formula that could never be repeated. It
was everything a childhood could want.
That being said, this new version is absolutely amazing. Its better than it has any right to be, its
funnier than 95% of what’s on TV already, and above all its just plain
fun. I don’t actually look forward to a
lot of what’s on these days. Even shows
I like I lost interest in after about 5 episodes. But if I know a new Ducktales is on, I make
it a point to watch it as soon as humanly possible. Its really that good.
It is nigh
on impossible to talk about Ducktales without mentioning Alan Young who was the
voice of Scrooge McDuck from 1974 up until his death in 2016.
To think of Scrooge is to think of Alan
Young, much like how to think of Goofy is to think of Bill Farmer, or to think
of Minnie Mouse is to think of Russi Taylor.
The voice is synonymous with the character. How do you find someone and charge them with
the insurmountable task of taking lines like “Bless me bagpipes,” and “Curse me
kilts”, and make it your own?
Fortunately for all us they found the perfect person to bring this
updated version of Scrooge to life in David Tennant; most widely known from his
time as Dr. Who and Kilgrave in Jessica Jones.
David Tennant, even in his wildest dreams, could never replace Alan
Young as Scrooge McDuck. But what is so
wonderful about this new series is that while it does exist as a complete
rebranding of Ducktales it pays so much homage to the shows…
*Yes, shows,
more than one.
That came before
it. David Tennant finds a way to make
his performance as Scrooge completely his own while holding onto the charm and
stubbornness Alan Young embued in the character. This Scrooge is more akin to his comic strip
and comic book roots. He’s a bit harder,
drawing from his years of experience to predict outcomes, and is always on the
lookout for more adventure. Whereas the
previous version of Scrooge was completely motivated by wealth and acquiring
more wealth, this Scrooge appears to be motivated first by excitement, and
secondly by money.
This gives
Scrooge an interesting dynamic. He’s
like an adrenaline junkie who refuses to admit that he’s gotten older and is a
little more limited in how he goes about his life. It puts him in many ways in direct conflict
with his three teenage nephews who have now come to live with him.
Huey, Dewey,
and Louie have always been the trouble making triplet nephews of Donald Duck;
who has taken them in after the disappearance of their mom Della. Scrooge, being their great uncle, takes them
off Donald’s hands for various reasons.
Previous iterations saw Donald join the Navy and thus unable to watch
them. In this telling, Donald, unable to care for the three boys financially on
his own, turns to his uncle for help.
Scrooge begrudgingly takes them in, and Donald as well.
What I
absolutely love about this new version of the triplets is that they each have
their own distinct identity. They have
separate interests, separate goals, and separate ways of dealing with
situations. However they are still very
much a team and they function far better when they’re together then they do
when they’re apart. Giving the boys this
character split, other than just dressing them up in different colored clothing
not only serves the story better, but also helps me in remembering who each of
them are.
I can say
with no hyperbole that I can now distinguish Huey, Dewey, and Louie apart from
each other. Through and through they are
brothers to the core, and the voice talents of Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, and
Bobby Moynihan, I don’t know how these fellas did it, but they all even sound
like brothers. Not to say that they
aren’t distinguishable in their roles, but their cadences are alike, their
tones are alike, they sound like
brothers.
Their
personalities, their youth, their rambunctiousness, and their determination are
the perfect catalysts for Scrooge. Scrooge
is determined to prove he’s still vital and important. His nephews are youthful and trying to prove
themselves which only makes Scrooge try to up his game. In many ways you can see how his nephews are
certainly related to him. Scrooge is
struggling to not just rediscover his place in the world, but to pass on his
lessons to his nephews.
This trend
in storytelling has really become prevalent in most of the stories coming out
of Disney, especially from Pixar. The
ever-present theme of passing on the torch to the next generation. Now that I have a son, I appreciate that
sentiment. I have so much I want to pass
on to him. Knowledge, wit, advise, lessons
I’ve learned the hard way….
*But does
every story have to be about passing on the torch to the next generation? I just became the current generation! Everything has just been passed to me and the
people my age! Hope, a chance to change
policy, entertainment, business! Let me
enjoy the warmth of the light before I have to pass on the torch!
*Like I
mentioned before, Ducktales doesn’t just pay homage to just the namesake
series. It recognizes pretty much everything
Disney Afternoon ever aired. We just
recently had an episode that not only referenced the Gummi Bears (another one
of my personal favorites) but Gummi Berry Juice played an integral part of the
story. They even threw in the sound
effect of the Gummi Berry Juice activating after its been drunk. This show has so much fan service I feel like
I should call Dyson and thank them.
*Crickets
Chirp*
GizmoDuck
has already been in two full episodes!
While this show is still finding its footing as a series, they’ve still
given Gizmoduck two episodes! Fenton
Crackshell is now Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera, played by super popular for some
reason Lin-Manuel Miranda. This
iteration of Fenton is 100% opposite of his former self. Fenton has been upgraded from a literal bean
counter, to a research intern in Gyro Gearloose’s lab. Not only is this Fenton’s personal trajectory
different from his previous self, he just won’t shut up about how much he
admires Alexander Ham-Mallard.
*Chirps.
Not only
does this show fan-service viewers from the eighties and nineties, it pulls
deep from Ducktales lore to give lesser known ducks the spotlight. Paul F. Tompkins brings lucky duck Gladstone
Gander to life and Allison Janes completely steals the show as Goldie
O’Glit. Both appearing in the first
series but arguably more well known from Donald and Scrooge comics.
There is
just so much to love about this show. I
never would have thought I could accept a new actor as Launchpad McQuack
considering this characters run in two hit Disney Afternoon shows, but Beck
Bennet really pulls off the dimwhitted, but fiercely loyal pilot. Margo Martindale is perfection as Ma Beagle,
Eric Bauza plays every Beagle Boy in the series, stroke of genius, and Jim
Cummings returns for a small cameo as Darkwing.
However, I
can’t end a discussion about the new Ducktales without first talking about the
two best characters in the entire series.
They are both returning characters to the series; one received a minor
personality tweak while the other is a complete overhaul.
Flintheart Glomgold was a major villain in the original series who was usually annoying
for the wrong reasons. His gimmick was centered
around being the second richest duck in the world and his goal was to either
beat Scrooge to a treasure that would catapult his status higher, or just
straight out try to murder Scrooge.
Episodes that featured him were interesting but far from the best the
series had to offer. Thankfully, that is
not the case with this tweaked version of Flint. Episodes that feature
Flintheart are pure comedy gold.
*Comedy
Glomgold!
The aspects
of his character that identified him as a villain are now overexaggerated to
the point of ridiculousness, and that’s honestly just what this duck
needed. I’ve never laughed harder or
enjoyed Flintheart’s time on screen more than I am now. Keith Ferguson gives such an outrageous
performance as Fint that he has skyrocketed up the leaderboard to the higher
echelon of the most entertaining characters.
There really is no reason why this character shouldn’t have been this
wild to begin with it works perfectly.
Flintheart is one of the best reasons to get into, and to stay with the
show. I look forward to his appearance
more than any other character.
*… well,
almost any other character.
There is one
that is so vastly different from her original personality, in all the best
ways, that she surpasses not just her old self, but every character old and new
that has been in this show. Webby. Originally portrayed younger in age and
maturity than Huey, Dewey, and Louie, she came off as more of a wet blanket, or
someone who needed to be babysat rather than someone who was a part of the
adventure at hand. She would whine about
this, that, or the other, and really wasn’t capable of much. No discernable skills to speak of, and
creating more problems than solving them.
*All of that
gone. Go ahead and just chuck everything
you remember about Webby out of the window.
Webby has
evolved from an annoying 4th tier character to a take charge,
survivalist trained, A List Character.
She’s now proficient in hand-to-hand combat, small arms, and martial
arts..She’s essentially the duck version of Lara Croft. This sort of transition of character is
extremely risky if not pulled off properly.
Especially because Webby is a female character. To have her go from absolutely docile to
absolutely alpha could potentially alienate the character and the
audience. Mostly because its change for
the sake of change. When you change
something up, “just because” with no real purpose to serve the story it
highlights either the laziness, or the complete misunderstanding of the overall
theme of the character and the mythology of the show. But because the writers and producers of the
show care, and because of the effort they’ve put into making everyone unique
for their own reasons, Webby shines above them all. They’ve given her a broad range of emotions
instead of tying all of her core values into being tough, or a fighter. Webby wears her heart and her passions on her
sleeve and in doing so is allowed to be extreme and gung-ho, but also wildly
vulnerable. A consequence of having
grown up alone in McDuck manor with only her grandmother and her love McDuck
lore to keep her company. She borders on fanatic with all things concerning the
McDuck family, because its all she had to rely on for companionship in what
could only be described as crippling isolation.
When Scrooge’s nephews move in not only does it finally allow her access
to people her own age, but a chance to delve even deeper into Scrooge’s past.
*Spoiler
alert. I’m calling it now, The Spear of
Selene is a boat. Just saying.
Webby is a kind person, and always does
what’s right. That being said, she has
difficulty relating to others and can easily be taken advantage of by people
with foul intent. Of everyone else in
the show her heart is definitely the biggest and the gentlest. That is why she is my favorite
character. Kate Micucci gives Webby her
attitude and her vulnerability flawlessly.
Kate’s performance can you have you crying tears of laughter, joy, and
sadness all in one 22 minute episode. As
the series continues I look forward to Webby being integral in unraveling the
larger mysteries and being front and center for the upcoming action.
Ducktales is
darn near perfect television. If you
even passively enjoyed any part of the original series, you owe to yourself to
at least watch one or two episodes. This
really is one of the funniest shows on, and for the viewer, absolutely
qualifies as “must see.”
