So the universe became a sitcom... interestingly, one of my first thoughts to explain that image where the characters wore different oufits (in Scrooge, Beakley and Donald's case, their original outfits) was that they'd make a show within a show based on the family's adventures. Isn't there a theory that Ducktales is really a show within a show based on Scrooge's adventures? Wait, I think it apllies to the original series. I'm sure someone at some point made a theory that the reboot is a show within the 1987 continuum...
Anyway, I hope Goofy's not just a imaginary figure from the sitcom scenary, but a real person in-universe who was affected by whatever supernatural incident that turned everything upside-down.
Clinton Coot played a prominent role in Legend of the Three Caballeros, but his connection to the Woodchucks was never brought up. I'm glad that DuckTales '17 seems to have decided to fix that glaring omission.
Looks like the "Quack Pack" episode might be a homage to the whole Disney Afternoon in general (DuckTales '87, Quack Pack, Goof Troop, and possibly even CDRR and TaleSpin).
And is that perhaps a Tanganyika Yeeker behind Scrooge?
I do wonder will the extended intro have more alterations... As some one pointed out on Facebook, at this point adding Lena and Violet would be welcome as well.
Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Apr 4, 2020 19:35:47 GMT
Well, having watched the episode: I… really wish the series had stuck with hour-long debuts past Season 1, but for what it is, it's certainly a more rounded season-opener thanTehe Most Dangerous Game… Night was. One of the Woodchuck Founders having already been an adventurer they write books about in the days of Scrooge's childhood is bringing up a lot of timeline questions, though.
Some very fine voice acting from Tennant as Scrooge in this episode, loved his reluctant attempt at mimicking the Trittertwill Bird's song.
…Boy, they sure just foisted the new "Lena and Violet are sisters" status quo on us without much fanfare, did they?
It was nothing special, but I like the first episode.
The main story was thin but Ok. It was a nice mini-adventure and I do think it had a right message for kids. You shoudn't fell bad because there are people better then you at something, it's ok to fail etc. I do wonder will finaly becoming the senior Woodchuck will be the some big arc for Huey on this season.
The way the bird just randomly joined our heroes felt to easy somehow... I did like his song but I wish there was either more mistique to him or he had a reason to actualy fallow Scrooge and the gang. Here he felt like a Deus ex Machina.
All the talking Junior Woodchuck Guidebook was funny, especialy the "WHY DID YOU IMAGINE THIS?!" when the book is set on fire by the lava made me laugh.
I do like all the smack-talks EXEPT it did felt tad off-character for Lenna. Not that she woudn't smack talk but her acting like Violet's cheerleader... She usualy so chill and lade-back it just didn't felt like something I would expect from her even in suporting someone she likes, like Webby.
…Boy, they sure just foisted the new "Lena and Violet are sisters" status quo on us without much fanfare, did they?
Yes, it did felt ambiguous wathever she adopted by Violets dads or not (after all "My sister from another..." expersion was used in the show before, like when Beaks called Glomgold "My rich brother from another mother" etc.)
I mean, I'm glad they adress it. I did wonder where Lena will have a home after she return and it make sence - since presumably Violet is adopted (or at very least only one of her dad's is biological) it would make sence for them to be use to taking another foster child. Propably in slightly more adult show like The Simpsons they would made entrie episode about her being officialy adopted but here they propably wanted to keep it to minimum and avoid controversy about making an LGBT-centric episode [An issue I know some people have with LGBT representation in Disney movies, which is they are all "blink and you mist it" moments... propably so more conservative countries can edit it out, as Poland and some other countires did with "Onward" but I don't want to go to much into that... ]
I do sort of wish however then the ending would sugest that lava was fake or something... Maybe I'm to sensetive but it sort of bugs me that this orgnaisation was Ok with puting childreen in a mortal danger like that. Heck, you could make a funny joke out of it and just have Launchpad explain the lava was just a special effect and cut to Scrooge with a phone going "Never mind. Canceled the lawsuit"
It appears that the season will be treasure-hunting heavy and I love that stuff (more new locations - hurra!)
While some of the sitcom parodies where done before it had some chuckles and the story structure was clever and I like it was Donald centric story.
The part with the audiance geting angry was actualy creepy at first.
I like the use of Goofy - he wasn't just a dumb guy but he had his touching side. I'm not as big of a fan of Goofy Movie and Max/Roxane romance as some people are but I'm sure the fans will like the refrences. Make sence in a way Goofy movie has the 90's all over it.
Genie was fun and I like Jaleel Whites voice... I guess there was a bit of a injoke there since he played a popular sitcom chraracter for a long time. The Genie himself he remind me ta lot of of Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk here [in fact I recall one or two Superman stories involving Mxyzptlk and alternete realities that start in similiar way with slow build up before we learn who is behind this] Genie of cours isn't ment to be malicious like Mr. Mxyzptlk but I don't know, he felt to enjoy the chaos he created to much... It's ironic that this show made a joke about character obsessed with the 90's.
The animation on the Genie and during the fight scene trully stand out.
Launchpad interpretation of a "Secret angent" joke was my favorite joke.
In this and previews episode Della frankly felt useless. I sort of wish they would find a reason to sent her away somewhere...
...so no Daisy in this one. We see what will the future bring.
Hi, maybe you already discussed this, sorry for the repetition if that is the case. I am not reading the thread to avoid spoilers.
So, when Disney+ was announced, I stopped watching DuckTales season 2 (which I was downloading illegally). Now, this week Disney+ is finally available here in Europe but...well, there is only season 1 of Ducktales, at least here in the UK! Do you know when we will see the second? Is it available in other European countries?
Kinda disappointing to have a Disney streaming service and then discover that we cannot see basic Disney original productions until they have broadcasted on regular tv channels. I suppose this is the explanation in this case.
So, to go back briefly to this OT, here you will find an updated list of Disney-owned contents unavailable on the Disney+ US, followed by a list of the things not available on Disney+ UK, the latter probably similar to what is missing in the other European countries.
Before I share my thoughts on the Season start, I’d like to pay my respects for the fallen heroes of Moonvasion War:
Gyro’s two clones (or was that the real Gyro?)
Shattered Lil’ Bulb
Glomgold’s shark
Watermelon-Mickey
Edit: how could I forget about her: The Spear of Selene!
Now, about the Season premiere:
This episode has just what I’d been missing: focus on the Junior Woodchucks, not just as part of Huey’s background, but the organization and its importance for the Duckverse. I never really had a problem with Huey’s being the only of the triplets to be a Woodchuck per se, but I started to notice that there wasn’t that much of them as a whole. When the focus was on Huey, they mentioned his status as a JW, brought out the Guidebook, mentioning countless rules, but there seemed to be something missing. In the comics, the JW Guidebook always plays a big part when the team has to seek for information or to solve problems, but in the show, they make little to no use of it. And I see two reasons here: when Scrooge and Webby are living encyclopedias of adventure and supernatural stuff, the search on the guidebook becomes redundant, and two: The Woodchuck material is limited to Huey, and it’s inevitably attached to his main flaw: he’s a bit of a control freak, who goes out of his mind when things don’t go as he planned, as when he plays that videogame and his ideal way of playing is literally living on a bubble, where nothing can go out of control.
And this is also present here, where the fear of failing and not being the best of his Woodchuck team drives him mad. This trait has rendered a few interesting and even funny moments (Timephoon comes to my mind), but when they had to address the Woodchuck lore in previous seasons, it was almost exclusively through his obsessive streak, as he consulted the Guidebook for anything, and was skeptical to anything that wasn’t in it (which led to another controversial bit, in that the Guidebook was often presented as a limited source of knowledge). Having said all that, it’s a breath of relief to finally see the focus on the organization as a whole, allowing a much more nuanced take on them. There’s Huey, Launchpad, Violet, Della exploring their status (even Donald, who is revealed to having been kicked out because of his bad temper, probably a nod to Don Rosa’s W.H.A.D.A.L.O.T.T.A.J.A.R.G.O.N.), and even the main plot of the Season is revealed to revolve around a veteran Woodchuck… great.
Even when Huey’s obsessive trait is addressed, it’s handled better than in previous episodes, because it’s also his Woodchuck side that helps him overcome that, literally in the form of a talking guidebook representing his conscience and helping him realize that he was wrong to leave Violet behind. Speaking of her, that Huey didn’t know she was a Woodchuck too didn’t really bother, but something that bugged me is that, if she’s been invested in the organization for at least years and probably knows about the adventures of Isabella Finch, which includes at least one magical creature (some kind of lava monster), it’s a wonder that she took this long to accept the existence of the supernatural. In fact, considering all the magical incidents that happened before Shadow War (the dragon, the Beanstalk, the money shark)… of course, maybe she struggled to come up with a rational explanation for all those, but still…
The payoff between Huey and Violet was sweet; I like how, even when they’re at the most competitive point, they never get too mean-spirited. Even when Violet smack-talks to him, she doesn’t seem to do it out of malice, and despite being desperate to beat her, Huey respects her enough to recognize that she was the better.
do like all the smack-talks EXEPT it did felt tad off-character for Lenna. Not that she woudn't smack talk but her acting like Violet's cheerleader... She usualy so chill and lade-back it just didn't felt like something I would expect from her even in suporting someone she likes, like Webby.
Maybe it could have been more convincing if they'd adressed the fact that Lena was adopted by Violet's family in last season, which was only told by Angones in his account but never previously shown or mentioned, hence why her cheering feels so off... to be fair, she did pull a cheerful demeanor in "A Nightmare on Killmotor Hill", though in that case, it was implied that she was going out of her way to be accepted by her friends. Then again, telling Violet to provoke Huey during the challenge, now that's something she'd totally do.
Nice to see that adressed Violet's dads on-screen; I was worried that they might only show the one who appeared in the promos, out of fear that the episode would be censored in some places.
I do sort of wish however then the ending would sugest that lava was fake or something... Maybe I'm to sensetive but it sort of bugs me that this orgnaisation was Ok with puting childreen in a mortal danger like that. Heck, you could make a funny joke out of it and just have Launchpad explain the lava was just a special effect and cut to Scrooge with a phone going "Never mind. Canceled the lawsuit"
I'm almost sure it was a special effect, but considering how child endangerement is often overlooked in this show, it really should have been made clear at some point.
Now about the last part: the mosquito gag was becoming way too repetitive, and only seemed to make Donald's part more tiresome; until they gave us a zoom and paraphrasing Huey, I was like: Oooooooof course! Now this is insteresting: every Season premiere of Ducktales they seem to follow this formula: the main focus is in one of the triplets (Dewey in Season 1, Louie in Season 2 and now Huey) and it ends with a cliffhanger to the main plot for the season (Della's mystery in Season 1 and Louie Inc. in last season), and paralell to that, there's another plot envolving the main threat (Magica in Season 1 and Lunaris in Season 2); the main threat is F.O.W.L, but in the other occasions, the villain plot was independent on the other plot. But now F.O.W.L. seems to be involved on the main mystery of Season 3 (Isabella Finch's unsolved mysteries)... I wonder to what extent... did they know the Ducks would find the diary? Did they arrange for this to happen? Uuum... Stray thoughts: good to see how even after maturing considerably in last Season, Della continues to be the same hot-tempered woman she ever was, as shown when she lost the patience during the electric rain and when she didn't accept that her son had lost. Doofus is now a Woodchuck, like in the original series... probably an effort from his parents to put in the right path; I don't think it's gonna work, but maybe if it serves to at least tone him down... just keep him away from Launchpad.
The only thing that still bothers me about the show is that it is so "modern". For me, the Duck universe is more mid-century like. Especially weird to me were the episodes with Don Karnage, who clearly belongs to a World Wars (1930s-40s) like age.
Post by Baar Baar Jinx on Apr 7, 2020 17:05:16 GMT
The Woodchuck episode was ... okay. Nothing memorable, a little predictable, and I agree that the bird seemed an underdeveloped plot-point. I also agree that Lena's cheerleading behavior was quite out-of-character in view of her usual indifferent, distant persona. Huey's conjuring up of the anthropomorphic Guidebook was amusing, but overall the episode isn't going to make my top ten list anytime soon. The writers have, of course, thrown Rosa's version of the history of the Woodchucks completely out the window, but that's only to be expected at this point. And no mention of the Little Booneheads when discussing Donald's banishment from the Woodchucks? BTW, didn't we already know that Violet's parents were an LGBTQ couple? I feel like we did, but the Internet is acting like it was a revelation. Didn't Angones hint at it at some point?
Boy, was I totally wrong on what "Quack Pack" was going to be. As we speculated, the actual episode had nothing to do with the TV series whose name its own is a reference to. I also feel that it was a missed opportunity in many ways; I wish we could have seen the characters act like (or at least allude to) their selves in the original DuckTales and Quack Pack shows (what was the point in dressing them up that way otherwise?), and there could have been several callbacks to other old Disney Afternoon shows (as it is, Goof Troop was the only one really referenced in any meaningful way). Goofy, here, ended up playing the role I thought Daisy would ... a figment of Donald's imagination (the joke at the end suggesting otherwise notwithstanding).
And I also agree with the general opinion on Della so far in this season ... she seems quite extraneous. Even the way she was added to previous scenes in the introduction (rather than having new scenes featuring her being created) seems forced. I am, overall, not happy with her being regular cast thus far. I'm glad Donald seems to be playing a big role in Season 3, and the animation quality is still very high.