But hardly original (google "Mount Neverest" and you'll see what I mean). Also, are we sure this is the same as the "unnamed Huey episode"? Doesn't seem very Huey-centric from the promo at least.
But hardly original (google "Mount Neverest" and you'll see what I mean). Also, are we sure this is the same as the "unnamed Huey episode"? Doesn't seem very Huey-centric from the promo at least.
I have the same question.
I see Mt. Everest is the western name of Chomolungma as if it hasn't been named before.
Post by Baar Baar Jinx on Nov 26, 2017 19:36:51 GMT
Donald's relegation in this series to little more than a guest star is very disappointing. His status so far has hardly been better than it was in DuckTales '87. I mean, is "You'll hardly ever see Donald, but he's around" really any better than, "You'll hardly ever see Donald, and here's why"? Both shows have disrupted the classic comics continuity in any case.
Has anyone ever asked Rosa about this new series? I know he has no involvement with it, doesn't like Disney and his opinion of the original series was not very high, but I wonder if he has seen it at all and what he thinks. Compared to DuckTales '87, which was contemporaneous with some of his output, DuckTales '17 bears some evidence of his contribution to Duckdom (though nowhere near what I'd initially hoped).
Think about it. The intention was to have three episodes revolving around each nephew and how they relate to their great uncle. You have room for a guy completely oblivious to danger in these plots (Launchpad) and also for a girl totally immersed in these kind of stuff. A overprotective father/uncle and a no nonsense grandmother are harder to integrate.
Webby, considering she is basically a brand new character with lots of appeal for the younger viewers,needed her share of spotlight.
Yes, we all would love a Disney Comics' adaptation with Donald and Scrooge as the protagonists but the animation industry will not work this way.
The triplets, Webby and Scrooge are the top tier "actors" so to speak. But I DO think Donald comes immediately after them. Launchpad has been around more often but hasn't received nearly as much character development as Donald. Donald elicits both laughs and sympathy like no other character, with the possible exception of Webby.
So let's not lose hope. Donald is billed as main character but we can't dig too deep in his relationships with Scrooge this early because they are setting up their feud as a consequence of the big mystery of the season.
So let's not lose faith.
To be fair even though Donald only appeared in two episodes after the premiere his characterization has been awesome in my view. Downtrodden and unlucky but the depiction never goes full blown sadistic even in Gladstone's episode where Donald's bad luck was a major plot point.
The same can not be said about those Scrooge/Della/Donald comics... man, why did they have to be so lazy in their formula to the point of turning Scrooge and Della into unlikable and uncaring hypocrites?
Last Edit: Nov 27, 2017 21:04:27 GMT by dismaldowns
No Donald indeed, but maybe at least we can get a straight...adventure story for a change.
Good luck with that; this show has made it very clear that it will never treat the classic adventure tropes seriously; it's locked into the frustratingly self-mocking and self-aware formula that has (inexplicably, to me) kept the Disney/Marvel movie machine running so profitably. The old show had its flaws, but at least in its better episodes you could actually get the feeling that something was really at stake, and could feel some sense of fear or wonder when meeting strange monsters or exploring lost civilizations. Here, you can bet that any fleeting sense of drama or adventure is going to be undercut by a snarky joke.
No Donald indeed, but maybe at least we can get a straight...adventure story for a change.
Good luck with that; this show has made it very clear that it will never treat the classic adventure tropes seriously; it's locked into the frustratingly self-mocking and self-aware formula that has (inexplicably, to me) kept the Disney/Marvel movie machine running so profitably. The old show had its flaws, but at least in its better episodes you could actually get the feeling that something was really at stake, and could feel some sense of fear or wonder when meeting strange monsters or exploring lost civilizations. Here, you can bet that any fleeting sense of drama or adventure is going to be undercut by a snarky joke.
Well, not always.
I mean, what have we had for actual non-Duckburg adventure stories yet? The pilot, Living Mummies, and maybe Lucky Gander. Living Mummies, of course, was the one that utterly failed to build up any tension or interest whatsoever.
However, Lucky Gander had some weird jokes but they didn't feel too forced and didn't undercut the Liu Hai plot; the thing with it was only that it was very much a weird episode — more Gravity Falls than Indiano Jones. It was a fine episode but not what I'd call a classic adventure story.
But, in my mind, was that Woo-oo's adventure was perfectly alright. Atlantis was maybe a little bland as far as sunken cities go, but it was really fine. They can do it. And if we look at the numbers, out of those three adventures, it means one was wrong, one was just about right and one was goodish. The odds are bad, but not impossible to beat.
Good luck with that; this show has made it very clear that it will never treat the classic adventure tropes seriously; it's locked into the frustratingly self-mocking and self-aware formula that has (inexplicably, to me) kept the Disney/Marvel movie machine running so profitably. The old show had its flaws, but at least in its better episodes you could actually get the feeling that something was really at stake, and could feel some sense of fear or wonder when meeting strange monsters or exploring lost civilizations. Here, you can bet that any fleeting sense of drama or adventure is going to be undercut by a snarky joke.
Well, not always.
I mean, what have we had for actual non-Duckburg adventure stories yet? The pilot, Living Mummies, and maybe Lucky Gander. Living Mummies, of course, was the one that utterly failed to build up any tension or interest whatsoever.
However, Lucky Gander had some weird jokes but they didn't feel too forced and didn't undercut the Liu Hai plot; the thing with it was only that it was very much a weird episode — more Gravity Falls than Indiano Jones. It was a fine episode but not what I'd call a classic adventure story.
But, in my mind, was that Woo-oo's adventure was perfectly alright. Atlantis was maybe a little bland as far as sunken cities go, but it was really fine. They can do it. And if we look at the numbers, out of those three adventures, it means one was wrong, one was just about right and one was goodish. The odds are bad, but not impossible to beat.
House of the Lucky Gander actually felt more intense than most old Ducktales episodes in my opinion. Donald's failures and frustrations while funny are also really sad considering he does nothing to deserve that. We can see his struggles and while we know the ducks can't be trapped forever by an evil genie in a demonic casino the race is actually quite suspenseful and sad: Donald was willing to give up and be slaughtered by a tiger once it became painfully clear his luck is a complete train-wreck. Also Louie's speech felt more earned and heartwarming than most things in this cartoon. He didn't need to be put through the wringer. He actually realized his uncle's worth thanks to his own empathy unlike in The Great Dime Chase and Living Mummies where his laziness, arrogance and dishonesty create all the problems and he is pretty much forced to change his ways for brief period of time in order to fix a disaster. And the end was bittersweet like in a lot of Bark's stories: everyone escapes (except the rest of the people in the casino if they were real) but Gladstone's epiphany is ignored and he learns nothing, the cricket proves to be a total bore and Donald ends up more baffled and confused than anything instead of truly enjoying his heroic deed and the kids' appreciation for a change.
I agree about Woo-Oo and Living Mummies though. I like both episodes but the latter had indeed a lot of flaws and the premise they created does not hold up even in a universe populated by anthropomorphic animals, monsters and magical beings.
Post by Scrooge MacDuck on Dec 2, 2017 14:48:14 GMT
Right, that was a brilliant episode. The Launchpad subplot was still unnecessary, but it was a real, thrilling adventure story with a nice twist, the animation was nice, the writing was nice, and for the first time in this series I found myself actively liking the background music, which I had mostly found to be a nonentity so far.
I like Lunchpad in this episode way more then in "Living Mummies" where all his jokes felt forced. He is still a big Homer-Simpsonish manchild but I don't mind it here. I just hope it won't be all they will do with him on the show.
If there was a thing I didn't cared much for it's the Dewey/Webby "you must have the maximum expirace" subplot... but it was brief.
It's a shame this episode wasn't right after "Day trip of doom" as indeed it's a good exposition for Dewey character and what he is all about.
A very enjoyable episode, indeed. I feel like Webby could have been left out of it, though; she didn't add anything beside that unnecessary side plot.
And "George Mallardy" is a clever pun.
(BTW, the Scrooge/George Mallardy mountain climbing backstory reminded me of the Grampa Simpson/C.W. McAllister history in the Simpsons epsiode "King of the Hill", which overall felt similar to this DT epsiode)
