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Jungle Duck
Reviewed: 10/11/2009
Welcome to The Jungle; We Love Ducks & Games!
So; we have a rare 22 minute episode of Ducktales with Jymn Magon as a writer. Hmmm; this could be interesting, but it stars another cartoon writer that I have no experience of experiencing. So we are going to the Jungle on this one. I do believe this is a Mrs. Beakly focused episode which would be the first one for her as well (besides Golden Suns of course). So let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Evelyn Gabai, Jymn Magon and Bruce Talkington. The story is consulted by Ted Anasti and Patsy Cameron and the story is edited by Jymn Magon. The teleplay is done by Judy Zook (!!). Other than this teleplay appearance; Judy does mostly production assistance for Disney Television Animation for Gummi Bears and The Wuzzles. I think she left soon after this since she was gone when TaleSpin was around. Evelyn Gabai started writing for Hanna Barbera in 1983 and it's mostly the usual stuff you saw in the 1980's. Ducktales is her DTVA debut and did episodes in Winnie The Pooh and in Bonkers. Evelyn recently did the Zula Patrol, X-Men Evolution and Besty's Kindergarten Adventures. She also did The Mask animated series and Mega Man. In other words; not much.
We begin this one with a sky shot over an island as an white airplane is over it. Launchpad is of course the pilot of this jet fueled engine as he absolutely cracks me up by saying that they will be landing in the Bongo Congo in five minutes; give or take a day. That is so classic of Launchpad. We do a pan shot of the island and then go into the cockpit as Scrooge is looking at a map which looks like a badly drawn version of the Ducktales Ending Theme background as LP dons the stick and the microphone. And everyone knows; a live mic equals DANGER! Which is par for the course with this series. In TaleSpin; it's overkill. LP hopes the native aren't as hot as the weather as he asks Scrooge about a silver statue of a buzzard. Scrooge proclaims that there is because there are too many legends to have it be false. That's like thinking that a hundred conspiracy theories about Jesus' return making the whole thing true Scrooge. It only leads to trouble and broken bodies. Besides; what he REALLY wants is the giant silver mine. And he'll make the mine..umm.. mine. That's kind of like the rhyming scheme of bad rap.
And so we go into the passenger side of the plane as Mrs. Beakly is knitting a scarf (in this weather? Is she ribbing me or something?) as Huey pops from one of the chairs as he is playing tag with the nephews as they run around the plane. Dewey calls Huey a feather brain and Mrs. Beakly blows them off for such behavior. It took her just 40 seconds flat to become fussy; a new DTVA record for her. Mrs. Beakly has a quiet game in mind and the nephews blow it off because quiet games cannot be fun see. Well; I agree with that one although Mrs. Beakly is going to prove them wrong here. Or at least try to. So she starts to juggle purple yarn balls while cutting this promo and somehow; this is not quiet. Unless her plan was to make the nephew be bored; in this case, it's working. The nephews surprise me by being impressed with Beakly's juggling skills. My guess is her previous line of work was being in the circus. Now THERE'S a back story that Disney never looked into. I mean it cannot be any worse than Kit's back story as small as it is. Huey grabs the yarn and starts his bad juggling skills as Mrs. Beakly relates a story about being a nanny to a prince about 20 years ago; which means that somehow this is going to be involved in the actual story. If so; then this episode has improved about five notches.
It is Prince Graydrake (Frank Welker by the way) according to Beakly and they won't be able to meet him because his plane disappeared with him. Somehow; I think Mrs. Beakly is in for a surprise knowing the writers. And besides; Graydrake sounds like a mallard to me. Drake's long lost brother perchance..AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! BLAM! HEE HEE! Missed again Drake! YOU ARE NOT WORTHY! We go to the far shot showing the cockpit as the nephews console her and Scrooge feels a little bad for her telling that story again. Mrs. Beakly sniffs on that one as apparently in two days; he was supposed to be crowned king for his 25th birthday as Huey asks her to not cry. After all; crying is for sissies right Kit? POW! OUCH! Hey....The nephews promise that they will never disappear on her and they embrace as Launchpad is talking again....They are going for another smooth Launchpad landing. And naturally everyone returns to their seats and uses purple pillows to protect themselves. HAHA! And so the plane flies well and then nosedives into the ground and crashes with an on-screen MAN-SIZED bump. HAHA! Maybe the funniest crash yet from him...
We cut to the ground as the plane is crushed good of course as Scrooge calls this his last McCrash as we pan over to the jungle to see everyone is all right (Like Disney will have anyone killed at this point?). LP blows him off because he's good for another 200 or 300 easy. HEE HEE! I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. If only Drake Mallard didn't bury him so. Scrooge really blows him off and proclaims that he's fired more or less. Launchpad doesn't like that as we head to a small village near a large lake like swamp (check the wooden docks and buildings) as Scrooge and the others walk on it. We then see a window which is dark with white eyes inside and then it comes out as we see a sailor gray wolf (in sailor clothing which looks similar to Don Karnage; only the uniform is a dark blue.) as he asks how he can serve them. Scrooge asks for a guide and the wolf furry (who so happens to have worn gloves) proclaims he knows someone who is tough as nails and can wrestle a Hippo blindfolded. Now that's my kind of guy. Maybe he can wrestle Hoppo off her See Food Diet. AHHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm...And of course; it's the wolf who's name is Captain Fargo (Terry McGovern) as he shows his boat and it looks only slightly better than the airplane that Launchpad just crashed.
Fargo proclaims that it is good enough and the nephews call it good enough to go straight down and then they laugh their asses off. Do you really want to piss off a wolf guys? I speak from the experience and bliss of Don Karnage here. Fargo gleefully threatens them with the nephews being bite sized for the crocodile to stop that one. Scrooge asks if the jungle is dangerous and Fargo counters that he doesn't know the meaning of the word fear. I don't think this guy knows the meaning of most words quite frankly. Scrooge comes over and shows him the map as he wants the silver buzzard and Fargo isn't so brave now as that is in the phantom's territory. Oooh; are we going to see the Phantom Blot in this episode? Probably not; but that will be great when I start to rant on All Ducks On Deck in Disc 2 of this volume. Fargo tries to get away; but Scrooge uses the cane on his neck to stop him in his tracks as Fargo explains that the phantom is a guardian who swings by night and guards the treetops. That's not a phantom; that's Tarduckzan. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! I think Fargo is scared of ducks who have better strength than him methinks. Scrooge then brings out the MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH and Fargo comes back and sniffs it. He takes the money and gives them the boat and then runs into his cabin and locks the door. Huey blows him off for being such a coward.
So we head to a sky shot of the river as the boat sails down in an S-curve. Scrooge proclaims that we don't need no Fargo because there is nothing to this guide stuff. Mrs. Beakly asks about his concern with the Jungle Phantom of Doom as we cut to river level to see Scrooge sailing the ship while Launchpad sits down and sulks because he cannot crash the boat even. HAHA! Scrooge calls this all mumbo jumbo. So Scrooge is claiming that DS developer Mumbo Jumbo is behind this crap? Well; who knew...Scrooge pulls a wooden lever (WRONG LEVER!) and proclaims that you cannot believe everything you hear. Launchpad wishes he didn't believe he heard that Scrooge fired him. So we go to the side far shot (which has a lot of bad lighting effects here) as Dewey tries to cheer up Launchpad as the nephews show off their yarn juggling skills. Launchpad wants to try and he misses all three; trips on the purple yarn ball and just plain MURDERS his back on the lever (WRONG LEVER!) much to Scrooge's disgust. HAHA!
I see he's game to screw Scrooge even if he's banned from flying a plane ever again. And so the boat speeds up and we get the speedboat sequence to waste some time. The boat breaks some more as Scrooge blows off Launchpad for being such a butter fingers. I guess the nephews are being protected by Disney this episode even in something as simple as yelling. Scrooge tells LP to do something and LP sells it and crawls towards the WHEEL OF MORALITY and gets spun into a whirlwind spot because that is exactly what this episode needs: More windbags! Too bad he didn't go to the lever (WRONG LEVER!); but that would end the funny way too soon. So more s-curving and then the boat lands ashore and crashes along LP to fly out and take a MAN-SIZED bump into the tree with his face. HAHA! LP drops down with another good bump on his ass to perfectly accent the crash. Everyone flies into the trees as it is BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) already. Dewey (who is hanging by his shirt by the way) blows him off.
So we cut to Mrs. Beakly with a stick and a biscuit from Time Merit Adventures near a bonfire as it is clearly AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark). Most of the babyfaces on the far shot sit near the bonfire and roast biscuits on sticks while Scrooge is on a rock studying the map. There are six miles of uncrossable swamp (yeah sure Scroogie) and then the Cobra River. If that river isn't covered in snakes; I will be really disappointed with the writers here. Scrooge proclaims that they only need two days of hiking to get to the silver buzzard. Launchpad reminds him that their boat is lost and so is their gear and supplies and so they should head back. Scrooge calls this nonsense because it's a mere inconveniences. Well; at least he's not acting like a total dick in this episode. Only really a partial one this time around. Scrooge then smells Mrs. Beakly's good cooking and drops down to get a stick from her. He thanks her (how nice of him) as he tells the adults that all three of them will take turns standing watch tonight. Mrs. Beakly is a little afraid and wants to do the first watch tonight since she might not get much sleep anyway.
Launchpad then acts like a heartless little wrench by mocking her about the phantom with her name on it. That is quite out of character for Launchpad to do that mocking with a female. Scrooge I can understand and maybe even the nephews; but with Mrs. B? The nephews laugh at her expense as we pan up into the bushes and see some eyeballs spying on the group. Mrs. Beakly blows them off for scaring the boys (Yeah right?!) and that acting was pretty crappy from her. The eyeball sniffs the cooking and then we cut to the far shot as the bonfire is getting bigger and Launchpad does some scary spots to scare Mrs. Beakly out of her wits. And then he gets scared as he wants the street lights turned on. HAHA! So we get the scene changer and see Mrs. Beakly continuing to knit near the camp fire as the males are in their bland sleeping bags and snoring asleep. Sadly; the nephews still won't throw me a bone and do the funny “Wah-Wah-Wah-Wah!” spot when they snore. We zoom into Mrs. Beakly as she looks around as the jungle sounds are muted and she hears some branches breaking. She takes her torch and puts her stuff down on the ground and walks towards the bushes wondering who is there. She hopes it's not a phantom as the wind blitzes in from the sky shot and grabs Mrs. Beakly and bails stage left as the torch drops down as a Tarzan yell is heard. The males wake up on cue as Huey calls out for Mrs. Beakly.
So we go to morning as we see various snakes, monkeys and birds in the jungle so to speak as we head to a grass roof treehouse and then inside it as Mrs. Beakly is sleeping on a wooden grass bed. I see the wind knocked her out. She then grabs the pillow which turned out to be the monkey's ass and the monkey screams and bails stage left. And critics blamed Dave THE CLEANING BARBARIAN OF LAUGHS for such nonsense? Mrs. Beakly wakes up as she screams and stands up trying to get her bearings and realizes that the phantom has kidnapped her and needs to get out of there. Sadly; she looks over the window and it's about 25 feet down from the treehouse to the ground. Not a good landing if she falls as that would be with cheese and bacon. And I do mean a LOT of bacon. AHHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummm... She then gets crazy and jumps over the edge and slowly tries to get down without looking down. Good luck getting that to work Mrs. Beakly. You are as crazy as Rebecca is in these situations. She tries to drop onto the branches slowly; but one of them breaks because she's just TOO FAT.
She then breaks some more branches on the free falls and drops on her ass with a MAN-SIZED bump on-screen. ZOINKS! She's going to need tailbone surgery after that one. She gets up and looks around to see a lion coming towards her and he is roaring (Frank Welker, DUH!). The lion backs Beakly to the tree as she tells it to be nice. Uh; yeah calling him a Kitty is not going to win his heart. Get over it characters of the world. Mrs. Beakly then tries to climb up the tree; but there is no dice as she is seriously (insert swear word here). At least it has killed her fussiness in this episode. And then the Tarzan yell beckons and here comes the WINDBAG OF DOOM as it drops down and reveals himself to be a muscle bound duck in tiger hides with brown hair. I'm guessing that this is Prince Graydrake; the long lost prince Mrs. Beakly mothered earlier in the episode.
Beakly proclaims that it's the jungle phantom as he turns around and gets into a fight with the lion and it's the FCC FRIENDLY DUSTCLOUD FIGHT OF DEATH. And I believe this is the first time we see the babyface comeback; although the jungle phantom is still considered a heel in Beakly's eyes at this point. The phantom bites the lion's ass (making Kit's ass bite look a bit wussy) and then the lion bites on the phantom's leg. And then they hold hands which I'm sure the SB&P is going to their e-mail automation as we speak; even though there is nothing wrong with the scene in the very least. More fighting as Mrs. Beakly slides around the tree and then bails stage left as the phantom does the MARIO 64 BOWSER TAIL SWING OF DEATH and throws the lion away stage right with an off-screen wussy bump. Sigh. The jungle phantom shows off his muscles for his amusement and then notices Mrs. Beakly walking slowly through the bushes. She wants to get away from the madman. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments.
Then the Tarzan yell beckons and the windbag sweeps Mrs. Beakly off her feet (as she would say- nice wind effects from the animators there) and then we go to the Tarzan swing spot to waste time. So we get another scene changer and see Mrs. Beakly roasting more biscuits on a stick over a smaller, more controlled fire inside the tree house. Ummm; that is quite dangerous to do there madam. We pan over to see the jungle phantom and his monkeys enjoy some Jungle fruit and make a general mess of the floor with fruit cores. Mrs. Beakly is not amused by this as lively conversation is officially off the list here. Mrs. Beakly continues to roast as she calls herself a groupie for Jungle Hunk & The Primates. I thought the word groupie was not the kind of word someone like her would use. Beakly wonders how she is going to get home as the jungle phantom wonders about this himself. So we head into the jungle as the nephews, Scrooge and Launchpad are tangled in more bushes. Dewey proclaims that they have to find her. NO?! REALLY?! Well; I'm glad that they have more respect for Mrs. Beakly now.
They get out of the bushes as Dewey proclaims that she's the best nanny a kid could have. Character development? In this show? What's that? Me not know how those two go together. The males sit down as Scrooge tries to console Dewey and Launchpad notices four Bongo Congo guides (dogspeople wearing straw skirts, painted with her black hair bunched like a carrot top and with spears.) could help. HAHA! Scrooge and the nephews scream out natives and then they flee like scalded ducks. Hmmmm...scalded ducks...SLURP! Launchpad of course doesn't suspect the obvious like the idiot that he is. LP asks them about the natives and the natives nod. Launchpad thanks them; gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY and then runs away like an idiot duck. HAHA! It was complete with Hanna Barbera looping and running sound effect. The natives run after them as then we cut to the native village which has a high diving board and a pit filled with black tar. Now THAT is a quality heel native village there. The natives lead the male babyface towards the black tar pool as Launchpad proclaims that someone needs to clean out the pool. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. The native uses the spear to force them to walk stage left as the nephews proclaim that Mrs. Beakly will have to rescue them now and that ends the segment 10 and a half minutes in.
After the commercial break; we head back inside the tree house as Mrs. Beakly and the Jungle Phantom (along with his pet monkeys!) as Mrs. Beakly teaches him some English word play to waste some time. The table has some coconuts as the monkey cheer and whistle on every word. Mrs. Beakly proclaims that they have gone over everything as the phantom has a little trouble with the word coconut and the monkey laugh their asses off at his expense. Jungle Duck goes nuts and uses the coconuts on his head as Mrs. Beakly blows him off for behaving badly in her presence after nearly nine and half minutes of no fuss action. Mrs. Beakly offers something quiet as the monkeys and Jungle Book are not helping the situation in any way. So Mrs. Beakly demonstrates her juggling skills again as we saw earlier in the episode; this time with the coconut. And then Jungle Duck realizes that he remembers the jingle Mrs. Beakly and ends the promo for her. Mrs. Beakly is SHOCKED to hear this because the only other kid to remember that was Prince Graydrake. Graydrake realizes that it's Mrs. Beakly (pronounced Mrs. Beaky although Disney Captions doesn't see than complexity) and Mrs. Beakly cannot believe he is still alive.
Graydrake jumps into the air and spins around the tree house before landing on the floor with a MAN-SIZED bump as Mrs. Beakly is starting to get that the plane that disappeared really crashed. Mrs. Beakly remember that he had a royal tattoo on the bottom of his foot and Graydrake checks his feet as he mistakes the left one for the right one before getting it right. It shows a royal purple seal with gold around the edge and a royal duck in the middle in gold. Mrs. Beakly finally sees it as the real prince Graydrake. So we cut back to the tar pool as Scrooge, Launchpad and the nephews are walking tied up. I guess they made them do a lap around the pool before tying them up; otherwise that is the first logic break of the episode. Dewey ask Scrooge to offer them to buy the oil; but Scrooge calls it too crude to use anyway. Launchpad of course gets to talk while the native has the spear on him of course as LP breaks the ropes of bondage (man; those ropes are weak sauce if LP can break free) and tries to bail; but the spears make a prison cage around him to stop that one. HAHA! Launchpad hates diving into low grade tar; but he's game for a swan dive in this one.
So we cut back to the tree house as Mrs. Beakly is watching on from the look off as Graydrake returns with the Tarzan spot inside. Mrs. Beakly asks if he found them and Graydrake can only shake his head. Mrs. Beakly is upset as she sobs as Graydrake apologizes for not finding them. See they need to find Scrooge and the kids because Graydrake won't get home in time to be crowned king see. Graydrake proclaims that the jungle is his home and he's king of it. Mrs. Beakly tells him that he doesn't belong here and to find her friends. Graydrake agrees to it as a good king would. And he will help her. And so we return to the DIVING POOL OF DEATH as Launchpad is on the high diving board with the spear native forcing the point on top with Launchpad. Ah; I see this is where crappy internet trolls go to die. AHHAHAHAHAHA! Launchpad sweats it out as it is scalding. HAHA! Launchpad then proclaims that he'll make Scrooge proud; by being the first tar baby that didn't come from an internet troll. And of course he asks Scrooge (after a dramatic exchange of words) to trade places with him. HAHA!
The native spear man keeps forcing the point as Launchpad continues to plead for mercy and then gets pushed off the diving board and does a really slow dramatic free fall. Sorry LP; Kit is much cooler than do doing this spot. You can still take Teddy's mark from Captured though. And of course the windbag saves him complete with Tarzan yell. And there is a skull in the tar pool by the way. Louie proclaims that it's the phantom as the elephants start wailing and everyone is forced to flee as the rumble in the jungle has begun. And the whole village gets stampeded by the elephants of course. And gets destroyed of course as I see logic break #2 for the episode as the elephants runs across the tar pond without any stickiness or damage to them whatsoever. So we head to a tree as the nephews and Scrooge untie themselves. See; they were just playing along since logic showed that the ropes were such weak sauce. Then the world's largest monkey arms grab them up into the trees as the elephants stampede harmlessly by. We cut to the top of the tree as we see Graydrake with the male babyfaces as he tells them to follow him because he found Mrs. Beakly. The nephews love this as Graydrake carries the nephews with him and he swings away. Scrooge has a vine as well as Launchpad as he gets giddy over this. He swings and then screws up and ties his legs and he's upside down on the back swing. HAHA! Scrooge gleefully blows him off for THAT one. Scrooge nearly gets speared as he grabs the next vine and swings. And then sadly he grabs the tail of a giant ass snake as it hisses at him (Frank Welker, DUH!) They fall down together as Scrooge screams on cue.
So we cut back to the tree house as Mrs. Beakly is watching from the window; and in swings Graydrake with the nephews. Mrs. Beakly and the nephews have an emotional bonding moment as Beakly tries to thank Jungle Duck; but they are forced to duck as the upside down Launchpad swings in like the goofball that he is. HAHA! Graydrake grabs him by the ankles to stop the funny of course as Launchpad is a little upset because he got the swing of things. HAHA! If only Launchpad. If only. Dewey wonders where Scrooge is as Launchpad stated that he was right behind him and Scrooge drops over the edge inside coiled and tied up by the giant ass snake. HAHA! Graydrake pulls the snake away allowing Scrooge to do the whirlwind spot since Butterbear isn't around to do that spot. I think that is Michael Eisner's second turn on. At least I can tolerate that one over the half second black slug. Scrooge's eyes are dizzy as Launchpad proclaims that the snake took him for a spin. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments.
Scrooge realizes that it's the phantom as Mrs. Beakly tries to explain that it's Prince Graydrake; but Scrooge wants Graydrake to tell him where the silver buzzard is. Graydrake is totally confused as Mrs. Beakly tries to explain to Scrooge; but Scrooge takes it as holding out on him. Oh boy; if there was a time to be fussy; this is the time now since the natives are getting restless and they must leave. Scrooge thinks that he's keeping the silver mine to himself and Mrs. Beakly calls him out on it as Scrooge recoils on cue. Scrooge then strikes a deal as he gets the silver and Graydrake keeps the mine. Graydrake is confused; but shakes hands anyway on the deal as Mrs. Beakly is getting more pissed off by the second. However; Scrooge gives her a vine since it's ladies first and we get the Tarzan swing spot in stereo~! They manage to dodge the spears as they hit the treehouse and that ends the segment sixteen minutes in. Average episode thus far.
After the commercial break; we get more swinging from the babyface as Launchpad is swinging in his usual position like an idiot as usual. HAHA! They finally land on the ground as Scrooge proclaims that he prefers the subway which is CONTINUITY from the previous episode. Graydrake proclaims that the silver buzzard is this way and they run towards it and Scrooge is giddy as he walks through the bushes and then he is upset since it's Graydrake's plane that crashed nose first into the ground and it's made of silver. SCORE! Scrooge calls it a pile of junk as Launchpad goes all Kit Cloudkicker on us in saying that it's a genuine 1934 Douglas DC-2. I'm seriously wondering if Kit has ever MET Launchpad in his travels in TaleSpin? I SMELL A FANFIC COMING! Just to make those same universe mutants somewhat happy. Dewey does the Gruffi pose and asks him how he knew that and Launchpad calls it a lucky guess. I stand corrected. Scrooge slaps the muck on the royal duck symbol with his cane because he has been robbed. How exactly? The plane is made of silver you jackass?! LP claims it's the shifty eyed chimp who robbed him. HAHA! Somehow; I think LP has a point there. All: DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM GIANTLORD GREGORY WEAGLE~! Okay then; back to the rant.
Scrooge proclaims that all is lost as Mrs. Beakly points to the royal symbol covered in muck. He calls it the Royal House of Graydrake as Graydrake walks forward as Mrs. Beakly grabs his ankle and shows the royal symbol on the bottom of his foot as Scrooge doesn't get it. And then he gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY as he realizes that it's Prince Graydrake. Geez; being a dick must be hell as Graydrake's jumping somehow manages to make the royal stamp on his foot disappear on cue. Logic break #2 for the episode. And if he makes it home tomorrow; he's the king and that means a reward as Scrooge sees dollar signs in his eyes. For goodness sakes; stop doing that spot guys. It's worse than the rope snap spot in TaleSpin.
Scrooge uses his cane to open up the door and proclaims that he wants to fix the plane now as everyone cheers while the chimps show up. However; Graydrake sits on his ass and proclaims that he doesn't want to leave. Why? Because this is his home silly. Mrs. Beakly reminds him that his evil uncle (Okay; that is downright harsh there Mrs. Beakly since we don't know that he is REALLY evil.) will be crowned king. Graydrake doesn't sell because the uncle is loyal to Graydrake as Mrs. Beakly reminds him of who sent him on the plane trip and it was his uncle. Okay; this is completely OUT OF NOWHERE and pointless anyway since there is zero evidence that the uncle is even BEHIND this. Geez; I'm guessing the rookie writer is writing this part of the story. Scrooge uses deduction on who benefits from this and of course it's the uncle as Graydrake stands up and wants to go home to bash evil crook. This would have worked perfectly if we knew about the uncle a lot earlier in the episode. Otherwise; this is there to suck.
Scrooge orders the nephews to get some buckets and go to the destroyed village to get the crude boiling tar and they salute and leave. Man; Huey said something that I didn't get even though Disney Caption claims he said check! It doesn't match. They bail stage left along with the monkeys because you just have to get them involved somehow. So the plane gets dropped down on it's belly by the elephants as oil barrels get thrown down and lit on fire for no reason whatsoever and other cleaning takes place. So we cut to BEFORE HAPPY HOUR as the nephews are at the tar pool pouring oil into the bowls to be passed on by monkeys into the oil barrel on a fire being stirred by Mrs. Beakly. Somehow I'm not taking this conversion from tar to oil seriously. Scrooge comes around and checks the smell of the bone spoon of oil and proclaims that they need a few more minutes more in order to get enough octanes to get them off the ground.
So it changes into AFTER HAPPY HOUR quickly as Mrs. Beakly wonders if they got a few minutes left (Answer: yes you do) as we cut back to the nephews as they hear some fart growling and Huey thinks it's Dewey's imagination. And we hear the natives coming back as a spear hits a tree in front of Huey. Umm; there was no tree where Huey was originally when he was NEAR the tar pond. That's logic break #3 for the episode as the native apporch the pool and Dewey and Louie get hoisted up by the native. Huey then takes a lit torch and sets the whole pool on fire. ARSON! ARSON! What does Huey think he is? A member of the ELF? The fire wall blocks the natives good as the monkey grabs Huey as Huey calls it a hot pool party. Now today; that would be considered a sexual comment; albeit very mild.
So we head to Graydrake's plane as the plane is cleared up and the natives are coming according to the nephews yelling. Everyone gets into the plane via the steel ladder and it gets hoisted up as the door closes and the passengers take their seats inside. I see Launchpad is still banned from flying as he's in the passenger side of the plane. And here's a logic break I didn't consider: What the hell happened to Graydrake's servant flying the plane? Or are they implying that Graydrake was a pilot who doubles as a prince? Everyone gets their seat belts on (so we can be safe according to Dora's law) as Scrooge goes into the cockpit behind the pink curtain and then comes out wanting Launchpad in the cockpit. Launchpad apologizes because passengers aren't allowed in there. HAHA! Scrooge blows him off because he's the pilot see. Launchpad gleefully reminds him that he is banned from flying for any plane that is Scrooge's property. One small problem: This is Graydrake's plane so it's perfectly okay for him to fly it because it's not on Scrooge's account.
Sadly; Scrooge doesn't remember to use that and opens the curtain because he ALWAYS say that. The natives run towards the plane as we head to the front shot of the cockpit as Launchpad starts the engines and they begin to roar and sputter and Scrooge gets the CHEAP HEAT OF LAUGHS on that one. LP claims that he didn't forget anything and Scrooge blows him off for forgetting the runway. Well; that is your fault not to consider it until now Scroogie. Garydrake comes in asking what is wrong and Scrooge blows Launchpad off (nincompoop) forgot to clear a runway see. Graydrake asks how long and Launchpad asks for 300 feet in both duck and elephant feet. Okkkkaaaayyyyyy. We cut to outside as the natives are throwing more spears at the plane as Graydrake comes out and does the Tarzan yell and here comes the stampede of elephants again from the far shot as the natives are forced to bail again. The plane takes off the runway as the natives try one last gasp at throwing spears; but no dice as the plane flies into the sky easily.
So we logically cut to the throne room (which looks like a redone church) as the nephews, Scrooge and Mrs. Beakly are sitting down on the left side of the bleachers. Huey wonders what is taking so long and Scrooge informs him that Graydrake is changing clothes with Launchpad as Huey proclaims that they better hurry because their uncle will be crowned king any minute. So we cut to the dressing room as Launchpad is putting on some formal gear as Graydrake is hellbent on stopping his uncle as we have about one minute left in the episode. Sadly; they need to stall for time so Scrooge asks for some entertainment on the bleachers and so we go to the close shot of the evil uncle and man; they really did a great job in making him look unique and yet he gets only a minute of screen time. That is just sad folks.
Anyhow; Mrs. Beakly and the nephews do some juggling in front of the evil uncle (Frank Welker) as he blows it off because the entertainment comes after the coronation see. The evil uncle orders his English soldier dogspeople to put the entertainment in a sneak preview in the dungeon as one of them grabs Mrs Beakly and drags her away as she protests this outrage. The evil uncle (in king gear by the way) stands up and grabs the crown as he is about to declare himself king as the Tarzan yell beckons and in swings Graydrake looking as absurd as usual. The babyface cheer as somehow the nephews are back in the bleachers. I guess the guards were told the nephews are protected in this episode. See Duck In the Iron Mask. Everyone is SHOCKED to see this as Graydrake proclaims that he should be king as the evil uncle orders the guards to take Graydrake away because he's nuts. I cannot argue with that overwhelming logic there as the guard grab Graydrake and there is a struggle until he shows the royal tattoo on the bottom of his foot to the crowd (while still breaking logic from Wang Films of course) and everyone is SHOCKED and the evil uncle is APPALLED. Sadly; he blows his cover because Graydrake asks him how he knew where his plane crashed. Now the smart move would be to say that he read it in the newspaper; but of course we all know he is going to say that he sabotaged the plane. I check the DVD...He states it was a lucky guess.
I just knew that lame pun would come back. So we get another scene changer of doom as Graydrake takes to the throne on the sky shot as Mrs. Beakly crowns Graydrake king for real (and he's still dumb as usual) while Scrooge uses his glass lens to check on the cross medal he got as a reward. I think that is a fair trade to me. Greydrake (as Disney Captions has him) sits cross legged as Scrooge proclaims that you can take the boy out of the jungle; but you cannot teach a new king old tricks as LP would say. HAHA! Scrooge groans on that one as Greydrake and Mrs. Beakly have a disturbing bonding moment as Graydrake gets a little evil on her hair to end the episode at 21:14. This was a good episode; but man the character development was lacking; more so near the end when Greydrake's uncle looked great as a physical design; but no expansion of his character was foretold and it made the whole incident Graydrake seem OUT OF NOWHERE. Logic breaks didn't help the cause either. *** (60%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; this was another middling episode that just chugged along with a cool death trap and a pretty cool Tarzan like character called Graydrake; but I found the story quite lacking in places. The whole evil uncle ending seemed to be tacked on out of nowhere with no build up or context and it seems to be out of nowhere. Sad because the evil uncle looked like a really good character design. The rest of the plot threads (LP being banned from flying; Beakly's relationship with Graydrake) was pretty average and there were a few mistakes and logic breaks; but nothing really major. In other words; it's just your average Ducktales love in. It could be worse though; it could have a Leprechaun in it. So next up is a personal favorite of mine which is the story of Launchpad's very first crash. At least in theory. So....
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you next time.