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Magica's Shadow War
Reviewed: 12/20/2009
Can you smell the BS&P stink starting to flow here?!
Moving right along; we get another big episode involving Magica Despell and also; the DTVA debut of “I'm just come from Tour #xxx” Vacation von Honk. Oh good grief; I hope McSlantly doesn't get involved and they have a duet. We have enough BS&P nightmares in DTVA as it is. So let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Randy L'Officier. The story is edited by Patsy Cameron and Tedd Anasti. Randy has actually done The Real Ghostbusters, Bionic Six, Young Robin Hood and nothing else.
We begin this one at Magica's lab outside AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as we pan up and zoom in. Then we head inside with thunder and lighting on the sky shot as Magica (pentagrams and all) proclaiming that it is cold heartedly evil (heartedly is something Open Office doesn't see as a word) and is shamelessly treacherous. I see the Russian accent is in full force here from her. She is at her spell book and calls it all a nifty idea. She goes through her spell book and sees if she has it all from black cat claws. Poe is perched near the table and opens up the cheese cat jar to the left and there we have logic break #1 for the episode as they are orange paws instead of black when Poe opens it and is scared. I smell BS&P stink coming out of that jar. Poe gives Magica the jar and scratch that off the list. Magica then asks for howling tornado of wind as Poe opens the thin purple candy cane jar and he get spun around. Geez; this is what this episode needs: More windbags! Poe closes that one and checks it as Magica then asks for Red-Hot Dragon's Breath. Is this some spell or Magica's daily “Torture The Poe Forevermore” session? AHHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Poe throws the green dragon jar to Magica and tells her to check it herself. Magica grabs it and opens it to reveal a red dragon who breathes green flame right on Poe's ass. Yeap; it is “Torture The Poe Forevermore” session today. Magica throws the red dragon into the pot (spooky!) as she's glad to think about it. She proclaims to Scrooge that he better watch out because she has found a perfect way to screw him out of his number one McGruffin...ERRR... I mean dime. I see she has controlled her over the top laughter since Send In The Clones too. She casts her SPELL OF DOOM on the pot and counts to five as her shadow springs from her body and it's alive right in the middle of the pentagram. Again; the orange circle in the middle doesn't negate the fact that there is a pentagon drawn around the circle. And wait until later and you'll see what I mean. Magica laughs as the shadow dances with her. Poe flies around doing nothing in particular as per with him.
So we head to the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM as we head to the living room as the nephews complain about some gift box. And then on the close shot from the office room we get the flash of death and we head inside as we get Quackeroonie #1 of the episode nearly 2 and a half minutes in. Huey calls it a neat-o thingamabobber. Nah; it's only a camera Huey. Wipe the flash from your eyes and see the real thing. Dewey reads the letter as it is from Gyro as Louie states the obvious. Dewey reads that it is a new kind of instant camera that he invented. I guess this is probation for creating killer robots who play hockey in the previous rant. See; if he missed their birthday, he'll make it up at Christmas. Huey plays with the camera which is DANGER as Louie pushes the button and the picture comes out showing three eye wide nephews. Ah; this must be the picture where the nephews saw Scrooge with Millie in the bedroom that I heard from on Smearinggun.com. POW! BONK! OUCH! OUCH! Ummm...Dewey claims that he hopes their school pictures look this good. I wonder how THAT went hmmmm. A little too much horse in that play much. AHHAHAHAHAHA! Louie wants to play Candid Camera. Oh boy this is going to hurt I just know it.
The nephews jump in agreement and then run upstairs into the hallway as we hear Mrs. Beakly singing. Oh god; she is already a 1000% improvement over Hoppo's singing already. Joan can sing better than she can act. I guess she's prepping up for Maid of the Myth as we hear Ride of the Valkyrie in the background. Louie and company make it to the door with their sneaking. Louie tells them to be quiet and then he knocks on the door and is as loud as possible. I see QP Huey stole that one for Feats of Clay. Louie has a surprise for Mrs. Beakly. Now considering that Louie is the prankster of the trio; you would think Mrs. Beakly would have realized she is going to get screwed and not open the door. So she opens the door (wearing a pink robe and hair curlers with a brush in her hand ala the queen from Doctor Jekyll & Mr. McDuck) and gets the FINAL FLASH~! HAHA! Sadly; she doesn't go to HFIL as a result, although we wish her acting would. Nice whiplash on the camera recoil there Mrs. Beakly. This is Woodchuck Camera as the nephews run away stage right. I think Mr. Woodchuck is about to get a lot of complaints after this episode is over even if he had NOTHING whatsoever to do with this. They push the button and it shows on the picture a scared haired Mrs. Beakly as the nephews claims that she looked excited. Excited with fear? Absolutely.
So we head to the Money Bin as Scrooge talks about spring cleaning to start the day off right. I guess he had to rehire everyone after the Armstrong incident two rants ago; so it makes perfect sense. And he is doing more inside the vault as he has the magnifying glass looking for dust and debris. I only have one thing to say about this: Who in the hell gave him that apron he is wearing? That I think drops Scrooge McDuck down a notch on the dignity scale in my view. He grabs a ten cent coin (which is made of gold, natch) and gasps in horror because it has yellow waxy buildup. Maybe it's because it's a gold coin Scroogie. You ever thought about that? So he brings out the Windex from his apron and sprays some of that on the coin. See; nothing smells better than clean money; unless it's more clean MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH.
He smells some money for a bit and then it's smiling time because Scrooge is on Woodchuck Camera. Scrooge gets FINAL FLASHED (or SHUTTER CHANCE depending on which animation type you like) and the money falls. HAHA! The flash does so much damage that it takes the green right off the green backs. HAHA! Scrooge gets all pissy on the nephews as the nephews get the picture and blow Scrooge off for being so photogenic. Time to have that talk with Gyro again Scroogie. Scrooge weeps on the dollar bill as he walks stage left hoping for someone to do an emergency dye job. So we head to the airport outside on a pan shot of the runway as Terry McGovern's voice calls for Air Canard Flight 009 is clear for landing and the cheesy air jet lands on the runaway with a decent bump; but nothing else. We then hear the airport customs man inside at the baggage claim department pointing out Magica's bag and telling her everything she has is legal, except for the fruit. Yeah; the dreaded fruit is deadly; but her spell items are totally legal. Man; talk about special pleading. The dogperson (Alan Young) closes up the pot like suitcase (in purple I might add) and declares that everything is in order.
She walks away and then bumps (intentional? Who knows) into (Oh my god; that WAS intentional!)...wait for it....the DTVA debut of...wait for it...Vacation Von Honk! According to Chris Barat; Von Honk was supposed to be a regular babyface on the show; but someone in BS&P decided to reduce him to cameos. This is an example of why BS&P can be a good thing because Vacation Von Honk is a gimmick character who takes vacations and nothing else. He makes the WWE gimmicks in the early 1990's look like characters in comparison. Von Honk is a duck with a Hawaiian shirt (yellow shorts and sandals) and has the beer gut equal to that of Herb Muddlefoot. He is voiced by Frank Welker here (doing the Freddy Jones voice; but would have other voices in later episodes) as he complains about Magica bumping his wallet. Magica apologizes for her bump and decides to give him back his wallet; but then her shadow grabs the wallet and we have a tug of war between the shadow and Magica. Uh Oh! The heel turn for the shadow has begun in earnest and we are not even five minutes into this episode.
Magica gets it back and takes a sick MAN-SIZED bump into Vacation Von Honk! YAY! Magica calls it a very sticky floor and is very bad. Which is the precursor to the my bad quote I hate so much. Magica gives Honk his wallet back and then runs out with her stuff as she blows off her shadow because she won't tolerate this behavior from her shadow. She heads to the taxi and blows off her shadow some more as she gets inside and the shadow blows in her shadow hand gleefully ignoring her. So we head to the boarded up HOUSE OF HORRORS as we head inside the main room with Magica and the pig realtor from Catch As Catch Can and Super Ducktales #4 (Joan Gerber)! How about that?! She talks about the problems of rent in the house. It's a neat find as the owner was attached to it as we see a skeleton in the basement with a ball and chain attached to his arm indicating that he was tortured and murdered and left to rot in the basement in roundabout terms. The visual aids of the dark evil eyes and spiders basically give away what happened without the use of words. Cinema 101 is in full effect here and no naysayers can defend it otherwise. Magica is impressed as this is what she always wanted. The realtor is impressed and gives the papers to Magica from her blue purse and the house of horrors is sold to Magica.
So we get the scene changer as the room is tidied up quite a bit as Magica goes to a column (with the glass case which has a logic break since there is a dime inside of it when there shouldn't be) near a purple which has a green pentagram on it. If Poe's body would MOVE as the perch is in the way; this pentagram would be even MORE obvious than the one in Magica's original lab! And Disney does ZERO editing on it to boot! Magica's shadow is getting restless as Magica blows it off for playing pranks. The candlelight here creates some mature lighting again by the way. Oh wait; the dime is for rehearsal, never mind as she puts the glass case on the column. She wants the shadow to grab the case and she does and fails. BWHAHAHAHAHA! Magica blows her off and tells her to grab the shadow of the case instead. The shadow sells and grabs the shadow of the case and thus has the case. Magica is happy to see she got that one down pat and orders her to drop the case.
That is not a good idea and I betcha she drops it on the floor and the glass case breaks. I check the DVD...Damn; I'm good as she flips it and drops it while waking Poe in the process as he flies away from his perch into the skull cup screaming evermore. Magica blows herself off and then blows off the little imp. She then brings down the projector screen (conveniently placed magically I might add) and shows the location of Scrooge's Mansion and a B&W picture of the mansion to boot. She brings out the teaching stick so you know she is SERIOUS BABEE! Magica tells her to memorize location and that she has one hour to complete the mission or she dies more or less. She MURDERS her wand with magic to force the point as the shadow shivers with fear and Poe states it's nevermore and pops up from the skill bowl. Magica does the Gruffi pose and tells her to succeed because she doesn't have much to look forward to. Magica tells her to go and the shadow sulks stage left. So we head into the street with blue/green lighting in effect (understandable since it helps us see where the shadow is going) as the shadow turns the corner of the sidewalk and jumps around for a bit before finding an apple cart and eating an apple inside of it before throwing it away. The shadow walks away stage left. Well; that was really pointless.
So we head to the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as we zoom in and see the shadow enter under the doors and into the lobby. At least the lighting is solid as it goes up the stairs and into the nephews' room where the nephews are sleeping. When did they have a double bunk bed? I thought it was always a triple bunk bed?! The good side is that they kept the “wah-wah-wah-wah” spot; albeit briefly as the shadow of Magica Despell leaves under the door into the hallway again. She then goes under the door of Scrooge's room and there is the number one McGruffin...ERRR...I mean number one dime under glass on a column to the right of Scrooge's bed. Ah! Now I see why Scrooge didn't put it there soon after this and put it into the Money Bin. As if THAT would keep the shadow away. And there is a shadow on the column; just to make Scrooge look worse. The shadow takes the glass case and tries to run away; but trips over the table containing a priceless white vase and it shatters right on cue. D'OH! The nephews (in their Pjs) and Scrooge (in regular clothes) enter the room and what was Scrooge doing at night? Besides counting money in his office? I thought he was asleep in his room? The nephews point out the glass case in the corner (which has no shadow I might add) and Scrooge panics like Shaggy on speed as someone is stealing his dime. NO?! REALLY?!
The shadow comes out from the plants and Huey calls it a shadow thief. Something tells me the nephews have faced one of these before this series started. And something tells me Donald Duck was involved directly AS one of them. Everyone runs in to stop the SHADOW OF DOOM; but the Shadow runs through them (huh?) and then runs down the steps (why is the moose look more animated than everyone else in this sequence?). There is some rumbling as the nephews follow and Scrooge follows and gets Moose Masked as a result. HAHA! Scrooge wants them to block the chimney (You're kidding right?); but the moose shadow does a great job of scaring the shadow and throwing the glass case into the air. Scrooge grabs the glass case on the baseball slide of death and takes a really sick MAN-SIZED bump into the chimney wall as the shadow escapes up the chimney. The nephews praise that one as Scrooge magically gets his moose head off (HA!) and kisses the glass case while sitting down. I thought Baloo was bad in kissing petty objects like human beings? Scrooge proclaims that the shadow reminded him of someone who is sneaky and greedy. Louie claims that it is a friend of his and Scrooge corrects him as an enemy as Scrooge realizes that it's Magica Despell. NO?! REALLY?! As if the shadow figure didn't give that fact away? Scrooge calls her a witch (in the correct context this one) and proclaims that she will try again. NO?! REALLY?! Scrooge calls for emergency money protection positions as everyone runs upstairs....
So we head to the HOUSE OF HORRORS as we head inside the room as Magica Despell blows off her shadow for failing and being scared by a moose head. Magica calls this the most absurd excuse she has ever heard. I thought making the shadow a slave was the worst?! She calls her shadow a worthless tag-along and a stupid piece of air. Wow; she's improving from the nephew's views of Webby I do believe. Magica continues to read the riot act on the shadow so much that the shadow shrinks about three inches or so every second. She stomps out the shadow as we go to the spell book column as Poe is perched on his perch loving this. Magica consults her books to see if she had forgotten something. Magica turns the pages and finds a spell to make her shadow more powerful. The shadow returns to Magica as Magica blows it off because it is not a good idea since she is having too much trouble already. She looks in her spell book some more and sees another spell that will be a good idea. If only she had some pickled wiggly worms. Magica walks to the closet and opens it as the shadow breaks from her and crackles gleefully. UH OH! I think Magica is screwed badly now. Magica's shadow blitzes and shuts the door of the closet in front of her. The shadow blocks the door as Magica protests this outrage.
The shadow flies over to the spell book and blows off Magica for being in the shadow of her (June Foray of course) and then does some spell dusting as she floats some test tubes and jars (one of them looks like it's dripping blood!) into the pot in front of the green pentagram rug. She casts the spell in order to set her free from bondage. She floats into the steam pot and her shadow turns into a nasty witch with red glowing eyes as she laughs like a maniac. Magica protests some more; but has no dice opening the door. The Russian accent nearly sounds like s***less little fiend instead of shiftless like in Disney Captions I should note. The shadow blows her off because she is free from her as Magica calls her absolutely nothing. If she was nothing; then how did she lock you in the closet Magica Despell? The shadow gleefully rants on her and the mistreatment of shadows all around as she proclaims that she will steal Scrooge's dime as the final ingredient for her master spell. The spell will release all shadows in the world and enslave the people of the Earth. She dances around and cue the evil laugh again. That ends the segment nearly 11 and a half minutes in. Really awesome episode thus far, Von Honk notwithstanding. At least the writers have found a use for Vacation Von Honk: Using him as a cushion for bumps.
After the commercial break; we head to Scrooge's Mansion as the front grounds look like a war zone that hasn't been torn up yet. Complete with enough spotlight to get Greenpeace pissed off. We head to the front of the house as Scrooge sets up another spotlight and the nephews and LP are on flashlight duty with army helmets on. Dewey blows Scrooge off for making them give back Gyro's present. I see Scrooge DID have the long talk with Gyro after all. Dewey wants to get the shadow on Woodchuck Camera. 2:1 odds that it will be the finish when all is said and done. Scrooge demands more light so she cannot sneak by them without being seen. Scrooge goes inside the house and slams the door as we go to the bushes on the left side on the close shot and see the shadow swear in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (cursed lights!). That doesn't stop her from sneaking in under the front door though as she gets into the lobby again. She then hides behind the shadow of a trophy of golf on the dresser as Scrooge proclaims that no shadow must escape examination. Sadly; he misses the trophy and walks away with a box of stuff. The shadow pops up again and tries to go into the living room; but is forced to hide behind the knight armor (conveniently placed I might add) as the nephews enter with flashlights. In a house with lights on? The shadow hides into the next room as we come back to the HOUSE OF HORRORS as Magica continues to protest and she will have her revenge. I think she's projecting her shadow into herself there.
She does get out of the closet though as she paces around and wants to make the shadow do 100 jumping jacks and other forms of shadow torture. That is generous considering what Poe goes through on a regular basis. Oh wait; she's STILL in the closet, never mind. She wants to bore her shadow and Magica is going crazy, crazy, CRAZY! She needs to get the hell out of there and to Magica; the feeling is there too. Magica tries to grab onto the door knob; but the closet is still locked. Man; that is one badly designed closet door there Magica. Magica needs some help; so she yells at Poe to find some help quack...or quick...or Rapidmo! There we go.. Poe flies away stage left as we head back to inside the mansion as the shadow practices the fine art of not being seen and considering all that light inside; that is no small feat. She goes into the room and there is the dime on glass on column with enough spotlights to worship it as a god. She then notices the wires and power square and so she dives into it like Megavolt does in one of his episodes. Wonder if this shadow went to classes with him at the time? ZAP! OUCH! Ummm... The shadow goes through the light bulb and attempts the SHADOW HAND OF DOOM on the glass case; but the DINO SKULL SHADOW OF DOOM trumps that. Take one guess who provides said shadow. The shadow gets out of the room as we see the nephews behind a green chair with a flashlight blowing her off. Huey turns off the flashlight as Louie comments on her red glowing eyes. She's a lot scarier than before and they should go inform Scrooge of this situation.
We then go into the skies above the city as Poe flies to get help and he chooses Scrooge McDuck. Well; that is where the shadow is so it makes perfect sense to go for him doesn't it Poe Despell? Poe flies down towards Scrooge on the porch who is setting more lights with Duckworth behind him. Poe lands on the tree branch perch (another conveniently placed object from TMS) as he awks at Scrooge to help Magica. That is just asking for roasted and smoked raven...Hmmmm; smoked raven...SLURP! PECK! OUCH! Ummm..Scrooge responds by throwing a light vase at Poe and Poe dodges up as Poe states that Magica is trapped like a rat. The lamp shatters off-screen of course as Poe proclaims that Magica is the only one that can get rid of the shadow. Scrooge tries to grab Poe; but Poe dodges as the nephews run in to tell Scrooge that the shadow no longer looks the same. Louie compares the red eyes to the glow in the dark tie they gave him for Christmas.
Poe proclaims that the shadow took over and locked Magica in the closet (which out of context is quite disturbing.) and wants Scrooge to free her. Scrooge of course refuses to free that witch (Wiccan hater!) and she is locked until doomsday. So Scrooge believes in the Rapture? The nephews gleefully remind Scrooge of the electric bill and Scrooge decides to recoil and agree to Poe's terms to free Magica. Scrooge grabs the glass case (I guess the nephews brought it with them; or that's logic break #1 for the episode) and they follow Poe's flying stage right. We then see the shadow blowing them off for tricking her; but she'll get her revenge somehow. She'll control the shadows of Duckburg and I guess she has lowered her expectations on her goals I see. So we head to the HOUSE OF HORRORS as the babyfaces and Poe run towards the house. Huey remember to get off Quackeroonie #2 of the episode nearly 14 and a half minutes in after just 12 minutes of Quackeroonie free action. We head inside the room at the closet (and see the green pentagram rug the babyfaces are stepping on) as Poe points to the door. Scrooge heads to the door and grabs the conveniently placed skeleton bone and whacks the doorknob clear off it's shoulders.
The door finally opens and out comes Magica as she blows off her help and Poe shrugs on the spell book on cue. Scrooge has the glass case and blows off her shadow tricks for trying to steal his dime. Magica doesn't want to waste time as we go to the window shot and see the shadow looking on from the window. Magica states that only she knows how to stop the shadow; or it plagues them for the rest of their cheap lives. Projection much there Magica?! Scrooge wants her to cast the spell now. However; Magica needs a major ingredient in the formula and that Scrooge's number one dime. HAHA! Scrooge of course refuses on the spot. I just knew that it had to be Scrooge losing to Magica Despell in order to stop the pain. Dewey thinks he should give it up (they are stepping on the pentagram rug I should note) as Louie does the Gruffi pose. Scrooge calls it merely another trick as the Kit Cloudkicker bug has infected the rational side of his brain I see. He thinks she locked herself in the closet on purpose.
He orders Duckworth to keep an eye on her as Magica does the Gruffi pose as the rest follow Scroog out. Notice on the far shot; the obvious pentagram now you critics who see nothing and claim that it doesn't count? Why are you doing this? If it's to deflect the moralists; you're too late. It's there and there is nothing you can do to stop it. All you are doing is giving out middle fingers to them and pissing them off to do more damage to BS&P. Why not just say that Wicca's are not the spawn of Satan? You will gain a lot more traction there and you are gain respect from the Pagans of the world instead of acting like they don't exist. If there is nothing wrong with a pentagram; why be so defensive about it? Unless what the moralist is saying is true and you really hate pagans as much as moralists. Get over it and move on. He wants to get rid of the shadow his way as they exit stage right.
So we head to the baseball stadium from Time Teasers (I think) as Scrooge is laughing his ass off for some reason. See this is foolproof as we go inside to the pitcher's mound as Scrooge explains that LP linked all the stadium lights to the switch. Now why him and not Gyro? I think you should reconsider calling this foolproof considering the fool doing the linking Scroogie. He puts the glass case on the pitcher's mound and when the shadow arrives; they will blast it with so much light it will be blasted into moonbeams and gone forever. Riiiigggghhhhhttttt...Are we on Woodchuck Camera or something here?! The nephews aren't buying it which adds more evidence to my side on this as Louie wonders if they should have listened to Magica. Scrooge calls it rubbish because he made his fortune by being smarter than smarties and tougher than toughies. Considering his lack of knowledge on light; I think that first one is false and the second one is irrelevant. His MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN cannot fail as it is showtime as we get a shot of the pitcher's mound with the glass case on it. The shadow arrives from the ice cream stand and practices the fine art of not being seen as it makes it to the pitchers mound and taps on the shadow of the glass case snickering. She dives in and Scrooge flips the switch on the link and the stadium lights all turn on; but the shadow absolutely no sells the whole thing. Told ya Scroogie as the circuits overload and the light do some selective lighting before we see various shadows rises from the graves. HAHA! See; the dime is only needed with the shadow to create monsters. Should have listened to Magica you creepy old bastard. That ends the segment nearly 17 minutes in.
After the commercial break; we head with a far shot of the stadium as there is more crackling from about a dozen shadows and their shadow leader as the lights finally go out. Scrooge complains that she has the dime. NO?! REALLY?! Scrooge runs in to stop them as the nephews want him to come back; but no dice. Scrooge stops in front of the shadow leader as he played into all 20 of their hands. Ummm; check your internal logic there guys: There are only six shadows tops; so it's a dozen hands, not 20. Logic break #2 for the episode. Scrooge calls the shadow a thief. NO?! REALLY?! The shadows play catch and Scrooge cannot grab the glass case as the shadows mock him as there are now 11 shadows (still a logic break since there are now 22 hands. Oy vey!). The nephews have to think of something to stop this stupidity as LP runs in and doesn't understand what the hell is going on. He hates the dark and the nephews have their MIMI JOKE ZONE PLAN: Turn off the damn lights. They go to the switch and pulls on it to turn off the lights. Huey points out that the shadows lose their strength in the dark.
Okay; that makes no sense since the dark was to THEIR benefit. The shadow leader gets confused and Scrooge grabs the glass case and bails stage right. She orders the shadows to shadow box Scrooge and the dime as Scrooge and the gang run out of the baseball stadium stage right. The shadows follow as we head into the streets as the babyfaces run into the entrance of an alleyway. Scrooge thinks that they lost them as Huey proclaims that the shadow are good at shadowing them and Louie blows him off for that one. What's the matter Louie? Jealous that he STOLE your joke there pal? Louie breathes a sigh of relief and the all clear as Scrooge decides to go to the Money Bin for safety since it's airtight. One problem: If it's airtight; then the ducks would die due to lack of oxygen. So we go stage right as the babyfaces walk slowly; but the shadows are showing and Louie's shadow starts to grow bigger for some reason. Louie comments on his weight and Scrooge realizes that she found them as we she the shadow leader crackling right in front of Louie. She grabs a trash can and the babyface scatter in different directions as she misses by a mile.
So we get the scene changer inside the vault as Scrooge admits that he miscalculated as Magica does the Gruffi pose on him just to rub it in. She wants Scrooge to spit it out and Scrooge apologizes to her. HAHA! Scrooge wants to work together on this and Magica states that she can reverse the spell to turn the shadow normal and that will stop the nightmare; but they must act fast or the shadow overtake the city. And the shadows and leader have already made it to outside of Scrooge's Money Bin on the outside shot. We head inside the vault as Magica states that she needs the right spell and the dime to make it work. Otherwise; it's a total failure. Scrooge sees it as a trick to grab the dime and refuses; but the babyfaces shout him down on that one including Mrs. Beakly. Where the hell was she? Recovering from Woodchuck Camera-itis?!
Scrooge finally concedes defeat and opens the glass case and gives her the dime. Scrooge tells her not to get attached to it though. Scrooge is not letting it out of his sight for a minutes. Okay; I think that is a fair deal. Magica laughs as we head outside the Money Bin as Scrooge fake cries (the acting is terrible; so you know it's fake) as he walks out and admits defeat as they are lost and doomed. When someone doesn't say the word dead; you know it's fake. Just saying BS&P. LP's defeatism is so over-the-top that it at least sounds somewhat convincing. Scrooge whisper yells LP's acting (oh great; he's doing it too!) as Scrooge does some more Grade D acting on their demise. So we head inside the vault as Magica holds up the lucky dime above the purple pot and proclaims that she is their master and for the shadows to come to her. The spell works as the shadows get sucked up like a vacuum cleaner into the vault and fly above Magica's spell in random directions. Now this episode really sucks. HAHA!
Ron Sparks: It sucks more than Sean Desmond.
The shadow leader enters the vault and Magica naturally blows her off for following her. The leader asks if she missed her and Magica misses her like a hole in the head. It's funny how Disney was able to get away with that in 1987 when one of the Mister T kids in 1983 had to say like I'm missing a third eye or ear which is a lot more useful than a hole in the head. Ironically enough; Kit almost get a hole in the head from a bullet in Plunder and Lightning Part Two which missed by an inch and was cut out in syndication. The shadow leader proclaims that the spell won't work because she is her own master own and will never live in her shadow again. Magica calls this poppycock since there is only room for one Magica Despell. LP thanks the lord for small favors near the door as Magica does the spell chant and the shadows go into ring formation and dive right into the pot as she continues to chant and tells them to expire. The shadow leader struggles with her life gasping as if she is giving child birth or something. Magica puts on the SUNGLASSES OF NIGHT and orders them now as the nephews with shades come in with three of Gyro's camera (huh? Three? I thought he only had one?) and it's Woodchuck Camera Final Flashing~! HAHA! I win $2 from myself on that bet.
She gets blown out of existence and I just realized something: If Scrooge hasn't told the nephews to return the camera to Gyro; they could have poof her out of existence without Magica's help or the dime. So this was awfully contrived after all. There goes the perfect episode right there. Magica admires her handiwork as LP tells them that the creepy shadows are gone. Everyone cheers for victory as even Webby has arrived as the nephews are thankful for Gyro's thingamabobbers. I think Scrooge owes Gyro an apology. AGAIN! Mrs. Beakly agrees to let him send as many inventions as he likes. So it was Mrs. Beakly who sent the camera back to Gyro then! It's HER fault that the episode got contrived at the end. I see now why Mrs. Beakly gets criticized all the time. Scrooge jumps for joy and dances a Scottish jig thanking his gold coins for killing Magica's shadow. Riiiiigggghhhhttt. Scrooge then asks for his lucky dime back and of course Magica no sells. Ah; she does remember what happened in Send In The Clones after all. Magica tries to escape on the ladder; but the NEPHEW SHADOW LEADER CLONE OF DOOM scares her and she drops the dime from her hands. Magica runs away from the vault as Scrooge grabs the dime. And we pan over to see Dewey using his hands on the spotlight as they giggle at Magica's expense. Scrooge blows off Magica for being afraid of her shadow as we cut to outside as Magic runs away in the streets in a cloud of dust to end the episode at 21:14. Vacation Von Honk and a contrived defeating aside; this was one kick ass episode. **** ¾ (95%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Now this series is REALLY getting into a groove as we get another near perfect episode. Near perfect animation; and lots of fun from Magica. The only disappointment is that the whole way to defeat the shadows would have happened without using the dime or Magica if Mrs. Beakly didn't send the camera back to Gyro. That little idiocy was needed just to expend the pain and suffering in order to make Scrooge give the dime to Magica which we all knew Magica was going to steal when the finish occurred. On the other hand; that was the only real flaw (and a few logic breaks) in the entire episode. Magica's Shadow was actually quite threatening; although like Magica; her plan to enslave the world seems a little too far fetched for me; although her use the trash can did lots to convince me otherwise. And we finally solve the whole pentagram thing as there are a purple green pentagram rug clear in sight with no circle in the middle of the pentagon. That should eliminate any doubt that Disney does sell DVD's with pentagrams in them and thus the pentagram is LEGAL in a Disney product. Next up is another Scrooge VS. Flintheart battle and this one is for Aladdin's lamp in Master of the Djinni which also features the last appearance for the late Roger C. Carmel. So.....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you next time.