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Home Sweet Homer
Reviewed: 12/25/2009
I'll Drink To That One Mr. Simpson! Oh wait....
I only have one thing to say: Good luck on old man winter. And Merry whatever you celebrate. So let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Anthony Adams. The story is edited by Patsy Cameron and Tedd Anasti.
We begin this one with the sky shot in front of the mansion as a duck in mail clothes with a package of letters walking in a slanting motion. Oh my goodness; it cannot be. It's Quacky McSlanty! See; his gimmick is that he walks on a slant. This is even worse than Vacation Von Honk and even Benzino Gasolini. Even Benzino's gimmick in drawing attention to himself was interesting if you can take him being absolutely annoying. Quacky doesn't have even the grace of Von Honk's vacation gimmick to save him. Quacky is like a gimmick from WWF circa 1993-1996. And of course he cannot pull the letter through the mail slot. So he twists the arm (after thinking about it) and puts it through the mail slot and walks out in a slant. Thank god he's gone. We go into the book room as Scrooge has a book called Treasure Island. Maybe this is just me; but as great as Ducktales was and still is; it was because Ducktales was able to do great things with public domain stuff. It's like Walt Disney all over again. When it came to original stuff; not so much. Luck'O'Ducks was a good example of this.
TaleSpin was basically creating it's own mythos from scratch and somehow did better in hindsight. Scrooge looks around and puts the book back on the shelf as he wants to read something by a great writer. Libby Hinson perchance?! The nephews run in with the mail letter. Memo to Dewey: Don't read other people's mail. Trust me; I know that from experience on the job.) and it's from Donald Duck. So we finally come to the last episode rant featuring the hot tempered fiend. Oh goody; more gifts! Scrooge calls it not heavy reading as he chuckles and grabs the letter. And there are some pictures too judging from Huey. Scrooge reads it and it is from the nephews. So it was for the nephews after all. I spoke too soon. Scrooge isn't so amused by the lack of his name present in the letter. So he shouldn't be reading the nephews' mail then! Scrooge reads on as they began their naval exercises. Oh; this should be fun to mock....
So we head to the flashback and head to the FCC Navy carrier near some cliffs off the eastern coast of The Sea of Tuna. I think Chris would have it as The Sea of Tunena. Of course; the American flag is drawn badly as we go to the deck with Donald Duck doing what he has been doing since Sphinx For Memories: washing the deck. Donald of course claims that he spent most of the day in one of the Navy's newest jet fighters. And then he get sucked into one while backing up the bucket of water. HAHA! I won't invoke Ron Sparks on this one; he's on vacation right now. Two navy guys (one of them a pig) uses a crowbar and we see Donald folded up like a parcel taking a good look at it's top secret jet engine. HAHA! They free him and Donald bounces like a basketball as he claims that Grimitz wants to see him the moment he was free. We then go back to the book room as Scrooge is sitting in a green chair now and states that he will get a kick out of a picture of Grimitz that Donald took. The letter ends as Dewey finds the picture and gives it to Scrooge. Donald gets a kick from him almost every day in roundabout terms as Scrooge proclaims that Grimitz has no one like Seaman Donald Duck.
And the picture shows Grimitz looking really angry and ready to kill someone near the cliffs on the boat. Scrooge then gasps and we zoom into a narrow abyss. Scrooge runs from his chair and goes to his books as Huey asks what is wrong. I'll tell him what's wrong: Scrooge has treasure hunting fever again. Scrooge is at the desk proclaiming that Donald done something right for a change...and by “accident” too. The nephews wonder what is going on as Scrooge invokes the magnifying glass and Scrooge proclaims that this is the sea passage to the lost city of Ithaquack. Huey wonders about this city as Scrooge explains that it was built by Ulysses the great adventurer. It is where the colossus of Duckapopolous once stood as we go to the book and see a picture of the passageway with the statue of a duck with a helmet and a shield. The statue is gone; but the strangely shaped boulders on the passageway stand still (the duck's feet of course – helpfully pointed out by the nephews). Scrooge thinks this is the passage and he's sure of it. Scrooge realizes that the flagship is too big; but the sailing yacht should do the trick of course.
So we see a sailing ship sailing across the water near the eastern coast of the Sea of Tunena. Scrooge explains some more of Ulysses sailing there more than 3000 years ago. We head to the eagle's nest as Huey has the binoculars on full blast and all the gang has life jackets on (so they can be safe; according to the LAW OF DORA). See Ulysses built his palace in the center of Ithaquack so he and the other kings after him could be close to the people. And then we sail closer and it's the flashback (which has a time period of 1100 BC stamped in black and white in the middle of the screen. Why? I don't know.) as we see the denizens of Ithaquack are angry. One of the citizens (The fat dogsperson in brown with a brown mustache – Peter Cullen) wants King Homer right now. He wants Circe removed from his mortal coil. A woman on the far crowd shot proclaims that Ulysses wouldn't hide in the palace like a coward (Russi Taylor). Maybe it's because he's trying to formulate a plan to beat Circe madam? Have you ever thought of that you Webby sound-alike?! The palace of Ulysses is guarded by about 30 guards (give or take 5 or 6) as we go to a further shot of the city as we hear Circe (Tress MacNeille) say that the mob has a good point there.
We then zoom in to the top of the mountain as she hasn't seen Homer in days either. We pan into Circe's cave as Circe (a pig furry with long black hair wearing a violet dress (in two different colors I might add and a necklace with a ruby gem in the center.) is looking in her PEEPING TOM KETTLE OF DOOM (notice the picture of the mob?) with her black cat (Frank Welker). She proclaims that she should have crushed the little twerp a long time ago. Well; calling him a twerp is a set up for an epic failure if you ask me. One other thing: Considering that there is a cave on top of the mountain; you don't suppose Homer is in league with Circe and she doesn't know it yet? Circe declares herself ruler of Ithaquack on the far shot which contains a red colored bed in the background and she will be the one they will be telling stories about throughout history. And they will all be about how evil and vile you are my dear. She kneels down near the pool as the image of the mob is gone and plays peek a boo with the pool; and wants it to find the little fool. She uses the amulet with her eye and the golden stare lasers into the pool of peeping toms. Or Tammy in this case. And then we see Homer in blue on a sailing ship (with the sails with the image of an eye ironically enough) trying to slip away to find help. How is this having a little backbone though Circe? We get another shot of the statue as Circe proclaims that she should have turned him into a pig when she had the chance. And maybe get royalties on another Final Fantasy spell.
She then decides to use the Time Twister spell to send him to another time where any help you find will be as useless as he is. Crice uses the eye laser again while casting a spell and she creates a tornado. Because this is what this episode needs: More windbags! The black cat screws up the spell by separating the tornadoes and Circle blows the cat off and trips and falls into her witches brew. See; NEVER trust a black cat for anything. The tornado turns big and blasts away out of the mountain and out of the city right into the path of Homer and his ship. Well; that sequence with Circe was absolutely pointless. Homer notices the tornado (Great Ulysses!) which he proclaims that such a storm could only be the work of Circe. NO?! REALLY?! Homer is voiced by Michael Mish who did nothing really of note other than Ego in The 7th Guest video game in 1992, Timothy in the Dragon's Lair television series, Brett Matthews in Turbo Teen, and a cameo role in Bionic Six and Scooby & Scrappy Doo. Needless to say; Ducktales was his only DTVA appearance. Strangely; the Famous Why website has two movies under his name: One Tough Bastard and Mr. Woodcock; but One Tough Bastard is done by Michael Mishaud and Mr. Woodcock is done by Michael Mishaw. So there you go. In other words; not much.
So we see Homer yelling for help; but his boat gets crushed in the waves as the time twister goes away and Homer is left hanging on by a wooden board. And then we go back to the present as the sailing ship of Scrooge as they have made it to the passageway; as Huey panics on cue because here comes the time twister. I guess it rotated around the bend many times throughout the ages. Otherwise; it makes no sense to be in this world. The ship shakes around as Scrooge orders the nephews to lower the sails or be torn to shreds. The nephews try but no dice as the ship is engulfed by thunder and by the tornado itself. Everyone screams as the sail spins around the twister and then twists to the water again on the other side with thunder and darkness. Then in an instant; it is AFTER HAPPY HOUR (After dark) as the ship is in front of the passage way; but the statue is now perfectly 100% intact. Louie points out the statue for me to Scrooge and some grade A acting from Russi Taylor to boot.
We then cut to the surging water with Homer still hanging on to the wood. I guess Circe's spell worked after all. Sort of. Scrooge thinks it's over as we get another shot of the statue (and it looks like someone forgot the difference between a duck's foot and a human foot there. Homer shouts for help and Scrooge notices him right away as Huey has the life saver of doom and throws it onto Homer saving him from the water. We cut back to the peeping tom kettle as Circe is pissed off at her cat because she wanted to sent Homer to another time; but the cat disrupted the spell and sent people back to her time. I thought the whole point was to send useless help to him; not send him to another time (which actually makes more sense). I guess she's making excuses and projecting herself onto the black cat for...Oh; never mind. I don't want to know. So she uses the EYE OF DOOM and turns the black cat into a pig. HAHA! She should come to Square Enix and threaten that to get royalties to stealing her spell. Although; she might already have, since Final Fantasy IV is the only game that has a pig status. The pig cat drops on his back and squirms around before Circe orders him to scram before she has some overdue pork for dinner. The pig runs off; but not before doing a cute face plant on the floor.
So we head to the entrance as Scrooge realizes that he's in 1100 BC. NO?! REALLY?! As if the statue didn't give away that fact. Huey agrees this is bad because baseball has not been invented yet. Umm; that is Louie's gimmick and your stealing it Huey Duck. And neither has ice cream. Same goes to Dewey Duck too. And Louie trumps all by claiming that school hasn't been invented. We then see Scrooge on the wheel as Homer sits down with a blanket and hot chocolate as Scrooge needs to get the nephews back to their own time. See if Homer is the nephew of Ulysses; he must have some idea of how this happened. Homer states that the magic is the work of Circe's magic medallion. Scrooge wants him to take him to Circe and Homer is surprised that he wants to face her. Scrooge proclaims that he has read the stories about his uncle Ulysses. Scrooge claims that he can face her no problem and Homer proclaims that he is the powerful one he has been searching for.
Scrooge chuckles and claims that he has a lot of spunk as some would day about him. They would also say that he's a greedy heartless bastard too. Then again; BS&P has a way with words; don't they?! But then he calls Homer out on cowardice since his uncle wasn't afraid of Circe either. Huey piles on the brave stuff on Scrooge as Scrooge wants to show that witch who is the boss around here. The nephews go to the ropes and raise the sails as they want to grow up like Scrooge McDuck. Well; Quack Pack certainly crushed those hopes and dreams didn't they?! All because BS&P thought that demographics in their creative was the way to go. The nephews then fight over with playground insults on who will be Uncle Scrooge. Dewey of course uses the politician route: Proclaim that no can be like Scrooge; except for him. Funny how the planner is always the political one of the trio. Dewey crawls away as the other nephews are not amused by it.
Scrooge tells the nephews to watch out for the cliffs as they go into the passageway without incident. At least that is what Scrooge thinks as Circe chuckles because she has them just where she wants them. We then go to a zoom out shot to the Peeping Tammy Kettle of Doom as Circe proclaims that it's time to cut Ithaquack off from the rest of the outside world entirely. Ummm; why didn't you just do THAT from the start? She was saving this one for such a thing as she cleans the eye with her arm and then uses it with a spell as she is going to cause the passageway to narrow and crush the sailing ship. We see the effects as everyone realizes that the cliffs are moving towards them. The statue is crushed completely; leaving only the web feet remaining. Ah; I see the writers are trying to keep the present world logic straight here. Scrooge mans the wheel as he needs more speed and wants the motor.
Homer asks what the hell is a motor. Understandable given which time period we are currently in as the cliffs are getting too narrow to continue on as Scrooge orders everyone to abandon yacht. Everyone dives in as the yacht gets crushed by the cliffs. One problem with this; the yacht was already about a mile in when the cliffs started moving so it shouldn't have got crushed since the crushing area was about 100 meters into the passageway. Bad, bad logic break there guys. We go back to the Peeping Tammy Kettle of Doom as Circe spins her necklace around looking at the crushing cliff image before it disappears. Circe proclaims that she took the wind out of their sails. She did a lot more than that; she made the animators break logic on the sequence. She laughs badly to end the segment nine minutes in. Wow; this episode was going so well too; until that logic break happened....
After the commercial break; we head to a beach in the morning somewhere as Scrooge, the nephews and Homer stir and wake up face down and all wet. If they are not inside the city of Duckopolsis then that makes the logic break in the previous scene even worse. They then hear someone sneeze and it creates a load of windbags on the babyface as they point to a cave with lots of big ass berries in the background. Judging by the voice doing the sneezing; it must be Captain Blowhard by Peter Cullen (as if the sneezing didn't give it away) as he throws himself right out of the cave and lands with a good bump on his ass next to the bushes of big ass berries. He looks like a dogsperson with a white beard, a crown and dresses all red with gold trim on the wrists. He picks his nose and points east. Okay; I'm just goofing around, it's Christmas after all. As I paraphrase: It's The Most Wonderful Time To Be Drunk (or Sick; same thing basically). Dewey points out that he's not a monster. Well; maybe not to you Dewey; but to me he is the Flying Sneeze Monster, the spiritual successor to the throne of the Flying Pasta Monster. Louie gleefully points out the fallacy for me as King Blowhard blows. Seriously; he blows the who are you part. Who does he think he is Quacky McSlantly?! I'm guessing Vinnie Mac was watching this episode to hedge his bets for the 1993-1996 era of Wrestling for Dollars.
Scrooge answers and ask who he is and where are they. Blowhard blows his name (literally) and sneezes right in their faces. That is an H1N1 kills waiting to happens. I know it's 1987 and all; but it still hurts. Homer remembers him as the man who helped his uncle on his odyssey. He laughs it up because he thinks Homer is too scrawny to be a nephew of Ulysses. Coming from a king who sneezes; like I'm going to buy that. ACHOO! WHOA! OUCH! Ummmm... Blowhard blows that Ulysses was a mountain of a man. Homer admits that he is more of a hill than a mountain. It was like yesterday when Ulysses' ship sank in a mighty storm. Umm; it was yesterday when all this happened you stupid fool. He points out (and blows) that the ship lies at the bottom of this very cove. He points to a rock base about 50 feet away from the shoreline as Homer comments about rising from the sea and carry them to Ithaquack. And yes; they are far away from Ithaquack which means that the logic break with the crushing cliffs has been officially made worse since they should really be inside Ithaquack by now. It's little things like that that age a show too much. Blowhard wants to stop sneezing as Huey wonders if something on the island is making them sneeze. There are only two choices at this point: (1) the duck feathers or (2) the big ass berries. My MONEY, MONEY, YEAH, YEAH is on the berries since he was sneezing before the feathers took into effect. Louie's money is on the berries as it's the pollen of the Umma-Gumma fruit. Translation from Duckcrap to English: Gummi Berries.
He's allergic to the flowers see as Blowhard goes over and sniffs one. He blows it off; and then he does the BIG ASS SNEEZE OF DEATH as he blows the fruit away. Dewey sees the problem and tells him to get rid of the fruit and he will be all right. Now what is he going to eat Dewey? I'm beginning to think that you didn't think this plan all the way through. Scrooge tells him that they'll take the fruit away from him; in exchange for his help to raise Ulysses' ship. Blowhard proclaims that he can help them as he tells them to stand back; or they will be blown away. So now he warns us?! Everyone bails stage left as Blowhard turns and blows the world strongest gust of wind which blows away the water from the cove and reveals Ulysses' ship stuck on the bottom sands about 20 feet away. Homer sees the ship and proclaims that they can repair it and be bound to Ithaquack within a few days. I think I can see why Michael Mish doesn't get a lot of roles. He just sounds wooden at times on par with Kathleen. We then see Captain Blowhard somehow teleport to the ship and pulls it out within seconds which has a duck statue on front and on the sails complete with brown beard.
So we go to the scene changer as we see the sails repaired and sea worthy on the sailing seas. At least they didn't use gold to repair the sails this time. And all the berries are on board which I'm certain will be used as projectiles before this episode is over. Scrooge on the sky proclaims that it's not a yacht; but it will do. Huey of course eats a berry while Homer paddles. The Umma-Gummas (I was close; I thought it was Yumma-Gumma; which makes sense since Huey claims that the berries are yummy.). Homer then realizes that they are nearing the island of the Sirens. Because you cannot have a Roman storyline without the all mighty and powerful female half anthro/half birds. See; they must cover their ears and not hear them sing. Scrooge wonders about that as we go to the scene changer and we see on the rocks three purple colored female ducks with blond, brown and black hair wailing. Here's a funny thing: They are female sirens and yet male animal vocalist Frank Welker is the voice of the sirens. HAHA! This falls under the Jim Cummings/Aunt Louise sort of voice with the male doing a female character; unlike Russi Taylor who is female; but doing a male (more to the point; a boy) voice. I had some fun playing with Roosnooker76's mind on USIMDB who claims that middle age women doing boy voices would turn boys gay. Please; don't laugh, he took it seriously. He called them flower sniffers too. I think we have a word for this user: Sexist! Everyone covers their ears on cue as Scrooge wonders what harm it could do about them singing. And this is the guy who read about the stories of Ithaquack too. I can understand the nephews not knowing about this; but Scroogie?! I wonder what Homer will respond with the harmful conditions of the siren. Oddmakers please....
[1.] Go mad 3:1
[2.] Cause them to
be a mute and get blackballed in a Rescue Rangers episode 5:1
[3.]
Cause them to have a case of overeating 7:1
[4.] Cause them to go
drunk and murder everyone 10:1
[5.] Cause them to have an ear
infection 2:1
Which is it in this episode? If you say gold fever (none of the above); you win $500 from me as Scrooge has gold fever in his eyeballs. He sees the eyes of gold and that is music to Scrooge's ears. And you can tell by the voice tone that a male voice is doing the wailing when they chant. He jumps from the boat and swims as Louie pleads for him. Homer claims that Scrooge is charmed with Gold Fever as Scrooge makes it to the land of the sirens. Scrooge makes it in front of the sirens and then they rise to show the purple Yuccalinda Monster (It looks like something out of the Eye of the Beholder only purple; or Alegeron (?sp) boss in Breath of Fire II RPG video game that is on Virtual Console.)...I think as Scrooge gets netted by Homer and they try to reel him in; but the monster uses his tongue and we have the tug-o-war between Homer and the Siren Monster. Scrooge talks about the high notes when they see the monsters tongue so Dewey counters with the anchor for a taste of his own medicine. Umm; wouldn't that be using your tongue Dewey? So the anchor nails the tongue right against a conveniently placed rock and the monster shrieks badly. I'm tempted to say Tress MacNeille is voicing the monster; but since they never name the monster below; I'm going to say that it is Frank Welker again as Scrooge gets bounced onto the ship and the siren monster sinks below the ground for good. Homer proclaims that he is coming out of his trance..about 20 seconds BEFORE he actually does. Scrooge asks the immortal question: Do you ever get a song that you cannot get out of your head. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Indeed Scroogie. Just ask any TaleSpin or Ducktales fan who listens to the opening. More so TaleSpin fans. That one will never get out of my head. Ducktales maybe; but not TaleSpin's theme; oh no.
So we head to the whirlpool of doom which so happens to have a cave mouth in the middle of the cliff. Geez; I wonder where this episode is going next huh? Homer sums it up as the Yuckalinda Monster sleeps inside that hole (Chris has it as Yuccalinda; which sounds like the monster of Yucca Flats in that horrible movie reviewed by the Agony Booth. They must be very quiet and not get near the whirlpool which of course Huey chomps on another berry. Well; Quack Pack Huey in Feats of Clay wanted absolute quiet in one spot and then yelled from the top of his lungs about ten seconds later. And then Huey sneezes; what a shock?! That causes the Yuckalinda Monster to come out the cave (and he's a spotted green snake with an oversized head and brown hair – Tress MacNeille) and blows them off for waking her up. She finds her lunch and goes towards them forcing the ship to ride the whirlpool. So Yucklinda comes over again and Huey feeds her a berry calling her lizard breath. She chomps on it in mid-air and calls it good lunch. Scrooge thinks Huey did a good job; even though it was HIS fault that they are doing this in the first time. Dewey wants the rope as Homer proclaims that they are lost. Oh lord Homer; you can say dead in DTVA; it's not like Homer Simpson can't in The Simpsons. Yucklinda wants more lunch so we get Huey invokes the LASSO OF BANE TO ALL ACTION CARTOONS EVERWHERE (plus bagged berries to boot for a unique twist) and she eats it and snags the rope. She basically flings the rope and the sailing ship goes past the cave and whirlpool and out further to sea stage left. Everyone cheers for victory of course. Huey's stupidity worked; which probably means that he scripted that one out all along. Homer proclaims that the next stop is Ithaquack and into the arms of her fair queen Ariel.
So we head back to Circe and her new pig watching on from the Peeping Tammy Kettle of Doom on the pot shot (HA!) as she blows them off for escaping and Scrooge for being a powerful sorcerer. Figures; knowing how this time period doesn't know the meaning of the word science yet. Circe proclaims that she has to be sneakier than usual. Codeword: Kidnap Queen Ariel right Circe?! That's how sneaky most heels are in DTVA. And then we see Queen Ariel in a white dress and crown chained to the stone wall. Wow; that was fast and I see she was one step in front of me on that one. No wonder the town folks got so pissed off at him. Ariel threatens her not to harm Homer (Tress MacNeille); but Circe blows her off and threatens the Piggy spell on her. And then she uses the eye and Ariel turns into a pig with a crown. On second thought; she's two steps ahead of me. I am so loving this female villain. Ariel is screwed as Circe goes to her MAGIC MIRROR OF VANITY to see a reflection of herself and proclaims that she will set a trap they cannot escape. Considering her record; I think she should be happy just to at least capture Homer or one of the nephews at this point. So she uses the eye on the mirror and she turns into Queen Ariel and welcome sweet Homer home. And this is perfect since Tress is doing both voices at the same time. Only the eye of doom gives her away; but the rest of the babyfaces don't know that. I don't even think Homer knows what it looks like either. She does need to work on the chuckle though as we end the segment 15 and a half minutes in.
After the commercial break; we head to the docks of Ithaquack as the ship has docked and Homer and the babyfaces are already on the docks. Okay; how did they get into the city since the passageway to Ithaquack should STILL be blocked?! This episode is damn near perfect and that cliff crush is ruining it! Homer proclaims that they must be careful since Circe could be lurking anywhere. The nephews want to come to; but Scrooge tells them they can't as he wants to put Circe in her place. The nephews groan as Scrooge walks away. So we head to the Palace of Doom as Ciriel (Circe and Ariel combined) welcomes his darling sweet Homer home. We see a torch with flames animated outside the palace. We head to the entrance of the palace as Scrooge watches Ciriel and Homer walk out and Homer introduces Scrooge to her. Homer builds up Scrooge as this awesome magic man as Ciriel's selling shows who is really behind the costume.
Ciriel talks about how Scrooge having powerful magic to live through such hazards. Scrooge claims that hazards don't bug him; he thrives on them like Ulysses did. Ciriel is pissed on that one but Scrooge assures her that he knows no magic whatsoever. Scrooge doesn't need them as Ciriel proclaims that this is just what she wanted to know as she goes to the conveniently placed mirror behind Scrooge's back and uses the eye to turn back into Circe. Yeap; it was a joke indeed. Homer panics on that one and wants to know what happened to Ariel and Circe demonstrates to him and turns him into a pig. DAMMIT! Isn't the point of this episode to have Homer redeem himself for being such a wimp? Then why turn him into a pig? And Scrooge protests this stupidity and gets turned into a pig as well. Okay; I can accept Scrooge being a pig; and even the nephews after a gallant effort to win; but Homer? The pigs circle the villain pig (So they turned them both into pigs just for THAT spot. For shame Mr. Adams.) as she loves her work.
So we head to the steps of the palace AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as the nephews climb up the steps proclaiming that Scrooge and Homer have been gone a long time. Huey states the obvious as they go inside and we see the nephews in the dining hall as they see Scrooge (as a pig mind you) with still his glasses and top hat still on. But the rest of the clothes are gone for some reason. They also notice Homer with the gold chain and bandana. Louie goes over and hears Scrooge squeal and he gets the feeling that the pig is Scrooge. NO?! REALLY?! They think it's Circe's doing and want to go after her. Louie wants to take Scrooge with them since he is a pig. No irony on that whatsoever as Dewey goes to the table and grabs some cabbage and puts it in front of Scrooge. After all; nothing is as crisp and green as dollar bills like cabbage. Or lettuce. Same thing basically in this case. The nephews realize that it is Scrooge when he follows them. Dewey places the cabbage down in front of Scrooge and they decide to leave him here. Ummm; I thought you were going to take him to Circe? Oh lord; my head hurts after the great groove this episode was going in too.
So we head into Circe's cave as the nephews practice the fine art of not being seen as Circe is snoring asleep in her bed in the chamber as the eye of doom is on the pillow to her left side. Oh man; if they steal it then she deserves it placing it into the open like that. And man; she was getting into a great groove too. The nephews mock her snoring (or Louie does at least) as they get behind the room as the pig cat sees them and hides under the bed. Dewey unlocks the necklace and steals the golden eye as the pig squeals some more. Huey thinks that it's Scrooge under the bed loudly and of course Circe wakes up. Oh god; that was terrible. For goodness sakes Huey; if you want to make noise, do something else like drop on your ass on the floor loudly or something. That was so stupid you sound like QP Huey now. She notices Dewey with the Golden Eye of Doom and grabs it; but Dewey grabs it back and the nephews scream and bail with feathers flying and pigs squealing. Oh swell; we are going to get three minutes of chasing as Circe blocks the entrance from the chamber. Circe backs up Dewey against the wall and wants a spell. So Dewey cuts a football promo and throws the play action pass as Huey catches it on the cross route and Circe screams as they might break it. Might Circe?! See; she is worried about breaking it; so Louie orders Huey to break it. Huey then casually throws it away and it shatters as Circe does a perfect face plant onto the ground squealing. Now THIS is why Feats of Clay sucked crap.
The pig cat turns back into a cat; and I'm certain Homer and Scrooge will too. Circe goes to the PEEPING TAMMY OF DOOM screaming that they have ruined everything and she turns into a pig. See; if it was Homer doing this scene and breaking it then this would be perfect (even if he gets help from the nephews); otherwise this is paint-by-the-numbers nephews teamwork. Scrooge spits out some cabbage for fun in the dining room and Homer and Ariel neck each other for a while before changing back. The two Romans embrace as we return to the chamber and the TIME TWISTER OF DOOM shows up and now the nephews have to flee as the storm is after them again. The nephews bail and we get the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE TWISTER EDITION. You know something; if Homer and Scrooge were here; then they could just take the twister at once and be home easily. However; since we are at the 19:30 mark of the DVD; we must endure 2 ½ minutes more. CDS anyone? I believe this is the first episode with it. Scrooge notices the nephews running back to the palace and tell Scrooge to run since the twister is after them again. We get the chase going on and then the twister sucks up Scrooge and the nephews easily and then twists out of the palace and into the sky as we get shots of Yucklinda, the sirens and King Blowhard. Memo to Mr. Adams: The sweeping view doesn't work in this episode since we have already been there. It worked in Plunder and Lightning Part One because Kit NEVER saw Cape Suzette until Baloo flew him in for the first time. And somehow there are more berries and he doesn't sneeze. Damn the logic is dying on this episode as he blows the candle out and we fade to black.
Then we get rumbling as the cliffs opens (So they were inside all this time? Okay; that logic break is popped out of the episode; but it still doesn't explain the padding of this episode. We get everything going up into the tornado from the ship as we head inside the tornado with the babyfaces floating around wondering what the hell is happening. Everyone grabs a leg as Scrooge grabs the wheel and then everything stops and the tornado is gone so they free fall into the drink. They land into the water with a splash as we go to daybreak as the seagulls are chirping. We then pan over to a large part of the ship as the nephews and Scrooge are on it shivering. Louie wants to say that it's nice to be back as Huey wonder if they made it back. Then we hear the horns blow and a voice from the carrier (Frank Welker) proclaiming that there are castaways off starboard beam. And since he addresses Admiral Grimitz; we all know who is coming: The good old FCC Navy. We then go to the top of the deck as we see Grimitz with the binoculars looking on as he sees three ducks and a rascally old duck wearing a top hat. We also see Donald Duck still washing the deck. I see the SHANE DOUGLAS MOP OF DOOM is still failing him. Donald then grabs the binoculars and sees his nephews and uncle and then runs stage left just as Grimitz was going to give orders to rescue them.
Grimitz then gets bounced by Donald (Man; Grimitz looks different in the face somehow) as he chokes on the binocular rope and gasps. Donald and Grimitz bounce onto the wooden row boat and then he pulls onto the rope to release the boat (as Huey points out who's ship it is) and the boat falls down and makes a resounding splash into the water. HAHA! The nephews and Scrooge just stand there stunned on THAT one. Scrooge sums up that one for me as we head onto the top deck of the FCC Navy as everyone is in blankets enjoying hot chocolate. Dewey wonders if Homer grew up to be like his uncle. Scrooge proclaims that they usually grew up to be themselves. Huey looks a bit disappointed as they were hoping to grow up and be like Scrooge. Scrooge chuckles and tells them not to worry about that as Donald proclaims that if they are smart; they will grow up to be Donald Duck. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's putting the screws to the FCC Navy. Too bad it backfired in Quack Pack. He laughs as Grimitz and Scrooge look at each other and just wish they were somewhere else to end the episode at 21:16. Oh man; we were really getting a near perfect episode and then it turned into just a good nephews saving episode when Mr. Adams decided not to redeem Homer in any way. At least they didn't make it worse by popping the logic break near the end; but man the sweeping view at the end was the ultimate example of not finishing an episode properly. I'd say it looked like CDS striking for the first time. *** ¾ (75%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; the Christmas Special rant was very good as we got a really good retelling of the Ulysses tale and I liked Homer (didn't like the voice at times though as the acting sounded wooden at times); I liked King Blowhard; the sirens and the snake were creepy and Circe was a really kick ass villain with the Piggy spell. I do give Mr. Adams credit for killing off the cliff crush logic break at the end; although it still doesn't explain how they got in without the mob on Homer's ass though. I liked most of it; but Donald and Grimitz were persona non grata in their final appearance for rant purposes. The real problem I had with this episode was the way they finished it: I would have had Homer escape and go back to the nephews to get help and then they sneak in and grab the eye; then have Homer break the eye into pieces against the wall. That would have allowed Homer to redeem himself and they could still do the same finish with the time twister; only make the sweep shorter and not use it to pad the running time like Adams did here.
The animation was great; but the finish went on for two minutes when it could have taken thirty seconds and have Homer do the deed and not make him look like a wuss anymore. Folks; we finally have our first case of Cartoon Duck Syndrome as Adams used the ducks as the focus with them arguing about being Scrooge; which is fine as a subplot, but it turned into the main event and it took away from Homer as a character. And of course there was Quacky McSlantly to drag down the episode a bit from the starting gate; but at least he only lasted thirty seconds tops. So overall; we got a very good episode that simply didn't end properly in my view. So we continue on tomorrow with the final two episodes of disc number three: Bermuda Triangle Tangle and the return of Captain Foghorn Goofball and then conclude with Micro Ducks From Outer Space. So.....
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you next time.