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Much Ado About Scrooge
Reviewed: 12/31/2009
It's All About The Play In Thee.....
Well kiddies; here is my official final rant of 2009; might as well make it count. So let's rant on shall we..?!
This episode is written by Karen Willson and Chris Weber. The story is edited by Patsy Cameron and Tedd Anasti. Karen Willson has done several written episodes of He-Man, MASK, Gobots, Exosquad and most recently Beast Wars: Transformers and Digimon Digital Monsters. Yikes! Chris Weber has almost the exact same resume as Willson; minus Jayce And The Wheeled Warriors, and add on pre-production coordinator for Pinocchio and The Emperor of the Night and Happily Ever After.
We begin this one with a far shot of the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM and then we zoom over to a sidewalk and a girl playing on a swing near a tree with a dog barking. Then she jumps down proclaims that it's him and then runs into the house for her parents. WHAT?! Nothing happens and she panics (Russi Taylor I guess)?! Isn't there supposed to be at least a shadow to prove that someone might be kidnapping her? So we reboot with the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM again as we get a hat wearing shadow coming. We head into the book room as Duckworth is dusting the room clean again as he is supposed to. We then pan to the left to see Scrooge on the sofa reading the newspaper and not looking amused while doing it. He then gasps in horror while looking out the window and hides behind a wall as Duckworth asks who he is. Scrooge proclaims that it is Filler Brushbill as we look outside and he's a duck with an orange bow tie, checked green suit, checkered pink pants, yellow hat and a flower on his left nipple with shoes and the world's largest doctor bag. Oh; and there is a banana yellow mat with Welcome printed in black letters on the ground.
Filler Brushbill is voiced by Charlie Adler (The final major TaleSpin voice) who basically started off as a voice actor from day one with the My Little Pony television movie (and series) in 1984 as Spike the dragon. He was Low-Light in G.I. Joe, Silverbolt in Transformers, Eric Raymond and Tech Rat in Jem!, Deputy Fuzz in Bravestarr, Rafael in Slimer! And The Real Ghostbusters, Ducktales is his DTVA debut; his first major role was Mad Dog in TaleSpin, did a few cameos in Darkwing Duck (Major Trenchrot in Apes of Wrath), The Little Mermaid (series and movie), Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show, Bonkers, Mechanikles in Aladdin (the series), Irwin in Timon & Pumbaa, Ned in Jungle Cubs, Dr. Droid in Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series, Quack Pack, Mr. Whiskers in Brandy & Mr. Whiskers andThe Replacements. Adler has over 170 credits on voice acting, 18 on voice direction, four on casting (including the DTVA show The Buzz on Maggie, and The Replacements), 2 writer credits (Tiny Toons as he was Buster Bunny), directed No Prom For Cindy, and did vocals for Project X. There are just too many voices to count : Professor Monkey for A Head in Earthworm Jim television series, and video games), Cow & Chicken (both characters, I.R. Baboon, The Red Guy), Snively in Sonic The Hedgehog, MadWorld video game, Transformers The Movie and sequel as Starscream, Doctor Doom in The Super Hero Squad Show and video game, Wake as a priest and many others as recent credits in 2009. He was also in the new Disney show The Wizards of Waverly Place as a cameo.
Filler is a door-to-door salesman (and a greasy looking perv too; so I can understand why the girl screamed earlier) as Scrooge decides to handle this goon instead of Duckworth. Scrooge peeps through the eye hole and tells him to go away since they want nothing to do with him. Filler proclaims that he has an awesome deal for him as Louie enters to basically repeat the notion that it's Filler at the door. Scrooge knows that of course and Filler is not sticking one foot inside this door. See; the last time they let him in; they sold him useless junk as he opens the closet and there is so much junk that the whole first floor is filled about halfway to the brim. Well; it could be worse, it could be Quacky McSlantly or Vacation Von Honk speaking to us. At least Filler has some voice and an interesting gimmick with a way to screw Scrooge over. Louie thinks he's quite a salesman. Filler calls Scrooge outside as Scrooge covers his ears and this is a job for his state of the art system: THE SUPER-DUPER SALESMAN REPELLENT SYSTEM OF DOOM~! So we go into a security room as Scrooge presses some buttons on the left side while Louie sits down in the chair. Which allows the house to be locked down and the welcome mat taken away. Filler doesn't sell as he blows off Scrooge for not buying the system from him for a fabulous deal. We see him on the B&W monitor. I can see why Digimon dubs have terrible writing at times: See Filler Brushbill's annoying gimmick.
Filler then tries to suck up to Duckworth on something special for him: The RED VELVET BUTLER SUIT OF FEAR! Complete with black bow tie. Duckworth gets all giddy with the velvet and wants Scrooge to do something good to him. Scrooge decides to invoke phase one of “GET THE HELL OFF MY PROPERTY!” as he pulls the right lever (WRONG LEVER!) as Filler is on the spring trap and gets popped into the air. However; Filler counters with the red parachute of doom and lands right at the front door. Scrooge is not amused; so he goes into phase two of “GTHOMP!” by pulling the left lever (WRONG LEVER!) and brings out the red boot from the wall as Filler turns around and exposes his ass. Memo: If he's doing it on purpose; then he has the Bret Hart Goldberg Spear Deflector on his ass. And naturally the boot screams and holds the boot before going back in. Filler takes out the 3 foot thick piece of solid steel and knocks on it. Yeap; we are going to spend the first six minutes or so with THIS stupid gag.
So Filler laughs as Huey and Dewey enter wondering what is going on as Louie introduces to the SALESMAN FROM HELL. Scrooge is not letting him in as Huey proclaims that he owes six months allowance on Filler. So that's why he is here? He's coming to collect on the debt. Scrooge then decides to go to phase three of “GTHOMP!” as we get logic break #1 for the episode as the right lever is back to it's original position. And so Scrooge pulls the lever (WRONG LEVER!) halfway and that causes the pathway to force Fill left as it is a conveyer belt. Filler blows Scrooge off for wasting good money. He only sells top of the line products. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Projection much there Filler?! He has the fabulous baseball bat (this pitch is getting old Filler) from Babe Duck himself. Huey then gets giddy and wants Scrooge to let him in. Huey then pushes the right lever (WRONG LEVER!) and the slidewalk goes backwards much to the disdain of Scrooge and Duckworth. Good; let's just get this over with and go to the real story of this episode please. Huey is doing US the VIEWER a favor here.
The security system is breached and he comes inside and gives Huey the baseball bat he always wanted as then he catches himself (why bother?) as everyone else comes into the lobby and Filler just simply slays them with useless junk while Filler does his bargain sales pitch as he offers Scrooge a good anti-salesman security system as Scrooge loses control of all bodily functions on cue. So we head into the living room as there is more useless junk on the floor as Filler continues on the sales from a herd of Indian elephants, gold-plated ski equipment (Now there's something to remind Canadian Olympic Athletes with) and a glow in the dark tie. The final bill for sales final is: $444,444.04. Wow; even Scrooge can afford that as his eyes ring up like a slot machine of black dollar signs. Now you know the episode quality when that spot happens. However; he'll throw in a pair of glow in the dark socks as Scrooge is dressed up like a gay scuba diver with a harpoon gun; for just four dollars. Scrooge screams no as Filler just ignores him while doing the stupid sales pitch as this is getting really absurd now. Filler then goes for the finding coins in the dark without a flashlight and Scrooge takes them for the extra four dollars. Filler goes to his calculator and proclaims that he will bill them at the end of the month as Scrooge pushes Filler out the door and this time Filler decides to take the hint and leave. Well; at least Huey did enough to cut the stupidity by a minute; but the damage is done for this episode.
Scrooge then asks Duckworth (wearing his red velvet butler suit; so at least he got something useful in some way) why they bought all this useless junk. Duckworth has no idea why; although I'm guessing Huey and Duckworth do feel somewhat happy about what they got. We then pan over to the nephews as they actually like reading complex books piled on the ground written by William Drakespeare who is the greatest writer ever. Scrooge grabs one of the books as he does agree that the books are something useful as they were original editions once owned by Drakespeare himself. We then see a picture of a duck on the cover in period gear (probably William Drakespeare judging by the face as he has Romeo and Julieweb which was his most famous play. Scrooge opens the book and a piece of parchment falls out of it. Louie grabs it and states that it's an old note. Scrooge grabs the note and reads it while the cancer music plays. It's a letter from William to his mother as he claims that his first play is at last finished.
However; it is so terrible that he's hiding the only copy of it here in the castle in a secret place known only to the two of them. Then shake his hand and it's signed Willy D. Dewey then gets the LIGHTBULB OF BLOODY CLAIRTY along with Scrooge as if there is a lost play by William Drakespeare; he wants it. So we head outside on the road as Duckworth has the limo's pedal to the metal as he would say. The nephews and Scrooge are sitting in the back as Dewey points out that Drakespeare claims that the lost play wasn't very good. Scrooge doesn't care because it is worth millions on the writer's name alone. And then we see Filler Brushbill harassing another customer and succeeding. I see he came from the video game industry school of business as he walks out. Louie wants to blow him off for actually selling something useful; but Scrooge shuts his beak because he wants no one else to know; more to the point Brushbill. Sadly; the note flutters out of the limo and lands right on Filler's beak. Filler reads it and then is SHOCKED as he runs down the sidewalk. Oh dear god; NO! I don't want to see Filler Brushbill anywhere in this episode anymore.
So we cut to the docks as Duckworth watches the cruise ship with Scrooge and the nephews as they wave farewell and they will be returning in about another week. The boat sails away as Filler in red scuba gear swims in the harbor and then climbs onto the ship from the front side. What exactly are the writers thinking bringing this piece of crap on for the ride?! He then uses his doctor's bag fishing line to reel in his doctor's bag of course. The ship sails away from the dock as we head into the wheel house with the nephews, Scrooge and a tall pelican Captain in a blue uniform saluting him and asking about orders. Scrooge wants the good captain to set a course for the Island of Great Written. The Captain is SHOCKED to hear that and wonders if he is serious about it. Scrooge blows him off on that one as the Captain explains that the island is haunted see. Now why would an island that is a pun on Great Britain be haunted? The nephews hold each other in fear as the captain explains that there are ghosts, witches and all sorts of horrible things on this island. The nephews shake on cue as Scrooge blows it off as poppycock.
Scrooge orders the captain to take them there (And Disney Caption spells to as t. Seriously.); or the cook will be the captain and the captain will be the cook. In other words; demoted to private. Now the captain shakes as he salutes him without any further questions. So we head to the Island of Great Written AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as the fog has come in; the seagull flies away and the horn honks while the ship is anchored near the island. I think we covered all the bases here. We then see a seagull on the water cawing and flying away as Filler is in scuba gear swimming the ocean stage right. Behind him is Scrooge in the back on bark duty and Dewey and Huey are rowing. Louie is on lookout. Scrooge barks out to pull or they will never get past the break water. Dewey and Huey's panting is the weirdest breathless selling I have ever heard as we see Filler pulling out his doctor bag from the beach while still in scuba gear. If he stays the hell away from most of this episode; then it will be enjoyable. Otherwise; FORGET ABOUT IT! BUTTA-BING! He then does the old I CAN CHANGE CLOTHES MAGICALLY WITHOUT GETTING NUDE spot which I don't like one bit as he is back to being the greasy salesman he always was. Personally; I like him better in scuba gear, it makes him less greasy as a bad heel. We then hear the witches crackling as Filler walks away stage right with the doctor bag.
So we cut back to the rowboat as Scrooge asks Louie if he sees anything. And they are wearing life jackets (so they can be safe according to the LAW OF DORA) as Louie asks if fog counts and Scrooge blows him off. Then he panics as there are rocks coming. Louie panics as we get the FPS shot of a giant rock and the rowboat crashes into it and gets destroyed of course while the babyfaces fall into the sea. At least we now see a use for the life jackets this time around. We pan right to see Scrooge, Dewey and Huey pop up gurgling; but Louie seems to be missing. Scrooge uses the cane to get Huey and Dewey together. However; Louie gets caught in the rip tide and gets engulfed by a big wave. Scrooge yells for him and the rest of the ducks get swamped as well. That leads to a scene change as Scrooge is on the beach face down and then gets dragged to the nephews by the absolute last person I want to see doing that. You know who he is; you know (Snoopy nods in approval).
Scrooge manages to wake up and is dizzy as he sees three Fillers which is far worse than one. They don't call it Triple Your Torture for nothing you know. AHHAHAHAHAHAHA! Scrooge is now pissed off as he wants answers to this outrage. Filler proclaims that he couldn't let his best customer drown and Scrooge wants the truth. Umm; that is the truth and you cannot handle it Scroogie. I don't blame you though; neither can I. Scrooge then calls for Louie (he's STILL missing) as Filler didn't find him though. Scrooge then orders the split search on the shore in both direction. Huey gets to DEAL with Filler Brushbill and goes east; while Scrooge and Dewey go west on the far shot. Scrooge proclaims that he'll never forgive himself if anything happens to Louie. I'm not going to forgive these stupid writers for thinking that Filler is in any way over to continue this stupidity.
They all yell and then we cut to Louie as he is on the shore waking up. So at least he didn't drown as Louie then notices with his foggy eyes three ugly witches in stereotypical witch gear near a black pot brewing a brew with the hopes of keeping Shawn Michaels away. Louie is in trouble; and he should leave this island on the double according to the witches. Because somehow violating Anime Dub Conduct Rule #12 is supposed to scare him. All three witches are voiced by Victoria Carroll who started with McHale's Navy as 1st Nurse in 1964. She did The Art of Love, How To Stuff A Wild Bikini, Spinout and The Last of the Secret Agents. She did mostly cameos on live action television along with Hogan's Heroes doing various characters and doing movie cameos such as The Lucifer Complex, The Billion Dollar Hobo, The Kentucky Fried Movie, Hustle and Gemini Affair. She finally got a big role as Marie in Alice and as Viki in Small & Frye in the early 1980's. She started voice acting in 1981 with the Smurfs; doing nothing of note except for Sadie in Scooby Doo Meets The Boo Brothers. Ducktales is her DTVA debut and she was Queen Gwace in TaleSpin, D-2000 and Doctor Beatrice Brute in Darkwing Duck. Her most recent credit is The Comeback in 2005 as Mary Murphy. She is supposed to be married to fellow voice actor Michael Bell according to the USIMDB. Louie eyes clear up as the whole thing is for real now (they are all dogspeople, the green skinned one has a ladle) as the witches crackle with glee to end the segment ten minutes in.
After the commercial break; we continue on with the witches crackling near the brew pot again. This is a million times better than Filler Brushbill ever was; and yet this is not going to last long. They offer Louie some warmth for a while and then they want to toss him back into the sea. HAHA! Now that is service with a crackle glee. See they don't like snoopers. They go over to throw Louie into the sea as Louie backs up and then here comes the SALESMAN FROM HELL just to ruin whatever good graces I was having in this episode. Huey of course brings in the doctor bag just to piss me off. It weighs less than his body; and it still pisses me off. Witch #2 (the green skinned one with the ladle) asks what some outsider such as him could offer to them. You do not want to start with a question like that to Filler Brushbill. Filler goes into his big ass doctor's bag and brings out the RIC FLAIR BROOMSTICK OF DOOM; and it has nylon bristles and used one with low mileage on them. He throws all the broom right at the witches just to annoy me some more. The witches take this well as Filler gives them cauldrons in small, medium, large and the Monster Size one. HOLY CRAP?! Did he skin Eleroo and his pouch or something?! HOW IN THE HELL DID HE KEEP THAT BIG ASS CAULDRON IN THAT DOCTOR'S BAG?! More crap thrown from the bag as I refuse to call anymore sales pitches from Filler because he is wasting space on me that I don't want to give him. Yeah; he's wearing THAT thin on me as a gimmick. Sadly (for him; for me the smart one is the cat); the black cat bails stage right as the witches are giddy over their new found gifts.
So we go to the scene changer as Filler uses his calculator and thanks the witches as he will bill them at the end of the month as usual. The nephews of course carry the doctor's bag just to bug me. The witches thank him though; proving that when it comes to brains, these witches know no spells whatsoever. Even Zummi is better than they are. Filler walks away as Louie proclaims: What a salesman?! What a pain in the ass this Brushbill fellow is?! So we get another scene changer on the other side as Scrooge and Dewey continue to comb the beach looking for Louie. And then they see: Julius Caesar and two Roman Guards?! Okay; this could be good. Julius cuts his promo (Lend me your ears) as I should point out that it wasn't Julius who spoke these words; I believe it was Anthony or Brutus. It's been a long time since I read the original play; but I know it wasn't Caesar. Bad research there guys. Although the part of lending a hand for him (Chuck McCann) is pretty funny though. And he wants to cast them back into the sea because they do not like snoopers either. Dewey and Scrooge panic as the roman guards grab Scrooge and Dewey (who struggles nicely) as Scrooge swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (Now just a blasted moment...) and they still get thrown into the sea anyway. Scrooge and Dewey pop up from the ocean and the Roman knights leave stage right despite the ducks still being alive. D'OH! Maybe MURDERING them is a better bet here? It's not like Caesar hasn't met a sword in his chest that he DIDN'T like.
So we head to the scene changer as we see the babyfaces sitting near a fire (Scrooge and Dewey have blankets on) with Filler. Well; might as well accept that Filler is a babyface now; which bugs me because he would be more effective as a heel. Not much more effective mind you; but still. Scrooge sighs and thanks Filler for saving their lives. Yeah; he finally got Scrooge to say something nice to him. Personally; I wish Scrooge would just strangle him now. Filler wants Scrooge's bill; however, he could give him a share of the profits from that lost play. Might as well; the writers don't realize that Filler is a bad joke that needed to be squashed about seven minutes into this episode. So; I'm just hope the rest of the episode is good and Filler stays the hell out of the way. I don't care if he is a coward, at least he doesn't screw up the episode as one. Scrooge sees the note and calls him out as a crook.
Filler takes exception because his reputation for square deals is as spotless as his. Riiiiigggggghhhhhtttt. If you consider taking your customer relations from the Video Game Industry School of Business though. Otherwise; I'm with Scrooge here. Scrooge realizes that he has a point and asks how much and Filler wants half and Scrooge is taken aback by this..but decides to tell him that the lost play isn't very good play. Filler gleefully blows him off and I agree with him for once. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA! Hypocrisy much there Scroogie?! Louie is screwed on that one as Scrooge realizes that he is had and decides to agree to the terms as a token for saving him and the nephews. I would put out one condition though: Only come to my mansion once a year to make deals. I think that would be a fair trade then. Filler proclaims that it is settled and they'll leave first thing in the morning for the castle.
So we head into the forest of spiderwebs at morning as we see the babyfaces walk on as then they hear Cow's voice from Cow & Chicken speaking. We then cut to a stump as...I cannot believe this...a half ram; half dogsperson with red hair. He also has the tri-flute with him as he calls himself Pluck (Charlie Adler) as he plays the flue and proclaims this a Midsummer Duck's Dream. We then have more flute playing and then we see dancers in dresses barefoot and dancing around Pluck. Dewey then realizes that all the stuff they have been seeing come from William Drakespeare's own plays. NO?! REALLY?! One of the dancers is dark skinned I should point out as the dancers leave stage right. Scrooge uses the cane to stop Pluck's music playing and asks where to go to the castle. Pluck tells him to take the gloomest, doomest lane until Dumbird Woods comes to Duckinane. We then see the entrance to the path and the wind is whistling. And the path seems dark and gloomy.
Scrooge gulps as he tries to see if Pluck knows another path; but then turns to his left and Pluck is gone from the stump. Huey gasps and wonders where it went. Scrooge doesn't know and it's good riddance to him. Yeah sure Scroogie. Scrooge trembles and decides to march on as Filler wants him to lead. The babyfaces march into the DARK GLOOMY PATH OF DOOM as we cut to Pluck on a tree branch blowing them off for being mortal fools. Then we cut back to the ducks walking down the gloomy path that doesn't seem as gloomy as I thought it would be. They walk some more as owls hoot and then Huey notices some birds acting really weird on a scary tree and deduces that this must be Dumbird Woods. And then the tree starts moving and shows it's face (Chuck McCann here too) as the babyfaces try to escape; but more talking trees move and surround the duck group. The ducks huddle together as these trees move and talk and have surrounded them with dumb birds on the sky shot. That ends the segment nearly 15 minutes in.
After the commercial break; we continue by REPEATING THE SPOT with the trees bellowing. Now where are the hellfire Vikings when you REALLY NEED them?! The tree repeat the exact same promo as before and then Filler goes into his doctor bag for more fabulous deals (UGH!) and brings out the...wait for it...the chainsaw. Wow; that's the first smart thing he has done in this episode that is kick ass. He might be annoying; but at least he knows when to use the right tools for the job. Unlike a certain Aussie Stereotype I know. He turns it on and threatens all the tree men with it which is enough to chase them away from the babyfaces. He just went a notch up above Monty on my annoyance list. It's good to see that he is becoming less annoying as this episode goes on. Filler stops the chainsaw as he chuckles on Filler's failed deal. Scrooge then wants to buy 24 chainsaws as Filler throws it back into the doctor bag. Now if Filler knew this from the start on pleasing customers; then the first six minutes of the episode would have been a lot less painful to watch.
Scrooge wants them at a discount too. So we head to the end of the road to the castle which is next to a cliff overlooking the ocean. They go inside as the castle looks deserted. Then they walk inside the castle as there is blue/green lighting everywhere; despite having mature shadow lighting. Dewey closes the door and Filler puts down the doctor's bag and bring out two flash lights for him and Scrooge. He states that they should split up and cover more ground quickly. However; Scrooge then starts getting on Filler's case on trust. Filler tries to remind Scrooge of his reputation for honesty. Well; if he would admit that he's an annoying little prick; then he got my vote of trust in reputation. Scrooge tells him that one of the nephews will help him carry his valise and to watch for any funny business from Filler who seems to be turning somewhat heelish when Scrooge's back is turned. Maybe I am mistaken. Louie offers to take the valise and walks with Filler stage right as he proclaims that he might be a door-to-door salesman someday. And Scrooge hopes and prays that he's better than Filler. Scrooge, Huey and Dewey take the western route.
Scrooge, Huey and Dewey head into the castle book room as Scrooge is on a ladder on the left side while Huey and Dewey are on ground level on the right side. And they already made a pile of books on the floor in the middle of the carpet. They throw books into the pile as we go to a scene changer to the bedroom as Louie and Filler check with the flashlight underneath the bed; but no dice. Flashlight Scene Changer of Doom; we head into the hallway as Scrooge uses a chair Dewey is holding to use the flashlight on a suit of armor. And that produces nothing so we head into William's writing room as Filler checks the bookshelf while Louie checks the desk drawers (NOT THOSE ONES) to the left of Filler. Nothing to be found so far as we head to Scrooge, Huey and Dewey opening a door and walking into something like a great theater which looks empty. Dewey deduces that this must be where William put on all his plays. Scrooge then notices that the whole place is cleaner than a whistle; as if it was still in use as we see the red curtain covering the stage. Then Huey turns around and notices above the door; a statue of William Drakespeare himself. We then go to the close up shot of the statue and it appears to want to shake hands with them. Scrooge deduces something from the note earlier that William wrote to his mother which is if you wish to read it; you shake his hand. Then we see the curtain flapping from behind as we clearly hear Filler cutting a Hamlet promo with a sales deal. That is the ultimate blasphemy!
Scrooge is about to use the cane; but out comes Louie and Filler as Louie is giggling under his breath. Scrooge blows them off for fooling around (I guess he hates Scooby Doo redo spots as much as I do.). He then proclaims that he has solved the mystery and they have to shake William the statue's hand. He shines a flashlight on the statue; and then points out that they need to find a way to hang from the ceiling. So we then go to a scene changer as Scrooge and the nephews watch on not believing this while Scrooge shines the flashlight. We also see Pluck hiding behind the curtain watching on as well. Scrooge turns off the flashlight as we cut to the wall to see Filler crawling on the walls with the suction cups of doom. And Gadget must be rolling in her grave after seeing that one. He then uses the suction cups (all royal navy blue) and stands on the ceiling upside down. He walks slowly towards the statue as the babyfaces watch on and he shakes the statue's hand; the only one willing to do so.
That shows just how low on the dignity scale Filler is. Scrooge then backs away as a slot on the stone floor opens and it in it's William Drakespeare's lost play. Scrooge grabs it and here come the WILLIAM DRAKESPEARE ACTORS AND ACTRESSES OF DEATH! See; the play should belong to them as Scrooge blows them off. Problem is; they are actors and descendants of William's original acting troupe. In other words; that are as fake as Filler's reputation. Everyone takes off their gear as Scrooge proclaims that this changes everything and offers to share the profits with everyone. I don't think Filler is going to like that about face Scrooge. Julius agrees to it; but the play is the thing. If only Mr. Hardcore gamer would listen instead of buying Final Fantasy XIII; a game which has 20 hours of cut scenes; but only four hours of play. Okay; I'm using hyperbole this one; but the point of Julius still stands. Scrooge then blows the dust and he gasps in disbelief as the title of the play is called MacDuck.
So we cut to Scrooge with the nephews and the doctor's bag as he thinks it's a grand idea to perform MacDuck. Louie wonders where Filler went; and Scrooge doesn't care as he wants to replay his past in Scotland with the family clan. So we hear the bagpipes playing and out comes Pluck in Scottish gear and the bagpipes proclaiming that this is the tale of Old MacDuck who cheated and lied and ran amok. Scrooge is SHOCKED AND APPALLED as the curtain opens and we see Caesar guy with a crown playing with gold coins on a table as Witch #1 wants him out and calls him a dumb Scot. Witch #1 does the Gruffi pose as Caesar guy blows her off. Well; there's one part Caesar played well methinks. Dewey calls it a comedy and Scrooge calls it a tragedy. I think it's both as I think they are getting back as Scrooge for messing with them. We then go to the scene changer as Caesar guy gets chained up and carried away stage right from the stage. Then all the actors and actresses (logic break: the dancers from earlier are like little kids now) gather to the stage and end the play mocking MacDuck once again.
Caesar guy admits that this play would do great harm to Williams' reputation. Scrooge blows him off because it MURDERS his reputation since the play is basically what BS&P SEES in Scrooge. I wonder if Night Flight was referring to THIS episode in his rant? He gives the book back to Caesar and tells him to put it back into the secret panel so that no one can find it again. Scrooge hopes not as then we finally see Filler turn heel for real as he swings like Tarzan from behind and steals the book. He goes to the window as thunder and lightning storms around. Scrooge demands answers to this outrage as Filler proclaims that he cannot pass a deal like this up to screw Scrooge good. He jumps out of the window as Scrooge orders the nephews to help stop him. Scrooge takes the entrance; the actors take the backstage route. We then get some thunder and lighting crashing at castle's cliff towards the water. Filler climbs down the castle wall and onto the final edge before the wall leading to the ocean with rocks below. Filler drops down to the path as we see Scrooge and the nephews coming from the doorway to the right.
Louie orders him to come back as Filler runs into a castle tower and nearly trips on a rock and causes the broken part of the wall to fall down into the ocean. Filler backs away as the babyfaces run in and surround Filler and plead for Filler not to jump and kill himself. Filler blows them off because it's worth the risk to sell this play. It's the biggest sale see as Louie then probably pulls off the best promo I have ever heard from him as he reminds Filler that the play is terrible and that the customers will think he cheated on them and then his reputation sinks to zero. Kind of like what the video game industry is going through now. Filler thinks about it for a moment as the thunder crashes; thus teasing the full heel turn, but then gives up and gives the book back to Scrooge; who gives the book back to Caesar. Damn; I was hoping he would blow them off then the thunder burns the book to ashes. All reputations are saved; and Filler become full on heel that I can get behind more. I cannot stand him as a babyface. Still; I think Louie's speech was dead on here.
So we head back to the castle on a far shot as Scrooge ponders about Williams' plays as the sun rises and the book is placed under the stone panel for good. Scrooge narrates about how it was performed by the descendants of his original acting troupe. We then go into the theater as Scrooge talks about a deal to use the castle as a theater and Caesar guy shakes hands on the deal formally. We then pan over to Filler filling his doctor's bag as Scrooge proclaims that he knows who will sell the tickets. Filler is impressed with Louie's sales pitch back then. Hey; when Louie thinks of the customer, that is an effective sales pitch to use on salesman. You should thank him good for that. Louie and Filler have a good laugh as I now see where Louie gets his wise guy stuff from as we zoom out to a shot of the castle and the crashing waves as the Caesar guy narrates (Chris claims that it's a separate narrator; but it uses the same voice as Caesar guy; so there you know) about the world being a stage and the people merely being players. We fade to black to end the episode at 21:16. Really terrible spot; but it improved once they reeled in Filler's horrible act and it turned out to be a decent episode in spite of it. William may not approve; but it still is fun enough and that is what counts in the entertainment world. Hardcore and Softcore alike best be reminded of it. *** ½ (70%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Man; this episode for the first six minutes was some of the worst stuff I have ever seen as Filler Brushbill turned into a greasy annoying guy that I was hoping for him to turn full heel; but it didn't come. The whole salesman scene was terrible as his sales pitches were bad and I was actually glad Huey screwed up only because I wanted over with. Thankfully; despite bringing Filler into this episode, they managed to reel him in and make him somewhat more tolerable even at the end. I was hoping for him to blow off Louie at the end (and thus make Filler look like a jackass greasy heel and make Louie's speech even MORE meaningful than it already was) and then have the thunder burn the book to ashes as a symbol of irony. It would have protected everyone's reputation forever. I guess BS&P stepped in because they didn't want to see the prospect of someone dying as a result of that spot. Otherwise; the story was enjoyable, the logic breaks few and the Hamlet play of MacDuck was really funny if only because it shows what BS&P WANTS Scrooge to be. So in the end; we ended up with an average episode that could have been so much more if Filler wasn't so annoying. So; that ends the final double rant ever and final rant of 2009. Next up is my first rant of 2010 with Duckman of Aquatraz; the final episode involving Flintheart Glomgold on DVD on New Years Day; and then to finish Ducktales DVD overall Down & Out In Duckburg on the day after New Years. So.....
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you next time.