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Ducktales Volume One DVD Review
Reviewed: 01/03/2010
Too Bad Iger Still Doesn't Get It.....
Welcome kiddies; it's time for another Disney Television Animation DVD Box Set Review and this time we review the first volume in the critically acclaimed DTVA series; Ducktales. Ducktales has been for the most part; one of the funnest rides I have had since TaleSpin. So how did the DVD set do compared the episodes themselves? Read on and find out.....
The DVD Box
The DVD box is made of cardboard like all DTVA Disney sets (minus Quack Pack and Goof Troop) with the opening on the right side to get the plastic covers out. The front cover (and sides and even the top back of the box) uses a purple/violet background. The Disney logo and Ducktales logo are at the top and there is a oval hole lined with thick silver trim with a yellow background which shows the nephews on the left side in their poses while Scrooge is on the right side looking at something. The artwork is surprisely good; although Huey's right hand could have been drawn a bit better. On the bottom of the front; there is the volume number, number of discs, number of episodes and the Disney DVD logo on the bottom right. The side has the DVD logo on top while the Disney logo and the Ducktales logo are lined on the center left sideways; with the volume number, number of discs and number of episodes which always seems to look a little sloppy for some reason. The bottom of the side shows the nephews posing to a yellow background and under that there is the stock number. The back of the box shows the Disney logo and Ducktales logo on the top left; with the ISBN code and two proofs of purchases on the right which is an improvement from the other sets since they usually are put on the disc covers which make it almost impossible to remove. The ISBN code seems to overtake the picture on the middle right; but not enough to ruin it. Below this is three pictures from the VHS tapes which are very impressive and don't seem as off-model as the VHS ones used for TaleSpin. The silver trim is above the pictures and seems to have a slight amount of blue trim on the far left side. Below the pictures is a summary of the disc set in full which is quite reasonable; although using the weakest episode of the disc set isn't exactly going to help matters; but the Sir Gyro De Gearloose episode more than makes up for it. On the bottom left; there is Scrooge McDuck who looks a little weird. Below the summary on the right is the tech specs which are lacking in stereo sound and subtitles other than English making the set look more bare bones than other DTVA sets. Below that are the usual legal and tech stuff that most will probably ignore. One final point: In the USA; the set is not rated; so all scenes that were cut or edited in the Toon Disney cut have been restored for the DVD release, which is back to second run syndication. The final running time is 618 minutes and the date of release is on the far right bottom of the back of the cover.
Animation Error #1: The back cover on the top left is a special VHS picture that comes from the episode All Ducks on Deck which doesn't exist on this volume. It exists on Volume 3.
My Rating on the DVD Box: **** ¾ – Only one artwork error prevents a perfect box along with a few minor mistakes here and there.
Disc One:
The disc cover is a thin plastic which opens like a book.. The scheme on the front is similar to the box art cover on the front; minus the thick silver border and the blue background all around the disc cover in general. The front picture features Donald saluting on the deck while the nephews are behind him playing with Louie's remote control airplane. Great cover; too bad it's for the wrong episode. The only other difference on the front is the disc number and number of episodes on the bottom. On the side cover is similar to the box; only it's blue and doesn't have a picture of the nephews despite it showing blue which is Dewey's disc (as shown on the bottom left side of the back of the cover. The back of the disc is similar to the box cover, only without the silver border, and the yellow background below the pictures are replaced with a light blue background. And Dewey replaces Scrooge on the bottom left and his feet are covered by the same tech information as on the back of the box cover; only more rectangle than the squareish information on the back of the box. Also on the top right; the UPC/Proofs of Purchase is not on the disc covers (like it would be in future sets) and there is just the disc number and number of episodes. The summary below is shorter and below that in the middle is the episode selection. To the right of it; it states over three hours of solid gold adventure. I won't mention the others; because they are constantly accurate (a few dull episodes notwithstanding). This disc is 206 minutes long. The disc itself contains the same picture as disc one; but it's reversed for some reason (probably to prevent the picture from bleeding into the tech information on the left side); and it uses the same triangle push button that I do not like. The Disney logo, Ducktales logo is on the top; the disc number, number of episodes, stock number, Disney DVD logo, Dolby Digital logo, NTSC logo, and region one logo are on the left; as well as support. The legal information is on the bottom of the disc and if you live in Canada; the Canadian Home Video rating is on the left side.
Animation Error #2: The front cover is a special VHS picture that comes from the episode All Ducks On Deck which doesn't exist on this volume. It exists on Volume 3. This also applies to the disc itself
Episode Rants For Disc One:
Ducktales - Send In The Clones Rant- Magica Makes Her Debut; Pentagrams And All!
Ducktales - Sphinx For The Memories Rant- Donald Duck As an Evil King? Now THAT's A Dream Job!!
Ducktales - Where No Duck Has Gone Before Rant- Nothing Is More Ironic Than Major Courage Displaying Lobster Courage!
Ducktales - Armstrong Rant- Rust Up Like An Armstrong Brother!
Ducktales - Robot Robbers Rant- Welcome Canada and The United States To Robot Construction Hockey Night In Duckburg!
Ducktales - Magica's Shadow War Rant- Can You Smell The BS&P Stink Starting To Flow Here?
Ducktales - Masters of The Djinni Rant- You Just Knew Bobo Would Get Involved Somehow....
Ducktales - Hotel Strangeduck Rant- I Guess So; Since Scrooge Bought It In The Middle Of Nowhere....
Ducktales - Lost Crown Of Genghis Khan Rant- I See Launchpad is Prepping For Something Else Other Than Crashing....
My Thoughts:
Okay; let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. Even though this is a Volume One set and was one of the first DVD sets by Disney Video; each episode had five chapter stops unlike TaleSpin Volume One which had only one (although to be fair; it also had more set up options than Ducktales). The menus are the usual still frame options with questionable artwork. Functional and not exciting. And as with every DTVA series; the episode are second run syndication episodes which is clearly apparent with Sir Gyro De Gearloose when Marloon's “WORK! WORK! WORK!” was redubbed so it didn't sound like he was dropping multiple F-bombs. The episode quality in video and audio is pretty much what I expected it to be; although at time when the action is paused; the video felt blurry or there was a wobble effect in some places.
The first disc is probably the best of the set with only one episode under ***; which is Hotel Strangeduck. Well; it's a Richard Merwin written episode; so we got nothing but Scooby Doo sucking up from him. And this one was so chock full of it that I got sick when the finish rolled in as it was as predictable as a Scooby Doo episode. Although I'm glad they didn't go to the Economy of Characters syndrome like so many did. Swans was fine; Ludwig was okay; Bernado was okay as a ghost; but Benzino is annoying as hell. Everyone else was all right; although the nephews Shaggy (original Scooby Doo) and Freddy Jones accusation act (Pup Named Scooby Doo) got old fast. So we got a middle of the road episode that almost turned into a thumbs down episode. Luckly; TMS's animation was well done for the most part. The next *** episodes were Where No Duck Has Gone Before and Masters of the Djinni.
Where No Duck Has Gone Before was pretty disappointing for me as I just didn't buy the nephews being so stupid in buying into Courage's antics even though it was clear from the start that they were in a television studio and therefore it should have clicked to them that the whole thing was an act. I can understand Doofus being charmed and it would have worked with him only, but the nephews being along just dragged things down as a whole. I also found Scrooge smashing the console so Donald Duck like that I couldn't buy into that either; although I did like Gyro's version of it. TMS animation screw ups didn't help either. I did like Bulvan; although the aliens were fat versions of the Snorks. This episode was all Major Courage and Launchpad carrying it kicking and screaming. As slimy as Courage turned out to be; he really played the part well. And once the nephews snapped out of their stupid act; the episode redeemed itself enough to make it watchable and we got a really fitting ending to the whole thing. I still think Flash the Wonderdog is better simply because Dale is too stupid to figure out the difference and Bullethead Baloo was a different breed of animal altogether since it was Baloo seeking approval to show Kit that he was a hero (even though Kit knew who real heroes are (because he was one in a real sense) despite Ernie and the Jungle Aces insisting that he worship a false idol) and failing because he wasn't himself and it almost ended up with Kit worshiping a fake hero instead of a real one; or even himself AS one.
Masters of the Djinni did an okay job as there really wasn't anything terrible about this episode. I like Djinni with his voice and half-heelish tactics. The storyline was solid; but I didn't like the fact that they magically bring Scrooge back home without any explaination on how he got back. And they had to make Flint stupid in order to set up the paint-by-the numbers Manos ending. Emir was nothing, the Sultan was a pervert with 72 harems and Zade was the only character who was developed and was a gimmick at best with her Poly Esther story telling. And there were way too many playground insults in this one as Flint and Scrooge acted like little children throughout most of this. And did we need the crocodile pit scene and the Sultan's perverted harem inspection?! I just found it disturbing for obvious reasons. So it was pretty much an average episode with a few cringe worthy moments; and not for good reasons.
There were some near thumbs up episodes in Sphinx For The Memories and Lost Crown of Genghis Khan. Sphinx For The Memories was basically another average Ducktales episode with the usual Donald Duck placing; who didn't get much in the way of funny. Sakrus and Khufu were basically your standard heels and the priestess was pretty much just another character who didn't do much. Other than the death trap spot near the end of the second act; this was basically just a solid episode with nothing awesome; but nothing terrible or boring either. Which suits me just fine since it means that they didn't do anything stupid as there was really only one logic breaks and TMS was on for the most part minus the bad bumps. Overall; another solid episode. The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan was basically another average episode with excellent animation; few logic breaks and basically an average storyline with Webby just there to be bait for Snowy. Sir Guy was another rich snob villain with cheap tricks and the rest I couldn't care less about. Snowy was cute though. However; the real reason for the marking out for me was Launchpad's ladies man act that basically made an average to below average episode shoot to a near thumbs up (would have been a thumbs up if it wasn't for the silly reverse decision finish that they were shooting for and then abandon near the end to allow Guy to be chased by Snowy) was Launchpad basically doing things to show off. Launchpad's Russian Dance Act was so funny I nearly wet my pants and was literally in helpless laughter seeing it. If it wasn't for Scrooge pulling him away; I probably would have stopped ranting forever. It was THAT funny. And of course getting chased by a kissy-kissy Snowy nearly topped that act as well.
The top episodes in this disc set are Send In The Clones, Armstrong, Magica's Shadow War and The Robot Robbers. Armstrong was a really good template to From Here To Machinery. Very few logic breaks and the animation was solid as a rock for the most part. It was played more as a cartoon than what From Here To Machinery did which was more dramatic and had the hypocrisy and historic value as the first syndication episode for TaleSpin. Plus it was all Gyro's fault in this one for creating a robot that was too efficient for it's own good. The only thing that bugs me is that Armstrong's motivation wasn't really explained clearly enough for me. The Auto Aviator was more convincing in that it was merely following orders and the orders went arye when the Air Pirates attacked. And of course; Launchpad redeemed himself quite nicely here and at times; it felt better than Baloo's. Send In The Clones was a really good cloning episode and a great debut for Magica and Webra Walters. I ended up liking both of them when it was all said and done; also I liked Babyface Beagle a little more for his ninja skills with magic bottles. The animation for the most part was awesome as was Huey's performance overall (as I always see this as his focus episode) once he started noticing what was really going on. Still; this episode should have been perfect and it wasn't due to a few logic breaks and a pretty silly finish which on paper was well done; but was ruined quite a bit when Huey wiggled free anyway and it negated the point of threatening him. Of course the coin switch was a bit forced; but it worked out good enough as a booking decision. I also found Mrs. Beakly's acting is a lot better in this episode than her later episodes. I'm a little surprise Astrid didn't get another writing role after this because it was a really good episode; and five logic breaks in DTVA is pretty average.
Magica's Shadow War was near perfect. 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. Finally; there is Robot Robbers and what a debut for Ma Beagle. With the exception of a few mistakes by TMS and Keyes' silly writing; it was an awesome episode to watch as we got everything from robot hockey; power line struggles, Flint getting screwed in more way than one; Ma turning on her Beagle Boys and of course lots of crushing. Plus; I really liked the fact that Gyro didn't learn his lesson (what a surprise?) and created an even better sequel than the original with Armstrong which has a slower pace and more comedy; while this one had more action and Flint and Scrooge working together. So; we get yet another excellent episode. Although I would be slapping Keyes for confusing Baggy with Burger as it was the only thing that was annoying.
My Rating for Disc One: **** ½ – Several artwork errors marred an otherwise perfect disc. There are four episodes over **** and several more a 1/4* short of ****. If only Disney realized that the story behind the episode production is more important than the episode themselves. Then again; Disney has no clue which audience is interested in these sets in the first place.
Disc Two
Disc two is the Louie set (check the pose on the bottom left of the back of the cover) with a green background for the front and the back. The front picture and the disc contain the nephews on a dinosaur; with the dinosaur and Webby seemly in love. Okay; that looks a wee bit disturbing in my view. Whoever did the summary on the back didn't do their research: Mrs. Beakly didn't cause the Viking invasion with her singing; they came on their own accord. It's only when Mrs. Beakly was kidnapped that she got involved in the storyline. Strangely; the top left picture is weird since I have never seen it from the Dinosaur Ducks episode. Someone who did the VHS pictures must have liked the Viking horn blower despite the fact that he only did like ten seconds of work in the entire episode. This disc set is 206 minutes long as the disc picture is the same as the front cover.
Disc 2 Episode Rants
Ducktales - Duckman of Aquatraz Rant- Cue The OZ Jokes!!
Ducktales - The Money Vanishes Rant- ....AGAIN!!
Ducktales - Sir Gyro De Gearloose Rant- Ah Yes; The F-Bomb Episode....
Ducktales - Dinosaur Ducks Rant- Time Is Money Zero!
Ducktales - Hero For Hire Rant- Let's get fired again...Part Trios!
Ducktales - Superdoo! Rant- Did Scooby Doo Meet Larson & Gary or something?!
Ducktales - Maid Of The Myth Rant- LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
Ducktales - Down & Out In Duckburg Rant- You Are SUCH A Weasel Man!!
Ducktales - Much Ado About Scrooge Rant- It's All About The Play In Thee...
My Thoughts:
Wow; this is a loaded set of quality episodes with zero thumbs down similar to the first disc. There were two near clunkers though with Much Ado About Scrooge and Dinosaur Ducks. Dinosaur Ducks was the worst as I just found the whole nephews cannot join thing silly considering the justification Scrooge gave for it. I also found the whole nephews catching subplot to be silly and the Launchpad climbing subplot dull without Launchpad bringing on the funny and carrying this episode. Webby was really a non-factor until she was basically a prop for the cave ducks; and her really funny screwed up stories that managed to get this episode past average. The lost world was basically a prehistoric stereotype and everything felt like an average template for Mommy For A Day and Paradise Lost more than anything else. And TMS's animation was wonky in places too. Overall; a barely average episode that felt incomplete to me.
As for Much Ado About Scrooge 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.
The other above average episode was Maid Of The Myth; that was a pretty fun ride; although it felt like there were a lot of little mistakes that broke logic (Ragoth and Snagnar were at the feast the night before the race; only to magically appear at the bridge a minute later in the same sequence). On the other hand; Mrs. Beakly as an opera star is funny and the viking I found really good although I didn't find Launchpad's lady man routine as funny as it was in Lost Crown Of Genghis Khan; although I did like Swanwhite and her sonic goats. And I would have liked them better if they dropped the ja like speech that they annoyed me with. I also liked how Griselda in her trying to screw Mrs. Beakly just to gain approval from Auric; only for it to backfire and give Thor a false sense that he didn't need to cheat to win anymore and in the end she indirectly gave the race to Mrs. Beakly; thus assuring Auric loses Mrs. Beakly for good forcing him to like Griselda again. Got that? I still think A Case In Stageblight is the better opera in terms of intentional comedy value. And we also got Vacation Von Honk and Quacky McSlantly in the same stage beside each other too.
On the edge of the thumbs up; there was Super Doo and The Money Vanishes. Super Doo was Doofus' last appearance in Ducktales and was a really good one for the most part. The story was simple enough and although the loophole in the guide book prevented them from going to the DQ cheat finish; they played it smart and went for the Doofus stops being an asshole finish and forfeits the badges. The alien scenes were pretty fun; although I don't think the writers did enough to keep the Yoda speech patterns straight. And of course green alien is really silly as they do a good job in scarying the furries; but get their asses handed to them by a small flying squirrel. As I stated before; the scene where Doofus forfeits the sash really did it in for me because while Doofus states that he's forfeiting the sash because he cheated; he is really doing it because his friends (even Bill and Webster) thought he cheated outright and even worse mocked them as revenge for mocking Doofus all this time. Proving that revenge sometimes doesn't work all that well. Doofus's Superdoo routine was cute; but he needs to work on his promo cutting. Also; I felt that in some places; the backgrounds broke logic (the nephews being near the camp despite the outhouse being about 500 feet away for instance) and there were a few logic breaks. Otherwise; this is a good way for Doofus to go out instead of the Super Ducktales #3 debacle when he thrusts a kid up into a tree using a see-saw.
The Money Vanishes was another example of Gyro's inventions mixing with the Beagle Boys. This vanishing money trick turned out to be better than the first episode of Cash As Catch Can #1 which seems to have logic breaks out of the wazoo and a hurried up finish. This one was overbooked; but at least they stopped it when Dewey got the laser and then there was no looking back. There were a few logic breaks and a few TMS mistakes; but it's was all right. And Gyro was a hoot at the end as he now wishes he never made a laser gun in his life. I thought we were in for a CDS ending; but it turned out the dream sequence in the end made it a very unique ending and make me like to see Scrooge MURDER Gyro's ass after screwing with his money again. The nephews really did a great job here as a collective and Dewey really showed his stuff here the most which is nice to see. And Burger was always a hoot as usual. The rest of the episodes were near perfect or in Sir Gyro De Gearloose's case, perfect. Hero for Hire is where we see Launchpad delivers the goods again; but unlike The Right Duck, he gets a lot of help this time. A great effort from Ma Beagle and the better group of Beagle Boys as their plan this time was almost fool proof since Launchpad is such an airhead and Ma Beagle is a much better leader than Big Time anyway. We got a fake suicide scene from LP; Doofus being a tied up lamp who got tortured seeing the Beagle Boys eat his pancakes and of course Launchpad being LP in getting himself fired from his crashes, being a good movie star in spite of the conspiracy, saving the day, crashing an armored car in hilarious fashion and allowing Scrooge to directly say I'm going to kill you when it's all said and done. And Scrooge got his revenge by allowing LP to dupe himself in the end to a pay cut. Only a few minor logic breaks and some questionable acting in the death scene from Scrooge prevented a perfect episode.
Down & Out In Duckburg was both awesome and depressing at the same time. With the exception of a few logic breaks and some coloring mistakes; this episode was perfect in both performance and execution from everyone involved. It is also historic to me because it sets up a pretty interesting picture of what Kit might have suffered before he became an Air Pirate. It's also in hindsight the kind of episode where some during 1987 would have seen Scrooge as I and Chris do in Scrooge as the adventurer who made his fortune based on it. That it wasn't greed; but keeping emotions in cheek. Notice how emotional and insane Scrooge gets when he tries to rob the Salvation Mary and you will see what I mean. That was the rock bottom point for Scrooge. Sadly; the children would cheer Scrooge back then because he was the babyface and Fritter was a weasel like heel (who played it to the hilt until the end). However; in 2009 as adult; I think they would see Scrooge as the heel who got what he deserved for his ancestor (sins of the father infection and all that) cheating on a deal to deliver his marbles. Sadly; Diddle wasn't very smart and didn't put a date to deliver them in the contract which would have made Scrooge a total heel who deserved it. And Fritter would be the babyface in making sure that a deal was a deal. The slum sequence was absolutely depressing to watch and Fritter's debacle with the mansion was just as nasty. It is fitting that it ended by Fritter being such a weasel that he forgot that he was in a windstorm and got swept away which forced Fritter to make a choice: Refuse the marbles and die thus losing the fortune; or accept and lose the fortune and still have a life. Head I win; Tails you lose. For a weasel to use a final insult by using Scrooge's blunderbuss showed how generous Scrooge really is when he merely gave him a job instead of throwing him in jail for murder of him, Captain Jack, two servants and four kids. The denounment was also fitting as well as the booking decisions were correct. I guess Scrooge bought a new yacht too.
Duckman of Aquatraz was an episode that was reasonably done when it came to evidence and making it convincing that Scrooge might have actually stole the painting. Of course; Mr. Prosecutor forgot to edit the tape more carefully to make it without doubt that it was Scrooge and not Flintheart. Launchpad did his five second joke in. But what impressed me is how they build Mad Dog as a man who hates rich ducks for the simplest of reasons and then when Scrooge starts defending him from the guards; his defenses slowly crumble and crumble even more when Mrs. Beakly shows the act of kindness; and then Scrooge getting his connections to have Mad Dog's mother appear for the first time in years. Once his mother showed up; Mad Dog has completely crumbled in defenses that when they escaped and Scrooge tells him to turn himself in; instead of hating Scrooge; he tells him the real reason why he hates rich ducks: A rich duck tricked him into a crime thinking that he was not committing one. This is the kind of writing that we would see with Kit Cloudkicker in Plunder and Lighting only he was a child and was voiced by a child and thus it had more feeling than even this one (and this one was on par with Nothing To Fear so it was very good for what it was shooting for.) and it spooked BS&P in the end. So in turn: Kit Cloudkicker's model is a combination of things: the least obvious are Desiree (the face-heel turn, face-sad heel turn, then sad heel-face turn in the end which was the major twist with Kit over Desiree) and Mad Dog McGurk (being betrayed and then the defenses slowly crumble when kindness shows that there are people out there who truly give a damn.); more obvious is Luke Skywalker of course. It's the least obvious that give Kit Cloudkicker the difference Luke did not have as David Tower explained on Usenet. The only things that bugged me were the TMS mistakes and the ending which sounded way too generous to be believable. It's a funny punishment and it fits the crime; but it doesn't fit the suffering the wrongfully convicted suffered.
Finally; there is probably the best episode of the set and in my new the best Ducktales episode ever: Sir Gyro De Gearloose. Yes; a Gyro focused episode that in my view is Mark Zaslove's breakout episode. From Gyro's funny failures as a knight (the top peak being the training wheel lance); to Moorloon's crappy but funny magic; to Les Dread's bad ass heel laugh to King Artie's fun parties; to the nephews getting chained up and captured so easily by the wimpy black knight; the black knight's really lame insults to a red dragon; to the red dragon's awesome green breath that should have fried the nephews' head to ashes. Plus; it came with an awesome story that reminds me of how A Bad Reflection on You was built: Slow build up of Gyro's hatred of being a Gadget Man; Moorloon showing how to BE JEALOUS and then both realizing that they were better off with their talents because they are the only ones who can do it during their time periods and were only taken for granted because no one else have the ability to do it themselves like those two. They redeemed themselves; we got a creative finish and Les Dread is defeated the only fitting way: Being stuck to the glass ceiling of his own ego. Maybe he shouldn't have turned on Moorloon after all. But that's bad heelism for ye. Excellent TMS animation as always and only one logic break at the end (which is borderline since that girl at the end probably cleaned up the barn as an apology to her blow off on Gyro earlier.). I so love this episode and this is the episode I would show as a teaching tool for all new writers to see.
My Rating On Disc Two: **** ¾ – It doesn't get much better than this as there are six episodes over ****.
Disc Three
The front of the disc cover shows the nephews in space in the middle against a red background which goes around the disc cover and back. This is the Huey disc which is shown with Huey's pose on the bottom left of the back cover. The photos on the back cover are impressive; although the top left picture has Louie and Webby's heads like teenagers rather than kids. The back summary is half decent; but I would have gone with Top Duck and Launchpad's Civil War even though both episodes have Launchpad as the focal character. This disc set is 206 minutes long and the disc picture is the same; although the left side seems to bleed in with the background and looks kind of funny.
Artwork Error #3: The front cover of disc three is a special VHS picture for the episode Where No Duck Has Gone Before; which is supposed to be on the first disc. This also applies to the disc itself.
Artwork Error #4: The back cover far right television shot is from the episode The Lost Crown of Genghis Khan; which is supposed to be on the first disc.
Disc 3 Episode Rants
Ducktales - Top Duck Rant- Time For Some TaleSpin Fun!
Ducktales - The Pearl of Wisdom Rant- -No Relation To My Fanfic Plot Device Of The Same Name....
Ducktales - The Curse Of Castle McDuck Rant- What Kind Of Course? The Curse Of Money Or the Curse Of Me Ranting On It?!
Ducktales - Launchpad's Civil War Rant- More Like Launchpad's Whacky War To Me....
Ducktales - Sweet Duck of Youth Rant- No Thanks Buddy; I'll Stick To Turkey....
Ducktales - Earth Quack Rant - That Pun Was A 7.0 On The Jymn Magon Pun-o-riffic Scale!
Ducktales - Home Sweet Homer Rant- I'll Drink To That Mr. Simpson...Oh Wait...
Ducktales - Bermuda Triangle Tangle Rant-- LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEERRRRRRR!!
Ducktales - Micro Ducks From Outer Space Rant- I Guess Shrinkage Is A Problem In The DTVA World!
My Thoughts:
If you are a Launchpad fan; then this disc is for you as both Top Duck and Launchpad's Civil War are really great episodes. Launchpad's Civil War is a really special one in spite of the logic hole in the McQuack soldiers group (and the overkill of the Doofus camera snapping shot and maybe the pratfall by Eagle Eye into a pumpkin). I don't think this episode was staged any better with Launchpad playing the redeeming babyface while Beau plays the sub-title heel. The old soldiers are a riot and TMS was dead on when they were not doing anime backgrounds in act III. I just don't anyone trying to do a civil war reenactment on children's television today because no one can top this one and quite frankly, the Confederate soldiers (and the racist nature of them) would have made trying to do one which brought sympathy to both rendered impossible. Top Duck was full of TaleSpin fun as Launchpad has his family involved with LP's touch of feeling shameful and getting on his father's nerves not because Launchpad shamed the family, but because LP's feel of shame in himself and stopping his father from explaining anything. Bomber was great in terms of character development and so was LP's family although Loopy's speech patterns got on my nerves. And Benzino ruined an otherwise perfect episode with his antics in the third act. The only other thumbs up episode on this disc is Earth Quack which had a good performance from the Terri-Ferminian in character design and gimmick which went beyond the usual earthquake manner. Personally; I felt that the finish was really lame in terms of pushing the reset button, but it is Disney and really they had no choice in the manner. The other problem was the pacing of the show as they spent nearly ten minutes setting up the mine cart riding routine that made the episode really dull in that place and it dragged down the episode quite a bit.
There were lots of near thumbs up on the disc though in Home Sweet Homer, Micro Ducks From Outer Space, The Pearl of Wisdom and Bermuda Triangle Tangle. Micro Ducks From Outer Space is the best shrinking episode in DTVA which the execution seems off (in terms of bumping and the lack of character development in the Micro Ducks which the female commander seemed to be a blow off to BS&P more than anything interesting). The most hilarious spots came from Webby in the CPR spot from Scrooge and of course Webby on the spider web proclaiming that the adventure is going to ruin her dress. Home Sweet Homer was a very good retelling of the Ulysses tale and I liked Homer despite not being able to redeem himself which I felt that was missing with the nephews redeeming themselves which in itself was fine; but I felt Homer shouldn't have been turned into a pig. Circe was great though and I did like King Blowhards; but a few logic breaks marred the episode quite a bit. Not to mention the excess in padding and the lack of Grimitz and Donald in their final appearance on my rants. I just felt that they turned the episode into a duck show event instead of giving Homer a chance to prove himself. And of course there is Quacky McSlantly.
The Pearl of Wisdom was another average Ducktales love in as we get another solid outing from the writers and Dogface Pete didn't look so shabby either as a heel. Yardarm was actually pretty impressive for a heel and had a really deadly cannon to boot which backfired. For the most part; I was really impressed with Huey and Webby in this episode, mainly Huey's spot where he saved the ship from certain sinking with his Great Masher and the fact that he could have died from direct impact from the missile had he missed. It reminds me so much of Kit's insane spots he pulls a lot. The natives were the typical Hawaiian stereotype; but nothing too offensive for me. I did find that the whole sequence with Sharky trying to getting the pearl back to be just a little too long as they seemed to focus too much on Webby cycling just to get denizens of Duckburg in as voices who probably wouldn't get another crack after this episode. It might work in TaleSpin; but not so much in Ducktales where interaction is not the main focus of the series. Otherwise; it was another solid effort from TMS (they even convinced me that Scrooge got murdered legit by the cannon near the end too) and almost no logic breaks to speak of.
And then there was Bermuda Triangle Tangle and the return of Captain “LOOOOOOOO-SSSSSSEEEERRR” Foghorn. Captain Foghorn was hilarious as he usually was and Captain Bounty would have been fine if he didn't do his lame joke routine. Otherwise it was an average story with good performances from all and I did like the ending of Bounty redeeming himself from a greasy heel to a cuddly babyface who was misguided. And the seaweed monster was cute too. Still; the animation from TMS left a bit to be desired as I saw repeated backgrounds out of the wazoo. There were no logic breaks (unless you count the return of Foghorn and Sparks; and Duckworth's appearance in the crowd near the end) so it was just another good average Ducktales episode. And then there was The Curse of Castle McDuck. It certainly was better than Luck'O'The Ducks as most of the logic breaks were simply continuity errors and it depended on which episode you liked more; this one or Once Upon A Dime. However; the real problem with this episode was it was basically dull as dishwater. Other than the hound chases; it was basically a squash for the heroes and there was no real danger present for the most part. All we got were the basic in character stuff (like Webby's animal angle). Thankfully; the story was solid and the finish and ending were super as I was sort of glad that they didn't go for the heel finish because it was clear that a druid misunderstanding finish was the only way to go since Silas did built on a druid circle. Everything else was just there and TMS animation was super so in the end it ended as a split down the middle episode.
Finally; there was the only thumbs down episode of the set which is Sweet Duck of Youth. Well; there was TMS's animation mistakes out of the wazoo and some logic breaks. The story was solid enough; but it was boring. I could never get into the mood for the swamp guy and he dragged it down no matter how much Launchpad tries to save it. The finish was the right one; but we spent almost three minutes with the babyfaces doing nothing but walking to the final logic break and somehow making it to the airport because having no helicopter left to go back. Scrooge's old act didn't convince me much either. It was mostly good start, bad middle, bad finish and then good ending. It was just plain boring and tiresome which as I said before can be worse than being terrible for a ranter. Overall; a below average episode that could have been better if they just cut the crap and then have one more heel turn for the swamp guy (out of insanity) before turning back for good.
My Rating For Disc Three: **** ¼ - This is the only disc on this volume that had a thumbs down and Launchpad rules over all. The artwork errors dragged this down though.
Extras
It is exactly like most of the other DTVA DVD sets. There are no extras present so therefore no rating.
Set Up
There isn't much of a setup for the first volume of Ducktales as there is only mono sound and English subtitles available at the set up. No stereo sound, no French audio, no French subtitles, nothing else. Except maybe the ads on the first volume. As for the English subtitles; Disney Captions still cannot resist screwing up with misspelled words; names that don't believe in context and missing dialog.
My Rating for Set Up: ** ½ - I sometimes wonder if Disney Captions does their captions on the fly because it would explain in part why they keep screwing up. It's like they listen to the audio and formulate something instead of referring to whatever canon names the creators had intended.
My Rating for the Entire DVD Set: **** ½ (90%)
The Review Line:
Another DVD review; another solid outing that would have benefited even more had there been stereo sound, French subtitles (or even French audio which TaleSpin Volume One DVD sets). I must have complained loudly enough to get TaleSpin to be as good as it was. As I said earlier and in earlier reviews; I don't think Bob Iger has any idea who the audience is and what would please THAT audience with these DTVA sets. Like TaleSpin before it; the story behind Ducktales needs to be told. At least TaleSpin and Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers have documentary material that I (and Chris) are aware of on the making of those series. Ducktales I don't think even has THAT. The lack of extras is a huge reason why these sets didn't sell as well as they should of and those lack of sales ultimately led to Disney DVD stopping the idea altogether. Again; I do recommend this set for those who want a legal copy and have the problem of Youtube having to pull down the episodes due to copyright violation; but Disney seriously needs to consider who is buying these sets and realize why the extras are so important. Even World Wrestling Entertainment knows this for their sets that the extras are important and the video quality and disc quality is LOWER than Disney's. So....
I give this DVD set a thumbs up; and I'll see you next time.