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Ducktales Volume Two DVD Review
Reviewed: 05/26/2012
Finally; Now I Can Stop Complaining About It...
Welcome kiddies; it's time for another Disney Television Animation DVD Box Set Review and this time we review the second 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. I should note that in spite of the fact that I'm playing this straight; I am not going to reveal the finer details of the DVD. I'm done enough of these that you can see the similaries between the disc set. Plus; Ducktales Volume 1 had used all of my Review Lines combined into the last review and it created a wall of text; so I'm going for the "more rock, less talk" format here which I usually do with these sets. So how did the DVD set do compared the episodes themselves? Read on and find out.....
The DVD Box
Now; the version I'm reviewing is the resold version of the DVD set and not the original because HMV had a sale of all the DTVA sets re-released with extra sleeves because they stuffed a plastic bag containing a inflatable beach ball containing the classic Disney characters. Which begs the question: If they can afford to put a beach ball in the set; why not add some actual extras on the DVD instead? I mean; the beach ball itself is not bad, but it's not like children are going to buy this set unless their parents are doing it to teach them about the virtues of the past (without realizing the problems with that); and the rest of them are adults who aren't interested in beach balls; they're interested in seeing Disney grow some for a change and offer a back story to this show. Are you telling me that a beach ball cost less than a DVD disc here? Am I missing something here? Anyhow; the cardboard sleeve and the original cardboard box are almost exactly the same. The differences are that the sleeves have the right side of the box where the plastic disc covers usually are painted on, the top and bottoms are missing (In the original set; the top has the Ducktales logo, Disney logo, and volume 2 centered on top against an orange stagger title background. The bottom is solid cheese yellow on the bottom and extends up to the bottom of the front which proclaims that on this disc there is the pilot and 19 episodes); and the front has a beach scene with the real beach ball in the scene which takes up the left side which means that they compressed the rest of the front on the sleeve. The beach ball is placed right in the position where it seems to bash Scrooge right on the kisser. Huh. Otherwise; the sleeve is the same as the box: The top half of the front which has a wavy orange/yellow border on the top and bottom is orange stagger titled with the usual logos and volume 2 stuff. The middle has Scrooge and the nephews in the same poses as in the DTVA press materials (cheap; but expected knowing Disney) and the usual number of discs and Disney DVD logo. The left side is the usual stuff you see on other sets: Disney DVD logo on top, Disney and Ducktales logo in the middle; centered and on it's side, and a photo of Scrooge's head from the front.
The back is sloppier as the orange top no longer has the stagger stitch pattern of the front. The summary is in the middle is dead perfect and I wouldn't feel uneasy about it. The tech and legal information is on the bottom and it's basically the same information that I talked about in past DVD sets. I should point out that the resale version I had also had a yellow sticker on front in French claiming that there French version is included. Sadly; they do not say if there are French subtitles or French audio (I do know TaleSpin Volume One contained the Super Baloo audio which doesn't matter since both France and Canada use the same French dub of the show anyway in spite of the different opening theme song). I'm going to ignore the pictures (except for Scrooge throwing money with glee which is cute) because all three pictures on the front of the plastic disc covers anyway. It is continuity in one sense; but it causes some problems with the artwork later on.
My Rating on the DVD Box: **** – The back is a bit sloppy and the downgrade is due to the artwork errors later on the plastic disc covers.
Disc One:
Artwork Error #1: The front picture is a press material shot for the Earth Quack episode which is not on this disc set at all. It's on Volume 1.
Artwork Error #2: The first picture on the back cover is a television shot of the nephews which comes from the episode The Money Vanishes which is not on this disc set at all. It's on Volume 1.
Artwork Error #3: The middle picture on the back is a television shot of Scrooge climbing down a rope which comes from the episode "Masters of the Dijinni" which is not on this disc set at all. It's on Volume 1.
Artwork Error #4: The right picture on the back cover is a television shot of the nephews and Launchpad which comes from the episode "Lost Crown of Genghis Khan" which is not on this disc set at all. It's on Volume 1.
Artwork Error #5: This error applies to all discs. The nephew on the lower left side on the back of the disc is the exact same pose as the shot in Artwork Error #1; except that it's reversed and the middle part of the baseball cap is not painted in a darker color of the character in question; it is always painted white. Disc One is Louie and the green solid background is in the right color; but in the wrong shade. Which is better than I can say for the rest of the set.
Yes; five artwork errors on one disc! That has to be some record I think. Other than that; it's the usual summaries and episode title names. It's too bad that Disney didn't release the pilot on Volume 1; but the first volume had a lot of great episodes on it so I'm not going to complain about it. The discs inside contain the same Artwork Error #1 as mentioned before; but it is reflective and looks cool. The first disc runs at 221 minutes by the way.
Episode Rants For Disc One:
Ducktales - Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Don't Give Up The Ship Rant- The Upstreaming Of Disney Begins In Earnest!
Ducktales - Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Wronguay In Ronguay Rant- Never Let BS&P Talk You Into Eating Your Hat.
Ducktales - Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Three Ducks Of The Condor Rant- So Much For That Theory.
Ducktales - Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Cold Duck Rant- The March Of The Evil Penguins!
Ducktales - Treasure Of The Golden Suns: Too Much Of A Gold Thing Rant- HIC! HIC! GOLD! HIC! HIC!
Ducktales - Back To The Klondike Rant- ...And Into The Nasty Goldie!
Ducktales - Horse Scents Rant- Ducktales Episode Or Failed Perfume?
Ducktales - Scrooge's Pet Rant- With A Face Only A Rich Snob Would Love.
My Thoughts: I have seen enough of the DVD sets to know that the DVD menus themselves are the usual still motion picture shots that we have seen before and that there is nothing of note. Since there are no extras; the quality of the DVD's are dependent on the episode quality themselves (although this set loses points for bad subtitling which is what you get with the crack Disney captions team). Basically; we have eight episode per disc; but only four stories total since five of the episode are the pilot episode. Treasure of the Golden Suns is awesome; but it is more of a story arc rather than an actual television movie like Plunder and Lightning. And while all five parts were an easy thumbs up; Don't Give Up The Ship was the weakest (Too Much of A Gold Thing is the strongest and *****) , and Cold Duck's nasty ice prison logic break killed the hope for this being better than Plunder and Lightning despite having one more episode. Still; it doesn't matter if this wasn't the best pilot episode anyway. This is the thing DTVA needed the most, a real epic story arc to really get kids (and people like me) to watch and it delivered in spades. It was more than good enough and it lead to Ducktales getting the most references in pop culture since. Mainly because it was the first true 1980's animated series to get over without toys or real gimmicks. It just plain, sheer entertainment value with excellent animation (by television standards mind you) and very good plotting, pacing and stuff that made sense even if it was silly. If this show failed (in profits and quality) then you can kiss TaleSpin goodbye before it ever gets started. That's why that while I consider TaleSpin the best; I cannot ignore Ducktales because that show is what started it all. And TaleSpin has the most direct connection to Ducktales since it was supposed to be an aborted Ducktales spinoff. As for the other episodes: they are middling but I did enjoy Back To The Klondike the most since Goldie got to run wild on Scrooge with the blunderbuss. Horse Scents was okay; but the silliness shows that it's hard to take people seriously crapping on TaleSpin for redoing Allowance Day when this episode was lifting stuff from Top Cat. Scrooge's Pet was close to being a thumbs up but could have been better if the episode didn't make Scrooge look extremely stupid. So; we have five thumbs up and three thumbs in the middle. A pretty good start which is fitting since this DVD set is where I started the rants (and it's only fitting that I finish the review last too).
My Rating for Disc One: **** 3/4 – If you bought this to stare at the artwork; this is a major disappointment. If you bought this to watch the show itself then this disc was awesome quality wise. Still; five artwork errors is very sloppy indeed.
Disc Two
Artwork Error #6: The left picture on the back showing Scrooge and Flintheart being carried by guards is from the episode "Masters of the Dijinni" which is not on this set. It's on Volume 1.
Artwork Error #7: The right picture on the back showing Scrooge and Genie (with lamp) is from "Treasure of the Lost Lamp" Ducktales cinema movie which does exist on DVD; but is not mass produced or released in stores to the best of my knowledge. It was mass released on VHS though and I think I have that version of the movie.
Artwork Error #8: Remember the continuity of using apple green with Louie?! This disc uses Huey; but the color is light orange instead of red like it should be.
Well; another case of Disney not knowing what artwork works with what. Although; they did get the front DVD cover right and the middle picture on the back is press materials; everything is pretty much in the same style as the first disc. This disc runs 223 minutes long by the way; which is two minutes longer than the first disc.
Disc 2 Episode Rants
Ducktales - Cash As Catch Can: A Drain On The Economy Rant- Here We Go Again.....
Ducktales - Cash As Catch Can: A Whale Of A Bad Time Rant- A SEA MONSTER ATE MY ICE CREAM!
Ducktales - Cash As Catch Can: Aqua Ducks Rant- What A Perfect Doofus?!
Ducktales - Cash As Catch Can: Working For Scales Rant- The Rich Go To 11.
Ducktales - Merit-Time Adventure Rant- Webby Earns Her Over Wings!
Ducktales - The Golden Fleecing Rant- Today; This Would Be Called Poetic Justice.
Ducktales - Ducks Of The West Rant- Welcome Aboard The Scooby Doo Episode Of Doom.
Ducktales - Time Teasers Rant- Nothing More Symbolic Than Replacing Your Gun With A Wiener.
My Thoughts: Disc Two features another multi-part story (this time four episodes) in Cash As Catch Can which is done in a story arc like Treasure of The Golden Suns; but part one and part three were very weak. While the third part was a wee bit insulting in terms of acting like a Captain Planet episode at times; both parts suffered from a lot of logic breaks. Part Two was awesome ; although the infamous "A Sea Monster Ate My Ice Cream" bit is somewhat less funny than it was when the show was shown back in the late 1980's. Aqua Ducks by the way was the worst episode of the disc and the first thumbs down episode of the set (second in the series next to Fountain Of Youth). Merit-Time was the best Webby focused episode until Good Muddahs showed up as she saved Launchpad and was written as smarter than the males (although Doofus was always written as dumb), although a few logic breaks could have made this episode better. The Golden Fleecing was enjoyable with the Launchpad/Anna marriage angle; and Scrooge's treasure hunt and Time Teasers was fun pirate stuff with the excellent Beagle Boys singing angle. And replacing the gun with a hot dog was funny. Ducks of The West is okay as a Scooby Doo homage; but with a almost stupid finish and just the usual silliness that comes with a Scooby Doo episode. Still better than Citizen Khan though. Slightly better anyway. So we have four thumbs in the middle, three thumbs up and one thumbs down.
My Rating On Disc Two: **** 1/4 – A few less artwork mistakes and less quality in the episodes.
Disc Three
Artwork Error #9 & 10: Both pictures on the borders on the back of the cover are television shots from "Masters of Dijinni" which is on Volume One and not on this set. What is this company's obsession with genies and this episode in particular?
Artwork Error #11: Dewey is being used on the lower left; but the border should be blue instead of purple. Ack! On the bright side; the middle picture was used as an eye-catcher for Ducktales and since Take Me Out Of The Ballgame is on this disc; I'll accept it.
The front of the disc contains a purple background with Scrooge, the nephews and Launchpad doing various things (Dewey trying a mining lantern on his head, Louie's using the slingshot, Huey looking at map, Scrooge pointing with cane on same map and Launchpad holding a shovel. What?!). More artwork sloppiness and the usual summaries and stuff. I should note something else: In the original version: the discs are not reflective; they are in the resold version (the one with the beach ball packed in). Why? I have no idea. This disc has 223 minutes play time.
Disc 3 Episode Rants
Ducktales - Back Out In The Outback Rant - With Ducktales; You Rule From Sun Up To Sundown.
Ducktales - Raiders Of The Lost Harp Rant- Oh! You Are Annoying, Annoying, Annoying!
Ducktales - The Right Duck Rant- When Mars Comes Calling; Always Call The Party Crasher!
Ducktales - Scroogerello Rant- I Didn't Know Scrooge Played Go In His Life!
Ducktales - Double'O'Duck Rant- The Foreshadowing Of Cartoon Duck Syndrome.
Ducktales - Luck O'The Ducks Rant- You Have To Be Lucky When A Leprechaun Is Around.
Ducktales - Duckworth's Revolt Rant- Rage Against the Veggies & The Lurch Butler Wannabe.
Ducktales - Magica's Magic Mirror/Take Me Out Of The Ball Game Rant- Take Me Out Of This Episode!
My Thoughts: This disc is the weakest one of the lot and the first volume to have a legit clunker in the series (Fountain of Youth is just boring and Aqua Ducks could have been better if they fixed the logic breaks). I don't think I can stress enough how much Luck'O'The Ducks sucks. Stereotype angle, Scrooge being the biggest dick around, Webby being the stupidest person around, logic breaks out of the wazoo. I even missed one the first go around when the babyfaces got tied up and were sitting on the ledge in a pit of snakes. Before they went to commercial; the way they were tied up is arms slumped to their sides and their knees and ankles are tied up (even Webby got this which is fine). After we go to commercial; they are sitting and there is almost no rope at all (although the upper shot was far away that we couldn't see it anyway); but their wrists were tied behind their back when the little men were cheering in the foreground (check Huey's arms). Even worse; Huey's wrists are tied with one piece of rope and it's clear their legs are no longer tied up. Why is this a logic break? Simple; Send In The Clones had Huey tied up with more rope and he easily broke out of it. What a surprise for such a terrible episode?! Back Out In The Outback was a disappointment: Sundowner was a cool name; but he was a bland Aussie Stereotype (at least he was somewhat likable unlike Monty) and the whole episode felt like a Ducks Of The West rerun; only with a ghost writer really named Richard Merwin. It was also duller than Ducks Of The West too. The Right Duck was ranted on before Hero For Hire; and this one is a lot weaker than I made it out to be. Von Geezer was not very funny and the climax was poor and an allegory of a point I made about why I feel cheated when I hear child voices done by older actors (most so with Doofus' speech and crying compared to Kit's speech in A Bad Reflection On You). It should be ** 3/4; not *** 3/4. Take Me Out Of The Ball Game was better than I thought it would be; but Duckworth dick attitude and the finish was very low rent just to set up a joke that didn't need to be done. Scroogello was average with good fairy tale settings; but it's the usual silliness and fun; Magica's Magic Mirror was really good for what it was and really it needed more time to flesh out, it could have worked as a 22 minute episode with a little padding. Then we have Duckworth's Revolt which was a good Duckworth focused episode; but the animation mistakes and logic break did some really good damage to that episode. Double'O'Duck is awesome with a really good opening sequence; some funny stuff with Launchpad and an actual on-screen death in a kid's show no less. Finally; we got our second ***** episode Raiders Of The Lost Harp. Yes; the harp is annoying beyond belief; but everything else was dead on and the harp doesn't speak a lot so it was bearable. So we end with six thumbs in the middle, 2 thumbs up and one thumb down for a grand total of 10 thumbs up, 13 thumbs in the middle and 2 thumbs down. A really good DVD set episodes wise.
My Rating For Disc Three: **** - The weakest of the bunch; but Raiders of The Lost Harp and Double'O'Ducks are definite must watch episodes on the disk. Everything else is average or miss. Most so Luck'O'The Ducks even if you miss hearing Bill Barty whom Disney seems to like putting in crappy episodes like this.
Extras
It is exactly like most of the other DTVA DVD sets. There are no extras present so therefore no rating. And no; the inflatable beach ball packed in does not count as an extra, so can it you Disney cheapskates!
Set Up
There isn't much of a setup for the second volume of Ducktales as there is only mono sound and English subtitles available at the set up. No stereo sound; although there is supposed to be a French version for the Canadian resell release (but I'm not sure if it's subtitles or audio I'm not replaying the DVD's to check that out). 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; although it's not as bad as the first volume.
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: **** (80%)
The Review Line:
Well; what can I say? Disney is still believing that kids are buying a DVD set that was designed 25 years ago; or thinks the adults have never watched Ducktales 25 years ago to care about putting extras that mean something. You can see the contempt sometimes when they stuff a beach ball inside and don't have guts to release an extra disc with a back story to the series. Then again; considering what Ducktales (and TaleSpin also) were seen to the Carl Barks fans and also to the Disney Feature Animators; this wasn't much of a surprise since DTVA is the red haired stepchild of Disney anyway. The DVD set's strength is the episodes themselves and they delivered as I expected them to (the video and audio quality is like the television series; and sometimes that is a good thing. Some of the WWE's old stuff released on DVD is much worse than this due to the master's tapes wearing out.). Still; Iger really blew it in everything else and the resold version is a bit more insulting (even if the beach ball itself was fine), thus the sets suffered low sales and were canceled; which tells me that Disney was half-hearted doing this like the writers who wrote Webby most of the time. The good news is that the Gargoyles set were treated better and have extras and such and in 2013; I'm ranting on those first 39 episodes on DVD. However; my next rants are after E3 and it will be some leftover episodes from Kick Buttowski and Fish Hooks; then the Father's Day special: Goofy in Soccermania and then it's the rest of Darkwing Duck to complete the most important DTVA offerings from the Exceptionism years of DTVA. So....
I give this DVD set a thumbs up; and I'll see you next time.