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Clash Reunion
Reviewed: 09/03/2012
The Day Sparky Lived & Died...
We are now at the final five episodes of Darkwing Duck and so we continue on with the second to last episode featuring a member of the Fearsome Five. YAY! So it's basically Drake going to a school reunion and discovering that Megavolt was in the same school as him when going up. Oooooo... This will be fun to mock, both ways. So how does this episode fare? So; let's rant on shall we...
The episode is written by Bill Motz and Robert Roth. The story is edited by Doug Langdale The animation is done by Hanho Heung-Up Company Limited.
We begin this one at Drake's house as we see Gosalyn and Launchpad playing monopoly and Launchpad is losing badly to Gosalyn. And apparently; Gosalyn wants him to do all of her chores for losing too. Drake comes in throwing away bills and a Ed McMallard contest. He then notices a letter and opens it as it's papers for the High School Reunion. He then plops a blue book onto the game board just to annoy Gosalyn. Drake talks about his high school days as Gosalyn and Launchpad want to run away in opposite directions; but the Tiny Toons Long Arms Of Doom pull them back. He shows the class pictures including a pig furry named Ham String which I can guess his gimmick to be holding his leg in pain every five seconds; if BS&P wasn't a piss ant. He also shows a dognose named Preena Lot in the middle and then Drake is shown in the middle on the top row of pictures. Gosalyn mocks young Drake's hairstyle as we hit the FLASHBACK OF DOOM as Drake is full of himself at 16 and at middle age. We head to the classroom as Drake is sitting in front of "Lenny" and he is deducing that his pencil has been stolen. I should note that Drake is wearing 1960's gear including platform shoes. Probably the only time you would see that. To be fair; everyone in class is wearing a similar laughable outfit; only Drake's ass is showing. Drake has green striped pants and Lenny (the dark dognose with brown hair) wearing blue and green. We also discover that Drake's teacher is Mrs. Muddlesworth. Is she a descendent of the Muddlefoots who had a name change because she was sane and rational? TUNE INTO SOFT COPY TO FIND OUT! Drake controls the school and starts asking REALLY STUPID questions to the class and also remembers to ruin the affections of Preena and Ham String. So Ham finally grabs him by the neck and claims that he did nothing as Preena wants him to tweak his beak.
Preena Lott is voiced by Teresa Ganzel and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): Teresa Ganzel was best known as a recurring cast member of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, having replaced the late Carol Wayne as the Matinee Lady in the popular "Mighty Carson Art Players" skits. She often played ditzy busty blonde bimbo roles, as in the 1982 film The Toy with Jackie Gleason and Richard Pryor, in the Married... with Children episode "A Three Job, No Income Family" (1989) and National Lampoon's Movie Madness. Ganzel was a frequent game show celebrity in the 1980s, particularly on the $25,000 and $100,000 incarnations of Pyramid, and a recurring celebrity on the 1986–1989 version of Hollywood Squares. In her later years, she has had several voice-over roles on cartoons, animated movies, and series. In 2010, Ganzel played a principal role in the Off-Broadway production of Viagara Falls,[1] after appearing in the same role, Jacqueline Tempest, in productions of the play staged in other cities. She began her career on C.O.D. as Lisa in 1981 and appeared on Teachers Only, Roxie and The Duck Factory. Darkwing Duck is her DTVA debut as this character and Flygirl from Heavy Mental. She had a cameo on Goof Troop and has 82 titles to her resume. Escort Service as Claire is her most recent credit. Ham String is voiced by Jerry Houser by the way.
So Ham String flips Drake's beak and drops Drake. So Drake counters with the Hypno Coin; and Ham String smacks him and Drake brainwashes himself. HAHA! Ham String calls him Dweebist Maximus which should be his new title. So Lenny finally finds his pencil which rolled under the desk and all the kids tug on Drake's beak for fun. HAHA! Even the science nerd does it after some pondering as we discover that his name is Elmo Sputterspunk. We return to reality (no, not really) as Gosalyn draws on the picture of Elmo Sputterspunk. HAHA! Drake threatens her with hell in roundabout term (pit of eternal flame); but then gasps because Elmo Sputterspunk is really...drum roll please...good...Megavolt! Oh yeah! This high school reunion just got interesting. We then scene change to Sparky's hideout as Sparky is wearing a red robe and socks as he is pacing and whining because he's invited to the high school reunion and doesn't have anything to wear. Then he talks to his light bulb and it suggests the Megavolt costume of course as he kisses the light bulb and grabs his blue book containing picture of his high school year. Then we hit the flashback! We go into a school hallway as Elmo is reading a book and apparently Drake's dream was a lie because Elmo is wearing blue pants, a purple shirt and shoes. He gets shoved by Ham String who has seemed to gain about 200 pounds and three feet since I last saw him. And Preena is right there to laugh with him like a bunch of bullies. Ham flicks him in the nose and Elmo drops on his ass. So Elmo tries to do punching; but trips and falls flat on his face. Preena tells Ham to trash Elmo and Elmo gets plopped right into the conveniently placed trash can. Elmo only calls that a total defeat. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. So we head to outside the school (the exact same one Gosalyn is in now) as it is snowing outside. Sparky calls it an unforgettable day in January..and it turns to summer because Sparky thinks it's June. HAHA!
So we head inside as school was apparently out (so it's July actually); but Elmo was still in the science lab on the treadmill running. All those running makes papers stick to his body. See Elmo is doing an experiment to utilize static electricity from running on a carpeted treadmill to power a light bulb. Which is actually one experiment I would like to see succeed. Can you imagine the fitness market cash coming in with such an idea? Then the door opens and Ham String and Preena Lot come in because even when school's out the bully is still in. Elmo explains the invention and gets pointed right in the nose by Ham. Ham still doesn't get it nor cares as he tapes Elmo's hands to the railing (I'm guessing this is duct tape looking like masking tape) and pushes the lever (WRONG LEVER!) on the treadmill and runs faster and faster. Ham and Preena leave like a bunch of bullies as Elmo runs so fast; the light bulb explodes into Elmo and Elmo hits the back wall in a daze. He is alive much to my amazement and goes to the door; but since he has static in his body; he gives himself a Wii shock on the door knob. He drops on his ass (again) and Elmo is pissed off and points at the door and shoots it while blowing it off. The door turns to ashes, and the treadmill turns to ashes as Elmo tries to control it. Wooden stool burns to ashes (NOT THAT ONE!) and he concludes that he can now entertain people at parties. HAHA! Well; he now has static Afro. Hey; it cannot be any more racist than Circus Afro. Elmo then gets inspired as he wants revenge on everyone who bullied him and gave him a really bad hairstyle. Oh come on Sparky; that hairstyle is a winner BABEE! I can fully understand wanting revenge on these bullies like Preena and Ham; but the hairstyle is perfectly fine. Although; I guess that killing adults inside a school reunion is an okay plot line to use over the forbidden kids kill kids in a school. I guess you sometimes have to double standard the standards if you want to get past BS&P.
So we return to Drake's living room (yes; really this time) as Drake closes the school yearbook as Drake proclaims that Elmo disappeared before graduation and he became a crime fighter right at the senior prom. Gosalyn mocks Drake's inability to beat Sparky (TWO POINTS!) and Drake gets all pissy about it. So Drake blows off Gosalyn because he saved the school from Sparky as we hit the third flashback of the episode as we head to the gym as the band is playing on stage and everyone is dressed formally here; including Drake who is pouring lemonade from the punch bowl which is a nice change of pace from the usual fruit juice punch most punch bowls use. He offers two mugs of stuff to a pig female and a duck furry and they tell him to drop dead and walk away. Geez; what a shock that is?! Drake is calling this a long night already as Sparky comes in with Wattage Afro and his trademark MegaVolt costume. He declares himself to be MegaWatt; and the band blows him off because that's the name of the band. HAHA! So Elmo decides to change the name and he is Megavolt for real. Ham blows him off as a geek and Preena claims that he's worse than Drake the Dweeb. Hey; it's 1992 and Dweeb was in that year. Well; in DTVA era at least. Sparky is pissed off because their stares are driving him crazy and then he catches himself and proclaims that he is going to destroy the school and everyone with it. Ummm; yeah. Sparky uses the zap finger and destroys the punch stand to ashes. I didn't realize Sparky hated lemonade. Everyone flees out of the school remembering to turn Drake into a folded piece of paper on the way out. HAHA! At least the dweeb lasted longer than Preena Ham. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! POW! OUCH! OUCH! Ummmmm... Speaking of Preena and Ham; Sparky uses the blue spark fingers to seal the door and block the exit as four of the slowest ones are trapped.
Sparky stalks them as Drake sees a large step ladder and the blue cloth used for the decoration. He proclaims that he must do something as Sparky continue to threaten them with frying as Drake tries to swing like Tarzan; but the cloth rips and he hits the table with lemonade punch and it is dunked right on Ham and Preena. Okay; that is funny; but WHAT? Didn't Sparky already kill the punch table? Bad logic break there guys. And sadly; this isn't the last logic break either. Ham grabs Drake and tosses him into the stage and backstage to boot. So Ham wants to show how a bully handles Sparky Dweebs and Sparky is ready for him as we shoot at Ham's feet and he dance, dance, dance to his doom. HEEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It doesn't quite have the same effect as Ducks of the West; but what can you do? It's Megavolt's gimmick after all. Besides talking to the light bulb. So Drake looks on and feels helpless to do anything. However; he turns around and notices the costume rack and the model pirate with a sword. Huh. Drake takes the purple mask and puts it on and then the cape calling it musty. He also takes smoke containers from the last production of McBeak and puts them in his suit. He then looks in the mirror and wants something that will cast fear in the eyes of his enemies. When Drake is trying to make up his superhero name he considers: The Purple Poultry, The Web-Footed Wonder, The Quackmeister, Captain Quackazoid. I like the purple poultry best because it's so fitting of his wimpy build. The rest all suck by the way. Drake panics because time is running out. We cut back to Sparky using his electric lasso and shooting spark lasers in the air with Ham all tied up. Geez Sparky; just kill him already. I need a big _ham_ to feast on for dinner on Thanksgiving. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! POW! OUCH! Ummmm... Sparky twirls Ham around and proclaims that who will save Saint Carnard High School now as he laughs to end the segment almost ten minutes in.
After the commercial break; we continue with the Megavolt lassoing Ham String on a sky shot. Ham String's selling is hideously hilarious. Sparky is having a great old gay time as Ham String is chemistry. Well; he should be the chemical equal to ash and soot; so yeah. Everyone is confused; so Sparky runs down all the subjects of school including history and laughs. Then Sparky is forced to stop shooting because a smoke bomb went off near the wooden ladder. UH OH! I'm guessing you know who just got born. Ham gets dropped off screen on his ass with a wussy bump and the cloud of smoke and he appears for the very first promo at 10:03...
Darkwing: I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the grade curve that gives you an "F".
Geez Drake; sounds like you're projecting yourself there. No surprise that the origin story of Darkwing Duck's birth (and Sparky's birth) would contain a full of himself promo. So he appears and we see Drake's picture through Sparky's lenses and he calls this impending doom. So Drake tries the same thing again and this time plants both feet into the ass of Sparky despite Sparky being in the front and gets thrown towards the door and lands on his ass. Drake does his full of himself stance and everyone is actually impressed. Sparky is pissed off and then confused. HAHA! So Sparky shrugs his shoulders and then starts shooting his fingers like a loaded gun. Drake dodges and bails behind the snack table. He grabs a cover and uses it to deflect the shots onto the disco ball. So it's Disco dancing tonight. Interesting. The disco ball snaps and squashes Sparky flatter than my sex life. He also has Tinyphobia; the feat of small places as the class cheers on Darkwing and Drake cuts the most self serving, self centered and fitting promo as we get the name of DARKWING...DUCK for real. Drake's eyes get confused as hell; but he likes it so he uses the smoke bomb and disappears. Which acts as some sort of teleport because the door opens about 200+ feet away and in comes Drake who has changed into his regular outfit for no reason whatsoever. Drake asks what happened and Ham claims that he missed Darkwing Duckman. Drake is confused as Preena and Ham calls him the opposite of Dweeb-A-Sarus Rex. Okay; that is a neat insult. Oh; and the beak gets flapped by Ham of course as Drake winks...
...and we return to reality (no, not really) as Drake holds the book and proclaims that this was the days. So yes folks; this is the official canonal flashback of Darkwing Duck's existence along with Megavolt's. Sadly; I don't think Quackerjack ever got an origin story in comic nor television form. If he did; please let me know. Anyhow; Drake proclaims that he must prepare for battle because Sparky will try to destroy the reunion and get revenge on the classmates. Drake proclaims history will repeat itself. See what I mean by: "If you remember the past; you are condemned to rehash it over and over again.". So we head to the high school gym as all the classmates from I'm guessing 1967 come in as everyone is adult and mature and dressed formally. Drake and Launchpad enter through the doors as Drake is wearing a purple suit and purple bowtie. Which the tie changes to blue on the closeup. LP is dressed with a brown suit and purple tie; but is still wearing the goggles on his head. Drake complains about five dollar valet parking; but at least he convinced Gosalyn to stay home. And of course Gosalyn runs in on the same camera angle they used to introduce Molly Cunningham in It Came From Beneath The SeaDuck. Drake grabs her and blows her off for breaking her word. Yeah; how many times has she kept her word Drake? I'll be waiting for the evidence. Gosalyn doesn't want to miss all the action and excitement. HA!
Drake is not happy about these turn of events since he has to keep an eye on Gosalyn (and cannot take her home now) and Sparky. Drake turns around and he has a meeting of the minds. And it wasn't at the punch bowl. Although it was close to the punch bowl. Anyhow; it's Ham String and he's sounding a little more mature; but is still smacking Drake around for my pleasure. HA! We exchange notes as he claims that he is the president of Colossal Cosmetics; which earns the ELBOW OF DEATH from Treena (who is looking more like Peg everyday) as Ham String has a new name: Peddleton. Ummm; yeah, I guess Ham String is a nickname of some sort. Preena is the president and he's the vice president. Preena proclaims that she can crush him like a bug because she has money and can screw the rules. Except it's so much funnier to flip Drake's beak which is exactly what Peddleton does. HAHA! They leave as Drake does the beak hold while Gosalyn does the Gruffi pose and basically taunting Drake for lying about being respected by even the bullies. So Drake blows it off and kneels down ready to pounce on Sparky.
Narrator: Six hours later...
Drake's eye are bloodshot and he checks his watch. Methinks Drake's watch goes too fast because proms don't last six hours in real life. Gosalyn walks away proclaiming that this would not be the first time Drake has been wrong. HAHA! So we see Gosalyn and Launchpad eating at the snack tables and right beside them is Sparky in his costume. Yeah; Drake was watching all this time and he didn't notice Sparky at the snack table at all. He is REALLY STUPID. So Launchpad casually tells him that the other end has Horse Do-Overs. What the hell is a Horse Do-Over? Oh; it's English slang for hors d'oeuvres. Got it. Sparky thanks LP and LP thanks Sparky. HAHA! And everyone is panicking because that was Sparky. We then see Sparky jump onto the stage and get on the microphone with the pierce sound to annoy everyone. He then tells them that he is going to destroy everyone and the school and they know the drill. So everyone panics and runs around the gym like they have their heads cut off. How amusing that in their teenage years; they knew how to get out of the gym; but are aimless as adults. Again; why should kids today take us old farts seriously about the new cartoons when the old cartoons are just as dishonest when dealing with adults?! Sparky has a sense of deja vu and then a cloud of smoke and he appears; the master of stupid surprises at 14:05...
Darkwing: I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the fast food that comes back to haunt you.
I will give Hanho props for animating the lump in Sparky's throat. It's a real nice touch to Sparky having to deal with Drake. So the two goofballs circle each other while everyone finally realizes that panicking is getting them nowhere and they all bail. Peddleton tries to bail stage left; but Preena blocks him and points him back into the gym. Why? So they can see Darkwing Duck again and flip Drake's beak silly. Drake and Sparky circle some more and then Drake breaks the ice with the GRIP LEAD KUNG FU ACTION KICK OF DEATH; which is countered by the STATIC LEG WARMER OF DEATH. HAHA! About damn time someone found the counter to that lame move. LP and Gosalyn do the required run in which LP orders Sparky to drop Drake Mallard invoking the POINTY FINGER OF DEATH (you can put an eye out with that thing you know; even the dreaded middle finger!) so Sparky sells it. And then he zaps the floor and LP and Gosalyn get WARNERED~! Sparky looks down as both babyfaces take off-screen bumps into the band instruments. Sparky gets up and Drake flies forward invoking the gas gun to make Sparky suck gas; but it is stopped at the pass with the spark beam. The canister blows up and we have the FCC FRIENDLY GASCLOUD OF DEATH as this indicates the babyface comeback and wins. And damn I'm so good as Drake grabs onto Sparky. The one time I wanted them to focus on the heel coming back and winning and it fails on the first try. Good going writers! Sparky talks about that feeling again and Drake yells at him to shut up. Peddleton and Preena look on (with Peddleton doing some shadow punching for fun) as Drake is distracted. So Sparky pulls Drake's hat down over his eyes and we fight again with the blows off-screen. So the lame fight continues and Sparky pulls off Drake's mask and everyone gasps. Ummmm; of course they would. Drake panics and sputters like an idiot as everyone laughs at him including Sparky. Ummm; yeah. Drake sulks and that ends the segment almost sixteen minutes in. Well; the disguise has been pulled and Drake has no heat left to melt butter. Although in a way; it certainly gives all of Megavolt's heat back. I just wish Bushroot got the same treatment.
After the commercial break; we continue with more laughing. Okay; Drake is a dweeb who dresses like Darkwing Duck. WE GET IT ALREADY! Let's move on as Drake blows them off and does the exact same spot he did in the flashback; but Sparky is like "same old s*** Darkwing." and Drake splatters into the wall and flattens himself like a grape. Even Alexander the Grape suffered less than this guy. More laughing as Drake slumps down beside the stage and sulks in defeat as Sparky ponders frying him; but he admits that it's not worth it anymore. Besides; we see Preena and Peddleton trying to escape and Sparky teleports from the stage to in front of them and zaps them back into the gym. See; bullies are dumb. Being one has that effect on people. He does the electric lasso and drags them outside as Preena threatens to sic her lawyers on him. Good luck on that one Preena. Gosalyn helps Launchpad out of the floor as LP has a tuba on his head. Heh. Gosalyn goes over to Drake who goes into the most absurd and funniest BSOD I have ever seen. HAHA! He is even sucking his thumb in response. See; I told you Drake's full of himself, really stupid personality would lead to this moment. My hats off to you Sparky; you finally got Drake to almost shut up. Almost. Because he still talks. Gosalyn drags Drake outside because fighting an evil-doer will get his confidence back. So we fly in the Thunder Quack and I'm shocked that we aren't going to spend the next five minutes in the gym. So we head inside the TQ as Launchpad asks for leads and Drake blows it off because he's a slug.
So Launchpad deduces that he bets that Sparky is at the abandoned glue factory. Gosalyn asks how would he know and we get a sky shot of the factory as it's surrounded by blue electrical lines. Ummm; yeah. So the TQ lands in front of the glue factory. Gosalyn hops out and does some shadow punching because she wants Drake to beat Sparky's ass; but Drake is still droning about being a failure. So Gosalyn and Launchpad decide to let Drake sit this one out as they run to the factory door and notice a shadow of Sparky's shadow being insane. And then pan over to Peddleton and Preena tied up inside a big ass light bulb. Now THERE is a serious death trap that was just dying to be used. Sparky checks the ingredients for this brew which is in his own words: "Partical acceleration plus phase inversion equals toast!". I cannot argue with that overwhelming logic there. He goes on about being tormented all these years and then he gets confused on who he is. He goes through the job descriptions as Gosalyn and Launchpad walk up the stair (after coming out of nowhere from said staircase) and try to unscrew the light bulb which is never a good idea and I betcha they get caught and tied up against the filament of the light bulb. Why? Because Drake has to save the day; get his heat back and bury the heel silly. That's how the usual children's cartoon episode works. And amazing enough; they almost get away with it; except Launchpad whisper yells at Sparky and everyone gets zapped. HAHA! Damn; I'm so good.
So we scene change as Sparky is at the control panel and we discover that this is actually Doctor Slug's hideout and he's borrowing it to Sparky for the weekend. Why not just replace Liquidator with Doctor Slug in the Fearsome Five; since you seem to care about him more than Bud Flood?! So we see Sparky top the roof of the factory and jump onto the platform containing the death trap of the week. He turns on the light bulb of course and it lights up. He proclaims that once it reaches full brightness; they are four smears of soot. Gosalyn looks down and notices that this factory has vats of rubber cement. Gosalyn thinks this is the perfect plan to beat Sparky; but Preena blows it off because they are going to fry. Not exactly Preena. You are going to fry. Gosalyn and Launchpad will roast and Peddleton will become a literal ham. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Okay; so we go back to the Thunder Quack as Drake dumps out all of his gadgets into a junk pile. He proclaims that he needs to call up Sponge Boy (Huh? Spongebob Squarepants has a secret ID not related to Mermaid Man and Barnicle Boy?) and donate his gadgets to needy superheroes. Like anyone is going to buy gadget from a Z-Grade Zorro imposter. Sure Drake; keep thinking that. Anyhow; he notices the light and notices the babyfaces in danger. Drake proclaims that he has to do something; but he's a loser and then smacks himself for doing the self doubt gimmick. So we head back to the platform as Sparky proclaims that he'll get a charge out of this. And here comes Darkwing Duck who somehow managed to climb up onto the platform directly. Apparently; the only charge he is getting is kidnapping. So Sparky will get off on the attempted murder charges? If that was a BS&P decision; then screw you BS&P!
So Sparky asks how he came back and Drake sidesteps the question. Sparky hugs him and Drake shoves him. Sparky is happy to see him back; it's much easier to fry him anyway. So we dodge sparks as Drake fires the grappling hook gun onto the smokestack and then swings like Tarzan and double feet to the midsection and Sparky gets dropped and spun around. Drake tries to go for the lever (WRONG LEVER!); but Sparky zaps him good. HAHA! Sparky cheers and proclaims that he'll get rid of those meddling kids and their pet dog too. HAHA! Well; there is one legit kid (Gosalyn), one dognose (Preena) and three man kids (Peddleton, Launchpad and Drake) so it's completely fitting even if it's the wrong cartoon. Even Sparky sees that as he is confused because he walks over to the edge and wonders if he dropped Drake near the vat of rubber cement and of course; he gets sprayed with rubber cement that looks like refined sewage. We then see on the sky shot that Drake had the hose on and cuts another full of himself promo. I see he found his mask again. He even remembers to call him Sparky just to piss Sparky off. Drake invokes the grappling gun and he loses his mask again. Nice logic break there Hanho. NOT! He climbs up as Sparky struggles to get up and Drake pulls the lever (WRONG LEVER!) and turns off the light bulb. Then he unscrews it and unties the babyfaces. Preena wants to apologize for bullying him all these years. Yeah sure you do Preena; and she tells Peddleton to do the apologizing and walks out. HA! POW! OUCH! Ummmmm... I guess that was for the literal ham joke...yeah...Peddleton is untied and he apologizes for being such a chowder head. You mean pigheaded which makes a lot more sense here than it did in The Bigger They Are, The Louder They Oink. POW! OUCH! Ummmm...Okay; now it's for the literal ham joke. I need a drink, a doctor and a sidebar now.
Preena and Peddleton proclaim that his secret is safe with them; so Drake brings out the HYPNO COIN OF DEATH and brainwashes them into making sure that Drake is not Darkwing Duck; but just a cool guy who should never be picked. Well; he does have a point there; since Drake the Dad is a lot less stupider than Drake the Superhero. BLAM! HEE HEE! Missed again Drake! YOU ARE NOT...POW! OUCH! Ummmm... Drake is grateful to figure out how the brainwashing coin works and Gosalyn proclaims that he's a hero without the mask too. Drake agrees and then puts the mask on anyway with was in his suit. I wonder if that was added in the second run just to kill off the logic break of him wearing it when he had the hose. If so; no one was fooled and the animators should get over themselves. So Sparky proclaims that he knows Drake's secret and thinks he's Elmo Sputterspunk. HAHA! He swears in DUBBED ANIME STYLE (darn it!) after getting Ham String mixed up. Sigh. We cut to the smug look on the GANG OF GAG and that ends the episode at 21:09. Now this is a good legit origin story; but the whole bullying thing is way too silly nowadays due to BS&P although they had to do it since Sparky uses electric beams anyway. And apparently; the losing beak scene never occurred so it probably was redone in the second run. Some minor logic breaks here and there dampened the episode; but Sparky made his final appearance count unlike some villains I know. **** (80%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; we finally got to Sparky's origin story and I loved it. I'm also glad that they showed Darkwing Duck's origin story because it was the only one that made the most sense and sounded less full of itself. Most of the bullying was comedy; which sadly becomes a lot less funny when you consider the bullying issue today; and Sparky's revenge plot hits somewhat too close to home at this point. My thinking on this was that "it's only a reunion; not a real school function, even if it was in a school gym"; but then there's the flashback of the school prom which was basically the same scene. So the whole thing became way too silly. Sparky was awesome as usual and he pretty much retained his heat even in defeat; although I do find it a little annoying that he is starting to forget stuff because this comes out of nowhere. I also found Drake's BSOD scene to be stupid as well because he was winning anyway and his coming out of it was clearly contrived; although it was contrived for him to get into it after about a half dozen versions of the same thing in other episodes. A few logic breaks and a few minor mistakes prevented a full monty as well; but overall, this was an entertaining episode. Although I doubt that they will try something like this again; until Kim Possible at least. I do give them credit for building up the episode properly because it made things a lot more easier to swallow. So Drake and Elmo got their due. Too bad I'm still waiting for the Quackerjack origin episode which will never come. Maybe Kaboom did an origin story on QJ; who knows. So next up will be Paint Misbehavin to wrap up the Labor Day special. Just think; after Splatter Phoenix's return, there are only three episodes left. So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time!