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Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series - Dungeons & Ducks

Reviewed: 07/20/2014

Plus A Load Of Old Boots!


As we continue on this winding road of Mighty Ducks; sometimes I am reminded that David Wise was once a good writer. This episode looks great on paper as the Ducks are sucked into an alternate Anaheim to battle Satan with an elf prince. I love the concept! However; is the execution up to snuff? Let's rant on shall we...?!

This episode was written and story edited by David Wise. The animation is done by Wang Films.


We begin this one with the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM of the Mighty Ducks playing hockey and checking hockey players while narration talks about the sleezy underbelly of professional sports. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comment. So we cut to a desk with a red haired fat guy wearing a brown suit as he is called Carl Snit; and this is the Snitfit which is not nearly as cool as Coaches Corner and Don Cherry. Yes; Don Cherry is an idiotic, bigoted, angry little man, but he's still cooler than this guy. Basically; the guise of his commentary is that the Mighty Ducks have offended hockey purists. HOW?! By being anthro ducks?! Bigots! Then we get shots of the crowd booing the ducks because they failed to show up at a recent hockey as the spotlight was on the ice; but no ducks; which Carl Snit calls them cowards. That's it?! So Carl Snit challenges the babyfaces to show up against the Minnesota Cheeselogs; and if they do show up, he'll eat an old boot. For goodness sakes Carl; you know this will not end well for you as the television is turned off and it's Nosedive blowing off Carl as he is banned from their fan club because the ducks were saving the world while this is going on. They are in front of Drake One as Grin proclaims that they blew it in the immortal words of Tai Quack Do; which prompts Wildwing to agree with him saying that losing by forfeit is embarrassing and they'll never do something like this again. Here's the obvious problem with this: You were trying to save the world. If Dragonous is trying to enslave your world and does something horrible; you might as well forfeit all the hockey games anyway because this world will be FUBAR if you don't do something about it and attend an otherwise meaningless hockey game. In TaleSpin; we all thought the SeaDuck having no weapons on board was unrealistic (never mind that the show has bears as main babyfaces piloting airplanes), but the babyfaces weren't trying to save the world. At least not on purpose; because they had a job to do in delivering stuff to customers. So at least there was a purpose to their lives and I care about it.

If the ducks stop playing hockey; would we care? No; because they are trying to save the world from Dragonous. Hell; they could move to Canada and play hockey for fun in a community rink in Anytown, Canada and it would actually be better as a plot. Again; this is exactly what happens when you let execs who have no experience in making the actual product (and spend all that time scheming up ways to make money) try to act like they know what they are talking about. So let's move on as a red dot and alert sounds are shown and heard on the monitor of Drake One; which prompts the babyfaces to accuse Dragonous again. According to Tanya; it is the Raptorous which they deduce that the cloaking device has malfunctioned. Once again; Nosedive is the sensible guy thinking, this is all a trap; which Wildwing proclaims that he wants to spring the trap anyway. This after saying that hockey games were more important than saving the world; and thus they need to put them above anything else, just to prove to Carl that they are not cowards. I thought hockey was considered a cowardly sport already by Carl Snit? I mean he talked about ice hockey being the sleazy underbelly of sports! So we get the Migrator CGI sequence of death to kill time as Wildwing is driving with his golden mask on saying that once they capture Dragonous; the mission is complete. And what will you do with Dragonous once he's captured? You sound like a C-grade villain saying that as we scene change to a shot of the streets as the Migrator stops at a set of lights. The babyfaces come out and Wildwing uses the mask to unveil the Raptorous which was a weird building; which is dumb because the cloaking device is malfunctioning in storyline, so it should be shown anyway. Duke thinks this is too easy and then Siege and Chameleon come out of the Raptorous shooting yellow lasers from their guns. Tanya takes note of the difficulty spike as Chameleon's "Eyes Of The Duck" promo did make me giggle as he manages to blast Tanya into the air for no reason as she destroys a mailbox on the way down. It's also AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark); as the firefight continues on with the heels winning so far.

So Nosedive cuts his usual dumb promo while the ducks are firing puck guns for fun; while Duke assists Tanya who has a headache. BS&P alert: You can still say drugs on the show as long as it's a drug store. So we see Dragonous in the Raptorous cheering with glee while watching this fire fight and then he throws the switch and the top of the Raptorous fires a purple laser gun towards the ground. They creates a dimensional warp gate as it's basically a black hole on Earth. Siege and Chameleon teleport out as Chameleon does make me laugh by cutting a Wicked Witch Of The West promo. All the babyfaces hang on to various international objects that aren't exactly the best things to hold on in hurricane force winds. So "all" the babyfaces get sucked into the gate and the gate closes, HUZZAH! Dragonous declares victory since they are in another world; which Chameleon sezs and this is an exact quote: From now on; this show will be called The Mighty Saurians. Which prompts Dragonous to elbow Chameleon and he goes flying off-screen stage left. HAHA! Dragonous then proclaims that they need to reclaim the Raptorous and return to this world to conquer it. Wait; what? So what the heck was the ship they were using? So the TAFKA Raptorous teleports out as we cut to Grin behind a building (what a smart cookie this guy was?) shocked and appalled at what just happened. We then scene change to a spooky sunset like city which looks like a city that Count Duckula would have had if he wasn't so hellbent in being a vegan for the rest of his life; and the ducks get dumped on their ass in the middle of the street. So they take a look; and other than one store, Grin, The Raptorous and the Migrator, it looks like an exact copy of Anaheim. Everyone is confused as Nosedive points to the "drug store" which now has a sign that sezs "spells & potions". Lovely! So they enter the "Spells & Potions" store as it looks like an old magic shop in a RPG. Nosedive completely screws up the promo because he claims that we are not in Kansas anymore. It's ANAHEIM you idiot! Or even California would work. Can we hire actual writers with a clue; or is that too expensive?

So we see an gnome at the counter reading a newspaper which Wildwing tries to get it's attention. The gnome is not amused that Wildwing doesn't have a clue what a gnome is; as Tanya asks where they are. The gnome proclaims that they are in "Anaheim"; but it's under the heel of some evil wizard named Asteroth, and he offers bottles and vials of pickled bat wings and pickled eyes of newt. Wait; no jaws of hogs? This is a crappy magic store! Tanya states that they are just browsing and then we get an awesome segueway segment as we have a commercial for "Dragon Flakes" with the old hag stirring a cauldron while a green elf like child is jumping around and sits on the table while the cereal box is magically floating around and pouring into the bowl on the table. It also contains maggots, and eyes which are good in niacin. We then zoom out to see the babyfaces are at the "television store"; but instead of a television store, there is a crystal ball. Yeap; I wondered where I stole the AU angle for Unforeseen Impact? Nosedive's mind is blown which is apporos because he seems to be the only one with an actual functioning brain; since he was the one who warned the ducks that this was a trap earlier! Mallory demands answers to this outrage and Duke deduces that this is a AU version of Anaheim ruled by swords and magic as he does some sword fencing for fun. Then we hear Rob Paulsen's voice and laser blast as we notice an elf like creature with red hair wearing a blue bodysuit with red trim and red boots using a red flower designed cheese round shield to defend himself. He also has a sword; and he reminds me of a science fiction version of Link from Legend of Zelda. The monster he is fighting has white wings and looks like Pazuzu if he was an American Bald Eagle. This is pretty cool as the Eagle Harpy of doom flies away defeated and that is that, in spite of the fact that the babyfaces offered to help him. So the ducks run in and the elf creature thinks that they are ducks sent by Asteroth to try to capture him; so he attacks; but loses his sword thanks to Duke's sword skills. Duke does this Ralph-style promo which sounded fine as Duke basically states that they do not work for Asteroth.

They are friends to the cause you see as this elf guy ponders things over and decides to shake Duke's hand as he addresses himself as Borg who is the regent of the region of Anaheim you see. Okay; I can accept that as he tells the ducks to come with him because being in the open is dangerous. Just like real life actually. So we scene change to a sky shot of an alley as Borg and the ducks exchange notes on the situation. So the guise of this is that Asteroth has this amulet which makes him control Anaheim with an iron fist as Borg is supposed to be the benevolent ruler of this region. Asteroth is the Lord Of The Red Dragon; and then Borg offers to help the ducks back to their world if they defeat Asteroth; which Borg shakes Wildwing's tiny metal finger to seal the deal. This mission is simple, to the point and clear. What more could you ask for? Nosedive of course cut a dumb promo again; but that's the only dumb thing about this scene. Sadly; we head back to a shot of the dimensional portal sucking stuff up for no reason and then jump cut to a sky shot of the dressing room where Grin is sitting on the bench moping. In comes Phil Palmfeather panicking like a maniac because 5/6th of his team are missing; as Grin mopes and then admits that the ducks are in another dimension. Phil first breathes a sigh of relief; and then catches himself; doing the best face impression I have ever seen from him. HA! Grin points out that they are keeping their promise about not missing a game; which is why he is in the dressing room since there is a game to play tonight. Phil grabs him by the arm and drags him out of the dressing room; saying and this is a direct quote: A verbal contract is not worth the paper it's printed on! I need a drop of this. So we head to Drake One as Phil is demanding Grin to start using the computer to find the babyfaces. I love it when Phil is being pro-active in his scummy lawyer sort of way. Grin has no idea of course so Phil pushes a few buttons and we see a game of Space Zombies. HAHA! Complete with Super Mario Brothers sound effects! So yes folks; sound effects were NOT copyrighted at the time. HAHA! Phil proclaims that this might take a while; which is true actually.

So we jump cut back to the dimensional gate sucking debris in and then I discover that it's really a prolonged scene changer. Was this episode really short on time or something? So we head to a shot of the AU state house in AU Anaheim as Borg calls it the royal place; while Mallory points out that it's city hall in their world. Borg proclaims that he knows all the secret passages inside the palace; but there is one small problem. We then discover that this city hall has various gargoyle like statues and they come to life via magic, thus they are the heel versions of the Gargoyles. So they start to swoop down at our heroes as Nosedive proclaims that this gives new meaning to the phrase: You can't fight city hall; which is absolutely dumb because they are actually starting to fight it right now! I think the phrase really should be: You cannot win against city hall; which makes a lot more sense. This ends the segment almost 10 minutes in and this was probably one of the longest act one segment in Mighty Ducks actually. Now this episode is actually really, really good because the focus is off on the hockey and more towards the storyline of the plot which is what this show should be about. And David Wise is writing this too...

After the commercial break; we get a sky shot of the gargoyle statues who have come to life using their shadows to circle the babyfaces which is a neat way to build some suspense as to what they are even at the expense of proving how cheap your animators are. Yes; even in this show they use the word homocoulous (as per Valkyrie Profile) as Borg claims that they are his royal guards turned evil. So in this worlds anthros are heels; which isn't much different than in the real world actually. We get another firefight as the homocoulous' are in fact anthros with wings; as they get squashed and tied up with pucks and bolas in that order. Borg is so pleased by this as Nosedive cuts a really good promo this time as all flights are grounded until further notice. See; context is what makes them funny. I just wish Wise was "wise" enough to get that in every episode instead of just this one. So Borg goes to the wall and opens the secret door via a statue of a bear head. They go inside as they are in a spooky hallway; and we get the portal scene changer of doom to pad the running time some more. We return outside of some factory as a bunch of workers run out of the area being chased by Siege and Chameleon as Siege tells us that they have the broadcast tower as we pan over to some sattelite object glowing neon green. Dragonous tells them that they are going to deploy the shockwave which is the giant white sattelite sphere we saw flashing neon green. So this thing must be put on the top of the broadcast tower as Chameleon turns into an old man trying to weasel his way out of work; which Siege blows off. HAHA! Chameleon then turns into Hercules who speaks like the Terminator who calls Siege a girly lizard. Siege does not kick Chameleon's ass and just picks up the Shockwave proclaiming that this is going to be a long night. So we see the portal scene changer again to waste another five seconds or so of time and then into the hallways of the royal palace as Borg tells the babyfaces that they must face many perils before they face Asteroth; which Nosedive claims that he's just saying that to cheer him up. Yeah; apparently certain doom cheers up Nosedive. What an idiot?!

So we discover that we are watching this scene in a cauldron of liquid as we finally see Asteroth for the first time as he looks like Satan with white facial hair and red shoulder pads without spikes on them. He is voiced by the same guy who voiced Petro Xanatos in Gargoyles by the way; and I see the amulet around his neck which is basically a neon green eye jewel surrounded with a gold plated border. He proclaims that Borg has no idea that Asteroth is more powerful than him; and he will kill them more or less as we see a brick container containing the bones of the people who tried to kill Asteroth and failed. So he touches the amulet (the green jewel part) and neon green lights engulf the bones as he order them to revive and kill the babyfaces more or less. Then they kill the continuity that they were shooting for here because we don't even bother with the portal scene changer; and simply head back to Drake One as Phil completely screws up the machine as it is crashing like crazy. HAHA! Phil proclaims and this is a direct quote: Drake One spun off the information superhighway. How can anyone hate Phil Palmfeather? Sure; he's sleazy, but he is funny. I also don't get why people think James Belushi is a bad idea to have in an episode: What about Billy Barty, who has been wasted in every episode he has voiced in DTVA with crappy episodes?! At least Fang turning on the Mutates was a great episode; The Cage was awful because it had loads of logic breaks and bad booking. And we pan over and Grin is doing absolutely nothing but meditating. AWESOME! Grin claims that material objects are nothing but trouble. SO STOP WEARING THAT OUTFIT GRIN! You hypocrite! Phil is still angry and pounding on the console as the conveniently placed big red button shows up blinking and beeping. Then the screen goes black and in red letters it reads "Press Red Button". This has to be a virus. No one in their right mind would ever tell anyone to push a red button and have it not do something horrible. I betcha Phil pushes the button anyway and nothing good will happen because of this.

Also; the word red is blinking as Phil does in fact push the red button and it shows radar of a red dot as seen at the beginning of the episode. So I was wrong; the red button worked for once. Phil sees this as a clue; so he goes over and orders Grin to come along with him. Grin asks why like a contempable teenager in which Phil responds by yelling that his team is in another dimension and this is a clue see. Grin decides to go and still tells him about not missing the next game of hockey. Phil tells him that he's too trustworthy of Wildwing. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Speak for yourself Phil. So we have finally decided to not use the portal scene changer again indicating that it was just there to pad the running time. Too bad; it was a good scene changer. Why does David Wise have to sabotaged even GOOD ideas?! So Borg and the ducks enter through what Tanya calls the counsil chamber; which is called the Counsil Of The Wise, which is a lie because they were not wise enough to stop Asteroth from ruling this region. So in comes the skeleton warriors of doom wearing a lot of red trim with swords, spears and shields with skull heads on the front. There are three of them against SIX babyfaces as Duke brings out the banana yellow sword; and it's time for ducks to rock. Duke proclaims that Asteroth has some skeletons in his closet; which would have been funny if Asteroth actually did the spell with the bones littered inside a closet. So Nosedive shoots pucks and two of the three soliders get destroyed in one shot within three seconds. The third one gets into a sword fight with Duke. Now; here's a great example of BS&P hypocrisy: Duke beheads the skeleton solider by cutting off it's head. On-screen. Then he grabs the head and cuts a promo. On-screen. Yeah; his promo is lame. So three soliders are destroyed; and then a fourth solider comes out of nowhere to fight Tanya who also cuts a promo; prompting the first logic break of the series almost 14 minutes in. So Tanya uses the Omni buzzsaw of doom to cut the hand off of the skeleton. On-screen. Then she tackles him into the wall and the skeleton crumbles into bones. On-screen.

Then a fifth solider shows up as Nosedive acts like a scoiopath and blows away a skeleton in the chest with a puck gun. On-screen. Duke stabs one in the spine which the sixth soldier (so; there were six heels against six babyface; but three had to teleport out of nowhere. Lazy animation from Wang Films); which the solider laughs, prompting Duke to say that he hit it's funnybone. That was cute and then destroys it. All of this...you guessed it. So all the soliders are crushed; until a big ass seventh skeleton solider arrives who looks to be ten feet tall. Problem is; he has the same structure because somehow, bigger is better. So Duke asks for a spare puck and Duke gives it to him. Duke simply throws the puck into the solider's chest; it explodes and it rains bones. On-screen. Duke asks if there are no more bone puns; which the babyfaces no sell. So Duke tells them to get moving and they bail out of the chamber into the next room which we see a sky shot of. Borg proclaims that there is only one thing stopping them from getting to Asteroth: The Maze Of Infinite Peril. Ducktales; The Golden Fleecing, just saying David Wise. Not that I should complain; since the plot device can be used again due to the Seven Year Jim Cornette Gimmick Rule. Nosedive is sarcastic about this as Tanya compares this maze to the lineup at the Department Of Motor Vehicles. Now THERE'S a storyline for this show: The ducks renewing their licenses to drive the Migrator at the DMV. That would be a riot to see; but Wise only cares about hockey, so it doesn't happen. So they walk in the maze and we head back to the tranmission tower BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as Siege and Chameleon are already at the top of the tower installing the Shockwave in place. Siege then asks Chamelon about some power cable and Chameleon asks what the hell is he talking about. Siege blows off Chameleon for not bringing it up with them; and then they stoop to toddler-level insults (DID NOT! DID TOO! Rinse, lather, repeat.). Don't forget to spit on the other heel guys! It seems Vince Russo isn't the only one who write heels who hate each other.

Siege finally tells him to shut up and is flustered as now they have to get the cable; which is so not going to make the heels fail hard, no siree! Chameleon gets off another insult on the way out as we cut to the streets with the Migrator which I guess Grin took back to base so no logic break. So the Migrator drives in some recycled footage (of course) and then uses it's side to crash into a lamp pole. Somehow the side doors open despite being the same side they crashed into; and out comes Grin and Phil as Phil acts all tough and macho despite looking like a scummy lawyer. I cannot take anything you say seriously. That tough guy routine sucks! So Siege and Chameleon jump down in front of Phil and I betcha Phil displays lobster courage and bails like a scalded dog. I check the video...Not quite; but close as Chameleon and Siege bring out the laser guns; which shoots those spikes you often see when handling boiled ears of corn. The spikes attach to their bellies and create light blue electrical ropes to tie them up. Siege then grabs both babyfaces (which is a great feat of strength considering that both babyfaces combined; weigh 712 pounds) as Phil gets off another great promo proclaiming that they are in a binding contract. So we head back into the maze of hallway where the ducks get more lost by the second as Borg apologizes because his magic is not powerful enough.

So Wildwing uses his mask and it maps out the perfect route to the yellow doorway. Okay; that is fine...until you realize that they use their puck guns and just shoot through the walls of the maze until they reach the door and simply blow up the door. Why didn't they do this at the beginning of the maze scene? It's not like these ducks don't destroy people's properties with inpunity anyway. So we head inside Asteroth's chambers as Asteroth turns around to greet the ducks; prompting Mallory and Nosedive to mock him because he's old. Yeah; old puns, that'll make you a funny babyface Mallory. NOT! Asteroth is offended as he touches his amulet and turns into a red dragon with neon green border aura. He grows to basically the size of the room as Nosedive proclaims that he has been eating his dragon flakes. This was a really funny promo actually. Tanya is panicking as she does this moping promo which she sezs that we would have to change the team to Toast as Asteroth breathes fire at the hard camera to end the segment 16 and a half minutes in. Don't you mean: The Roasted Ducks?! Because that would pay off the "roasted duck" promo Wraith cut in Phil In The Blank. The most obvious payoff and David Wise didn't go for it; but somehow Nosedive payed off the commercial for Dragon Flakes? Don't get me wrong; I loved that promo, but roasted duck was a better payoff than Dragon Flakes! Something tells me David was forced into this show until some binding stip in his contract because he cannot be this out of it. Otherwise; this has been a really good episode so far.

After the commercial break; we see Asteroth breathing fire and Wildwing brings out the out of nowhere Ice Shield to block it. Then Asteroth flies around the room and he now looks like about 50% larger than the ducks. Lame logic break there guys! Asteroth proclaims that they will perish in the red fire of the dragon which is a nice way of saying: You will burn in hell! I like "lake of fire" better as a metaphor for hell as we have the firefight with the pucks and Asteroth completely no sells everything. Then we get a classic Mighty Ducks moment: Asteroth breathes the fire and it hits the babyfaces flush on; and it was suppose to miss them because none of them sold the shot at all. So the babyfaces decide to bodycheck the dragon and manage to push him into the crappy animated wall; which is the signal for the wall to crumble and be destroyed. So they go through the wall and out into the street as everyone drops on their asses in the process. Asteroth proclaims that they will pay for this and Tanya asks and this is a direct quote: Do you take personal checks?! I died. That was actually great; and it came from Tanya of all people. So Asteroth teases destroying a clock tower and then doesn't do it! Bastard! So Borg points out that the amulet is the key to his power as the babyfaces bail as Asteroth breathes fire at them. Nosedive wants to roast marshmellows to kill time as Duke is inspired and asks what does a dragon fear the most. Answers: the fire marshall from Tanya (HAHA!), Smokey The Bear from Mallory (Not funny!) and his ex-wife and a lawyer from Nosedive (in between). Duke proclaims that dragons fear water; so for the third time in this series, water is considered a solution to their problem. At least it doesn't involve electrical monsters this time as Duke wants to use fire hydrants to spray water on Asteroth to distract him and get the amulet. And somehow during all this; Asteroth doesn't even show up, as if he's an idiot. This is turning into Manos where the babyfaces have to stop running in order to deliver their lines. DUMB!

So we head back to the transmission tower as Chameleon is connecting the wires to the tanks and he's impersonating a gas station attendant while cutting more promos about car engines and maintance of such. That was cute as he wipes his hands clean of this mission and tells Seige to not forget to floss with a wrench. HAHA! Siege blows him off causing the wrench to fly away from his hands. So we see Grin and Phil tied up inside an apartment building. Why you may ask? Well; Siege starts up the Shockwave and we have an earthquake as this will give them a front row seat to being crushed by falling debris. Now THAT's a quality death trap from Dragonous. Phil is not liking this at all; and so we return to the fight between Asteroth and the babyfaces as Asteroth is in the street stalking the babyfaces and walking like a penguin threatening violence on the faces. So the faces fire their pucks and destroy fire hydrants and large pipes as water is sprayed onto Asteroth which he gets wet and hates it. He bails and Duke is on top of a building and jumps onto Asteroth's back. Asteroth protests this as we fly for a while. Duke cuts the amulet from his neck which Asteroth calls a pendant. Yeah. It drops down and Borg grabs it as Duke jumps off and lands on the ground perfectly. Asteroth lands and turns back into his Satantic self as Borg points the sword at him that the guy has no power anymore. Asteroth does the standard "I'll get you next time" as I discover that his shoulder pads are in fact wings; and he simply flies away out of sight. Yeah, the tryannt is defeated by water. Whatever; Tanya wants to go home, so Borg gives them the amulet and tells them to all touch amulet and say....Nosedive cuts him off and says "There's no place like home". Borg wonders how he knew this and Nosedive claims that he owns the video...of a movie that Warner Brothers owns now. So we get the tornado portal sequence of death for a while as Wildwing proclaims that Anaheim is going to be boring in comparison.

As they make it to the other side in a really good animated sequence; the portal goes away and then they have to bail because the clock tower almost crushes them flat since the Shockwave causes earthquakes, DUH! So the city is shaking and we pan over to the far shot of the transmission tower where the waves are located and then cut to Siege and Chameleon sensing total victory for Dragonous; and then here come the exploding pucks as we see the babyfaces firing pucks at Chameleon and Siege; causing both of them to teleport out of this reality check. So the babyface notice the transmission tower and the apartment building as Phil calls himself a loving manager unironically. HAHA! Wildwing orders Tanya and Mallory to get up to the top and shut the thing down while the boys go into the building and grab Grin and Phil; and then bail out of the apartment building which crumbles to dust. Tanya goes to the wire and proclaims that just pulling the plug is dangerous and must choose carefully; prompting Mallory to simply fire her puck gun and the pucks hits the Shockwave causing it to explode and the device to stop without causing much damage. Damn; even this show is acting like Quack Pack, but at least it made more sense than Feats Of Clay. So Nosedive comes over and pushes the button to release the electric ropes in Grin which then he asks about message. How about: Grin sezs a line from act one which didn't exist! Yeah. Phil blows them off because they have a game in five minutes. So we head to the arena as the crowd is booing because the spotlight shows the ducks are not here yet. We then cut to the bench area as Carl Snit is calling them a bunch of yellow-bellied cowards as we see the team called the Minnesota Cheeselogs which the uniforms look like a bunch of bees. Can't Disney hire a story editor with a clue? If you call them the Minnesota Cheeselogs; then their uniforms should be a cheese color with a log in the front. Might as well call them the Honeybees. So the ducks skate on the ice as Nosedive tosses an old boot to Carl and mocks him. Carl chews on the boot which I admit is a funny ending to the proceeding; so good job in the payoff there David. So we go to the faceoff as the ducks goes on the attack ten seconds in and Duke proclaims that there will be no forfeitures tonight as he shoots and it rings off the post and goes in for the easy goal. Roy Firestore is calling the action as the ducks go to center ice and touch sticks saying that they rock as we fade to white to end the episode at 21:07. This was a really great episode that got bogged down by too much David Wise BS. Great idea; not so good execution. *** 1/2 (70%).


THE REVIEW LINE

Okay; we have the second best episode in the series thus far, but this one could have been so much better if David Wise hasn't screwed up a good chunk of this episode. They had a great idea of an alternative version of Anaheim with magic and swords in a modern looking world; and Asteroth is a cool villain for the most part. Until he becomes weak to water which killed his heat a little bit. I will give David Wise this: This episode was booked a lot better than most of the Mighty Ducks episodes he wrote as the right guys won; most of the Vince Russo-isms were kept in check. Phil was great as usual and even some of the jokes were actually funny and made sense. I also loved the on-screen violence of the skeleton soldiers too. However; the demise of Asteroth and the whole Shockwave thing was just there and it wasn't bad, but it wasn't memorable as some of the promos Tanya, Phil and Nosedive cut, so the whole episode comes off as a weak TaleSpin episode. Borg was kind of useless as well; but I did like his voice and energy, so at least he had some courage unlike Dave The Barbarian. Overall; this was a good episode that should be ****; but David dropped the ball too much getting to the end. Too bad; the gimmick of RPG Anaheim was really cool, and it needs to be fleshed out. Hopefully; Asteroth's return against the ducks in "real" Anaheim will be better written. Wait; what am I saying? As you probably noticed; I will be waiting until next weekend to continue on with the rants, and from now on; I'm going to do three episodes of Dave The Barbarian next weekend because the experiment is a failure to me since Mighty Ducks has won out both times and makes me look like an old fart. Tuesday; I'm going in for presents, so I'm taking that day off as well. So....

Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.

 

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