Reb00t 1t - Ducktales Season 1

My history with the original Ducktales series is pretty limited but I watched the Treasure of the Lost Lamp and know the basic premise and some of the history. I was more a looney tunes than a Mickey Mouse guy growing up but in older age, I have grown to appreciate the wit of the Disney staple of characters as well.

But to business, Ducktales had a reboot, so welcome to Reb00t 1t

And because I’d rather not do another massive 50–100-episode retrospective I’m breaking this down by season. The Ducktales reboot premiered in 2016 and ran for 3 seasons, its finale airing in 2020. The show was a hit for Disney, making the rare jump from DisneyXD to the main Disney Channel, and has even found a life outside of the show with YouTube podcasts.

The show is primarily comedic, so we’re gonna glance over story developments that aren’t worthy of critique or contribute to character development. I may sum up some episodes in a couple of lines but I’ll give an overview of all the seasons, and break down episodes that I think are interesting or contribute to the shows overarching plot. We’ll be covering this in the intended Disney+ Order and not the original airing order.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the 2-part opener Woo-oo!

It’s another day in the office for Donald Duck, or at least it would be if he had a job, or an office. He’s got an interview but thanks to some hijinks by the kids, he needs to drop them off with a new babysitter, Scrooge McDuck. And the first immediate thing you might notice that’s different from the old show, off the bat the 3 triplets have very different personalities. We see this in how they admire Scrooge McDuck. Huey admires his solving of mysteries, Duey admires his daring adventures and Louie admires his money.

There’s a standoff between Scrooge and Donald and it’s pretty clear they have some unpleasant history. Scrooge isn’t all that bothered about the kids, more depressed about how his life currently is, his board, made up of buzzards have cut funding towards his exploits and Louie asks what happened to him, telling him “you used to be a big deal”

They’re locked in a room with some marbles, which in the old era were apparently the height of entertainment. Anyway, after escaping, they’re introduced to Webby and her character has had a complete overhaul, complete with the Trademark Mabel Pines grappling hook, a more capable and violent and a level of social awkwardness from being stuck in a mansion with no contact with anyone her own age.

They sneak into the garage with some old treasure and through a series of events unleash several ancient evils and gain Scrooge’s attention. Scrooge shows off his own capabilities by defeating those evils, including one of importance. Manny, the headless Manhorse, he’ll show up again soon. The next segment involves them chasing a dragon and it’s time to bring up Launchpad McQuack, the designated driver/pilot. He’s a bit dim but ultimately friendly and charming.

They stop the dragon and Scrooge has been having the time of his life, and decides to take them under his wing, as for Donald he got the job, as a sailor for Scrooge’s business rival Flinthard Glomgold.

The vast majority of Ducktales villains ham it up for the sake of comedy, and Glomgold is no exception. It’s full steam ahead to the lost city of Atlantis. And it’s fairly quick that you realise that this episode focuses mostly on Duey and his connection to Scrooge. He’s incredibly excited about the adventure but ignores the dangers and that leads to a situation where Donald has to save him from flame-jets.

Long story short Glomgold hired Donald to use as a hostage to prevent Scrooge from acting against him. He traps them in a sinking Atlantis but thanks to some clever thinking from Duey, they manage to escape and one-up Glomgold in the process. Unfortunately for Donald, the houseboat blows up as Duey didn’t turn off the engine, so it’s off to McDuck manor so it can be repaired. Back in the garage, Duey notices a picture of Donald and Scrooge on an adventure together and his mother? And that is a hell of a mystery to kick of the season. The triplet’s mother (and father for that matter) have never been referenced in the show, so they have a blank slate to work with.

The next episode, Daytrip of Doom makes a bold choice of having Scrooge be relegated to the background as the kids go on their own little adventure, the focus is on Webby’s attempts to be ‘normal’ in an everyday situation she’s not used to. It’s nice that the triplets are incredibly supportive of her. We’re introduced to Scrooge’s most persistent adversaries, the Beagle Boys, and Ma Beagle. They’re strong but not very bright. Donald and Mrs Beakley are both able to hold their own in a fight.

The Impossible Summit of Mount Neverest! is next and a couple of things to mention. Huey is the Junior Woodchuck obsessed member of the family and Scrooge has a beef with Santa Claus. Moving on…Both the A and B-plots of The Great Dime Robbery! Are important. The A-plot deals with Louie’s inherent character flaw, he’s lazy. Scrooge isn’t having any of it and takes him for a day at the office.

We’re introduced to Gyro Gearloose, mad scientist of questionable ethics and his latest and most important invention Lil Bulb. We also hear the story about Scrooge’s number 1 dime, I’ll come back to that in a later episode. In the B-plot, Webby finds out about Duey’s quest to find out about Della. They follow scrooge to the Money Bin and find some information about the Librarian, Quackfaster. They find a letter from Della to Scrooge, saying she’s taken the Spear of Selene. Duey decides that until he understands this, he won’t be telling his brothers. At the end of the episode, Gyro has a new project in mind, Project Blatherskite.

The next episode is the Beagle Birthday Massacre! Or is the Beagle Birthday Breakout! Disney+ seems confused about that one. Either way it introduces us to a new original character, a rambunctious ne’er-do-well by the name of Lena. She and Webby get along pretty well but not all is well with this friendship as it’s revealed at the end she’s working for another of Scrooge’s villains, Magika De Spell.

The House of Lucky Gander introduces us to Gladstone Gander, the luckiest duck on Earth. Neither Donald nor Scrooge particularly like him. It’s nice to get an episode focused on Donald since his appearances are a little more sparse than the others. Weird animation error in The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks! Scrooge and Glomgold are having a staring contest because of course they are, but they both blink several times. They actually had to draw and animate them doing that…

Anyway, Mark Beaks is in this and he’s been retooled as a social media obsessed tech mogul… can’t image what the inspiration for that was. Interestingly he’s not an antagonist to Scrooge, at least not yet. The Living Mummies of Toth Ra! Has a B-plot focused on Louie and Webby, Louie is usually convinced that lying is the best solution to a problem, even when it’s not that convincing. Still, he can see a con a mile away. More on this next time. This is the episode where they created an uprising with a burrito, yes those are words I just typed.

Episode 10, Terror of the Terra Firmians brings back Lena, and more importantly finally gives us Magika’s voice. She’s voiced by Catherine Tate, whilst Scrooge is David Tennant, insert your own Doctor Who joke here. A few things of note, first is Huey having an anxiety attack upon discovering something that wasn’t logged in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook, this is technically the second time he’s had an emotional breakdown now. Lena integrates herself further with the family, by saving the life of Mrs Beakley and Launchpad, this is one of those episodes which makes you wonder how he even functions. Launchpad was always a bit dim, but his stupidity is cranked up a few notches in this rendition.

McMystery at McDuck Manor is the production team’s first attempt at a bottle episode, restricting the action to a small number of locations so less animation work is needed, it didn’t really work. But really, I want to talk about Duckworth. He’s the only member of the original cast who hadn’t appeared up to now, he had apparently died years ago but thanks to some magic, he returns as a demon ghost thing. He’s snarky towards others, and shows somewhat of a rivalry with Mrs Beakley and all of it is wasted. He barely appears across the 3 seasons.

Part of the problem is he doesn’t really have much of a purpose. Mrs Beakley is the designated housekeeper and Scrooge’s confident. The boys already have a father figure in Donald, he’s also powerful enough that they largely keep him out of the action moments. We’re skipping over the Missing Links of Moorshire, and jumping straight to The Spear of Selene!

Duey and Webby arrange for the Sunchaser to land on the Island of Ithaquack, the counterpart to Olympus in the Duck universe, which I guess says that Greek God counterparts are real. We’re introduced to Storkules, ‘best friend’ to Donald Duck, Zeus the god hospitality and bitter rival of Scrooge and of course, Selene, goddess of the moon and who the Spear was named after. Except as we find out, she’s never heard of it.

Day of the Only Child is not one of my favourite episodes, but it does introduce Doufus Drake who’s gonna be important later. He inherited wealth from his Grandmother and basically has a stranglehold on his household, including his parents. There’s also Duey hosting a podcast and fighting a reprogrammed security robot that will return later.

Beware the BUDDY system! introduces, you guessed it, yet more characters. This time, Fenton Crackshell Cabrera, Gyro’s intern, Manny the headless Manhorse is also an intern now. So back in the Great Dime Chase Gyro believed the solution to his robots turning evil is to be part of the machine, hence the creation of Project Blatherskite, a set of wearable armour with incredible capabilities. Thanks to a mess created by Mark Beaks, Fenton summons the armour becoming Gizmoduck. Mark Beaks, impressed by the armour decides he must have it. Oh, this also introduces the idea of Darkwing Duck being a show within this universe, more on that in season 2.

The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains! Answers the question as to how Scrooge is still alive after partaking in the Gold rush of the 1850s, he was stuck in a timeless demon dimension. We’re also introduced to Goldie O’Guilt and credit to the voice actors and animators, their chemistry is pretty immediate. She’s a con-artist out for only herself and is smitten for Scrooge, and the feeling is mutual.

Jaw$! Continues Lena’s arc, as her friendship with Webby continues to solidify and her loyalty to Magika begins to waver. Unfortunately in the end she regresses as Magika still holds the key to her freedom.

The Confidential Case Files of Agent 22! Is an episode for season 3, and reveals the past history between Mrs Beakley, or SHUSH agent 22 and Scrooge. He was brought in by SHUSH head Ludwig von Drake to help them purchase a secret formula and prevent their nemesis, FOWL from doing so. The formula in question, gummiberry juice, from the Adventures of the Gummy Bears.

We’re also given an introduction to FOWL agent Black Heron, the first antagonist to beat Mrs Beakley in a fight. Though minor continuity issue, there’s a reference to SHUSH in the episode of the fictional Darkwing Duck show within this show, bit of an oversight from a secretive organisation. The episode ends with Webby having kept some of the gummiberry juice.

And next, some pirates show up. I kid, the Pirate Leader, Don Karnage is actually the main antagonist to another Disney afternoon show, Tailspin. It’s also the episode where Dewey falls in with the pirates and leads them against Scrooge and they decide it’s their fault for not listening to him earlier, even when in Scrooge’s case he was taking an important call. Anyway, Dewey has his own arch-nemesis now, a showboating pirate, it’s quite fitting.

Onward back to the main plot of this season. The search of the answers about Della. But first we must talk about Scrooge’s parents, The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck (they really do the (s) thing) we find out that Scrooge rebuilt their ancestral home but in classic Scrooge fashion used some cheap druid stones that had the magical side effect of granting his parents immortality. For those of you who don’t know, Scrooge’s origin is related to him being a poor shoe-shiner who polished the boots of one Burt and was paid in an American dime, now his no. 1 dime. This inspired him to seek his fortune in the States.

But they add a little wrinkle to that origin here, the dime Scrooge received was actually given to Burt by Scrooge’s father, in an effort to teach him self-reliance. I feel like just being a shoe-shiner already fulfils that goal, and him being swindled by being paid in a dime might actually discourage him but that’s rather beside the point.

On the other side, Huey and Louie finally discover what Duey has been up to, and the usually fairly reserved Louie is on the verge of tears. It’s moments like this that show that these characters are deeper than their primary character trait. Oh and something very convenient happens, a note left as part of the story of the episode ends up having significance as rubbing the back shows them the Spear of Selene and a date similar to the triplet’s birth date.

Who is Gizmoduck?! Introduces us to M’Ma Crackshell Cabrera, Fenton’s mother. She’s not all that important in the grand scheme of things but she is awesome, and every scene with her is a delight. Fenton also officially becomes Gizmoduck in this episode and we see the first of Mark Beaks’ attempts to steal the armour.

The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck! Sees Lena make another failed attempt to steal the dime for Magika, she’s still having doubts and by the end of the episode has decided to stop entirely, however with eclipse drawing near, yes, that plot device, Magika is able to seize control of Lena’s body.

And whilst we’re setting the stage for the finale, let’s get to the Last Crash of the Sunchaser! The one that finally answers the mystery of Della Duck. It’s another attempt at a bottle episode, with the entire episode taking place aboard the plane. And it’s kinda amazing how much comedy they can wring out of this even simpler than normal premise. Still, the end is where the questions are answered.

The Spear of Selene is in fact an experimental rocketship Scrooge developed. He and Della felt they’d explored all they could on Earth and wanted to give the triplets the stars, Donald objected but Scrooge built it behind his back, wanting to surprise Della when the kids were born. But Della found out about it and took it out on a test flight, unfortunately she was caught in a cosmic storm and was lost. This is what broke the relationship between Donald and Scrooge… And it’s doing a similar thing to the Triplets, in their own ways they all blame Scrooge for it. Huey for not calling her down, Duey for building something that dangerous and Louie for not using his fortune to rescue her. In his defensive anger, Scrooge snaps at Webby, angering Mrs Beakley in the process.

As the episode ends, the triplets head out with Donald in the newly finished houseboat, Mrs Beakley and Webby leave and so does Duckworth’s ghost because of reasons. And as Scrooge sits in his chair from his original comic he flashes back and it’s revealed that he tried to call her down but the storm meant the signal was lost and he spent a large chunk of his fortune trying to save her before he was restrained by the board.

It's an emotional gutpunch of an ending, and that’s what I love about this show. It’s hilarious, but because the comedy comes as much from the personalities of the characters as the situations, they’re able to do dramatic turns that feel right.

And so we come to the season finale Shadow War. The first part deals with and largely resolves the emotional fallout of the previous episode. Webby enacts a plan to stop the boys from leaving, and it’s quite touching because it’s Donald who ultimately comes out of this best, both being the one the boys now look up to and also being the one that ultimately convinces them to stay back. Mrs Beakley dishing the truth about how Scrooge did search for Della helped too.

At McDuck Manor, everyone else moving out has interfered somewhat with Magika’s plan. She needs the dime but it’s difficult to justify her getting into the house without Webby there. And even then, Scrooge has become a shell of his former self, I swear this was built for a moment where Duckworth does something but no, Magika has to reluctantly do it herself, unable to bear the idea of someone other than her destroying him. Her plan ultimately works and by episode’s end she’s restored to her full body. Scrooge is then trapped inside his dime like she once was.

As part 2 begins Magika uses her full eclipse power to take control of everyone’s shadows, Fenton’s shadow has the Gizmoduck armour, and Glomgold’s shadow dumps him into the bay. Everyone rallies at the houseboat but there’s one problem, no-one can understand what Donald is saying. Their solution, using a Barksian Modulator (a nice tribute to Carl Barks, one of Donald’s original creators) to give them voice of Don Cheadle for a bit.

Whilst the adults perform a frontal attack against magical shadows that somehow can be defeated through punching. The boys and Webby seek to enlist Lena and find out the truth, she was a spy cast from Magika’s shadow when she was last defeated by Scrooge, they find this out through a convenient journal poem.

They head into the bin and turns out that was part of Donald’s plan to hold off some shadows and the Gizmoduck armour, whilst the boys face Magika. Parent of the year, Donald. They actually do a good job using their respective skills. Louie has learned to swim in cash at this stage and his bit is easily the funniest.

Anyway, Webby does the most damage but ends up about to be blasted and is saved by a manifestation of Lena through her friendship bracelet, unfortunately Magika destroys it. Still, that makes her mad enough to disarm Magika of the dime and Dewey ultimately sees that Scrooge is freed, they damage the talisman Magika is using ultimately rendering her powerless, she heads off vowing revenge as the family reunite. The houseboat is completely destroyed and the modulator stops working.

Season 1 is a great start to the show, being a great example of a show that utilises nostalgia but dares to try something new. Upon the premier Don Rosa, another key component of Scrooge’s history claimed it ‘bears virtually no similarity to Carl Bark’s original comics’ and that’s not a fair assessment, it’s clear with a lot of deep-cut references and in-jokes that the creators of this show loved his work, and the old series. But a show that relies heavily on nostalgia and tries nothing new is doomed to fail in the long run. It’s the problem that plagued the Star Wars sequel trilogy (and is beginning to rear its ugly head in the Disney Plus shows too) and is a notable cause for concern for the recent Ghostbusters movie. At time of writing, I haven’t seen it.

But at the core is one true message, family is the greatest adventure, and that family could well be getting bigger as Della is still alive and on the moon; ready to appear in season 2.

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