"DuckTales" (2017) Series Talkback (Spoilers)

[TsWade2]

Here are my couple reviews of two season 3 premiere episodes.

"Challenge Of The Senior Woodchucks!"
I think this a funny, but sweet episode. Poor Huey being jealous at Violet being a candidate of Senior Junior Woodchucks. It's nice of Violets dads adopting Lena and now she and Violet are sisters. Note: Beware of the One Million Witch Hunters: Also, I'm surprised that creepy version of Doofus is in this. Meanwhile, Scrooge and his family is on the search for a secret Woodchuck treasure and they've just encounter this silly and cute bird called Tri-Crested Titterwill Bird. Even it's dancing is so cute. I'm not a bird person, but it's so cute. Even Tokyo Disneyland has the audio animatronic for it: Anyway, Huey starts to get so competitive with Violet that he keeps forgetting the rules of Junior Woodchucks Guidebook. Also, the imaginary Junior Woodchucks Guidebook sounded familiar which I've found out that's the voice Bud Gleeful (Lil' Gideon's Gleeful) form Gravity Falls. AMAZING! Anyway, back to the story Huey get so obsessed trying to be a senior woodchuck, but realize what Violet has her struggles, Huey selflessly decided he's not ready to be a senior woodchuck, so Violet is the winner. Even Della is upset. She's acting like me when I get upset of some of my favorites didn't win, like the Tony Awards, but that's another story. The, the cute and silly bird (which is the mascot of Junior Woodchucks) just found the Scrooge and his family is looking for. A journal by Isabella Finch. And finally, the mosquito that was bugging poor Donald Duck is non other than the F.O.W.L. organization. Why do I have a funny feeling that I feel so betrayed by Gandra Dee since she's a girlfriend of Fenton Crackshell Cabera's. OOOOH DRAMA! I enjoyed this episode. It's so funny and sweet at the same time. And I want to do that cute bird dance.

NEXT!

"Quack Pack"
This is the most hilarious episode ever! It started off where the duck family becomes a lame tv sitcom which is hilariously funny. I'm was amused that Scrooge, Mrs. Beakly, Launchpad, and Donald Duck are in their original looks from the original Ducktales series. I glad to hear Don Cheadle to play the normal voice of Donald Duck. I also enjoyed seeing Goofy in his Goof Troop form being the guest star on Ducktales. I'm also glad that his son Max was briefly mentioned and Roxanne. He also mentioned the reference that he's a photographer in a 1990's cult classic A Goofy Movie. Goofy is so lovable and cuddly. Speaking of 1990's, Gene the Genie made an appearance and they made a reference of Ducktales The Movie: Treasure of the Lost Map. In this story, Donald accidentally wish he wants a normal family as stupid Disney channel sitcom. What's also hilarious that the tv human audience become villains of the show. RIOT! In the end, they were back to normal with a big SHABOWIE!I like this episode. This is so feakin' hilarious. Also, if Don Rosa doesn't like it, he can just butt out!

Have a magical day.

 

[zoombie]

Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchuck

What a great way to start the season. We have focus on Huey check, introduction of the main plot, check, and seeing what the family looks like as a whole now that both twins are there at the same time check.

We got a lot into Huey's psyche, he does some self identification issues, he thinks all he is, is the best Junior Woodchuck, and if that is taking away from him, he has nothing. That is why he goes to such extremes to win, even at the cost of losing him, and someone's life.

In a way, Huey losing it, reminds me of Della 10 years on the moon, like mother like son.

I tell you Violet so adorable in this episode. Weather trying to trash talk, or just being herself. And we meet her two dads, though they have no lines.

A character that really stole the show for me was Lena. Supportive big sister Lena, maybe a little too supportive, but that was funny and cute, she has come a long way. Nice to see her taking well to having a real family.

I even mention the B plot, just standard family adventure, funny to see Della to have Donald bad luck.

So this seasons main plot, going to be a treasure hunt arc, cool.

Quack Pack

This was the most insane episode. I love how we are in the sitcom already with no explanation and we have to go backwards to figure it out.

Love the sitcom designs from the classic 87 show or Huey's Dipper hat, and of course classic Donald.

I love seeing the easy to understand voice, the commercial parody, the commercial bumpers, and the part when Launchpad were scolded by the female cast for having no self worth. Kind of a shot to how women were written in classic sitcoms.

Speaking of classic sitcoms, Gene is voiced by non other than Jaleel White a 90's sitcom star.

Speaking of guest stars, Goofy. He is a big get in Disney lore. Love seeing all those family pictures, and guess we can put to rest that girl we keep seeing in the background is Roxanne. It is not clear if Goofy actually knows Donald. Donald's relationship with his classic Disney co stars Goofy in this episode, and Mickey in the season 2 finale is very ambiguous, and I don't mind that.

And Donald mention Della getting lost thing was a nice touch.

Can't wait to see what happens next.

 

[Dudley]

I wasn’t really expecting Quack Pack, Goof Troop, Goofy Movie, and Treasure of the Lost Lamp in a single episode, so the “Quack Pack” episode is a lot of fun.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Troy Troodon]

I always wondered what human characters would look like in this style, and now I know... and now I wish I never saw it!

 

[Elijah Abrams]

"Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!" isn't showing up on Spectrum On Demand for some reason. I've been planning to watch today's new episodes via on demand, and I need both it and "Quack Pack!".

 

[Zanneck]

I normally don't comment on what is otherwise a High Tier show (so far and IMHO), as I risk having nothing special or crucial to add to the conversation, but I admit I was worried that Season 3 wasn't going to start out as strong as it should, given how Season 2 ended so well and set up an interesting plot revelation to further carry the series with - the re-introduction of a certain villain's organization from the old show.

Thankfully, I'm glad they're not messing around with that - and they're doing a good job keeping themselves hidden from the MCs and others we care about, even if we've seen who they are by now, admittedly enough. That's gonna be a real revelation to overcome - so looking forward to seeing how well they can handle these actual villains from here.

I admit the first episode had me concerned about the plot, which sadly set itself up to be one of those "Boy(s) vs. Girl(s)", which are never fun to sit through at all - FACT; I treat this as such, because we as a society should know better by now (it's more complex a topic than that, yes - but my issues still stand on how dated and easily misused this trope always is in this medium, sadly.).....

Thankfully, this episode in particular is saved immediately by having it so that ths writers involved do make Huey's conflict believable, mostly because wanting to win that badly, sometimes? It tends to not bring out the best in us. And don't deny you haven't been there - that'll only make it worse for you, honestly. Something Huey admits and mans up to in the end, saving his end of the episode big time!
Add to that that Huey's competition in this episode, Violet, has been established to be legit book smart enough to be in an outfit, despite lacking in Street smarts, if her handling of trash talk is anything to go by, and the only thing I have to take issue about here is that I only wish we'd seen more on Violet's end of this competition thing, if only to really sell us on how good she is at stuff, while also helping to smooth out seeing Huey struggle so much ultimately not being all that funny by the end of things (but he does apologize for being in the wrong, so... I can't stay too annoyed, as much as I was with this setup, at first.).
And like I said, I am glad to see our villains making their move, so things can only step up from here, a less than stellar start for me. Mid High Tier first episode, not their best effort here.

The second of these premieres, however? Back to the High Tier material without question, if I can exclaim that.
Without saying too much about it, die to how good it actually is - barring the obvious references of yesteryear that I can otherwise take or leave myself, few shows have handled using something revolving around a genie and being weary of what you wish for what you want so badly this effectively, I can tell you that much. This particular episode by itself is exactly more of what I'm looking for out of this new season, besides our looming inevitable confrontation with our villains for the evening, really.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

"Challenge of The Senior Junior Woodchucks" - You know I do think the idea of having a season focused on each of the siblings is really cool and a really good way of giving the characters if not balanced screen time at least more time to shine. However this episode kind of confims to me that this season for it's up and guests and out there idea and storyline with FOWL is kind of at a natural disadvantage because well this is going to be Huey's season and Huey is by far the most normal and kind of boring character in this show. I remember back in season one wondering when we were going to get some focus on Huey as yeah you got a lot of Dewey straight up (which makes sense as that was his season) and Louie easily identified himself as a character but it took longer with Huey and even when we did get to him well... lt's clear he works well as part of a team and someone to react off to but as a character on his own he's not much. I kind of liken him to Dipper in Gravity Falls except you don't have as much a lust of wanting to seek out the answers and find the truth (which went more to Dewey in this show) or even a major crush that gave him a reason to against his better nature. He was just the more generally smart less rebellious more obsessed with the Junior Woodchucks one which yeah is a thing obviously important to the series and the lore in general but that's really the most that defined him. Like maybe in terms of relating to others he had a bit more to him but not sure exactly how you're going to build a season on that.

I guess at least this episode set a groundwork idea for that in that it's built on Huey's desire and desperation to become a Senior Woodchuck but then realizing yeah he isn't ready for that. Not just because there is someone more deserving of that but someone who doesn't compromise their principals or ideals just to achieve that. I'm guessing at the end of the season we'll get Huey ready to become one and earning that rank but do like starting off showing that it's a struggle that you can fail at and failure is an important lesson. But when you're sticking it with a more kind blase character that does make it harder to get through thus why they even did that whole bit of Huey seeing the guide book in his mind; just to give him someone else to bounce off of and yeah some jokes were funny (like the guide book wondering why Huey imagined him burning and being on fire) but does show there's not much to work with the duck that I yeah hope we get more of in upcoming eps as this is supposed to be his season.

I also think the subplot was kind of weak as not only does it feel odd for Scrooge McDuck of all characters to need adventuring advice on how just following a different path is a good idea and can lead to new amazing treasures you wouldn't of otherwise found but feels contradictory because that bird was still Finch's and still following the path she's done before so... how is that following a different path? Plus yeah unlike say Up where you have this kind of charming Bird character who doesn't speak but you can go along with, this bird was just annoying and I get annoying Scrooge but I was annoyed with it too. There were some fun moments in this episode (Violet's terrible smack talking, Lena's "sister from two misters" line and yeah just like how this one just flatly introduced that Violet has two fathers also introduced Lena is living with her which was said in the backstory but not in the show itself which I always found weird but glad to actually see at least now in practice, oh and Della threatening Launchpad about not giving Huey the Senior Woodchuck title and doing the point eye look at him walking away was funny) but between the plot about the non gelling moral and the plot about being stuck with sort of a flat character not really being that interseting did make it a weaker episode. Easily the weakest of the season premieres as yeah season one started out great as did season two but this not so much. I get why it was the season premiere but sort of a weak beginning but fortunately we had a stronger episode to watch right after that...

"Quack Pack" - Okay Gene makes a point about being stuck since 1990 (which is a fun reference to when the movie came out) to try and make a point about all of these sitcom references being old and outdated but... maybe this is just me but between the over exaggerated poses everyone was making and how they waited for laughter or the random dancing bits as transitions or constantly working in catchphrases with the overly mugging tones it really felt more like a shot at Modern Disney sitcoms. I can't claim to be an expert on stuff like Liz and Maddie or Girl Meets or Bizaardvark or Raven's Home, but this really felt at least in style it was taking shots at that kind of series. And granted not like Disney Sitcoms are really that different or anything from more standard sitcom tropes but you got sort of that feel that's what they were kind of targeting. Which I do applaud if that truly is the case because there is a smug "talking down because we make these strictly just for kids" vibe a lot of those shows have that it felt like this was directly spoofing which I am totally for. Also props for jokes about ads and promos and advertisement marks actually coming back in the end which yeah I've seen animated shows make those sort of jokes before but having them also in the climax feels different and really adds to the joke.

What I also really like about this one is that though we do have a focus on Huey figuring it out this episode works better then the last by giving him the role more as reactor due to being the one to catch on to the sitcom formula and start picking it apart but ultimately this is more a story about Donald. Who yeah of the entire main cast is the one you could easily imagine just wanting more normal less chaotic and generally safer adventures or just you know mundane reality to deal with instead of these constant life and death struggles. Everyone else seems much more generally in on it but he's always felt like the outsider in that regard and I actually do like him pointing out just wanting to take a nice family photo and not have to deal with the insanity they get into. Also like how though it isn't said the only one who sort of gets it is Della talking about losses and about how tough these adventures can be. It was funny in a sitcomy over the top way her constantly bringing up the moon but you don't need that in every single episode and the last one showed the show itself knows better as sometimes it's just knowing the context and character actions that sell it. I also think it's clever how though Goofy is at first brought in for some jokes and because he's a "special guest star" (though apparently the Ducks do know Goofy as Della recongnized him even after the wish is over. I kind of do think he and Donald were still old close friends who just didn't see one another due to having their own lives and familes to deal with) they actually do connect him and Donald through their family's own shared wacky scenarios. Granted I'm not sure how much some of the kids are going to get the references to Goof Troop and Goofy movie to really explain why Goofy's "every family has their own definition of normal" works so well but as someone who oddly enough of all the Disney Afternoon shows probably grew up the most on Goof Troop I get it and feel it does work well in showing how you can't just force a family unit to be one thing they aren't and to be more accepting of what they are.

And yeah honestly this to me was also a much funnier episode and you could tell the team really liked working with that formula to allow for slightly more exaggerated takes on the character that fit with the sitcomy shennigans that were going on. Like it wouldn't make sense even for Webby to normally kidnap someone or Launchpad to think that it's an excuse for them to be an agent for his band but for this kind of sitcomy world it works. I also liked the new sitcomy intro, Huey's annoyance at the audience and later being happy to hear silence, Dewey actually liking someone to laugh at all of his dumb puns, "I'm not a spy wait is that really my catchphrase?", Goofy doing his usual bumbling to actually grab the lamp, Gene constantly inserting himself as a photographer or child or whatever to appear as part of the plot (BTW apparently Gene's done by Jaleel White which yeah props to him for giving such a different sounding kind of perfrmance. I mean this sort of quick talking attitude is the kind of thing you'd see him do in say Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog but it feels differently here and works well for the movie so again props in that regard to him) and Louie at the end Donald wished for a photo instead instead of riches or infinite wishes or becoming a genie himself. So yeah much better episode then the first that is hopefully more in spirit with the rest of the season then how it started out.

 

[Frontier]

Fittingly, this being Huey's season, he takes a central role in both episodes, making a strong start for season 3 of Ducktales .

I'm glad they updated the Opening to add Della. I was kind of surprised they didn't add FOWL in the villains shot (shouldn't we replace Beaks by now)? Also did anyone else feel like they changed the temp for the Opening a little? I know they shortened it for the second episode .

Violet's never been my favorite character so I wasn't really all that enthused about seeing her show up Huey during the challenge, but the reveal that she had failed the test three times beforehand did make it feel like she earned being a Senior Woodchuck and why she was so capable for her fourth go-around. It was also neat seeing Lena as such a supportive friend along with Violet's dads. And losing gives something for Huey to strive for moving forward .

Stephen Root as Huey's sub-conscious, manifested as the Junior Woodchuck guidebook, was pretty amusing. I wonder if we'll see it again ?

I'm a little disappointed that flashback to Scrooge as a led sleeping in the same room as his parents didn't feature a cameo from Donald and Della's mother...

Of course Launchpad would have a whole pack of failure badges .

Della is such a helicopter parent now .

I guess we now have the driving arc of the season, with the Duck family going up against FOWL for the ancient artifacts in Isabella Finch's journal .

I never watched the original Quack Pack but this felt like a tribute to Disney Afternoon and a parody of Disney sitcoms all rolled into one. With a dash of Ducktales The Movie as well .

It was great to see Donald and Scrooge in blue, and Launchpad looked perfect. Made me miss their old outfits .

I love how all the characters got fit into stock sitcom archetypes with catchphrases, gags, and nonsensical comedic subplots. Although the Beakley one made me wonder if she's ever denied being a spy? I don't think she has .

Having Don Cheadle come back as Donald's voice was a treat, especially getting to hear him say Donald's classic catchphrases .

With what we know about Launchpad's love life, having a three-way date at the same time isn't quite as unbelievable...although the girls probably would have been a tad more exotic then the ones in the show .

Goofy! This was pitch-perfect Goofy. I'm glad the show got to be able to use him and include him in a pivotal role like this, and even made a joke about his special guest star status. We even got references to Max, PJ, and Roxanne (too bad they couldn't fit Pete in there). And of course they had to fit at least one Goofy Yell into the episode .

Humans! I wasn't expecting the show to use the live studio audience as a way of finally introducing humans, albeit very creepy laugh-obsessed humans, and understandably it freaks the main cast out .

Was one of them supposed to be Donald's boss from Quack Pack? I think I read that somewhere ?

Gene the Genie! He even still says his magic word! I wonder if we'll see Merlock at some point...

 

[Freddy]

More I think about it, more I hate it that they brought back Don Cheadle, because no matter how much benefit of the doubt I want to give to the crew of the show, it just feels insulting to Tony Anselmo. Like, OK I get it that it's a classic gag to have a character, who usually has funny cartoony voice, talk with a normal voice suddenly, but it just feels so cynical to go with a celebrity stunt casting, when I think it would have been even more fun to finally let Tony speak with his normal voice and I'm sure that he would have relished the opportunity.

I probably otherwise could just shrug my shoulders and let this go, if it was just one off thing, but not only did they do it again, Tony has in interviews shown signs of frustration for the crew making his Donald voice more incomprehensible than it usually is by ignoring his advices regarding the kind of words they should have Donald say and speeding his recordings up in post-production. The fact that after all of that, they don't even allow him be the one to do his character's big badass moment in season 1 finale or his big character development episode here, just leaves kinda a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[SweetShop209]

Given how he used this type of post in regards to the season 2 finale (where the deaths were for a Gyro clone and the Mickey watermelon), I'm pretty sure the "death" here is for the imaginary guidebook.

 

[ShadowStar]

Della is such a helicopter parent now .

She would be if she were monitoring every move made by her kids. She's more of a Soccer Mom.

I enjoyed both episodes quite a lot! It's interesting to contemplate how the season premiere's message about dealing with failure will factor into the later episodes. Presumably the family will be defeated by F.O.W.L. in some form during the mid-season "event" (I feel that that's where things are heading) and that it will be Huey who rallies them for their comeback in the second half of the season.

It was great to see Violet's Dads, as well as Lena -- and then Goofy too, in the following episode! I enjoy this show's sense of fun and reverence for the characters.

Calling it now, Lena and Magica will be two members of "Louie's Eleven!" Of course, we still have two more new episodes to come before that one!

 

[Fone Bone]

More I think about it, more I hate it that they brought back Don Cheadle, because no matter how much benefit of the doubt I want to give to the crew of the show, it just feels insulting to Tony Anselmo. Like, OK I get it that it's a classic gag to have a character, who usually has funny cartoony voice, talk with a normal voice suddenly, but it just feels so cynical to go with a celebrity stunt casting, when I think it would have been even more fun to finally let Tony speak with his normal voice and I'm sure that he would have relished the opportunity.

I probably otherwise could just shrug my shoulders and let this go, if it was just one off thing, but not only did they do it again, Tony has in interviews shown signs of frustration for the crew making his Donald voice more incomprehensible than it usually is by ignoring his advices regarding the kind of words they should have Donald say and speeding his recordings up in post-production. The fact that after all of that, they don't even allow him be the one to do his character's big badass moment in season 1 finale or his big character development episode here, just leaves kinda a bad taste in my mouth.

You know what? I never considered that. And you're right. That's super disrespectful. And to hear the crew is ignoring his Donald advice makes me unhappy too.

There is no reason to believe he has watched the show since tweeting about it in 2017.

I was joking, silly.

 

[DeanBurrito25]

"Quack Pack" is already on track to become my favorite episode of S3.
The Senior Woodchuck episode was good to, somehow it worked Della into the intro sequence and it didn't feel out of place. That's no easy task for most animated shows (if not all of them).

 

[Roxas_Sora]

Great episodes! I hope Goofy will appear again, and this time, along with Max and maybe even Roxanne. (And why not?, Pete's family too).

I hope this won't be the only time humans appear. I mean, some of the other series Ducktales is going to crossover had humans in it. In "Gummi Bears", the Gummi Juice had a different effect on humans, and it gave them super-strength instead of bouncing abilities.

But I have to say, however, that I'm disappointed for not using "Quack Pack!" original song.

And the artifacts in the diary, I think I recognized one of them. The "eye diamond thing" (I can't remember the name), I think it was the same gem that Negaduck used in "Darkwing Duck" to steal the powers of the Fearsome Five and become "Mega-Negaduck".

 

[ShadowStar]

And the artifacts in the diary, I think I recognized one of them. The "eye diamond thing" (I can't remember the name), I think it was the same gem that Negaduck used in "Darkwing Duck" to steal the powers of the Fearsome Five and become "Mega-Negaduck".

That's an interesting observation - you never know, it could be the same diamond, albeit with a different name!

I'm not expecting to see Goofy again this season, but if DuckTales gets a fourth season, then I suppose he and Max might both appear.

It's worth noting that F.O.W.L. seemed to already know about Finch's journal. That begs the question of why they didn't go after it themselves. Since the word "conspiracy" has been used many times by the show runners to describe the arc of this season, and since F.O.W.L. pledged in the season 2 finale to give the Duck Family their "last" adventure, I wonder whether the journal is a fake one planted by F.O.W.L. Perhaps the artefacts mentioned in the journal, when united, will bring about some sort of F.O.W.L.-related catastrophe. Huey and Scrooge will both get a shock if and when it transpires that the legacy of Isabella Finch is all some sort of elaborate ruse that spans generations... Just how long has F.O.W.L. been on the scene, and what will the consequences be for the family when they find out the answer to that question?

 

[SweetShop209]

Jason Mantzoukas is voicing Steelbeak. Some of his voice roles include The Regular Show Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, Big Mouth, and Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

Okay I have to admit this is a really funny clip and I kind of thing it's cool how they're trying to tie together all the various shows in the Disney afternoon and explain certain things to tie it into one specific mythos but... just like how I could see people being annoyed at how going a bit overboard on Donald's upped voice and having Don Cheadle do his normal voice (I think the joke is they just want something that sounds so anti Donald that even just having Tony do is his regular voice wouldn't sound as funny as getting in someone else to do it) this does feel a bit insulting to some previous shows. I mean I laughed at his lines but wasn't the original Steelbeak like much more suave and in control while this one seems more like a dumb thug kind of character? Also though the line about jumpsuits was great and again like trying to tie everything in... it honestly feels kind of insulting to say Gadget from Rescue Rangers is only so intelligent because this Black Heron made her that way instead of it you know being her natural intelligence. Like yeah cool again on them trying to tie everything in but feels weird to go with here.

 

[Roxas_Sora]

Jason Mantzoukas is voicing Steelbeak. Some of his voice roles include The Regular Show Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, Big Mouth, and Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

OK, what can I say? My mind, totally blew up!!

So, it's because of Black Heron's experiments we get "Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers" in this version of Ducktales? On one hand, it sounds kinda insulting, and it reminds me the old "Nimh" movie; but then again, the same rules of the original series of "Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers" can't work here. Mainly because the nature of their worlds. (Chip and Dale lived in a human world, but there was no humans in the original Ducktales).

But it's not only Gadget, guys! Did you notice the scene where Gadget was hit by the beam? Next to her cage, there were cages with what appears to be Monterrey, Chip and Dale! How ironic as an evil organization as FOWL creates the greatest small heroes.

 

[Frontier]

Jason Mantzoukas is voicing Steelbeak. Some of his voice roles include The Regular Show Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, Big Mouth, and Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Gadget? Man, they're really diving into the Disney Afternoon Shared Universe aspect now .

I don't remember Steelbeak feeling this dumb in Darkwing Duck (still wish DW was in this episode). I've seen speculation that intelligence ray ends up blasting him and making him more like he was in Darkwing.

 

[TsWade2]

Jason Mantzoukas is voicing Steelbeak. Some of his voice roles include The Regular Show Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, Big Mouth, and Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers is in that episode?