Ducktales: The Old Episodes Vs. The New Ones

Ducktales is wrapping up its first season this weekend and I’m a little disappointed with the first season.  There’s plenty to like about the new show.  I think the actors have done some amazing work with the characters (Kate Micucci’s Webbigale is perfect, Keith Ferguson’s Flintheart Glomgold is hilarious, and David Tennant’s Scrooge is strong and pleasantly reminiscent of the original character).  Still, for every great episode that has the heroes out adventuring, there’s a lazy, hanging-around-Duckburg episode or an awkward “The Warriors” homage or another weird Webby’s-friend-is-evil story.  There are about four episodes that seem to have pretty strong parallel to the original series, so I thought I’d put them head-to-head here.  Here’s my take on the old episodes against the new ones.

Gyro has the worst luck with robots.

Armstrong Vs. Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System

The original DuckTales series seemed obsessed with Gyro Gearloose’s exploration of artificial intelligence.  Throughout the series, he creates robots with either their own intelligence (that turn bad) or controlled by people (that get stolen by bad guys), culminating in his creation of Gizmoduck.  His first effort creates Armstrong, who beats Launchpad in a race but quickly turns evil and has to be stopped by Launchpad.  Launchpad faces a similar rivalry with Mark Beaks’ self driving car in Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System and recruits Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera to help him learn to drive.  This episode has a lot going on.  We see Gyro’s new persona (his impatient anger makes him a great fit for Jim Rash’s excellent voicework, but I still prefer the original), we see the weird Mark Beaks again (honestly, if Gyro Gearloose is a jerk and Lil’ Bulb is evil, do we really need another evil inventor?), we get the introduction of Gizmoduck, and we even learn that Darkwing Duck exists as a TV show here.  It’s a little too much to make the episode fun.  This is kind of my general problem with the new series, it often tries to do way too much in just twenty minutes.

THE WINNER: Armstrong (by a nose)

I’m not sure which one of us is more evolutionarily improbable.

Earth Quack Vs. The Terror of the Terra-Firmians

One of my favorite episodes of the original series was Earth Quack, in which Scrooge and his nephews discover earthquakes are being caused by a species of underground creatures that can roll into balls and hold contests in which they smash into walls.  Scrooge and his nephews attempt to steal the creatures’ trophy but what actually helps end the games is the nephews’ friendship with one of the creatures.  It’s a neat study in how Scrooge’s zero-sum approach doesn’t always work, while the boys peaceful diplomacy is much more successful.  The new series, instead, uses the Terra-Firmians in a story about how the boys need to learn to be less afraid of the unknown and Huey needs to let go of his reliance on the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook.  It is a fine if largely unremarkable story which has the characters exploring an abandoned subway track rather than a secret underground kingdom.  The original Earth Quack episode was based on a classic comic by the great Carl Barks.  The new series’ effort to top a classic Carl Barks’ work with a fairly unimaginative tale that relies too much on horror movie cliches simply falls flat by comparison.

THE WINNER: EARTH QUACK

The new Fenton is pretty great, but his new mom is awesome. Give her a show! DBPD Blue!

Super DuckTales Vs. Who Is Gizmoduck?

The new Ducktales episodes have revamped many of the characters, generally for the better.  Mrs. Beakley is now a trained secret agent, Webby is a brilliant and independent pre-teen, and the nephews are all more distinctly characterized.  Fenton Crackshell is another character who has been given more depth in his new incarnation as Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera.  Lin Manuel-Miranda (!) voices the character with the same noble but neurotic intensity that Hamilton Camp brought the the character originally.  I really like the character (and that his mother in this version is not a retired older woman but an active police detective), but his introduction has been somewhat shoe-horned into the season.  The original series ran a five-episode series introducing Fenton as Gizmoduck and gave the character room to develop.  The new series jammed all five episodes into one frenetically adventure that was too overstuffed to enjoy (plus it involved Mark Beaks, a character whose purpose I can’t fathom).  C’mon Ducktales, you’ve got Lin-Manuel FREAKING Miranda voicing Gizmoduck, give him more than a couple of episodes to establish himself!

THE WINNER: SUPER DUCKTALES

I’ll admit that the torch here makes a lot more sense than the match Scrooge was carrying in the original episode.

The Curse of Castle McDuck Vs. The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck

So that’s three for the original series so far but the one that breaks the pattern has to be The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck.  The Curse of Castle McDuck (again based on Carl Barks’ work) has Scrooge, Webby and the nephews discovering that a group of Druids and a ghostly dog were haunting his family’s castle.  They eventually come to terms with the Druids and everything works out.  The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck keeps some of the original’s elements (there’s still an angry dog) but here Scrooge’s parents are still alive and they don’t get along.  It’s a very different story with the nephews seeking out information on their mom while Scrooge attempts to deal with his parents (and hilariously tries to pass Launchpad off as Donald).  David Tennant’s voicework and the excavation of Scrooge’s history really clicks here.  The impact of their mother’s disappearance on the boys – and Louie in particular – is also a real gut punch.  This episode makes me think that there’s some real potential in the way the writers have recreated DuckTales.  Now that the characters have been established, maybe the show can start to tell some really great stories.

THE WINNER: THE SECRET(S) OF CASTLE MCDUCK