ROCKS 4A: DuckTales opening episodes

WELCOME EVERYBODY TO THE FIRST DISCUSSION IN THE FOURTH STRAND OF THE NEW CLUB "R.O.C.K.S." - REWATCHING OLD CLASSIC KIDS SHOWS!
A big thanks to everyone that are joining us through all of this. It’s going to be an enjoyable ride!

Threads 4A through 4D will focus on the 80s classic DuckTales, and specifically this week, we're discussing the opening 5-parter:

"Treasure Of The Golden Suns"

The individual episodes that comprise this adventure are:

1. Don't Give Up The Ship
2. Wronguay In Ronguay
3. Three Ducks Of The Condor
4. Cold Duck
5. Too Much Of A Gold Thing

Just the usual friendly reminder to everyone that, whilst fans are obviously welcome to passionately discuss and give their views on these episodes, please remember to keep things on a friendly footing and respect your fellow posters.
Also, please do not post where or how to find the full episode online. And do not post asking others to PM it to you. You are however allowed to watch the show in whatever manner you want.

My favorite of the Disney shows and my absolutely favorite five episodes of it! I had a VHS of these five episodes edited into one whole 2 hour movie, the way it was originally broadcast. So if its ok, I will “review” the five parts as one whole movie. :)

The entire adventure is so brilliantly scripted that it’s hard to believe that this was for an animated TV show. Everything ties in seamlessly and the show never loses pace. No part of it seems forced or overly contrived. It is evident that a lot of thought went into creating the various clues, traps and locations that Scrooge and the gang encounter on their treasure hunt:

· Starting from the scuffle with the Beagle Boys in Duckburg and the discovery of the treasure map/ship
· Moving to the actual sunken ship in the (later flooded) deserts of Ronguay
· Then to the sun-worshippers and exciting condor races of the Andes
· Later to the color-obsessed penguins and prehistoric giant walrus of Antarctica
· Finally to the jungles of Amazon and the bobby trapped temple of gold.

Even the excitement builds gradually over the course of the story, beginning with what seems like a usual theft by the Beagle Boys to the nail-biting escape from the golden temple. There are definitely moments which remind me of the “Indiana Jones” movies, which in fact were a little bit inspired from the original Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge comics (Spielberg said so himself).

The play on names in the story used to amuse me a lot! “Ronguay”, “Joaquin Slowly”, “Juan Tanamera”, “Marcheen Slowly”, “Duck L’Orange Theater”, were all put in there most likely for the more mature viewers as kids might not get it. Just like the “Looney Tunes” cartoons often had a lot of verbal humor that was aimed more at adults while the slapstick antics of the characters were for the entertainment of the younger kids.

These five parts introduce characters, items and locations that would go on to become staples of the series. The character development and interaction is also very impressive. Initially Scrooge is quite unlikeable but we slowly learn to love him as he starts to warm up to the nephews. Even the way the nephews warm up to and actually start admiring Mrs. Beakley is also very well portrayed. Launchpad is hilarious as always and never fails to elicit a laugh whenever he appears on screen. If it has wings, he can crash it! :biggrin How much I used to wish that there be an actual "Junior Woodchuck Guidebook". That thing had literally info on EVERYTHING!!!! :00

I could go on and on, but I’ll shut up for now by saying one word that best describes these five parts – GRRRRRRRRREAT!!!!!! (No copyright infringement intended Mr. Tony the Tiger) ;)

I think I seen a small bit of the first episode many years ago. The scene with Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, Luey and Donald seems familiar but maybe this was from another episode. So seeing these episodes was completely new to me.

As a five parter it works really well due to the way the on going treasure hunt continues over each episode and we get introduced to the various characters. Not something easily done. I have seen some five parters struggle to keep an interesting story going let alone keep an interesting and fun story going that is a pilot that has to introduce all the characters and locations etc.

Launchpad reminds me a little of Captain H.M. ''Howling Mad'' Murdock from the A-Team.

Great voice acting. Some instantly recognisable voice talent like Alan Young, Jim Cummings, Peter Cullen and Frank Welker.

I really enjoyed the pilot and really want to watch more. :D

This show was always one of my favourites as a kid - not least because of its amazing theme tune, hooks you from the very beginning. As a musician I can appreciate it even more. It's full of hooks in the same way as other classic theme tunes of the 80s, especially Thundercats and Ghostbusters. I wrote an article a few years ago on cartoon theme tunes, this came in at no4 in my top ten.

As for the show itself, it's so full of many memorable characters, most of whom make an appearance in this 5-part pilot. Apart from villains Ma Beagle and Magica De Spell, and occasional sidekick Doofus, I think all the first season regulars appear in at least one part. Scrooge, Huey, Dewey & Louie, Launchpad, Webby, Mrs Beakley, Duckworth and even Giro Gearloose appears in one brief scene, as well as regular villains Flintheart T. Glomgold and the Beagle Boys. And of course Donald Duck. He was only an occasional character in this show, and that was very deliberate, I read that the creators wanted to do something in the duck universe without focusing on Donald, but at the same time not completely ignoring him.

Scrooge is a classic anti-hero. He has lots against him, chiefly in the various manifestations of his greed, but ultimately he does remember where his heart is. And Alan Young's performance in the role is top-notch. David Tennant has some big shoes to fill in the remake.

The nephews are difficult to tell apart at times - yes I know that's sort of the point, but you know what I mean! To an extent, parallels can be drawn with their correspondingly-coloured Chipmunk counterparts, Huey, wearing red, is, like Alvin, something akin to the leader of the group (although without the ego that Alvin has!), Dewey in blue is arguably the smartest of the bunch just like Simon, and green-clad Louie is the one who could be an artist or philosopher, same as Theodore.

Mrs Beakley's introduction as a housekeeper works very well, and the way the nephews ultimately warm to her is very nicely done, by having her beat them at their own game.

Webby's relationship with the boys is a little more on-and-off, throughout the series, depending on the needs of the individual stories I guess.

Giro didn't get as much exposure in this pilot as he might have, but what little he did have established him to perfection, a good-guy mad scientist who's brilliant but eccentric.

And my favourite character, Launchpad McQuack - yes, he gets a laugh in pretty much every scene. The tagline for the film Johnny English is kind of relevant to him - "he knows no fear, he knows no danger, he knows nothing". If it has wings, he can crash it. In one episode, Magica suggested that perhaps his name should be Launchpad McCrash. Love it. Terry McGovern's voice is perfect for the character, and will again be a tough act to follow.


As for the bad guys, Glomgold's motive in wanting to take over as the richest duck in the world are self-explanatory, as are the Beagle Boys simply wanting to get their hands on Scrooge's loot. Both work extremely well, and you forget that they were only in one part each of this 5-parter.

El Capitan, the main guest villain in this pilot, voiced by the great Jim Cummings (his only appearance in this show), is an intriguing character, as there is so much about him unexplained. He appears to be 400yrs old, and is completely obsessed with gold, but not just any gold, as he doesn't appear to have any interest in Scrooge's or Glomgold's respective fortunes.

As to the story - yes, I've watched this twice in the last week, and it is indeed very cleverly done. It does have five distinct chapters, as it were, each one building up to the climax:

1. The Beagle Boys are asked by El Capitan to steal the small wooden ship. But why does he want it?
2. The answer is revealed, the ship is a map to treasure, which gets lost at sea. This could easily have been end of story, but . . .
3. It then turns out that treasure may only have been the tip of the iceberg, and that there is a map to something more, and our heroes get the first half.
4. They then look for the second half of the map.
5. With both halves of the map at last (or rather a copy of it), they find the lost city, and yes, a very Indiana Jones-esque finale ensues!

Wow. Great show.

"LiamABC, post: 119881, member: 25438" said:

The nephews are difficult to tell apart at times - yes I know that's sort of the point, but you know what I mean! To an extent, parallels can be drawn with their correspondingly-coloured Chipmunk counterparts, Huey, wearing red, is, like Alvin, something akin to the leader of the group (although without the ego that Alvin has!), Dewey in blue is arguably the smartest of the bunch just like Simon, and green-clad Louie is the one who could be an artist or philosopher, same as Theodore.

That's a good comparison between the nephews and the chipmunks. I never had a problem with the nephews being almost identical to each other. They are triplets, and in their original appearances in the Donald Duck cartoons they even wore identical clothes. I think that is their charm/purpose (like WilyKit and WilyKat). They are a trio of troublemakers and the audience often sees the three as one character. I believe there are a number of episodes where they use their similarity as a joke and often to their advantage by disguising one as the other (that shouldn't be difficult! :biggrin) There already are so many different and interesting characters in DuckTales that it is unnecessary to strongly individualize the three nephews just to "add" more characters.

"LiamABC, post: 119881, member: 25438" said:

El Capitan, the main guest villain in this pilot, voiced by the great Jim Cummings (his only appearance in this show), is an intriguing character, as there is so much about him unexplained. He appears to be 400yrs old, and is completely obsessed with gold, but not just any gold, as he doesn't appear to have any interest in Scrooge's or Glomgold's respective fortunes.

He really is an interesting character. Just the hints of his background already give us an idea of what kind of character he is. I always wondered how he managed to live to be 400 years old! (sheer willpower, according to him! :)). Initially I wanted to see more of him in a later episode of DuckTales, but as you said, he was always only interested in that particular gold, so if he was going to be re-introduced, then the Treasure of the Golden Suns would also have to be re-introduced, and I feel that might have just been repetitious as that chapter was introduced, explored and concluded perfectly in these 5 parts.

I know what you're saying. That 5-parter ended in the right place, so any further appearances by El Capitan wouldn't have worked.

Strange though that he didn't go chasing after them for the map in parts 3-4, he just resurfaced in part 5 confident that they would have found the map and be on their way without knowing that they had even heard anything about it! He should have at least appeared in part 3 for that purpose.

As for the nephews, yes, they do sort of merge into a single character, but there is one episode where they actually discuss this among themselves and it might be a good one to watch here.

"Wilycub, post: 119882, member: 25043" said:

That's a good comparison between the nephews and the chipmunks. I never had a problem with the nephews being almost identical to each other. They are triplets, and in their original appearances in the Donald Duck cartoons they even wore identical clothes. I think that is their charm/purpose (like WilyKit and WilyKat). They are a trio of troublemakers and the audience often sees the three as one character. I believe there are a number of episodes where they use their similarity as a joke and often to their advantage by disguising one as the other (that shouldn't be difficult! :biggrin) There already are so many different and interesting characters in DuckTales that it is unnecessary to strongly individualize the three nephews just to "add" more characters.

Personally I would have preferred them to have a little bit more an individual look to distinguish them from one another like Alvin and the Chipmunks. I am sure the more I watch the show I will get used to which character is Huey, Dewey and Louie. :) Thankfully they gave them different coloured outfits. It's no wonder they changed the TMNT's to have individual colours instead of them all being red like in the original Mirage comics.

In that case, "Duck In The Iron Mask" is definitely going to be one of the individual episodes we do, it's the one time they actually talk about how alike they look, andit forms an integral part of the plot.