Channel Awesome

(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from DuckTales (2017))

Doug (vo): Well, if you saw my Nostalgia Critic review of the DuckTales pilot, you probably know I liked it a fair deal. But that does raise the question, how does the rest of it hold up? Well, at a time when a lot of shows are being made or rebooted and they usually range from "OK" to "Not that OK"... (Images of Animaniacs (2020) and Cowboy Bebop (2021) are shown) ...I'm happy to say, this one's pretty damn good. Not perfect, but few shows are.

Premise[]

Doug (vo): The scenario is pretty close to the original. Donald Duck's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie, are being dropped off at their Uncle Scrooge's house, who, big surprise, doesn't really want to spend time with them. Once they all discover the other has a thirst for adventure, he lets them tag along and introduces them to some other friends who really like adventure, Launchpad McQuack, a pilot known for always crashing his planes, Mrs. Beakley, a no-nonsense bodyguard/spy/maid/kind of everything, and her granddaughter, Webby, who's not only obsessed with adventure, but any Scrooge-related adventure. Like, if there was the biggest die-hard bookworm, Scrooge McDuck nerd out there, she'd be it.

Review[]

Doug (vo): Or maybe I should say, the writers would be it. This show is swimming with all sorts of in-jokes, callbacks, homages, satires, cameos, tributes. I feel like you can just call this show "In-Joke: The Series". I'll admit, that did kind of scare me, as I have seen shows that have gone too much into that territory, where they focus so much on the humor, they don't really pay attention to the story or characters. But for the most part, they balance it out pretty well...for the most part. The creators know it's important to have your own standalone adventure just as much as tipping your hat to the original adventures, and they do a pretty good job updating the formula. Every episode has a ton of laughs. I was actually kind of amazed how consistantly funny this show was. The writing is very clever, very modern, and very satirical. That's probably the #1 most consistant thing that rides throughout all three seasons.

(Several clips focusing on several episodes in the first season are shown)

Doug (vo): But an interesting problem does occur early on. I didn't really see it in the pilot, but as it kept going, it became more obvious. At first, most of the characters are kind of the same. I feel like 90% of the people, I can sum up as, a mix of cynical and dim. How cynical and how dim depends on what the joke requires. Sometimes, a certain character will be smarter, sometimes, they'll be dumber. It just depends on what works better for the punchline. True, there are some that are more dim than cynical and others that are more cynical than dim, but with the exception of one or two characters, they all kind of fall to this category, to the point where when they got to the dramatic season 1 finale where you're supposed to really feel something, it wasn't really working. It looked cool and it was creative, but no part of me in the story said, "Ooh, how's Dewey gonna react to that twist?" or "How's Scrooge gonna react to that twist?" or, really, any of them. Part of that may be, they were shown in a different order, and while, yes, I feel like that would affect things, I don't think that was the main problem. Particularly because, when we get to season 2, things improve quite a bit.

(Footage focusing on the character of Della Duck is shown)

Doug (vo): One of the most important elements that really helped in giving the show a soul is a character named Della, Donald's sister and the boys' missing mother. I'm not gonna lie, there was so much build-up around her that I had a fear they were just gonna do the very generic "strong female character" like that kind of thing with no personality. But she ends up becoming one of the best characters in the show. She really is one of the essential missing pieces, because suddenly, this whole new level of drama is brought in, as well as kind of a new level of comedy. She's a goofball, she's funny, she's an adventurer, she's always down for anything, but she also has never met her kids, and her kids had never met her. Some open up to her very quickly, but others kind of need more time to adjust. She as well has to adapt to still being herself and going on adventures, but also still being a good mother. And what I like is, it isn't just one episode where everybody learns a lesson. It kind of stretches out through the rest of the series. From this point, everybody seems to grow, and they grow at a different pace and in their own way.

(Clips focusing on Huey, Dewey and Louie are shown)

Doug (vo): If you want the best proof of this, look at Huey, Dewey and Louie. In the first season, there was no difference between them. Honestly, I thought they were all the same voice actor at first. But, whatever. That's always been Huey, Dewey and Louie. In season 2, though, it's like they realized, if you wanted to have something dramatically hit, they had to have more defined personalities. But they do it a little backwards. They give them these hobbies, like Dewey is obsessed with having his own TV show and catchphrase, Louie is obsessed with being an entrepreneur and finding ways to make money, and Huey is obsessed with being a Junior Woodchuck. That's fine, but they came up with the hobbies first before the personalities, so their reactions still weren't that distinct. Even then, they didn't always stick with it. I remember in one episode, Dewey and Webby were, like, the bestest friends, they said everything in unison and did everything in unison, and then it never comes back again. By the third season, though, they got it down. Dewey doesn't just want to be a TV show, he wants to be the center of attention. Louie doesn't want to just make money, he wants to prove he can see things from a different point of view. And Huey wants to be the best Junior Woodchuck because he's afraid of what happens if he doesn't follow the rules. Suddenly, their hobbies explain not only their interests, but also their insecurities. By the end, they are fully fleshed out characters. How can I tell? Dewey's the blue one, Louie's the green one, Huey's the red one. I have never been able to do that before. I know that sounds like a small thing, but think of all the other incarnations. Chances are, you're like me and could never tell them apart. But at the end of this show, you can.

(Clips focusing on Webby Vanderquack are shown)

Doug (vo): The other characters grow in a similar way. First, they start off kind of simple, but they get more and more interesting. Webby, for example, I wasn't that blown away with, 'cause it felt like they were just trying to do another version of Mabel, which, honestly, I'd be okay with, I like Mabel, but her thing was she got excited about everything. She'd find a passion, jump from thing to thing, and just go 100% into it. It was fun. Webby is only obsessed with Scrooge-related adventures, and...okay, I guess it does form a personality, but it's not that funny a personality. But this show kind of plays the long game, and we discover there is actually a reason for this that does have a really good payoff, at least in my opinion. I guess I could see some people getting angry at what they did with her, but to me, it kind of checked out, and it made her story arc much more interesting as well as dramatic.

(Clips focusing on episodes centering on Darkwing Duck are shown)

Doug (vo): With that said, other story arcs are changed or sometimes completely dropped. In the first Darkwing Duck episode, they tease that Negaduck is gonna be in the cast, and he never shows up again. The whole Darkwing subplot actually changes gears kind of rapidly. At first, it's this nostalgic TV show about this washed-up actor, but then, without giving too much away, it's suddenly kind of real. There's a real city now with real supervillains, and they kind of tie it into the show as well with this parallel universe ray thingie...which, by the way, you know it's supposed to be a spin-off with other Disney Afternoon shows. (A clip showcasing Bonkers' cameo is briefly shown) And it kind of works, but it also kind of gets in the way with what the show is doing before. For example, Gosalyn comes back. That's cool, I love Gosalyn, that's a great character. But now she's a little bit too much like Webby, so we gotta change her in this version where she's not quite as interesting.

(Footage focusing on various other supporting characters, the villains in particular, showcased through images, is shown)

Doug (vo): But with that said, so many of the characters and callbacks are done so well. The villains are usually really funny, as well as legit intimidating. Every time Magica showed up, it was interesting to see. Am I gonna be creeped out, am I gonna be laughing, a little bit of both? But then, other times, it'll be kind of weak. Like, I remember Steelbeak being a really funny character in Darkwing, but he's really bland and generic here. I actually kind of wondered how much of it was just Rob Paulsen's voice that made that work. There's this other villain that I guess is supposed to be like this Steve Jobs/Jeff Bezos parody, but he didn't make me laugh that much. Truth be told, there's probably too many characters in this series. It might've done better if they got rid of a couple here and there.

Final thought[]

Doug (vo): But honestly, these problems are just kind of problems a lot of shows have. I mean, yeah, there's always gonna be a character you don't get into, or story threads that don't always add up or maybe it's going in one direction and then suddenly changes the course. But it does sound like they listened to the criticisms and got better as they went along, to the point where when I was watching the end credits of the final episode and I was seeing every character kind of get their curtain call, I realized how really attached to them I became. It felt like a perfect way to sign off, and realized what a really fun time you had watching them go on all these adventures. So, yeah, I really recommend this show. Honestly, I recommend anyone that wants to do a reboot of anything to put this on, because this is different than something like Looney Tunes or Animaniacs, because if you were to ask me who created Animaniacs, I'd say Tom Ruegger. If you were to say who created Bugs Bunny, I'd say Chuck Jones, Fritz Freleng, Tex Avery, all of them. If you were to ask me who created DuckTales, I would say, "Which one?" They are that distinct, but also closely connected. If you start off watching it and you're laughing but you're not super-invested yet, give it time. It does get there. It's worth the wait, and, yeah, you're gonna get a lot of laughs along the way. Go ahead and grab onto some DuckTales. Whoo-hoo!

(The final scene of the whole show is shown, showing Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby holding hands and falling through the sky, before Scrooge's #1 dime flies to the camera and transitions to the show's title, officially ending the entire series)