Gotta love it when the opening impressions can take up one arc. Five episodes to an arc makes it very easy indeed. So, thanks to the new reboot coming out on Disney XD soon, to give it more of a variety then Cartoon Network has going for it (we do not need 176 episodes of Teen Titans Go a week. Stop it!). I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at the original show, see how well it opened up, to reasonably compare the two once it comes out.
The basic plot of the five episodes, the overarching part at least, is for one of the main characters, Scrooge McDuck, to open up more to his family, considering as he's a rich penny pincher who hates to spend a cent, even when he has a vault full of so many gold coins that he can swim in it... somehow, look its cartoon logic here, just go with it. The family in question primarily being his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, who he's taking care of as Donald Duck has joined the navy, but the cast does expand to Webbey, Ms. Beakley, and Lauchpad McQuack. The show is called Ducktales, were you expecting normal names? Thanks to a model ship which turned out to be a map to a treasure, the crew go out to seek a very Mayan themed treasure, consisting of enough gold to turn an already rich duck into the richest thing on the planet, including entire continents, especially the EU. I stand by not going into political views... more often then not, on this site. Doesn't mean I won't make political jokes, because while some may choose to die on hills that contradict established science and the gender of designs that you'd think were supposed to be gender neutral, I choose do die on the hill that keeps comedy on all topics alive. Why live if we can't enjoy ourselves! Getting back on topic though, the story itself is a good introduction for the characters, but I don't find the characters interesting.
I am well aware this is five episodes out of a four season show, but I have seen shows which do have more three dimensional characters then this in five episodes. Scrooge's thing is that he wants more money. He is caring, and does get the lion's share of the character development, so he is the best of the main cast. However everyone else... not so much. Huey, Dewey and Louie are flat and feel like carbon copies of each other, Webby is the by the numbers token girl, though considering the era this is from I'm not surprised, but its no excuse either. Ms. Beakley is a token nanny character, and... Ok I'll admit Launchpad does have some great moments in this. He's the token comedic relief, but he's a very well done comedic relief.
Animation wise, it feels very generic for the time, and compared to other cartoons I've watched from that era, it does play it pretty safe. But that's also the theme of the show, I'm not expecting Animaniacs levels of animation speed. It does work for what its setting out to do. Same thing can be said for most of the music, but, and yes I am repeating what many others say, it is still true though, the main theme is an earworm, in a good way, but it will never leave you. Unfortunately there wasn't much of a hook for me as it didn't catch my interest. It might get better, the reboot could be better, but for now I will leave it as is, and move on to other things. Three of those things being a couple of quick smart phone game reviews, just because I've got an up to date phone now, so I can review them. The three in question. Transformers Earth Wars, Transformers Forged to Fight, and Fire Emblem Heroes.
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