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fly-pow-bye · 5 years ago

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DuckTales 2017 - “The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Christian Magalhaes

Storyboard by: Vince Aparo, Emmy Cicirega, Ben Holm

Directed by: Tanner Johnson

Part 2 of the big catch-up!

The episode begins with the Ottoman Empire. No, not that one, Djinn, it's the TV-show-within-a-TV-show. In this episode, one of the hosts tries to host by himself, rebelling against his co-host who thinks he can not. He then forgets the half of the slogan his co-host usually says.

Outside of one more cameo of the show, which I will get to later, this gag only appears in this opening. I assume this is just a "character watches something on TV with a cheap gag" opener.

That character being Louie, who is moping on the couch. Scrooge offers him some misprinted business cards he can easily permanent marker into Louie Inc. cards. Not only does Louie not know what a business card is, because those kids and their social media, but he wants to give up this whole Louie Inc. thing. There were five people in line at the patent office, and that obstacle was enough to make him give up. "Classic Louie", even Louie himself says.

Scrooge is not going to accept that, and decides to tell him a story in an attempt to get his determination back. Really, this is all just a framing device for an old-timey story about grit and determination. Even Louie knows it, as that's a direct quote from him. Not the framing device part, anyway; this episode's fourth wall breaks are far more subtle.

The real story starts back when the Old West was the current west, in a small town called Gumption. A young Scrooge McDuck, with his unfailing sense of where gold is, bought a plot of land that may contain a large amount of gold. He was starving but determined, and he wants to claim his destiny.

He finds a small gold nugget in the rocks, a clear sign that something much, much bigger must be nearby. He grabs his stick of dynamite, and quickly climbs up the ladder, only for a part of the ladder to break, causing him to fall right into an explosion.

Of course, he survives, I wouldn't have wanted that twist. However, he does get his foot caught in the rubble. However, unlike a certain person in real life or a certain moon dweller in the universe I'm looking over, at least he had his pickaxe within reach. He does get some additional help from an oddly familiar fellow.

Oddly Familiar Fellow: Howdy, friend!

Meet Sheriff Marshall Cabrera, clearly either Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera's grandfather or another relative of that sort. It's cool to see that the Cabrera family line has always been about justice, whether it be a robotic superhero, a police officer, or, in this character's case, a town sheriff. A sheriff named Marshall; they do make a joke about that.

He says that he wants to let all the prospectors know that a big-shot is coming to bring fortune to Gumption. Ignoring the big-shot, Scrooge is more ticked about how he referred to a plural amount prospectors when he's the only one. Turns out, it’s a two prospector town now! He marches towards a tent, preparing to wallop whoever this guy is, and then, right behind his back...

Goldie O'Gilt: Hootie-hoo, Scroogie!

Scrooge: Of course.

Goldie O'Gilt, his long time ex-rival, ex-partner, and pain in the tail, followed Scrooge in an attempt to steal whatever loot he gets. Scrooge is not happy about this new turn in this plot.

Louie shares that unhappiness, though for different reasons. He thinks this is just going to turn into more "old people love". A lot of the humor of the episode consists of commentary from Louie. Scrooge still denies any sort of romantic tension between them, though he can't disagree that there isn't any hand-holding...

...it's just not the kind Louie was talking about. Because that interruption wasn't enough, Louie then complains about all the prospector slang they're using. As much as the interruptions sometimes interrupts the flow of the story, we do get to hear David Tennant say “you’re killing my vibe, dude!” I could see that as how Scrooge thinks the young'ns talk. Thankfully, Louie changes his mind about that, and lets the story continue.

They both decide to compete to see which one is going to get the gold first. Making matters worse for Scrooge is that Goldie bought all of the dynamite. They work day and night, though we only see her using the dynamite at night. Not sure if that means she's just confident enough to use the Tortoise and the Hare strategy, and didn't read to the end of that fable.

In the end, it turns out to be a three-way tie.

No, that's not a typo, another potential rival comes in and grabs the giant nugget with a far stronger grasp due to using a mobile crane. Continuing the trend of bringing comic characters to animation for the first time, this rival turns out to be the first animated appearance of John D. Rockerduck. Really rich with money, but not rich with kindness.

Case in point, he shakes the hand of his fellow prospector, and then immediately takes off the gloves and asked if they would be burned. Already from the beginning, he shows himself as a rather despicable being, but don't tell that to the town and their sheriff. This was the big shot he was talking about, and he's going to use what he christens the "Rockerduck Nugget" to make the town wealthy.

Obviously, Scrooge is not too happy about yet another prospector coming to town to steal what he would christen the "McDuck Nugget". Goldie throws fuel to the fire by talking about how legendary Scrooge is, leading to some good ol' fashioned fisticuffs.

Rockerduck is definitely far less jokey than, say, Glomgold, but him attempting to fight Scrooge is probably his funniest moment. Sheriff Marshall breaks up the fight before anyone gets seriously hurt.

Of course, this is all just a plan to distract the other two while she steals what she might call the Goldie Nugget and the mobile crane. Unfortunately, she gets stopped by Jeeves, Rockerduck’s bodyguard, assistant, and wearer of silver teeth. Man, these reboots really love parodies of Jaws from the James Bond films. He's not much of a talker, never mind an answerer of questions.

...wow, I'm old.

Unfortunately, the law is the law, and Scrooge and Goldie are put behind bars. This seems like the usual cliche of the innocent heroes getting framed while the true bad guy gets away with it, but they did just commit assault and grand theft auto, respectively. Even Goldie admits they would have been better off if the sheriff was crooked. Granted, him owning the town probably skewed the scales a bit. Suddenly, that rebellious host of Ottoman Empire shows up and teases the conclusion will happen after the break!

It turns out, Louie turned on the TV, much to Scrooge's chagrin, and he tries to defend himself by saying he was trying to record it later. As much as I want to say that this interruption just takes up some time, there is one little thing I do like about it: we actually see him quickly hit the record button. It was clearly not his intention.

However, another character does seemingly invade the story, and it's not because of Louie.

This "nameless stranger" happened to be hiding under the sheets of the bunk bed. It may as well be the same Gyro Gearloose from the present...because it is due to some time travel shenanigans, though he denies it to the onlookers. I did look it up, Gyro Gearloose did have a world-travelling grandfather in the comics, but they decided to go with him time-travelling to the past. Maybe they felt it would be too coincidental to have every grandparent just show up in this plot, and there's a few other reasons, too.

One of the big reasons is that he comes with the knowledge that history will paint Rockerduck as a crook, swindling every city he said he would help.

Sheriff Marshall doesn't believe this strange man, by saying Rockerduck made a lot of cities rich, and then names all of his previous towns. With each finger he pulls up, his expression changes to show that those towns probably didn't get that much philanthropy. Usually, the saying is show and not tell, but I think this telling is powerful. After realizing this, he decides to let them go, and even joins them in their quest to, well, let's let Scrooge say it.

Scrooge: The outlaw Scrooge McDuck has a train to rob!

Ooh, just like the title!

Gyro, or that nameless stranger to everyone else here, also brings the knowledge of building rocket horses out of wood. He tried to make some organic ones with actual horses, but we see that those didn't turn out so well. It's funnier than it sounds, trust me.

Scrooge and Goldie decide to put on disguises to make them look more like upper-class citizens. Goldie thinks Scrooge can’t pull off a rich man look, but with a top hat and cane stolen from the Mayor, he looks the part. This almost leads to a big romantic scene. Keyword: almost, as she praises that it covers the bald spot. It’s a running gag that lasts throughout the episode, and the last one featuring Goldie, come to think of it. It is practically a relationship trait in itself.

With the help of those rocket horses, Scrooge and Goldie are able to catch the train. The Sheriff completely believes that ordinary horses could have easily caught up with the train, too, but Gyro's response is that he's irritatingly familiar.

We see Rockerduck commanding the people on the train to laugh at his selfish acts, and having Jeeves throw someone off the train for questioning them. You know, just in case anyone didn't know he was evil. Scrooge and Goldie have to steal a key to the boxcar that contains the nugget, but it's currently hanging on Rockerduck's suit. What does Goldie do?

She asks the piano player to play a new song she makes up on the fly. In the middle, she pretends to flirt with Rockerduck, pushing aside Scrooge at the same time. Then, she tells Scrooge to hurry up, using that command as lyrics to her song. There's some great bits in there.

Thanks to this song and dance, Scrooge manages to get the key without anyone noticing. That song proved to be a good distraction for everyone outside of one minor exception.

Meanwhile, Gyro and Sheriff Marshall try to operate Gyro’s rocket horse and buggy, which I assume is what was supposed to carry that nugget, and the untrained sheriff accidentally makes it blow up instead. This knocks out Gyro.

If you’re wondering how Scrooge would know about this, you’re not alone, as Louie, after a long time after the Ottoman Empire gag, gets to interrupt the story again pointing out that very plot hole! Scrooge's response?

Scrooge: Look who’s suddenly invested.

Louie: It's just...ugh, Just keep going!

Yes, please keep going.

Back to the story, Sheriff Marshall accidentally stumbles backwards, getting his hand stuck in a wooden gauntlet. That wooden gauntlet ends up guiding him into the background. One big hint of what's going on: he says "Blathering Blatherskite". I guess that was a family tradition that goes back, too.

Just as soon as they get into the boxcar with the nugget, that one minor exception shows up. Scrooge tries to give this overly large guy a wallop, and he does about as well as one might expect. This was apparently before he learned how to use a cane, after all.

Just before we get a Jeeves Punch, Scrooge Down, he manages to get punched through the door by...a superhero?

Marshall is back, wearing a superpowered suit that turns him into...okay, they never really give Steam-Powered GizmoDuck a name. If he does have a name, he does not have a chance to say it as he loses control as soon as he starts carrying the nugget.

Even that wooden punch didn't do too much to Jeeves, as he just picks them both back up. I guess if Gyro and his inventions did too much, he would mess up the entire time stream. To quote young Donald in Last Christmas!...

Young Donald: Did you ever see any movie?!

Anyway, since fighting him is out of the question, Scrooge decides to appeal to the lower-class bouncer that he is. He tells him that Rockerduck doesn’t care about him, and he should do what is right. With that nugget of truth, he decides to let them go.

Then again, giving him that little actual nugget of gold from the beginning of the story probably helped without. It's nice to see something from the beginning be a major part in the end. They are thrown onto to the golden nugget that WoodenDuck is carrying, and Rockerduck looks at this, and pretty much just shrugs it off. They only defeated one of his schemes, anyway.

Unfortunately, the GizmoDuck of the past is just as prone to overheating, as it overheats and begins to self-destruct. To indirectly keep Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera from disappearing, he jumps out of the suit as it carries the nugget right over a gulch.

The suit explodes, with the golden nugget. Scrooge begins to open his mouth, and it immediately cuts to Louie yelling a big no. This is the first genuine reaction out of Louie that isn't boredom or nitpicking. How fitting of Louie's character.

Thankfully, the pieces of the nugget that washed in the gulch went right back to Gumption, much to the joy of the townsfolk. Everything turned out alright; Goldie managed to deck Scrooge in the face and get most of the gold, the townspeople are happy, and even Gyro managed to get back to his home time with a bathtub time machine. I wonder how that came to be; maybe he'll make a movie about it.

As for Scrooge, while he was not necessarily happy with this ending, he did manage to make a panning venture out of it. That venture did lead to a war, but this is the part where Louie decides to just tell him to stop. Louie wanted a happy ending, but to Scrooge, money-making ventures never end.

In the end, Scrooge asks Louie how he wants to make his fortune. He could be a con-man like Rockerduck, be a shifty operator like Goldie, or be an industrious self-made man like his Uncle Scrooge. His answer to this is this episode's big teaser, and it certainly fits Louie's rebellious character.

...wait, is that what the Ottoman Empire joke from the beginning was alluding to? We are just going to have to wait and see.

How does it stack up?

Definitely liked this episode better than the episode with her first appearance, and while it's not necessarily because of Goldie, she doesn't detriment the episode. I would love to see more stories like this, maybe without the Louie commentary, though I wouldn't say he ruined the episode either. How best to say this episode wasn't ruined. How about this?

Next, Scrooge actually losing money?

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