#i don't remember if this actually happens but the pig eventually runs on magic instead of its engine

[worthlessandembarrasing]

[fly-pow-bye]

Ducktales 2017 - “Daytrip of Doom!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow, Rachel Vine, Matt Youngberg

Written by: Rachel Vine

Storyboards by: Emmy Cicierega, Ben Holm, Jason Reicher

Directed by: Dana Terrace

Imported guitar games!

We start off the cold open of the first regular episode with Scrooge McDuck waking up, not really minding that Huey, Dewie and Louie are playing with foam dart guns. He even helps Dewey out by telling him not to shout when he's aiming at something, possibly training him for future missions. Mrs. Beakley doesn't exactly agree, as she alone has to prevent anything from getting broken.

Eventually, we get to see the far more adventurous and Mabel Pines-like Webby, doing what she does. Webby takes this game far more seriously, using grappling hooks, night-vision goggles, and even sets up a trap for Dewey and Louie to fall into. This contrast between the Webby and the boys sets up the main premise of the A plot.

After Scrooge McDuck finally draws the line at Donald Duck bathing in his washroom, Scrooge McDuck starts a family meeting to lay down two rules. 1. His space is his space, and 2. Refer to Mrs. Beakley for any other rules. While he had some character development with the nephews, he's still just as selfish as ever. He doesn't appear for most of this episode, giving more of the spotlight to the nephews and granddaughter.

This is not to say it's only the nephews and the granddaughter. Mrs. Beakley continues the meeting by flipping the blackboard to reveal a complicated diagram of rules. Much to Donald's chagrin, one of them is that nobody is above them, not even Donald, and he's not very happy about that. They get into a fight, telling the kids to leave. This sets up the B plot of Mrs. Beakley and Donald Duck not really getting along.

After they're forced to leave for what is probably not a kissing session, as they assumed. Webby wants to play more games, but the boys suggest a nap instead. Louie gives a better plan: going to Funso's Funzone! Dewey decides to invite Webby, because she's been sheltered all her life. Webby leaves to get her stuff by climbing up the wall. Whimsy!

Webby brings the usual kids stuff: grapping hooks, night vision goggles, the same kind of things she used in the foam dart scene. She tells herself that she's going to play it cool. She is not going to play it cool. From this scene, one can guess where this is going. She's going to be awkward, she's going to ruin the day somehow, the boys will shun her, and she's probably going to use these items to help the boys defeat whatever evil is going to capture them later in the episode.

While Webby gets super excited, we take a slight detour to the B plot, where Mrs. Beakley confronts Donald over him hooking up too many things and literally just holding a running water hose. There isn't much to say about these scenes. The episode just stops to show Donald Duck failing to get power. I've watched this episode a lot; I don't really remember what was funny about these scenes. For the record, Scrooge is nonexistent in this episode beyond the first scene, though he seems to be on Donald Duck’s side by virtue of not really caring. That's not necessarily a bad thing; he didn't need to be in this episode.

Webby gets to go on a bus for the first time in her life. Huey tries to prepare her, among other things, not to lick anything. Let's see how that works out!

Not well. She couldn't even follow the "no licking anything" rule, though thankfully on a pole. Apparently, she was so annoying, even the boys get thrown out, even though they didn't do anything. They seem fine with it, seemingly giving her quite a few chances. However, they have to walk through a seedy part of the neighborhood to get to their destination. Where people write "flatulence" on the wall, ducks play hopscotch on crime scene chalk outlines...

...and, of course, where three of the Beagle Boys are mugging some poor bird and stealing his truck. If you're familiar with the original show, they certainly have more distinct designs. One of the major differences is that Burger, the fat one that loved to eat in the original cartoon, is now a skinny guy who only speaks in grunts. It looks like they just took his admittedly "not cool nowadays" personality away, but maybe it'll get better in future episodes.

After the commercial break, they're finally at Funso's Funworld, and this episode turns out to be a "kids visit the Chuck E Cheese clone" episode. Each of the nephews seem to have their own way of having fun. By each of them, I mean just Louie and Dewey.

Louie takes her to the Pizza Pier, and he continues to be the sleaziest of the three. He clearly knows everyone in the pier, and is able to talk his way into free tokens and free drinks. Specifically, asking for water cups, and getting fruit punch. Webby is horrified, but Louie asks her to try the same thing.

Of course, her lack of social skills and inability to lie, outright telling the server what she intends to do with the water cup, only ends up getting the manager, who happens to be a pig, to kick both of them out. There is a really good joke that really plays into Webby's new character that is really subtle, but it's mostly just the expected scene otherwise.

Meanwhile, the Beagle Boys are. A man in a Funso costume tells them that no adults can come in unless they're accompanied by a minor. Big Time points backwards, and we see Bouncer in an ill-fitting outfit and holding a lollipop.

Now, how is this any different from those awful drag jokes in certain lesser cartoons? First, it's not a drag joke. The joke isn't just "look at this wacky villain in a costume", they play up now nobody would actually buy this. He actually says that line. An actual joke, if simple.

Speaking of simple jokes. Dewey introduces Webby to Uke or Puke, an obvious Guitar Hero parody. The joke is vomit.

Dewey: Behold! The best game ever created! Japanese import, there’s only one in the U.S., and I have the top ten scores...so I’m pretty much the best in the country.

Oh, so it's a GuitarFreaks parody! Despite never playing a video game before, she easily gets the hang of it. Yeah, that's definitely not accurate to real life, especially with those Japanese rhythm games. In fact, considering arcades nowadays, especially considering Chuck E Cheese, I'm surprised tickets never get involved.

We never get to see if Dewey's high scores get beaten by the utter magic of Webby, because this is all interrupted by Big Time and Bouncer in the Funso costume they stole by force in the previous scene. It ends as soon as it begins, as Webby instinctively hits the person sneaking up on her with the fake ukelele. Unforunately, not only do people see her as beating up Funso, he happens to land in a way that unhooks the game, getting rid of all the high scores.

As said before, they don't really think of a thing she could do to ruin Huey's enjoyment, so he just joins in to show that they aren't really that mad, subverting our expectations. Of course, this doesn't last long, as an acccident involving a deep part of a ball pit and the grappling hook causes Webby to accidently cause a fire. Even the boys get banned from Funso's, even if only one of them actually did anything wrong.

As for that prediction, while the boys never shun her directly, they sure think it loudly. Thankfully, as the manager calls Funso to take them away, it turns out Funso is still the Beagle Boys in disguise. Tying them up with rope, something proven on this very blog to keep superheroes from escaping, Big Shot has them call...

Ma Beagle, their boss. One of the main aspects of Ma Beagle is that Big Shot really wants her to give him praise, but Ma Beagle just isn't having it. He tells Ma Beagle all about his plan to kidnap the McDuck Brats, and have Burger throw a ransom note at Donald Duck, letting the B plot converge into the A plot for the benefit of the episode.

While the Beagle Boys are different from the original, they're still not too bright, as Ma Beagle tells them they just painted a giant target on themselves. Not only could Scrooge McDuck come in and give some a whollop rather than dollars, but possibly Mrs. Beakley as well! They don't get into too much detail, but the fact that the maid has a reputation says a lot about her.

Sure enough, Mrs. Beakley and Donald confront the Beagle Boys, and everyone's preparing for Mrs. Beakley to finally show what she'll do in an adventure situation. Unforunately, we're just going to have to wait.

Instead, it's Donald Duck that takes him down with his trademark outburst. The disappointment is most replaced by knowing how Donald Duck probably took care of things back when he was adventuring with Scrooge and Della. As for the other two, and how the nephews and Webby get out of their situation, I like being more vague when it comes to shows I actually enjoy, so I'll just spoil at least one things: Webby at least knows how to get out of rope, which was made believable by her previous actions.

Needless to say, I was mostly correct about my initial assumption, as Webby learns it's okay to be the odd one even if it caused them to be banned from a place they really loved. They seem to be okay with it, so everything turned out alright.

While this episode does a good job in building up Mrs. Beakley as this amazing person, both in how the Beagle Boys and Ma Beagle talk about her and a little joke in the end, we never actually see her do anything beyond her keeping the house safe from the nephew’s dart gun game in the beginning.

Teasing things that may happen in future episodes is happening a lot with this show, and it will happen in the next episode as well. Clearly, they want to be watching. I want to watch these potential episodes, so...mission accomplished?

How does it stack up?

Obviously, this wasn’t going to be as epic as the special that started this show. There’s still some good jokes, and one of my worries, that Webby would become this invincible can't-do-anything-wrong-unlike-those-icky-boys character in an effort to try to make her not as unmemorable as the original Webby, didn’t entirely come true. On the other hand, while not everything has to be a part of a major plotline, this is a cartoon after all, most of this episode felt like a throwaway.

According to Comcast, this episode was meant to be episode 3. Having seen The Great Dime Chase so I can have some sort of comparison for my ratings, I can probably see why they decided to swap the two. Not that this episode is bad, far from it, but let's just say, the next episode will have more of a bang than this one.

Honestly, this is the most skippable episode I've seen of the show so far, even if it's still entertaining. In the Fly Pow Bye economy, with its show-specific bell curves, Neutral Nephews are worth a little more than a Happy Buttercup.

Next, let's get to the chase!

← Woo-oo! 🦆 The Great Dime Chase! →