DuckTale: A Reboot Done Right!
Anyone else die a little inside when they here another reboot is happening? It’s not that reboots are inherently bad, but in the last several years they are rarely… good. You have reboots like Teen Titans Go! that have character names in common… and that’s pretty much it. They don’t pay any attention to what came before and are counting on potty humor to carry them. You have reboots like Sailor Moon Crystal that is so similar to the original source material (the manga/comic) that you could almost read along. There are people who appreciate that sort of thing, but it takes absolutely no risks. You have reboots like the newest Beauty and the Beast movie that just miss that mark. They took some risks, but they wanted so much to honor Howard Ashman (in no way is that a bad thing) that few of their changes really made much of an impact. You don’t really have reboots that take too many risks that don’t pay off, because reboots in general are a safe and quick cash grab for companies. They know that people will watch the reboot if only for curiosities sake. But doesn’t it make more sense to re-imagine a show in a way that grabs the attention of not just those who remember it and loved it, but those who have yet to discover it.
But more and more we are getting reboots that not only highlight what we who grew up with it love, but takes enough risks that it feels fresh and new audiences are willing to take part. You can see it with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (in its 7th season), the live action Jungle Book from 2016, Spiderman: Homecoming, and most recently the new DuckTales series on Disney XD.
When I first heard about the DuckTales reboot, I was conflicted. The more artwork and promos that got released the more conflicted I felt. I wanted to feel excited, they were showing us how much potential this has, but with all of that potential the harder the crash would be if they did not meet it. With all of this hanging over it, what did I think of the new DuckTales? It was more than I thought it could be!
You could tell from early artwork that they were trying to distinguish Huey, Dewey, and Louie from one another. They got separate voice actors for the triplets and worked to make sure they had distinguishable character traits, which hasn’t been tried since the infamous Quack Pack series. And it really works. They didn’t focus on making the characters “hip and cool” (which ultimately dates the series), but instead focused on the boys and thought about how each one of them would relate to the world, their family and friends, and each other. And they did it. From this one episode that Huey is the most responsible and the nerdiest of the three, that Dewey is driven by the challenge and is most interested in the epic-ness of adventure, and Louie is very clearly about the gain, and the more gain and the less effort the more interested he is. From ONE episode. I love it when I can get an idea of a character from that little of information.
Webbie is also nicely updated, and while I thought that she was going to be a copy of Mabel from Gravity Falls, there are more than a few differences. While they are both imaginative, adventurous, hyper girls, Webbie is far more isolated and insecure. Mabel makes friends everywhere she goes, but Webbie actually asks the boys “Are we friends now?” after she captures them and explains that she lives in the manor with her grandma and studies literally everything to do with Scrooge McDuck. Webbie’s imagination also has a darker, espionage flair, while Mabel’s is sunshine, rainbows and sparkles. And I really love Webbie. I liked seeing her try to figure out how to relate to kids her own age. I liked her problem solving. I loved her voice. It was a happy update from the 80s and her high-pitched voice that sounded more like a 3-year-old than someone who did contribute on the adventures.
Watching Donald in this was awesome. You could see that he is still our favorite ill-tempered duck, but there was something that we’ve never seen in Donald, parental care and worry. He is very much like he is in early Scrooge comics, still temperamental but you can tell that he cares about his family. But something that hasn’t been explored before is the idea of an estranged relationship between Donald and Scrooge. It’s very intriguing and gives the writers room to grow, to repair possibly lost trust with Huey, Dewey, and Louie acting as that bridge between them.
Not much was changed with Launch Pad McQuack and I wouldn’t want it to. The only change I could see was that Launch Pad was already working for Scrooge as his chauffer, so we will move on to Beakly. I like that they made it so that Mrs Beakly was aleady working for Scrooge as his house keeper. It fits with his character to not hire more people than he deems necessary to run his house and having Mrs Beakly already living there means no one else has to be introduced or hired. But from a few lines that aren’t explained, you get the feeling that there’s more history between Scrooge and Beakly. The exchange that the two of them have in his study hints that Beakly knows him very well, working for him for a long time and probably going on past adventures with him. We know from Webbie that Beakly has trained her to “be ready for anything” but keeps her at the mansion with her. I see a correlation between Beakly’s and Donald’s attitudes towards their families and wanting to keep them safe and out of trouble. And while Beakly’s relationship with Scrooge has not suffered the same way Donald’s has, she still doesn’t want to risk Webbie to adventure.
Now Scrooge. Scrooge is the same greedy duck we all know and love, but we can see these days he doesn’t go adventuring the way he used to and he is bored. Why he stopped hasn’t been explained, but there’s time to explore that. He doesn’t like the thought that his adventures are over and that he should (in a sense) retire from those days. He doesn’t want to become a doting old man that spins tall tales for the next generation. Then Donald comes back into his life with his great-nephews in tow and they turn his world upside down in a way that he’s missed. Yeah, he shows off a bit for these kids, but whatever happened in his past with Donald I think is influencing him, because he tries to keep them safe. And at the end of it all, he invites Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie to come live with him. That is huge to me! I feel like he didn’t just offer his home because they suddenly found themselves homeless, but because he’s realized how much he misses his family.
I’m very impressed with what Disney XD has done so far. This feels like it’s going to be an awesome adventure. It pays homage to what has come before, but it changes what needs to be changed to bring it into the 21st century. I recommend anyone who hasn’t done it to check out on YouTube and I am anxiously waiting for the official premiere of the series this September 23rd.
