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DuckTales Series Finale Review

On the Ides of March 2021, I got up at 5:00 AM with one thing on my mind: DuckTales. The 90-minute finale would premiere that evening, but I couldn’t wait any longer. That’s why I got up bright and early so I could watch it all on DisneyNOW. Having seen it in its entirety, I can safely say that I made the right choice.

In a nutshell, the DuckTales series finale was, well, absolutely amazing. A perfect encapsulation of the show’s ultimate theme. At it’s core, DuckTales isn’t about adventure. Well, it is, but there’s something much more important. Family. Family has been at the heart of DuckTales from the start. Whether it’s the family that you’re born in, or the one you choose, family is what makes DuckTales great. And even amidst a finale that’s not afraid to give payoffs to things we didn’t even know know had payoffs, it never forgets that.

This goes without saying, but prepare for spoilers as we get to the “Whoa”, the “Wait, What?” and the “AHH, important life lesson!”

The Tale of Webby

Despite the season mainly focusing on Huey and his character growth, he’s not the sole focus for the series finale. Rather, he shares that role with the girl who, after seeing the finale, is probably my favorite character on the show: Webby Vanderquack. And I know some people are going to complain and say that this is going to come out of left-field or a butt-pull, but Matt, Frank, and their team have said that they planned this out from the beginning. I trusted them for four years, and I’m glad to say I trusted them.

The finale starts off in Funso’s Funzone, and it’s Webby’s birthday! All her friends and loved ones are there (and I do mean all) and everyone’s just enjoying themselves. Except, it’s not just a party. It’s a raid on FOWL! While he slept, Launchpad has been giving the family info about the secret FOWL base under Funso’s. It looks like the final battle is about to begin! Only for FOWL to have cleaned house. But they left something behind.

Whoa! That feather Black Heron got from the heroes in Instanboar was from Webby and they used it, and the other Missing Mysteries, to clone her, creating May and June. This was completely unexpected on my part. Why clone Webby and not Scrooge like I thought they would? That mystery compels both Huey and Webby, on their lonesome, to infiltrate FOWL’s new base: the great Library of Alexandria.

Wait, What’s this About Bradford?

It’s here that we get some more insight into Bradford’s backstory. It turns out, Isabella Finch, the founder of the Junior Woodchucks and the person Scrooge and Huey most admire, was his grandma. And she took him on the same crazy adventures that Scrooge would take his family on. However, unlike Duck family, Bradford got traumatized by it. So now he hates adventuring and wants to rid the world of it and make it lame, boring, and under his thumb.

In essence, this makes Bradford the antithesis to Scrooge. Whereas Scrooge looks at the trouble and mystery of the world and sees wonder and excitement, Bradford sees, well, chaos. Ergo, he wants to rid the world of said chaos out of spite for his Grandma.

Look, I get why Bradford would be upset; plenty of parental figures drag their kids into stuff that they grow to resent. But that’s excuse for him to try and rob the world of all that gives it wonder. Plus, he’s got no right to spout stuff like that after what he’s done to Scrooge and his family.

I’m not just talking about FOWL. Near the climax of the finale, Bradford makes Scrooge lose his cool by dropping this massive bombshell: he’s the one who leaked word about the Spear of Selene to Della. In other words, her being lost in space, the family falling apart, the boys going for years without knowing about their mom? It was all on him. Oh, and that also led to Lunaris nearly destroying the Earth. For all his talk about reining in the chaos, Bradford caused a lot of it. And here, he tries to end it.

Webby is……NO WAYYY!!!!

Long-story short, the Duck family launches an all-out assault on FOWL, for real this time, only to be picked off and almost beaten altogether. It leads to each of the heroes getting a chance to shine against FOWL, some epic fight scenes, and surprise cameos from almost every character that’s appeared in the show. That FOWL somehow captured. But the biggest bombshell of the episode? It’s about Webby. She’s the key to Bradford’s plans.

Remember that magic papyrus that Scrooge, Donald and Della went to look for on their first adventure? Scrooge commanded it to be hidden until the true heir of Scrooge McDuck found it. I knew that this meant it would play a role in the finale, but I thought that one of the members of the Duck Family would find it. Instead, it was Webby. Wait, what?

In what has to be the biggest double-whammy twist the show could ever give us, we learn the truth about Webby. She was genetically engineered by FOWL and then rescued by Mrs. Beakley before she could be used for evil. So that’s what the Harp was talking about in Mervana. And it also explains why Beakley was so paranoid about keeping Webby safe. But that’s not the crazy part: the crazy part is that Bradford used Scrooge’s DNA to create Webby. Which means…Webby is a clone/Scrooge’s daughter.

My brain almost shut down over the course of several minutes. Of all the plot twists I expected, I never thought that they would come up with this!! If it weren’t for the fact that Bradford was holding everyone hostage to get Scrooge to sign a magically binding contract on the Papyrus to never adventure again, I would be overjoyed.

Family is the Greatest Adventure of All

Ultimately, Bradford’s defeated when the family discovers a flaw in his contract. It says that Scrooge can stay with his family as long as he gives up adventure. But something that Bradford could never understand is that family is the greatest adventure of all. It’s the perfect encapsulation of the show’s whole theme. Whether you’re related by blood or by the bonds you share, family is an adventure; you just have to be willing to embrace it. Bradford never could, which is why he loses. And Scrooge’s real villains (who FOWL brainwashed into serving them) give him a fitting punishment. In an echo of what happened to her brother, Magica strips Bradford of his sentience and turns into a mindless vulture. A fitting punishment indeed.

And thus, the biggest adventure of DuckTales comes to an end, with the heroes flying off to new adventures. Fenton and Gandra are reunited, Donald decides to adopt May and June as he and Daisy go traveling around the world together. Which is great for him. After all the things he’s gone through in his life, giving up on his own wants and needs for the sake of his family, he truly deserves a chance at happiness.

As for Scrooge? He gets to spend time with his family, including his newfound daughter.

Until We Meet Again, DuckTales!

But does this mean that the adventure’s over? That DuckTales! is done and we’ll never see these incarnations of its characters? Not a chance. After what Disney has done, they’d have to be out of their mind to let the likes of Scrooge, the Triplets, Della and the others fall by the wayside again! In fact, they’re already planning on continuing it. Starting two weeks from now, we’ll be getting a limited podcast series, “This Duckburg Life”, starring the cast of the show.

So, am I sad that DuckTales! is now over? Yeah, a little. But I also know that this isn’t the end. Just like the original DuckTales inspired the reboot, the reboot may inspire someone else to pick up where the show left off. It’s a mystery as to what comes next, but that’s part of what makes it so much fun!

In my humble opinion, I consider “The Last Adventure” to be a near-perfect masterpiece that captures everything that DuckTales! wanted to teach people both young and old. How the world is full of wonder and adventure waiting to be found. That you need to learn to ride the waves of life rather than fight them to be happy. And that the greatest adventure of all can be the one you share with your family. Thank you, DuckTales! for four years of amazing storytelling. Woo-ooo!

I Give “The Last Adventure” a 5/5

Stray Observation

• This whole time, Manny the Headless Manhorse was a reference to the freaking Gargoyles show. Well played, Matt and Frank. Well played

Oh, and Check out these DuckTales! Articles that I wrote for The Game of Nerds!

The Greatest Characters on DuckTales

DuckTales 2017 is Disney Afternoon Love Letter

Eleven Best Guest Stars in the 2017 DuckTales Reboot

My Favorite Episodes of DuckTales 2017

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

DuckTales! Season 3, Episode 16 Review

Ah, the wonder of childhood. A time when the world’s new, exciting, and a grand adventure to be had! For Donald and Della Duck, though, it ended up being just that when they got to spend time with their Uncle Scrooge. We all know that Scrooge, Donald, and Della went on countless adventures in their younger days. Until now, though, we’ve never gotten to see what it was like for them. This week’s episode of DuckTales! gives us an adorable heaping of the past as we see the trio’s first adventure!

Did I mention that Lil’ Donald and Della are adorable?

Kids Will Be Kids

After flashing back to the 1960s to reveal the origins of F.O.W.L. (more on that later), we see Scrooge at the point in his life where he’s given up on his adventuring. While he did enjoy it, he only used it as a means to build his business empire up. Then Donald, Della, and a well-time call from the spy agency S.H.U.S.H. comes in, and blam! Scrooge’s forced back into his adventuring ways.

Having seen how the Duck triplets reignited his love for adventure in the pilot, seeing it happen decades earlier via Donald and Della seems like a hit-and-miss. Scrooge’s more or less the same as he was decades later. What really carries the story is seeing Donald and Della fit the kids roles decades later. Even as a kid, you can see so much of Huey, Dewey, and Louie in Della; Mostly Dewey if you ask me. As for Donald, I forgot he went through a grunge phase as a kid; still hilarious.

Overall, the episode, which focuses on this magic papyrus that can make anything written on it come true, is a nice glimpse at where the Duck Family got started, and where they end up going.

Bradford: A Sane Man in a World of Crazies.

As evil as Bradford Buzzard can be, we at least know why he thinks the way he does. All he wants is order and stability, and the Duck Family’s escapades invite chaos and destruction. In this episode, though, we see how he got started on the path that he’d eventually take, and it basically involves him feeling like he’s surrounded by idiots.

Bradford started as an accountant working for S.H.U.S.H. who was the only person sane enough to point out that the agency’s attempts to stop supervillains causes as much collateral damage as the villains themselves. His solution was to have them take over the world and rein in all chaos, and when they rejected it, he created F.O.W.L. to do it instead.

I know Bradford’s the bad guy (even if he insists he isn’t), but he has a point. The heroes escapades leave a lot of damage at times. Plus, when Bradford finds himself helping Black Heron fight Scrooge’s family, you get the sense that he wants to scream at everyone for how illogical their actions are. Why reveal themselves as the bad guys and give the heroes time to stop them? In fact, it’s only through using the Papyrus of Binding to wipe the heroes memories that Bradford keeps his cover. He used logic to win out over Scrooge and worm his way onto his Board of Directors.

What Bradford fails to get is that his solutions, like taking over the world, are no different than the villains. Ergo, he’s a villain. In addition, he fails to understand an inherent fact of life that Donald points out: you gotta embrace the experience, otherwise you’re not truly living.

Overall, I liked this episode. It gave us an origin story for the original Duck team and for F.O.W.L. while setting us up for future conflicts. I look forward to seeing where the show goes from here!

I Give “The First Adventure” A 4/5.

Stray Observations

• That story that Scrooge was telling Donald and Della was the plot for the five-part pilot to the original DuckTales! Nice!

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DuckTales! Season 3, Episode 15 Review

What do you when you fire someone from a job because they’re not good at it, or because they’re jerks? You look for people to replace them. As it turns out, the same thing can happen with Gods in the Disney Afternoon-verse (that’s right, that’s the name now.) When a position in the Greek Pantheon suddenly opens, the kids find themselves competing to be the new Olympian Idol.

Good Riddance to Ya, Zeus

I want you to remember the version of Zeus that Disney gave in the 1997 film Hercules. Now, I want you to throw that in the trash, because the Zeus from the Greek Myths is nothing like that. To sum the mythological Zeus up: he’s a pig-headed jerk who tries to date any pretty girl he sees and acts like a sore loser. So take out the womanizing, and you’ve got the DuckTales! version. And after one too many misdeeds, the gods of Olympus decided to strip him of his power and rule.

I don’t know why I enjoy it so much, but there’s something so satisfying about seeing jerks get what’s coming to them. And seeing this version of Zeus become a butt-monkey is just so satisfying to see. I quite a good kick out of seeing him come up with a convoluted scheme to earn back his power; it works, but no one respects him anymore.

Oh, and there’s the matter of who’s going to take his place.

The Kids Prove their Self Worth

Connecting this back to the Olympian Idol thing, the Duck Boys and webby are in a rut when they fail an adventure with Scrooge. Worse, Scrooge’s drive to succeed leads him to disregard the signs that they need his approval and try again with another team. Ergo, when Selene comes to offer Della the chance to take Zeus’ place, they each try instead.

The results are as predictable as they are hilarious, in my opinion. Louie learned that the “Midas Touch” is a curse for a reason. Huey couldn’t handle that big brain of his. Webby was less a Princess and more a demon of friendship; and Dewey? Don’t ask, but let’s just say that he was my favorite fail.

I enjoyed seeing the kids suffer this crisis of confidence, and when Zeus’ plan ended up going awry, they’re the ones that saved the day. When all’s said and done, though, they realize that being a god isn’t as great as it sounds. I don’t blame them, either. As much as I’d want to use the power to end climate change and cure cancer, I know it would backfire somehow!

Donald and Daisy…Plus Storkules

So, remember how Donald met Daisy earlier this season? Well, now they’re dating, and it’s going great. Or at least it does until Storkules shows up and acts as a third wheel during their date night.

We all know that Donald and Daisy are meant to be, regardless of the incarnation; ergo, any strife that happened in this episode would get resolved with little trouble. Still, it’s nice to see Daisy react to how crazy Donald’s life can be and learn to accept him, either way. Not to mention, Tress Macneille.

Olympian Idol: A Fun Filler Episode.

So, “New Gods on the Block!” Didn’t advance the over-arching plot involving F.O.W.L. at all this week. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned form watching cartoons with serialized elements, it’s that not every episode needs to move the plot along. They can have self-contained stories that, when the show ends, will likely be remembered just as fondly as the bigger story. I enjoyed this episode, and I just like DuckTales!

I Give “New Gods on the Block” a 4/5

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DuckTales Season 3, Episode 1 Review

Here’s another positive thing that we have to look forward to this Spring: a new season of DuckTales! If you’ve been following my blog, then you’ll know that I think the reboot of DuckTales! is one of the best cartoons in recent years. It’s both nostalgic due to its art style and call backs to the Disney Afternoon shows, while also being modern and original. Given all we’ve learned, this looks to be the show’s most ambitious season yet!

From this moment going forward, I’m abandoning the “Recap/Review” formula I use for cartoons. I’ll be using it for anime and manga, but not other cartoons.

Huey’s Time to Shine

Each season of the show has had a different member of the triplets undergo an important character arc. Dewey’s was learning the truth about what happened to his mom. Louie tried to figure out his role in the family and learned a lesson on humility. By that logic, this season will see Huey get center stage. He certainly does in the premiere where he has to come to terms with that he can’t always be the best.

If you know Huey in the reboot, then you know that being the best Junior Woodchuck he can be means a lot to him. So when he learns that both he and Violet have to compete to see who becomes a Senior Woodchuck, he’s visibly shaken. When she continually proves to be a better Woodchuck, Huey briefly abandons his teachings to win, an action that he regrets.

Fortunately, Violet’s there to give him a valuable lesson. She’s already tried to make Senior Woodchuck three times, only to fail. But failure can give birth to success, a lesson that Huey seems to take to heart as he gracefully concedes defeat. It’s an important life lesson for kids to know that, while they may fail, they can still learn and grow from it.

Dewey and the Dancing Bird

Meanwhile, Scrooge tries to take the rest of the family on a treasure hunt using a map left by his hero and legendary Woodchuck, Isabella Finch. Only, the rest of the family’s uninterested in following a map when their entire thing is to explore the uncharted. Plus, they’re more focused on this weird, colorful bird that Dewey starts dancing with.

Ultimately, Scrooge learns an important lesson: you can look up to your heroes, but you shouldn’t try and copy what they do all the time. Plus, that bird ends up leading them on the right path, anyway. Turns out it’s a descendant of Finch’s pet bird that serves as the Woodchuck’s mascot.

A Good Segue to New Season

So, this first episode was not my favorite by far. If I’m being honest, I lost interest about halfway through the whole thing. However, this does set the show up for the main plot of the season. As it turns out, the treasure of Isabella Finch is her adventuring journal, complete with a list of mysteries that she could never solve! So Scrooge and the Duck family decide to solve these mysteries for themselves!

However, they’re not the only ones interested. At the end of last season, we learned of the existence of F.O.W.L., a crime syndicate that sees the heroes escapades as threats to their power. They spy on the family and decide to beat them to these ancient treasures and artifacts.

With that, we’ve got our plot for the new season of DuckTales!, and it sounds like it’s going to be the most entertaining one yet! I’m giddy with excitement just thinking about it!

So, this season opener wasn’t a very memorable one for me, but considering how fun even the worst episodes of this show can be, I’m going to give it a pass. Here’s to another season of unbelievable adventures!

I Give “Challenge Of The Senior Junior Woodchucks” A 3/5

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Stray Observations

• Did you see how Della’s now a part of the introduction to the show? She’s really here to stay!

• Can we all just acknowledge the reveal that Violet has two dads? I love the fact that we’ve gotten to the point where kid’s shows can casually have same-sex couples. Love knows no bounds!
• According to the show’s staff, Violet’s dad’s adopted Lena some time ago.

Even before the reboot of Ducktales, Della Duck was a bit of a mystery. She’s rarely appeared in any Disney stories, and the original cartoon never even mentioned her. So, fans were pretty excited when the reboot made it clear that it was going to show us who she was; even Nostalgia Critic got hyped.

The mystery behind Della’s absence was one of the biggest plot points during Season One. We got hints of what happened, but it took Scrooge’s bombshell revelation in “The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!” to give us the whole story. And what a sad story! When it looked like Della might be gone for good, the Season One finale showed us that Della was alive. Alive but trapped on the moon.

The Christmas Special “Last Christmas” gave us some insight into what Della was like as a kid, but she hasnt gotten a lot of on-screen time. Plus there are so many questions. How has she survived for ten years without food, water, or oxygen? How could Scrooge fail to find her on the Moon? “What Ever Happened to Della Duck” answers these questions, while laying the groundwork for future plot lines.

Right off the bat, the writers establish what kind of story this episode’s going to tell: after showing how Della crashed the Spear of Selene on the moon, the next scene shows her waking up with her leg pinned underneath the wreckage and no way to get it out. She knows what she has to do, and her response is classic Donald: “Aw, phooey”. The next scene is two months later, her leg amputated in favor of a robot prosthetic. Then the show’s title appears, no song, no credits. Perfect way to emphasize how serious this episode’s going to be.

It is indeed serious, but it also knows how to balance it with humor. For example, the show explains how Della’s survived without a spacesuit: Gyro’s Oxy-Chew gum. It gives her all the food, water, and air she needs. The bad news: it’s black licorice flavored. Yuck!

To pass the time, Della makes video logs a la Mark Watney. This gives viewers insight into what her boys got from her:

• Huey got her love of being a Junior Woodchuck
• Dewey got the love of adventure. And her recklessness
• Louie got her laziness and sharp mind.

Funny enough, she has Donald’s anger problems. But being stuck on the Moon doesn’t break her spirits.

Things will not go her way, though. She tries writing an SOS message, a creature called a Moon-nite eats it before one of Scrooge’s ships can see it. She tries rebuilding the Spear of Selene, she finds its powered by gold. When it takes her four years to remember she had a gold tooth in her mouth, the Moon-Mite comes back and eats part of her ship!

By the end of the episode, she makes peace with the Moon-Mite after learning it was just trying to feed its kid. The moment could have been a Disney cop-out, but Della’s heartfelt song ensures it’s not. The Spear of Selene’s beaten up real bad, though.

It’s here where things finally go Della’s way. After befriending the native inhabitants of the Moon, they let her stay in their giant city made out of gold. More than enough to fix her ship!

Things seem to be looking up for Della, but a comment from one of the Moonlanders gives the impression that they have ulterior motives. That can wait for another day, though.

This episode manages to go above and beyond answering it’s own question while giving us a great story in the vein of great survival stories like The Martian and Robinson Crusoe. Better still, it sets the show for events down the road. The best part, though, is that it finally gave fans a good look at Della Duck.

I Give This Episode a 4.8/5

Final Thoughts

• That Oxy-Chew was a really good plot device, but I wonder: was Della chewing the same piece of gum for ten years?
  • If Della ever gets back to Earth, I think it’d be funny to see her punch Gyro for the gum flavor. “Best flavor in the world” my butt!
• Wait, how do the Moonlanders breath? There’s no air on the Moon!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone! It’s time to kick off my 25 days of Christmas. I watch a new Christmas Special every day and talk about it with you guys. And it just so happens that a new one came on this morning. So, here’s my first special, Last Christmas from Disney’s Ducktales!

A Dr. Scrooge Christmas

Next to Ducktales, Scrooge McDuck is probably most famous for playing his namesake in Mickey’s A Christmas Carol. When this special starts, he also seems to hate Christmas as much as Ebeneezer Scrooge did. He scoffs at everything Christmas related, and even goes “Bah, humbug!” It looks like he’s set for another Christmas Ghost visit. And he gets it… though not in the way you’d think!

Turns out the Ghosts of Christmas met him years ago after mistaking him for Ebeneezer, and every year they go back in time to party for Christmas. Scrooge’s just faking hating Christmas… except for Santa, he hates him.

Things Get Crazy

Long story short, Scrooge goes off to party, only for the Ghost of Christmas Past to get upset at the idea of Scrooge leaving them to spend Christmas with his family. Fight ensues, and Past (played by Jack McBrayer) gets stranded in the past.

The second half… okay, I didn’t pay attention as much as I should have. But Dewey ends up back in the past where he meets his Uncle Donald as a kid. He also manages to meet his mom as a kid. Considering how hard he tried to find out what happened to their mom last season, this was a very emotional moment for him. It doesn’t take long for Donald and Della to figure out he’s a relative from the future (Duck Family after all) and then Scrooge comes to get him, along with Past.

Oh, yeah! Past got stuck in the past and got turned into a monster because he was so lonely missing Scrooge. So to make up to him, Scrooge invites the Ghosts to a Christmas Party with his family.

I Love This!

I loved this special overall. The “Christmas Carol” premise has been repeated a lot in the annals of Pop Culture, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it subverted and then tossed like this! There were also plenty of references to Mickey’s A Christmas Carol, and even a reference to Scrooge’s first appearance! But the best part is that we get a look at Della in the present day. The Season One finale revealed that she’s still alive and stuck on the Moon (how is she breathing, though?), and from the looks of things, she’s working on making a new spaceship to get her home. I really hope we get to see that play out to the end. Ducktales is one of the best cartoons Disney has right now, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Overall, this was a memorable Christmas special and the perfect way to start my countdown. Happy Holidays Everyone! I love Ducktales Christmas!

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