It has been quite an up-and-down season for DuckTales, which in a lot of ways struggled between establishing its new approach to the show and engaging in the legacy of the entire Duckverse that has evolved over countless comics, TV episodes, and even video games (see my stray observations). “The Shadow War!” is a…

Bottle episodes in animated shows don’t quite work in the same way as bottle episodes of live action shows. While live action shows utilize bottle episodes to save money and/or narrow the focus to select characters and a select moment, animated shows can utilize a single setting and still create stakes equal to or…

One of the quieter but stronger episodes of the original DuckTales was “The Curse Of Castle McDuck.” After a number of typical, wild, fun episodes, the old show slowed down some to spend a little time with Scrooge regaling his nephews stories of his past while on a trip to his ancestral home (before the inevitable…

Yesterday, at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, Netflix VP Cindy Holland made, well, a lot of announcements. New shows! New seasons of old shows! No, we’re not saving Timeless! That kind of thing. She also stepped on the hopes of anyone pining for a return trip to Hawkins before the year is out,…

DuckTales has so far referenced Darkwing Duck and Gummi Bears in its current incarnation, and, outside of a quick reference to Cape Suzette in the pilot, finally looks to TaleSpin as another source to pull from (it would be interesting to see if they can reference Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers, but that may be a…

I had reservations about Castle Rock, Hulu’s second J.J. Abrams-produced stab at the Stephen King canon. (How much of 11.22.63 did you stick around for?) As a self-proclaimed King purist, I rankle at bad interpretations of his work, even when they come from his own hand: He may be the most consistently solid authors…

“The Other Bin Of Scrooge McDuck!” has maybe one of the worst intros the show has done so far. DuckTales has been struggling with intros for a while but a loud-whispering, exposition-filled exchange between Lena and Magica while Lena tries to cut the number one dime from Scrooge’s neck is one of the worse. I get the…

There is a lot of potential in “Who Is Gizmoduck?” There’s the story of a young intern who has access to power beyond his imagination (power, responsibility, etc.). There’s the story of an even younger duck who believes in the hero who saved him, only to be disappointed in what he sees, but to also inspire said hero…

I can’t but think that, at some level, “Day Of The Only Child!” was written as a course-correction, an episode that allowed the creative team to sit back, take a deep breath, and assess who these nephews actually are. DuckTales has been enjoyable so far but flawed in so much that, at times, it was too excited to…

Goldie O’ Gilt, AKA Glittering Goldie, may be the most interesting and complex character within the DuckTales world outside of Scrooge McDuck himself. I’m not familiar with the character in her comic incarnation, but in the original show, Goldie was portrayed as a figure who betrayed Scrooge at one point, but then…

At this point, we’re just going to have to accept that DuckTales just doesn’t really do great cold opens. The sequence before the opening credits (and really, a good portion of the first act) tend to be too enamored with dropping as many jokes, references, and clumsy exposition as possible, and it just kind of comes…

I’m not… entirely sure that the team who wrote, animated, and produced “McMystery At McDuck McManor” realize how truly bizarre this episode is. (Colleen Evanson, who penned the script to one of the show’s weaker outputs, helms this one as well.) DuckTales, in any incarnation–comic series, old TV show, new TV show–is…

The DuckTales crew is off to Scotland - or the Ducks’ Universe equivalent of it - for a country club golf outing that suddenly becomes a ghoulish, high-stakes, back-nine-of-death competition in “The Missing Links of Moorshire.” DuckTales have had some pretty outlandish episodes during both it’s past and present runs,…

I don’t think it’s much of a coincidence Frank Angones, the writer of today’s script, tweeted such an emotional sentiment prior to the debut of “Beware The B.U.D.D.Y. System,” an episode that is almost too much indebted to nostalgia. It brings back Gyro and Lil’ Bulb, but it also introduces Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera…

DuckTales is back! Again! After a six-months hiatus, Disney is pushing a new slate of shows and episodes this summer, re-jiggering its entire approach as this show now airs on Disney Channel proper. (I have a theory as to why.) Still, it’s good to be back in the Duck-verse, even if this ‘verse is perhaps a bit…

I don’t think I’m alone in recognizing that this fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels was its best yet. Instead of a handful of standalone episodes and mini-arcs, all of which had their moments of greatness intermixed with moments of sheer mediocrity (and outright awfulness), this fourth season opted for more…

DuckTales returns the weekend with the long-delayed “The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!”–an episode that focuses on the nature of determination-turned-obsession, in Scrooge’s relentless desire to scale Mt. Neverrest, and Huey’s desire to map it and earn a new Junior Woodchuck merit badge. It’s a episode that has…

It’s been 13 years since the last new episode of Hey Arnold!, “Phoebe’s Little Problem/Grandpa’s Packard,” aired on Nickelodeon. But the show’s true finale was “The Journal,” a two-part, story-within-a-story that told the tale of how Arnold’s absent parents met, married, and gave birth to a son in the fictional,…

DuckTales has an appealing, eclectic cast of characters, but it struggles to focus them through a strong, viable narrative that either provides real, consistent stakes, or props up the more-comedic sensibility of the show. The strongest theme has usually been the familial dynamic, but it has only been trotted out…