Being able to state that the Disney June 5, 2018 DVD release "DuckTales Destination: Adventure!" is all that it is quacked up to be is awesome. These six episodes of the Disney XD reboot (and two bonus episodes of the 1987-90 syndicated OS) follows the December 2017 DVD release of episodes from the XD series in "DuckTales: Woo-oo."
The following YouTube clip of the XD "First Look" promo. for "DuckTales" includes a perfect "25 words or less" summary of the show and highlights the strong animation and humor of the series.
The underlying premise of the OS and the reboot is the effective Disney strategy of getting the most bang for its buck regarding licensed characters, The format this time is that Donald Duck nephews Huey (Red), Dewey (Blue), and Louie (Green) go to live with their great-uncle Scrooge McDuck in search of adventures that often have a profit motive.
The lively and hilarious voice-over performance of Tenth Doctor David Tennant as Scrooge alone makes the XD series well worth watching. Other household names in the cast include Danny Pudi of "Community" as Huey and Bobby Moynihan of "SNL" as Louie.
The very special guest star is "Hamilton" man Lin-Manuel Miranda as fan favorite GizmoDuck in "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System." That one is an exceptional cautionary tale on the hazards of self-driving cars and the related issue of not having machines replace humans.
The aptly titled "The Beagle Birthday Massacre!" kicks things off with an escapade that mostly focuses on tag-a-long chick (pun intended) Webbigail "Webby" Vanderquack, who is the granddaughter of the cook/housekeeper for Scrooge. Webby literally missing the boat regarding the latest outing of the boys leads her to meeting bad influence Lena.
This new friend manipulates Webby into crashing the birthday party for Ma Beagle, who is the matriarch of The Beagle Boys trio of criminals who are the nemeses of the McDuck clan. A particularly amusing aspect of this is seeing the multiple variations of Boys bands.
This one is a very special episode in that Webby develops a bond that compensates for not being a full-fledged member of the band of brothers with whom she hangs. Other fun comes regarding Huey and Dewey mercilessly teasing their chill sibling about a past failure.
Disney saves the best for second in having "The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!" follow "Boys." This one has Scrooge and the gang discover an obliviously exploited lost civilization while exploring an Egyptian tomb. A reference to a pyramid scheme is the best line of any of the six episodes in "Adventure." Additional fun comes in the form of a "Wizard of Oz" element that one of the boys exploits to his own end.
"The Spear of Selene!" is another especially funny outing. Much of the humor in this one relates to mythology and Indiana Jones-style quests. The substance in the journey comes in the form of providing the boys a chance to learn more about their absent mother Della Duck. The special guest star this time is Uncle Donald. Veteran Donald Duck voice actor Tony Anselmo does his thing in this one.
The aforementioned vintage "Ducktales" (which have never been previously released on DVD) provide great fun in allowing comparison of the two series, including the very catchy theme. These episodes also are great nostalgic fun for OS fans.
The very '80s titled "New Gizmo-Kids on the Block" finds our fowl heroes donning the garb of the titular superhero. "Ducky Mountain High" centers around Scrooge competing with a fellow Master of the Universe for ownership of property where money essentially does grow on trees.
The awesomeness of the new "Ducktales" includes staying true to the OS spirit but providing the necessary updates to avoid the youth of today from declaring the reboot lame. This includes giving Huey and his bros modern 'tude.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Ducktales" is strongly encouraged either to email me or to connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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