This is listed as episode 18 on IMDb. It’s not my favorite, as it barely features the main characters (which in turn means there’s very little David Tennant for Other Doctor Lives purposes.) Even though I admittedly like the side characters involved, I’m finding that I’d much rather be watching Scrooge, the triplets, and Webby.
Fenton, the overeager intern for McDuck Enterprises’ resident (mad) scientist Gyro, longs to use Gyro’s robotic Gizmoduck suit to fight crime, and he gains notoriety after foiling a bank robbery. However, the suit is still a prototype and incredibly glitchy, and Gyro’s methodical testing is going far too slowly for Fenton. Meanwhile, tech billionaire Mark Beaks is obsessed with getting his hands on Gizmoduck for his own company.
You’ll notice that that summary doesn’t feature any of the main characters of the show. Huey is the only one with a substantial role here, as he witnesses Gizmoduck stopping the bank robbery and falls in immediate fanboy love with his new favorite superhero. So, while he has some interaction throughout the story with Fenton, the rest of the regulars get cameos at best.
Like I said, I do like these characters. The smarmy, social-media-addicted Mark Beaks always amuses me, and he’s fun here. On his Big Board of Obsessiveness, I love the names he workshops for his own version of the hero—Beaksmo, Markmo Duck, and Gizmo Beaks. And Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jim Rash continue to be entertaining as Fenton and Gyro. Fenton’s ongoing battle trying to control the glitchy suit is amusing, and I get a kick out of this heated exchange between him and Gyro: “I saved a man from an exploding helicopter!” “Which you exploded!” Another surprise guest star popping up is Selenis Levya, who I always liked as Gloria on Orange is the New Black. She plays Fenton’s eternally-disappointed cop mother.
It’s enjoyable, but it’s not really DuckTales. It feels like a cross between a backdoor pilot and an easy nostalgia grab. That might feel like a weird thing to complain about, given that this entire show is a literal DuckTales reboot, but the show feels like it’s become its own thing that can be enjoyed completely apart from the nostalgia, and for me, Fenton and co. aren’t there yet.
Just a cameo from Tennant/Scrooge this week, so there’s not much to report. It’s a little bit “Iron Man post-credits scene,” except Scrooge is a main character on the show and so we expect him to appear. I would say it’s maybe like episode 6 of The Book of Boba Fett, but while some of the meta structural aspects are similar, the two obviously create very different effects.
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