*Episode premise spoilers.*
Great episode—it plays off of a fun gimmick and has lots of fun with it, but it also has some heart behind it. Nice genre savviness, and the whole cast commits entirely to the bit.
The DuckTales crew is preparing to take their annual family photo, and Huey is determined for things to go perfectly, with no wacky hijinks or mishaps. But he starts to realize that something is even more amiss than a room in shambles or a disastrous haircut. Why is everybody speaking in catchphrases, and why does he hear the sound of laughter and cheers just out of sight?
Yep, not only are we doing a four-camera sitcom episode, we’re doing the characters trapped in a four-camera sitcom, and Huey is the only one who notices something’s off! There are all kinds of great details in the sitcom stuff here. There’s the obvious, of course. Everybody acts bigger and broader than usual, with self-conscious zingers and hammy reactions, and characters are boiled down to single traits—I’m pretty sure every one of Della’s lines references her time on the moon. We also get interstitials between scenes and an ad break, and Goofy guest stars as, what else?, the wacky neighbor. But I like the less overt bits too, like everyone having more stylish clothes/hair and the way the characters milk the “audience” reactions, playing for time until they’ve quieted down enough for the “scene” to continue. And just to top it off, we get the return of Donald’s Don Cheadle voice.
The stuck-in-a-sitcom angle adds both intrigue and fun to the proceedings. Naturally, Huey is increasingly creeped out the longer this goes on. When Donald expresses concern for him, asking, “Did I put too much stress on you for this photo shoot?”, Huey exclaims, “No, I’m stressed because the veil of reality is disintegrating, and no one else seems to notice!” And this part of the story gives us some larger meta humor as well. Here are a few of my favorites:
· There’s a terrific bit about the fourth wall – I love everyone’s reactions as they slowly turn toward it.
· When Huey is trying to get through to everyone, he cries, “Everyone stop catchphrasing!”
· Love this line – “That’s it, we need a flashback! Everyone tilt your head to the left and gently stroke your chins.”
David Tennant does a great, silly job as Four-Camera Sitcom Scrooge. Unsurprisingly, the single character trait aside to him is his love of money. When Scrooge’s study, where they’re supposed to take the family photo, is a wreck, he runs around trying to fix everything under a time crunch, and Louie asks, “Why don’t you just hire someone?” I love Tennant’s nonchalant-yet-hammy delivery in his reply of, “Time is money, lad! And I’d rather spend time, because it’s not money.” And we get a bit of classic Scrooge alliteration with “you pernicious presto-peddler!” Lots of fun all around!
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