*Spoilers for the season 2 episodes featuring Darkwing Duck.*
The show is going all out in this double-length episode. While episodes that heavily feature nostalgic characters from other ‘90s afternoon cartoons can sometimes feel a little too much like fanservicey backdoor pilots, I really like this one. It has a great story and excellent guest stars, and it still features good stuff for the main cast—this is an especially good episode for Launchpad.
Scrooge and the triplets are being chauffeured to St. Canardian, where Scrooge, Huey, and Louie plan to check out the latest innovation from Taurus Bulba, a scientist that McDuck Enterprises invests in. Dewey and Launchpad have plans as well—Dewey’s filming a gritty crime doc-drama, and who better to star in it than Darkwing Duck himself? When Darkwing foils a break-in at Bulba’s lab, eager to show Launchpad and Dewey that he’s a bona fide hero, he gets drawn into a much bigger plot than he was expecting.
First, quick note from season 2: after Scrooge greenlights a gritty Darkwing Duck reboot, it kicks off a series of events that ends with lead actor Drake Mallard (himself an old school Darkwing fanboy) taking on the actual mantle of the superhero. So Drake knows everything there is to know about the old TV show, and he’s 100% gung ho about becoming a real caped crusader, complete with a secret headquarters. But at the same time, he doesn’t entirely know what he’s doing and can vacillate between overeager to prove himself and panicked when things get too real. He has the Darkwing monologues down, though—I got a kick out of, “I am the last bite in the soggy cereal of sin!”
As I said, this is a supersized episode, and it’s jampacked. In addition to Darkwing and all kinds of related Easter eggs—“Quackerjack, Darkwing’s most dangerous toy-based villain!”—we get some bonus Gizmo Duck on the side. (Darkwing loves Fenton but is completely over Gizmo Duck, hee!) Oh, and Jameela Jamil voices Darkwing’s computer interface. I know I recognized Taurus Bulba’s resonant voice, and a quick IMDb search confirmed my suspicions that he was played by James Monroe Iglehart a.k.a. the Genie from the original Broadway cast of Aladdin. He’s terrific in the role, and Stephanie Beatriz is great as Gossalyn Waddlemeyer, a character who has an unexpected encounter with Darkwing. (I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: I’ve seen Beatriz in, like, half a dozen different voice casting roles, and I still haven’t seen Brooklyn Nine-Nine. When I finally do, it’ll be weird to see her in live-action.)
Even though the episode is heavy on guest stars, there’s still room for the main cast to have some fun. Huey and Louie vie over whether to worry about unanswered questions re: Bulba’s invention or prepare to make a fortune from it—three guesses as to which is which! There’s a scene where all three triplets have to make an escape from a dastardly situation, and Dewey is hilarious with his overcomplicated hand signals and needless somersaults as he sneaks along dangerous corridors. And as I said, this is a great episode for Launchpad. Being a Darkwing Duck superfan, he always plays a big role in these stories, but I really like what they do with him here. I love watching him try to use his Darkwing knowledge to fight real villains, and while he’s his lovable dumb self throughout, he also gets some nice earnest moments.
Not as much Scrooge as I would’ve liked, since he gets sidelined for a good chunk of the episode, but David Tennant still gets some good bits in. He experiences the classic “hang up the phone, badmouth the person, discover they’re still on the line” mishap, which leads to him awesomely whacking at buttons with his cane, crying, “I don’t know how it works. Someone shut this blasted thing off!” And because Scrooge is always the most Scottish possible, there’s a goofy bit here involving haggis. “It tastes like socks and bitter regret!” Louie groans. Scrooge replies happily, “That’s how you know it’s haggis!”
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