DuckTales S01E03: “The Great Dime Chase”
Created By: Matt Youngberg
Starring: David Tennant, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan, Kate Micucci, Jim Rash
A review by Cameron Kieffer
We were gifted with two new episodes of DuckTales this week after an extended hiatus. S01E03, “The Great Dime Chase”, picked up a thread from the premiere, in which we discovered the identity of Huey, Dewey and Louie’s mother.
Never mentioned in the original DuckTales cartoon, we learned that their mother was named Della and she apparently had joined her brother Donald and Uncle Scrooge during their adventures before she mysteriously disappeared. Dewey has enlisted the help of Webby to learn more about Della’s past and possibly, hopefully discover what happened to her. When an opportunity to do some investigating arises, the two join Scrooge, along with Louie on a field trip to the Money Bin.
Fed up with his nephew’s laziness and his penchant for wasting money frivolously, Scrooge’s agenda is to teach Louie the value of both money and a hard day’s work. What better way than to have him sit in during a meeting with his financial advisors, who are appropriately, literally vultures. During said meeting, we meet the head of Scrooge’s R&D dept, Gyro Gearloose (voiced by Academy Award winner Jim Rash) and his newest invention “Little Bulb”. He is quickly dismissed under the pretense that nearly all of his robotic creations have become sentient and murderous. You can probably guess what happens next!
Meanwhile, Dewey and Webby have come into conflict with Scrooge’s archivist Ms. Quackfaster, while trying to dig up clues on Della Duck. They wind up incurring her wrath and she begins chasing them around with a sword. She’s an odd duck, to say the least. Eventually both plots converge with Louie attempting to stop Little Bulb, who has merged with Scrooge’s coin-collecting machine. Trust me, it makes sense.
“The Great Dime Chase” was unapologetically crazy and it works on so many levels as a result. It’s a hilarious satire of science fiction/horror conventions but also teaches a valuable lesson about trust, respect, and responsibility.
But let’s get back to Gyro for a second. This is definitely not the kindly, crackpot inventor long-time fans remember. This Gyro is about two steps away from being a legit mad scientist (think Edward Nygma pre-Riddler in Batman: TAS). And what’s even crazier is how well it works. Gyro’s updated persona is so great and Jim Rash is perfectly cast. I’m really excited for when he shows up next. And then there’s Little Bulb, who is just freaking adorable. Seriously, look at that picture above. Super cute.
If I have one complaint, and it’s really more of a general one, it’s that each of the kids has gotten the spotlight in DuckTales except Huey. In fact, he doesn’t even show up in the episode. At all. Hopefully this will rectified sooner than later but it seems weird that he’s had so little to do so far.
Lastly, I’ll end on a positive note. Much like the first few episodes, there’s a fun little reveal at the end of “The Great Dime Chase”. I won’t spoil it here but a glance at Gyro’s list of inventions alludes to a fan-favorite character who’ll hopefully be making his debut very soon…
The Verdict:
Watch it! I mean, seriously, what more can I say? DuckTales is perfect for fans, old and new alike. The new take on Gyro may be a bit drastic but it’s inspired. Likewise, Emily Quackfast is an interesting addition who may have a larger role to play as we delve deeper into the mystery of Della’s disappearance.
