Before I begin, I have to say, I have seen some of the original 1987 DuckTales series as a kid. I do distinctively remember two episodes: "Pearl of Wisdom", in which Scrooge and the gang have to return a pearl that can grant the power of infinite wisdom to its homeland. "Launchpad's Civil War", in which he portrays an ancestor who fought in the Duck world's version of the Civil War. "The Curse of Castle McDuck", in which Scrooge takes his nephews and Webby to his family's old castle in Scotland, only to encounter a group of druids and their ghostly hound.
Like many kids around my age, you may have watched the original series at some point. And you may have enjoyed it. So, when a reboot was announced, I'm sure there were a lot of people who were, like me, excited...and naturally, I bet there was dread. I didn't have dread. But watching the clips and trailer really excited me for this, and...
What can I really say about this that no one else has? This reboot is fantastic! As someone who enjoyed the original as a kid, I felt that this reboot really did a great job of modernizing the series, but retain the fun feel of the original 1987 series.
I also liked that the series is making an attempt to be more loyal to the original Carl Barks/Don Rosa-era Duck comics. I do have a bit of a confession about this. I never read any of those comics, but I do want to read The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck. Funny enough, I heard the writers of this series were required to read it.
I love that Huey, Dewey, and Louie have been given distinct personalities. Let's be honest with ourselves. I love the 80s series, but you have to admit, the nephews were rather...interchangeable character-wise. The three nephews seem to reflect an aspect of Scrooge, which is clever. Huey has his intelligence, Dewey has his love of adventure, and Louie has his greed.
I also liked that the series made subtle nods to other Disney Afternoon shows like Goof Troop, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck. Speaking of the latter, they have said Darkwing will appear in the series. Oh, I want to see that!
I also really liked the voice cast. I imagine casting Scrooge must have been a tough thing, considering the late Alan Young's legendary performance in the '87 series. Luckily, David Tennant did splendidly. I have heard complaints of the voice actors from the nephews sounding not "child-like" enough, but that didn't bother me when I watched this. To be honest, I was happy they were comprehensible. No offense to Tony Anselmo, but I did find his Donald voice a little hard to understand sometimes. It wasn't terrible, but it was a bit hard to figure out at times.
I don't really have any real complaints about this series. It was a great modernization of the original, drew from the comics, and felt like its own thing. It was fun, it was funny, it has action, and it set up an interesting mystery. If you like the 1987 original, you'll love 2017's take. Enjoy!
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