Monday 21 August 2017

Thoughts On The DuckTales Reboot

So having watched the DuckTales premiere, I must say that I did enjoy it. As an introduction to this new series it feels both fresh, yet still sticking to the formula of adventure. There appears to be a lot more history involved in this, one that may finally answer some of long held questions when it comes to these characters, which only drives me to want more. I also appreciate the art style of the show, which does look more comic book like, yet flows well for animation.

I still stick to my concerns about the voice acting, though I do admit it didn't bother me too much. My concern was that we already had voice actors for these characters, so why did they need to replace them? I don't know the behind the scenes for the decision being made, so I really can't comment on why. I feel somewhat loyal to preset voices (they already had characters of Scrooge and the three nephews voiced in the latest Christmas movie length episode just last year, so if they already had them, why change it?) , particularly when companies want to bank on nostalgia to get the fans rolling in. I'm sorta torn on this one as the current cast did an amazing job, so I won't hold it against the show.

The writing is something that surprised me, as I didn't think it would be so deep when it came to the characters. The interactions between Donald and Scrooge in the first episode shows something has happened between them in the past and what ever it was, it wasn't good. The fact that the two did adventuring in the past hold true to the old comics, in which they did go on treasure hunts in between Scrooge trying to train Donald to replace him when he passes away (Donald was his preferred choice to succeed him out of all his family, which says how close they were despite Donald's flaws,), which explains why Scrooge takes issue with Donald's lifestyle choice. There is a bigger push for the story of family, which works a lot better as your dealing with three generations of the Duck family and it feels like there is more story to tell.

Speaking of characters, lets talk about the two big changes, Mrs. Beakley and Webby. Mrs. Beakley has become more in line with someone more stern and comes off as someone who has had military/special ops training. Webber has had the biggest changes and while she still has her annoying moments, but this time around her character makes sense. In the original she was this sweet and innocent little girl and while that's perfectly fine, why would you take her on some very dangerous missions. The trio at least had the Junior Woodchucks training, while not proper training, it was at least something, The changes in this one has her trained to protect herself by an overly protective Mrs. Beakly who is kept in the mansion and has rarely left it. As such, she is better trained then her original counterpart and has a much more active personality. I really enjoy this new version, who can give Huey, Dewey and Louie a run for their money.

With all that said, I see good things for the future of this franchise and others that may join the reboot line too. It's good to see we are getting people who know how to keep to the spirit of the original shows while creating something that feels new.

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