DuckTales Review - Season 1 Episode 6: The House of the Lucky Gander! (SPOILERS)

MegaSoulhero You know what time it is? Well it’s in the title, so you probably already know. So let’s get to it!

Scrooge takes the kids in Launchpad’s plane to go to the temple of the golden cricket. It’s cricket that sings a special song every 50 years. As they’re flying over Tokyo, it has a different name but it’s basically Tokyo, the kids are more fascinated with other things. Louie points out a neon hot dog and they are impressed by it. But didn’t Louie say that he hates hot dogs two episodes ago? Anyway, the kids say that their uncle Gladstone is there and that he’s the luckiest guy alive. He’s Donald’s cousin but Donald is envious of him because good things happen to Gladstone and he doesn’t even have to do anything. This kind of reminds me of an episode of the Little Mermaid TV series. There was an episode in which one of Sebastian’s relatives visits and he is pretty much good at everything. And Sebastian was envious of him. So this is kind of similar. Gladstone called them because they needed help, so they pay him a visit. He is shown to be getting a massage in the hotel he’s at. He let’s the kids goof around and they even do the Ferris Bueller in which they put their heads on a window while being on high floor of a building. Gladstone seems like the kind of character that I should hate, but I actually find him to pretty funny. Plus, he actually really cares about Donald. Even though he can’t stop showing off. But it’s shown that his luck isn’t intentional. It just happens. So Scrooge wants to take the kids and Donald and leave so they can go to the temple since they think Gladstone only brought them there to waste their time, but Louie doesn’t want to yet because he likes it there. Donald lets Louie stay as long as Donald stays with them. Which leads to some hilarious scenes that I will get to later on.

Meanwhile, Scrooge and the kids enter the casino and try to look for an exist. But the map is hard to read. And then they come across a toad named... I don’t know. I’m not good with Japanese names. I’m just gonna call him the toad. Anyway, the toad is a pretty interesting character. He always has an evil looking express on his face which makes him a suspicious character. He runs the place and tries to make Scrooge and the others stay. There’s a water dancing show that they do in the casino called “Aquarial”. Which Huey becomes obsessed with. It kind of reminds of a similar show that I saw on the Royal Caribbean cruise that I went on last year. I pretty much had the same reaction as Huey. Now back to Gladstone, Huey, and Donald! They’re trying on Tuxedos that the tailor let’s them wear in public for free. Except for Donald, who then gets a T-shirt that looks like a tuxedo. He shoplifted it without knowing it because he is the unluckiest guy in the world apparently. I like how they bring that up. Considering he’s always been the butt of Disney’s jokes for a while. A running gag in this episode is that good things keep happening to Gladstone while bad things keep happening to Donald. And it’s incredibly funny! They’re basically opposites! Gladstone keeps winning the casino games on his first try while Donald loses and suffers from it. This is a joke that can go wrong, but the execution is brilliant!

Scrooge and the others are still looking for a way out, but then the toad shows them tigers. Awesome! I love Siegfried and Roy! Dewey becomes obsessed with tigers because who wouldn’t? He even keeps one! Because I guess he’s a fan of Aladdin? The toad then shows them a buffet. With a chocolate fountain! WOW! That would totally reel me in! After Donald loses a game for the millionth time, Gladstone wins again and Donald gives up. He meets up with Scrooge, who found the exit after the toad tried checking him into a room, attempt to leave. Gladstone tries to get them to stay because it is revealed that he is a prisoner in the hotel, which is why he needed their help. The toad, who is an ancient spirit, has been keeping him there to feast off of his good luck. And Gladstone was hoping Donald would be able to break his good luck streak because of how unlucky he is. So Scrooge challenges the toad to a game. If he wins, they’re free, if the toad wins, they stay permanently. Gotta love Scrooge. Always taking risks.

The game is a race filled with a bunch of deadly obstacles. Unfortunately however, the toad forces Gladstone and Donald to race. And throughout this race, Gladstone is taking his time and getting unharmed while Donald struggles and gets harmed in the process. Again, this is some really funny slapstick! It’s perfectly in character for Donald! When Gladstone gets close to the finish line, Louie gives Donald a motivational speech. Even though in the time it took him to give the speech, Gladstone would’ve gotten to the finish line already. But at least it ends up helping Donald because he ends up going crazy in a cartoonish style and he ends up winning the race. So Scrooge, Donald, and the kids get set free, but the toad gets to keep Gladstone. Scrooge, however, tells him that since Donald won the race, that makes him the luckiest guy on Earth. So he kidnaps Donald and sets Gladstone free. And I’m pretty sure we all know what happens next. In a matter of seconds, Donald gets kicked out because of his bad luck and his bad luck causes the whole place to disappear. Huh. I guess he’s lucky after all. But again, that was pretty hilarious. So Scrooge and the others go in the plane, Gladstone gets a yacht because of course he does, and Scrooge, Donald, and the kids finally make it to the temple of the golden cricket. Which turns out to be just a regular cricket. So it’s one of those endings where the thing they’ve been hyping up and have been getting excited for turns out to be a disappointment. Still funny, though!

I really enjoyed this episode! Gladstone is a surprisingly great character, and it’s great to see an episode that mostly focuses on Donald! It’s not the best episode, but it’s definitely the funniest one so far! The humor worked very well here! I was kind of worried because sometimes episodes like this in other shows do it very poorly. But they managed to do it to near perfection here! Again, it’s another reason why this is a great reboot! Unlike Teen Titans Go, Powerpuff Girls, and the Magic School Bus Rides Again! Speaking of the latter, I’m thinking about doing a little review of that show.

Score: 8/10

Comments

Good episode of this great reboot - visitor