tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post2425277182290008557..comments2024-02-25T03:15:48.893-05:00Comments on News and Views by Chris Barat: DUCKTALES RETROSPECTIVE: Episode 33, "Where No Duck Has Gone Before"Chris Barathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06845538037091279990noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4357793224370188597.post-8544706346466965752013-05-13T22:12:24.722-04:002013-05-13T22:12:24.722-04:00Chris:
This was the episode that MADE the (sans-D...Chris:<br /><br />This was the episode that MADE the (sans-Donald) series for me! The one that showed a skeptical me that some gold could be mined, out of the shadows of Barks’ comic books. <br /><br />Despite it being produced about mid-way in Season 1, it has a “feel” that is difficult for me to describe (even today, after all these years) of a LP as a character that was in more of his “early / primal /more confident / Harrison Ford-like mode”, than what would become his later “more dumbed-down / incompetent / comedic foil” role. <br /><br />It’s like the difference between Yogi Bear 1958 and Yogi Bear 1961. The former was funnier, and the latter was more loveable. Each was good, but the former (in both cases) had more of an edge that softened over time. And, being broadcast in the first week, leaves one with the impression that LP “softened over time” when, perhaps, he really “got better” and then backed-off a bit – eventually becoming permanent (“dumbed-down / incompetent / comedic foil”) sidekick to Darkwing Duck. <br /><br />That was a rare instance, for the time, of great plot and funny / stylized drawings that you just didn’t see for SOOO LONG that you forgot that it could be done. The Kronk ship careening out of control at the end, bouncing off planets and stuff (aided and abetted by the accompanying sound effects), remains one of the most inspired bits of funny animation of the modern age. <br /><br />“Major Courage” was a superb parody of how we began to regard William Shatner at the time – and what he has pretty much proven himself to be over the last quarter century… an egotistical parody of his former self. <br /><br />After all this time, there are surprisingly few episodes of DT that REALLY and FULLY stand up to what I thought of them in 1987, when I was SOOOOO GLAD to have an animated series that didn’t suck, wasn’t cut to ribbons, or existed to sell toys! DT, in 1987, looked like Animation’s equivalent to the vast Treasure of the Golden Suns! I can't honestly say that today. <br /><br />Yet, there are the episodes that I instinctively go-for, when I feel like enjoying DT at its best. The ones that have not diminished one iota, in the wake of some magnificent Warner Bros. series, The Simpsons, Family Guy, etc. <br /><br />Now that doesn’t mean that an episode is not good, merely because I no longer engage in “anticipatory salivation” at the mention of its name (as I did for MANY of them back then, when the best thing we’d seen in years was the 1985 JETSONS), but “Where No Duck has Gone Before” is very definitely one of them. <br /><br />For the record, some others are “Home Sweet Homer”, “All Ducks on Deck”, and of course “The Uncrashable Hindentanic”!Joe Torciviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00421096229407174474noreply@blogger.com