Indisposed for New Year's

Happy New Year, everyone.  As Nicky and I both turned the page to 2015, some sort of flu-like malady was afflicting us.  I got it first, and Nicky followed soon thereafter.  I had a slight fever the last two days, but my temperature was finally back to normal today.  I think that we'll need the remainder of the weekend to completely recover.

52 Skidoo!

Last Friday, Nicky and I celebrated my 52nd birthday (which was actually on Saturday) and her upcoming 48th birthday by visiting our favorite Baltimore-area chomping grounds, Woodberry Kitchen.  For the first time, we were seated in the upstairs loft for dinner.  We walked on the wild side -- just a bit -- with our entrees, with Nicky trying the pork tenderloin and me essaying the catfish, chips, and herb salad.  As expected, both were excellent.

For obvious reasons, this birthday is extremely special to me, and it's caused me to reflect on the great gift that my brother gave me this Summer.  Nicky and I are considering making July 21, the date of my kidney transplant surgery, an "unofficial Barat holiday."  At what eating establishment do you think we plan to celebrate it?  You only get one guess.

Up and Out

I reached a couple of post-transplant milestones today.  The JP fluid drain was finally removed from the incision site, and the stent that had helped the surgeons connect my new kidney to the bladder was pulled out of... well, let's just say out of ME and be done with it.  Both procedures were relatively painless (emphasis on "relatively") and, thanks to Nicky's constant care over the past month, there were no signs of any infection or similar difficulties.

My next clinic visit is September 4, at which time I hope to get the all-clear to resume driving.

Book Review: THE GREATER JOURNEY: AMERICANS IN PARIS by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster, 2011)

David McCullough's followup to JOHN ADAMS and 1776 -- both of which were immense best-sellers and critical favorites -- received critical hosannas which were, for the most part, deserved, but did not do nearly as well in terms of sales.  It's not hard to see why if you take a close look at McCullough's approach.  Here, he tells the story of various Americans -- writers, painters, medical students, inventors, etc. -- who traveled to, lived in, and worked in Paris during the period 1830 to 1900.  While certain figures get more time on the stage than others, so many individuals stroll past on the figurative "Champs Elysees of ideas" that the average reader probably can't be faulted for losing track of "who's who" on an occasion or two.  There's plenty of interesting and fascinating information to be found here, but be warned that considerable attention will have to be devoted to keeping one's mental "scorecard" updated.  The comparative lack of focus, culminating in an ending chapter and an epilogue that might best be described as a "fadeout" rather than a definitive conclusion, may help to explain why some readers found THE GREATER JOURNEY to be somewhat laborious going.

The Americans discussed here should not be confused with the "Lost Generation" who so famously came to Paris in the aftermath of World War I.  The earlier cohorts might be more accurately described as a "Finding Generation."  Leaving a much younger and rawer America, they sought enlightenment, polish, and education in one of the world's most cosmopolitan capitals.  Moreover, they did so without a trace of the world-weary rejection of American mores that so many members of the "Lost Generation" evinced.  The primary goal of such individuals as painter/inventor Samuel Morse, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and medical student/writer Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was to use the knowledge and skills that they had gained in order to enrich their home country.  Some of them stayed in Paris for years, but they never stopped thinking of themselves as Americans first and foremost.  The interplay between the values that these individuals brought with them and the refinements that residence in Paris taught them provides much of the intellectual intrigue of the book (though, admittedly, certain figures, even some fairly famous ones, simply spend too little time in the spotlight to get full attention on that score).

Easily the most impressive part of the "bitty" narrative is the tale of Elihu Washburne, U.S. minister to France during the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, the subsequent siege and fall of Paris, and the short but bloody reign of the Paris Commune.  As the only diplomat from a major power to remain in Paris during the siege, Washburne did yeomanlike service in assisting stranded Americans and people of other nationalities to either escape the city or survive the effects of the siege.  This included protecting German nationals who had been trapped in the city and were in potential danger of being persecuted or killed by the locals.  McCullough makes heavy use of Washburne's diary to keep track of the day-by-day events, as well as Washburne's emotional state.  Significantly, this sequence is easily the most reminiscent of McCullough's sweeping narratives in his Revolutionary War books.

THE GREATER JOURNEY isn't McCullough at his very best, but even a McCullough at three-quarters speed beats the average ideology-bound academic historian every day of the week.  Highly recommended.

Where's the Rest of Me?!

I'm three weeks out from my surgery and doing well.  Last Thursday, during my first visit to the post-transplant clinic, my staples were removed.  However, my drain is still installed, no doubt because of all the broken kidney cysts the contents of which still need to be removed from the surgery site.

You can get some idea of the amount of fluid that had been building up inside me prior to the surgery by looking at some before-and-after pictures:

Between July 30 (the day after I came home) and this past weekend, I lost FORTY POUNDS.  I had almost forgotten what my kneecaps and ankles looked like!

Back Home!

I was finally sprung yesterday afternoon and am now ready to start my home recovery.  It wasn't what you would call a "clean" getaway -- I still have a drain attached to the incision site, which makes it a pain to dress, shower, etc. -- but the kidney itself appears to be functioning fine.

Sorry for the lack of updates after Thursday.  Friday and Saturday were fairly uneventful but I then had a setback of sorts on Sunday morning.  After breakfast, I was standing up for Nicky to give me a wipedown (cleaning with hand wipes) when I suddenly felt horribly dizzy.  As I collapsed back into bed, my lower abdomen suddenly swelled almost out of control, and I felt excruciating pain.  Happily, the day nurse had just come on duty and had just stopped by our room.  She was able to get several other people to help her in short order.  I was put back on oxygen while they tried to figure out what had happened to me.  The most likely explanation is gas that had been building up in my system suddenly getting trapped and finding no place to go.  Bottom line, it took me the better part of two days to feel anything like fully recovered.  I found it much harder to walk because some of the muscles in my lower abdomen must have been strained.  When we got home yesterday, the soreness made it hard for me to stand upright as I was showering and getting set for bed.  Thank God, today the soreness seems a lot more manageable.

I now have a very strict regimen of medications to fight organ rejection and protect me from getting sick due to my immunocompromised state.  I'll also have regular visits for blood work and visits to the post-transplant clinic for a while.  The real danger zone in terms of major complications is the first 90 days after surgery, so, from now until the end of October, I'm going to have to be particularly careful about crowds and other potentially infectious situations.  I'm guessing that Stevenson will ask me to sit out the fall term and come back in February (next January will mark the first time that SU is offering a winter term).  As for getting back to blogging, I'm not going to post anything new until at least August 7, the date of my first clinic visit.  You can get in touch with me via email (kimba_1962@verizon.net) or my cell phone (443 929 6013) or home phone (410 902 8450).  Aside from lab and clinic visits, I'm going to be pretty "house-locked" for a while, so I'd love to hear from you if you get the chance.

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While I was in the hospital, Nicky passed along a bit of sad news.  Our longtime favorite local pizza place, New York Pizza Company, has closed.  Some of you have gone there with us and know about the place.  Luckily, another, and potentially even MORE authentic, pizza and sandwich emporium has  just recently opened near the Owings Mills metro stop.  Joe will be happy to know that it is the closest thing to Ray Bari pizza that we have yet encountered in this area.  In all honesty, the quality of NYPC food had dropped in recent days -- I think that losing one or two of their better cooks didn't help -- and they apparently couldn't make enough money in the Summer to make up for the business they did during the SU school year.

Update 2 from Zayed 9

Things continue on an upward trend for me.  My creatinine level was normal this morning for the first time in AT LEAST EIGHT YEARS.  My catheter is out and I was finally able to perform some essential bodily functions without aid.  I also walked a mile around the unit (10 laps).  My sisters Jenny and Sarah were down from Wilmington/Philly to visit.

Looking to get out early next week, if lab numbers are agreeable.

Update from Zayed 9

No, this is not a report to the Federation on yet another newly discovered civilization that has had its development altered by yet another faulty adherence to the Prime Directive.  I'm here in the transplant unit at Johns Hopkins Hospital, in the second day of recover from Monday's surgery.  My brother Andy, the donor, was discharged this morning.

The surgery took longer than expected, about 7 hours, because the surgeons found my kidneys to be so enlarged that they had to remove a number of the cysts to make room for the new kidney.  The immediate consequences were a 102-103 fever that I ran for a brief time on Tuesday morning and a bout of pneumonia that is being treated with antibiotics.  The good news is that the new kidney literally started spewing (their words, not mine) vast amounts of urine right away and continues to do so.  My creatinine level dropped like a stone, from 7.3 to (as of this morning) 1.7.

My incision is still sore and my catheter is still attached, but I am doing OK otherwise.  More updates to follow.

Now It Can Be Told

Monday's preop evaluation for my July 21 kidney transplant went well.  I still have to give one final sample of blood for tissue typing on Monday.

Best guess at present is that I will be in the hospital (Johns Hopkins) for about a week and that I will be unable to return to work until late September or early October at the earliest.  I will be taking a lot of anti-rejection medication and will have to avoid crowds and other locations that might harbor infection.  That includes Bronycon in early August, I'm sorry to say.

You may have been wondering about the identity of the donor.  It's my brother Andy, who made the decision to do it a couple of months ago. 

You Snooze, You Lose... Sleep, That Is

I finally got a new CPAP machine with a revised prescription to combat my sleep apnea.  In case any of my readers think that this medical issue sounds a touch exaggerated, here is what Nicky would have to deal with if I DIDN'T have a working machine.  She doesn't usually film me in such "compromising positions" without my knowledge, but she heard a strange sound clear on the other side of the house and came to investigate.

In other, less noisy medical news, I'll be having my kidney transplant pre-op consultation at Johns Hopkins on Monday.  Once that is done, I'll provide you with a more detailed update on exactly what I will be facing in several weeks' time.

A Belated Update

Sorry for the long, long silence.  I got back from the AP Reading in Kansas City last Wednesday, and Nicky and I have since been supervising the complete reconstruction of our kitchen, so things are in a bit of a mess.  In addition to that, my CPAP machine, which I use to combat my sleep apnea, is broken and I can't get a new one until the first week of July at the earliest, so I haven't been getting quality sleep.

I can let loose with the good news that my kidney transplant surgery is now officially scheduled for July 21 at Johns Hopkins.  I was planning on attending another statistics meeting in Arizona the week prior to that but was advised to cancel those plans.  If the surgery goes well, I'll have to lay out a minimum of 6-8 weeks from school, because I'll be taking anti-rejection medication and my immune system will be temporarily compromised.  I may come back to teach the remainder of the Fall semester after that, or Stevenson may ask me to wait until spring, as they did when I had my hematoma last Fall.  The exact plan is unknown as yet.

I should resume regular blogging activities in the next day or two.

DUCKTALES RETROSPECTIVE: Episode 78, "Allowance Day"

The story that was so nice, WDTVA used it twice!

Truth be told, "Allowance Day," an enjoyable enough episode on its own merits, would probably be of relatively nominal interest today were it not for Ken Koonce and David Weimers' notorious decision to reuse the exact same plot for an episode of TaleSpin.  Courtesy of Greg Weagle, there already exists one (metaphorically) side-by-side comparison of these two tales of time-tampering.  Greg mounts a full- (or at least half-) throated defense of "The Time Bandit" but appears to have a relatively lukewarm opinion of "Allowance Day."  Personally, I think that both versions of the story have their positives and negatives, but there comes a point in both tales at which the tone of the proceedings dramatically diverges, which makes the key difference in how I view the episodes.

The genesis of the plot rehash here may be a bit more intriguing than many of us think.  The credits for "Allowance Day" gave story acknowledgement, as well as a writing co-credit, to Alan Burnett, so it is quite possible that the basic idea was his.  The credits for "The Time Bandit," however, mention only Koonce and Weimers.  Even granted Disney's famed predilection for claiming writers' creations as its own "for infinity and beyond," wouldn't Burnett have merited mention for birthing the TaleSpin tale as well?  Was there some dispute that caused Burnett's name to be dropped from "Bandit"?  I can't help but notice that Burnett stopped working for WDTVA in 1990, after doing several TaleSpin scripts and writing DuckTales: The Movie.  Perhaps this was simply because he had too much to do helping to get Batman: The Animated Series up to speed, but the coincidence is intriguing... and, if you don't mind me saying so, not a little troubling.

Actually, Carl Barks may have to be granted pride of place over any of the writers involved here, since his story "Wishing Stone Island" (WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES #211, April 1958) turns on the idea of HD&L using a fake news broadcast to trick their Uncle Donald (who, ever so conveniently, has recently become obsessed with the notion of "good luck charms," presumably to counteract his frequently rotten luck) into believing that legendary "wishing stones" have been found on a remote island.  Lending at least a bit of credence to the notion that the second-season DT Nephews may have suffered a slight downtick in intelligence, Barks' HD&L wisely use a go-between to deliver the fake message, whereas the DT Dewey simply uses his regular voice.  Even Baloo knew enough to get Broadcast Sally to deliver his message.

The "wishing stone" whopper wasn't created with any malice -- or scooter, or any other tangible object -- aforethought; the boys simply thought that it would make a good April Fool's Day gag.  Also unlike "Allowance Day," the consequences have no global implications.  The local implications, however, promise to be massive, since the crazed Donald literally sells the Ducks' house to get the funds to travel to the South Seas. HD&L react in an appropriately horrified -- and immediately repentant -- manner.

The balance of "Wishing Stone Island" isn't as good as the buildup, since the solution of the dilemma, of necessity, relies on a healthy slab of old-fashioned "dumb luck."  Both "Allowance Day" and "The Time Bandit," by contrast, get more interesting as they go along.  The major difference between the denouements of the two TV episodes, in my view, is one of attitude.  "Allowance Day" maintains what in my view is the proper one -- that of comical danger -- while "The Time Bandit" goes down what I consider to be a far darker, and ill-advised, path.

C'mon, guys... if you wanted to trick us into thinking that these were different plots,

then the least you could have done was to have used different dates.

Admittedly, while the notion of baffling any sizable segment of society into thinking that it's got the day of the week wrong is far-fetched on its (clock) face, the spreading of Baloo's fib in "Time Bandit" makes a little more psychological sense, in that one can (unfortunately) imagine the denizens of a totalitarian state like Thembria being coerced into making the day-switch under pain of death, or loss of the daily ration of turnip soup, or whatever.  But "Allowance Day" makes its fair share of sense as well.  Aren't we all familiar with the notion of people believing something because a trusted "opinion leader" (or, even worse, a celebrity) advocated it, or because they don't want to make it seem as though they are "out of the loop"?  Scrooge, despite his comparatively low public profile, would certainly qualify as an "opinion leader," and one with massive economic clout to boot.  The use of Walter Kronduck (in his first appearance) as the newscaster who reports on the confusion caused by the day-dilemma simply amplifies the point, since the real Walter Kronkite was famously known as "the most trusted man in America" (even though his news reporting was actually just as subject to bias as any other news outlet's during the era of "Big Media"). The rapidity of the spread of Scrooge's claim is unquestionably unrealistic, but the societal insecurities that animate it are not.

The fact that Scrooge disseminates the information about the "incorrect date" without leaving his mansion is also a point in "Allowance Day"'s favor.  Rebecca Cunningham's bamboozlement is made easier by the simple fact that her daughter Molly is conveniently absent for the duration.  During her subsequent commute to Higher for Hire, Becky also apparently neglected to ask anyone she met in her apartment building or on the street about the correct date.  How convenient that the first person she asked just happened to be the person who set up the scam in the first place. 

Both HD&L and Baloo "spill the beans" fairly early in the game, in the sense that they leave themselves wide open to discovery, but I have to disagree with Greg's contention that the Nephews' "blowing of their cover" is a worse gaffe than Baloo's.  Hauling cargo is Baloo's job, and neglecting to take his Friday deliveries into consideration when planning his scheme (especially when you consider how strict a stickler for detail Becky is) strikes me as being a far more grievous error than the Nephews' tongues slipping for just a moment.  "Time Bandit"'s problems are then compounded when Becky refuses to accept Baloo's panicky confession and continues to believe that it is actually Saturday.  This is certainly in character for the stubborn business lady, but it puts the onus for the continuation of the plot on both Becky and Baloo.  In "Allowance Day," Scrooge plays the role of a victim and nothing more, which causes us to have some legitimate sympathy for him when he finally does uncover the truth.

The two plotlines diverge for good and all once we "go on remote location" to The Banana Republic and Thembria.  The Republic's stereotypical General Chiquita may indeed be "racially problematic," as GeoX claims, but the use of such an obvious trope is oddly comforting, in the sense that it makes it easier to make light of what, after all, degenerates into a potential case of capital punishment for a trivial offense.  So, too, does the presence of Fenton, who appears here in what could be considered his first true "supporting" role of the series.  Even in "The Land of Trala La," which was more of an ensemble-cast adventure than "Allowance Day," Fenton managed to steal the show with his concerns about losing his job and his attempts to determine the truth behind Tralla La.  Here, he's just a McDuck employee trying to do his duty, only to get caught in the middle of an unfortunate situation not of his own making.  The fact that Fenton can play a meaningful supporting part while not sucking up all of the oxygen further legitimizes his stature as a worthy addition to the show's cast.

"The Time Bandit" suffers from the lack of such "softening agents" in Thembria.  Instead, we get absurdist court and jail scenes that are supposed to make us laugh but fail to do so, simply because we have had experience with such scenarios in the real world.  Indeed, they continue to exist to this day, and will do so until all remnants of totalitarian (as opposed to "merely" authoritarian) regimes are wiped out of existence.  When Becky is railroaded into accepting "responsibility" for Baloo's "crime," that is bad enough, but then Koonce and Wiemers gleefully pile on, trying to mine chortles out of Becky's subsequent agony.  The whole farce reaches its grotesque climax when Becky is put through the "This Was Your Life" routine before the execution.  It legitimately troubles me that K&W thought that this routine was funny.  It's not.  It's painful.  In fact, I think it's the absolute low point of the entire TaleSpin series. 

[Insert laugh track here]

"Allowance Day"'s "cannon squad" sequence may not be all that side-splitting, but at least it's not mean-spirited.  How could it be when Fenton is present to lighten the mood with his attempts to kill time while the Gizmosuit is on its way.  If you're going to do comedy related to an execution, then this is the way to execute it (pun intended).  The gag concerning Scrooge's unwillingness to part with a dime to make a "last phone call" -- a gag that, thanks to technological advances, has lost much of its real-world relevance in the ensuing years, yet still manages to work -- is also an inspired touch, especially when we get the (literal) payoff with Gizmoduck.  Unfortunately, I do have to raise the eternally salient point that Gizmo's last-second arrival should have tipped HD&L off to the fact that Fenton and Gizmoduck are one and the same.  The boys have even less of an excuse to miss the obvious here than they did in "Trala La," since Fenton was right there on the scene when the transition to Gizmoduck took place.

 
The cloudplowing/eclipse-or-comet-viewing sequences are virtually identical in both episodes, though I think that TaleSpin handles its particular sequence a bit better.  Kit Cloudkicker, after all, got his name from... well, kicking clouds. I can buy him using his airfoil to push clouds aside more easily than I can the late-arriving Gizmoduck using his hands to shove that one remaining cloud out of the way.  The use of a comet as the date-establishing McGuffin in the TaleSpin setting also gets around the problem (mentioned by Greg) of the characters in "Allowance Day" just happening to have equipment for viewing an eclipse on their persons when the event takes place.  Junior Woodchucks may always be prepared, but everyone else?  I'm not so sure.  If "The Time Bandit" gets a credit here, it also accumulates an unnecessary debit when Koonce and Weimers symbolically slap the viewers in the face with a wet string of spaghetti by having Baloo respond to Kit's "put on a happy face" quote with the line, "Now why does that sound familiar?".  For what should be obvious reasons, I think that any further references to "familiarity" in this case are rather... unwise.  

Of course, Baloo ultimately pays for his peccadillo by being forced to go on a date with Broadcast Sally, while HD&L... do not.  At least, not on screen.  I'd like to think that Scrooge eventually chased the boys down and "convinced" them to give back those extra dollars.

Overall, as if it wasn't already pretty obvious, I prefer "Allowance Day"'s version of this plotline.  Having relatives who lived behind the Iron Curtain unquestionably plays a role in my feelings, but, even if you don't have that background, I can't imagine how one could watch both eps and not feel that "Allowance Day" struck the proper balance between seriousness and silliness.  Even so, I can certainly appreciate the sentiments of those who prefer "The Time Bandit."  I just don't happen to share those sentiments.

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Bumper #13: "Bolivar" (well, who else could it be?)

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"DuckBlurbs"

(GeoX) ...the Walter-Cronkite-equivalent newscaster sez "Saddest of all are those people who missed their Friday birthdays--now they're not sure how old they are." It's a funny line, but it indicates an awareness that a day did indeed disappear, which seems contrary to the general consensus; ie, that Friday DID happen and everyone just somehow forgot about it. 

Considering that there IS some societal uncertainty about the truth -- in the "DUCK-TV poll" related by Kronduck, 19% of those polled still held out for it being Friday -- I can accept the denizens of Duckburg believing both theories.

("Christopher" commenting on GeoX's review) Although I like Fenton, he had an annoying tendency to hijack episodes half way through and turn them into Gizmoduck stories. This episode is a prime example - it starts of as a classic screwball comedy plot with heavy shades of "The Emperor's New Clothes", and you're all set to watch the boys set everything right, and then suddenly it's all about Fenton fighting the baddies again. Sigh.

In truth, Fenton doesn't actually fight the baddies; the Gizmosuit simply arrives in time to stop the cannonballs.  Whatever post-execution dust-up might have ensued is short-circuited when Chiquita says that the Ducks can leave (huh?  What about that assault charge?).

(Greg) So we end with the shot of a neon board changing to Saturday and everyone shrugs. Hey there's the sea captain from Down And Out In Duckburg in the foreground I do believe (second appearance in this episode.). 

Yes, he can also be seen at the start (check the title card).  However, Captain Jack from "Down and Out" was a pigface.  This guy was the ship's captain in "Pearl of Wisdom," if I'm not mistaken.

(Greg) Anyhow; in comes Mrs. Quackenbush (and I shutter to think who is voicing her now)...

It's Susan Blu this time.  I speculated during my review of "My Mother the Psychic" that this episode and "Psychic" may have been recorded at the same time, since Blu and Alan Oppenheimer were in the supporting cast in both cases.

(Greg) The nephews decide to buy the scooter early and head to the store as the salesman informs him that the sale is over because it is Saturday and he heard it from the news; and he is not going to believe the word of Louie the prankster. Nice bit of detail there guys. The salesman walks out as the nephews proclaim that they outsmarted themselves...  Problem with this though is: If the sale ended on Friday; then even if they got their allowances on Friday, the sale would have ended on Friday and thus the price would go up anyway. Logic break #1 for the episode right there. 

Presumably, the store would have remained open on Friday long enough for the boys to get there and buy the scooter.  I interpreted "the sale ends on Friday" to mean that the sale ended once Friday ended.

(Greg)  Fenton crawls to the payphone and speaks 555-Gizmo. That's 555-44966. Yeah; it doesn't make any sense; which is understandable since kids would mimic this thinking that they are calling Gizmo Duck. 

I heard it as "555-GZMO."

(Greg) Chikitia points out that there is still one cloud left and thus there is no way to see the eclipse. But the darkness would come during a solar eclipse and thus that would proof enough to be Friday. Idiots!

I do think that the comet in "The Time Bandit" was a better choice than the eclipse for precisely this reason.

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Well, now I'm back in harness.  Thanks for your patience during the longer-than-expected hiatus.  I'm in the middle of my May Term class but hope to keep to a one- or two-episode-per-week pace for most of the rest of the Summer, at least until my surgery.

Next: Episode 79, "Bubbeo and Juliet." 

Merry is May-time...

... but, as you could probably tell from the lack of activity hereabouts, it hasn't been the merriest of times for me of late.  I just finished grading spring semester exams, and now I pitch right into the three-week May Term, starting tomorrow.  Stevenson is changing its calendar next year, adding a January term and eliminating the accelerated, three-week May session, so this will be the last time that I have to go through this.  Can't be helped, however, since Nicky and I need this money to pay for the kitchen renovation that we have been planning for some time and that will finally come to pass this Summer.

My stamina seems to have taken a tick downwards, which isn't a good sign, given the state of my kidneys.  Thankfully, a potential live donor has come forward (I'll withhold particulars for now), and I have every hope that I will be able to get my kidney transplant surgery done by the end of the Summer.  What that will mean for my ability to fulfill Fall teaching responsibilities, I couldn't begin to tell you at present.

I should be able to post some things this week, but "Allowance Day" will probably have to wait until the weekend.

Enjoying the Anguish?

That is, the anguish of waiting for my DUCKTALES RETROSPECTIVE on "Allowance Day"?  Well, I've been undergoing a fair amount of anguish of my own lately, some expected (the run-up to final exams, most of which I am giving early in exam week) and some not (the combination of a new blood pressure medication and some issues with my CPAP device resulting in a string of nights with broken and/or little sleep).  I did manage to start the "Allowance Day" writeup over the weekend, but I'm not sure when I'll finish it.  I'm also a little behind on the My Little Pony comics and episode updates...

... but I hope to belt one out soon, before I run smack into the conclusion of the season (the wrapping up of the Equestria Games and "Mysterious LOCKBOX OF DOOM" seasonal arcs). At least I finally got a decent amount of sleep last night...

We Are the Champions

A quick medical update:  earlier this month, Nicky and I attended the last of six monthly meetings of a Johns Hopkins-sponsored group called Live Donor Champions.  The members were all people who were on the wait list to receive a kidney transplant and/or were expecting to begin dialysis soon.  The goal was to learn strategies for seeking potential live kidney donors and informing them about the process, risks, and rewards of live donation. 

I'm happy to report that several of the people shown in the picture above have just recently received new kidneys (albeit from deceased, rather than live, donors).  I'll be sure to update you about my own progress.

DUCKTALES RETROSPECTIVE: Episode 65, "Till Nephews Do Us Part"... and a look ahead

"Part"ing the first season is such sweet sorrow...

"Till Nephews Do Us Part" was intended to be a blockbuster and delivers the goods, though it would be a stretch worthy of Mr. Armstrong himself to call it a masterpiece.  Most of the ep's weaknesses lie in the area of characterization -- and, no, I'm not referring to Scrooge's "mushin' out" as he falls under the spell of that wily woman on the make, Millionaira Vanderbucks.  HD&L are noticeably more naive and bratty than was their normal first-season wont (though, as Greg has pointed out, this may have been a harbinger of the way the boys would occasionally be written during subsequent seasons).  Mrs. Beakley and Duckworth, meanwhile, don't have the excuse of naivete to fall back on in their cluelessness regarding Milly's sinister plans for the household.  Ken Koonce and David Weimers' script, while nowhere near as inept as some of their lesser efforts, doesn't contain a fraction of the imagination and laugh-out-loud humor seen in the likes of "Double-O-Duck," opting instead for "money-related terms of endearment" (GeoX) and characters misunderstanding words and expressions (and if you don't recognize which ones I'm referring to ASAP, then you truly must BE a sap).  Still, the plot is reasonably good, we get a nice mixture of "domestic" and "adventurous" material (though the latter has a distinct touch of the farcical), and, of course, there's the now-legendary wedding scene with all of those character cameos.  I've no idea whether "Till Nephews" was in production at the time that the decision was made to extend the series' life with additional new episodes, but the mere existence of this scene, with its air of "wrapping things up," suggests that it was not.

The idea of a conniving woman zeroing in on Scrooge's fortune is anything but a new one.  Glittering Goldie herself was the original (and literal) "gold-digger" in "Back to the Klondike," "drugg[ing] and roll[ing]" miner McDuck and swiping his Goose Egg Nugget.  However, Barks' Goldie doesn't fit the mold of a "gold-digger" in the modern sense, in that she would have been perfectly content to have cut and run with that one treasure had fate (and a peeved Scrooge) not intervened.  She acted more like a pure opportunist than someone who was in it for the long haul.  The DT version of "Klondike" represents the other side of the coin, as it were, suggesting that Scrooge and Goldie might have enjoyed a happy life together in Duckburg had Dangerous Dan not queered the relationship between them.  After reconciling with Scrooge, both versions of Goldie receive unexpected opportunities to reunite with him -- with the offer being rather more obvious in the DT version of "Klondike" than in Barks' less sentimental original -- but the hard-hearted "greediest gal in the Klondike" has long since become content with her backwoods life and consciously sets aside any further designs on Scrooge or his money.  (In the DT version, at least, she does compensate for this by apparently tying some fairly substantial apron strings around her man.  More on that later.)

If Goldie is a character whose "gold-digging" tendencies have atrophied over time, then Romano Scarpa's Brigitta MacBridge is one who never had specific designs on Scrooge's money to begin with, but who nonetheless manages to come across as a "gold-digger."  That's "dig" as in "keep burrowing and burrowing like El Capitan at the end of 'Too Much of a Gold Thing', determined to win Scrooge over."  It is this maniacal persistence that drives Brigitta-bashers crazy.  Disney's original "annoying business lady" (apologies to Rebecca Cunningham) is something of an acquired taste for us American Disney comics fans.  For my own part, I find her an enjoyable addition to the Duck cast and wouldn't have minded seeing her in a DT episode or two.  (I even have a voice actress picked out for her -- Tress MacNeille, doing a "friendlier-sounding" version of her sneering Lady Bane-esque voice for Milly.)  Brigitta's apparently sincere affection for Scrooge makes her easy to like.

Millionaira Vanderbucks seems at first glance like a typical, overbearing, MacNeille-voiced female villain.  In fact, she's considerably more subtle than that.  Consider that when Scrooge goes to the Web Corporation building to inquire about purchasing the Malaysian land that harbors the "lost relics," Milly does not give clue one that she knows who he is!  For the "wealthiest woman in the world" not to recognize Scrooge on sight seems most improbable.  Scrooge has more of an excuse for not initially recognizing Milly, given that he seems to hold a low opinion of the very idea of a distaff tycoon.  (Who knows, maybe Brigitta DOES exist in the DT "universe.")  It's never made clear when, exactly, Milly hatched her devious plot to ensnare Scrooge in the coils of "matrimoney."  Assuming that she had no prior idea that Scrooge would be coming to buy her land, the whole notion must have popped into her head during this initial conversation, before she suggests that the two of them talk about the deal over dinner.  I don't know about you, but any villain who shows the ability to think on her webs as quickly as that has got MY respect from the off.

The ensuing dinner at McDuck Mansion (BTW, did they even have time to EAT dinner?  We cut directly from a conversation over empty plates to Scrooge escorting Milly to the door) sets all the character dynamics for the rest of the episode in motion.  Scrooge is smitten with Milly; the Nephews and Webby are suspicious, with fairy-tale-conscious Webby even evoking Snow White's Wicked Queen as a comparison; Milly is appalled by the mere existence of the "ghastly" children (I imagine that Scrooge keeps media references to their presence in his household to an absolute minimum for safety's sake); and Mrs. Beakley and Duckworth seem oblivious to the poisonous atmosphere.  Note that when Scrooge returned home after his initial confab with Milly, he was "tetched," but not so much so that he didn't think "business first" when giving instructions to HD&L.  It's only after the second parting, after Milly presumably has had time to plan her "charm offensive" more thoroughly, that Scrooge acts in a hopelessly punch-drunk manner.

Milly: "I'm thinking of expanding..."

Me: "I think a certain amount of contraction is in order."

Needless to say, I think that Koonce and Wiemers went a teentsy bit overboard with the financially-themed pet names; even a money-hungry "gold-digger" would probably have been sickened by at least a few of them.  Scrooge and Milly's "cash-ship" is actually at its best when K&W pull back on the pecuniary throttle and try to underplay things.  The scenes in the "lovers' park" are cute and charming...

Note the "$" signs encircling the lovers' heads.

 

... (though what guard allows an armored car to be driven with its doors open?  Must be one of Scrooge's), while the "proposal/merger" scene itself has so many good lines ("It's rare that a woman compounds my interest daily," "I can't wait to take you home to meet my accountant") that the pet names are only a minor annoyance.  Ignore the surrounding context, and some of these scenes and lines might even have worked for a Scrooge/Brigitta romance.  Of course, tip things slightly the other way and you've got a Duck-version of Beverly Hills Teens.

Of course, Milly's intentions throughout all this are decidedly dishonorable, even though some of them don't seem to make sense.  Plans to send Webby to a "finishing school" would be rather pointless if Mrs. Beakley were to be given the pink slip at the same time -- and speaking of jettisoning the servants, wouldn't Scrooge and Milly need reliable servants anyway?  Does Milly expect that Scrooge would simply accept her kicking out Mrs. B. and Duckworth and (presumably) importing that butler-ish guy ("Bottoms"?  "Bubbums"?) who's following her around at the end of Act 2 and later helping her suit up before the wedding?  Milly's loud proclamation of her plans outside HD&L's door (whether she recognizes it as being such or not) suggests that, even as her scheme seem to be proceeding according to plan, she may not have the mental discipline required to keep it together and may end up, well, cutting her OWN throat.

Act Two starts with the low point of the episode, Mrs. Beakley's casual dismissal of HD&L and Webby's warnings -- until the nanny realizes that she, herself, is to be a casualty of the "New Wench Order."  GeoX calls this "a mean and not-too-believable interpretation of her character," and I have to agree.  The Mrs. B. I know would have ignited the second she heard about Milly's plans to send Webby to "finishing school."  Thankfully, Mrs. B. makes a quick recovery, and soon, the plot to scare Milly off by putting her through the wringer on the relics-seeking trip to Malaysia is well and truly under-web.  The sequence of "rotten pranks" begins with a swipe from the Disney movie The Parent Trap (1961).  Just as Hayley Mills and... um, Hayley Mills tried to spook their divorced father's gold-digger sweetheart by pouring honey on her feet to attract bears, so HD&L use the honey spray (where would you buy that, I wonder?) to send "a whole bunch of bees" in the direction of Milly's corpus.  Amazingly, the scene doesn't end as you might expect, with Milly swelling up like a balloon due to dozens of bee stings; instead, she merely endures a water-ducking.

The bee ploy could have been employed on anyone; the next scheme relies completely upon Milly's total ignorance of life in the outdoors.  That's the only possible reason why a smart cookie like Milly would believe that one can keep away "Malaysian Thistlesmashers" (or, as Tress pronounces it at one point, "Thishlesmashers") by burdening oneself with an expedition's worth of luggage.

Greg confessed a sneaking admiration for Milly's ability to stand up to all the abuse she takes during these scenes.  I suppose so, though her persistence, like El Capitan's, may have more to do with sheer greed (which by now must be shading to obsession) than anything else.  I will, however, give her full marks for surviving that terrible fall down the cliff after she's been scared by the Bush Duck.  Scrooge provides a cute contrast to what is actually a fairly tense scene by coming out of the cave with the "lost relish," tearing away any lingering sense of seriousness about the nature of the Ducks' "adventure" and revealing it as a mere excuse for gaggery.

Even before their "rotten pranks" had come to fruition, of course, HD&L had been acting in a more childish manner than we have become accustomed to.  The opening scene in which they scare Mrs. Beakley by riding the dumbwaiter could have come from any randomly selected 30s or 40s cartoon short...

... and Duckworth's helpful definition of "trespassing" reveals that they've recently raided a neighbor's apple orchard.  (Applejack would not be amused.)  The classic "we hate girls" reaction to Scrooge's infatuation with Milly is not out of line with their previous characterization, but one can't say the same about Dewey's comment, "I haven't seen Unca Scrooge so loony since he told us about his old girlfriend Goldie!"  Given that the boys have actually met Goldie and witnessed (if not entirely appreciated) the two characters' feelings for each other, Dewey's sentiment strikes me as being decidedly uncharitable.  Presumably, the idea of inviting Goldie to Scrooge and Milly's wedding was primarily motivated by Webby, who responds to Dewey's remark by suggesting that the kids remind Scrooge of how much he loves his old flame.

Of course, Webby isn't on hand to tamp down the Nephews' natural inclinations when they finally confess that they don't want Scrooge to marry Milly.  This follows the waterfall-plunge scene, which might have been made more interesting by improved staging and animation (we only see Scrooge and Milly's tumble in longshot) but does deliver Launchpad's one priceless contribution to the ep: "That darn eject button is always gettin' in the way!"  Given that LP is present in the main story strictly for utilitarian reasons -- to get the party to Malaysia -- and that Koonce and Weimers didn't even see fit to let him crash the 'copter, this was a welcome reminder of LP at his laugh-out-loud best.  Also, the "ASAP" gag worked better with Launchpad than it did with Duckworth, which isn't much of a surprise.

And so we reach the wedding... and the famed boatload of cameos therein.  Some kind soul created a panoramic image of the scene outside the bank, for which I am eternally grateful.  Click on it, and it should enlarge.  Oddly enough, this wouldn't be the only time that Walt Disney TV Animation tried something like this.  101 Dalmatians: The Series wrapped up its 65-episode manifest with the three-part adventure "Dalmatian Vacation" (1998), which climaxed with Roger and Anita Dearly reprising their wedding vows.  (Actually, they're technically getting married for the first time, since their original wedding was overseen by a con artist.)  Whereas the McDuck-Vanderbucks wedding was presumably planned very carefully, with formal invitations being sent out to all of the invitees (except the villains, of course), the one-shot characters who returned for the wedding in "Dalmatian Vacation" were quite literally rounded up on the spur of the moment, with no explanation given as to how they got to the site so quickly -- or at all.  Then again, 101D tended to be sloppy that way.

Of course, DuckTales' use of recurring background characters (the members of the Explorers' Club, the "pignitaries," Vacation van Honk, etc.), which seemed so ground-breaking at the time, has long since been one-upped by the immense casts of shows as diverse as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  But, as I have said before on several occasions, DT deserves credit for "getting there first."

Greg seemed to think that a segment of the viewership -- namely, Christians -- might have been put off by the "money-grubbing version of a wedding" that we got here.  Well, I didn't find it offensive in the least, just as I had no problem with "god-ruler" Princess Celestia marrying Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance in MLP:FIM's "A Canterlot Wedding."  As Greg himself pointed out, context is everything in this situation.  There is such a thing as a "civil ceremony," after all, and being married at a vault door by a banker reading from a ledger is merely an "extreme" version of same.  Say what you will about the overall quality of K&W's writing here, they took the idea of a "money-themed wedding" and exploited it for all that it was worth (which was probably a few obsquatumatillions).

Donald displaying "ring wrath"?

At the "vaultar," Milly finally cracks under the strain and reveals her true motivation for marrying Scrooge.  I will give her credit for holding out a bit longer than the evil Queen Chrysalis in "A Canterlot Wedding."  Disguised as Princess Cadance, Chryssie literally sings about the impending culmination of her scheme as she is marching down the aisle.  They say that marriage ceremonies are stressful, but they don't know the half of it...

... And speaking of halves, Scrooge's would-be better one literally blasts her way onto the scene (shouldn't she have suffocated while waiting inside that cake?) to begin a sequence that, quite frankly, should be much more iconic than it is.  It's amazing enough that DuckTales got away with depicting Goldie attempting to blow Scrooge away with a shotgun, but to explicitly state that Goldie did it because she believed Scrooge to be cheating on her takes the whole thing "one step beyond."  Granted, it wouldn't have made much sense for the Barks Goldie to have done this, seeing as how Scrooge and Goldie parted peaceably, and with no apparent plans to resume the relationship, at the end of the comics version of "Back to the Klondike."  But for the DT Goldie, who presumably cohabited with Scrooge at White Agony Creek before Dangerous Dan broke them up, the idea of Scrooge "two-timing" her would probably have caused a much stronger -- and much more intensely physical -- reaction.  Had we been privy to Scrooge and Goldie's entire "bear-back" conversation at the end of the DT "Klondike," we would probably have heard Scrooge, who had just admitted that Goldie had "stolen [his] heart," make some kind of pledge to be eternally true to his backwoods gal.  If that were the case, then Goldie's violent reaction here wouldn't have "tarnishe[d] the Goldie mystique" (as GeoX would have it), but, in a DuckTales context, would actually have burnished it.  Again, context matters.

We shouldn't forget poor Milly, literally left at (or, more accurately, leaving herself at) the "vaultar," where she's "comforted" by Glomgold.  Flinty does not actually propose to Milly here -- he merely makes a cutting reference about Scrooge -- but that's enough for Milly to start a new campaign.  Presumably, Flinty's aghast reaction to Milly's attentions was due to his overhearing her "confession" at the "vaultar"; had Milly set her sights on him from the beginning, he presumably would have fallen for her the way Scrooge did.  Or perhaps, being a meaner, more cynical sort, he would have seen through a fellow villain's ruse more quickly? 

And that's a season.  I still think that DuckTales' first 65 hold up extremely well, though I've been pickier about errors both large and small in these reviews.  The show's range and ability to tell different kinds of stories -- in an era, let's recall, when many of its competitors were "telling stories" as an excuse to advertise toy lines -- continues to impress.  The animation, while it doesn't look quite as dazzling as it did back in the day, still features plenty of high points.  Most important of all, despite some moments of annoyingly inconsistent characterization -- many of which I put down to the sheer number of people who wrote for the series -- DT accomplished the signature feat of making the audience truly care about the characters, which was a tougher task than you might think, especially when it came to the main character.  Harry McCracken put it best in an article in ANIMATO! years ago: Scrooge McDuck is a character that no focus group or marketing executive could ever have come up with.  Even the "decaffeinated" Scrooge of DT was one of the more improbable heroes in TV animation history.  

So... the greatest animated series ever made?  No, I can't in all honesty claim that now.  But a great series that transformed an industry and had as profound an impact on me as any cultural construct has ever had?  You bet.

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I've given a fair amount of thought to how I will cover the Bubba Duck and Gizmoduck era of DT.  Through experience, I've learned that it takes much more time for me to make appropriate screengrabs than to actually write the notes that form the bases for these commentaries... and, as of right now, I don't have that many screengrabs of the second and third seasons.  For that reason, I've decided to take a short hiatus while I focus my attention on getting images from the 35 remaining eps of the series.  I plan to spend December doing that, at the same time as I'm getting ready for Spring classes.  By the beginning of the New Year, I should be ready to move forward again, and "retro prep" should take less time.  So, you can expect "Time is Money" to roll your way (Roll?  Wheels?  Cave duck?  Get it??) early in January.  Will I be able to finish this feature by the end of 2014?  I think so, if luck and my health hold out and I don't bump into any more ceilings in the meantime.

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"DuckBlurbs" 

(Greg) We begin this one with the STOCK FOOTAGE OF DOOM we zoom in and cut to the nephews room as Louie stops the alarm clock on the dresser drawer with his hand (NOT THOSE ONES!) and the nephews all wake up in color coordinated striped pj's. They then change their clothes as their shirts are underneath their PJ's. How about that?!

Yes, how about it, indeed.  I can see where that might come in handy in a pinch... though I certainly hope that HD&L take showers before going out in public.

(Greg) Duckworth goes to the front door and opens it to reveal Mrs. Vanderbucks in a classy red dress with some gold metal trim and black gloves with black heels. Very classy for a sneaky heel there.

And the effect is enhanced by that... highly interesting "from the bottom up" shot.  Though I have to say that the wad of red lipstick at the end of Milly's beak rather weakens the effect for me.  Once again: Lipstick on female Ducks, no matter how sexy, is weird-looking.

(Greg) Vanderbucks decides to sell the land after all and then they walk out as the nephews give the thumbs up and feel that Vanderbucks isn't so bad after all. 

And thus begins an intriguing intra-episode meme: The joint "thumbs up" shot.  It stands out precisely because we rarely saw the characters indulging in such choreographed activity before.  Not even HD&L have gone in for it that often, and they, of course, did the famous shtick of completing sentences as a group in the shorts and in many of Barks' early stories.  With all the thumbs on display here, you'd think that the characters were rating movies or something.  (Would that mean that the kids' "throat-slashing" joint at the end of Act One was meant to signify "Cut!"?)

(Greg) ... We cut back to inside the hallway as the nephews and Webby are pacing around sulking because Scrooge hasn't played with them or read to them in weeks. There is a picture of Goldie with her blunderbuss on the right side of the wall. 

It's the same picture that we saw in Scrooge's bedroom in "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. McDuck."  Wonder why Scrooge relocated it to a public area.  BTW, I was glad to see Koonce and Weimers avoid the "whirlwind courtship" cliche and admit that it took a while for Milly to really get her hooks into Scrooge.


(Greg)  After the commercial break; we go to the hallway as the nephews and Webby look around and see that the coast is clear. They then practice the fine art of not being seen as their clothes are on a stick and they make it down the stairs and they have a meeting of minds with Mrs. Beakly. And it wasn't at the dumb waiter. Mrs. Beakly wants answers to this sneaking and Webby basically states that they are running away. Now if I was going to make a case here; I would not call Millie mean. Besides; I would have said: “We overheard Millie talking about you and she wants to fire you.”. That would have more credi[bility]. 

Webby is the one who refers to Milly as "mean," which I can easily see her doing.  The bigger issue is that HD&L couldn't have warned Mrs. B. that Milly wants to fire her, because they apparently don't know what a "pink slip" means.

(Greg) So we see a lot of people going into the [bank]... Everyone is there including Gladstone Gander, John D. Rockefeather, Magica DeSpell (!!!!) (we see her sign the marriage book in the scene to the left pan) along with Flintheart Glomgold, Feathers Galore (!!!), Carl Sa[g]ander, Ma Beagle, Burger Beagle, Bouncer Beagle and Big Time Beagle among them that I can clearly see outside. 

Actually, the Beagle lineup changed in midstream.  In the panorama shot, Ma, Big Time, Burger, and Bankjob can be seen heading for the bank.  However, when the disguised Beagles rob the bank, Ma, Big Time, Burger, and... hmm, is that Bouncer?  I suppose it is... are the ones doing the deed.  I guess that Bankjob and Bouncer switched off when the Beagles ran home to plan their caper.  Speaking of changes, June Foray's Ma Beagle voice is noticeably different here than it is at any other point of the series.

(Greg) I remember hating this episode back in the day as I [was] with the nephews on the whole thing and I had no sympathy for Scrooge. Today; my views are different and I think this is one of the best episodes I have seen. I call it a case of a really good heel in Millie being a trooper through the whole thing until the nephews pushed their pranks one too far (which I thought was pointless since there was enough idiots in the scene to do Millie in by themselves without the nephews resorting to low tricks). I ended up having a little sympathy for Millie and Scrooge and not so much for the nephews, Mrs. Beakly or Webby. 

I think you were subconsciously picking up on the Nephews' increased "brattiness quotient."  While Milly certainly deserved some rough treatment, the boys did pour it on and evoke at least a small amount of sympathy for her.  Koonce and Wiemers may have reflected that by allowing Milly to close the ep on an up note (for her), chasing Glomgold with renewed vigor.

Next:  I'll be back in early January with Episode 66, "Time is Money, Part One: Marking Time."