Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our Dino-Rama as we head to Duckburg as we travel with Scrooge to The Lost World.
No, must resist obvious joke. Although, funnily you could compare parts of this episode to Jurassic Park as in it, Scrooge is trying to get a dinosaur for his zoo after Launchpad discovers them by happenstance and Scrooge wants to bring it back to Duckburg and make money off if it. Though, there are also The Lost World comparisons in that Huey, Dewey, & Louie... and Webby sneak onto a helicopter going to The Lost World much in the same vein as Kelly Malcolm but that can more be chalked up to kids being kids. And the funny thing is that this episode aired in 1987. Six years before the film version of Jurassic Park hit the theaters and 3 years before Michael Crichton's book was released. So in other words Scrooge is the original John Hammond.
Episode Title
Dinosaur Ducks
The episode title refers to the creatures that the kids find on The Lost World.
Kinda too cutesy for my liking.
The Plot
We open the episode with Launchpad McQuack chasing a rare bird that Scrooge wanted for his zoo on The Lost World. Y'know maybe, they took inspiration from this for that title.
Probably makes a bit more sense than my JP comparsion uptop. Anyways, getting back to the plot. Launchpad had successfully captured the rare bird, a booby. Only then to end up being chased by a T. Rex. Boy, talk about a bad start to your day. Though I will say I do like how the episode immediately throws the audience into the action, even if I did have to check to make sure that this wasn't part of a 2 parter and I accidentally skipped part one. That was not the case thankfully, it was just the episode going full steam ahead with the action. Launchpad eventually loses the booby and in a rather funny bit that had me laughing, the pilot crawls all the way back from The Lost World to Duckburg into Scrooge's office.
Seriously, this bit had me in stitches throughout. When the pilot reaches the destination of his boss, the Scottish millionaire berates him for losing the booby until he says that they were being chased by a giant lizard and McDuck informs the cuckoo pilot that he discovered The Lost World and that a dinosaur would get even more guests into his zoo than a bird. Again, I say a dinosaur in a zoo is a stupid idea. A theme park with dinosaurs was bad enough but a zoo with other animals. Yeah, that is beyond dumb. Anyways, Scrooge decides that he and Launchpad should head to The Lost World. Off to Isla Sonora, we go.
Oh okay, it's not Site B but hey I resisted the obvious joke uptop. So I had to go for it here. Anyways, Huey, Dewey, & Louie want to come but Scrooge refuses and then... Webby wants to go as well but the boys do an impression of their uncle and tell her that it's too dangerous for her to come along as they hide in a box and Webby decides that she can be as sneaky as the boys and hides in a picinic basket. Okie dokie, then.
Taking off, sometime later, Launchpad comes into contact with a pterodactyl that was chasing him earlier and the pilot attempts to evade it but Launchpad being well...Launchpad ends up plunging the helicopter that they were flying in and this sends Scrooge looking for crash helmets and this is when he finds the boys but not being able to deal with them at the moment, just seatbelts them into a seat. But that doesn't last for very long as Launchpad accidentally hits the eject button sending the boys out. Yeah, things seem to be going just swell for our ducks.
The boys end up landing in a plateau, where they land in the nest of the aforementioned pterodactyl. Hopefully, none of them become dino chow and the boys have the same thought as they want to get out of there and this is when the baby dinosaur duck that I previously mentioned in the episode title makes its first appearance as it follows the boys. And on another end of The Lost World, Launchpad and Scrooge have to climb up a mountain with the picnic basket and this is when the baby dino's mother realizes that her baby is missing. The boys come into contact with the baby dino and suggest that they take him back for Scrooge's zoo. Oh, a baby dinosaur. That makes the idea all better until it'll grow up. But the boys soon give up on this idea but they set up a trap in the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook to catch a different dino but they end up capturing a sabertoothed tiger. But instead, it ends up catching a T. Rex. Whoops! The boys are able to scare it off by batting rocks at it. Hey, whatever works. The boys and the baby dinosaur hide in a small cave. Meanwhile, Scrooge and Launchpad have been taken captive by a tribe of caveducks.
Webby sneaks out of the picnic basket and go exploring and Webby finds the baby dinosaur and the boys tell her that the baby should be in Scrooge's zoo. Now I did say that they changed their mind. It was in large part thanks for Webby.
The baby, the boys and Webby head into the tribe of the caveducks and there, they free Scrooge and Launchpad while the baby and Louie tie up the elder caveduck. After fighting off the caveducks, they seem to be in the clear but Webby is taken by the caveducks. Wow, this just seems going better and better. Scrooge isn't mad at the boys and thinks that the bay dinosaur would be great in his zoo. But the boys convince him otherwise. Oh, and a bit after this, our ducks are once again attacked by the T. Rex.
They find Webby telling a combo of various fairy tales to the caveducks and they seem to be eating it up. Scrooge wants to get Webby back and decides to give his hat to the elder. Later, the ducks then fight off the T. Rex using various methods and through fighting it, they knock it into a river with the help of the mother dinosaur.
Scrooge decides that instead of bringing the dino to his zoo, he'll give Duckburg, helicopter tours of The Lost World. All in all, this was a pretty fun episode and yeah, I may have been a bit heavy with the Jurassic Park references but beyond those silly references, this was a great episode and it was really action packed.
Characters
Main Characters
Scrooge McDuck voiced by Alan Young
Scrooge was enjoyable in the episode and I know I was a bit heavy with the Hammond comparisons in the beginning but that really came through quite a bit, even if this episode aired years before Jurassic Park ever opened it's gates. Still, Scrooge did come to his senses towards the end but I still say that bringing a dinosaur into a zoo is a stupid idea.
Launchpad McQuack voiced by Joey Camen
You may have noticed in my Darkwing review that I never brought up Launchpad in the character section. Well, compared to every other character in that episode, he barely served a purpose and you could have taken him out of the story and nothing would have changed. That's not the case here however as he was integral to the plot as he was the one that discovered The Lost World, even if it was by happenstance and while it's been awhile since I've watched both DuckTales and Darkwing Duck, it seemed like DuckTales knew how to better use Launchpad for effective comedy.
Supporting Characters
Huey, Dewey, & Louie voiced by Russi Taylor
The boys are likable and it makes sense in terms of kids characters, that they would sneak onto the helicopter, and they made for another fun part of the journey on The Lost World.
Webby Vanderquack also voiced by Russi Taylor
....On the other hand, Webby is the unneeded 4th wheel that brought nothing that the boys didn't already bring to the show. She was just the to be cutesy and that is her entire personality. Here's hoping that the reboot does more with her. Because the classic (I use that term loosely) is barely a character.
Baby Dinosaur
The cutesiness is too much. Ah! I kid, I may have said that the baby dino was too cutesy up top for my liking but he's just a baby and unlike he's not supposed to be much of a character. So, I guess that's okay.
My Final Thoughts
All in all, this was a pretty fun episode with a a lot of action. It could have probably done without Webby as the boys filled the spot that she was in, well enough. But that's a minor complaint in regards to a really great episode. Join me next time for a Music Fridays/Classic Shorts Showcase combo as I look at...
The Rite of Spring
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