Take A Look at Disney

5/3/16

Dino-Rama: Jurassic Jumble (Darkwing Duck Episode Review)



Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our Dino-Rama event as we head to St. Canard to look at the 25th episode of Darkwing Duck's first season.  Join me as we look at Jurassic Jumble.


Episode Title

Jurassic Jumble


It appears that this title was perhaps inspired by Jurassic Park and while our main villain is a scientist, that seems to be all there was to connect that film to this episode.



The Plot


We open at the law offices of Shyster and Loophole as they are kidnapped by a large creature that is unseen to the audience.  Darkwing arrives with Gosalyn and Honker in tow.  They question the secretary, when Honker notices footprints of a dinosaur as DW questions the secretary about the kidnappings but DW refuses to believe that it's a dino. Honker and Gosalyn follows the footprints to a museum, where  they come across a living dinosaur whilst DW and Launchpad head to a luxury prison to question a criminal that DW thinks is behind the kidnappings, Numero Uno but it's to no avail as Darkwing isn't able to contact with him in any touch.












At the museum, Gosalyn and Honker meet Stegmutt. A janitor turned dinosaur that isn't the brightest bulb that there is.  He was turned into a dino by the villain of the episode, Dr. Fossil.  The kids discover him by accidentally spraying a can of soda on him and at first run away from him but as the scene goes on, they learn that he's harmless.  Meanwhile, DW tries again to capture Numero Uno but fails to do so, while Stegmutt takes his news friends to the lab of the villain of the episode, Dr. Fossil and as we meet him, we learn why Fossil didn't appear in more than one episode as for a villain, he doesn't make a lot of sense.












Fossil is a professor that turned himself into a pterodactyl but yet, he thinks that dinosaurs get no respect and everywhere he goes, people call him a freak or make a Godzilla and as the kids point out, why doesn't he just turn himself back into a duck.  Fossil has created an invention that will turn the citizens of St. Canard into dinosaurs as we observe that he has done that to the lawyers from the beginning of the episode.












Fossil plans to wipe out humanity and return the Earth to the age of the Dinosaurs.   Meanwhile, Fossil has sent Stegmutt out to steal a giant magnet and as he goes he passes by Darkwing Duck, proving to DW that we as the audience has known all along that Honker was right.   Stegmutt returns and is about to turn Honker and Gosalyn into dinos but the kids are able to convince that what Fossil is doing is wrong and that they don't want to be dinosaurs. And that Fossil is going to hurt them. This enrages Stegmutt as he doesn't like people being hurt.  Stegmutt along with the kids head to the roof of the museum, where Fossil is and there we see him with his invention.  And just at this moment, DW and Launchpad arrive and Gosalyn calls out and DW thinks that the kids are being held captive by Stegmutt but that is not the case.  This distracts Fossil and causes him to lose hold of his machine and it turns Darkwing into a dino.













Okay, yeah that's pretty funny.  This leads to a chase between Darkwing Dinosaur and Dr. Fossil after he tries to pull the meteor that I forgot to mention down to use to turn the citizens into the dinosaurs.  Getting back to Darkwing Dinosaur, this was pretty funny seeing DW as a giant dinosaur like monster rampage through St. Canard fighting Dr. Fossil.  Honker, Stegmutt and Gosalyn attempt to use the magnet to stop the meteor.  They reverse the magnet to do this. The magnet grabs Fossil's machine and it turns DW into an amoeba and for some reason, Fossil is turned into a cruise ship.  DW is hit by Fossil's anchor and that knocks him out for a short while  but after that Fossil is defeated and then Stegmutt attempts to use Fossil's machine to DW back into a superhero but it instead turns him into a fish.  All in all, this was a fun episode.  Not the greatest Darkwing Duck episode that there is but for what it was, it was enjoyable.



Characters


Main Characters

Gosalyn and Honker voiced by Christine Cavanaugh & Katie Leigh














Honker and Gosalyn were pretty fun in this episode and this episode was great highlight to show how well these two worked as a best friend duo with Honker in the believer of science and Gosalyn as the skeptic.  And plus, there is just something fun about kids befriending a dinosaur.












(Why is he in a tutu?)  Besides that one, even if I was obsessed with him as a little kid but I digress.  Even then, this was an enjoyable episode showing how kids can sometimes be smarter than the adults, which is typically the case with Darkwing.



Darkwing Duck voiced by Jim Cummings














DW didn't get much to do in this episode but what he did get was pretty funny and the end with him turning into a dinosaur was pretty funny and it was easily the highlight of the episode as it was just so nuts but I loved it.




Supporting Character


Stegmutt voiced by Joey Camen














What's interesting to note is that this was Stegmutt's introductory episode but it was aired out of order as the two-parter, Just Us Justice Ducks was aired before this even though chronologically, this episode comes first and Disney didn't even think to fix this mistake on the Vol. 1 DVD release of the show.  As for Stegmutt, he's a likable enough character,  he's not the smarter but he does have a heart of gold and always wants to do right by the people around him.


Villains 

Dr. Fossil voiced by Barry Gordon













Yeah, this character just makes no sense.  I get that he wants to turn the world back over the dinosaurs but his end goal doesn't make sense with his motive as it's because he hates what dinosaurs have become.  I.E, something like Barney up there and he also hates it when the citizens of St. Canard call him a freak.  Then as the kids pointed out, why doesn't he just turn himself back into a duck.  Honestly, while it's been awhile since I've sat through other episodes of Darkwing Duck, I think that I can safely say that this character is one of the weakest villains that the show had.


My Final Thoughts

All in all, this was a fun episode. Probably not one of the best but it did serve as a good introductory episode for a recurring character that was rather likable.  Really, the only thing that held this episode back from being really good was the villain. Ah well, join me next time as we leave St. Canard and visit the richest duck in the world.  You better grab onto some DuckTales as we look at...


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