DuckTales (2017 TV Series)

***DuckTales (2017)*** is an American animated television series developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series is a reboot of the original 1987 series of the same name. It first premiered on August 12, 2017.

## Summary

After not speaking to each other for ten years, old-timer Scrooge McDuck is reunited with Donald Duck after he asks Scrooge to watch his three nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the day. The presence of the newcomers rekindles Scrooge's spirit of adventure, leading the group to go on many new treasure-hunting expeditions, while the nephews and their new friend Webby seek the truth behind their uncles' broken relationship and the mysterious disappearance of Huey, Dewey, and Louie's mother and Donald's sister Della Duck.

## Why It Rocks

1. The animation and character designs are well-done.
2. Post-modern art style.
3. All the actors do a phenomenal job voicing their characters like Huey, Dewey and Louie voice actors who put in a performance that fits well with their personalities.
4. Huey, Dewey and Louie are all given more individual personalities than in the 1987 series. Instead of just basically being the same duckling (to the point of having the same design, but recolored), they all are given age-based archetypes to be written and expanded off of.
5. Webby and Mrs. Beakley also get major overhauls, unlike the original versions of them being a girly girl with a hysterical grandma respectively...
	* Webby gets to participate in adventures with energy and determination. (She's also less feminine as well, which is fine.)
	* Beakley while being stoic, is still a household woman who keeps herself calm and collected, with good intentions.
6. Some newly introduced characters like Lena De Spell and Storkules. The incorporation of these new characters makes them feel right at home.
7. Unlike the original series where he was in the Navy and only made cameos, Donald actually gets to tag along this time, and he's one of the most likable and relatable characters in the show.
8. The episodes are well-written and well-paced.
9. It recaptures the spirit of the show.
10. The intro sounds so awesome. It's essentially the original intro, but tune-shifted and re-done to fit the tone of the current show!
11. For the very first time in Disney animated history, Huey, Dewey, and Louie's mother Della Duck makes her animated debut, and plays a major part of the show's plot.
12. The series has a wide range of characters, taken from different and varied sources.
	* Many characters originating from the comics made their debut on screen, such as Donald's other cousin Fethry Duck, Scrooge's other billionaire rival John D. Rockerduck or Donald's feuding neighbor Jones, who's his therapist in this show.
	* Characters from other Disney Afternoon cartoons are now featured characters in their respective episodes, like Darkwing Duck, Don Karnage and the Rescue Rangers (although the Rangers didn't appear much).
	* Even the Cogs from *Toontown Online* make a cameo appearance.
13. Magica De Spell's revenge plot in the first season is very clever, and she very nearly wins.
14. All of the characters have excellent chemistry with each other, developed at a good pace. Scrooge's chemistry with Webby is an example; we get an entire episode dedicated to Scrooge and Webby to build their chemistry, Scrooge allowed Webby to acknowledge him as her uncle in the end, and it was near the season finale. The friendship between Webby and Lena is very heartwarming as well.
15. The writers behind the show are total fans of *DuckTales* and everything Scrooge McDuck related. As such they really wanted to make this quite an amazing reboot and a tribute, also providing what wasn't brung to the table years ago.
16. The writers behind the show take criticism very well. As when the second season started, they addressed the elements that fans have had problems with in season 1.
	* Scrooge's penny-pinching is more front and center, and he's more on the action than he was in the previous season.
	* Louie gets more character development, as he learns about being the coordinator.
	* The huge amount of spotlight that Dewey and Webby received in the first season was reduced in the second season.
	* Huey is more physically active.
	* The adult characters are given much more focus.
	* Scrooge finally gets his own story arc; his bet with Glomgold for each other's company, rather than only being a supporting character like in the Della and Magica arcs.
17. There are a ton of references to the original Uncle Scrooge comics and the Ducktales NES games.

## Bad Qualities

1. Scrooge's stinginess is downplayed in this compared to the original, which was one of the major things about his character. Although, his stinginess is still used in a lot of episodes.
2. Huey, Dewey, and Louie's voice actors, while great, sound way too old to come off as ten-year-olds.
3. In the first season, the characters seem to gloss over any post-traumatic experiences for very long, like Lena's "death".
4. Steelbeak debuts in season 3, only for him to be changed to a literally dumb character.
	* It should also be noted Steelbeak in the original *Darkwing Duck* is supposed to be a cunning, manipulative character, and so far there's no justification if it was a facade yet.
5. By Season 3, the theme song has been cut very short.

## Reception

In Rotten Tomatoes, the show has a perfect 100% rating, it is considered one of the best reboots of an old classic cartoon, and a lot of fans consider it to be superior to the original.