TV DuckTales (2017)

[Riku]

​

So, the long awaited reboot of the beloved late 80's Disney afternoon classic just premiered past weekend on Disney XD. The hype was real, particulary for us 80s and early 90s kids who never really "out grew" cartoons. But it soon showed that it appeals to new audiences too, with it's modern style and form of storytelling. And this is the place to discuss the new series!

I thought the premiere was amazing. It's was hilarious as hell, adventurous and full of heart. Very well written story and characters. I particulary enjoyed how they are handling the triplets, giving each one a distinct personality and role. Each has a quality, that somehow reflects the aspects of Scrooge, giving them all a personal edge to their relationship with McD and room to grow. That's super smart writing. And yet despite going deeper and nuanced than DuckTales ever has gone, it also has absolutely hilarious gags, but verbal and visual, all thorough the episode.

It's fresh and modern, yet also pays a lot of tribute to the old series and the original comics. In the form of namedrops and other easter eggs, but also in the visual style. I love the halftone look of the backgrounds and the enviroment, and the color bleeds that give a further the look of the old comics. And obviously I superloved all the references to Carl Barks work, particulary his duck paintings. The character animations look really good and fluid. I particulary enjoyed Donalds movement and expressions. I have a feeling that he will eventually turn out to be my favorite character of the reboot.

So what did you guys think?

WOO-OO!

 

[Organizized]

Absolutely agree with everything you said. Animation is really fluid and great (got used to the new art style much faster than I thought I would), like you said the backgrounds with the paper texture, halftones and really comic-y style gave it that extra touch of "keeping it classic while keeping it fresh".

So many things I just want to randomly shout out; references, homages etc. Obviously all the Carl Barks paintings and homages to his era had me almost giggling with delight at times. That whole "garage" scene was pretty much written to make fans squeal for ten minutes straight. And the mentions of Cape Suzette, St. Canard and Spoonerville got me dreaming of a Disney reboot crossover universe where every show is as good as this reboot.

I love pretty much every character in this reboot. The triplets' distinct personalities is probably the best thing about the show, and really opens up for more depth in character growth, both personal and group dynamics. Scrooge/Donald relationship was intense. You can really feel the backstory just wanting surface there. Felt totally believable, and we don't even know exactly what's happened yet. Really well executed. Launchpad is perfectly stupid; Webby being so intense she even scared the triplets (instead of just being the girl who wants to tag along) made me so happy, and Glomgold was just hilarious. Love how they just made him try to be so much more of everything that is Scrooge.

And too many great quotes to count. "He thinks he is sooo Scottish and soo rich. Well, I'm wearing a kilt McDuck! Aaaa kiiilt!" I laughed out loud. Also the whole "Lying; it's the responsible thing to do" thing felt so spot-on for these rebooted triplets personas.

Speaking of which, if anyone's interested in what Launchpad said in (completely butchered) Swedish it was "Oh hi Beakley, Sub-ina has told me so much about you over fishballs" (basically meatballs but with fish instead, and a much grosser texture). It only took me like 30 rewinds of pure concentration to make that out. I felt like I was watching the Anya/Olaf scene from Buffy for a moment there, knowing it was supposed to be Swedish but not understanding a word.

There's just too much to say about it at once, really. Don't know where to stop so I'll force myself to do so now. Will probably rewatch the episode with wifey when she gets off work and I'll have to write some more, I suspect...

Woo-oo!

 

[Riku]

If (doesn't really feel like an if anymore though) DuckTales is a hit, I could really see them doing a shared Duckverse. I mean, it works for them with Marvel properties, and the scale here wouldn't be as huge as that is. And they did already confirm Darkwing at SDCC. So I can see it being a thing.

Yeah the Donald/Scrooge dynamic felt so good. Thats a great setup for a longer story arc.I have a feeling that the season finale will tell us what happened with the Spear of Selene. Which is a curious name for a thing. Selene means moon. Apparently in some newer comics, it was revealed that Della is an astronaut by profession. I am already fan-gasming over the sheer thought of the possibility of hearing a new arragement of the moon theme in the show.

Yeah, the kilt line was like my favorite too from the episode. I love what they have done with Glomgold. So hammy. I also loved pretty much everything Launchpad let out of his beak. I actually was kinda proud I could understand the swedish with just a re-listen. Also, I'm a pilot.

And the garage. That was such a easter egg feast. I'm rewatching the ep just to look thorough it and Webbys research board with a keen eye for more plausible hints and nods.As for future storylines, early in the episode Scrooges financial advisors (haha, they were vultures) say they gonna cut from unnecessary departments, such as historical research, deep sea explorations and experimental tech. Not only it's a well written tidbit, because those are all things we know Scrooge absolutely loves and drives in the point how lonely and unhappy he is with his current life, but I also think the budget cut in experimental tech is a setup to how Gyro will eventually come to play. I mean, from the intro we know that he will build a giant evil robot, that looks a bit like Little Helper, but is also made of wood and rather cheap looking materials. I predict a episode, were Gyro maybe gets fired due to budget cuts, and decides to show Scrooge what the experimental tech can do, but it gets out of hand like his inventions usually do, but all turn out well in the end, Gyro gets a special division and becomes friends with the main cast. Or alternatively they don't want to make Gyro seem too bitter, so the moneyless Gyro is hired by Ma Beagle or Glomgold or something, and Scrooge realizes that this mad scientist is better have on his good side.

 

[Organizized]

Yeah the Donald/Scrooge dynamic felt so good. Thats a great setup for a longer story arc.I have a feeling that the season finale will tell us what happened with the Spear of Selene. Which is a curious name for a thing. Selene means moon. Apparently in some newer comics, it was revealed that Della is an astronaut by profession. I am already fan-gasming over the sheer thought of the possibility of hearing a new arragement of the moon theme in the show.

Oh Gosh yes that would be amazing. I didn't know that about Della duck, I think I've only seen her in mention, and also in the family tree. Might have to read up a bit on more recent storylines.

As for future storylines, early in the episode Scrooges financial advisors (haha, they were vultures) say they gonna cut from unnecessary departments, such as historical research, deep sea explorations and experimental tech. Not only it's a well written tidbit, because those are all things we know Scrooge absolutely loves and drives in the point how lonely and unhappy he is with his current life, but I also think the budget cut in experimental tech is a setup to how Gyro will eventually come to play. I mean, from the intro we know that he will build a giant evil robot, that looks a bit like Little Helper, but is also made of wood and rather cheap looking materials. I predict a episode, were Gyro maybe gets fired due to budget cuts, and decides to show Scrooge what the experimental tech can do, but it gets out of hand like his inventions usually do, but all turn out well in the end, Gyro gets a special division and becomes friends with the main cast. Or alternatively they don't want to make Gyro seem too bitter, so the moneyless Gyro is hired by Ma Beagle or Glomgold or something, and Scrooge realizes that this mad scientist is better have on his good side.

I can definitely see this happening. Looking forward to Gyro, stories where he was involved were always some of my favorites when I was younger. And he's voiced by Jim Rash, which just seems so damn spot on. I'm a little worried I'll just see Dean Pelton in my head when he speaks, but I was also worried I'd see The Doctor/Kilgrave, Abed and all the characters I associate with the rest of the cast, and that worry was blown out the window from the very first scene onward, so.

Speaking of Gyro and voice cast, I just read that Lin-Manuel Miranda is voicing Fenton Crackshell/Gizmoduck. (WHAT THE FECK ARE THESE CASTING DIRECTORS MADE OF? How do they get all these insanely great people?) Anyway, apparently in this version he'll be an intern to Gyro, as opposed to Scrooge's accountant and bodyguard/chief of security as in the old show. It'll be interesting to see how he and Gyro ends up playing off each other.

Even more fuel to the hope of a Duckverse, since Gizmoduck was also very prominent in Darkwing.

 

[Riku]

I didn't even know that about Della untill recently googling stuff. It's a pretty new thing, it was a special anniversary story for the dutch Donald Duck magazine in 2014 I think. In the story Donald talks with the nephews of his chilhood with Della, and then Della comes for a short visit before leaving for her next space expedition. I'm not fan of the new duck comics, but that's kinda cool and something I hope they use for the show. Some theorists already speculate, that as an astronaut Della was actually Scrooges previous pilot, and thats why he unconciosly ignores Launchpad everytime he brings up he is a pilot. He is still in some sort of denial over losing Della.

Yeah, the cast they have rounded up for this is amazing. I think there was a special behind the scenes featurette or some article about casting Miranda. Can't find the source right now though. The showrunners instantly had him in mind for their hispanic Fenton, but thought he would be totally untouchable, but still eventually decided to give a call. Miranda super excited about the role and revealed to be a fan of Ducktales, he really wanted to do it but didn't have much time. But the Ducktales crew wanted him so bad, that they worked around Mirandas schedules make it happen, often resulting in mid-night recording sessions and stuff.

Also looking forward to how this tech intern latino Fenton compares to the original and how he contrasts with the new Gyro. Also making him Gyros intern rather than Scrooges personal accountant sound good from the point of continuity and Duckverse. If he isn't tied to his work with Scrooge, he could have prominent presence in Darkwing Duck. Or well, it would make more sense.

I also wonder if Gladstone Gander is gonna debut in same episode us Gyro and presumably Fenton. Would be nice little call back to how Gyro was originally introduced in a Gladstone centered Barks story.

 

[Organizized]

While we're still sort of on Darkwing; I read that one of the old series' episodes that they're remaking for the reboot is Double-O-Duck (a terrific episode) That episode served as a sort-of prototype for Darkwing Duck (the show and character were originally intended to be called Double-O-Duck, even). Perhaps they'll use this connection to actually make the Double-O-Duck remake episode the introduction to the new Darkwing Duck?

One thing I only spotted (or at least paid mind to) upon my rewatch was the newspaper clipping on Webby's board mentioning Plain Awful, which is the setting of a couple of my favorite Donald Duck/ Uncle Scrooge comic stories by Barks and Rosa. I hope this could be a hint to Lost in the Andes and Return to Plain Awful (and while we're at it The Son of the Sun which I don't think is directly connected to those two but I seem to lump together with them in my mind) will be adapted. Unless it hints at Scrooge and/or Donald already having been there, which is just as likely..

 

[Reebi]

I don't have the Disney Channel but I used to watch Duck Tales as a kid

 

[Organizized]

I don't have the Disney Channel but I used to watch Duck Tales as a kid

The episode is available online at different streaming sites. Here is one that seems to work for me at least, in case you want to watch the reboot which I really think you should if you like the old series. I think it's pretty obvious what me and Ust think of it.

 

[Riku]

While we're still sort of on Darkwing; I read that one of the old series' episodes that they're remaking for the reboot is Double-O-Duck (a terrific episode) That episode served as a sort-of prototype for Darkwing Duck (the show and character were originally intended to be called Double-O-Duck, even). Perhaps they'll use this connection to actually make the Double-O-Duck remake episode the introduction to the new Darkwing Duck?

One thing I only spotted (or at least paid mind to) upon my rewatch was the newspaper clipping on Webby's board mentioning Plain Awful, which is the setting of a couple of my favorite Donald Duck/ Uncle Scrooge comic stories by Barks and Rosa. I hope this could be a hint to Lost in the Andes and Return to Plain Awful (and while we're at it The Son of the Sun which I don't think is directly connected to those two but I seem to lump together with them in my mind) will be adapted. Unless it hints at Scrooge and/or Donald already having been there, which is just as likely..

Sounds cool. Gotta rewatch that episode, I don't remember it all. Most of my memories of the old DuckTales are pretty blurred. But could be likely that how they introduce Darkwing. Have they confirmed anymore old episodes that are getting a remake? I just read that confirmed that some popular episodes would be remade, but they didn't say which.

Oh, I'd love to see an adaptation of Lost in the Andies/Return to Plain awful. Since it's on Webbys board, in my opinion it indicates more likely that Scrooge and Donald (Or maybe just Donald as in the comic) have already been there. Which makes the Return to Plain Awful a more likely story scenario. Though it could be just something Scrooge has been researching into but never made the effort and Webby just picked it up while eavesdropping from the air vents.

Well, there are references to Son of the Sun in Return to Plain Awful, and the comic also confirms that Plain Awfull is somewhere pretty close to the locations of Son of the Sun, the same mysterious old man gives them guidance in both stories. Easy to lump them in the same bunch. It would be cool to see Son of the Sun adapted too. It did provide after all loose inspiration for the original DuckTales pilot tv-film Treasure of the Golden Suns which kickstarted the original series. Or well, the two stories were in production at Disney around the same time.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 21, 2017, Original Post Date: Aug 21, 2017 ---

I don't have the Disney Channel but I used to watch Duck Tales as a kid

The episode is available online at different streaming sites. Here is one that seems to work for me at least, in case you want to watch the reboot which I really think you should if you like the old series. I think it's pretty obvious what me and Ust think of it.

Yeah, check it out if you can Reebi. It does justice to the memory of the old series. The premiere is on Disney XDs official Youtube channel for completely free also. Though it's region locked. Not accesible in Nordic countries, but not sure if you can watch it.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 21, 2017 ---

I'm not sure how much they can use Rosas stories as material. Just read that Don Rosa Official made a statement a couple of years ago, that Rosa is no way involved in the new production. Though Disney does own the rights for the stories, so they could use them. But Rosa was never asked and wouldn't even be interested in such a project. Atleast that was the official statement at the time.

 

[Organizized]

Sounds cool. Gotta rewatch that episode, I don't remember it all. Most of my memories of the old DuckTales are pretty blurred. But could be likely that how they introduce Darkwing. Have they confirmed anymore old episodes that are getting a remake? I just read that confirmed that some popular episodes would be remade, but they didn't say which.

I think that episode was the only one they confirmed. Producer Matt Youngberg used it as an example of episode they will remake because it's "his personal favorite" (or one of, can't remember).

Well, there are references to Son of the Sun in Return to Plain Awful, and the comic also confirms that Plain Awfull is somewhere pretty close to the locations of Son of the Sun, the same mysterious old man gives them guidance in both stories. Easy to lump them in the same bunch. It would be cool to see Son of the Sun adapted too. It did provide after all loose inspiration for the original DuckTales pilot tv-film Treasure of the Golden Suns which kickstarted the original series. Or well, the two stories were in production at Disney around the same time.

Oh, so not so strange I thought it related to those stories then. Haven't read them in a long time but might do so once I finish The Life and Times...

I'm not sure how much they can use Rosas stories as material. Just read that Don Rosa Official made a statement a couple of years ago, that Rosa is no way involved in the new production. Though Disney does own the rights for the stories, so they could use them. But Rosa was never asked and wouldn't even be interested in such a project. Atleast that was the official statement at the time.

I do hope they can use them or at least heavily draw inspiration from them. I mean, don't doubt they'll be able to create good new adventures but at the same time it would be so darn incredible to see those stories which have stuck with me through the years told in a new, fresh way.

Though I do understand Don Rosa, since the comic Duckverse and it's characters are kinda different compared to Ducktales universe. Reading the notes after each chapter of Life and Times, he is super careful to only write his story based on "Barksian facts" and appears to view Barks' view on the characters, in particular Scrooge, to be law.

I have to say though, just from what we've seen so far it does feel like this reboot will be more of a mix of old Ducktales and the comics in its overall feel and its new characterizations.

 

[Riku]

Yeah, in that same official statement it stated that Rosa does not hate DuckTales like some rumors apparently have been saying, but actually considers it one of the best serial cartoon of all time. But, he does not consider it a "real" depiction of the Duckverse Barks recreated - siting the overly lovable grandpa-type Scrooge as one of the reasons. Well, the reboot Scrooge does seems to have a bit more selfishness and crudenes to him than the original, so that may indeed be an indication that they will be drawing more from the Barksian Duckverse. So far so good.

 

[Reebi]

Sounds cool. Gotta rewatch that episode, I don't remember it all. Most of my memories of the old DuckTales are pretty blurred. But could be likely that how they introduce Darkwing. Have they confirmed anymore old episodes that are getting a remake? I just read that confirmed that some popular episodes would be remade, but they didn't say which.

Oh, I'd love to see an adaptation of Lost in the Andies/Return to Plain awful. Since it's on Webbys board, in my opinion it indicates more likely that Scrooge and Donald (Or maybe just Donald as in the comic) have already been there. Which makes the Return to Plain Awful a more likely story scenario. Though it could be just something Scrooge has been researching into but never made the effort and Webby just picked it up while eavesdropping from the air vents.

Well, there are references to Son of the Sun in Return to Plain Awful, and the comic also confirms that Plain Awfull is somewhere pretty close to the locations of Son of the Sun, the same mysterious old man gives them guidance in both stories. Easy to lump them in the same bunch. It would be cool to see Son of the Sun adapted too. It did provide after all loose inspiration for the original DuckTales pilot tv-film Treasure of the Golden Suns which kickstarted the original series. Or well, the two stories were in production at Disney around the same time.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 21, 2017, Original Post Date: Aug 21, 2017 ---

Yeah, check it out if you can Reebi. It does justice to the memory of the old series. The premiere is on Disney XDs official Youtube channel for completely free also. Though it's region locked. Not accesible in Nordic countries, but not sure if you can watch it.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 21, 2017 ---

I'm not sure how much they can use Rosas stories as material. Just read that Don Rosa Official made a statement a couple of years ago, that Rosa is no way involved in the new production. Though Disney does own the rights for the stories, so they could use them. But Rosa was never asked and wouldn't even be interested in such a project. Atleast that was the official statement at the time.

Canada tends to get blocked due to broadcast rights and their lawyers having a pissing contest. I'll check out the link @Organizized posted.

 

[Organizized]

So we're less than a week away from the first two (woop!) new episodes of the show, and there are some clips from them up on YouTube. Obviously if you don't want to get spoiled in any way, don't watch them, as they seem to be take directly from the episodes (albeit from the first minutes or so).

Spoiler

This doesn't seem to actually give us any greater idea of what the plot of the episode will be, so if you're just after your DuckTales fix without wanting the story spoiled, it's kinda safe to watch I guess. Just some good ol' Triplet/Webby fun.

The next ones do give us an idea of what we can expect from the second (third) episode in terms of story setup, so be warned.


If Woo-oo! was kind of Dewey-centred, nephew-wise, it looks like The Great Dime Chase might put a little more emphasis on Louie, the "evil triplet". This show is so clever damnit. "Sweet, Scrooge has an emergancy dime!"

Presumably Louie will have to track down the Lucky Dime. How? Well the intro scene of Gyro Gearloose might answer that:


Now, I don't know if Louie's reaction is because he thinks Lil' Bulb can help him find the dime, or if it's just because he's a slacker (which he's been pretty much set up to be). Depends on the order of the clips, of course. Guess we'll see.

First impression of Dean Pelton Jim Rash and Gyro in general: more of a sassy "smarter than thou" attitude. It might take some getting used to (or I'll be completely sold once I watch the actual episode). Quite a departure from the polite, absent-minded Gearloose we're used to, but it might work well with the rest of the characters.. and I love Jim Rash so he might pull it off.

 

[Riku]

The first clip was already released before the premiere launch, but the the ones for 3rd episode are new. The wargames are is still fun though.

Spoiler

The premiere was a Dewy episode, the third one seems to be Louie, so the second is maybe Huey centered? Just guessing, but since the clip ends in Scrooge calling a family meeting over the mess and chaos, maybe it will be Huey, the organized one, that will work a solution for the new merged household to work in piece.

Most likely makes it a fun episode, but considering how important his dime is for Scrooge, I can't belief it is just takeable like that without any locks or alarms in the 3rd ep. That was weird.

Wow, they really did a one-eighty with Gyro. So he seems to be the anti-social bit of an assburger type of genius. Not sure I like this direction. Loving that they included Little Helper so prominently already though.

 

[Organizized]

Spoiler

Most likely makes it a fun episode, but considering how important his dime is for Scrooge, I can't belief it is just takeable like that without any locks or alarms in the 3rd ep. That was weird.

Wow, they really did a one-eighty with Gyro. So he seems to be the anti-social bit of an assburger type of genius. Not sure I like this direction. Loving that they included Little Helper so prominently already though.

Yeah, I also thought it was a bit weird, and he keeps it in some hallway with a vending machine, not in his office or whatever? But I guess it was for comedy purposes, and I laughed, so.

Yeah, I hope they make Gyro a bit more humble with time (preferably in the first episode), if enough inventions go wrong and create trouble that has to be solved by others than his "mind-numbing intelligence", or something like that. Still, the fact that they posted this as a "Meet Gyro" video makes me feel like it'll stay a prominent part of his personality.

IMDb says there'll be Beagle Boy action in both episodes, but I'm just thinking "can there really be a Great Dime Chase without Magica de Spell?" I wonder if there's a reason they're keeping her and her voice actress hush-hush..

 

[Riku]

Spoiler

Yeah, I also thought it was a bit weird, and he keeps it in some hallway with a vending machine, not in his office or whatever? But I guess it was for comedy purposes, and I laughed, so.

Yeah, I hope they make Gyro a bit more humble with time (preferably in the first episode), if enough inventions go wrong and create trouble that has to be solved by others than his "mind-numbing intelligence", or something like that. Still, the fact that they posted this as a "Meet Gyro" video makes me feel like it'll stay a prominent part of his personality.

IMDb says there'll be Beagle Boy action in both episodes, but I'm just thinking "can there really be a Great Dime Chase without Magica de Spell?" I wonder if there's a reason they're keeping her and her voice actress hush-hush..

Spoiler

Well it is true that this version of Gyro will definitely have room for positive character development. Hoping the capitalize on that. But I don't think thats gonna happen over just an episode.

Ma Beagle was teased in that newspaper Beakley brought to Scrooge, so makes sense the Beagle boys debut in the following episodes.

I actually just wondered the same about Magica. They have even announced Goldie, but yet nothing on Magica other than that she will be on the show. I think they are up to some twist over that. Like she is disguised as one of the upcoming characters or turns out to be the mastermind behind whatever will be the season finale big story or something along those lines.

Crackpot theory I don't even belief myself and I just came up with; Della = Magica.

 

[Spirit]

I was born after the original series came to an end, but my dad having watched the show since it began had plenty of copies that I watched in my childhood alongside the Clangers, Bagpuss and the Magical Mountain. It was just so charismatic and the reboot is not shaming the original at all.

 

[Organizized]

Spoiler

Well Ust, guess we got our answer to the "Dime safe-keeping" question.

Still not 100% on how I feel about Gyro. Gotta say though, I'm glad they're not half-assing his "mad scientist" personality. Would've been worse if he played the same "part" as in the original as Scrooge's private goofy inventor, but with an added arrogance level >9000. It seems at this point he's almost not even a protagonist but some sort of "wild card" (that last scene).

I'll probably have more to say about it later, just watched it and am now going to sleep.

Spear of Selene, hype!

 

[Riku]

Spoiler

Well Ust, guess we got our answer to the "Dime safe-keeping" question.

Still not 100% on how I feel about Gyro. Gotta say though, I'm glad they're not half-assing his "mad scientist" personality. Would've been worse if he played the same "part" as in the original as Scrooge's private goofy inventor, but with an added arrogance level >9000. It seems at this point he's almost not even a protagonist but some sort of "wild card" (that last scene).

I'll probably have more to say about it later, just watched it and am now going to sleep.

Spear of Selene, hype!

Spoiler

I really liked the episodes, particular the third one. So hype.

2nd episode was pretty nice, nothing too special, but it did give us some more insight to Webby and introduced the beagle boys which was cool. I liked their take on them and Ma Beagle a lot. The Mabel vibes of Webby are getting stronger though.

I'm still not quite sure what to think of evil Gyro either when compared to the original. But the character definitely was interesting and had a lot of hilarious moments. His evil sentient robots gimmick was just so damn funny. And damn that tease right at the end. Gizmoduck hype.

Also I loved all the references here again, from all of Gyros previous robots turned evil to Plain Awful name dropped again.

So, back to the business of where the hell is Magica. It was mentioned Scrooge uses absurd amounts to magical defense of the bin. Show this smart just doesn't drop something like that for no reason. I'm starting to feel more and more that they are saving up Magica as the big bad of the show or season 1.

Also, maybe Magica is closer than we think? That archivist was hella weird, aggressive, yet weirdly cunning (About fifty perceeent~) and knowledgeable. Also it was dropped that she has been there for 50 years. She didn't really seem that old. To be fair though, Scrooge doesn't seem like his age in the show either. Maybe Magica has taken her over somehow. I dunno. Just crackpotting.

 

[Organizized]

Spoiler

2nd episode was pretty nice, nothing too special, but it did give us some more insight to Webby and introduced the beagle boys which was cool. I liked their take on them and Ma Beagle a lot. The Mabel vibes of Webby are getting stronger though.

Yeah, Webby is almost like a Mabel with lonely child/outsider "people issues".. still love this character though. Second episode was a good way to further instate her character in this reboot, and strengthen her bond as "one of the nephews" rather than the tag-along she was in the original.

So, back to the business of where the hell is Magica. It was mentioned Scrooge uses absurd amounts to magical defense of the bin. Show this smart just doesn't drop something like that for no reason. I'm starting to feel more and more that they are saving up Magica as the big bad of the show or season 1.

Also, maybe Magica is closer than we think? That archivist was hella weird, aggressive, yet weirdly cunning (About fifty perceeent~) and knowledgeable. Also it was dropped that she has been there for 50 years. She didn't really seem that old. To be fair though, Scrooge doesn't seem like his age in the show either. Maybe Magica has taken her over somehow. I dunno. Just crackpotting.

You know what, I was thinking along the same lines. So it must be true. That magical defense line definitely got me thinking of Magica De Spell, and I didn't recognize Mrs. Quackfaster as a character so I thought at first it might be Magica disguised as some archivist Scrooge employed. But in the end it really did seem like she's just a strange librarian who takes her job a bit too seriously (and the fifty years she's spent there might have slightly turned her hella crazy), especially since it seemed the whole chase/cipher stuff was indeed meant to lead Dewey and Webby to the Della-chamber.

Had to look up Mrs. Quackfaster (don't recognize all these English names) and was pretty surprised that's supposed to be who I know as "Fröken Näbblund", Scrooge's personal secretary in a lot of the comics.

Spoiler

While I was at the wiki, I read that she was introduced in the same comic story as Magica De Spell. Which, in crackpot theory land, can be a hint/proof of your theory. DUN DUN DUN

Even though I think Quackfaster is just a quirky character, the "Magica bewitching someone" theory got me thinking that she has something to do with Della's disappearance. Like, either Della was bewitched by Magica to take the Spear of Selene, or she took it to stop one of Magica's plots, or something...

OR, while we're in crackpot land.... the Spear of Selene turned Della INTO Magica De Spell.

Okay, I haven't thought it through yet. But the fact that they're keeping Magica so under wraps, and Della is the "big mystery" of the show, they should be connected somehow. I think.