The Trickening! is the tenth episode of Season 3 and the 57th episode overall of DuckTales 2017. It aired on October 5, 2020 on Disney XD.
Synopsis[]
The kids forego their usual trick-or-treat path and instead take on the most haunted house in Duckburg, while Launchpad confronts ghosts from the past.
Summary[]
It is Halloween night, as Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby get ready to go out and collect candy for the night. Scrooge says that they have to leave the mansion as he never hands out candy. Instead, he leaves an empty bowl that says "take one" on it; implying to treaters that they have already run out. Scrooge will head out to collect candy for himself, much to Donald and Della's dismay. Della is further annoyed when Scrooge tells her that she and Donald should head over to Launchpad's house instead, as she wanted to scare trick or treaters and thinks that Launchpad is too soft.
Despite Huey's intricate planning on where to go for the night, Louie insists that they head to Hazel House instead, a haunted house that rests outside Duckburg. Louie believes that it holds a lifetime supply of candy so that they will not have to trick or treat ever again. While Huey is against this, the kids all agree to head there. Meanwhile, Donald and Della arrive at Launchpad's house and discover it is heavily fortified. Not only that, but Launchpad is convinced that he is being attacked by little monsters (trick or treaters). Donald and Della are confused by his behavior and ask for an explanation.
At the Hazel House, the kids enter and find a trail of candy wrappers. They go deeper and find a room full of creepy toys, four of which resemble wooden dummy versions of themselves. The kids are attacked by a larger dummy and flee where they encounter a clown and tentacles and arms coming out of doors. The kids make it to the door at the end of a hall, but end up outside in a graveyard. Louie insists on going back inside for the candy, but gets into a fight with Huey. When Louie looks at the map, he learns that Huey knew about the house in advance, did not want to go there, angering him.
Dewey spots a creepy well girl coming out and the monsters quickly approach them, during which, the kids yell out that they do not have any candy. The monsters suddenly stop and reveal themselves as classic monsters (the clown is a Wereduck, the puppet is Nosferatu, the well girl is Witch Hazel and the limbs belong to Frankenstein's Monster). The monsters reveal that they just wanted candy and dress up as "modern monsters" which they find humiliating and offensive. They have been scaring kids into dropping their candy so that they can claim it for themselves. When Huey learns that Halloween has ended already, Louie realizes that he messed up trying to take Huey's time away from him and putting his brothers in danger, and apologizes for not listening to him.
Launchpad claims that when he was a boy, he found a creepy house (Hazel House) and that he entered it and discovered a "piece of parchment" (candy wrapper). Upon reading the "inscription" (the ingredients), he noticed the little monsters and believed that he cursed Duckberg so that every October 31st monsters come out and he has to protect himself. Della is excited that Launchpad is taking the holiday seriously in a scary way, but Donald feels that they need to explain it to him. Scrooge then makes Launchpad's house as his next stop for trick-or-treating, but Launchpad fights him, thinking he's a monster, and then runs down the street with a sawblade to "finish" what he started. Donald and Della give chase with Scrooge also following behind.
Since, the kids do not have any candy, the monster plan to devour them. Just as the monsters gang up on the kids, Launchpad arrives and ends up scaring the monsters. They soon spot Donald and Della in their outfits and believe they are "creepy twins' and flee. Launchpad catches up with them and sees a dummy looks like Dewey. Believing him to be real and was killed by the monsters, Launchpad flies into a rage and starts furiously chasing monsters around the house. Scrooge catches up and scares the monsters. Launchpad finds the candy wrapper and reads from it to "end the curse", but the monsters find it amusing and congratulate him on scaring them. Launchpad is confused by the events and Huey and Louie decide to explain Halloween to him.
Scrooge opens his mansion for the trick or treaters, though he charges them. He further decides to leave it open all through the night like a "24 hour candy store", based on a pitch Dewey made throughout the episode. The monsters themselves also learn that the kids love their "costumes" and everyone finds a newfound appreciation for Halloween while Launchpad happily embraces the holiday. The final shot is of a black and white photo in the Hazel House that depicts everyone happily posing for Halloween.
Cast[]
- David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck
- Danny Pudi as Huey Duck
- Ben Schwartz as Dewey Duck
- Bobby Moynihan as Louie Duck
- Kate Micucci as Webby Vanderquack
- Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack
- Paget Brewster as Della Duck
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
- Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley (credit only)
- Doug Jones as Wereduck, Demonic Clown
- Clancy Brown as Frankenstein
- Selma Blair as Witch Hazel
- James Marsters as Nosferatu
- Abby Ryder-Fortson as Kid
- Noah Baird as Kid
Trivia[]
- Homages and references to several horror movies can be found throughout the episode.
- The title is a reference to the horror movie The Shining. Other homages to the movie includes Scrooge breaking through a door very similar to Jack Torrance famous Here's Johnny scene, the scene where the monsters meet Donald and Della in a hallway and call them "creepy twins" is a reference to the Grady Twins, and the episode ends with a shot of a portrait of the McDuck Family and the monsters, similar to the shot of the portrait at the end of the Shining..
- The monsters are dressed up similar to the antagonists of classic horror movies such as It (Wereduck as Pennywise), Saw (Nosferatu as Billy the Puppet), and, The Ring (Witch Hazel as Samara Morgan).
- Nosferatu's true form resembles Count Orlok from Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors.
- Launchpad's outfit is reminiscent of Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th.
- The TV screen of static that the Dewey dummy watches refers to the film Poltergeist.
- This episode has a couple of references to the Donald Duck short Trick or Treat by featuring a 2017 version of the character of Witch Hazel and having the haunted house of the episode being named after her.
- Donald and Della's devil and angel costumes pay homage to the short Donald's Better Self.
- According to Frank Angones, Dewey's half-baked costume is based on Matt Youngberg's famous disinterest in Halloween and his willingness to pull random stuff from his closet last minute. Webby's costume is based on talking to Madison Bateman for even two minutes.[2]
- Various tombstones in the fake cemetery read:
- Meta Fisiks
- Rustin Peece
- Brock Lee Spears
- Asher T. Ashes
- Chris P. Bacon-Doting Father, Proud Frankfurter
- Post No Bill
- Don’t Call Me Shirley
- Toks Olagundoye is listed as Mrs. Beakley in the credits despite her not having any lines in the episode.
- When restraining Launchpad from attacking the monsters by his feet, Della switches legs in one shot.
- In 2023, Disney Television Animation ranked this episode as their #6 most spooky episode on their Twitter page.[3]
