Who is Gizmoduck?! is the eighteenth episode of Season 1 and the 18th episode overall of DuckTales 2017. It aired on July 14, 2018 on Disney Channel.
Plot[]
As Fenton figures out how to be a hero, Mark Beaks offers to hire Gizmoduck and help him defend all of Duckburg.
Synopsis[]
Donald and Huey's trip to the bank is interrupted by the arrival of the Beagle Boys announcing a robbery. Fenton, who happened to be at the bank on his way to work, transforms into Gizmoduck. After some initial confusion on how to engage in combat, he manages to scare them away, but loses control of the suit and ends up destroying most of the bank. To his disappointment, both the news and the police (specifically, his mother Officer Cabrera) characterize him as a crook, though he is inspired when he hears Huey call him a hero on TV. His mother tells him he needs to get himself an actual job instead of the internship he has at McDuck Enterprises. Fenton tries to convince Gyro that they should make Gizmoduck a real superhero, but Gyro rejects risking destroying his invention: the core processor is still a prototype and could detonate if it runs too many programs at once. While testing the suit, Fenton accidentally launches a missile that nearly takes out Mark Beaks while he is out flying a helicopter, forcing Gizmoduck to save him. Beaks, who is still plotting to get control of Gizmoduck after the events of "Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!," offers Gizmoduck the chance to clean up his reputation and become a helper to all of Duckburg through his company Waddle. Fenton initially turns him down, but when Gyro fires him and decides to destroy the suit, Fenton steals it and agrees to work for Beaks.
Beaks recasts Gizmoduck as Waddleduck, who can be summoned by Waddle customers through a "Hero on Demand" app. Fenton is disappointed to learn that Waddleduck is only summoned for mundane situations such as hanging up portraits, marriage counseling, painting a portrait of Glomgold, serving as Louie and Dewey's butler, and parallel parking. Huey calls Gizmoduck a sellout for what he's doing, which Fenton cannot help but agree with, especially when the suit prevents him from saving a family from getting mugged by the Beagle Boys. Fenton tries to quit, only for Beaks to reveal his plan all along: to steal the Gizmoduck suit from him and become even more popular as Waddleduck himself. Beaks tries to show off the suit's capabilities at a press conference but quickly overloads the processor from using too many gizmos, in turn wreaking havoc. The suit activates the self-detonation function. After taking the suit back from Beaks and rescuing his mother and Huey, Huey helps him reprogram the suit in order for its core processor to run on his mind rather than a computer, giving him complete control. Realizing the core is still programmed to detonate, Fenton risks his own life by personally taking the core a safe distance away from Duckburg before it explodes, destroying the suit and injuring him.
Fenton wakes up in the hospital to be met by Scrooge McDuck, who is impressed by Fenton and sees in him someone who can keep an eye on Duckburg while he is away on adventures. Gyro gifts Fenton with a new model of the suit, and Gizmoduck sets off to protect Duckburg, though not without losing some control of his abilities.
Cast[]
- David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck
- Danny Pudi as Huey Duck
- Bobby Moynihan as Louie Duck, Bro-y Dude
- Lin-Manuel Miranda as Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera/Gizmoduck
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
- Selenis Leyva as Officer Cabrera
- Jim Rash as Gyro Gearloose, Bulby
- Josh Brener as Mark Beaks
- Eric Bauza as Big Time, Bouncer, Burger Beagle
- Kari Wahlgren as Roxanne Featherly, Bank Manager, Intercom
- Keith Ferguson as Diego, Twin #1, News Announcer
- Jennifer Hale as Duck Mom
Trivia[]
- Main Character Absences: Webby, Launchpad, and Ms. Beakley.
- This is the first episode to use a different closing credits song other than the instrumental version of the DuckTales theme song.
- This is the first episode where Dewey doesn't have a speaking role.
- "Waddle Duck" is played as Fenton races to answer hero requests.
- The mask worn by Bouncer Beagle, together with his hockey bat, is an homage to the Disney Afternoon series "Mighty Ducks". Jennifer Hale, who voices the Duck Mom in this episode, was a part of the "Mighty Ducks" main cast.
- Beaks bonding with the Gizmosuit is a parody of the transformation sequence from Sailor Moon.
- Upon discovering Fenton/Gizmoduck is Latino, Mark Beaks almost exclusively refers to Fenton as "amigo" and "chico." This was an intentional decision on the part of the writers to demonstrate the episode's theme of Fenton choosing who he wants to be in light of people's expectations of him, one of these being Beaks' microaggressions towards him. Frank Angones explained on his Twitter that this hearkens back to their original idea for the reboot's interpretation of Fenton: he is not the token "Latino superhero" but rather a superhero that happens to be Latino.[1]
- During the voiceover sessions for the scene where Fenton makes breakfast, Lin-Manuel Miranda improvised him humming the Moon Stage Theme from the NES DuckTales game. A pained Frank Angones had to explain that Fenton was not allowed to sing the Moon Theme because they were already using it for something else.[2]
- When the Waddle Network promotes Gizmoduck, the Social Message reads; "This guy has shown me A Whole New World!", a reference to the musical number from Aladdin.
- In 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda performed "A Whole New World," with Lea Salonga.
