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Director: Norton Virgien
Airing Date: January 20, 1996
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★★½
Review:
‘Grandma-ma’s Flatulent Adventure’ for once centers on grandma-ma, the only taciturn member of the family.
After Duckman’s doomed day of caring duty for her, the family decides to take her to a nursing room. Duckman is taking her, but loses his car, with grandma-ma in it, on the way…
‘Grandma-ma’s Flatulent Adventure’ isn’t a very focused episode, and ties different story ideas rather loosely together. It seems to want to say something about our treatment of the elderly, but this is immediately diluted by the rather random nonsense filling the episode. In that respect Grandma-ma’s own adventure is a particular series of nonsensical events.
Highlight, however, is the brief episode in which the family visits three nursing homes, one all too conspicuously called ‘Soylent Green’. Nevertheless, the episode is more interesting for its outlandish staging, with its extreme camera angles and close-ups than for its content. All who are more interested in Duckman’s personal life are treated on some images of his wedding day with the currently deceased Beatrice.
Watch ‘Grandma-ma’s Flatulent Adventure’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 25
To the previous Duckman episode: Forbidden Fruit
To the next Duckman episode: Color of Naught
‘Grandma-ma’s Flatulent Adventure’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Norton Virgien
Airing Date: April 24, 1995
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★★★
Review:
When Cornfed gets a visit from one Ng claiming to be his son, he has to get back to Vietnam to find out the truth. He asks Duckman to come along. Duckman brings his family with him as Cornfed pays for the trip and the family demands a vacation.
While the Duckman family amuses themselves in the war-themed ‘Euro Asia Land’, Cornfed looks hopelessly for his wartime love interest Mai Ling. The Vietnam setting allows for some spoofs on Vietnam films, like ‘Apocalypse Now,’ ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Good Morning Vietnam’. Unfortunately, the pace is rather slow and rambling, hampering the flow of the episode.
Fluffy and Uranus have a larger role than normally: when the two cute teddy bears ask for a vacation for themselves after eleven years of hard work, Duckman makes them explode inside a microwave. Yet, later we watch them entertaining Ng by showing him slides, much to Ng’s distress.
This is the first Duckman episode to use a shortened intro, leaving out the introduction of Duckman’s co-stars.
Watch ‘In the Nam of the Father’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 20
To the previous Duckman episode: The Germ Turns
To the next Duckman episode: Research and Destroy
‘In the Nam of the Father’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Norton Virgien
Airing Date: March 11, 1995
Stars: Duckman
Rating: ★★★
Review:
The second season of ‘Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man’ starts with a rather rambling episode in which Duckman tries to get famous by exploiting the sleazy reputation he got by pinching the butts of two sexy ladies on camera.
The set up of this episode is rather incomprehensible and involves the president visiting town, and three sexy but dumb ladies visiting Duckman’s office for no apparent reason. Also involved is a commercial fellow with shades, a ponytail and an annoying voice, making Duckman sign a contract to get him famous. Nothing is done with this devilish scheme, however.
Highlight of this otherwise disappointing episode is Duckman’s feature film on his life called “Pinch Me, Kiss Me Kill Me: The Duckman Story”. This part is acted out in live action, and includes over the top sexy women falling for the cool Duckman character as well as ridiculous dialogue full of sexual references, and even blatant advertising.
Watch ‘Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 14
To the previous Duckman episode: Joking the Chicken
To the next Duckman episode: Married Alive
‘Papa Oom M.O.W. M.O.W.’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Norton Virgien
Stars: Duckman
Airing Date: May 21, 1994
Rating: ★★★½
‘Cellar Beware’ is another episode exploring Duckman’s role as a “responsible” father.
This time Aunt Bernice decides to ask some visitors over, and drills the men of the house to behave. She also invites some speaker about home security, and after a lecture full of apparently horrifying slides, the once so skeptical Duckman buys the “Interloper Führer 2000” security system, which soon turns against the family itself.
It’s hard to sympathize with Duckman in this episode, even though he acts surprisingly heroically in the end. The party sequence is probably the highlight of the episode, which is entertaining mostly because of Ajax’s brainless remarks, and because of a bizarre reference to ‘The Sound of Music’. Note Mambo’s very Paul Driessen-like double take ten minutes into the episode.
Watch ‘Cellar Beware’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 10
To the previous Duckman episode: It’s the Thing of the Principal
To the next Duckman episode: American Dicks
‘Cellar Beware’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Norton Virgien
Stars: Duckman
Airing Date: April 23, 1994
Rating: ★★★½
In an act of jealousy Duckman fires Cornfed, but without his partner the avine crimefighter doesn’t go anywhere in solving a murder case…
This episode knows some extreme camera angles, and a running gag in which everybody sees something else in a Rorschach-test-like pen stain on Duckman’s chest.
Watch ‘A Civil War’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 8
To the previous Duckman episode: Ride the High School
To the next Duckman episode: Not So Easy Riders
‘A Civil War’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
Director: Norton Virgien
Stars: Duckman
Airing Date: March 19, 1994
Rating: ★★½
After the first two great Duckman episodes, ‘Gripes of Wrath’ feels as an enormous letdown. Compared to the earlier two entries, this story is surprisingly disjointed.
The episode starts with Duckman wanting to go to mud wrestling, but ending up taking his sons to a science exhibition instead. There they meet a giant supercomputer, and before soon this machine has taken over the world and turned it into a perfect one. But this perfection can’t last and as easily the same world disintegrates into one worse than before.
These series of events are clearly modeled on ‘Back to the Future Part II’ (1989), with a bit of ‘2001: a Space Odyssey’ thrown in.
Unfortunately, the story is told rather confusingly and quite hard to follow, and the underlying discourse about the use of technology never really takes off properly.
Watch ‘Gripes of Wrath’ yourself and tell me what you think:
This is Duckman episode no. 3
To the previous Duckman episode: T.V. or Not to Be
To the next Duckman episode: Psyche
‘Gripes of Wrath’ is available on the DVD-box ‘Duckman – The Complete Series’
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