Review: DuckTales “The Missing Links of Moorshire!“

“Murder-Ponies”

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

Scrooge and his longtime rival, Glomgold face-off in the “Duckburg Millionaires’ Club Golf Invitation” within the Scottish Highlands of the titular Moorshire, assisted by Huey, Dewey, Louie, Launchpad and Webby. At first comedic hijinx ensues within the game, but it comes to an abrupt halt when it’s hijacked by the spirits of ancient druids and the game starts to get lethal, with petrifying mists in combination with a couple of Mythical Little Pony Rejects called “Kelpies” (Voiced by Tara Strong and Andrea Libman) who hilariously make no effort to hide their sinister intentions.

Our Take

We now have our obligatory sports-themed episode, Well sports-themed to some degree. Where it shines the most is the comedic moments during the proceedings with various character interactions such as Launchpad & Huey serving as sports commentators, Dewey being mentored by Scrooge and Louie being a Caddy for Glomgold and milking him for every dollar with his conning skills which gave me a good laugh in places. Of course, up around the 7-minute mark is where things get more interesting all of them get zapped into a Bermuda Triangle-like Druid dimension that has trapped Golfers in Scottland for thousands of years. And in order to get out, hinges on them winning a Golf Game with its own specific set of rules in this otherworldly place.

In terms of atomosphere, it also helps that the foreboding mist within the world they’re stuck in, moved the plot forward while giving a sense of urgency, in combination with the two hilariously sinister Kelpie creatures “Briar & Bramble” who resemble rejected My Little Pony designs, and upon research on who voices them, my joke isn’t too far off as Tara Strong and Andrea Libman actually voice the characters Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie respectively in the long-running “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” series so points to them for the in-joke.

Of course the lead characters despite the situation they’re in, frequently turn down the Kelpie’s offer to join them in the water given their infamous reputation according to their particular myth, and that’s easily one of the things I love about the new Ducktales Series, nobody is a complete idiot unless a character is supposed to be one (Launchpad being an example of this).

Overall, “The Missing Links of Moorshire!“ was a decent episode with some genuinely funny moments. Even if you consider specific sports like Golf to be painfully dull, At least various comedy classics such as Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore still find ways to make it fun and entertaining enough for a casual audience, and the character moments alone in this episode excel the most in that regard.