Deep Dive Ducktales: Wes Looks at The Great Dime Chase

Welcome back one and all to Deep Dive Ducktales where today we’ll be looking at The Great Dime Chase.

Our episode opens with Louie sitting on the couch, drinking Soda and watching a show called The Ottoman Empire in which two burly roosters build Ottomans. Have I ever told you guys how much I love the absurdity of shows within shows? Anywho, Scrooge is dismayed to see that his nephew is so lazy he won’t even move a few inches to reach the remote. Scrooge is more than happy to give his family a place to crash, but he will not tolerate lazy freeloaders. As such, he opts to drag Louie with him to the office to learn the value of a hard days work.

Meanwhile, Dewey is sneaking around in Webby’s room because in this episode, we’re finally following up on that whole mystery regarding the boys’ mother and Dewey, knowing Webby is obsessed with Scrooge’s family, is looking to see if she has any info that may help him crack the case. However, as she is one to do, Webby pops up out of nowhere and scares the hell out of Dewey. Dewey feigns innocence, but, in what has to be the most clever use of glitter in recorded history, the evidence that he was reading her super secret notebook is all over Dewey’s hands. Fortunately, Webby is more than willing to share whatever info on the McDuck family she has, but when Dewey brings up his mother, the mood suddenly changes. Apparently Uncle Donald only ever told the boys that Della was “gone” with no further elaboration. The only thing they have of her is a photo of her pushing Donald’s head into a cake. Unfortunately for our heroes, that photo appears to be the only concrete piece of information either of them has on Della Duck. Webby has been looking into Della for years, but hasn’t found any photos, records, or even anyone who will talk about her. Disturbingly, a piece of junk mail once showed up at her door and a day later Scrooge bought the post office and that mail man was never seen again. The point is, bad things happen to people who ask about Della, but Dewey and Webby seem undeterred.

Later that morning, Scrooge arrives at work with Louie, Dewey and Webby in tow. However, Dewey and Webby sneak off as soon as they get to Scrooge’s Money Bin in order to access Scrooge’s private archives, the only place sure to have info on Della Duck. The Librarian, Emily Quackfaster, tells Webby to go away since the archives are off limits, but having a member of Scrooge’s family with her changes the game and the Archives are open to her. Two things about Quackfaster. First, she’s voiced by the great Susanne Blakeslee, the go-to voice actress if you need someone to reprise the role of a classic Disney Villainess such as Maleficent or Cruella De Vil. Second, it’s very clear early on that Quackfaster is… shall we say, a few ducks short of a hockey team if you catch my meaning.

Anyway, we pick back up with Scrooge and Louie and Louie loses his mind over seeing Scrooges vault filled with more money than most ever get to see in their lifetimes. Louie tries to dive in, but Scrooge grabs him and insists that if he does that he’ll crack his skull open. Sure, Scrooge swims in money all the time, but it’s a skill that took him years of hard work and dedication to perfect. In any case, Scrooge’s board of directors has arrived so Scrooge drags Louie along with him to the board meeting. During the meeting, we are introduced to inventor and Scrooge McDuck’s head of research and development, Gyro Gearloose. Gyro is a genius, but like many great minds, he’s not exactly great at interacting with others and definitely has a bit of a mad scientist thing going on. Gyro is here to show off his newest invention, Lil’ Bulb, a tiny robot with a Lightbulb head that can do just about anything. Louie is intrigued, but the literal vultures that make up Scrooge’s board of directors are concerned that Lil’ Bulb will gain sentience and turn evil like all of Gyro’s other inventions. Gyro tries to ensure the board that only half his inventions turn evil (the other half are just wildly misunderstood) but when Lil’ Bulb does the finger on the throat means death gesture at one of the board members, they deny his request for funding. Now we can get to the real purpose of the meeting, to discuss Scrooge’s unnecessary spending at the Money Bin. Scrooge is offended by the very idea that he would spend a single penny he doesn’t need to and in the heat of the argument, Louie slips away to grab a drink.

In the archives, Webby is in heaven surrounded by all this information on Scrooge, but Dewey insists they stay focused and asks about his mother. Quackfaster insists that in order to gain such knowledge he must first complete, THE TRIALS, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. The first task is to decifer the mysterious code within the library’s card catalogue. After a clever Dewey Decimal System joke, our two heroes get to work.

Out in the hallway, Louie puts a dollar in the soda machine, but finds he’s still ten cents short. Louie spots a dime on a velvet pillow under glass in Scrooge’s office and uses it to buy his soda, This turns out to have been a colossally terrible idea since that dime was actually Scrooge’s number one dime, the first dime he ever owned. Back when Scrooge was a poor shoe shine in Glasgow Scotland, Scrooge was paid in the only currency the ditchdigger had on him, a single American dime. This inspired Scrooge to head to the states to make his fortune and the dime is worth more to him than any piece of gold in his entire money bin… and Louie just spent it on a soda can.

Whoops.

Louie runs for it, only to see the vending machine is being emptied. Louie follows that dime up fifty-seven floors only to find it in the coin sorting room. Said sorting is handled by a horrifying and probably dangerous change sorting machine. Louie is about to give up when Gyro and Lil’ Bulb pass him in the hallway, giving him an idea. Louie convinces Gyro to allow him to borrow Lil’ Bulb, mostly by pretending to have more money than he actually does. Louie puts Lil’ Bulb on the task, blatantly mistreating the little guy in the process. As such, Lil’ Bulb merges with the Change sorting machine to become a terrifying battle robot.

Back in the Library, Dewey is getting frustrated with the trials, feeling that they’re at best a stall tactic and at worst, a way for Quackfaster to get some free child labor. Dewey tries to leave, but Quackfaster refuses to allow our heroes to disrespect the sanctity of the archives and starts chasing them with a broad sword. Dewey tries to fight back by throwing books, but Quackfaster catches each and every one of them and continues her relentless pursuit.

Meanwhile, Louie and the now Big Bulb run past Gyro in the hallway, Gyro giving a resigned sigh as he adds another invention turned evil to his notebook. Bug Bulb chases Louie into the archives where Dewey and Webby are at the mercy of Quackfaster. Turns out, a giant robot is the perfect distraction for Dewey and Webby to get away, meanwhile Louie finds himself cornered in Scrooge’s office. Gyro tries to talk down his creation, but to no avail. The fight spills into the board meeting where minutes beforehand, the board was trying to convince Scrooge to fire Quackfaster and Gyro. Scrooge gives a heartfelt speech about how his employees may be eccentric, but they push innovation and creativity and spur the company forward. Besides, they’re all mad as loons and if they get fired, they will definitely seek a horrible revenge. That, plus the giant robot seems to convince the board that cutbacks will no longer be necessary. The fight spills into the money bin where Gyro realizes that the reason Lil’ Bulb went insane was because he used a seventy-five watt bulb instead of a fifty watt. Don’t you just hate it when that happens? Anywho, Gyro fixes the problem, the giant robot is vanquished and Scrooge’s dime is recovered.

In the archives Dewey continues to fend off Quackfaster, only to locate a book all about his mother. Unfortunately, the pages are blank save for a secret code. By rearranging some of the books on the shelf, Dewey and Webby unlock a hidden room that pricks Dewey with a syringe in order to confirm his DNA. Inside, our heroes find a room dedicated to Della. On the wall, Dewey finds a note that reads “Scrooge, I’ve taken the Spear of Selene. I’m Sorry. Della.” Curious, if you’ll recall, back in the Atlantis episode, Scrooge and Donald mentioned something about a Spear of Selene which may have led to their falling out. Webby fears that Della may have betrayed Scrooge somehow, although Dewey insists that they keep this information between just them until they know for sure.

Back with Louie and Scrooge, Scrooge is proud of the boy for putting in a full day at the office and gives him the dime that Louie spent all day chasing. Louie is shocked that Scrooge would just give up his number one dime, but turns out, this was never Scrooge’s number one dime at all, but a decoy. The real number one dime Scrooge keeps on his person at all times. Louie seems to have learned the lesson that a dime means more when you work for it, until he spends that dime on a soda as well. I guess Louie has learned nothing.

Our episode ends in Gyro’s lab where he’s shown to have begun the next stage in his experiments with Robotics, something he refers to as “Project Blatherskite.”

The Great Dime Chase is a truly excellent episode. We finally follow up on the missing mother angle set up at the end of the pilot and get a few more hints at the mystery. The introduction of Gyro Gearloose is also nice and the character gets a lot of laughs. I rather liked the intended lesson about the value of hard work, even if Louie doesn’t quite learn it as well as he should. I also appreciate that Huey was not in this episode. Don’t misunderstand me, I love Huey, but giving him a subplot would have felt forced in this very tight episode. Overall, this episode is probably my favorite of the ones we’ve covered so far. Next time, we introduce a character vital to the overall arc of Season one in The Beagle Birthday Massacre.