Recap / DuckTales (2017) S2 E24 "Moonvasion!"

The Moon invades Duckburg, forcing Scrooge to join forces with an unlikely ally in an effort to save Earth; Della and the kids search the globe for reinforcements.

Full Recap

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This episode contains examples of:

• Accidental Public Confession: Lunaris' wild ranting about destroying the Earth is played to his troops, making them realize the whole invasion was just his ego trip.
• Actor Allusion: When Gizmoduck introduces himself to Darkwing Duck, he quotes the latter's theme song by saying, "When there's trouble, you call me". Gizmoduck's voice actor, Lin-Manuel Miranda, previously said that the theme song was a strong influence throughout his life.
• Alien Invasion: It's right there in the title. Lunaris brings an army of Moonlanders to invade Earth.
• Ambiguous Clone Ending: Is Gyro in the final scene the real one? It's left ambiguous whether it was the original Gyro or a clone that got unceremoniously blasted by the moonlanders. Thankfully Which Me? is in full effect so the clones and the original can't tell each other apart anymore, which means it doesn't really matter and the whole situation is Played for Laughs.
• Ambiguous Situation: While it's obvious to the audience that Donald's Companion Cube is based on Mickey Mouse, it's made deliberately unclear (partly for legal reasons) if the real Mickey knows this version of Donald or even exists at all in this setting. Mouseton, Mickey's hometown in the comics, has been mentioned a couple of times in the series, and this episode introduces a version of the Phantom Blot (who has almost always been a Mickey villain), but it's possible they exist independently from Mickey in the Ducktales universe.
• An Aesop: Sometimes, our lives don’t go the way we initially expect or plan, but we can definitely try to work our way through the unexpected obstacles we may face.
• And I Must Scream: Lunaris is forever stuck inside his ship, which Selene has made the Earth's second moon.
• Artistic License: Basically everything about Lunaris' plan is impossible. Heck, just biologically the moon people should find the Earth's gravity and atmospheric pressure deadly.
• Artistic License – Physics: Storkules pushes Earth back in place with his hands, but he doesn't brace his feet against anything; he's for all purposes just standing on his hands. On the other hand, he's a god.
• Artistic License – Space: Lunaris' Inferiority Superiority Complex manifests in hating that the moon orbits the Earth, which he uses a super-powerful spaceship to reverse. The way orbit works in real life, the Earth already orbits the moon, it's just the mass of the Earth compared to the moon makes it hardly noticeable.
• Attack Reflector: Djinn manages to reflect one of the Moonlander's ray gun blasts back at them using his sword. Later, Scrooge uses his cane to do the same.
• Avengers Assemble: Clan McDuck rallies together any and all combat-proficient friends from around Duckburg to form an army against the Moonlanders. Their initial draft consists of characters such as McDuck Enterprises employees like Gyro and Fenton; friends such as Violet and Lena; Darkwing Duck and the brothers of Ottoman Empire, and several others. Scrooge assigns Della and the kids to invoke this trope on a global level as they are to gather their allies from around the world like Egypt and Ithaquack; however, Della instead uses the mission as a way to keep the kids out of danger.
• Back for the Finale: Nearly every major character that appeared in the two seasons of the show appeared in some capacity.
  • Gladstone and Selene show up after being last seen in "Treasure of the Found Lamp!".
  • Amunet, D'jinn, Fethry, and Mitzy also appear, having not appeared since their respective debut episodes.
  • Storkules and Zeus reappear after last appearing in "The Golden Spear!".
  • Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck makes his second appearance after "The Duck Knight Returns!".
  • The F.O.W.L. meeting has Black Heron, Gandra Dee, Rockerduck and Jeeves, all of which are making their second appearance here.
  • Gabby McStabberson, who hasn't been seen since her cameo in the Season 1 finale, returns to assist Scrooge in the fight.
  • In fact, the only recurring characters who do not appear in the episode at all are Magica de Spell and Ma Beagle. Everyone else has at least a cameo appearance.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: When Penumbra's ship blows up, she has no problem breathing or talking in space, as she asks Della to let her in. Makes sense, as she's from the Moon which has no atmosphere.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Selene is a Nice Girl who is friendly to the Duck family. She tells Lunaris with a big smile that as punishment for trying to destroy the Earth and her friends, that he is cursed to orbit the Earth forever with his ship as its newest moon.
• Beware the Silly Ones: After Scrooge's organized attack with a small army of formidable helpers fails and most of his followers are captured, Glomgold's goofy evil scheme actually sets them up to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Launchpad gets cornered by Moonlanders in his garage (since his car is unable to start due to being on fire), but he is saved by the timely arrival of Drake Mallard in his Darkwing Duck identity, the Moonlanders writing him off as a non-threat.
  • The kids, Donald, and Della arriving with Fethry, Gladstone, and Mitzy are able to push the battle at Lunaris' ship into the heroes' favor.
  • Penumbra finally shows up during the final battle to divebomb Lunaris' engine, the final blow to destroying his plans.
• Big Damn Reunion: After eleven years, Della and Donald finally reunite with each other.
• Big "NO!": While he never really says it, Lunaris' last line in the episode has shades of this.
• Blatant Lies:
  • When Scrooge and Della realize that the Moonlanders are coming after Scrooge's family, they convince the kids that they are leaving to get reinforcements when really they are going to hide out somewhere.
  • Huey reassures Donald that they really were looking for him, and didn't think he was off on a cruise.
• Black Comedy:
  • One of the L'il Bulbs that gets captured by a Moonlander unscrews its own head and drops it off the side of a building in order to not have its mission as a communications device compromised.
  • The second Gyro that got vaporized may or may not have been the real one.
  • When Gander arrives, he starts eating the Mickey-esque watermelon and drinking its juice. Given Donald has just been using it as a Companion Cube, it's treated not unlike cannibalism.
• Borrowed Catchphrase:
  • Scrooge does his own version of Darkwing Duck's catchphrase while dressed as DW to sneak into the mansion.
    Scrooge: I am sharper than the sharpies! I am tougher than the toughies! I am Scrooge McDuck!
  • When he realizes he's trapped as a new moon to Earth, Lunaris shouts out, "Oh, phooey!"
  • Borrowed opening lyrics when Gizmoduck introduces himself to Darkwing.
• Brave Scot: Scrooge invokes this trope when he dresses up in a traditional Scottish outfit, complete with a bagpipe, to lead the battle against the Moonlanders.
  Scrooge: Like my great-grandfather used to say, give me twelve highlanders and a bagpiper, and I'll give you a rebellion!
• Call-Back:
  • Dewey is still not over the revelation that he was supposed to be named Turbo and confronts Donald about it upon finding him.
  • Louie casually mentions being used as a piñata for a robotic boy in an analogy that confuses Della.
  • One of the places Della suggests hiding are the caves of Mount Neverest.
  • Scrooge's hatred for Santa gets a reference as Glomgold forces Scrooge to dress up as him for his plan. Scrooge is clearly not happy about this, and Mrs. Beakley and Launchpad even call Glomgold out on it.
  • During the victory celebrations, Glomgold starts cheering his own name like he did to his mercenary employees and Donald in the pilot in expectation they would join him but no one does. Unlike there, the crowd of people around Glomgold starts cheering him in thanks for his helping Scrooge save the day.
• The Cameo: Among the Moonlander's prisoners seen throughout the episode are Doofus Drake, Boyd, Mr. and Mrs. Drake, Fisher and Mann, Burger, Bouncer and Black Arts Beagle, Zann Owlson, Goldie O'Gilt, and the postman from "Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?".
• Canon Character All Along:
  • Turns out that Scrooge's Board of Directors were, in fact, the F.O.W.L. High Command all along.
  • Beneath the Funso's mascot costume is the Phantom Blot.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Storkules and Selene are initially unable to assist in the battle because Zeus has grounded them. They manage to help save the day in the end after they've tied Zeus up.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Despite the entire planet being under threat, Glomgold can't resist using the situation to trick Scrooge into giving him back his company.
• Clothing Switch: Scrooge changes his clothes with Darkwing Duck since everyone ignores Darkwing.
• Colony Drop: When his "make the Earth orbit the Moon" plan fails, Lunaris takes his ship into space to divebomb and destroy the planet.
• Companion Cube: While stranded on a deserted island, Donald makes a best friend he's protective of out of watermelons, one with a familiar face, voice and set of mannerisms.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Glomgold Industries is now officially a subsidiary of McDuck Enterprises, following the events of the last couple of episodes. Glomgold's new goal appears to be tricking Scrooge into giving him his company back.
  • The ship Penumbra uses in her Big Damn Heroes moment appears to be the Spear of Selene, repaired once more after it was left on the moon after Donald's crash.
• Contrived Coincidence: Della and the kids happen to crash land on the same deserted island where Donald's currently residing.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Glomgold's plan (involving sharks in parkas, Launchpad being launched by a giant slingshot, and Scrooge dressing as Santa Claus) actually goes off without a hitch and almost flat-out succeeds (in part because Lunaris thinks it's too stupid to be anything but a decoy).
• Crazy-Prepared: Lunaris' invasion was very well-planned, taking out Scrooge's 3 best options for fighting back before he even managed to get to the Money Bin, as well setting up contingencies to deal with his numerous allies both in Duckburg and abroad. The only reasons that he failed were not anticipating Glomgold's Crazy Enough to Work plan, which he thought was just a diversion for something else, Fethry having a giant krill monster, Gladstone's being Born Lucky, the Greek Gods getting into play, and Penumbra's final betrayal.
• Darkest Hour: Lunaris has succeeded in making Earth revolve around the moon with a surprise plan, leaving Scrooge dangerously near the Despair Event Horizon and his army dwindled to just three. Meanwhile, Della and the kids have crash-landed on a Deserted Island (where Donald is coincidentally residing), with the Sunchaser in pieces and seemingly no other way to go back.
• Deadline News: A G-rated version. No one dies in the initial invasion, but the camera does get shot, cutting off the broadcast.
• Divine Intervention: Although Zeus forbids Selene and Storkules to do this, they escape, although only after Lunaris is defeated. Selene damns Lunaris to orbit the Earth in his spaceship for eternity, whereas Storkules uses his Super-Strength to push Earth back to its original orbit.
• Drunken Master: After being beaten up by three Moonlanders, a punch-drunk Drake stumbles about to take out two of them.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Even complete idiot Glomgold knows the Moon is not a planet.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Despite Lunaris coming close to destroying Earth, Clan McDuck and Penumbra are able to stop him, with Lunaris trapped in his mothership which will now orbit Earth like a second moon. Meanwhile, the Moonlanders now know that Lunaris was insane and make peace with Earth. Donald is rescued and reunited with Della and the kids, reuniting the Duck-McDuck family. However, the invasion has now prompted F.O.W.L., lead by none other than Bradford Buzzard and McDuck Enterprises' Board of Directors, to decide that it's time to take over and kill everyone who could stop them, starting with Scrooge and his family.
• Easily Conquered World: Defeating Scrooge's couple dozen associates seem to be all that was standing in the way of Lunaris' invasion. And while it's not clearly shown if they conquered any area besides Duckburg, no one else came to stop Lunaris' ship from altering the Earth's orbit. The Moonlander presence in Egypt does suggest that they were working in other areas.
• Easily Forgiven: After it's found out Louie was the one who took down McDuck Enterprises' communications satellites, and nobody reprimands him for it. Sure, the Earth was in danger and all, but it's still well-deserved because everything Louie went through in the previous episode was meant to be a life-changing lesson, and Louie has seen the error of his ways since.
• Enemy Mine: After Scrooge's plans fail, Glomgold shows up to offer his own scheme, and Scrooge goes along for lack of any better ideas.
• Even the Dog Is Ashamed: Manny face-hoofs as he and the others disapprovingly watch Glomgold get chased by one of his parka-sharks.
• Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: Scrooge's first attack on the Moonlanders guarding the path to McDuck Manor is him playing the bagpipes. Despite being quite melodic and played at a reasonable volume, the Moonlanders can't stand the sound of it, believing it's some form of sonic weapon.
• Evil All Along: Among the members of F.O.W.L. seen at the end are Gandra Dee (though given her characterization in her previous appearance, it remains to be seen how "evil" she is, or if she even is to begin with), the Funso's mascot (who is revealed to be the Phantom Blot), and Scrooge's Board of Directors (who are leading the organization).
• Evil Is Petty:
  • Lunaris set things up to get one over on Scrooge just for the sake of making the world watch him fail. He later decides to go for a Colony Drop almost entirely because he's a Sore Loser.
  • Glomgold pulls this off to Scrooge, forcing him to dress up as Santa Claus and praise Glomgold even though they're on the same side just because he knows Scrooge will hate doing it.
• Evil Laugh: Lunaris does this as his Villainous Breakdown is taking effect.
• Expendable Clone: Two Gyro clones die during the attack on McDuck Manor. The other Gyros react with relative indifference. In fact, they don't seem to know or care if the original Gyro was one of the ones killed.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Della realizes that staying on an abandoned island is like she's again stranded on the moon when she offers Dewey some oxy-chew.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • Beakley considers sitting through Glomgold's seminar as possibly worse than surrendering to Lunaris and freezing to death.
  • Lunaris ends up stuck in his own ship, orbiting the earth with no way of escaping, and it being declared another moon by Selene.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Huey says you have to be the unluckiest guy in the world to be stranded on this island. Cue Donald Duck emerging from the bushes.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In "Whatever Happened to Donald Duck", Webby suggests that F.O.W.L. was responsible for Donald's disappearance and in "GlomTales", Glomgold recruits Don Karnage as part of his Legion of Doom despite being in only one episode last season. The final scene not only sets up F.O.W.L. as next season's Arc Villain, but at least two characters from previous seasons are revealed to have been members all along.
  • A subtle one also regarding to the above: Darkwing Duck joins in the family group shot despite only making his second appearance, right before The Reveal of F.O.W.L.
  • Officer Cabrera instantly warning Gizmoduck and saving him from the Moonlander, hinting that she knows he's Fenton.
  • Lunaris furiously shouts "I am the mighty! I am the Moon!" when battling Scrooge as a twisted version of the Moonlander battle cry. By the end, as his ship has been hopelessly destroyed and is drifting into orbit, Selene briefly visits to congratulate him — he's now become Earth's second moon.
  • The episode ends with FOWL watching a surveillance video of the heroes, with Bradford zooming in on Scrooge hugging Webby. Time to resume Project 87...
• Funny Background Event: While Scrooge and Beakley are debating the merits of following Glomgold's plan, Glomgold is making the drawing of himself on his projector slides do push-ups with its beard.
• Fun with Subtitles:
  • During Roxanne Featherly's broadcast, humorous subtitles pop up. In-Universe Leaning on the Fourth Wall, as Roxanne could see the subtitles in real-time.
  • Manny usually communicates with hoof claps that the subtitles translate. However, when he's actually running at one point, the subtitles simply read "Running!"
• Generation Xerox: After being rescued, both the adults and the kids pose similarly, with Webby as Della, Louie as Gladstone, Huey as Fethry, and Dewey as Donald, much to Dewey's dismay.
• God's Hands Are Tied: Selene and Storkules are prevented from helping against the Moonlanders by Zeus, and they had to literally tie him up so they could help.
• Godzilla Threshold: Faced with Lunaris' first wave of invasion, Scrooge orders Gyro to implement several highly risky counterattacks, including what he deemed the worst weapon ever, but Gyro explains Lunaris went after their back-up plans first, rendering the point moot. Scrooge ends up teaming up with Glomgold since none of his plans phase Lunaris.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: Scrooge has Gyro dispatch a platoon of L'il Bulbs to rally what allies he can to the Bin to form an army, while Della and the kids seek out reinforcements from their allies in Egypt and Ithaquack to serve as reinforcements. Unfortunately, the former only leads to all but a few of Scrooge's allies getting captured after being tricked by Lunaris, and the latter is foiled by Della continuously evading the Moonlanders to keep the kids safe, thus leaving them without any reinforcements until they happen to stumble across Donald, Fethry, Gladstone and Mitzy.
• Heel Realization: The Moonlanders realize they were the bad guys when Lunaris announces his plan to destroy the Earth.
• Heroic BSoD: This happens to Scrooge after Lunaris has outsmarted his every plan. Scrooge has no choice but to try out a desperate move: joining sides with Glomgold and use one of his dumb schemes to thwart Lunaris.
• Heroic Suicide: The captain L'il Bulb willingly performs an action resembling a G-rated version of seppuku to make sure its mission wasn't compromised, complete with a silent It Has Been an Honor salute.
• How Is That Even Possible?: Lunaris actually says this when Glomgold's idiotic plan is actually working. He also has this reaction when Mitzy shows up.
  Lunaris: NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!
• Human Popsicle: The F.O.W.L. meeting has what appears to be Rockerduck frozen solid.
• In-Universe Catharsis: Donald and Della spend a few minutes yelling at each other with Anger Born of Worry. After doing so, they hug each other, showing all is forgiven for the moment.
• Iris Out: At the end of the first part, the episode irises out on Water-mickey.
• Ironic Echo Cut: Della once again refuses let the others return to Duckburg.
  Della: Besides, Scrooge knows exactly what he's doing!
  (Cut to Scrooge resting his head on his desk in frustration)
  Scrooge: Oooh... I have no idea what I'm doing!
• Irony: Lunaris dramatically declares that he is the Moon before he becomes stuck orbiting Earth as its newest moon by the end.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Part of Glomgold's plan is forcing Scrooge to dress as Santa, whom he hates, as a distraction. As everyone calls him out, Glomgold points out that Santa is the one person on the planet that nobody would feel uncomfortable about letting into their home and since the invasion started, Scrooge's plans have already been bested by Lunaris so it's time they try something different. Of course, it doesn't even seem like Lunaris even knows who Santa is and he certainly knows it's Scrooge regardless. He's simply so confused by how nonsensical it is that he lets his guard down anyway.
• "Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal: When Zeus asks his son this question Storkules replies he would since he's immortal and wouldn't be hurt in the fall.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Lunaris' failed attempt to make the Earth revolve around the Moon (and then destroy the former) is repaid by his ship being made Earth's newest (and second) moon. With him inside it, seemingly alone.
  • Zeus's refusal to help against the invasion results in him getting tied up by his son and daughter.
  • The Lunarians blindly follow their leader without considering that he may have an ulterior motive. They get a mass Heel Realization when he announces that he's killing them as well after Glomgold foils his takeover. It's implied that for the moment they're trapped on the planet they tried to invade, ensuring ample awkwardness and investigation even with Penumbra having saved them.
• Last Episode, New Character: The end of the episode introduces Steelbeak and the Phantom Blot, both of which haven't appeared in the previous season nor episodes.
• Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Mickey Mouse was not among the characters the show's crew was allowed to use, so instead Donald finds a watermelon shaped like Mickey that becomes his island companion and Chris Diamantopoulos voices through Donald's own impression.
• Leeroy Jenkins: When Scrooge's army prepares to attack, Launchpad becomes an unintentional one by being unable to stop his car and crashing straight into enemy lines, initiating the fight.
• Legion of Doom: F.O.W.L.'s inner council is one of these, including Gandra Dee, John D. Rockerduck (frozen solid), Jeeves (now a Frankenstein's Monster), Steelbeak (making his debut here), the Funso's Mascot (actually the Phantom Blot in disguise), Black Heron (alive and well, even if she is missing her robotic arm), and their leaders, Bradford Buzzard and the other two McDuck Industries board members.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Selene and Storkules work together to ensure that the Earth is saved after the Ducks and Penumbra sabotage Lunaris's blasters. Storkules moves the Earth back into proper orbit, while Selene turns Lunaris's ship into a new moon.
• Love at First Sight: Launchpad instantly falls for Penumbra, likely making her the latest in his string of strange girlfriends.
• Mama Bear: When Gyro suggests they send Gizmoduck out as a sacrifice to the Moonlanders, Officer Cabrera threatens "Hurt him, and I hurt you" shortly before revealing to Gizmoduck that she knows he's her son. She also warned Gizmoduck about the moonlander pulling out a blaster and saves him.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Duck-McDuck family (and Glomgold) have this reaction when they realize that Lunaris is about to drive his mothership into the Earth.
• Moral Myopia: Scrooge and Della trick the kids into getting away from Duckburg because they don't want to put them in danger battling the Moonlanders. And yet, Scrooge has no issues allowing Violet, who would've been defenseless were it not for Lena conjuring a magic mace for her, to take part in the melee.
• More Dakka: When the Ducks are lining up to take out the engines of Lunaris' ship, Lunaris pushes a button the reveals a plethora of blasters that riddle the planetary engine.
• Morton's Fork: In the climax, Lunaris has the Duck's ship cornered; they can't go forward because that'll just make the planetary engine's thruster fry them faster, but if they try to fall back, the blasters will blow them to bits. Luckily, Penumbra's Big Damn Heroes moment saves them.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Scrooge defeats two Moonlander goons by jumping on them with his cane like a pogo stick, just like in the video game.
  • Scrooge poses as Darkwing, a reference to "The Masked Mallard", an episode that had Scrooge adopting a superhero identity, which name would later become one of Darkwing's Superhero Sobriquets. In Italian and Brazilian comics, he is also a masked hero.
  • Darkwing Duck meets Gizmoduck for the first time and teams up with him, as in the original show. And yes, Darkwing still doesn't like Gizmoduck.
  • When Gizmoduck introduces himself to Darkwing, he quotes the latter's theme tune.
    When there's trouble you call me!
  • And just like in the original, Darkwing starts off as a little-known superhero, much to his dismay.
  • Lena, a manifestation of Magica's shadow with all her magical powers, turns one of the Moonlander's ray guns into a crow. Magica used to have a talking pet crow.
  • Aside from the melon serving as a Lawyer-Friendly Cameo, several nods are made to Mickey Mouse:
    • The first words Donald utter through the melon are "Hot dog, we got company". "Hot dog" were the first words Mickey ever said in history in the short "The Karnival Kid".
    • The Mikey melon wears Donald's sailor hat, a nod to the iconic "Steamboat Willie" short.
    • As the melon is tossed into the ocean, Donald makes it shout, "See you real soon!"
  • The kilt of Scrooge's battle outfit is decorated in the traditional Clan McDuck tartan from the comics.
• Nails on a Chalkboard: Parodied. Flintheart tries to act like Quint, but Chums only has a whiteboard, so he has to imitate the screech himself.
• Near-Villain Victory: Lunaris comes dangerously close to succeeding in his plans.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Huey nearly blows their cover when he tries to communicate using one of the L'il Bulbs, which had just been discovered by one of the Moonlanders, causing it to destroy itself to avoid compromising the mission. For the rest of the scene Huey is in the background getting attacked by the other L'il Bulbs.
• "No. Just… No" Reaction: Scrooge's reaction to his role in Glomgold's plan.
• No-Sell: A large Moonlander punches Beakley square in the face. She responds by flipping the man over her head.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When all of his plans fail, Scrooge obliges in turning to Glomgold for help, much to the shock of his allies.
  • Dewey disagrees with Della when she suggests they all stay on the island to avoid the invasion.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Glomgold offers to help out the heroes not only to get the glory in saving Earth but also because he won't let anyone else beat Scrooge.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: When Scrooge gloats to Lunaris that the latter was prepared for Earth's best but not Earth's dumbest, Glomgold adds that he is "the dumbest there's ever been" and laughs maniacally only to realize he accidentally insulted himself.
• Planetary Relocation: General Lunaris' Evil Plan involves using a massive rocket engine to force the Earth to revolve around the Moon. This ends up having catastrophic effects on the weather until Storkules pushes the Earth back into orbit.
• Portmanteau: Glomgold calls his sharks in parkas "sharkas".
• Portmantitle: Moon + invasion.
• Pragmatic Villainy: F.O.W.L. is aghast at the Moonlander invasion because the world's destruction means they can't go about their desired villainy. It takes a dark turn when they decide that the McDuck Clan has become too dangerous to leave alone and plot their destruction.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: As Penumbra crashes the Spear of Selene into Lurantis' ship.
  Penumbra: Hello, General!
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Scrooge refers to his closest allies as a "ragtag gang of underdogs". Indeed, it consists of Gyro, Launchpad, Darkwing Duck, Gizmoduck, Officer Cabrera, Mrs. Beakley, Miss Quackfaster, Duckworth, Manny the Headless Man-Horse, Lena, Violet Sabrewing and Gabby McStabberson, as well as Johnny and Randy from "Ottoman Empire".
• Recurring Riff: The Moon Theme returns, first in a reprise of Della's lullaby, then in a dramatic rendition during the shootout in space.
• Refuge in Audacity: Part of the reason Glomgold's plan worked was that it was so ridiculous Lunaris couldn't believe what he was seeing, spending so much time trying to work out what the real plan was that he let the actual scheme unfold virtually in front of him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • After the failed attempt to stop the initial invasion, Duckworth departs.
    Duckworth: I’ve decided you're doomed. I'm going to excuse myself to prepare your places in the afterlife.
  • When Lunaris turns the ship around to ram the Earth, Glomgold decides that his job is done and beats a hasty retreat.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: It turns out Officer Cabrera knew Fenton was Gizmoduck the whole time, reminding him that she's both a detective and his mother.
• Security Cling: When Della is about to crash into the engine, Dewey and Webby hold on to each other in fear.
• See You in Hell: A variation happens in tt the beginning of Part II, where Duckworth quits the resistance saying his time would be better spent preparing their places in the afterlife before descending into the ground.
  Mrs. Beakley: Not reassuring that he went down instead of up.
• Sequel Hook: The moon invasion was stopped with little to no casualties, and the Duck family is reunited once more... then we cut to a shadowy group of figures watching this from a screen. Said figures? Scrooge's Board of Directors who are revealed to be none other than the High Command of F.O.W.L. And if that's not enough, many one-shot characters are revealed to be working for them...
• Shot in the Ass: We only get to hear it, but D'jinn's Badass Boast is interrupted this way.
  Djinn: Moon, Sun, or the North Star itself, nothing will prevent me from upholding my- (zap) -Ooh! My haunches!
• Shout-Out:
  • Scrooge ordering his troops to hold position no matter what is the same strategy as William Wallace on Braveheart.
  • Glomgold scraping his fingers on a whiteboard spoofs Quint's introduction in Jaws.
  • Donald's melon alludes to Wilson the volleyball from Cast Away.
  • The Lunarians' Heel Realization is phrased almost the same as the "Are we the baddies?" sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Look.
  • Darkwing declares "I am the scream you can hear in space!", referencing the famous tagline to Alien, "In space, no one can hear you scream."
  • Scrooge yells "Blasted tarter sauce!" in frustration, similar to the common Unusual Euphemism from SpongeBob SquarePants.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Dewey stops the argument between Della and Donald so he can yell at Donald for not naming him "Turbo".
  • It seems that Glomgold's plan to stop Lunaris mostly has to do with making Scrooge look bad. When the day is saved, all he can do is brag about "beating" Scrooge, despite the two being allied for once against another enemy.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Darkwing Duck, true to his original version, tries to be in the spotlight to save the day - except everyone, both his enemies and allies (aside from Launchpad), completely ignore him. In fact, Scrooge decides to swap clothes with Darkwing to avoid attention.
• Smart Ball: Glomgold manages to plan a scheme that manages to mostly succeed in stopping Lunaris.
• Social Media Before Reason: As the Moonlanders are invading Earth, Mark Beaks tries to take a few selfies with them, even after capture.
• Spanner in the Works: Lunaris planned for everything Scrooge might do. But he had no way to plan for Glomgold.
• Status Quo Is God: Glomgold tricks Scrooge into giving back Glomgold Industries during their deal agreement, ensuring that Glomgold will be a thorn on Scrooge's legit business rival than a bankrupted duck with no company to compete with.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Della and the kids find Donald, he assumes they were worried about him going missing and have spent weeks searching for him. Huey reassures him that, yes, they really were looking for him and didn't think he was off on a cruise.
• Take That!: The Mickey Mouse melon seems to be one at the executives who wouldn't let Mickey himself be in the show.
• Time-Passage Beard: Donald has grown a considerable one while stranded on the deserted island.
• Trauma Button: When Dewey's response to Della's trying to get them to stay on the island is "we may as well be on the moon", Della has a brief moment of mad laughter, eye twitching, and tries to offer Dewey some Oxy-chew before realizing with horror that this is, indeed, the moon all over again.
• Triumphant Reprise: The iconic "Moon Theme" from the DuckTales video game gets one when the Duck family pursues Lunaris in space, after the latter's initial defeat on Earth.
• Troll: Glomgold intentionally antagonizes Scrooge throughout his entire scheme in order to make him angry. This is all part of the plan to distract Lunaris.
• Usurping Santa: One of the parts of Glomgold's scheme is to force Scrooge into dressing as Santa. He clearly isn't amused at all.
• Verbal Backspace: Scrooge starts to chide Donald for spending months on vacation, only to see Donald turning red with anger and the kids shaking their heads. Scrooge then immediately figures out Donald wasn't on vacation and acknowledges as such.
• Villain Has a Point: As sinister as their intentions may be, F.O.W.L. isn't completely wrong to hold the McDuck Clan culpable for the Moonlander invasion almost destroying Earth. Lunaris would never have been able to pull off his invasion without Scrooge building the Spear of Selene and Della crashing it into the moon and sharing the blueprints, and Louie only made the situation worse for Earth by ordering the destruction of the satellite defense network in the previous episode, which only worked in Lunaris' favor by getting rid of one more obstacle to making the invasion possible. The problem is, they seem to be completely ignoring how they also saved the world by stopping Lunaris.
• Villain Respect: Inverted. Gyro admits that Lunaris did a very good job of planning his invasion as he made sure to immediately take out all of Scrooge's most powerful weapons.
• Villainous Breakdown: When Glomgold's scheme actually starts to interfere with Lunaris' plan, and the arrival of the rest of the Ducks leads to his ship being uprooted, Lunaris actually tries to outright destroy the Earth, not caring whether or not his own people are still on the planet.
• Voice Changeling: Donald is able to do a good impersonation of Mickey's voice. This is also a reference to the fact that Tony Anselmo (Donald's voice actor) got his start in voice acting by mimicking the voices of other Disney characters.
• The Voiceless: Gabby McStabberson appears but has no lines.
• Weaponized Exhaust: After pinning down Della's ship with the planetary engine's tail-guns, Lunaris turns up the thrusters to full power, threatening to burn Della and her family alive if they don't get shot first.
• Wham Shot: The very end scene reveals that Scrooge's Board of Directors are in fact F.O.W.L.'s High Command having a meeting with their agents: Gandra Dee, John D. Rockerduck (who has been preserved in ice), his butler Jeeves (who has somehow turned into a Frankenstein's monster-like creature), Darkwing Duck villain Steelbeak, Funzo's mascot (who takes off his head revealing that he is in fact the Phantom Blot), and the still-living (but now one-armed) Black Heron.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Donald and Della deliver this to each other about worrying each other sick by disappearing. Donald has a bit more weight since he didn't choose to go to the moon and end up stranded, and calls his sister a "big dummy".
• You Monster!:
  • Beakley and Launchpad treat Glomgold forcing Scrooge to don the Santa outfit as wicked.
    Beakley: Glomgold, you've gone too far!
    Launchpad: You animal! The thing he hates the most!
  • Donald Duck called Lunaris a monster, which is more appropriate compared to the former.
    Donald: Lunaris is a monster.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Just as Scrooge reaches Lunaris' ship over the mansion, it's revealed to be a hologram. Lunaris reveals, through a Huge Holographic Head, that it was a distraction for his real plan of forcing the Earth to orbit the moon.

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"If the McDuck family wants an adventure, we'll give them their last."