Disney's Legend of the Three Caballeros

It's not, it just struck me as a little odd. No other characters got gender swapped, so why Sir Kay, who is an established male knight in Arthurian legend? Its such a random change that doesn't really even add anything to the narrative.

I've never seen a version of the Arthurian myths where Sir Kay was an ostrich, either.

Also, suggesting gender-swapping Jose is weird when they just added in Xandra and she was awesome. Why change a pre-established character when you can make a new one who's still awesome without alienating fans of that character?

Kay being female may not add anything to the narrative, but it doesn't subtract anything either. And "Kay" is a unisex name, and we're blatantly not being even the slightest bit faithful to Arthurian myths. So since it really doesn't matter one way or the other, why not do a Gender Flip?

And no, doing it to José would not be the same — José is an established Disney character and major character with a lot of fans. Kay, since this isn't The Sword In The Stone, is not... and really, I doubt anyone who saw The Sword in the Stone would name Kay as their favourite character from that movie. If they can swallow that Arthur and Merlin are totally different, then Kay shouldn't be much of a problem.

Edited by Roo on Jul 11th 2018 at 7:08:20 PM

Hey, you're right, Kay WAS in that movie. And he was just as much a jerk as in Arthurian lore.

I just thought Kay was just really effeminate.

Edited by Carliro on Jul 11th 2018 at 7:58:01 PM

.... holy shoot he WAS a character in The Sword In The Stone! :O I suppose that's because that was his role in the original story the film is based on. Wow what a nostalgia slap!

Anyway, the writers here definitely did not have The Sword In The Stone in mind when writing this ep. Merlin's different, King Arthur's different... hell they even have characters that didn't appear in the film like Sir Lancelot, and Sir Galahad! They're treating it like yet another King Arthur send-up that has no relation to it, so they can do whatever they want.

Edited by kyun on Jul 11th 2018 at 12:09:52 PM

Well, on to episode 12 (spoilers)

Felldrake deactivates his magical barrier with a car key remote. Which is hilarious, but once again the show goes anachronistic for a joke. By now its clear that that is this show's brand of humor, rather than some sort of plot point. Everything mythical and magical is an Anachronism Stew Fantasy Kitchen Sink here.

Hmm, interesting, the barrier works against the amulets, not the person. So that means that the Caballeros should be able to walk right in, now. Then again, it did work on Xandra.

"Can you believe we got a year's worth of training in one day?" Can you believe that that's incredibly convenient plot contrivance to Hand Wave the fact that the heroes are suddenly a lot more competent?

So, Jose's superpower is slicing an orange mid-air, Panchito's is lassoing an apple from across town, and Donald's is... trashing the furniture in rage. Pretty sure he already had that one.

The nieces continue to become ditzier this episode. Its not a good sign.

Oh gods, Donald is still obsessing over Daisy. Get over it, Donald. She's not worth it. Again. I sure hope we won't see ANOTHER rehash of the same disastrous-date-with-Daisy plot.

So Xandra is sending the two of them to Shangri La. Small problem: Daisy is still not supposed to know about the Caballeros or their magical travelogue. How will they even explain that without revealing themselves?

And really, Xandra? Just a few episodes ago you were chewing Donald out for wanting an evening off, and now its suddenly ok to go on vacation? Its not like the threat from the villains has gotten any less.

Does a secret basement count as even more secret if its already IN a secret basement? How can one thing be more secret than another? Its either secret or it isn't, right? Questions that will keep you up at night, folks.

"Lets recap..." Frankly, I'm surprised you even showed up, Daisy. Both of you are desperate for each other, as well as desperately unsuited for each other, it seems.

So. No explanations or preparations, Xandra just poofs them to Shangri La. Yeah, this trip is starting off on the wrong foot already.

"They really are perfect for each other." Such sarcasm, Xandra. Why are you even enforcing this vacation-turned-kidnapping if you seem to realize how ill-suited these two are for a relationship?

Oh, nice. Don't even teleport them to the VALLEY, no, just put them on some freezing, snowy slope of the Himalayas. Yeah, that will not go over well, either.

There's a yeti, and he's a resort keeper now. That's a good one. Still hasn't unlearned that roar, though.

Oh god, the yeti sings. Please let this be over soon.

Well, Daisy went from "Donald, I'm scared" to smiling and enjoying the spa in under a minute. That sure was a lightning fast switch in mood, there.

"... we treat all problems." "Goode, 'cause we got a lot of 'em." Oh, I see where this is going. The spa yetis are going to try and fix D&D's relationship, and fail miserably.

Was... was that a joke about a yeti having a shiny polished butt?

Wait, there's a contract? Let me guess: they can't leave until they are satisfied? Something like that? I mean, having to sign what appears to be a magical contract for a SPA seems... foreboding to me.

Also, why do Tibetan yetis write in Latin? Or it looks like Latin, at least, but garbled. I got this paragraph from it:

"Sed interdum mattis massa sed varius. Aliquam erat volutpat. In massa diam, rhoncus id diam venematis, viverra rhoncus nibh. Suspendisse porttitor, turpis non egestas fringilla, neque sapien facilisis dui, et porta tellus tortor vitae velit. Nam placerat semper congue. Cras odio massa, rutrum ut convallis tincidumt, sempter at lorem. Mauris bibendum libero vel urna blandit, sit amet imperdiet eros facilisis."

Maybe someone else can figure it out?

The Shelgoose mansion comes with its own catacombs. With the skulls of deceased ancestors put on display. Wow. This right here just might be the darkest joke in the series yet. That sure is a lugubrious joke right there. And in case you are trying to argue that they are just statues, the labels list the cause of death, which is also visible on the skull itself.

Shelgoose using the amulet causes the owner to feel and see what he is doing with it. That is an awesome effect.

Yep, the yetis are showing creepy glowing eyes as they discuss Donald's temper tantrum. Something is up in paradise.

Also, Daisy is still taking all this rather well. Not a single question, apparently.

Yep, Donald can't leave Shangri La until all his problems are solved. Which, being Donald, means he will be stuck there forever.

And Xandra knew this the whole time. She just forgot. That's a rather major thing to just forget!

Wow, Donald goes to town on that pillow. And it only represented slightly annoying things.

"You must reflect on the depth of your anger... OR IT WILL DESTROY YOU!" Well, that was ominous.

Also, nice detail that the yetis are wearing green orderly uniforms, like at a psychiartric ward.

Oh look, that's Marshmallow Donald from the opening. So it represents his anger. I have the feeling the new Mickey Mouse cartoon and this one have been sharing notes.

So, Marshmallow Donald is a reflection of Donalds current anger, and the angrier Donald gets, the more violent Marshmallow Donald reacts. This is a beautifully done metaphor. Not so sure about its actual therapeutic value, though. I don't think the ABPN would approve of punching your patients in the face to treat their anger issues.

So the heroes are looking for a magic artifact to go through the mystic barrier. Clearly they haven't tried walking through it, but I take it we are to assume that won't work.

The team decides to just Mac Guyver a weapon, and cue the Not Quite The A Team theme.

And the magic cannon punches a hole straight through the force field. And the front door. And the rest of the mansion. And cuts all the way across the city, punching a hole in the money bin. So... how many people do you guess died in that little display of destructive power?

Also, Scrooge bursting into tears like that is, oddly enough, kind of in keeping with his Old Duck Tales appearance, in which he would also be uncharacteristically defeatist about losing his money.

Wow, Xandra beat the snot out of those guards who were giving the nieces a hard time before.

Why is Shelgoose suddenly so scared of Feldrake's face? What did he THINK the guy looked like, with a staff like that? He basically looks like a horned version of Shelgoose, which makes me wonder how he even got to look that way, and why his descendants don't look like that.

Donald has the same vision thing as Panchito and Jose now, and gets punched into a mellow Beatles-esque acid dream sequence.

So why do none of the characters even comment on that weird vision thing? It happens, and then they just move right along as if it never happened.

So now Donald has found inner peace, and his anger no longer has any negative effect on him. Again, the metaphor is nicely portrayed.

Wow, one roar and the nieces turn tail. So much for "We've come so far, no turning back."

Shelgoose appears to be getting some reservations about this. Watching Feldrake get all giddy again is great fun, too.

Feldrake is released from his staff prison, and there's a magical shockwave, and we don't really get to know what happens next.

"We've unlocked the gate and removed your invisible shock collars." "What!?" Yep, its totally meant to resemble a mental asylum, but worse.

The wild log flume ride out of paradise is hilarious, though. And it ends in... the cabin bath tub. Where the bear rug is taking a bath. Annnd another fart joke.

I guess Daisy is still in her moronic obliviousness state this episode. Still not a single question about what even happened. Or what's going on now.

And then they kiss. It doesn't feel all that earned, but oh well. At least that plot thread is over with now.

And... that's it. It ends on a decent cliff hanger. So next week, the finale.

This episode was pretty good overall. The yeti spa was a great idea.

Actually, they did reference that movie with the fish and squirrel transformation spells, and I'd be willing to count Merlin being depicted as an owl as a reference as well.

And Arthur being a lion may not be a reference to Sword in the Stone, but I would count it as one to Robin Hood, in which king Richard and prince John are lions, as well. There's even a picture that shows a prince John-esque lion turning into the king Richard-esque Arthur.

The yeti having red glowy eyes occasionally is a great red herring. It makes you suspicious of this resort, but in the end Donald has his anger under control and you realize the yetis really do want their patients to get better.

Scrooge bursting into tears over losing his money was also something he would frequently do in Italian comics, at least up until a decade or so back. In fact, this entire series has a tone and feel pretty reminiscent of some of the longer, more wacky-adventure-fantasy-oriented Italian Duck comics.

And as Magically Binding Contracts go, being forced to stay in a magical luxury resort until you learn how to deal with your problems, is pretty benign (if annoying). It also makes a nice (if possibly unintentional) metaphor about how your problems trap you, until you actually deal with them. (been there)

Agreed. It's much closer to the more "out-there" side of Italian Disney comics, then the more traditional Barks based style of pulp serial adventure, or even the more modern character driven, slice of life-y stories that you sometimes see.

Edited by megaeliz on Jul 11th 2018 at 6:31:49 AM

Final episode! I would say finally, but it has been, what, two and a half weeks? This show sure went by fast. (spoilers)

Argh, hit some shortcut, went back a page on the browser and lost half my review. Bummer.

So the magic shockwave was only a flash of light? It looked like it did more than just that, though, but alright.

Donald’s anger issues have been cured. But not his bad luck, it seems. He also brought the Caballeros’ armor with him, which raises the question of why they didn’t wear that stuff before, just as with the amulets. Cue the panning-over-the-new-armor scene.

“Ehm… a little privacy, please.” I love how Xandra is the only one to turn around, while the other two (who don’t even WEAR pants) just keep staring at Panchito.

Feldrake is freed from his staff, which… lays a magic purple egg. Even Shelgoose thinks that’s just strange.

The nieces have decided to put together some random scraps of paper, because… they’ve read the script and know it will be important later on. Or something. Lets hope it won’t be as silly as the dragon in the Camelot episode, because that was a bit anticlimactic.

Daisy seems oddly disinterested in what’s going on outside, or where Donald ran off to. Its back to oddly oblivious for her, then.

With the amulets, Feldrake is more powerful than ever. That explains the purple Fat Bastard monster from the first episode.

The magic egg hatches into a very creepy baby with sharp teeth and red eyes. Feldrake apparently has baby instincts in this form, but can also use telekinesis powers to smack Shelgoose around. Which, of course, he does after Shelgoose laughs at him.

“Before I regain my ultimate form, I must bake! Set the timer!” Bake? Like a cake? What an odd term to use. He even has an hourglass prepared, which, of course, will be exact to the grain.

The magical pool shows Shelgoose his true form, or perhaps Feldrake’s, and its pretty monstrous.

Shelgoose gets some magic power from Feldrake. This should make for a fun battle. And it does, because both he and Xandra can now open magic portals through which villains and heroes of previous episodes can come and fight for them. Cue the battle of the cameos.

There’s some Hand Wave about disrupting the balance of light and dark which allows them to do this, but its little more than that, really.

“How embarrassing. This guy’s a total dork.” Cue Feldrake transforming into a pimply teen with braces.

“… you’re gonna LAVA this one.” Even Leopold thinks that pun is awul.

I’m not sure how WOODEN shields are gonna stop lava. Show is getting silly again.

Wow, Feldrake is growing horns. How is he Shelgoose’s ancestor, again, if he looks like that? None of the other Shelgosoes look this demonic.

So, lets see, we got moonbots vs Olympians, lava lizards vs goblins, samurai guardian vs King Arthur, Shelgoose ancestors vs… the ghosts of presidents past. Uh… someone explain to me how THOSE are “mythological”, again?

Also, its kinda weird seeing those ancestors of Shelgoose after we saw their skulls last episode.

Another fight: giant termites vs the minotaur.

“Who is THAT hunky slab of beef?” Coming from Shelgoose. That was a weird moment. And that gets said a lot on this show, but then again, it is a WEIRD show.

Oh look, the dragon is back. Hopefully we get a real fight this time. Or not… he gets CRUSHED by a moai. Like, body slammed with a stage dive. That’s a new one.

Yep, Feldrake has gone full Fat Bastard Horned Humanoid. Also, he’s stark naked.

“Applesauce.” You’ve been talking to Applejack, Donald?

So, on the question of what Feldrake wants, anyway. Apparently he wants to bring on a new age of darkness. I hate to say it, but he is a bit of a Generic Doomsday Villain. Frankly, he was more interesting as a stick.

Oh, so NOW Daisy and the nieces take an interest in what’s going on outside. Also, gotta love the civilians who ONLY NOW seem to notice something is up.

And then Shelgoose Manor goes supernova, and everyone’s floating on chunks of world in space. So basically, Feldrake blew up the entire world. And somehow, no one is choking in space. Or injured from that huge explosion.

So here we are, back at the Flash Forward way back in episode 1.

I love the little hand grab Panchito and Donald do after Don saves him, by the way. I feel the other Caballeros are really short on character development compared to Donald, and this sort of bonding moment is good for characterization, too.

So while Feldrake and everyone else is floating in space, the Caballeros are jumping and falling as if there was gravity. But Xandra can fly by and save them just fine, without falling. This scene in space is not even consistent with itself.

And where are Shelgoose and Leopold? Oh, Leopold was sheltering Shelgoose from the explosion. And aww, they have a bonding moment. More characterization, and this close to the end, too.

Wow, Shelgoose turned Eugenia into a worm. Pretty brutal.

“Lord Feldrake! Look what I did!” “Little busy now, twit.” The villain banter is still great.

Wait, Xandra used to be Feldrake’s servant? Or slave? That’s new, I think.

Xandra is about to be defeated, and the Caballeros suddenly get a message from the magical pond. Turns out that scary face wasn’t Feldrake after all: it was the wizard Blazebeak. So this guy was behind the power of the amulets, and got released, or something, when Shelgoose used them. And now he gives the Caballeros their Super Sentai forms.

“If you fail, the universe as we know it could face disaster the likes of which it has never seen.” Boy, what a clunker of a sentence. Also, the universe is already facing that disaster this very moment, it seems, so that sentence isn’t even literally correct.

“So you know, no pressure.” Thanks, Zordon Blazebeak.

“Now, my evil can infest anywhere in the universe.” You already seemingly blew up the entire planet. You already seem all-powerful enough to me. Not sure what the Atlas would add at this point.

Also, this is indeed a very Generic Doomsday Villain. A bit of a shame, really.

“What happened to you guys?” “We fell in a wizard puddle.” “That explains nothing.” Gotta agree there. While awesome, its also completely random.

Nice of Feldrake to wait so patiently while Xandra powers up.

Shelgoose tries to fight, too, but is quickly dispatched by the bear, Daisy and the nieces. And look, the bear CAN fly in space. See what I mean about this scene not being consistent with itself?

How is that toilet even flushing? Its not even connected to anything. Also, more toilet humor!

So, Shelgoose grabs the staff, snaps it in half while it is half done sucking up Feldrake, and… Everything’s back to normal, the heroes falling and landing back on the square. I’m not entirely sure, but I think Shelgoose just managed to destroy Feldrake. Interesting ending.

Shelgoose gets immediately kicked out as president of the New Quackmore Institute, and Eugenia immediately tries to take it over. Except… remember that the Coot and Shelgoose families are related? So, when a Shelgoose looses their presidency, according to the founders document (the one the nieces found – like I said, they read the script) a Coot, or closest relative thereof, inherits the title. Which means Donald is now the president of the Insitute, as well as the owner of the manor.

“Your middle name is Fauntleroy?” “Yeah…” Nice continuity nod there.

So Regina storms off, flipping the heroes off with her tail. Seems like she’s being set up as the next villain in a potential next season.

“Oh, Donald, you got a house, a job, and a girlfriend.” He had those things before you dumped him the first time, too, you know. And while losing his job may have been his fault to some extent, losing his house was bad luck, and he only lost you because you’re a terrible girlfriend to him. And its not like the cabin wasn’t a house, too. And getting it back was no thanks to you. I feel this ending is rather unearned for Daisy.

I mean, really, this entire show has put all the relationship problems squarely on Donald’s shoulders, and treated Daisy as completely blameless.

But of course the show glosses over all that, and treats it like a happy ending all round.

“Well, this is certainly a step up from living in a book.” So, is she free now, or still tied to the book? This is not very clear.

Also, the mansion is fully repaired, somehow. Must have happened on the magic rebound when Feldrake was defeated. Even though it was the Caballeros who caused the damage in the first place.

Oh, good, Ari put the freaky feathered duck mask over the door. As if the snakes weren’t terrifying enough.

Hey, Feldrake’s not dead after all. He’s just trapped inside Shelgoose’s body now. And they’re definitely setting up a second season here. I think its safe to say that if this show catches on, we will be seeing more of it.

Well, that was a fun episode. The cameo fights in the first half were over really quickly, but it left enough room for the big fight, which is what counts, of course.

Overall, this is a great show. It has a few shortcomings, mainly Daisy and the handling of some of its mythological settings. Its also batshit crazy in a fun way, and that’s a good thing. I think this show has great potential to grow, and could become a serious rival show for Ducktales.

Edited by Redmess on Jul 11th 2018 at 2:24:52 PM

Hmm, Baba Yaga sounds interesting. She also reminds me of Madam Mim, who also started out as a straight up villain, but is now a popular character in Dutch comics, where, similar to Baba, she has become much more sympathetic, if a little sociopathic.

In regards to Felldrake being demonic, I think its implied thats the result of his magic. His portrait shows a normal looking goose, and when he grows he mentions he's going through "demonic adolescence".

Its a shame Feldrake doesn't get any more motivation than "got demon powers, want to destroy the universe". There's a token nod to spreading evil throughout the universe, but after apparently already destroying the world, that seems a bit... pointless.

Well, he is pretty shameless Card-Carrying Villain who goes as far as not recycling just to be evil.

He's clearly a generally angry, stuffy rich dude who must have a ton of enemies he wishes he can spite if he only had more power. He's like that when we first see him, so he's excited upon discovering Felldrake because now he can seek revenge on all the people he hates.

Its not Shelgoose I have a problem with. He has actual motivations for being a bad guy. Its Feldrake who is falling into Generic Doomsday Villain territory here.

Feldrake is a much more fun villain as a staff, that's for sure.

That's the problem with a lot of these type of villains. Hopefully, if the actually gets a second season, we might get a bit more development on his motations. (Although, realistically, they won't.)

He is also one of those weird villains that can rip up an entire planet no problem, but then resorts to battle the plucky non-powered heroes in hand to hand combat.

When you make a villain THAT powerful, you can do little else but power him down immediately so the heroes even have a fighting chance.

Does anyone have any ideas for what they would do in a hypothetical next season, to fix the Daisy issue?

She was handled particularly badly here, and just kind of comes off as unlikable and unsympathetic.

Edited by megaeliz on Jul 13th 2018 at 2:35:15 PM

Maybe explore her puzzle obsession.

That would at least be a good adventure angle. But she really needs to be more a part of the team, then, and lose her cluelessness. There's a difference between being a ditz, and being completely blind to the world around you.

Go to Spain, Equador, Brazil, or some other place with Latin or Spanish roots.