Making Chemistry Work

Ducktales, “The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee!” Review

We live in a world where superheroes reign supreme in pop culture, and at the moment, Disney seems to own the majority of them. Even Ducktales has its own superhero in the form of Fenton Cabrera, AKA Gizmoduck.

Past episodes have shown that Fenton loves being Gizmoduck, but being a superhero is a hard job. He’s working so hard helping others that can’t even get his own life together. That may have changed in this episode, though.

While out looking for materials for an experiment, Fenton runs into this super-cool scientist named Gandra Dee. And despite him trying to downplay it, Huey uses the Junior Woodchuck Guide to point out that he’s interested in her. So when Fenton invites her to his lab to talk shop, he and Webby team up to play matchmaker.

It’s as hilarious as it sounds. Fenton has no idea what he’s doing, which is sweet. But once he just starts being himself, he and Gandra do end up bonding over their shared love of science. Also, Gandra used nanites to upgrade her body to generate electricity and turn her eyes into a wireless camera.

So yeah, the date’s going great. Except it turns out Gandra’s working for Ducktales equivalent of Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Beaks. He uses Gandra to get the password to the Gizmoduck suit out of Fenton, drinks and incredibly dangerous amount of Gandra’s nanite serum to Hulk out and kidnap Webby and Huey.

It’s actually a pretty awesome superhero fight, and while Gandra makes it clear she’s only looking out for herself, she does end up help Fenton take down the newly minted Mega-Beaks. Using his weakness for social media against him is brilliant!

But alas, Gandra flies the coop before Fenton can thank her. Though she does leave behind a gift: the equation to help with that project he created.

So, what did I think of this episode? I liked it. It had all the hallmarks of a classic superhero story: mild-mannered hero who’s overwhelmed by his double life, potential love interest with gray morality, and a comic book ending. It may seem cliche, but it’s a tried and true formula in superhero stories. And if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

I Give “The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee” a 4.5/5

Plus, it makes sense that they do a Gizmoduck episode now, because tomorrow’s episode is going to involve this 90s Disney icon:

LET’S GET DANGEROUS!

Stray Observations

• This is the second episode in a row where we haven’t seen Scrooge McDuck.
• Did you guys notice how many weird things that Launchpad has dated over the years
• Fenton keeps a list of all the people who know he’s Gizmoduck. Not so good at keeping a secret identity, huh?

• I just realized that Dr. Atmozphere looks just like Doofenshmirtz!