Donald Duck reluctantly takes his nephews to the mansion of their reclusive great-uncle, the legendary adventurer Scrooge McDuck. While staying in McDuck Manor, the boys and their new friend Webby uncover long-kept family secrets.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Huey mentions that Scrooge called him "Herbert" once. Scrooge then proceeds to call Dewey "Sonny Jim" and "Bluey", before finally getting it right near the end of the episode.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Launchpad is rendered completely delirious by snake venom. In this state, he defeats one of Glomgold's henchmen just by stumbling about blindly. He also apparently speaks approximate Swedish in this state.
- Adapted Out: Scrooge's butler Duckworth is absent (later revealed to have died before the series began). His role as Scrooge's domestic and chauffeur is split between Mrs. Beakley and Launchpad respectively.
- Aerith and Bob: Roll call at Glomgold: Gabby McStabbington, Hack and Slash Smashnikov, and Donald Duck.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After being left behind by Glomgold, who intends to destroy Atlantis with a torpedo in hopes of killing Team Scrooge, Gabby (who had been nothing short of contemptuous towards Donald for the better part of the episode) meekly asks Donald if she, Hack, and Slash could "bum a ride" with him on Scrooge's submarine to avoid being killed.
- Air Vent Escape: Played with. Webby and the triplets are only ten and are small enough to crawl around in the air vents.
- Amusing Injuries: Otherwise pretty serious injuries are Played for Laughs.
- Scrooge gets bashed into the skyscrapers of Duckburg, hard enough to crack their facades. All it does is make him level down his braggadocio.
- Launchpad suffers multiple bites from venomous snakes. He ends up with multiple swellings. He passes out once, drools a little, and speaks somewhat fluent Swedish.
- Donald discovers the danger of a deathtrap. Break a beam, column of fire, His tail gets pretty badly singed.
- Donald holds onto an increasingly hot metal shield to protect Dewey. See Overly Long Gag below.
- Donald also gets dragged along the ground by one foot, repeatedly bonking his head on rocks and debris. He takes it as mild discomfort.
Donald: Ouch. Ouch. Owie. Owie.
- Arc Words: "Trouble" and the multiple meanings it takes is one for the entire episode. There's Scrooge saying "Family is nothing but trouble", Donald insisting, "No tricks, no lies and no trouble" to Scrooge and Donald at the end admitting that the kids will inevitably get into trouble at one point or the other in their lives.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Dewey and Scrooge are arguing in Atlantis, Dewey asks Scrooge which triplet he is, and Scrooge can't answer.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Webby talking about what she wants to do outside the mansion.
Webby: But someday, I'm gonna see the world. I'm gonna be an explorer! I'm gonna eat a hamburger!
- Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: Scrooge tells the nephews that in the few hours they've been with him they have damaged his home and his money bin, unleashed ancient evils, and endangered his life... and then starts laughing with joy, because these incidents have revived his spirit of adventure.
Scrooge: You kids are nothing but trouble! Curse me kilts, how I've missed trouble!
- Atlantis: Scrooge's newest adventure involves finding treasure in Atlantis.
- Audible Gleam: The resume of the girl beside Donald is so well put together that light shimmers off it, audibly. This is what prompts Donald to try glitzing his up with a stapler.
- Audience Surrogate: The three nephews serve as one, reacting with surprise about Donald's reputation as an adventurer (an aspect of the Duck familiar to comics fans and maybe those who played some old console games) but largely unknown to people who know him from the classic cartoons and earlier takes (where he was usually Mickey's sidekick), and likewise, serve as the viewpoint into the legendary Scrooge McDuck who has generally not appeared in media since the end of the first DuckTales series.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
- A variant; Louie complains that Uncle Donald never lets them have fun. He tells Webby that if she doesn't lie to her grandmother about where she is, then Mrs. Beakley will be worried sick. How would Louie know that? Because that's how "Uncle Donald" would feel if the triplets went off and didn't tell him where they were. Louie was willing to deceive Donald to get him away from the houseboat, but he wouldn't want to make his uncle fret.
- Dewey was the one hotwiring the houseboat. He also notices Glomgold's men dragging around his uncle and demands that Glomgold let Donald go.
- Donald and Scrooge have been at odds for ten years at least. When Glomgold takes Donald hostage, Scrooge lets his sworn enemy take the (fake) jewel of Atlantis. He even comments that Glomgold was smart to plan for that.
- Bad Boss: Glomgold who quickly abandons and indirectly tries to kill his henchmen when he gets the treasure.
- Bad Liar:
- Webby tries, but she can't tell a straight lie.
- Huey isn't any better. When Donald asks where Dewey is, he responds "Who's Dewey?" while Louie goes with "sleeping".
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: This exchange shows exactly how Donald feels about his Uncle Scrooge.
Donald: Remember, no tricks, no lies, no trouble.
Huey, Dewey and Louie: Yes, Uncle Donald.
Donald: I wasn't talking to
you. [He and Scrooge give each other a mutual Death Glare.] - Batman Gambit: When Peghook says he wants Scrooge's head, Scrooge maneuvers him over to the statue and performs a bit of dodging to get him to slice off the head.
- Berserk Button: Scrooge has two, and the nephews unwittingly press them both which is why they have a rocky start:
- Louie tells Scrooge he "used to be a big deal" which is why he throws the nephews in a room with a bag of marbles.
- Dewey throwing Scrooge his "family is nothing but trouble" back in his face, which makes Scrooge go from exasperated at the kids for leaving their rooms and causing mayhem in his garage to downright livid.
- Bilingual Bonus: Launchpad, while impersonating Swedish-speaking "Uncle Hampus," does actually speak legitimate Swedish. His pronounciation is so horrible that a native Swede might mistake it for total gibberish — but it is, in fact, possible to work out what he's saying:
"Åh, hej, Beakley! Subina har berättat så mycket om dig, över fiskbullar." (Oh, hi, Beakley! Subina has told me so much about you, over fish balls.")
"Oj då." ("Uh-oh.")
- Boring, but Practical:
- When they're traveling to Atlantis, Scrooge's maps show various hazards along the way. His solution? To go completely around them, because it's simply too dangerous. Dewey eventually makes them go that way anyway, which not only annoys Scrooge, but endangers the entire expedition.
- When Scrooge sees the laser-grid, his first idea is to find another route since it's too dangerous for amateur adventurers. Like before Dewey has other plans.
- Scrooge lampshades this at one point, when he frustratedly points out that Dewey's insistence on doing the cool thing over the easy thing just makes everything unnecessarily harder.
Dewey: Sure, if you want to do it the easy way.
Scrooge: Why wouldn't you want to do it the easy way?! You've got to work smarter lad, not harder.
- Brick Joke:
- Dewey is shown trying to hot wire Donald's houseboat at beginning of the episode. The entire boat bursts into flames when they all get back from Atlantis since he left the engine running.
- Also, Launchpad mentions his piloting skills in front of Scrooge at least three times. When Webby and the triplets save Scrooge via plane and prepare an assault on Pixiu:
Scrooge:... Since when is Launchpad a pilot?!
- The triplets dispose of Donald's old sailor uniform and insist he wear a suit because he should "dress as the job you want". The job Donald ends up getting involves him... being a sailor.
- Webby calls Mrs. Beakley and tells her that she's staying with a friend whose "Uncle Hampus" only speaks Swedish, a snake-poisoned Launchpad gets on the phone and unintentionally maintains Webby's lie by talking to Beakley in Swedish. Near the end when Mrs. Beakley confronts Webby over lying to her, she spots Launchpad nearby and greets him as "Uncle Hampus."
- While the triplets are imagining likely adventures for Scrooge, Huey imagines that Scrooge fought off a stone golem-like creature, and after defeating it, carved a statue of himself out of the golem's leg. When the triplets, Webby and Scrooge are fighting the pirate ghost and man-horse in the Wing of Secrets (garage), the fight is ended by Scrooge tricking the pirate ghost into decapitating a stone statue of Scrooge.
- Broken Pedestal:
- It's implied that whatever happened between them in the past led to Donald experiencing this with Scrooge; it even gets brought back up as he lashes out at him as the treasure room in Atlantis begins to flood.
- It's subtle, but Dewey writing off Scrooge's artifacts as being fake seems to have been a result of overhearing Scrooge dismiss family as being nothing but trouble. In this case, however, the pedestal is quickly rebuilt when Scrooge begins to rediscover his love of adventure.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Inverted; Donald didn't know Glomgold was Scrooge's sworn enemy because Scrooge has a Long List of sworn enemies.
- Calling the Old Man Out:
- Dewey gets mad at Scrooge for not letting him adventure, and tries to prove himself by strutting through dangerous lasers. Scrooge responds that Dewey is too young and inexperienced.
- Donald rightfully calls out Scrooge for taking the boys on a dangerous journey, when he just asked the latter to watch the boys for a few hours. Even by the end, he's willing to let the boys spend time with Scrooge but doesn't want a repeat.
- Cassandra Truth: The triplets find the idea of Donald being a former adventurer who went on treasure hunts with Scrooge McDuck unbelievable. Likewise, Webby doesn't believe that Donald Duck, "one of the most daring adventurers of all time", is currently a boring adoptive parent who's never done anything cool with his nephews.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The Medusa Gauntlet, that Scrooge uses to turn Pixiu back to stone.
- The "Garden Hose of Destiny", of all things, turns out to be this as well when the nephews and Webby use it to lower Scrooge out of the plane to use the Medusa Gauntlet.
- Huey makes a bunch of t-shirts for the gang's trip to Atlantis. Once they get there, he uses one to incapacitate one of Glomgold's henchmen.
- Chekhov's Skill: Scrooge's money swimming of all things. First shown when Scrooge falls into his vault after petrifying the dragon, he later uses it to get the drop on Glomgold in the Atlantian treasure chamber.
- Chupacabra: One of the stories the triplets heard about Scrooge McDuck is that he exposed it as a shaved bear. Later as they explore the "Wing of Secrets", they find a portrait of him with the bear.
- Collector of the Strange: Scrooge's manor is filled with all manner of cursed and mythological objects. He keeps them in his garage.
- Company Cross References:
- Dewey brings up Cape Suzette early on, while St. Canard and Spoonerville are mentioned during Scrooge's meeting at the beginning of the episode.
- When Captain Peghook's head bursts into flames, the blue coloration of the fire and black skull resembles that of a Coolflame.
- When brainstorming what to do to stop Pixiu from eating Scrooge's gold, Webigail mentions an Oblivion Mirror before Dewey brings forth the Medusa gauntlet they end up using.
- Complete-the-Quote Title: The episode title makes no sense until you hear the theme song.
- Cool Sword: The Deus Ex Calibur which is enchanted to seek out its target unrelentingly until slain. Unfortunately for the kids, Captain Peghook is a ghost and already dead.
- Crazy-Prepared: Glomgold knew full well that Donald was Scrooge's nephew and only hired him to use as a hostage just in case Scrooge showed up! Even Scrooge called this good planning.
- Creative Closing Credits: An interesting variation. The episode begins directly with a simple DuckTales logo on the Duckburg skyline and the actual credits sequence and intro shows up at the end of the first part, effectively marking the first half as a Prolonged Prologue and the second-half, when they visit Atlantis as the first actual DuckTales episode.
- Deceptive Legacy: By omission. Donald and Scrooge parted ways under acrimonious terms. Rather than poison his nephews' minds with his bad opinion of Scrooge, Donald simply tells them nothing, until he is left with no choice but to address Uncle Scrooge by name.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: When we first see Scrooge he's grumpy and very antisocial, but after the first half he's loosened up considerably. By the end of the episode he's having a mock sword fight with Huey and Louie.
- Description Cut:
- After Webby says that Donald is "one of the greatest adventurers of all time", the scene cuts to Donald calmly awaiting his job interview and dealing with an uncooperative stapler.
- Similarly, Dewey describes Scrooge as "the most exciting duck in the world". Cut to Scrooge sitting bored in his office dealing with expenses.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- The designers of Atlantis were so eager to build a grand city full of wonders and elaborate death traps that they didn't give any thought how it was going to be supported, resulting in it tipping upside down and sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
- Dewey mistakenly believed Glomgold and his henchmen took Donald hostage, so he confronts them by himself, demanding they let his uncle go. When Glomgold casually responds with a simple "no", Dewey then admits how ill-prepared he was.
- Do Wrong, Right:
- After seeing that the boys are "trouble", Scrooge decides to teach them how to get in trouble properly and go to Atlantis.
- Louie scolds Webby for not telling her grandmother she was leaving with Scrooge; she should have lied to her and said she was with a friend so she wouldn't worry.
Louie: Lying. It’s the responsible thing to do.
- Drives Like Crazy: Launchpad is introduced as Scrooge's chauffeur, careening through traffic in his limo.
- Drowning Pit: Glomgold leaves Scrooge, Donald and Dewey to their doom as the Atlantean treasure room fills with water.
- Durable Deathtrap: Played for Laughs. Since Atlantis is upside-down, the deathtraps that were built on the ground activate harmlessly on the "ceiling", much to the chagrin of Dewey.
- The snake-pit trap(with somehow still-alive snakes) however does work in a way, just that the snakes fall onto you, rather than the other way 'round.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The scene with Scrooge's board of directors has Bentley lacking his monocle and facial mole, and Buford lacking his hair. Even more egregious is that Bentley is in the center seat and the only one speaking, when in all subsequent episodes this position goes to Bradford.
- Easily Forgiven: Mrs. Beakley is pretty quick to forgive Webby for sneaking out and lying to her. She just wants her granddaughter to be honest with her.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- "Eureka!" Moment: While in the flooding treasure room, Dewey gets distracted by a lamp on the ceiling. But Atlantis fell upside-down, which meant the lamp would have originally been on the floor, surrounded by treasure. He and Scrooge conclude that the reason why the "lamp" was in such an important place was because it was the real Lost Jewel of Atlantis.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Donald saves the assassins that fired on his family and took him hostage, after Glomgold abandons them all to die.
- Louie is outraged when Webby reveals that she didn't tell her grandmother she was going out. He's perfectly happy with her telling her grandmother she's leaving the mansion and lying about where she's going, however.
- Exact Words: Captain Peghook demands Scrooge's head before he'll go to the afterlife. He does end up with Scrooge's head... or to be more specific, the head of a statue of Scrooge.
- Excalibur in the Rust: Scrooge has multiple mystical artifacts, including the Deus Ex Calibur, in his garage.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When explaining to the kids that what they thought was his museum was actually his garage, Scrooge accidentally hits the gong in a fit of anger. The kids respond with a gasp, which causes Scrooge to dismissively explain how the gong only releases a curse after being hit three times before realizing...
"...And you already hit it two times, didn't you?"
- Failed a Spot Check: Launchpad tries several times to tell Scrooge how he's a pilot, only to get ignored each time. When Scrooge ends up riding a plane flown by Launchpad, he is completely flabbergasted.
Scrooge: Since when is Launchpad a pilot?!
- Failed Attempt at Drama: When approaching Atlantis, Scrooge delivers a dramatic speech about how hard it is to find in order to build up to the grand reveal that they've arrived, only discover that his audience is asleep before he finishes. And then, when they've woken up, they excitedly spot it themselves before he can finish, leaving him to sulk while they gaze at it in excitement and awe.
Everyone except Scrooge: Whoooooaaaa!
Scrooge: [Petulant sarcasm] Yes! Good! Atlantis! Ooooh! Ahhhhh! Thanks for spoilin' the moment.
- Failsafe Failure: Atlantis being flipped renders most of the deathtraps harmless, or at least a lot harder to trip accidentally, like saws several feet above anyone's head.
- Foreshadowing:
- Donald telling Huey and Louie to put on their life vests if the boat goes down hints that the boat explodes in the end.
- When Webby captures the triplets, she asks them who sent them into Scrooge's house, specifically asking if they were sent by "Ma Beagle" or "Glomgold". The latter shows up as the villain of the second half of the pilot, while the former appears in the very next episode.
- Much of the dialog between Scrooge and Donald about the Spear of Selene foreshadows reveals from near the end of the season regarding why they had a falling out.
- Webby's String Theory board includes notes that foreshadow plot elements for a number of upcoming episodes, including:
- Former Friends Photo: Scrooge has a painting in his garage of himself and Donald (as well as Donald's sister, Della) happily fighting pirates. This is in sharp opposition to their current animosity and Donald's over-protectiveness in general. It's implied that all of it is because Della is missing, presumed dead.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus:
- One of the newspapers that litters Scrooge's trophy room reads "McDUCK HANGS UP SPATS AFTER —". The rest of the headline is cut off, but it foreshadows whatever estranged him from Donald; and what happened to Della.
- Webby's coarkboard String Theory is full of them, amongst them are:
- A headline reading "SKYPIRATES SPOTTED ABOVE PLAIN AWFUL" which is yet another reference to "TaleSpin" and a Carl Barks story.
- Matilda McDuck, Scrooge's other sister is listed on Webby's family tree of the McDuck Clan, but doesn't have a picture.
- A picture of Gladstone Gander.
- A list of the names of the Beagle Boys.
- Names of Scrooge's Ancestors include Seafoam, the one who lost the family fortune in a shipping accident and drove his family into poverty.
- Frustrating Lie: Before Donald leaves for his job interview and he hears his houseboat starting up, he asks Huey and Louie where Dewey is. Louie says he's sleeping, but Huey asks, "Who's Dewey?", making Louie slowly turn his head towards Huey to glare at him. After Donald leaves to go find Dewey, Louie yells at Huey for his weak lie.
- Get Out!: When Dewey throws Scrooge's "family is nothing but trouble" back in his face, Scrooge gets angry and yells this at the kids. Very loudly. Twice.
- Ghost Pirate: One of the ghosts the triplets accidentally release in Scrooge's garage is a pirate captain named Peghook.
- Ghostly Goals: Peghook won't cross over to the other side until he has Scrooge's head. Scrooge gives him a variation of that (a statue head) to send him on his way.
- Giant Squid: One of the Sea Monsters that attack the crew, which returns to deliver Laser-Guided Karma to Glomgard at the end.
- Gilligan Cut: Webby claims that "Donald Duck is one of the most daring adventurers of all time." Cut to Donald sitting in a waiting room, sheepishly waiting to be interviewed and then get increasingly frustrated with a malfunctioning stapler.
- Glory Days: The plot is kickstarted partly because Scrooge, having long retired from adventuring, feels stung and insecure at the kids suggesting that he "used to be a big deal!" and beginning to worry that his best days and adventures might be behind him. Practically spelled out when Mrs. Beakley catches him trying on his old diving suit and raving excitedly about Atlantis:
- Go to Your Room!: As Scrooge is carried off into the sky by the gold-eating dragon, he shouts to the kids "TO YOUR ROOOOOOOMS...!".
- Hammerspace: Louie's hoodie. He apparently had the Medusa Gauntlet in it from the garage, and whipped it out when Webby called for it.
- Happy Dance: Dewey does one when Scrooge announces his intention to move the family into McDuck Manor.
- Headless Horseman: One of the ghosts the nephews free is a "Headless Man Horse", a horse with no head.
- Hypocritical Humor: Scrooge makes a half-hearted attempt to bond with the boys by asking if children still like marbles. But once Louie gets under his skin with one question too many, he has Beakley lock them in a room:
Mrs. Beakley: Marbles. A gift from your great uncle. You will return them at the end of your visit. He's counted them.
- I Just Want to Be Free:
- Webby is kept cooped up in the mansion by her grandma and yearns to see the world.
- The triplets are also chafing a bit under Donald's overprotectiveness and want to explore the world.
- Imagine Spot: The triplets envision several of Scrooge's most well known exploits. Which turn out to have been true, as they discover the evidence in the "wing of secrets"... note Also known as Scrooge's garage...
- Incredibly Lame Fun: Huey excitedly brings along snacks, a tape of sea shanties and matching t-shirts for the family's sub ride to Atlantis.
- Insistent Terminology: "I am not your secretary!" It is the next best thing to a Berserk Button for Mrs. Beakley. She really does not like being treated as or referred to as a Secretary... which Scrooge does fairly frequently.
- Instantly Proven Wrong:
- Scrooge dismisses the jewel that Glomgold stole from Atlantis as "obviously super cursed". The very second that Glomgold denies this, a giant squid shows up, grabs him, and drags him off to sea.
- The boys were skeptical of Scrooge's stuff being real, then Peghook the ghost pirate appears.
- Ironic Echo: During his discussion with Mrs. Beakley, Scrooge mentions that family is "nothing but trouble". Dewey turns it back on him while they're exploring the ruins of Atlantis, but this time it doesn't set Scrooge off.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Louie was out of line in ripping off Donald's sailor suit and putting it in the disposal. He is right, however, that Donald should wear a business suit to his interview to become an accountant.
- Donald when he, Dewey and Scrooge are trapped in the treasure room calls out Scrooge for not keeping the boys safe and only caring about the current adventure. He's justified in doing so, although it should be noted in Scrooge's defense that he actually has been trying to keep the boys safe throughout the expedition to Atlantis.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Glomgold is utterly humiliated by the episode's end. Scrooge upstages his press conference with the real Jewel of Atlantis (which he brags will provide Duckburg with clean energy) and to add insult to injury the jewel Glomgold took is cursed and he's quickly attacked by a sea monster.
- Laser Hallway: The bridge to the treasure chamber is crisscrossed by light beams that activates flaming geysers. Dewey crosses it, hitting every beam, and is only spared by Donald covering the flames with a shield. Scrooge, on the other hand, quickly crosses by zip lining over the beams.
- Left the Background Music On: The music playing during the triplets' description of Scrooge turns out to be coming from Donald's car radio.
- Literal Metaphor:
Donald: Oh, here we go! Giving orders like he's the richest duck in the world!
Scrooge: I am the richest duck in the world!
- Locked Out of the Loop: Before the events of the plot, the triplets had no idea that they were related to Scrooge McDuck or that Donald was once a famous adventurer.
- Long List: According to Donald, Scrooge has too many "sworn enemies" for a person to keep track of.
- Long-Lost Relative:
- For the triplets. They find out Scrooge is their uncle's uncle... Their great uncle. Their reaction on hearing "Uncle Scrooge" is one of astonished and excited surprise.
- A different, and heartbreakingly played with version of the trope involves their mother... especially as it is heavily implied that Scrooge and Donald's break up was over her disappearing during a quest involving the Spear of Selene. The triplets know she's their Missing Mom, but didn't know she was an adventurer like their uncle. Her fate is shown at the end of the season.
- Loophole Abuse: Captain Peghook says he refuses to move on until he has the head of Scrooge McDuck. Scrooge gets around it by tricking him into lopping the head off of one of his statues. Lampshaded afterward; he says that he "should have been more specific".
- Made of Iron:
- Scrooge can handle being bashed against skyscrapers by a dragon none the worse for wear, except a little bit of post-impact nonsense words.
- Later, he's falling at speed towards the money in his money bin... and he just goes into a tuck, a spin and a dive before landing SAFELY in one of the most insane, and awesome, jumps Scrooge has ever done into his Money Bin in history.
- Launchpad can take dozens of snakebites and remain mostly upright and mostly coherent. He recovers sufficiently without medical attention to pilot the sub back to Duckburg without crashing, but emerges still in an impaired state.
- Man in a Kilt: Referenced.
Glomgold: He thinks he's so rich and so Scottish. But I'm wearing a kilt, McDuck! A KILT!
- Meaningful Background Event: Moments before Louie tempts fate by wondering what could be worse than the supernatural chaos the triplets and Webby have unleashed, Scrooge can be seen walking past the open door of the "Wing of Secrets".
- Meaningful Echo: "You kids are nothing but trouble!" The first time Scrooge says it, he's outraged by their shenanigans; the second time he's thrilled because of all the fun he's just had fighting monsters.
- Mistaken for Badass: Seemed to be the case with Glomgold and Donald then subverted when he revealed he knew he was Scrooges nephew and was planning to use him as a hostage.
- MockGuffin: Glomgold takes a large red gem, thinking it's the Jewel of Atlantis. Dewey, however, deduces that since the city is upside down, the gem hanging from the "ceiling" is the real Jewel of Atlantis. Glomgold's gem is, according to Scrooge, "obviously super-cursed"; Glomgold denies it, until a giant squid grabs him.
- Mood Whiplash: Donald deciding to trust Scrooge enough to let the nephews visit him on occasion is suddenly preempted by the houseboat blowing up.
- My Beloved Smother:
- Or Dad-figure, at least, since while he's not their actual father Donald is the primary guardian to his nephews and displays this trope towards the slightest hint of them getting into danger.
- Or Grandsmother'', at least. Webby complains that Mrs. Beakley is a bit overprotective, but she actually downplays the trope. She trains Webby to protect herself and doesn't see the point of her throwing herself into adventures when she's got everything she needs in the mansion, but ultimately proves quite willing to allow Webby to go adventuring with Scrooge so long as Webby is honest about where she's going.
- Mythology Gag:
- Donald is seen possessing his blue sailor suit from his more mainstream appearances before wearing a black and white version closer to his comic appearance later on. The coloring of the former is reminiscent of his Mickey Mouse (2013) appearance.
- Several Carl Barks' paintings can be spotted on the walls of Scrooge's mansion. Most noteable is Always Another Rainbow, which is seen hanging above fireplace, but several others can be wholly or partially spotted in various shots, including Nobody's Spending Fool (itself a recreation of a panel from Only A Poor Old Man) and Far Out Safari (which is also referenced in the opening, though the picture has been altered so that only Scrooge is riding the rhino).
- Perhaps most blatant, though, is the painting Pick And Shovel Laborer which hangs above Scrooge's desk in his office, and which functions as part of his character introduction: After the Nephews have gushed about how awesome Scrooge is, the scene cuts to the painting on the wall — only to pan down to a far more bored-looking Scrooge who's idly playing with a handful of coins while listening to the vulture accountants about cutting funding to "unnecessary" departments such as historical research and experimental tech.
- Among Webby's possessions is her old character's Quacky Patch doll
stuck to the wall with an arrow. - Webby's "conspiracy board" includes references to Scrooge's ancestors and relatives from the comics (such as "Seafoam" McDuck from "The Horseradish Story" and Sir Quackly from "The Old Castle's Secret"), and a news article about "Plain Awful" (from Carl Barks' "Lost in the Andes").
- Among the objects located in Scrooge's garage are the head of Armstrong, a stone replica of one of the coins from the Valley of the Golden Suns and the lamp of Collie Baba.
- Donald throws his trademark temper tantrum, in which he hops while stretching out one fist and swinging the other, from his old theatrical shorts.
- Webby brings up Donald's parents, Hortense McDuck and Quackmore Duck, who were introduced in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck.
- The name of the gold-hunting dragon, Pixiu, while based on a creature from Chinese mythology
, also resembles Picsou, the French name for Scrooge McDuck. - As in "Treasure of the Golden Suns", Launchpad has some trouble with snakes.
- Scrooge invokes Dismal Downs, the ancestral estate of the McDuck clan in the Barks and Rosa comics.
- Named Weapons: Among Scrooge's treasury is the Deus Ex Caliber, a sword with a life of its own that will not stop attacking until its target is slain.
- Names to Run Away From: Glomgold's hires are Gabby Mcstabberson, Hack and Slash Smashnikov, and... Donald.
- Never Mess with Granny: Mrs. Beakley taught her granddaughter self-defense and how to be an Action Girl. She can also toss a pen into a wall so hard that it penetrates and cracks the wall.
- Never My Fault: After Donald catches the boys trying to go on a joyride in their houseboat, Dewey blames Huey for not getting Donald away by ten o'clock. Huey then points out that Dewey wasn't supposed to start the engine until Huey and Louie made sure the coast was clear.
- Never Say "Die": Repeatedly averted. The nephews realize that the cursed sword can't stop the Peghook's ghost since he's already dead, and Donald says that he's going to kill Scrooge when he sees that Scrooge brought the boys along into the Atlantis mess, to which Glomgold decides that while that isn't a bad idea, they can take it even further by killing all of them.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
- Dewey tricking Launchpad into taking a shortcut creates a chain of events that lead to Glomgold finding out that Scrooge is also after the jewel of Atlantis, and he plans to murder the old McDuck and the nephews. Dewey also sets off a number of death traps that nearly get the family killed, and Donald injured.
- Subverted when Donald's Anger Born of Worry gives Glomgold the idea to murder his family. Glomgold brought Donald to use him against Scrooge, first to taunt him and then to turn Donald into a hostage. Donald actually saves his family's life by pretending to trip an assassin.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Dewey is deeply disappointed upon discovering that, due to Atlantis being upside-down, all of its floor traps are now stuck on the ceiling.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*:
- After Launchpad is bitten by snakes.
Launchpad: Don't worry. A little snake venom neveeerrr... heerrr... [drifts off, then wakes up suddenly] Hi, nice to meet you! I'm everybody's friend!
[falls unconscious]
- Subverted later in the episode where, still venom-concussed and after taking another bad tumble, Launchpad grabs Webby's phone and rambles deliriously to the person on the other end in Swedish... except that Webby had claimed to be staying with a Swedish family and Launchpad's rambling, apparently by pure chance, was entirely relevant to what she had been saying.
- No Ontological Inertia: The flooding-chamber death trap immediately reverses the instant the real Jewel of Atlantis is removed from its pedestal.
- No OSHA Compliance: Atlantis capsized and sunk because the builders spent an excessive amount of time on building more and more into the city. Hilariously, it means most of the lethal death traps are completely useless!
- No-Sell: A blade that doesn't stop until its target is slain is useless against Peghook because he's already a ghost.
- Not Helping Your Case: Dewey keeps arguing for Scrooge to let him try out the adventure, while endangering himself and his family every step of the way. He finally averts this in the climax, where Glomgold gets off the final deathtrap and Dewey figures out how to dismantle it.
- Obfuscating Stupidity:
- Glomgold knew from the start that Donald was Scrooge's nephew.
- Donald pretends to be a klutz to thwart Glomgold's henchmen from succeeding in their attempts to kill Team Scrooge.
- Opening Shout-Out:
- A reporter mentions that Scrooge is back to "solving mysteries and rewriting history."
- In part one there's a shout-out to the original. After Scrooge's famous money-dive, he comes up in the pose from the end of the original opening.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Pixiu, the gold-hunting, oriental-style dragon, who is trapped as a statue until someone hits his gong three times.
- Overly Long Gag: Dewey is into the adventure for the cool factor. He crosses the bridge of lasers by dancing his way across, breaking every beam as he does so. Only Donald blocking the fire nozzles keeps Dewey safe. Scrooge, unaware Donald has been working hard to protect him, lets Dewey stand with his foot in the last laser and argue with him for several moments as Donald holds the increasingly hot shield to block the fire.
- Pooled Funds: Scrooge's ability to swim in money is one of the rumors the boys mention at the beginning. Later, he demonstrates his money-diving prowess, as he dives directly into the money bin after being thrown into the air by the dragon Pixiu.
- Poor Communication Kills: Scrooge is used to doing things his own way with little to no help. He's also avoided dealing with any family for over a decade, so he expects to be able to plot things out his own way without question. Scrooge's route to Atlantis is sixteen hours long and circuitous because he knows the perils on the way and routes to avoid them. Dewey, who only thinks literally about the shortest distance between two points being a straight line, reroutes their plot and sends them directly into danger.
- Pride: A positive example, at least for Scrooge. He has fallen out with Donald but admires that rather than ask for a handout, he asks for a babysitter while getting a paying job. Scrooge also offers to house the boys after they lose their home.
- Prolonged Prologue: The title sequence doesn't show up until halfway through the episode.
- Properly Paranoid: Donald is overprotective, but on the other hand this is a world where magic and monsters are real, and the boys seem to think they're invincible. Dewey seems to be the ringleader for trouble.
- Punny Name: The Deus Ex Calibur that won't stop until its target is dead (in this case a ghost) is one for "Deus ex machina".
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mrs. Beakley is an overprotective parent. She tells Webby, however, that the latter is safe with Scrooge McDuck, and just not to lie to her about it.
- Rock Bottom: Louie asks "What could be worse than this?" after they release two ghosts. Cue Scrooge entering the garage.
- Rule of Funny: Scrooge's strength, agility and durability all operate on this.
- Fighting the ghost of Peghook, Scrooge cracks his own neck before defeating him, but his back cracks painfully after hours in the sub, making him wonder aloud if Atlantis wasn't too ambitious for a first outing.
- Scrooge is strong enough to close the huge and heavy door to his money bin with only a little effort. But the weight of an antique diving helmet is so much it makes him fall over, unable to pick his head up.
- Rule of Three: It's no coincidence that the gong which will release Pixue the gold-eating dragon must be struck three times.
- Running Gag:
- Launchpad keep mentioning he's a pilot, which gets a brilliant payoff when Scrooge sees him flying a plane and exclaims "since when is Launchpad a pilot!?"
- Mrs. Beakley keeps telling Scrooge she's not his secretary, to no avail.
- Dewey gets annoyed that Scrooge keeps forgetting his name. It gets to the point where he endangers himself because he focuses more on Scrooge forgetting him.
- Say My Name: Played with. Dewey due to his middle kid syndrome is obsessed with Scrooge learning his name, especially since Scrooge clearly doesn't care enough to remember it. He goes so far as to sing his own name while carelessly traversing the Laser Hallway. He gets his moment after they escape Atlantis because he figured out how to get out of the trap room and where the real jewel of Atlantis is. Scrooge compliments him by name on his quick thinking.
- Scooby Stack: Webby and the boys make one behind one of the artifacts in the "secret museum" before Scrooge rushes to fight the combined threats.
- The Scrooge:
- Blink-and-You-Miss-It, but Scrooge's miserly ways are more than hinted at.
- The rooms he has unused are all locked up until he wants them.
- Much of his equipment is antiquated but still more or less functional, like his old diving suit.
- His mobile phone is a flip-phone and he keeps the call short, saying what he wants and hanging up before the other party can get more than a word or two out.
- Instead of hiring a secretary, he repeatedly (and unsuccessfully) attempts to make his housekeeper double as one.
- Flintheart Glomgold is also clearly established as a cheapskate; he makes a point of declaring that his henchmen are "the best of the cheapest".
- Sea Monster: On the way to Atlantis, the ducks encounter three different variants: a Giant Squid, a group of vicious mer-ducks, and a storm elemental that resembles Charybdis from Classical Mythology note although a different sea monster specifically identified as Charybdis shows up in a later episode. Scrooge knows about their existence and wants to avoid them, but Dewey alters the map to make a shortcut. The squid reappears at the end of the episode, dragging away Glomgold.
- Second Place Is for Losers: Glomgold might have been able to claim the glory of stealing a prized jewel from Atlantis rather than the jewel, except that the one he has brings a giant sea beast near, and Scrooge can attest that Glomgold got the jewel using attempted murder.
- Self-Serving Memory:
- When yelling at the nephews and Webby for causing the Captain Peghook-Deus Excalibur-Headless Man Horse catastrophe, Scrooge chides the nephews for abusing his hospitality after "I invited you into my home...". Louie angrily points out that being "invited into his home" was actually more "being locked in a room".
- Shaped Like Itself:
- When the Headless Man-Horse is released, Webby (who has been describing the other monsters and threats) notes that this one is fairly self-explanatory.
- How Glomgold regards treasure.
Glomgold: Treasure’s the greatest treasure of all. That’s why it’s called treasure! Glomgold out!
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays: Scrooge chooses a long yet safe path to Atlantis. An impatient Dewey alters the map so they go the short way, where they are beset with Krakens, merducks and storms.
- Shout-Out:
- Scrooge's mountaintop mansion is an obvious reference to Xanadu from Citizen Kane.
- During Scrooge and Launchpad's ride through Duckburg, Lupin III's yellow Fiat can be spotted with a dogfaced version of Jigen sticking out of the roof.
- Shrouded in Myth: The triplets know Scrooge as some larger than life figure who hunts for treasures and fights monsters. After spending some time with him and seeing he hasn't been up to much lately, they begin to wonder if any of it was actually true, at least until the Ghost Pirate turns up.
- Sleep Cute: After a 16-hour overnight underwater journey in the family sub to the lost city of Atlantis, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby all end up sleeping, cuddling against each other on the cozy plush seats. It's as adorable as you imagine it to be.
- Snub by Omission: At some points, it seems almost like Scrooge is going out of his way to forget Dewey's name:
Scrooge: [to each of the triplets in turn] Huey. Louie. The third one.
- Soft Glass: Downplayed. The dragon whacks Scrooge into several skyscrapers hard enough for the windows to crack from the impact, leading Scrooge to admit it will take more than a "bruised spine" to shake him off the beast.
- Spotting the Thread: When Donald agrees to let the boys stay by themselves and is about to leave, it occurs to him the moment the houseboat starts up that Dewey hasn't been around all morning. Cut to Donald walking back inside and finding him in the middle of hot-wiring the boat for the boys' secret boat trip.
- Squee:
- The boys have this reaction when they find out Donald is taking them to stay at Scrooge's.
Huey: [excited] McDuck Manor? As in Scrooge McDuck?
Dewey: [excited] The bajillionaire?!
Louie: [non-chalant] You're finally gonna sell us.
- Webby also has a fangasm when she meets Scrooge's grandnephews for the first time.
- String Theory: Webby has a cork board with a string chart connecting the McDuck family tree.
- Tempting Fate:
- This Is Gonna Suck:
- Donald is not happy about having to leave the boys with Scrooge, but he doesn't have a choice.
- He is also not thrilled at seeing Dewey about to walk through laser triggers that activate jets of fire to cross over a rickety bridge, or at getting his butt stuck in an attempt to stop gallons of water pouring into the treasure room.
- Visual Pun: The accountants Scrooge is meeting with at the beginning are buzzards. One form of hedge fund investment strategy is a "vulture fund".
- Waxing Lyrical: Roxanne Featherly says Scrooge is back, "solving mysteries and rewriting history", paraphrasing the theme song of the show.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Part of the reason Dewey is such a Leeroy Jenkins in the second part is a desire to prove himself to Scrooge and get the older duck to remember his name.
- Wham Line:
- The very last line of the episode when Dewey sees the third duck in the painting with Scrooge and Donald brought the collective minds of the fandom to a screeching halt.
Dewey: ...Mom?
- Just in case you didn't pick up who the duck in a kilt was, they have him tell Donald, "Welcome to Glomgold Industries."
- Wham Shot:
- The Reveal of whom Donald has been getting a job interview from at the end of the first part: Flintheart Glomgold.
- The ending of the episode has Dewey push up a ripped part of the painting of Scrooge and Donald from earlier to show no other than the triplet's mother, Della Duck.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Glomgold's henchmen gets on Scrooge's sub, we never see them after the sub returns to Duckburg or even see them leave the sub. Hack and Slash get a brief cameo in Jaw$!, which implies that they might be still working for Glomgold.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Donald is understandably furious at Scrooge for taking the boys on a dangerous adventure to Atlantis after he promised Donald he would keep them safe while Donald was at his job.
- What You Are in the Dark: Donald never told his nephews that he used to be a successful adventurer, let alone "the most daring adventurer of all time." He's obviously good at it, Butt-Monkey bad luck aside, but he would rather make sure his job would keep him alive and the boys safe.
- Why We Can't Have Nice Things:
- Scrooge is furious when his nephews and Webby accidentally wreck stuff in his garage as well as his money bin, though he admits that it was the most fun he's had in years.
- Glomgold blows up Atlantis, which was an ancient city built by an advanced civilization, and left most of the treasure in it to sink.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Glomgold obtains the (faux) jewel of Atlantis, he abandons his henchmen and attempts to destroy Atlantis while they're still in it.
- You Say Tomato: At one point there is a moment of confusion between Scrooge and his nephews over the pronunciation of "garage". Scrooge pronounces it "ga-ridge", as is common in the United Kingdom, while the nephews and Webby pronounce it "ga-rahge".
"Mom?"
