As part of a bet, Scrooge sends the blimp Hindentanic on a new maiden voyage. However, Glomgold, who has money riding on Scrooge's failure to turn a profit, decides to take matters into his own hands, and the voyage quickly turns into something out of a disaster movie.
This episode includes examples of the following tropes:
- The Bad Guy Wins: Subverted. The Hindentanic crashes, but Scrooge gets a cut of the profits from the disaster film made from the ruckus, which means he did win the bet, although not the way he intended.
- The Bet: Glomgold wagers Scrooge he cannot make money off the Hindentanic. Of course, he's not willing to sit back and hope bad luck prevents his rival from winning...
- Cultural Translation: While filming the disaster, Irwin Mallard says "Get my Oscar ready!" In the French dub, 'Oscar' was replaced with 'César' (France's equivalent to the Oscar).
- Disaster Movie: Scrooge has to win a bet on whether he can't make money off the Hindentanic by transporting several people onto it without the trip ending in a disaster. During the episode, pretty much every disaster movie cliche creeps in, from a medical emergency (one of the passengers has to go to London to get a beak transplant done before lunch) to a loose swarm of bees.
- Gilligan Cut: Following Scrooge's Midair Repair comment, the scene cuts to Launchpad agreeing to fix the propeller.
- Godzilla Threshold: The episode revolves around Uncle Scrooge and his new airship. His sidekick and perennial crasher of aircraft Launchpad desperately wants to fly it but is told that Scrooge actually wants to keep the airship in one piece. When the events of the episode conspire against this, Scrooge eventually relents and tells Launchpad to take the wheel. They crash, but Launchpad accidentally takes out the opposition while saving the passengers.Scrooge: "If we are going to crash anyway, we may as well crash with style."
- I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder: Scrooge initially refuses the bet because he's a businessman and not a gambler. He changes his mind when Glomgold suggests that the loser will invest one million dollars on the winner's company.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The episode opens with Glomgold gloating at how he's suckered Scrooge into buying a yard full of old tires. He then comes upon Scrooge, who gloats that he's made a small fortune re-selling the tires as swings to families.
- Lounge Lizard: The piano player. He's even an actual lizard.
- Meaningful Name:
- The Hindentanic, obviously.
- Gloria Swansong—aside from referencing the actress she was a parody of, and her species, a swan song is slang for an entertainer's final creation before retirement or a less grand end to their career. Swansong's sneaking onto the blimp to meet with a famous director is intended to prevent her from being relegated to one of these by jumpstarting her career again.
- Midair Repair: The airship's propeller has to be repaired in mid-flight.Scrooge: Who on board is smart enough to fix the propeller, but stupid enough to go out there?
- Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony: While christening the Hidentanic, Scrooge pauses in mid-swing to check with Duckworth and make sure he is using a cheap bottle of champagne.
- Shout-Out:
- "Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's that idiot McQuack!"
- The episode is chock full of references to disaster films, from Titanic, The Hindenburg, The Poseidon Adventure, Meteor, and The Swarm (1978). An Irwin Allen stand-in named Irwin Mallard even shows up and comments on all the disasters showing up in his next movie.
- Professor Sagander is an overt parody of Carl Sagan, complete with a "billions and billions" line of dialogue.
- Gloria Swansong is a reference to film legend Gloria Swanson (a nod to her final film appearance as herself in the disaster film Airport 1975). Her character is a parody of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. Fortunately, unlike Desmond, Swansong gets a happy ending.
- Species Surname: Subverted. The ship had a piano player named Burt Beakarach, who's actually a lizard. Obviously, characters who may have been ducks in pre-production may change species in the final product.
- What Did You Expect When You Named It ____?: The titular blimp's Meaningful Name references two ill-fated vessels — the Titanic and the Hindenburg. It's not exactly a surprise to the viewers when her maiden voyage turns into a disaster.
- White-Dwarf Starlet: One such character learns that a current director will be on the blimp (to get away from wannabe actors trying to break into show business through him, ironically enough) and conspires to get aboard in order to revitalize her career.
- Who Would Be Stupid Enough?: Scrooge, needing some Mid Air Repairs done, muses, "Who on board is smart enough to fix the propeller, but stupid enough to climb out there to do it?" Launchpad is the prime candidate.
