Wow...I mean, I knew Disney would do a great job, considering recent animated shows they put out like 'Star Vs.' and 'Penn Zero' are quite good. But I had such a stupid grin on my face when watching the entire special.
So much care clearly was put into the world building, as nods toward other Disney Afternoon shows are very evident in the opening few minutes. Scrooge being in a meeting where town names of Darkwing Duck (confirmed to get a cameo a while back via Comic Con) and Goof Troop are referenced alongside the name of Tail Spin's city being mentioned by a character. It helps establish 'Yeah, this is one large world but the main story is on Scrooge and the Duck-characters', while also opening the door to other cameos.
We even see an older Roxane show up (seemingly)! That is quite nice
. But back to the special itself. The characters of Scrooge and Donald are quite interesting. The former loves adventuring still but is retired. The later is bitter at how 'careless' Scrooge seemingly was when he adventured with him. Donald knows his stuff, shown a few times during the special. So looking forward toward Donald being more of a hero.
The Nephews being so different, the re-imagined takes on Webby and Mrs. Beakly, and the overall dynamics between everyone was fantastic. Really like how Dewey is getting focus, as he just wants to be accepted by his other uncle. Him being the 'heart' in many cases (hearing Scrooge talk about how 'family is trouble', discovering the bit about his mom at the end, working hard to impress his other uncle, etc) lead to fun moments.
Scrooge and Glamgold were amazing too, as was Launchpad. Overall, I just love the show so far. My only real issue is the humor sometimes being 'off'. But outside of that one little bit (not even an issue, as the writing could get better as the show goes along), it's a fantastic start to likely one of Disney's best modern cartoon series.
It has the heart of the original series, nods to it's origins in other mediums (comics, games, etc) and it's just great seeing some of my favorite characters (Donald and Scrooge) get major TV spotlight again.