Rewatching DuckTales! Time for a little romance (except not really) in episode 78, “Bubbeo and Juliet.”

Here’s what happens: Summer vacation is over, and Huey, Dewey and Louie are starting fifth grade (!). Bubba the caveduck is also going to school with them. Scrooge meanwhile, must deal with new neighbors, who have made the formerly well-manicured lawn into a tacky mess. It’s the bumbling Blurf family, who recently won the lottery and are spending like crazy.

At school, Bubba finds ways to super-strength his way through various ordinary problems. In gym class, he accidentally knocks a pretty girl named Julie into the mud, and he’s immediately smitten with her. The nephews and Webby take it upon themselves to give the caveduck some girl advice. Scrooge continues to be annoyed by the neighbors, while Bubba makes a mess of flirting with Julie. She corners him, thinking he’s bullying her, and he admits he likes her. He says he feels dumb, and she assures him he isn’t. When the Blurf family’s tackiness threatens to the lower the property values on Scrooge’s mansion, he confronts them. While they’re arguing, we get the big reveal. Julie is the Blurfs’ daughter! Scrooge and the Blurfs both forbid the kids from seeing each other.

The Blurfs hold a costume party for all their relatives, and sneaks in, in disguise. He and Julie reconcile, while Scrooge and the Blurfs compete over who can music the loudest, resulting the cops breaking up the party/fight. Scrooge and the neighbors play more and more destructive pranks on each other, parodying war movies. Julie suggests she and Bubba run away, and Webby overhears them. The two families unite in pursuing them through the amusement part the Blurfs had built next door. There’s a madcap chase on a roller coaster, and Bubba ends up saving the adults from danger. They call a truce. The next day, Julie tells Bubba that her family is moving on account of them spending away all the lottery money. He gives her his club as a gift, and she gives him a kiss on the cheek.

Humbug: At first I wondered how Scrooge’s mansion could have next door neighbors, since it’s so often depicted as isolated from the rest of Duckburg. But looking at the backgrounds it appears that the wall abutting the Blurf property is a far way off from the actual mansion.

Junior woodchucks: Just a few episodes back, the nephews’ school was an old-timey one-room schoolhouse. Now that they’ve aged up a year, the school is a huge complex with long hallways lined with lockers and a very modern-looking outdoor cafeteria.

Maid and maiden: Mrs. Beakeley happily joins Scrooge in the “war” against the neighbors, calling herself “Sergeant Beakeley.”

Everybody walk the dinosaur: The episode ends with Julie telling Bubba that she’ll see him in school, but she never appears again. I guess she wised up to how her new boyfriend is a freakin’ cave duck.

Down in Duckburg: The animators had a lot of fun with the costume party, as you can see background characters dressed as Robocop, a Ninja Turtle, Spider-Man, and even Usagi Yojimbo.

Reference row: Do I really need to tell you the classic that this episode is based on?

Thoughts on this viewing: Rather than an action/comedy cartoon, we get another episode that’s just full-on sitcom stuff. This one’s more interested in all the practical joke fighting than it is in trying to explore Bubba’s character in any way.

Next: Tough mudder.

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