The 80s was rough sailing for Disney. In terms of their animated theatrical fare, things were particularly rocky. Case in point being 1985's The Black Cauldron, who thanks to poor critical reception and concerns of being too scary for kids, caused the movie to be one of Disney's more spectacular bombs for the company. It would be a while before Disney would find their answer under the sea. But in between, Disney began to focus harder on television. The Disney Channel launched as a premium cable package, offering classic cartoons and movies. In Canada, our version was The Family Channel (With the Warmth and Wonder of Disney). And in syndication and broadcast television, Disney was keeping quite busy trying to tap into what was an extremely lucrative market at the time.
Focusing on higher budgets and a focus on quality, Walt Disney Television Animation was founded in 1985 and started with The Wuzzles and The Adventures of the Gummi Bears. While the Wuzzles remained a brief blip on Disney's radar, it was Gummi Bears that proved a success. Disney had plans to continue this cutesy animal trend with Fluppy Dogs. But when the special failed to impress and had poor ratings, Disney scrapped the project altogether. But what their next project would become would aid in the fortunes of the company.
Breaking into the syndicated market was DuckTales, an animated adaptation based on the Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge comic books. Basing the series around Scrooge and his nephews as they travel the world in search of adventure and treasures aplenty, the series didn't take long to be an instant hit with kids and adults. And it all premiered with a pilot movie called Treasure of the Golden Suns on September 18th, 1987. We'll be reviewing all five parts in this installment and seeing just how well this pilot has held up, and how well it sells DuckTales out of the gate.
Our first part of this story is "Don't Give Up The Ship". We open with Scrooge engaging in his favorite activity, swimming around in his money bin. Scrooge must have some sort of special skin structure. How he can swim in hard coins without breaking bones or losing his feathers and flesh is a mirace. Oh right, cartoon. Suspension of disbelief. We also get to see how much of a skinflint he is as well. Not willing to give money to the poor, taking all the free samples of snacks, and worrying about actually paying for a taxi.
We see Donald Duck giving his goodbyes to Huey (in red), Dewey (in blue) and Louie (in green) as he's off to the navy. One of the things I appreciate about the new DuckTales is that Donald will be more heavily involved in the adventures, where in the original series, Donald only appeared in a few episodes. Donald is leaving his nephews in the care of Scrooge, despite it being well known that the old skinflint isn't quite one to have such a sunny disposition.
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Scrooge: Donald, you can't be serious about this crazy idea. There's no profit in it!
Donald: But I've already enlisted Unca Scrooge. I wanna see the world!
Scrooge: So I'll buy you a globe.
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Things don't get off on the right webbed foot as neither Scrooge nor the boys react to each other well. Despite a three mile walk (because Scrooge ain't paying a taxi twice in one day), the boys have a change of heart when they enter McDuck Manor. A spacious palace complete with a butler (Duckworth) and their own room. Until they realize they're being stifled into doing absolutely nothing for days, which finally gets to them. Donald's been doing well enough in the navy, despite being the klutz he is. The boys go to see Scrooge, but since Scrooge is still being a massive duck douche to them, they're none too pleased.
Meanwhile, or antagonists of the story, the Beagle Boys, are still planning to rob the money bin. They get a present of bombs from a mysterious El Capitan to help them escape. Meanwhile, Scrooge is trying to ease his stress by eliminating solicitors. However, when he learns of the "Junior Woodchucks", which can keep the boys occupied, Scrooge is 100% on board. The boys however, are in Scrooge's museum playing with an old antique boat. Scrooge has had enough and grounds the three.
The Beagle Boys make their escape and encounter El Capitain. Since they're experts on Scrooge's money bin, he is after that boat. Meanwhile, the boys run away, thinking that Scrooge hates them entirely. They discover the Beagle Boys trying to steal the boat. They get spotted, but manage to trip up them up. The Beagle boys grab the boat and make their escape, while Scrooge hears the alarm and makes it to the money bin.
However, because we need Scrooge to still be at the apex of dickery, he doesn't believe the three of them since the Beagle Boys never stole any cash, and since he saw the boys with the boat earlier on, he thinks they're the only ones really interested in it. Even showing Scrooge evidence of a map doesn't change Scrooge's plans to dump them off in boarding school. But since Scrooge won't help, the boys take the case on themselves, especially when they discover the Beagle Boys' hideout on the map. Using the Junior Woodchucks guidebook, the trio make their escape and set off to rescue the ship.
The Beagle Boys and El Capitan begin to argue with each other over the ship. As Big Time Beagle is about to destroy the ship, El Capitan says that the boat is a map to a ship full of a treasure. The boys manage to rescue the ship and keep the Beagle Boys defeated, until they end up cornered. The boys still manage to make their escape, but the Beagle Boys continue chase. They remember that Scrooge is at the candy factory, and they go to try to get his help.
They manage to show Scrooge the truth and the foursome fnally manage to stop the Beagle Boys, through sweet-tasting mishaps. He finally admits that he should have trusted them. He moves them from the attic to the garage as a reward (hey, it's a step up). The boys are also rewarded with a ton of Junior Woodchuck merit badges. So, all in all, this is a happy ending. But this is far from a wrapped up story, as now Scrooge and the boys have treasure to find.
Part two: Wronguay in Ronguay opens where we left off. The Beagle Boys under chocolate wraps are being arrested and Scrooge still in possession of the ship. But someone else is interested in the current goings on. That being Scrooge's rival Flintheart Glomgold, the second richest duck in the world. El Capitan brings up how Glomgold could be the richest, much to the delight of evil Flinty.
Scrooge and the boys manage to learn about the code on the ship, which could lead them to the gold. Scrooge wants them to spill, but the boys won't spill unless they can come along. Glomgold arrives to buy the candy factory. Scrooge is quick to sell it. Glomgold also manages to challenge Scrooge to a competition of whoever can make the money in two weeks will win, while the other will eat his hat. Scrooge agrees to let them hunt for the sunken treasure in Ronguay, South America.
However, their plane trips literally sends them the wrong way (heh, like the title). They unplug the robot controlling the plane, but are now doomed to crash. Scrooge manages to control the plane, while the boys realize they've been had by Glomgold. They make it to Ronguay as the locals steal their plane. In fact the entire town appears to be ditching the country. They manage to get to the desert. To which, thanks to Glomgold, Scrooge ends up caught in quicksand.
But Scrooge is like "screw quicksand", and swims his way out. Meanwhile, Glomgold and El Capitan are trying to get rid of scrooge. Since they have a map (made out of the chocolate mold from the candy factory incident), they don't need the ship, but putting Scrooge out of the picture is a higher priority. Things get worse for the protagonists as storms cause them to lose their llama and their supplies. Glomgold throws dynamite at Scrooge and the boys.
But foisted by their own chocolately petard, the villains are now without a map, and as such, Scrooge is needed alive... for now.
Scrooge and the boys seem to be at a loss as Scrooge realizes that he might lose his status to Glomgold. But the boys are far from ready to give up. When the group find an opening to a cave, they feel that their golden days are ahead. But it turns out the cave is empty. Glomgold and El Capitan catch up on them. But a well placed alarm gets them caught up while the heroes give chase. However Glomgold caves them in with the water rising. But Scrooge remains undeterred despite the rising water. After nearly falling in a steep dead end, the gang manage to find the sunken ship.
To get the ship and the gold out of the cave, they patch it up, and get ready for sailing. After a rocky trip across the canyons of the water-logged desert, they manage to make it back to Ronguay. However, they end up caught by Glomgold and El Capitan. El Capitan finds his log book, as it appears that he's older than we think. Scrooge and the gang are thrown off the ship as Glomgold throws them a coin arrogantly.
But El Capitan is quite pissed at losing his gold. They fight with each other over the cannon, causing it to fire and sink the ship. Scrooge and the boys rescue Glomgold (with El Capitan still missing, presumed to have gone down with his ship), and since time is up on their bet, Glomgold has to eat his own hat.
But we don't end this story on just a sunken ship, as there's more to this golden story in part three, "Three Ducks of the Condor".
We open this episode as Scrooge is in the position of hiring a new nanny for the nephews. It turns out that the boys are becoming a bit more harder to deal with. Meanwhile, Scrooge is showing a coin expert named Mr. Changemaker about the coin that Glomgold threw him. It turns out to be a coin from the treasure of the golden suns (finally we get to the whole title of this pilot saga). There was a second coin found in the Andes mountains, and the owner isn't a fan of visitors.
On the nanny front, the last one standing is Ms. Bentina Beakley, along with her granddaughter Webigal (AKA Webby). She offers to work for free as long as Scrooge offers them room and board. Scrooge is hesitant, but all it takes is the cutesy shmaltz of Webby to change his mind. I'm a bit mixed on Webby in this series. She's fine, far from annoying on a Scrappy/Snarf level, but she does come off as a bit too much of the "cute kid" than anything else.
If anything, I actually appreciate the new version of Webby I've seen so far from the trailers for the 2017 series. She comes off as a far more expressive character that seems more fun to be around. And I have a lot of faith in Kate Micucci in making this character the best iteration of Webby so far.
Needing an airship to travel, Scrooge goes to local inventor Gyro Gearloose to assemble one for him. He makes for Scrooge the Golden Condor, which should have no problem flying through the mountains. Now there's just one thing needed, a pilot. And the only choice is...
Launchpad McQuack! Ace pilot (in his dreams maybe). He's never met a plane he didn't crash. Launchpad was always my favorite character in the show. A lovably dim big kid of a guy who despite his poor piloting skills is always willing to do what's right. And as exemplified in another cartoon, he's hands down the best sidekick you can have. Despite the fears of crashing, Scrooge presses on.
This time being a mission without the boys, as Donald will be along in this trip. They find their way to the fortress that might have the coin, but the mountain winds caust the plane to crash. Though they remarkably still manage to survive, even though the condor takes a drop to the bottom. Launchpad goes to find the plane while Donald and Scrooge make their way into the fortress. The people of the mountains confront Scrooge and Donald, but before they can be slaughtered, they see Scrooge's gold sun coin and treat him like a high priest. The other high priest of the gold sun tribe, Joaquin Slowly (ha) is none too pleased to have someone else trying to horn in on his whole leadership gig. He wants the coin, but Scrooge tells him that it's his way, or no coin, so he seeks answers. Meanwhile, Launchpad finds the plane in a village in a small area in the mountains, but gets confronted by the village's unfriendly villagers.
Joaquin's ancestors had stolen treasure from the golden suns. But their ship was stolen, and all that remained was one coin, the one Joaquin has. There was a map that was split in too. Joaquin is fine enough with just one coin since he has enough power as it is. Donald tries to help...
But he's about as helpful as you'd expect.
With the trade on the next day, and Scrooge not all that trustworthy of Joaquin, he needs Launchpad and Donald to get the plane ready to fly in time. And it turns out that that Scrooge's suspicions were right as Joaquin immediately sends the villagers on their condors to attack. They lift off without Donald, as the villagers nab him. They snag him, but end up in a tail spin (no, not TaleSpin) as they avoid the condors. Eventually Donald is saved and the trio escape.
And to ensure a happy ending for the villagers, Joaquin loses both his coins due to a crashing condor. With no coins and no leverage, his reign as ruler is at an end. Launchpad goes to take Donald back to the navy while Scrooge makes his exit to Rio to continue his hunt for the second map piece as we end the third part.
Part 4, "Cold Duck" opens back at the manor as the boys are "hunting Beakley". Slapping a tuning fork into a keyhole causes the entire room to shake. But before the three can really suffer the wrath of Beakley, Launchpad returns to get the supllies Scrooge need. Webby tries to tell them, but the boys run off, concerned about her being a tagalong. They all end up stowing away on Launchpad's plane, even Mrs. Beakley.
Mrs. Beakley, none too pleased about everyone stowing away, wants to go back to Duckburg, but since Scrooge is somewhere in Antarctica by this point and needs his supplies ASAP, this flight isn't making any extra stops. With a homing device, the group set out to find Scrooge, but instead find a young penguin being chased by a walrus that's attached to Scrooge's life raft. They manage to stop the walrus, but now there's the problem that Scrooge is without his homing beacon, which means they can't find him. Webby and the little penguin get along quickly, while the boys complain about another tagalong with them.
Huey, Dewey and Louie are kinda being a trio of dicks in this episode.
They follow Scrooge's tracks to an ice cave, which all goes well, until Launchpad stupidly fires a flare gun, breaking the icy river inside. The Boys and Launchpad end up taking a dangerous trips through a narrow tunnel, while Webby, Beakley and the penguin (who can conveniently talk now), find a shortcut to an underground city catch up to them. We also get some heavy shmaltz with the penguin (named Skiddles) who just wants a friend. And since they gave her colored clothing in an otherwise colorless underground civilization, that must mean they like her. But since the boys also have clothing, that puts them in danger as well.
Sure enough, the penguins steal their clothing. When Launchpad tells them that he's friends with Scrooge McDuck, that is enough to throw the bunch of them into an icy jail, with Scrooge in the next cell. Scrooge has found the second piece of the map, but the penguins arrested him and stole his map pieces. With Beakley still free, there's still a chance to escape, even though the boys are still being misogynist douchenozzles.
To ensure that Webby and Beakley keep from being captured, they dress Webby up as a penguin. Beakley goes to try to save Scrooge while Webby and Skiddles go off to recover the map pieces. Beakley manages to recover the clothes of the boys, while giving them the tuning fork to break the wall. This finally puts the kibosh on the boys little mens only mentality.
Oh, and the resulting quakes also free a prehistoric wooly walrus. That might pose a bit of a problem too.
The plan is set. Beakley gets Webby, Launchpad prepares the plane, while Scrooge and the boys try to recover the map pieces. All while being chased off by the angry penguin mob. A penguin mob with snowball throwing tanks at that. But if that was bad enough, the Walrus shows up and destroys the museum. Now being chased by a giant walrus and angry penguins, they make their way back to the surface. But before they're walrus food, Launchpad shows up in time.
They finally get rid of the walrus, and as an added bonus, Webby managed to copy the map pieces before the museum crashed. Since they can't land with an angry mob, they parachute Skiddles back to her penguin tribe with all the color she needs. So, it's another happy ending as we only have one part left.
Part 5 and the finale of our story is "Too Much of A gold Thing". And we open with El Capitan still hungry for gold. Since he's figured that Scrooge has found the map to the treasure, and as such he'll simply take him out to get the treasure first. Meanwhile, Scrooge is becoming more focused on gaining the treasure, to the point that Mrs. Beakley diagnoses him with a bout of gold fever. Yes, Scrooge has gone from regular greed to cartoonish super greed.
Due to Scrooge's literal itch for gold, the plane ends up in a river, heading towards the falls. Launchpad manage to keep the plane stopped while the rest of the gang go to collect the treasure. The gang end up cornered by gators. Mrs. Beakley suggest Scrooge solve the problem, which he does...
By way of Beakley DEATH!!
Or he just pops the raft so they can escape. That's far less dark.
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Launchpad: A snake! I hate snakes! Wait, that's somebody else. I sorta like snakes.
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They find the golden suns, gigantic golden plates. Including a massive one beneath them. Scrooge starts jumping on the coin as the gold fever continues to make him insane. This causes the coin to fall off, and the group to fall to what should be their imminent death. But they manage to survive, surfing the giant disc as it's about to crash into a giant building. Scrooge would, of course rather die than go away from the disc.
They discover the temple of gold as Scrooge is rapidly reaching full on insanity. He's in 24 karat paradise. They find a giant well, that seems concerning, but Scrooge is of course undeterred. Doesn't help that the fever is spreading to the nephews. They find a pile of gold dust (no, not that one) and a giant room filled with coins. Meanwhile, Webby and Beakley learn that if all the rooms are opened at once, the building will collapse.
El Capitan finally catches up to them and sends them into the well full of lava to get rid of them. It's from here we learn that he's practically immortal. He's been around for 400 years (although never mentioned, it's safe to assume he stole the ship with the gold way back when) and has been alive mainly thanks to his insatiable lust for gold. If Scrooge has gold fever, then this guy has been full on poisoned by his golden hunger.
Scrooge however has gone completely off the deep end, as he's more than willing to be dipped in the golden lava. However, when El Capitan learns about the gold lava, he kicks them out, as he wants it to himself. Scrooge throws gold dust at El Capitan as the two brawl. However, that's hardly the biggest problem as the floor beneath them collapses. They call a brief truce as they try to escape. However, it barely lasts as they return to their greedy brawling. Beakley manages to snap him out of it by telling him that being a rich duck doesn't matter if he's a dead duck. This is enough to completely recover Scrooge from his gold fever. What convenient timing.
And that is the "Treasure of the Golden Suns" pilot. And i gotta admit, after all these years, it still holds up really well. Granted, it's a bit stilted in some places, but it's mostly minor stuff. For a way to bring people into the series proper, it does a great job in giving us what we need to know about the series. That we're due for big globetrotting adventures with some wonderfully wacky and charming characters. In five episodes we travel from Duckburg to South America, to the Andes, to Antarctica and finally a temple of gold. Pretty exhausting trek for a five-episode movie. But it never feels boring, nor do any of the parts feel like they aren't integral to the plot.
Scrooge may be one of the greatest protagonists in any cartoon. He runs a great gamut of character emotions. He can be cold and miserly, angry and cantankerous, spirited and adventurous, to heroic and kindhearted. One of the greatest adventure heroes of all time, and the spirit of the character of the Barks comics is well represented in this adaptation. The nephews serve as great kid characters. Smart and inventive, with the same adventurous spirit. Granted, they can be annoying at times, and as seen in part four, a bit too much on the mean for no real reason side in certain occasions. But they still play a major role in the adventures.
As for the rest of the cast, Mrs. Beakley is a great motherly figure and voice of reason for the family. Webby is a lovably precocious kid, though a bit too saccharine. Launchpad is a lovable lug of a character who has that great adventurous streak, despite a spotty record at successful plane landings. We get some brief Donald who is just as he always is, a lovable temper pot. The villains are also great with the Beagle Boys providing entertaining small time crooks, and Glomgold as the perfect rival to Scrooge's greedy nature. Shame we don't get any Magica De Spell in this saga, but she's also amazing. I will say El Capitan isn't that compelling a villain. Mostly just skulking around talking about how he wants Gold. But in context of the five-parter, it makes sense.
I would definitely recommend giving these episodes a watch. Whether you grew up with Ducktales, or are someone who is curious enough to know what the fuss is about with this beloved cartoon. It's still a great adventure that will please kids, a beautifully drawn show for 80's television animation standards, and just a lot of fun to indulge in.
Next time on DuckMonth, we look at another DuckTales TV movie. One that won the show an Emmy award, and gave us one of my all time favorite Superheroes. Blathering Blatherskite! It's Super DuckTales!
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