"The Treasure of the Golden Suns" is a five-part episode serial that serves as the series premiere to DuckTales, originally broadcast as a two-hour made-for-TV movie on September 18, 1987.
Plot[]
Part 1: "Don't Give Up the Ship"[]
The story begins in the city of Duckburg, where multibillion-dollar tycoon Scrooge McDuck is swimming in his three cubic-acre vault of cold hard cash. He's forced to stop, though, by the realization that he's late for something. So, with a quick change out of his swimsuit and into his regular attire, he makes his way to the pier. There, Donald Duck is preparing to ship out, now that he's enlisted in the Navy, of course. As Scrooge arrives, Donald bids farewell to his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, leaving them in Scrooge's care while he's away. The boys aren't very keen on staying with Scrooge for an indefinite period of time, and Scrooge isn't quite keen about the idea, either. However, he is "the only one [Donald] trust[s]" with watching the boys.
After Donald leaves, Scrooge brings the boys to his grand, stately mansion. There, he introduces them (and the audience) to Duckworth the Butler. The boys are forced to stay in the attic. There, they receive a letter from Donald about his so-called "adventures" in the Navy. After reading the letter, the boys escape the attic to fool around the mansion. Scrooge decides to leave for work at his Money Bin. Duckworth has strict orders not to let the children leave the mansion for any reason. However, the boys tie him up with a curtain sash ("This is definitely going to delay their dinner"). Scrooge reluctantly allows the trio to hang around his headquarters, providing they don't touch anything. Scrooge tries to get the kids off his mind by kicking out many solicitors. Among them is the head of the Junior Woodchucks, whose offer Scrooge shows interest in. Just then, the nephews get a glimpse of a small wooden ship at the museum that they thought could be sent to Uncle Donald. Infuriated, and realizing that it is a priceless artifact, Scrooge has them grounded.
Meanwhile, three of the Beagle Boys - Big Time, Burger, and Bouncer - escape from the jailhouse, using some bombs that were disguised as bonbons. They then meet up with El Capitán, a mysterious person who sent the bombs, at the abandoned L'Orange Theater. An anthropomorphic hound in a trench-coat, El Capitán arranged their escape because they are experts on Scrooge's Money Bin. He commands them to steal a small wooden ship from it.
Upset with Scrooge's punishment on them, the nephews decide to run away. However, they notice El Capitán on the city's streets. They also notice the Beagle Boys approaching Uncle Scrooge's Money Bin, therefore running in to investigate. They fail to stop the Beagle Boys from stealing the model ship, but the criminals end up leaving behind a map of the Money Bin drawn on the back of a theater flyer. Scrooge enters, having been awakened by the alarm. The boys make a desperate attempt to explain what happened, but he refuses to believe them, thinking they are the only ones who were interested in stealing the small boat.
Luckily, the nephews figure out that the theater advertised on the flyer is where the Beagle Boys are hiding out. Thanks to the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook, they construct a hang glider to escape the attic. Afterwards, they head for the L'Orange Theater, where they find El Capitán and the Beagle Boys conversing about the boat. According to El Capitán, it is actually a map that leads to a sunken treasure ship full of gold. Therefore, he's the only one who can interpret the code. The nephews grab the ship and escape, figuring that Scrooge will help them.
The Beagle Boys chase the trio all the way to a confectionery plant, where Scrooge himself is answering some questions for an interview. Eventually, it causes him to admit he has grown fond of those pesky nephews. The two trios crash in; Scrooge's nephews explain the whole situation. A food fight breaks out, eventually resulting in the Beagle Boys being covered up in chocolate and escorted back to the jailhouse. Scrooge apologizes to his grandnephews for not believing them in the first place, realizing that this odd map may have something deep to it. Meanwhile, El Capitán swears his vengeance.
Part 2: "Wrongway in Ronguay"[]
Huey, Dewey, and Louie decipher the code written on the map, but they refuse to tell it to Scrooge unless he allows them to join him on the treasure hunt. Just then, Flintheart Glomgold - the second richest duck on Earth - pays a visit to Scrooge's mansion, wanting to buy his confectionery plant for $2,000,000. He makes a bet with Scrooge, in which one of them must try to earn more cash than the other within two weeks. (The loser has to eat Glomgold's hat.) Scrooge agrees to this bet, allowing the boys to join him, since they know where the sunken treasure ship is - Ronguay, South America! Unbeknownst to our heroes, Glomgold receives some help of his own from El Capitán.
Our heroes board a cheap passenger plane, which they soon realize is heading in the wrong direction. Upon realizing the situation, they storm the cockpit to find out that the pilot is a cheaply-designed robot from one of Glomgold's companies; this raises Scrooge's suspicions. After landing in Ronguay, they are stampeded by the fleeing residents, who eventually board the plane. Scrooge buys some supplies and a llama from a nearby supply store, whose owner tells him that the Monsapis are coming. He and the nephews trek off into the desert. There, Scrooge almost sinks into a quicksand pit that he didn't see because the "Danger" sign was sawed off.
As Scrooge suspects, Glomgold is trying to sabotage the journey so he and El Capitán can find the treasure ship firsthand. They have an imprint of the map from Scrooge's chocolate, which they are keeping solid by way of an ice cream cart hauled by a pack mule. Glomgold hurls a pack of dynamite in Scrooge's direction. But when he and El Capitán discover that their pack mule has eaten the chocolate-covered map, this forces Glomgold to snuff the fuse. At this point, the Monsapis - a series of torrential rain and flooding that lasts for about a century - occur, scaring off Scrooge's llama.
Scrooge and the nephews enter a cavern that looks similar to the upside-down ship. Unfortunately, they find nothing upon arrival. They stop here to rest, but before doing so, the nephews set up a Junior Woodchuck alarm. When Glomgold and El Capitán show up, they set off the alarm, awakening Scrooge and the boys. Glomgold and El Capitán then climb out of the flooding cave, trying to trap Scrooge and the nephews in the abyss. Fortunately, our heroes do not go much farther before they find what's worth searching for - a shipwreck full of gold. After repairing the ship and emerging out of the now-flooded Ronguay, it looks like smooth sailing, until a gun-toting Glomgold and El Capitán spring out of hiding.
Glomgold gloats while lowering Scrooge and the nephews into the sea on a lifeboat. But he then makes his mistake of tossing one of the ship's many gold coins to Scrooge. El Capitán does not want to lose any of his gold, demanding that Glomgold go out and retrieve it. Their bickering argument results in an incident, causing the entire ship to collapse. Glomgold ends up being rescued by the nephews. Since Scrooge has won the bet by virtue of the aforementioned coin, Glomgold must eat his hat. The boys wonder what became of El Capitán, who once again swears vengeance.
Part 3: "Three Ducks of the Condor"[]
While the boys are scaring off some nanny applicants, Scrooge shows the coin he received at the end of the last episode to a coin expert, who confirms it to be one from the Treasure of the Golden Suns. He tells him there's another one from the treasure over in a fortress along the Andes mountain range. Scrooge decides to search for the owner of this coin, who, unfortunately, does not like visitors. But before he does that, he gives the job of the nephews' nanny to their most fearless applicant - Mrs. Beakley. She says she will work for nothing, except room-and-board for herself and her granddaughter, Webbigail Vanderquack.
After this, Scrooge meets up with Gyro Gearloose, the wacky inventor, who builds a flying machine called the Golden Condor. He calls up the only pilot capable of controlling the aeroplane - Launchpad McQuack, the pilot. Additionally, Donald's battleship crew is in Panama; there, he's been given a three-day pass, so he temporarily joins Scrooge in the expedition. However, Scrooge tells Huey, Dewey, and Louie that they are not invited to come along, claiming that a venture like this is no place for children. As a result, they become annoyed.
After picking up Donald just as his three-day break begins, the trio makes a crash landing in the Andes. Launchpad feels proud of himself, but Scrooge orders him to climb down and find the plane. While doing that, Donald and Scrooge head off to meet their local antagonist - Joaquin Slowly, High Priest of the Golden Sun. His people worship him because he has a Sun Coin. The natives then start doing the same thing to Scrooge, since he is also in possession a Sun Coin, much to Joaquin's annoyance. Under demands by Scrooge, Joaquin heads over his background; about how Marcheen Slowly and Juan Tanamera - his loyal companion - stole a boatload of treasure from the Valley of the Golden Suns. But the ship was then stolen by the captain, who left them with one coin. The pair made a map to said valley and tore it in half. Marcheen happened upon these "Gold Sun!" natives, while Juan wound up losing the other half of the map in Antarctica.
As he argues with Joaquin, Scrooge sends Donald to help Launchpad repair the plane. Having reached the bottom of the cliff, Launchpad finds the remains of the Golden Condor. He is then found by several more natives, who command him to fly a real-life condor. Happening upon this ritual, Donald helps Launchpad out by flashing his camera in the condor's eyes, therefore allowing the pilot to take better control. He crashes the condor into the temple. Joaquin resists giving Scrooge his half of the map, but reluctantly agrees to trade his half of the map for Scrooge's Sun Coin.
The next afternoon, the trade occurs. But just as Scrooge expects, Joaquin tells his "Children of the Sun" that he [Joaquin] is the only High Priest, and that Scrooge is an impostor. A chase ensues, with the natives flying real condors as they pursue the feathered trio in their 24-karat one. Eventually, our heroes escape, and the natives crash into Joaquin, who ends up dropping his coins. As a result, the coins fall off the edge of a tall cliff. He commands his harem to go down and retrieve them, but they refuse to obey his orders now that he has lost the coins. Scrooge jettisons the plane so he can ride the watery currents to Antarctica, where the other half of the map is located. Launchpad then drops Donald off at his crew's battleship for work.
Part 4: "Cold Duck"[]
Back at the mansion, Huey, Dewey, and Louie are trying to annoy Mrs. Beakley and Webby by the use of a tuning fork. Just when Mrs. Beakley is about to use the tuning fork on them, Launchpad shows up outside, piloting Scrooge's VTOL cargo plane. The pilot runs about, tossing everything crucial and non-crucial into the plane. Attempting to avoid Webby tagging along, Huey, Dewey, and Louie sneak out and into the plane, but Webby ends up following them there. Unknowingly, Launchpad takes off with the kids in the plane. When a scarf-bearing Mrs. Beakley catches sight of Webby in one of the windows, she hitches a ride on the landing gear. Fortunately, Launchpad grabs her inside before she slips and falls to the sidewalk pavement below. Mrs. Beakley demands that Launchpad turn the plane around and drop them back off at the mansion in Duckburg. The pilot refuses, saying he has to bring this stuff to Scrooge before his homing beeper dies out.
Our heroes land in Antarctica. Before long, they run into a small penguin being chased off by a walrus, who is toting Scrooge's homing beeper. Mrs. Beakley's scarf attracts the walrus like a red cape; Launchpad ends up being dragged along. Huey, Dewey, and Louie reluctantly make their attempt to save them. They ponder why the walrus was wearing Scrooge's outfit, then dismisses Webby's new penguin friend as "another tag-along." Fortunately, they agree with Mrs. Beakley's idea of backtracking the walrus' tracks. They discover an ice cave, where Scrooge has left his mark. After slipping on the frozen river, Launchpad fires a flare gun, therefore causing the river to break apart, and sending him and the nephews towards a waterfall. Fortunately, the males survive the ordeal, but they do not know where they are going. Behind, Webby and Mrs. Beakley realize they must rescue them. Just then, the little penguin girl, whose name is Skittles, speaks up, saying that because everything in Antarctica is white and/or grey, colored objects are treasured mostly by penguins.
Shortly after arriving in the unnamed underground city of talking penguins, Launchpad and the trio are ambushed by the mayor and his goons, because they want their colorful clothes. When Launchpad tells the top-hatted penguin mayor that he knows Scrooge McDuck like a brother, the penguins throw him and the boys into the local jailhouse. Fortunately, Huey finds out that Scrooge, also stripped of his colorful outfit, happens to be in the next-door cell. Scrooge explains that he found the other half of the map to the Valley over in the museum. But before he could grab it, the penguins arrested him and took his half of the map. Scrooge is positive that there is still hope when he hears that "Mrs. Beakley's still wanderin' around". But the three nephews believe that "she'll be captured way easier than we were."
Over at Skittles' house, Webby disguises herself as another penguin. Mrs. Beakley goes off in search of everyone's clothes, leaving Webby and Skittles in the house - or so she thinks. Instead, the two girls head off to the Color Museum to discover that both halves of Scrooge's map are encased in the thickest ice possible. In the meantime, Mrs. Beakley somehow finds the stolen clothes and pops up at the jailhouse. Huey, Dewey, and Louie are grateful to her for bringing their clothes to them. They are even more grateful when she reveals that she brought along the tuning fork. The boys use it to break free, destroying the jailhouse in the process. Unfortunately, it also breaks out a gigantic walrus, who had been frozen in ice.
While Launchpad races off to warm up the plane, Scrooge plans to use the tuning fork to get the map out of the ice once they head for the museum, providing they avert the snowball-toting penguins first. Before reaching it, he and the boys encounter Webby and Skittles. The penguins get scared off, because the gigantic walrus then emerges, crushing the museum, along with Scrooge's hopes of getting the map out. The nephews run from the walrus as they make a desperate attempt to run to the plane. Not far behind, Mrs. Beakley, Scrooge, Webby, and Skittles dash away from the larger birds in town. The group soon ends up at the edge of a tall ice-cliff, with the walrus ready to clip off their wings. Suddenly, Launchpad flies in, scooping up the whole cliff point in his VTOL cargo plane, including the walrus. Before the walrus can sink his tusks into anyone, Scrooge smashes an alarm, sending the walrus plummeting into the ocean below. The boys thank Mrs. Beakley for saving them. Webby then reveals that she reproduced the map using her crayons. Skittles returns to her people via colorful parachute, with Webby's crayons and Mrs. Beakley's scarf as parting gifts.
Part 5: "Too Much of a Gold Thing"[]
As he and his companions fly over the Quacka-Wakka River, Scrooge grows increasingly impatient, yelling at everyone and scratching himself like he has fleas from the circus. According to Mrs. Beakley, Scrooge has caught a case of gold fever, a disease that causes its recipients to itch for gold so much they forget everything else, including family and friends. He orders Launchpad to speed up landing the plane. But when he does that, they find themselves being carried away with the current. Luckily, they avoid going over the waterfall, on account of Launchpad opening the loading-bay doors.
Scrooge, the trio, Webby, and Mrs. Beakley board the raft outwards, with Launchpad being assigned to stay behind and get the plane floating again.
Before long, they run into a furious squadron of crocodile, whom they evade by puncturing the raft with a knife, thus propelling them away from the carnage. They continue onward to the hidden treasure, because there's a pathway leading there. Unbeknownst to any of them, though, El Capitán is not far behind.
In the meantime, Launchpad must anchor the plane to the shore, shut the doors, and pump the water out. As he makes his attempt to do so with a raft, Launchpad is attacked by a giant anaconda, who tries to drag him underwater. He eventually completes pumping the plane out.
After the nephews save Scrooge from a trap planted for anyone who is foolish enough to follow the suspicion-arousing pathway, he discovers an escalator. By now, Scrooge's twitching deteriorates. Just when it looks like things are hopeless, our heroes use a tree limb to open the invisible door. Inside it is the Valley, where they stumble upon the first fraction of the treasure - a ring of giant golden discs. Just this much is even more gold than those back at Fort Knox, according to Scrooge. He attempts to loosen one of them from the wall, believing he can carry it back to the cargo plane. But the disc loosens, ending up falling down the walls, taking the group with it. Luckily, they jump off at the right time, as the disc hits a hill-disguised temple made of gold.
Scrooge and the gang at the temple's entrance.
As his gold fever is by now so horrible that he gets the hiccups and at one point acts like a cat, Scrooge uncovers the temple's entrance, where practically every room is made of gold and stocked full of it. They head inside the central chamber, encountering many skeletons of deceased explorers who had also been infected by gold fever. Not only does Scrooge refuse to believe he will meet the similar fate; he also refuses to believe the nearby well leads anywhere. Instead, he and the nephews (who are starting to catch gold fever themselves) explore the courtyard, seeing what this place has to offer. As the males check out the chambers of gold dust and coins (which, as noted by the nephews, looks identical to Scrooge's Money Bin), Webby translate a "stone" tablet, saying that anyone who's greedy enough to open every door in the Valley at once will trigger another catastrophic death trap. Scrooge discovers this too late, unknowingly setting off the curse. He is knocked out unconscious by one of the gold bricks from the third room. All the doors are slammed shut, trapping our heroes in the process. To make matters worse, El Capitán then arrives, pointing a shotgun at them.
El Capitán forces our heroes into the pot hanging over the aforementioned well, claiming that he has been waiting 400 years (four centuries) for this. He begins lowering them into the so-called lava pit. Scrooge regains his consciousness, shivering in spite of the intense heat, which is the final step in gold fever. This is because the lava is also made of gold. Scrooge declares this to be "the real Treasure of the Golden Suns". Upon hearing this, El Capitán brings them back up, saying he "won't have them tasting a single drop of [his] gold." Scrooge and El Capitán start their fight, failing to notice the curse's effects. They temporarily come to a truce in order to dodge the floor they notice is collapsing, and they manage to jump to safety. The walls then start moving, attempting to dump them into the golden lava below. It is at this point that Scrooge is finally cured of his gold fever, using the vines growing on the walls to climb out with the others. They even take El Capitán with them, despite his urgent pleas to be left alone with "all the pretty gold". Next, the curse has the giant gold discs reflecting their sunlight into the lava pit, causing a volcanic eruption. Launchpad notices this. Believing this to be a rescue flare that Scrooge would signal him for, gets the plane back up and running, therefore saving everyone in the process.
Upon escaping the destroyed Valley, our heroes land back in the river. El Capitán breaks loose, but when he comes to the spot where the Valley would be, it's now buried under a mountain of dirt. While Scrooge and the nephews find this hilarious, the frustrated yet undaunted El Capitán starts digging up the gold. Scrooge heads back to the plane, saying he wishes he had gotten at least one souvenir out of this. And it turns out that he did - another one of the gold lava's eruptions gave the VTOL cargo plane a new paint job! Scrooge looks forward to relaxing, saying he's through with treasure hunting … or so he thinks.
Cast[]
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
- Peter Cullen as Admiral Grimmitz, Joaquin Slowly
- Jim Cummings as El Capitan
- Joan Gerber as Bentina Beakley, Skittles' Mother
- Chuck McCann as Duckworth, Burger Beagle, Bouncer Beagle
- Terry McGovern as Launchpad McQuack
- Patricia Parris as Skittles
- Hal Smith as Gyro Gearloose, Flintheart Glomgold
- Russi Taylor as Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Female Reporter, Webby Vanderquack
- Frank Welker as Bigtime Beagle, Penguin Leader, Woolly Walrus
- Stan Wojno, Jr as Additional Voices
- Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck
Video releases[]
- DVD - DuckTales: Volume 2
Notes[]
- Reruns of the second part of the television film shown on Toon Disney cut out the shot of Dewey breaking apart the robot pilot's power cord, making it seem like the robot now shorts out due to Louie slamming the fire extinguisher against it, which makes no sense. Additionally, the edit is made obvious by the sudden jump in the background music. Unfortunately, this is also how the episode is presented on iTunes and Amazon Video. The DVD and Disney+ releases fortunately include the scene uncut.
Gallery[]
Concept Art[]
"Don't Give Up the Ship"[]
"Wrongway in Ronguay"[]
"Three Ducks of the Condor"[]
"Cold Duck"[]
"Too Much of a Gold Thing"[]
External links[]
- DuckTales Wiki: The Treasure of the Golden Suns
- The Disney Afternoon Wiki: The Treasure of the Golden Suns
- The Treasure of the Golden Suns at the Internet Movie Database
