Home Sweet Homer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| DuckTales episode | |
|---|---|
| “Home Sweet Homer” | |
 Circe disguises herself as Ariel to fool Scrooge and Homer. |
|
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 22 |
| Guest star(s) | Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck) Tress MacNeille (Circe, Yuckalinda) Michael Mish (Homer) |
| Writer(s) | Anthony Adams |
| Director | Alan Zaslove |
| Production no. | 25 |
| Original airdate | October 6, 1987 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Launchpad's First Crash" | "Duck to the Future" |
"Home Sweet Homer" is the twenty-second episode of the Disney animated television series DuckTales.
[edit] Synopsis
One day Scrooge, Huey, Dewey and Louie receive a letter from Donald, who gives them an update on his career in the Navy. Although Donald stretches the truth in his letter, he also sends some photos. One of the photos has a canyon in the background, and this prompts Scrooge to do some research. Scrooge concludes that the canyon is really a sea passage to the lost city of Ithaquack. He also concludes that the boulders at the top of the canyon were once the feet of the Colossus of Duckapopolis. With that, Scrooge and the boys set out to find Ithaquack in Scrooge’s yacht.
Back in 1100 BC, the people of Ithaquack are waiting for Homer to return, so that he can finally get rid of Circe. Circe, who is portrayed as an anthropomorphic pig, can spy on people through a magical pool. She wants to rule Ithaquack, so she uses her medallion to cast a spell to send Homer off to a distant time. While casting the spell, Circe’s cat interferes, altering its effect. As a result, it doesn’t send Homer to a distant time, but rather, it brings someone from another time to him. And that someone happens to be Scrooge and the boys.
Scrooge rescues Homer, whose boat had been destroyed by the spell. Circe, who is furious at her cat, transforms him into a non-anthropomorphic pig with her medallion (ironic since Circe herself is a pig, albeit an anthropomorphic one). Homer, who feels that he might never grow up to be like his uncle Ulysses, explains that Scrooge and the boys have gone back in time, most likely due to Circe’s magic. Scrooge wants to see Circe, just so that he can deal with her, and the group heads through the sea passage.
Circe spots the yacht traveling through the passage, and casts a spell to close in the walls. As the yacht reaches the end of the passage, it gets crushed, just as Scrooge, the boys and Homer jump to safety. The next morning, the group finds themselves washed ashore on the Island of King Blowhard, a man with a very powerful breath, in addition to a bad allergy. King Blowhard tells them about Ulysses’ ship, which has sunken in a nearby cove. Also, King Blowhard learns that he is sneezing due to the flowers on his umma-gumma fruit bushes. King Blowhard helps by blowing all the water out of the cove, revealing the sunken ship, which Scrooge and Co. take to continue on their journey, bringing with them the umma-gumma fruit.
Later on, the boat passes by some wailing sirens that lure Scrooge into jumping off the boat and swimming closer to them. However, Scrooge soon discovers that the sirens heads are just the top part of a monster, which tries to eat him. Dewey stops the monster by flinging an anchor onto its tongue, while Homer rescues Scrooge. Afterwards, the boat approaches a whirlpool, which is located next to the cave of the monster Yuckalinda. Huey sneezes, waking up the snake-like Yuckalinda, which he manages to hold off by feeding an umma-gumma fruit. Meanwhile, the boat gets caught in the whirlpool, but Dewey gets everyone out by roping up a bunch of the fruits, and tossing them to Yuckalinda, who pulls them to safety.
Circe observes the escape that the group made, and remarks that she’ll have to be craftier next time. Queen Ariel, who is being held captive by Circe, threatens the witch, but she gets turned into a pig. Circe then uses her medallion to turn herself into a carbon copy of Ariel.
Scrooge’s group docks at Ithaquack, but Scrooge tells his nephews to wait while he and Homer go looking for Circe. They find her at the palace, disguised as Ariel, and she reveals her true self. She then turns Homer and Scrooge into pigs. After waiting until nightfall, the boys go looking for Scrooge and Homer, and search the palace for them. They find the two in their pig forms, and realize who they really are. Unable to communicate with their pig-turned uncle, the boys travel to Circe’s lair, where the witch is sleeping. Dewey snatches Circe’s medallion, but she wakes up and chases them. When Circe fears that the boys might break the medallion, Huey purposely breaks it.
With the medallion broken, Circe’s cat and the people who were turned into pigs turn back to normal. Secondly, Circe is turned into a non-anthropomorphic pig herself. In addition to that, Scrooge and the boys are sent back to the entrance of the re-opened sea passage, and return to the present.
Although they’re back in their proper time, Scrooge and the boys no longer have a ship, and are drifting out on the open sea. Fortunately, Admiral Grimace’s ship is nearby, and they are rescued. After being treated to hot chocolate, Dewey wonders if Homer grew up to be like his uncle Ulysses. Scrooge explains that Homer probably grew up to be himself. Though Huey explains that he and his brothers want to grow up to be like Scrooge, Scrooge tells them not to worry about it. Donald tells them that if they’re smart, they should actually grow up to be like him. Of course, Scrooge and Admiral Grimace can hardly believe what they’re hearing.
[edit] Trivia
- This episode's title is a reference to the phrase "Home sweet home".
- The Colossus of Duckapopolis is similar to the Colossus of Rhodes.
- Ithaquack is a parody of Ithaca.
- This episode isn't the only time that Tress MacNeille has voiced the the character of Circe. She also voiced her in the Simpsons episode Tales from the Public Domain.
- There are many comparisons between this episode and the original story of The Odyssey:
- The Yukalinda is likely a parody on the cave-dwelling monster, Scylla, and the whirlpool near it's cave is like Charybdis.
- King Blowhard is possibly a parody of the Greek wind god Aeolus.
