Ducks of the West
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| DuckTales episode | ||
| "Ducks of the West" | ||
 Huey, Dewey and Louie at the corral. |
||
|---|---|---|
| Season | 1 | |
| Episode no. | 36 | |
| Airdate | October 26, 1987 | |
| Writer(s) | Richard Merwin | |
| Director | David Block | |
| Prod. no. | 42 | |
| Guest star(s) | Alan Oppenheimer | |
| Episode chronology | ||
| ← Previous | Next → | |
| "Duckworth's Revolt" | "Pearl of Wisdom" | |
| List of DuckTales episodes | ||
"Ducks of the West" is the thirty-sixth episode of the Disney animated television series DuckTales.
[edit] Synopsis
Huey, Dewey and Louie are playing with remote control airplanes in the yard, which suddenly run out of gas. At the same time, Duckworth drives Scrooge to one of his gas stations for a fill up, only to learn that there’s a fuel shortage going on due to the fact that his company’s oil fields have dried up prematurely. When his nephews arrive, Scrooge explains that they need to travel to Texas to tackle the fuel shortage first hand. Duckworth drives Scrooge and his nephews to the airport with the last bit of gas left in the limo, but Launchpad can’t fly them anywhere, as Scrooge’s planes are out of fuel. Having no other choice, Scrooge reluctantly takes Huey’s suggestion and purchases tickets on Air Glomgold.
In Texas, Scrooge and his nephews arrive at the Lucky Duck Dude Ranch where they are welcomed by a cowboy by the name of Tex Doggie. While the nephews run off to look at horses, Scrooge meets up with Wildcat, one of his oil riggers, who drives him to his nearby oil wells, though they can’t find any answers. At the corral, the nephews, who are now wearing bandanas and cowboy hats, are impressed by Tex’s riding and shooting skills. Tex then warns them not to go near the local ghost town, which is haunted by the ghost of outlaw Jesse Jones and his ghostly white buffalo. Enticed by Tex’s warning, the boys opt to get a horse and ride it to the ghost town.
Scrooge and Wildcat are unsuccessful in drilling for more oil, while Scrooge remarks that his company’s vehicles and factories will be unable to operate without any oil. At that point, a rival oil tycoon by the name of J.R. Mooing shows up and taunts Scrooge for his dry wells. J.R. then offers to sell some of his land to Scrooge, but only for half of his fortune. Scrooge rejects the offer, but J.R. feels that Scrooge will give in eventually.
Meanwhile, the nephews are travelling through the desert on horseback, and they soon reach the ghost town. Shortly after their arrival, they are scared off by a white buffalo, assumedly the ghost buffalo of Jesse Jones. Scrooge however, puts on a cowboy disguise, in hopes that J.R. won’t recognize him while trying to purchase his land. With the buffalo out of range, the boys explore the ghost town on foot, and run into Jesse himself while inside a saloon. After nearly being shot to death, the boys flee the place.
With his new getup, Scrooge introduces himself to J.R. as Wild Bill Duck. J.R. sees through his disguise, but pretends not to. Instead, he challenges Scrooge to what he calls a cowboy contest, with their entire fortunes at stake, and Scrooge accepts. Meanwhile, Jesse stalks the boys around the ghost town some more, scaring away their horse in the process. Jesse manages to shoot one of the many barrels on a wagon, which leaks oil onto Louie’s hat. Dewey then releases the barrels from the wagon, which roll towards Jesse and topple him. At this point, the nephews conclude that Jesse isn’t a ghost, and decide to tell Scrooge.
Since their horse was scared off, they can’t cross the desert, but they discover Jesse’s white buffalo, which has been tied up, and is not threat to them now. Dewey then realizes that the buffalo had purposely been painted just to scare people away. Having made peace with the buffalo, they manage to get a ride back to the ranch. At the same time, Scrooge is accepting J.R.’s bronc riding challenge. Just to make sure Scrooge looses, J.R. loosens the saddle, and Scrooge goes flying. J.R. then rigs the shooting contest by gluing his gun to the holster and giving it to Scrooge.
That night, J.R. drops Scrooge off at the ranch, gloating about now owning his entire fortune. Scrooge is also worried that his nephews haven’t returned on their horse, but is relieved when they return on the buffalo. They explain what they discovered about Jesse in the ghost town to Scrooge, and let the buffalo run free. Scrooge points out the oil stain on Louie’s hat, and Louie explains that it was from a barrel in the ghost town. They return to the ghost town, only to find that the wagon with the barrels is now missing.
Scrooge and the boys split up, and Scrooge soon runs into Jesse. Jesse challenges Scrooge to a showdown, but Scrooge doesn’t have a gun on him. Scrooge flees, and hides from Jesse in the bank. Jesse then spots the nephews, and chases them all the way into a cell in the local jail, where he locks them in. With Jesse gone, Scrooge goes looking for his nephews. He finds them in their cell, but Jesse forces him to join them. Scrooge and the boys watch as Jesse leaves the jail via a secret passageway.
Just then, the white buffalo shows up outside the jail. The boys tie the buffalo to the bars in the window, and he rips out most of the cell’s walls, freeing the ducks. They then head through the secret passage, which takes them to an underground chamber where Jesse is drilling for oil. Huey then discovers some plans, which reveals that the underground oil rig is stealing oil off of Scrooge’s pipeline. Still unnoticed by Jesse, the boys then lasso him up. Scrooge shuts off Jesse’s oil drill, which allows his wells to resume their oil pumping. Huey then unmasks Jesse Jones, and discovers that he’s really Tex.
Later, at the dude ranch, J.R. congratulates Scrooge for exposing Tex’s scheme, and cancels his deal, confessing that he cheated. Scrooge then offers J.R. and the others his own Texas Wildfire Chilli, which burns their mouths, much to his delight.
[edit] Trivia
- J.R. Mooing is a spoof of J.R. Ewing from Dallas.
- Jesse Jones is an obvious spoof of Jesse James.
- Wild Bill Duck, the alias that Scrooge makes up, is a spoof of Wild Bill Hickok.
