Lost Crown of Genghis Khan
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| DuckTales episode | ||
| "Lost Crown of Genghis Khan" | ||
 Scrooge, the nephews and Launchpad are startled by an avalanche. |
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|---|---|---|
| Season | 1 | |
| Episode no. | 45 | |
| Airdate | November 6, 1987 | |
| Writer(s) | Anthony Adams | |
| Director | Alan Zaslove | |
| Prod. no. | 9 | |
| Guest star(s) | Pat Fraley (Sir Guy) Jim McGeorge |
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| Episode chronology | ||
| ← Previous | Next → | |
| "Send in the Clones" | "The Right Duck" | |
| List of DuckTales episodes | ||
"Lost Crown of Genghis Khan" is the forty-fifth episode of the Disney animated television series DuckTales.
[edit] Synopsis
Centuries ago, Genghis Khan (or at least his DuckTales incarnation, who resembles Black Pete), led his clan of Mongols through a part of the Himalayas called Shadow Pass. However, a snow beast attacked them, causing them to lose a crown they were carrying, which the snow beast kept for itself.
Flash forward eight centuries to 1987, where Lord Battmountan; the President of the Duckburg Explorers Society, is explaining this legend to the club’s members at a meeting. Lord Battmountan also reveals that last month, a Sherpa friend of his took shelter in an ice cave, where he claims to have seen the crown. Lord Battmountan also announces that the first explorer to retrieve the crown will be titled Explorer of the Year. Scrooge questions why Lord Battmountan’s friend didn’t retrieve the crown while he was in the cave, and Lord Battmountan responds by telling him that an abominable snowman chased him away. Supposedly, this snowman is a descendant of the original snow beast.
Later on, in a village near the Himalayas, Lord Battmountan hands out maps to the four members of the Explorer’s Club; Scrooge, a snooty dog named Sir Guy Standforth, an elegant duck named Percival, plus a fourth unnamed member, and the race is on. Before heading up the mountain, Scrooge meets up with Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby and Launchpad. While Scrooge drags Launchpad away from some girls, and over to his plane, Sir Guy drills a hole in the plane’s fuel tank, causing it to leak.
The unnamed explorer is working with a Sherpa to reach the cave by dogsled. Sir Guy releases a rabbit, which gets the dogs’ attention, causing him to get dragged away on the sled. Percival has hired another Sherpa to climb a mountain for him (while he just lets the Sherpa pull him up). But Sir Guy knocks the two of them off the mountain with a giant snowball.
Scrooge, who is flying over the mountains in his plane, attempts to parachute into Shadow Pass. But before he can get there, the plane has run out of gas, and is about to crash. Meanwhile, Percival and the unnamed explorer are in the hospital, assuming that Scrooge will win the contest again for the thirty-third year in a row. Everyone on Scrooge’s plane had to bail out using a single parachute to avoid crashing, but fortunately, they landed somewhere in Shadow Pass. After turning the parachute into a makeshift tent, Scrooge heads out to find the cave on his own, while the others stay behind. But the snowman has spotted Scrooge at this point, unbeknownst to him and the others.
After Scrooge leaves, it starts to snow, so his friends retreat into the tent before the real blizzard hits. Worried about Scrooge, the rich duck himself returns to the tent for the night, without the crown. In the middle of the night, the ducks are awakened by an “Uh-oh!”, and Scrooge sees the snowman fleeing from the tent, but he can’t really tell it was him. In the morning, before Scrooge sets off, Sir Guy uses dynamite to trigger an avalanche, which causes Webby to get separated from the group, and into the clutches of the snowman.
While looking for Webby, one of the boys (it’s impossible to tell, as they’re all dressed in parkas of the same color), discovers the footprints of Webby and the snowman, which they choose to follow. They are soon scared off by a fake snowman, which is really just Sir Guy in a costume. Eventually, Scrooge and the others reach the snowman’s ice cave. Shortly after venturing in, the snowman spots them, and chases them further into the cave. Along the way, the ducks come to a fork in the path. Scrooge goes one way, while Launchpad and the boys go the other.
Now all alone, Scrooge nearly falls off a cliff, but uncovers a hidden chamber full of gold below. After reaching the chamber, not only does Scrooge discover huge piles of treasure, but he also finds the lost crown of Genghis Khan! As happy as he is to have found the crown, Scrooge can’t get over the fact that Webby is now gone. He is then frozen by a giant snowball that was thrown at him.
Launchpad and the boys are still exploring the caves, and are completely lost by this point. Their bills are also frozen as well. Launchpad falls asleep from fatigue, and just as the boys are about to, they see Webby enjoying a snow cone. Webby leads Launchpad and the boys to lair, where the furniture is made of solid ice. Webby warms up some soup from the fireplace for the boys and Launchpad, and she explains that she found them because she heard Launchpad snoring. The boys ask Webby what happened to her after the avalanche, and she explains that her teddy bear saved her. The guys then learn that the teddy bear is actually the snowman, and that the snowman is actually a snowwoman.
The snowwoman, who Webby refers to as Snowy, is asked by Webby if she’s seen Scrooge. Snowy reveals Scrooge to the ducks in the snowball she threw at him, but Scrooge’s body has frozen solid. After Scrooge is thawed out and fed some soup, he learns about Snowy too, and isn’t too fond of the monster. This hurts Webby and Snowy’s feelings, so Snowy runs off, with Webby and Launchpad on her trail. Along the way, Snowy’s weight breaks through an ice bridge, leaving her hanging on the edge of a cliff. Launchpad swings across the cliff on a rope, and helps Snowy climb back up.
Scrooge, who is still in Snowy’s Lair with the boys, still doesn’t trust the monster, and wants to leave. But Scrooge finds the crown in his backpack, which the kids explain was Snowy’s way of apologizing for freezing him. For this, Scrooge decides to go after Launchpad and Snowy. On their way out of the cave, Sir Guy drives up to Scrooge on a snowmobile, causing him to drop the crown. Sir Guy picks up the fallen crown and drives off with it. Scrooge parachutes down the mountain, and manages to steal the crown back, only to drop it and have it fall back into Sir Guy’s hands.
Back at the Explorer’s Club, Lord Battmountan declares Sir Guy Explorer of the year. Scrooge barges in, claiming that he found the crown. But, despite what Scrooge claims, Sir Guy did bring back the crown. Lord Battmountan also informs Scrooge that his plane crashed on the wrong mountain, while Sir Guy claims that Scrooge never reached Shadow Pass at all. But Scrooge can prove that he reached Shadow Pass, by having Snowy enter the room, holding Launchpad in her arms. Snowy chases after the crown, which Sir Guy is wearing, causing her to drop Launchpad and chase Sir Guy. Scrooge then makes a crack about how Snowy dumped Launchpad.
[edit] Trivia
- This episode is loosely based on the Carl Barks story of the same name.
- Lord Battmountan is a spoof on the family name Mountbatten.
- Lord Battmountan also appears in the episode Pearl of Wisdom.
- This episode may have served as an inspiration for the Himalayas level in the DuckTales NES game.
