Maid of the Myth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| DuckTales episode | ||
| "Maid of the Myth" | ||
 Mrs. Beakley stands up for Launchpad. |
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|---|---|---|
| Season | 1 | |
| Episode no. | 62 | |
| Airdate | December 1, 1987 | |
| Writer(s) | Anthony Adams | |
| Director | Alan Zaslove | |
| Prod. no. | 16 | |
| Guest star(s) | William Callaway Ken Mars Tress MacNeille (Griselda, Swanwhite) |
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| Episode chronology | ||
| ← Previous | Next → | |
| "Hero for Hire" | "Hotel Strangeduck" | |
| List of DuckTales episodes | ||
"Maid of the Myth" is the sixty-second episode of the Disney animated television series DuckTales.
[edit] Synopsis
Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby are sitting in the audience at an opera house in downtown Duckburg, where Mrs. Beakley is performing. Scrooge and the boys could care less about opera, so they pretend to fall asleep. Webby, however, is excited about her Grammy’s performance. The opera soon starts, and Mrs. Beakley, who’s dressed as a Viking, begins her (rather clumsy) performance of Ride of the Valkyries.
Meanwhile, three real Viking ships dock in Duckburg harbor, and begin to plunder the nearby area for various commodities. The Vikings then hear Mrs. Beakley’s singing from the nearby opera house, which gets their attention, and they soon raid the place in the middle of her performance. The Vikings abduct Mrs. Beakley herself, as well various people’s belongings, including Scrooge’s pocket watch, and manage to get away in their ships.
The next morning, Scrooge receives info from a coast guard that the Vikings were spotted near Greenland, and gets Launchpad to drive him, the boys and Webby there in his speedboat. The Vikings, who refer to Mrs. Beakley as Brunhilde, ask for her to sing some more, but she rejects their request. The Vikings then lead Scrooge and the others to Valhalla, an island surrounded by a huge wall of ice. Despite being off the coast of Greenland, Valhalla is rather humid, as there are hot springs that keep the whole island warm.
Yoric, the leader of the Vikings, presents Scrooge’s watch to his maiden Griselda, who is rather perturbed at the arrival of Mrs. Beakley. Scrooge and Co. disembark at Valhalla, and learn about the Vikings’ secret society, but in order to blend in with the locals, they steal some laundry and dress up. Though Launchpad is large enough to fit into a Viking’s clothes, Scrooge and the kids have to all get on each other’s shoulders to fit themselves into one outfit. Launchpad also attracts the attention of Swanwhite, a beautiful woman whom he falls for, even though she detects that he’s not a real Viking due to his behavior and lack of any beard, but she goes on her way. Launchpad then accidentally reveals everyone’s disguise’s, getting them into deep trouble.
The Vikings consider feeding Scrooge and Co. to the sharks, but Scrooge insists on a challenge to determine their fates. Yoric agrees to a chariot race. If they win, they can all go free, including Mrs. Beakley. Launchpad agrees to race for Scrooge, while Yoric presents Thor, a very tough and muscular Viking, who will race for him. While Thor’s chariot will be pulled by two powerful black rams, Launchpad has to settle for two ’’special racing rams’’ that are quite old and weak.
Launchpad attempts to practice with the two rams, but gets nowhere. Soon, Swanwhite shows up, and lets him use her two sturdy rams, Starlight and Starbright. It takes a fair bit of practice, but Launchpad eventually gets the hang of the rams, who take orders from vocal commands.
That night, Griselda spots Mrs. Beakley singing for a group of male Vikings, and grows incredibly jealous. She plans to spike Mrs. Beakley’s next glass of water with a special powder, so that the lady will lose her voice. Meanwhile, Yoric has two of the other Vikings set up a trap on a bridge in the mountains, which they will set off during the race.
The next morning, everyone is ready for the race, and Launchpad is doing some last minute practicing of his vocal commands. Launchpad gets incredibly thirsty, so Mrs. Beakley goes to get him a glass of water. However, Mrs. Beakley receives spiked water from Griselda, which she then passes to Launchpad, who looses his voice. Because he is unable to command the rams, Mrs. Beakley puts on his Viking outfit and takes his place.
Meanwhile, Swanwhite leads Scrooge to the bridge, as she’s heard about the trap, and they need to make sure it doesn’t go off. As they do, the race starts, so Mrs. Beakley and Thor take off. Though the two are nearly neck and neck, Thor knocks Mrs. Beakley into the water so that he can speed ahead and cross the bridge. Scrooge and Swanwhite arrive at the bridge and try to fight off the Vikings, but they end up setting off the trap before Mrs. Beakley arrives. Although Mrs. Beakley doesn’t get hurt, she is unable to cross the broken bridge.
When Thor blows his horn in triumph, it causes some ice on the mountaintops to crumble. This gives Mrs. Beakley the idea to crack the ice by hitting a high C. The fallen ice manages to fill up the chasm, along Mrs. Beakley to ride across. From then on, Mrs. Beakley speeds towards the finish, and barely manages to beat Thor, winning the race and her freedom.
Just before Scrooge and Co. set out to leave, Launchpad asks for Swanwhite to come with him. Swanwhite tells him that not only is Valhalla her home, but that Erik wouldn’t like it. Launchpad asks if Erik is actually Erik the Red, but he learns that Erik is her actual boyfriend, so he quickly changes his mind. Scrooge then tells the Vikings that they need to learn to live peacefully with the outside world, and he heads for home with his family and friends. Unfortunately, Mrs. Beakley insists on singing for the entire ride home, and Scrooge can’t even pretend to like it.
[edit] Trivia
- This episode's title is a play on the Maid of the Mist boat tour at Niagara Falls.
- Mrs. Beakley also hummed to the theme of Ride of the Valkyries in Magica's Shadow War.
- Gyro, Vacation Van Honk and Quacky McSlant all have cameos as extras at the opera.
- Goof: After everyone runs out of the opera house, when Webby says "Look, there’s Grammy!", Louie’s legs are white.
- Goof: Webby doesn’t appear to ride in the boat on the way to Greenland, or on the ride back.
