The Golden Fleecing (DuckTales episode)
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- For the original Carl Barks story, see The Golden Fleecing.
| DuckTales episode | ||
| "The Golden Fleecing" | ||
 Scrooge discovers the Golden Fleecing. |
||
|---|---|---|
| Season | 1 | |
| Episode no. | 33 | |
| Airdate | October 21, 1987 | |
| Writer(s) | Ken Koonce David Wiemers |
|
| Director | Terence Harrison | |
| Prod. no. | 36 | |
| Guest star(s) | Corey Burton (Ludwig Von Drake) Tress MacNeille (Harpies) |
|
| Episode chronology | ||
| ← Previous | Next → | |
| "Ducky Horror Picture Show" | "Horse Scents" | |
| List of DuckTales episodes | ||
"The Golden Fleecing" is the thirty-third episode of the Disney animated television series DuckTales.
[edit] Synopsis
The episode starts off with Launchpad narrating to Ludwig Von Drake a story of how he was flying over the Black Sea on his way back to Duckburg, only for his plane to be sabotaged by strange bird-like women. Ludwig feels that Launchpad’s just making up the story because his brain is too stimulated, so he convinces Launchpad to simply clear his head by meditating the next time he imagines anything strange.
At McDuck Manor, Scrooge rips his coat while reaching for a book in the library. The book, which he reads to Huey, Dewey and Louie, contains the story The Quest for the Golden Fleece. He reads that the Golden Fleece lies in the Valley of the Mists, and is guarded by the Sleepless Dragon, who eats Harpies. Huey mentions that the story sounds like the one Launchpad made up, which gives Scrooge the idea that Launchpad might actually be telling the truth. Since Scrooge could use a new coat as it is, he decides he might as well hunt down the Golden Fleece in order to make a truly valuable coat.
After meeting up with Launchpad, Scrooge has him fly himself and the nephews to the Valley of the Mists, where they are soon confronted by Harpies while in their helicopter. While Launchpad meditates to try and ignore the Harpies, he ends up crashing the helicopter, so the group must travel through a foggy forest on foot. Before long, Launchpad is abducted by two of the Harpies, without the others knowing, and taken back to their eyrie, where they prepare to have him for dinner, except for one of the Harpies, Anastasia, who is attracted to him.
Not knowing what happened to Launchpad, Huey consults the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook for the idea to stand on his brothers and Scrooge’s shoulders like a totem pole to see above the fog, which leads them to the base of the Harpies’ eyrie. Unable to scale the cliff, the boys get the idea from the guidebook to reuse parts from the crashed helicopter in order to build something that resembles a flying bicycle built for four riders, which they fly to the eyrie.
Scrooge and the boys find Launchpad being held in a large birdcage, but they are soon confronted by the Harpies, who refuse to let Launchpad go unless he agrees to be their big deipno, or rather, their dinner guest. Scrooge tries to get Launchpad to ask the Harpies about the whereabouts of the Golden Fleece, and as he eats dinner, Launchpad asks Anastasia about it. Anastasia isn’t supposed to tell, but she winds up mentioning that it’s in the Hall of Echoes, so Scrooge and the boys head to it.
Scrooge and the boys find and enter the Hall of Echoes, which they soon find out is actually an underground maze. After getting lost for a little while, the group stumbles upon the lair of the Sleepless Dragon, who is guarding the Golden Fleece. The boys taunt the dragon and run down a tunnel too small for it to fit through. While the dragon is distracted, Scrooge collects the Golden Fleece and meets up with the boys, only for them to run into a dead end, with the dragon blocking their only way out.
Meanwhile, the Harpies are still feeding Launchpad, who can’t eat another bite. Now that he’s full, the Harpies fly Launchpad to the Hall of Echoes, where they call the dragon, who they expect will eat a fattened-up Launchpad. As the dragon prepares to eat Launchpad, the boys throw rocks at it to slow it down. The Harpies then go after Scrooge, who is carrying the fleece, though they fail to catch him. The dragon almost devours Launchpad, but Anastasia rescues him and flies off. Scrooge prepares to flee with the boys on their bicycle, but they don’t want to leave without Launchpad. Scrooge makes them leave anyway, and soon finds himself fighting over the fleece with the Harpies.
As the dragon flies around, chasing Launchpad and Anastasia, the Harpies pull Scrooge off the bicycle as he holds onto the fleece. Fortunately, Scrooge lands on the dragon’s head. Anastasia lands, and just before the dragon can roast her and Launchpad, Scrooge drops the fleece in front of the dragon’s eyes, causing it to fall asleep. The Harpies are overjoyed that Scrooge finally got the dragon to sleep for the first time in three thousand years. Scrooge fells bad for neglecting Launchpad, and remarks that he almost deserved to fall to his death after the way he had been acting.
Launchpad is grateful to Anastasia for saving him, and is willing to do anything for her; except marrying her. Even after returning to Duckburg, Launchpad explains to Ludwig that a Harpy is stalking him. Ludwig is convinced that Launchpad is still seeing things, but when Launchpad directs Ludwig’s attention to Anastasia floating outside the window, Ludwig joins Launchpad in clearing his mind.
[edit] Trvia
- This episode is loosely based off the Carl Barks story of the same name.
- This is the only episode that Ludwig Von Drake appears in.
- Deipno is Greek for dinner.
