Scrooge McDuck is a big fan of money. He likes making it, he likes counting it, and he likes swimming in it. But it's a lonely life for the richest duck in the world, and it isn't until his three great-nephews come to live with him that he realizes what he was missing. In between hunting for treasure and keeping one step ahead of the Beagle Boys (local robbers), this family of ducks has plenty of crazy adventures. Treasure of the Golden Suns, the TV-movie that launced the TV show DuckTales, started the series off with a bang.
Ducktales was intelligent and funny, and it never took itself too seriously. Continuity errors and moments of "how the hell did they manage THAT?" were easy to spot, but I believe most were put in for comedic purposes. It was a fun, fun show. Like Indiana Jones... with ducks. It paid homage to multiple genres (adventure, action, science fiction) and even dipped into the literary vault from time to time. The ducks became time travelers, had visits from aliens, and went on treasure-hunting treks to the far corners of the world.
Scrooge and his nephews weren't the only ones who had adventures. Sometimes they were joined by the nephews' nanny, Mrs. Beakly, and her granddaughter, Webbigail. Whenever an episode took place at home or around town, they were aided by the services of Scrooge's butler, Duckworth. More often than not, their adventures included the inept, crash-prone pilot Launch Pad McQuack. Whenever someone of (arguable) intelligence was needed, they called upon Gyro Gearloose, a local wacky inventor. Many other characters, including Bubba Duck, Gizmo Duck, and Magica DeSpell, were also part of the Duckberg atmosphere.
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Treasure of the Golden Suns begins with Donald Duck leaving Huey, Dewey, and Louie with Scrooge while he goes off to "see the world" (he joins the Navy... hey he's already been wearing that sailor suit for 50 years... why not?) Scrooge has little tolerance for children, and boards his nephews in the highest room of the house. He is irked by their noise and natural mischief. All they want to do is spend time with him, but he wants none of it. The nephews decide to run away.
Out the door with their suitcases, HD&L notice some suspicious happenings at Scrooge's Money Bin (a big building less than a mile from Scrooge's home, where he houses his millions of coins). The Beagle boys are trying to rob the Bin's museum of a small wooden ship, which is actually a treasure map. The Beagle Boys get away with the ship, but HD&L use their smarts to retrieve it. A chase ensues, and the Beagle Boys wind up stuck in chocolate at Scrooge's candy factory... and Scrooge learns how brave and resourceful (and valuable) his nephews really are.
HD&L decipher the map and are able to determine that the treasure is in South America. Scrooge and the boys travel there, but they are followed by El Capitan, an old dog-like man who masterminded the Beagle Boys' robbery of the little ship. El Capitan, working with Scrooge's rival Flintheart Glomgold (the second-richest duck in the world) follow Scrooge and the boys. Amidst a torrential rainstorm and a lot of bad luck, Scrooge and his nephews manage to find a real boatload of treasure. They repair this ship and sail away, only to be surprised by Glomgold and El Capitan, who were hiding below deck. The bad guys send Scrooge and the boys away in a lifeboat, and Glomgold tosses a pity coin Scrooge's way. Moments later, El Capitan and Glomgold get in an argument. A cannonball is fired straight up into the air, and when it crashes down, the boat sinks, treasure and all. Scrooge rescues Glomgold but is unable to find El Capitan. And Scrooge comes away with the only surviving piece of the treasure -- a rare "Sun" coin.
After having his Sun coin looked at by a coin expert, Scrooge learns that there is another coin like it in existence. It's back to South America, this time to the Andes mountains. Along for the ride this time is Donald (who is on leave) and Launch Pad. HD&L are miffed to learn that they must stay home with their new nanny. Once in the Andes, Scrooge finds the other Sun coin owner and arranges to exchange his coin for one half of a treasure map. Determined to find the other half, Scrooge sets sail on the same course that was once traveled by the man who had that other half. He's carrying little more than a homing device and some basic supplies.
Launch Pad goes back to Duckberg to get more supplies for Scrooge, and while he is doing so, HD&L sneak aboard the plane. They are followed by a curious Webbigail. When Mrs. Beakly sees her granddaughter has boarded the plane, she hops on as well. She orders Launch Pad (who has since taken off) to turn the plane around, but he says he can't. Scrooge's homing device indicates that he's in Antarctica. His life may be in danger. Now everyone's along for this adventure, like it or not.
Once in Antarctica, the ducks are greeted by a nasty walrus, who is stringing along some of Scrooge's supplies -- but there's no sign of Scrooge. They also meet a young penguin, Skiddles, who befriends Webbigail. It isn't long before the girls get separated from the boys. The boys wind up in the center of an underground city populated by penguins. The penguins steal their clothes and throw them in jail. But at least now they've found Scrooge -- he's in jail, too. Not only did the penguins take his clothes, but they took his half of the treasure map. The penguins now have both halves of the map.
The girls, aided by local resident Skiddles, are able to retrieve the boys clothes, free them from their icy prison, and make a replica of the map (both halves of which are housed in the penguins' "color museum"). The fact that they were able to rescue the boys earns them a lot of respect. HD&L realize maybe their nanny's not so bad after all. But they're not out of the ice just yet -- they're pursued by angry penguins and the walrus (again!) and just barely make it out with their lives intact.
Now that Scrooge has a copy of the entire treasure map, he is able to locate the Valley of the Golden Suns, a place that supposedly has more treasure than can be imagined. The gang travels through a jungle lined with booby traps and makes their way into the Valley. But they are not alone. Somehow El Capitan is alive and well, and has managed to follow them there. El Capitan may be insane for gold, but now Scrooge is, too. He's willing to risk his life just to get to the gold. Mrs. Beakly calls it "Gold Fever."
In the middle of the valley sits a gold temple. Inside, Scrooge and HD&L are wild with excitement. There are three doors and they intend to open each one. Behind door number one is a room full of gold sand. Behind door number two is a roomful of coins. And behind door number three...
But wait! Mrs. Beakly and Webbigail, the only ones who haven't gone gold-crazy, notice a warning etched into the temple wall. It indicates that if someone is too greedy and opens all three doors at once, they will meet their demise. Mrs. Beakly and Webbigail try to stop Scrooge and the boys, but by the time they reach them, it's too late. Opening all three doors triggers ultimate destruction in this temple. The place begins to fall apart. To make matters worse, El Capitan has arrived, and he's got a shotgun. He forces the ducks into a basket and sends them down a well to a pit of molten... wait a minute, it's molten gold! El Capitan can't let anyone else have HIS gold, so he brings them back up. But now the whole place is crumbling like crazy, so it's a struggle to escape. Scrooge realizes that his life is more important than gold, and they all scurry to get out of the valley before the molten gold cooks their feathers.
They make it out alive, but the temple becomes buried underneath hundreds of feet of dirt. Only El Capitan, who the ducks had to literally drag out of the valley, is crazy enough to want to stay there and dig it all up. The ducks make their way home in a plane flown by Launch Pad.
"Where to next?" Launch Pad asks.
Scrooge vows there will never be a treasure hunt like this again.
But he is not to be believed. Especially when Launch Pad mentions he knows about some gold...
"Did you say gold?" asks Scrooge.
As one of the nephews says: "Uh oh! Here we go again!"
More adventures would follow in the TV series, TV-movies, and feature film. It even launched a few spinoffs -- Darkwing Duck and Quack Pack. But this is the movie that started it all.
While not commercially available in movie format (as it originally aired on September 19, 1987), Volume 2 of DuckTales will be released on DVD on November 14, 2006. This season includes Treasure of the Golden Suns, broken into five individual episodes -- each with additional dialogue or scenes. I am totally getting my hands on those DVDs.
