Working for Scales is the thirty-ninth episode of DuckTales 1987 and the fourth and final part of Catch as Cash Can.
Summary[]
Over in Macaroon, where there's only one hour left of the contest, Flintheart Glomgold has already his own fortune onto the giant scales. To further ensure that Scrooge doesn't make it, he has sprung the Beagle Boys out of jail again to help him by using a super-sonar machine that should pick up the noises of whatever Scrooge is using to get here. Meanwhile, Scrooge, Launchpad, Gyro, and the nephews are up in the sky, right there on the now-floating Atlantis (held up by balloons), which is disguised as a giant cloud and being propelled by an exercise bike. Huey, Dewey & Louie are supposed to be tending to the cloud-making machine, but instead they've gone off to find the treasure of Atlantis so they can use it to help Scrooge win the contest.
Down below, the Beagle Boys catch sight of the floating Atlantis (because the nephews aren't tending to the machine, its cloud disguise is waiving), and Glomgold, who is patronizing with the Grand Kishki and contacting the burglars by way of a walkie-talkie hidden in his coat, orders them to take his airplanes and investigate. When the Beagles come up to attack, the nephews realize they abandoned their post and left the island open to attack. While Launchpad goofs around with a small Boeing that Gyro invented just for this episode, Scrooge chastises HD&L for the fact that he might lose this contest because of them. The Beagles try to shoot the balloons, but since Gyro made them steel-belted, they don't pop easily.
While Glomgold tries to make sure the Kishki doesn't see the island, the Beagles try anchoring it in the other direction. The nephews catch sight of this and use a Wile E. Coyote-esque trick to get the island back on the right track, involving an extra balloon, a rope, and a boulder. It not only works, it gets the island moving scaleward faster because Gyro was pedaling on the exercise bike at top speed. Unfortunately, the sudden jolt causes Scrooge to fall right on him, causing the bike to break off, and it sends the both of them sailing off the island. Luckily, Gyro has brought along compact parachutes for them (and Launchpad) to use. They crash through the Kishki's tent, and Scrooge picks a fight with Glomgold.
Up on the island, the nephews start steering the island themselves. When Scrooge sees this, he politely asks the Kishki for some of the firefly fruits, which he uses to make a big glowing X on the right spot. Glomgold orders the Beagle Boys to try and stop the nephew trio. The nephews start untying the balloons so that Scrooge's fortune lands on his side of the scale. The Beagles bite back and release some balloons on the other side so that it falls onto Glomgold's side, but HD&L put up a big enough fight for Scrooge's scale to weigh more (Actually, Scrooge and Flintheart were tied at the point when there was no more money on the island - Scrooge used the Number One Dime as a tie-breaker). Refusing to lose now, Glomgold orders a tank nearby to bring in some previously unseen cash.
The nephews are then chased into a building by the Beagle Boys, where they find the fish depicted in a clue that leads to the treasure of Atlantis. They trick the Beagles into triggering one of the fishes while they trigger the other, causing the treasure to come pouring out onto Scrooge's scale. Scrooge's cash pile becomes so big it tips over Glomgold's scale and reveals that he was cheating - by using a lead bar so his scale weighs more. Scrooge wins the contest and congratulates his nephews for saving the day while Glomgold has to put up with the Kishki wanting to buy his coat because he thinks it can talk.
Cast[]
- Hamilton Camp as Grand Kishki of Macaroon
- Chuck McCann as Burger Beagle and Bouncer Beagle
- Terry McGovern as Launchpad McQuack
- Hal Smith as Gyro Gearloose and Flintheart Glomgold
- Russi Taylor as Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck
- Frank Welker as Big Time Beagle
- Alan Young as Scrooge McDuck
Video releases[]
DVD
- DuckTales: Volume 2 (Reg. 1)
- DuckTales: 2nd Collection (Reg. 2)
Trivia[]
- Using the Number One Dime as a tie-breaker is an homage to the Carl Barks comic story "The Second-Richest Duck" where Scrooge and Flintheart came to an agreement that whoever who keeps more string would be the Richest Duck and the tie-breaker was the piece of string that attaches the Number One Dime to Scrooge's pocket.
- Scrooge and Glomgold having a contest to weigh their fortunes on giant scales was also used in the computer game DuckTales: The Quest for Gold.
- Goof: At the beginning of the episode Burger asks Glomgold, " Oh, you got quiche?". But the DVD subtitles say "Oh, you got keys?"
