Episode Four
TAO’S ISLAND (TRACK 26) 1m 25s(for resume only)
In the last episode of The Mysterious Cities of Gold, our friends find themselves stranded on an island after losing their ship the Esperanza in a fierce storm. Sancho and Pedro go exploring and find a giant lizard, but this turns out to be a boy called Tao who lives on his own on the island. Tao’s father had told him of a prophecy which predicted the children’s arrival. After exploring a maze of tunnels, Tao and Zia end up in a huge room They are soon joined by Estaban, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho. Tao releases a lever to ward off their followers, Mendoza shoots at it with his pistol and as the sound of the shot reverberates around the room, an entire section of the island sinks into the sea revealing the Solaris, a mighty ship.
MCOG OPENING THEME (TRACK 21) 1m 42s
THE MAJESTIC SOLARIS (TRACK 24) 1m 25s
Mendoza and his sailors offer their services to "Captain Tao", who reluctantly accepts. While they set about figuring out the ship's controls, Tao destroys his treehouse - he has no intention of returning.
After setting sail, Mendoza explores the ship, finding a room which contains a large, mysterious gold cube. Tao admits to being similarly perplexed regarding its function.
A Spanish galleon approaches, carrying Gomez and Gaspard, and fires a warning shot. The huge Solaris cannot hope to escape with its inadequate sail. Mendoza and Tao decide that they have no choice but to break open the golden cube in the hope of finding something which can help them, but brute force fails to so much as scratch it. Estaban decides an ornament on the cube (curiously unnoticed until now) may be a lever. He pulls it and sliding doors open in the ceiling, exposing the cube to sunlight. The sail furls itself up and is replaced by a huge metal one, which uses the sun's energy to drive mechanical oars. The Spanish galleon opens fire, but the Solaris accelerates out of range.
As the sun sets, the New World comes into sight.
THE ATTACK OF THE SPANIARDS (TRACK 29) 1m 58s
The Solaris reaches land, only for the party to be captured by European guards. Mendoza introduces himself and explains his mission to bring Zia to the gold-obsessed Governor Pizarro. They are led into a native fortress claimed by Europeans, where Pizarro seizes Zia and gives her a quipu to read. It tells that there is a City of Gold near her homeland, so to protect her people she pretends to be unable to read it. Knowing she is holding back, Pizarro leaves Mendoza to extract the information from her gently, and imprisons the others with some natives. A native Inca elder, seeing Esteban's medallion, hails him as a saviour God.
Mendoza distracts the Europeans by setting fire to the fort's gunpowder store, and runs off with Zia in the confusion. The soldiers, unwilling to risk their own lives, send out the prisoners to fight the blaze. The released Incas promptly escape to the sea. Estaban and Tao, unaware that Zia is already safe, escape into the fort's sewers in the hope of finding a way to rescue her. They end up under the fort's drawbridge, are chased by guards, but rescued by the Incas. While the Incas return to their village, our friends regroup at the Solaris.
The soldiers reach the Solaris, the sun rising just in time to power the ship's launch. Unable to capture the ship and its crew, the soldiers attack the Inca village instead. The galleon finally arrives, and opens fire on the Solaris. Estaban accidentally pulls an untested lever, and the solar sail focuses the suns rays on the galleon, setting fire to it. Seeing the Inca village under attack, the children turn the ray on the soldiers, forcing them to retreat. Then they rush to the village. Gomez, with the galleon's cannon trained on the village, threatens to have the villagers killed if they don't hand over Zia. She floats out to the galleon in a small boat while the villagers quietly sneak away. Tao meanwhile sneaks back to the Solaris to protect it from the galleon. Zia escapes to the Solaris and Gomez gives the order to fire on the village. Tao reluctantly self-destructs the ship, taking the galleon with it. Fortunately, he and Zia escape unharmed.
ESTABAN’S THEME(TRACK 4) 2m 34s)
MCOG END THEME (TRACK 36 1m 58s)
In our next episode, Mendoza is anxious to find out what was in the message that Zia read, The children decide to make their way to Zia’s village, and the sailors join them in the hope that she will tell them sooner or later. However, Pizarro's fortress blocks the narrow route south. How will they overcome this problem and continue on their journey to the Mysterious Cities of Gold…?
The Mysterious Cities of Gold…..
Adapted and produced for radio by Associate Radio Productions from episode summaries written by Tyrone Cartwright,
Original music composed by Haim Saban and Shulki Levy and performed by Le Group Apollo
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| 19 | Cities of Gold Introduction | |||||||