Episode Fourteen
MCOG OPENING THEME (TRACK 21) 1m 42s
PRINCIPAL THEME (TRACK 21) 1m 27s
In the last episode of Mysterious Cities of Gold, our friends reach the prairie, which is actually a swamp. Marinche knows that but the party don't...though they found out soon enough. They found themselves surrounded by alligators, but escaped by crossing the water on giant lily leaves. They reach firm ground, and as a storm brews overhead, find a statue of the rain god.
They headed east from the swamp towards what the manuscript calls "the two tunnels". While walking through a forest they hear a strange moaning sound which turns out to be a fierce wind roaring through a narrow mountain pass.
They make their way through against the wind, narrowly avoiding an avalanche of rocks which blocks the exit. They find a small tunnel which leads to the far side of the mountains, overlooking another ruined city. Here they find another winged serpent statue.
A rock falls from a nearby building, nearly crushing Mendoza. While the others run to find whoever pushed it, the Doctor and Marinche capture Zia. Mendoza is forced to hand over his pistol to the Doctor. While the sailors are guarded by Teteola, the Doctor takes the children to a temple guarded by a jaguar statue.
Tao is forced to read the hieroglyphs below the statue, which read: "When he calls out, face the sun and the doors of night will open". They decide that the temple doors will open when sunlight is reflected onto the statue. Esteban does so with his medallion, and the statue slides aside, revealing a descending stairway which they follow. When Teteola tires in the heat, Mendoza overpowers him, and Sancho & Pedro tie him up.
Back in the temple, the children, the Doctor and Marinche find another manuscript. When the Doctor picks it up, the floor descends, trapping him in a hole. Kukapetl grabs the manuscript and Tao pushes Marinche into the hole. The party regroup. Tao examines the second manuscript, which reveals that once they retrieve the third manuscript from near a forest of terracotta statues, all will be revealed.
INSTRUMENTAL (TRACK 18) 1m 27s
The party leave the city, heading north. The Doctor and his associates escape, but without the second manuscript they don't realise that they're heading the wrong way. The party trek through more forest, until Kukapetl finds them a river.
Mendoza has them build a raft to take them north more quickly. They manage to ride through a stretch of rapids, but the raft begins to break up. Moments later they realise that they're heading towards a waterfall.
As they try to paddle to the riverbank, the raft breaks up completely. Sancho & Pedro make it out of the water. Zia is carried off, clinging to a log, while the others try to rescue her. They're carried over the edge but survive, emerging from the water at the bottom of the fall.
In the forest nearby they see terracotta statues. Sancho & Pedro, meanwhile, have found a stream of water laden with golden sand, coming from a cave which leads to the underground third ruined city. There too is a statue of the winged serpent, but like the rest of the city it has been damaged by intense heat. Esteban uses his medallion once again to reflect sunlight onto a pair of doors, which try to open but collapse due to their damaged state. Behind them, a gold statue holds the third manuscript, which reads: "That day, the sky began to blaze. Clouds of dust fell back on the earth, and greater clouds sprang up over the sea, on that day".
The message seems to make no sense, but when a frustrated Tao throws the manuscripts away they get wet, and they realise that certain letters are written in waterproof ink. When they wash away the rest, a new message is formed: "To the west of the land of the Mayas, look for the Burning Shield".
THE OLMEQUES (TRACK 29) 1m 44s
After more travelling, the party find the Burning Shield, a mountain. From its summit shines a strange light, which causes Tao's jar to glow. Eager to investigate the mountain, they find a cave where a stream emerges. The cave turns out to be a dead end, the water emerging from a small hole. More water gushes through, threatening to flood the cave. They seek refuge climbing rocks, and find a passage which they follow. A stairway leads to a massive chamber in the heart of the mountain, centred by a massive crystal spire. Strange-looking people, the Olmecs, are operating machinery beneath the crystal - some kind of reactor supplying power. The crystal glows,
Tao's jar glowing with it. The Olmecs shutdown the system due to a malfunction. A security device signals a disturbance, and they commence a search. The party hide in a room filled with what we would recognise as electrical generators. The children wait there while the sailors scout around. One of the Olmecs, Commander Kalmec, finds soil from the spillage cave.
When the generator room is searched, the children run to a room with a huge carved face on the wall. A voice welcomes them, claiming to be the god and soul of the Olmecs. When the children try to leave, a strange beam of light from the face's eyes knocks them out. They awake to find themselves undergoing medical examination by the Olmecs, who plan to transplant cells from the children's bodies to their own, to slow down their ageing process. The Olmec chief, Menator, introduces himself. Zia notices dozens of dead bodies behind glass panels, but is told that they are merely Olmecs in a deep sleep. The children are taken elsewhere, but rescued by Mendoza en route.
They run, emerging near the top of the mountain with no way down. Mendoza realises from the lay of the land that the three ruined cities are all nearby, within a day's walk, and concludes that the Cities of Gold must also be nearby. However, the Cities of Gold will have to wait - the party are cornered and forced to surrender to the Olmecs.
END THEME TRACK 36 1M 50
In our next episode of Mysterious Cities of Gold, Menetor orders that the children be placed in suspended animation, but Mendoa has an escape plan. Will it work? Find out in our next episode of Mysterious Cities of Gold.
Adapted and produced for radio from episode summaries written by Tyrone Cartwright,
Original music composed by Haim Saban and Shulki Levy and performed by Le Group Apollo
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | Cities of Gold Introduction | |||||||