The Ghost of Castle MacKenzie is the 20th episode of The Country Mouse and City Mouse Adventures series. The episode sees the cousins Alexander (City Mouse) and Emily (Country Mouse) traveling to Scotland. It has a runtime of 23 minutes and 44 seconds.
Plot[]
Alexander and his Cousin Emily are on a ferryboat crossing Loche Ness to visit their Cousin Angus who believes his castle is haunted by a ghost. Emily is interested in possibly catching sight of the Loche Ness monster and taking a photograph of it. Alexander is slightly dismissive of such a creature existing, stating he'd need proof and at that time believes in such a thing as much as he does that Cousin Angus's castle is haunted- not at all. He's more inclined to believe their is gold in the castle than that some ghost haunts it and as he makes such a comment a rat among the passengers pushes his way past them believing there was such a thing in the castle and wanting to get it. Neither Alexander, Emily, nor cousin Angus seem to have heard that- rather they where more upset at how rudely he pushed past them. Meeting up with their cousin on the dock the two after initial greetings hear Angus talk about the trouble in more detail. Robbie MacKenzie, Angus's Human friend, and his parents are talking about selling the castle do to the haunting while Angus has to deal with the MacRats trying to move in. The rat passenger (No-Tail No-Goodnick), having realized he had no idea where the castle was, had stayed close to find out and follows them to it while unnoticed. Alexander and his cousins then flee from supposed ghosts while No-Tail is cornered by them. The ghosts are actually MacRats and the chief, a rather noble looking rat demands to know who he is. No-Tail decides to pretend to be a MacRat from afar to get in their good graces and closer to the treasure he thinks is in the castle. About that time Angus realizes it was the MacRats too and tells his cousins such, and dismisses it as the MacRats pulling a prank on him due to the ghostly events at the castle.
Robbie and his parents discuss why they wish to sell the castle and it turns out the haunting is only part of it, most of it's financial. It's very costly to maintain the castle. Robbie still thinks there is treasure in the castle but his father is less inclined to think so- as the family has lived there for generations and found no gold. Some potential buyers will be coming tomorrow to check the castle out. That night No-Tail arrives at the homes of the the MacRats, which are less grand than he had expected. The chief explains that the MacRats are said to have lived in Castle MacRat which is somewhere in the walls of Castle MacKenzie but where driven out at some time. The MacRats have been trying to find the castle but each time Angus and Robbie chase them out and thus is the crux of the current conflict he has with Angus. No-Tail thinks he'll be able to help them find the castle for the MacRats and in the process the gold he wants.
Meanwhile, Angus introduces Emily and Alexander to Robbie whose having trouble going to sleep knowing the house will most likely be sold tomorrow. Alexander encourages Robbie to think instead about them having a day to try to find the ghost. About then a haunting seems to start and in the rush Emily and Alexander end up finding that it's the MacKenzie's neighbor whose responsible using a dog, and lantern with a cutout for projection. The cousins follow the neighbor to his home and learn that he's trying to get the MacKenzies out so he can look for the gold. He has an old document from when his clan took Castle MacKenzie and hid the treasure there and it has a clue, a riddle, that No-Tail and the MacRats chief hear as they followed the cousins to the neighbor's place.
Alexander, Angus, and Emily having heard it too tell Robbie who thinks he has an idea of what the riddle could mean. No-Tail plans to wait for them to find out the meaning so he can get the treasure before they do so he lingers. Robbie and the mice go to sleep and in the morning people arrive to check out the property for purchase. Robbie still not wanting the castle to be sold tries to dissuade them by telling them of the ghost but that just makes them more interested as it gives the place 'character'. The mice continue to try to find where the treasure is and Robbie goes along with them after the potential buyers arrange to sign the papers tomorrow.
That night the neighbor, Cameron, is caught in the act and exposed as the one behind the haunting. He explains how the treasure is his families and Robbies father expresses how all this is just silly and tries to convince him that there isn't a treasure. About that time the MacRats following the plan of No-Tail try to scare everyone away and succeed in getting the Humans out with a mock haunting and even catch the mice off guard. The MacRats then pursue Angus and his cousins and come upon the gold shortly after they do. No-Tail then tricks the chief into getting trapped and makes plans to get the gold for himself. Trapped with Angus and the others the chief finds Castle MacRat. Angus apologies for having not believed the chief but the chief is just happy to have the castle and forgives him.
After moving the entire bag himself No-Tail is confronted by the MacRat clan about their chief. He almost fools them but after Castle MacRat slides out of a wall (due to Alexander accidently pressing a stone in it that caused such a move) the chief orders the clan to take No-Tail into custody. The Humans stumble upon the gold and managed to work out a settlement that ends the conflict between the two families. The buyers no longer want the castle as it's not really haunted and go off to try to find another. Emily and Alexander celebrate the MacRats return to their ancestral home with Angus at Castle MacRat and are gifted a kilt and bonnie dress by the chief. On the ferry ride back they wear both for a photo to remember the trip by. Before Angus can take the picture a creature that Emily believes to be the Loch Ness monster appears and squirts water upon Alexander and goes back below the water as Angus takes a photo of the drench Alexander with Emily at his side. Back home Emily laments that it was shame Angus was so surprised that he didn't take the photo sooner.
Production[]
This episode was written by Stephen Ashen and Erica Alexandre with storyboard by Bernard Bosques. Animation was done by CINAR France Animation.
Notes[]
- Clan MacKenzie has never owned a castle along the shores of Loch Ness though in the early 1870s one Mr. D. MacKenzie had a sighting of the Loch Ness monster and reported such to Rupert Gould in 1934 in a letter of recollection.