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The Lost Mother Lode
Season 1, Episode 8
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Written by J. Larry Carroll and David Carren
Directed by Larry Jacobs
Episode guide
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Babysitting Blues
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A Mouse Known as Zorrowitz

The Lost Mother Lode is the eighth episode of the television series Fievel's American' Tails. It was directed by Larry Jacobs, and written by J. Larry Carroll and David Carren.

VHS Summary[]

"Green River is gripped by Gold Fever - and Fievel and Tiger are as eager as anyone to strike pay-dirt. But when word gets out that the ghost of an old prospector is guarding the buried gold, Cat R. Waul and his hench-spider Chula concoct a ghostly treasure map to lure the townsmice into his clutches. Now, only Tiger's high-spirited heroics can save the day!"

Plot[]

Gold fever strikes Green River when a lucky human discovers a gold mine, and a small nugget of his gold falls to the ground and bounces through the shopkeeper Mr. Schimmel's window. Mr. Whiskers (who might be recognized from his short singing part in 'Way Out West' from An American Tail: Fievel Goes West) says the gold could only have come from Jeremiah's mine, but is scoffed at. Fievel finds a mining kit, and Papa buys one himself, and they decide to go prospecting, as do most of the mice in town. Just before Fievel leaves, he's confronted by Mr. Whiskers, who tells him of the legend of Jeremiah's gold. He says the mine is booby trapped, and that Jeremiah's ghost still haunts the mine, to which Fievel replies "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!" Cat R. Waul overhears all of this gold rush fever going on, and concocts an evil plan. He creates copies of a map which leads to an abandoned mine, so that when the mice follow the map, they'll be led straight into his trap, and he'll eat them. The wind blows a map Fievel's way, and he follows it along with Tiger, eventually finding the abandoned mine. Tiger chickens out and stays outside to 'guard the entrance' while Fievel goes in. Soon, Fievel falls right into Waul's trap, landing into Waul's hat. Tiger hears Fievel's scream and rushes into the mine to the rescue. However he runs into a lot of spider webs and hits his knee, causing him to howl in pain. Chula overhears this, fearing that it's the sound of a ghost. Waul dismisses it at first, until Tiger falls down a shaft and lands right in front of them, covered in Spider webs and looking very ghost like. Waul and Chula scream and run away. When Tiger hears them scream "GHOST!!", he assumes there's a ghost and panics, running away too. Waul and Chula land in a mining cart and zoom uncontrollably through a roller coaster-like mining track, leading to the outside and into a large puddle of mud.

Meanwhile, as Fievel explores the mine further, he finds his Papa and some of the other mice tied up, having already been captured by Waul. Tiger finds them too, and clumsily strumbles through a wall, revealing Jeremiah's gold, along with his corpse too. The mice are cautious because they remembered Mr. Whiskers saying the mine would be booby trapped. When they hear Cat R. Waul coming, they decide to escape through a hole in the ceiling and come back later. Waul finds the chamber just as Papa accidently falls back into the mine. Fievel rescues Papa by breaking his lantern, the resulting small fire revealing all of the gold in the room. Waul and Chula soon forget the mice, and focus on the gold. Waul agrees to let Chula have one gold nugget, and foolishly, Chula goes for the one in Jeremiah's hand, triggering a booby trap which collapses the entire mine complex (the two villains narrowly escape by falling back into the mud puddle). Everyone decides to go back to Green River, and the shopkeeper gives Mr. Whiskers the gold nugget that started the entire series of events.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • The scene where Tiger is too scared to enter the mine so he stays outside to guard the entrance is very similar to a scene in An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island, where its the same except with a subway entrance. It's possible the writers were inspired by this episode.
  • When Papa falls into a pit Fievel says "I'm coming Papa!" while climbing down into the pit, in the same way he says it in An American Tail while climbing down into a storm drain.
  • At another point Fievel says "I ain't afraid of no ghost!", a probable Ghostbusters reference.
  • While not outright stated, Jeremiah's mine is likely the same mine that appears in Fievel Goes West.
Fievel's American Tails
Characters Papa MousekewitzMama MousekewitzTanya MousekewitzFievel MousekewitzYasha MousekewitzTigerCat R. WaulT.R. ChulaMiss KittySweet WilliamSophie MousekewitzCharacters in Fievel's American Tails
Episodes Fievel, the Lonesome RangerLaw and DisorderLittle Mouse on the PrairieThe GiftA Case of the HiccupsThe Legend of Mouse HollowBabysitting BluesThe Lost Mother LodeA Mouse Known as ZorrowitzMail Order MayhemAunt Sophie's VisitThat's What Friends Are ForBell the Cats
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