The Summoning

"The Summoning" is the first episode of Season One of The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai.

Plot summary[]

In the ruins of a castle in Scotland, Alex O'Connell is sliding down the banisters of a staircase while his parents are investigating the area: Alex is flung off the staircase and caught by his father, Rick O'Connell, though Evelyn, his mother, is somewhat displeased at his horseplay, but Alex reminds her that they are on vacation; at that moment, Evelyn finds an ancient Moorish bowl in the ruins which Alex derides as nothing more than “an old salad bowl”, which Evelyn confirms as such. Alex, insistent that an old castle must have something more interesting, opens an old wooden door, releasing a swarm of bats on the family: as Alex swats them away he knocks over a piece of an old pillar, which knocks over another and the pillars of the castle begin crashing down; during the escape from the crumbling ruin, Evelyn nearly drops the bowl but Rick catches it in time. The family escapes the ruins and Alex jokingly remarks if anyone is up for dominoes.

Later, the family returns to London, where the bowl is placed in the British Museum of Antiquities, where its Curator praises Evelyn’s work in finding the bowl and remarks that her talents would be better suited out in the field rather than in London, citing the Book of the Dead as an example of one such treasure recovered for the museum’s collection. At that moment, Colin Weasler walks in on the conversation to hear, to his displeasure, that the Curator is issuing Evelyn Weasler’s job: Chief Archaeologist. Weasler angrily snaps that the job was to be his, and that Evelyn’s discovery of the Book of the Dead was nothing more than accident, and storms off. Evelyn accepts the post and is appointed to oversee an excavation taking place at the ruins of Hamunaptra in Egypt. As Alex is pleased at being able to miss school while helping his mother find antiquities, the Curator then instructs the family to be at the airfields at seven the next morning and await their transportation.

Upon reaching the airfields the next day, the family finds their transport: a zeppelin called the Zephyr. As the family boards the craft and is ready to takeoff, Jonathan Carnahan, Evelyn’s wayward brother comes zooming through in his car, asking for a lift. Evelyn is reluctant to help, as Jonathan is irresponsible, but two thugs come in their car after Jonathan demanding that he pay them their money. Jonathan escapes them, boarding the craft just as it takes off. While on the Zephyr, Alex muses on his good fortune at being able to leave school for experience in the field when his mother brings a number of books to him, insisting that he not miss any of his studies while abroad. The Zephyr leaves England and heads for Egypt where the ruins are being excavated by diggers.

The four head into an entrance and begin walking through the ruins when Jonathan, avoiding falling rocks from the ceiling, steps onto a loose area of the floor and falls through to another chamber: the temple vault. The family begins to investigate the vault where Jonathan finds an old golden necklace which Evelyn identifies as the Manacle of Osiris. Jonathan thinks about selling it off on the black market but is admonished by Evelyn, who insists that it must be taken back to the museum and that until then, she would hold onto it for safekeeping. Rick and Evelyn leave their tent to head to the dig site, leaving Jonathan and Alex alone with the Manacle, which is stored in a wooden chest; meanwhile, Weasler has infiltrated the ruins and takes out two guards that stand watch over an entrance. Weasler then reaches the underground tunnels and finds a chamber with a sarcophagus inside, intending to conjure up the mummy within to settle the score between Weasler and Evelyn. In the tent, Jonathan leaves to stretch his legs, leaving Alex alone; Alex takes the Manacle from its chest and puts it on as a joke, proclaiming “I am Osiris, King of the Underworld!” when it fuses itself on and refuses to come off.

Weasler, meanwhile, is using the Book of the Dead to awaken Imhotep, who arises, covered in linen bandages and speaks verses in ancient Egyptian as scarabs crawl out of the wrapping. Weasler fearfully attempts to control Imhotep by stating that he has the Book but Imhotep instead tosses Weasler against a wall and takes the Book for himself, regenerating to a human form. Imhotep then calls forth mummified soldiers in the walls and gives them instructions to retrieve the Manacle of Osiris, which is located in the temple of Hamunaptra. Weasler attempts to form an alliance with Imhotep, who threatens him with death should he not find the Manacle.

Meanwhile, Alex continues to attempt to remove the Manacle when it shows him a vision of the ruins of Saqqara, where Alex is bound to a sacrificial altar and about to face the mummy Imhotep, who has regenerated to a human form, ending with the vision of the Book of the Dead. Evelyn and Rick walk in and ask that he remove the Manacle, but Alex states that he can’t when Weasler comes in, nonchalantly introducing Imhotep, who orders his minions to take the Manacle when Ardeth Bay cuts his way into the tent, throwing a sword to Rick and the two men take down several minions. As Evelyn and Alex attempt to escape, Imhotep uses his powers to manifest a wall of fire around the tent and takes on the form of a sandstorm, blasting his way out of the burning tent and taking Alex with him. Ardeth Bay explains that once he heard that two guards were accosted at Hamunaptra, he feared the worst; no harm, however, would come to Alex until Imhotep possessed the Scrolls of Thebes, an ancient instruction manual for the Manacle. Should Imhotep have both the Manacle and the Scrolls, the Earth would be compelled to bow down to Imhotep. The Scrolls would be the first thing that needed to be sought out, and are rumoured to be kept within the pyramid at Saqqara, where the family would head next.

Imhotep continues on towards Saqqara, where he releases Alex and Weasler and strides on towards the Pyramid; Alex eyes the Zephyr in the horizon while Imhotep commands a wall to open itself and takes out his pocket watch, flashing the crystal as a signal to his parents but Imhotep uses his powers to take the watch from Alex and crush it, remarking that Alex would have made an excellent Medjai. Imhotep then withdraws a stone with a scarab drawn on it from his robes and the scarab becomes real, which Imhotep launches at the airship. Imhotep then drags Alex along forcefully, ordering Weasler to find the Scrolls while Imhotep himself prepares Alex for the separation ritual. Alex defiantly calls out that his father will defeat Imhotep but Imhotep coolly conjures a image of his family’s fate: the scarab that was launched has reproduced and begins to tear a hole in the balloon’s side. Rick, however, realises that the scarabs have torn the balloon and reaches the superstructure of the balloon where the scarabs are tearing a large hole; Rick flushes the insects out with a blast of air while Evelyn asks Jonathan to lure the remaining scarabs to a trapdoor in the ship’s floor, where they too are flushed out of the balloon. The hole in the side, however, still is causing the ship to go down when Rick uses his backside as a stopper to the hole: the ship proceeds on to the Pyramid.

The Zephyr lands and the family finds Weasler, who is digging through artifacts for the Scrolls when he is caught: Evelyn threatens him with a drop in a nearby chasm when Weasler admits that Alex is in the grand gallery with Imhotep about to perform the ritual to separate Alex and the Manacle. The Scrolls, however, are nowhere to be found, and the family leaves, hanging Weasler up by his shirt on a wall. Imhotep opens the Book of the Dead, about to perform the ritual when Evelyn and the others burst in; Imhotep then uses his powers to summon more undead minions. During the fight, some of Imhotep’s minions overpower Rick and hold him down as Imhotep breaks off a massive chunk of a statue with which to crush Rick when Alex screams out in terror; the Manacle activates its powers and causes a massive rupture in the chamber floors to break out as well as destroying Imhotep’s skeletal minions and finally the rock that Imhotep was about to crush Rick with.

Eyeing the Book of the Dead, Alex calls out to his mother that she can use it to send Imhotep back to the Underworld when the mummy flies in and attempts to take the Book, but Alex kicks it out of Imhotep’s grip and towards Evelyn, who reads verses from the Book, causing Imhotep’s human form to deteriorate as he weakens more and more. Before the incantations can be completed however, Weasler tackles Evelyn and knocks the Book from her grip where it slides towards the edge of the chasm on the chamber floor. Evelyn notes that since the incantation is not completed, Imhotep is caught between being undead and alive. Imhotep then transforms into a sandstorm, blasting his way out of the chamber and taking Weasler with him: as they escape, the Book of the Dead is knocked into the chasm.

Reunited with his family, Alex knows that Imhotep is not gone for good and will search for the Scrolls of Thebes and be after the Manacle after his search; Evelyn states that Imhotep will have to go through her family to get it, with Alex somberly responding “That’s what I’m afraid of”.

Outside the Pyramid, the clouds in the sky transform into Imhotep’s roaring mummy face.

Cast[]

Jim Cummings - Imhotep, The Curator(First appearance), Narrator
Nicholas Guest - Ardeth Bay
Grey DeLisle - Evelyn O'Connell
Michael Reisz - Colin Weasler (First appearance)
Christopher Marquette - Alex O'Connell
John Schneider - Rick O'Connell
Tom Kenny - Jonathan Carnahan

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Creatures[]

Locations[]

Egypt

England

London

Scotland

Scottish castle(First appearance)

Artifacts[]

Moorish bowl(First appearance)
Book of the Dead
Manacle of Osiris(First appearance)
Scrolls of Thebes(First appearance)

Vehicles[]

Zephyr (First appearance)

Reception[]

The Summoning was nominated to win the 2002 Golden Reel Award for "Best Sound Editing in Television - Animation". Along with a nomination for an award, The Summoning was to be aired on September 15, but was pushed back due to the events on September 11.

Notes and references[]

Template:The Mummy: The Animated Series episodes