DRAMA: The Classics
Moby Dick - The Chase - First Day
It is highly recommended that you read each synopsis before listening to each day of The Chase individually so that you can keep the story straight.
forget the synopsis and go directly to the script and audio
Synopsis:
One day, a green as the hills Massachusetts guy named Ishmael decides he wants to be a sailor. He pals up with a heavily tattooed heathen harpooner named Queequeg and they both get hired to work on a ship called the Pequod. Rumor has it that the Pequod was originally named the Pequot until the Connecticut tribe threatened to sue Melville for Intellectual Property violation, so he changed the name of the ship to the Pequod and the Pequots had to settle for opening casinos instead.
The captain of the Pequod – not to be confused with a Peak Wad, a rolled upper after corner of a fore-and-aft sail which could be used as a pillow in a pinch – anyway, the captain's name is Ahab.
He's a spooky kind of a guy with a wooden leg who likes to have a Parsee with him wherever he goes – not to be confused with parsley, which is edible, or the Parcae (pronounced pahr-see), spelled p-a-r-c-a-e , who were The Fates in Roman mythology, or per se which is of, in or by itself or oneself.
Well, anyway, the long and short of it is that Ahab only wants to find the Great White Whale, Moby Dick, who ate his leg. He convinces the crew to let him do this and then the crew gets drunk and shouts and sings a bunch of sailor songs. Yaarrr!
So, they sail all over the place – the South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and into the Japanese Sea. They meet another ship, the Enderby, whose captain has just lost an arm to Moby Dick. With Moby Dick up an arm and a leg in the game you'd think Ahab would give up. But Ahab gets all excited thinking he’s getting closer to Moby Dick and promptly sails to the Pacific Ocean.
The crew is getting a bit tired of this but Ahab apparently has the charisma to make them stay the course. Then a typhoon hits. We suspect this is just for dramatic effect. After the winds die down the Pequod meets a ship called the Rachel and a post-tempestuous relationship ensues with the captain of the Rachel leaving the area and very disappointed in Ahab.
Moby Dick is sighted and hence the chase begins. And so we come to Moby Dick - The Chase - First Day.
Announcer
Ahab
Daggo
Tashtego
Starbuck
Ishmael
Fedallah
Moby
Everyone
ANNOUNCER
And now, the Kranky Kids present Moby Dick, Chapter 133, The Chase, First Day.
AHAB
It's stanky up here. I smell a whale. Change course so we can get closer to the smell. Daggoo, get everyone on deck to look for the White Whale.
DAGGOO
Aye, aye Captain Ahab. Here, let me help hoist you up to the top of the main royal mast-head.
SFX: hoisting sound
AHAB
There she blows! There she blows! A hump like a snow-hill! It's Moby Dick. How come none of you nincompoops saw him?
TASHTEGO
I, Tashtego, one of your harpooners, saw him and I cried out.
AHAB
But I still beat you to it. Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah. Look, Moby Dick is going to sound. First mate Starbuck, lower three boats for the chase. But you stay on board.
STARBUCK
Aw shucks, I never get to have any fun.
AHAB
Be dumb, man! Stand by the braces! Hard down the helm! Brace up! Shiver her! Shiver her! So; well that! Boats! Boats!
STARBUCK
Huh?
AHAB
Just hurry up and lower the boats.
STARBUCK
Oh, okay. Don't forget to take Fedallah, your Oriental Parsee harpooner.
AHAB
Right! Quick, you guys, get these boats closer to Moby Dick.
ISHMAEL
Wow! What a beautiful white whale.
AHAB
Can it, Ishmael. I say he's evil and therefore he must die. Besides, if you think I'm ugly with my scarred face and one and a third legs, you should see Moby Dick's jaw.
TASHTEGO
Yeah, it's as deformed as they come.
ISHMAEL
Look! He's diving once more!
AHAB
Sounding, Ishmael. The term is sounding, not diving.
ISHMAEL
But they mean the same thing. One's just esoteric nautical jargon.
AHAB
True. Anyway, we'll have to wait an hour for him to surface again.
TASHTEGO
The birds! The birds!
AHAB
Hey, this is Melville, not Hitchcock.
TASHTEGO
No, there really is a bunch of white birds.
ISHMAEL
And they're surrounding your boat.
AHAB
Uh, oh. I don't like the looks of this. I'd better peer over the side. Good grief, Moby Dick is coming up from below and he's got his mouth wide open. I'd better move the boat out of the way. Fedallah, you Oriental Parsee, switch places with me so I can harpoon him.
FEDALLAH
Hai. Ee-yoosh.
MOBY
Those knuckleheads. They think they can spin their little boat and get away? Ha! I, Moby Dick, am gonna eat their boat.
AHAB
Oh great. Now half the boat is in Moby Dick's jaws. And talk about bad breath.
FEDALLAH
Yikes! He's bitten the boat in two!
EVERYONE
Run for it!
AHAB
Uh, crew? We're on the ocean, remember?
EVERYONE
Swim for it!
MOBY
Ptooh! Yuck, what are they making these boats out of? Wood?
ISHMAEL
What the heck is the whale doing?
FEDALLAH
A pirouette?
ISHMAEL
And now he's circling us.
MOBY
If I do this fast enough, I'll be able to flush them down into the ocean.
AHAB
I feel like I'm desperately trying to stay afloat in a giant toilet.
MOBY
Bingo, buster. Oh shoot. Here comes their ship, the Pequod, to spoil the fun. Oh well, I might as well swim away. I've had my fun for the day.
AHAB
Thank goodness I'm still alive and so are all five of my men. Even my lucky harpoon didn't get lost. On with the chase!
ISHMAEL
We're pooped. Let's go back to the ship instead.
AHAB
Okay. I'll just pace the deck while we chase Moby Dick with the Pequod.
STARBUCK
Just look at your boat, Captain Ahab, it's a mess! This is not a good sign.
AHAB
Starbuck, you are the most pessimistic guy I know. Now, go away and let me pace the night away in peace.
SFX: pacing and boat sounds
Click here to continue with Moby Dick - The Chase - Second Day
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