Information about Count Duckula

Count Duckula
Created by	Cosgrove Hall
Starring	David Jason, etc
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	65 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV / Syndicated
Original run	6 September, 1988 – 16 February, 1993
Chronology
Related shows	DangerMouse
External links
IMDb profile
|/summary.html TV.com summary

Count Duckula is an animated television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall, and a spin-off from DangerMouse, a show in which an evil version of the Count Duckula character was a recurring villain. The series first aired on September 6, 1988 and was produced by Thames Television. In all, 65 episodes were made, each about 22 minutes long. The complete first season was released on DVD in the UK on July 17, 2006.

The show is a loose parody of the story of Count Dracula. Set in Transylvania, Duckula lives in a spooky castle known as Castle Duckula, alongside his butler Igor, and his large nanny (always referred to as "Nanny" and perpetually in an arm sling). Almost all of the characters in the show are (anthropomorphised) birds.

Plot

The story (as shown in the title sequence each episode) is that Duckula has been active as a vampire for centuries. He could only be destroyed by exposure to sunlight or by a wooden stake thrust through his heart. Duckula had in fact died numerous deaths. But he always returns through a mystic ritual, performed once a century, "when the moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius". However a theme explored through several episodes is that each resurrection creates a new incarnation with little to no memory of its past life. Thus every incarnation is free to develop its own personality and pursue its personal interests (somewhat similar to the regenerations of Doctor Who). The vampire is thus able to pose as a dynasty of Counts of Duckula. The various preceding generations included knights, sorcerers, scientists, artists and even professional gamblers, all of whom were also secretly "vicious vampire ducks".

But as the title sequence put it, "the latest reincarnation did not run according to plan." The successful conclusion of the ritual requires blood, the source of sustenance for any vampire. But his servants accidentally substitute it with tomato ketchup. Consequently the newest version is not a blood-sucking vampire but a vegetarian one. He is more interested in juicy carrots rather than hunting for victims. Igor naturally feels appalled. Even worse, his "new" master is obsessed with pursuing wealth and fame as an entertainer.

The show often centres around Duckula's adventures in search of riches and fame, assisted by the castle's ability to teleport around the world. Another regular part of the story is Igor and his attempts to turn Duckula into a proper vampire. Some episodes feature Duckula's nemesis Doctor Von Goosewing (obviously based on Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, the nemesis of Dracula), a vampire hunter who blindly refuses to believe the current incarnation of Duckula is harmless. Still others feature a whole array of bizarre, often supernatural foes, from zombies to mechanical werewolves. The show also featured a cuckoo clock whose bat-like characters would come out and make corny jokes about the current situation. The clock is also a vital part of the castle's travelling mechanism and also has the ability to turn back time.

It is unclear what species of duck Duckula is actually intended to be, though majority opinion holds that his character's features are based on those of the mallard; the show's protagonist could be described as an ever-failing character.

The first season was released on Region 1 DVD on October 4, 2005. A series of annuals and monthly comics further detailing the adventures of Count Duckula and associated characters were released throughout the time that the series originally aired and for a short time after. The Region Free DVD of Season 1 was released on 17 July 2006. [1] The Region 2 DVD of Season 2 was released on 26 March 2007 [2] The show's end credits were eventually edited, omitting many graphic effects.

Voices

• Count Duckula: David Jason
• Igor: Jack May
• Nanny: Brian Trueman
• Dr Von Goosewing: Jimmy Hibbert
• Narrator: Barry Clayton
• Various: Ruby Wax

Characters

Protagonists

Count Duckula

Count Duckula himself is a deliberate send-up of many traditional vampire traits. As his name would suggest, he is an anthropomorphic duck. Besides his vegetarianism and aspirations of fame, he is a very squeamish and often cowardly character. The Duckula Family Motto is Per Ardua ad Sanguina, which means "Work hard for blood".

He has a very modern outlook, and often despairs over the traditional vampire image he is expected to embody. He hates living in a dark, gloomy castle, and finds the behaviour of his servants to be depressing. Although he retains vampiric powers and qualities such as teleportation and not being able to appear in front of a mirror, he rarely uses them. He often goes outside in the daytime without suffering any ill effects, but this is likely because of his own personal oddities.

In the episode Doctor Goosewing and Mr. Duck, Count Duckula briefly turns into a "proper" vampire, desiring blood from the villagers outside the castle, but turns away from the door when he discovers that the sun is still out. Still, the episode Transylvanian Homesick Blues features a prehistoric "first vampire duck" who goes out in daylight, and only returns to his coffin because Igor advises him to, while another Count of Duckula in yet another episode crumbles into a pile of stone when exposed to sunlight

Duckula has been seen on occasion wearing pyjamas with the DangerMouse logo, a reference to the character's origin. Duckula is a short green duck with black parted hair and the traditional vampire evening wear complete with cape. He has no fangs, although his more old-fashioned relatives did. His favorite food is broccoli sandwiches.

Igor

Igor, the Count's Butler, is a traditional horror servant, and adds a decidedly dark streak to some of the show's humour. He greatly dislikes his master's behaviour, and often encourages him to act in a far more ghastly manner. He remains convinced that if he could only talk Duckula into biting, maiming, torturing and otherwise brutalizing people it would be a return to the "good old days".

He is a hunched balding vulture with a depressed and slow voice. He has served under several previous incarnations of Count Duckula, making his age uncertain. Seeing as he can only be brought back "once a century" and Igor has performed the task multiple times in his life, he is clearly very old and possibly ageless. Episodes in the first season hint that Igor had served the Duckulas for 700-800 years or more.

Nanny

Nanny is, as her name suggests, Duckula's nanny, as well as housekeeper. She is an extremely large and clumsy hen, possessing incredible strength and inevitably messing up whatever task she is set to do. In particular she has a blind spot regarding doors, and often crashes through a door without opening it first, or (more commonly) even walk right through the wall, especially a few feet off from the door's position.

As this behaviour suggests, she is a supremely unintelligent character, and completely unreliable. She is amazingly devoted to her "Ducky-Boos", as she calls Duckula, and has a deep maternal affection for him, though her clumsiness often inadvertently causes him harm. A recurring gag is her inability to understand what people around her are talking about, often mixing up words and taking insult at conversations not directed at her.

Like Igor, her age is uncertain, as she has apparently been with Duckula for several of his incarnations. Her right arm is perpetually in a sling, though the reasons for this are unrevealed. The sling itself seems to have unlimited carrying capacity, as she is able to produce any number of items from it, Harpo Marx style. It is possible that if she did have a broken arm, that it has healed and she forgot to remove the sling, as demonstrated in the episode In Arctic Circles.

Castle Duckula

An old fashioned (arguably cliché) Transylvanian castle with all the trimmings: dungeon, torture chamber, library of macabre texts, laboratory, etc. The castle has an often referred-to but never seen werewolf named Towser living in it.

The castle can teleport to any place on earth (and beyond) but returns automatically at dawn, "Transylvania standard time" as mentioned by Igor in the show. It is activated when Duckula enters an upright coffin while saying where he wants it to take him (often, he would have to come up with a rhyme to activate it properly).

The controls to this device are inside an old fashioned cuckoo clock that hangs on the wall. Inside the clock live two mechanical bats, Dmitri and Sviatoslav, who punctuate each episode by coming out and delivering stale jokes to each other. These jokes were so bad that they actually drove a character who had been given the clock insane. The fact that the characters had thick Slavic accents, and that Sviatoslav often doesn't understand the punchlines does not help matters.

The castle itself may be at least partly sentient, and may also have a degree of self-awareness. The other characters make references to this, though this may simply be their own superstition.

Antagonists

Dr Von Goosewing

Von Goosewing is a mad scientist and vampire hunter, who is a spoof of Abraham Van Helsing. He is a goose, as his name suggests, and speaks in a German accent. Von Goosewing wears an outfit not unlike that of Sherlock Holmes with a pair of spats. Von Goosewing often flies a dirigible with 'VG' written on it.

He is never able to comprehend that Count Duckula is a threat to nobody, and stalks him relentlessly. When not inventing some new machine to hunt vampires with, he relies on an old fashioned musket which is loaded with a wooden stake (although curiously it sometimes actually fires laser beams).

He is a terrible scientist, often getting maimed by his own crack-pot inventions. He is also supremely unobservant, and capable of bumping into Duckula and conversing with him for several minutes without realising who he is talking to.

Von Goosewing has an assistant (who never appears on screen) named "Heinrich". Von Goosewing often calls for Heinrich, and Heinrich is often blamed for Von Goosewing's mistakes. The comic book version of the characters by Marvel Comics reveal that Heinrich is actually his former assistant who is always complaining for his low wage. Von Goosewing mentions that Heinrich threatened to resign but is still with him. Apparently Heinrich did quit, but his former employer failed to realise it.

The Marvel comic books based on the show also add a supporting character to him: his niece Vanna, whom Duckula has a crush on.

The Crow Brothers

Four criminally inclined crows (Ruffles, Burt, and two unnamed brothers) who are typically seen scaling the walls of Castle Duckula with the aid of climbing equipment. They are always seen hanging off one another with the use of bungee cords to climb the walls of whatever building they plan to scale. Their goal is to get at the treasure inside the castle, but they rarely make it to the top.

The crows always wear masks. Ruffles wears a balaclava; Burt wears a longer balaclava; the third wears a Peruvian chullo that seems to extend to his eyes; and the fourth crow brother wears a sock that covers his face entirely. The four brothers are led by the tallest crow, Ruffles, who often has plans that do not work.

The Egg

A supervillain egg with a grudge against anyone that is alive, because he was never able to hatch from his egg. Along with his insidious schemes and plans is a parrot with an Asian complexion known as Oddbeak, who is very careful not to use words with the prefix "Egg", as he knows that it will offend his master.

Gaston and Pierre

A pair of French criminals who serve as occasional villains. Although they are both undeniably incompetent, the arrogant Gaston is ostensibly the brains of the outfit.

Gaston is a tall, thin black stork, while Pierre is a stubby, short parakeet. The characters were adapted into non-bird form for yet another Cosgrove-Hall animated series - Victor and Hugo

The Phantom of the Opera and Cruel

A duo of characters who, at one point seek revenge on Count Duckula for foiling their plans. The Phantom is a tall, thin bird with the same mask worn by the original Phantom and dressed in dandefied clothes (complete with a cape), while Cruel is a short (if misshapen) bird who acts as the Phantom's manservant. Unsurprisingly, Cruel and Igor appear to be old school chums.

Morris the Strongman and Charlie the Clown

A pair of baleful circus performers who had a grudge on Duckula; both were bumbling (though Charlie was slightly less so) and Morris was the brawn of their misdeeds.

The Pirate Penguins

A ruthless crew of piratical penguins who are hired by Count Duckula at one time, but this crew of seafarers also turn on Count Duckula when his antics crash their ship. All of the penguins are typical pirate stereotypes, one of which is known as Mr. Mate and shouting that he will "bite their heads off!"

Neutrals

Narrator

The narrator opens and closes every episode, talking like a traditional horror host, and trying to make it seem as if the contents of the show are genuinely horrifying. Episodes usually began with him describing Castle Duckula and its gloomy atmosphere. They often close with the narrator saying "Goodnight out there...WHATever you are!" Variants of this line are also used to close certain programmes.

Relatives

Duckula has any number of vampiric relatives all over the world. These are more classic vampires than Duckula, possessing fangs, red eyes and evil personalities, and while many of them are killers and ne'er-do-wells, only a small number, such as Don Diego, show any affinity or friendship toward the benign Count Duckula.

They come from many different countries, such as Spain and Scotland, and represent the culture they are from in their outfits. Some such relatives were Don Diego, a Spanish vampire duck who makes his fun and games by burning down villages, and Rory McDuckula, a Scottish vampire duck who later makes himself an enemy of Duckula[3].

The peasants

The town situated below Castle Duckula is home to many peasants who live in constant fear of the Count, despite his dislike of human blood in his current incarnation. A recurring joke in the series and associated books is that "the peasants are revolting" (a pun that works because the word "revolting" can mean "rebelling" or "foul"). Their local pub is called "The Teeth and Jugular", a reference to vampires' practice of biting into blood vessels in their victims' necks.

Trivia

• During episode nine, "All in a Fog," as Count Duckula is relating his reasons for wanting to become a detective and travel to London, the music being played under David Jason's lines is the same music that was used as the introduction to Jason's "Captain Fantastic" segments in the 1967-69 children's series Do Not Adjust Your Set. Also in this episode we catch a glimpse of DangerMouse's pillarbox residence.
• In a move mirroring Duckula's adaptation from DangerMouse, the characters of Gaston and Pierre were re-invented and given a spin-off series as the now-human Victor and Hugo.http://www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/chamb/victorandhugo.html
• Dr. Von Goosewing had different accents. On the British version, he speaks with a German accent. It was accidentally changed to a Cockney accent for the Network Ten distribution. Despite the Cockney accent, he still has the German one on the video and DVD releases, even though the Danger Mouse character Stiletto still has his Italian accent during its Network Ten run.
• Count Duckula appeared in North American comics under Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel Comics) as well as in the UK (exact dates unknown)
• In the episode 'Hardluck Hotel' Duckula runs into a hotelier who is strikingly similar to Basil Fawlty.
• In 'The Vampire Strikes Back' Tremendous Terrence asks Duckula what the date is before he leaves. It's May the 4th, so this allows for the cry 'May the Fourth be with you!' as he flies off in his space ship. This is a reference to the phrase 'May the Force be with you' from the Star Wars films.

DVD releases

• Count Duckula: Vampire Vacation (PAL) http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/98804/Count-Duckula-Vampire-Vacation/Product.html - Release Date: 14 Oct 2002
• Count Duckula: The Complete First Season (NTSC) - Release Date: 4 Oct 2005
• Count Duckula: The Complete First Series (PAL) http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/1032500/Count-Duckula-Complete-Series-1/Product.html - Release Date: 17 Jul 2006
• Count Duckula: The Complete Second Series (PAL) http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/1032500/Count-Duckula-Complete-Series-2/Product.html - Release Date: 26 Mar 2007
• Count Duckula: The Complete Third Series (PAL) - Release Date: 3 Sep 2007

VHS releases

During the show's original run, Count Duckula episodes were released on numerous VHS titles from Thames Video Collection, often in a different order to that when televised. Amongst others were;

-Count Duckula: A Fright At The Opera (TV8045)- Released: 1988. Episodes contained: A Fright At The Opera/Hunchbudgie Of Notre Dame/Dr Goosewing & Mr Duck.

-Count Duckula: Special Bumper Edition- Released: 1989. Consisted of several episodes from series two, but in a different order to that when first televised. Episodes contained: Ghostly Gold/Prime Time Duck/The Incredible Shrinking Duck/Ducknapped/Bloodsucking Bats Of The Lower Amazon.

-Count Duckula: OO Duck (TV8105)- Released: 1990. Episodes contained: '00' Duck/A Mountie Always Gets His Duck/Manhattan Duck Interestingly, this VHS title appeared in 1990, but at the time the episodes containined were somewhat exclusive to video (The first was not televised until 1991, neither were the latter until 1993)

Count Duckula episodes were also released on special VHS compilations with episodes of other series. In 1989, the episode 'Down Under Duckula' was released on Thames' VHS title 'More Children's Summer Stories', with episodes from Dangermouse and The Wind In The Willows. In 2001, in the twilight years of VHS, the episodes 'The Ghost Of Castle McDuckula' and 'Ducknapped' were featured on two cult kids' collection tapes, with episodes of Rainbow, Chorlton & The Wheelies, Button Moon and Jamie & The Magic Torch.

Episode list

Main article: List of Count Duckula episodes

Airing history

• UK
• ITV1 (1988-1993)
• The Children's Channel
• Nickelodeon (1995-1996)
• Sky One (1998-2001)
• USA
• Nickelodeon (1988-1994)
• Canada
• YTV
• South Africa
• Boomerang
• Mexico
• Televisa still airs the show up to this date- Canal 5- (January 11, 2006). The success of the animated series in Mexico is partly attributed to its translation and voicework in Spanish which was the very first to be done in a loose style, translating not only languages but cultural references and humor as well, uncommon in movies or television shows until Count Duckula, or "Conde Pátula" as it's known in Spanish.
• Netherlands
• Boomerang

External links

• Cosgrove Hall's official Duckula page
• Episode guide
• Fan site
• German Fan site, world's largest Count Duckula source
• Count Duckula at TV.com
• Count Duckula complete series on Joost.com

Formerly Broadcast Animated Nickelodeon Shows of the 1980s
Channels on the Nickelodeon Network: TV Land | Nick Too | Nick GAS | Nicktoons Network | Noggin / The N
Premiered between 1983-1989: Bananaman | DangerMouse | Belle and Sebastian | | The Adventures of The Little Prince | The Smurfs | Mysterious Cities of Gold | Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea | Adventures of the Little Koala | Heathcliff | Jim Henson's Muppet Babies | Inspector Gadget | Maple Town | Count Duckula | The Alvin Show on Nickelodeon | Beetlejuice | Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics | Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon | Noozles | The World of David the Gnome