Danger Mouse: From Duck to Dawn – review

Directors: Robert Cullen & Simon Hall

First aired: 2016 (episodes)

Contains spoilers

So before we had the show Count Duckula the character had appeared in four episodes of the series Danger Mouse as a villain. When Danger Mouse was rebooted as a series in 2015 it seemed sensible that Duckula (Rasmus Hardiker) would be repurposed for that show.

Cut forward and this compilation DVD was released featuring the villainous vampire duck on the cover. And yet, of eight episodes only two featured Duckula (his portrait and a statue appeaed in others as background eye candy). Two… Two measly episodes. The character has been in more than that… I feel as though I need a mouse super-spy to come along and work out why we’ve been diddled.

adversaries

Not that the other episodes were bad, mind you. This reboot is very well done with Alexander Armstrong taking over the reigns as the titular Danger Mouse and Kevin Eldon as Penfold, the series stayed very true to the original with some nice twists – I rather liked the idea of Arkwright Asylum. As for Duckula… well he is villainous once again (and just as inept) and likely he is a different incarnation to the vegetarian vampire duck of his own series (the resurrection ritual was botched to create his less villainous persona).

shadow of the vampire

Duckula is still obsessed with being famous. In the episode From Duck to Dawn we get a mission to Transylvania, where Duckula is broadcasting a hypnotic show that turns the viewers, literally, into vegetables. We get a crap bat carrot, a bar called the Slaughtered Llama and an appearance by a werewolf. In the episode The Duckula Show, tired of being the second rate villain that he is, Duckula kidnaps the Danger Mouse show writers (shown to be monkeys) and uses them to alter the fabric of the show’s reality.

with the radish Renfield

It is all good stuff… But dagnabbit I wanted more Duckula than that. Be that as it may, we have to live with what we have and I am certainly not down marking the DVD set for its lack of Duckula. All in all I think this was an excellent reboot, great fun episodes… but needing more Duckula (fans of Danger Mouse will be well served, to be fair). 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Vampires Most Fowl

A little while back I published a blog post about Bovine Vampires, rare creatures to be sure, but out there nonetheless. In a comment on that post, blog friend Alex suggested that an article on vampire ducks might be in order.

This is not a leap, after all Howard the Duck took on both Dracula and Hellcow but, more importantly, Howard was turned into a vampire too – after being bitten by Dracula – Ahh you see, Marvel catered for all tastes it seems. If you want to read the comic in which Howard lived the life of a blood sucker then the blog the Wonderful World of Stupid have posted the whole comic here.

Drake-ula

Of course Disney had to get in on the act and not so long back we looked at the Duck Tales episode The Ducky Horror Picture Show in which we met the duck version of Dracula – Drake-ula. This duck vampire only bite apples, however, to keep his fangs in good working order. It should be mentioned that Loony Tunes also flirted with vampires, but Daffy Duck (to my knowledge) only wore fake vampire fangs (made by acme of course).

Duckula - villain

The most famous Duck vampire has to have been Count Duckula. He made his first appearance in the cartoon Danger Mouse in which he was comedic, inept, stage struck but very much a villain. Despite the fact that his weaknesses changed (in certain episode he burnt in the sun and others he did not) he certainly threatened to drink blood.

Duckula reimagined

When Duckula got his own series that ran three seasons (click for seasons one, two and three) he morphed from being the villain to the hero and the method was ingenious. Duckula could be resurrected, indeed there was a long line of Counts. In this incarnation there was a glitch (from a vampire point of view). Whilst henchman Igor conducted the ritual to resurrect his master he was passed a bottle of tomato ketchup rather than blood and the Count was reborn vegetarian, good and immune to much of the normal apotropaic things.

vampire cockerel

However it is not only ducks that become vampires. In a madcap moment during the film the First Vampire in China we get a vampire cockerel. The corpses in a certain burial area are put in a cliff face as the ground will turn corpses into vampires. To prove this, the Taoist master has a cockerel buried that a couple of sceptics dig up and, yes, it is a vampire. It manages to injure both, however, and pass on the vampirism. In their case it causes them to scratch at the floor, peck and crow. Sticky rice, however, manages to cure them.

Herschel the turkey vampire

Now, you might be thinking that this is all well and good – and somewhat amusing (perhaps) – but wondering why I would post this on Christmas day. Ahh, but there is method in my madness as we have still to look at the film Blood Freak a film that features a vampire turkey. Yes indeed lead character Herschel becomes a turkey-headed vampire who slits throats so that he can drink his victims' blood (probably because his papier-mâché beak wasn’t up to piercing necks). Remember Herschel, dear reader, as you tuck into your turkey dinner (vegetarians, of course, are saved this delight). An awful film, indeed a real turkey.

And there we have it… vampire fowls.

Duckula – the Danger Mouse episodes – review

Directors Brian Cosgrove (3 episodes) & Chris Randall (1 episode)

First aired: 1982 – 1986

Contains spoilers

We have previously looked at the series Count Duckula (Season 1, Season 2 & Season 3) and were charmed by the zany antics of the Transylvanian vegetarian vampire duck.

However, Duckula (David Jason) first appeared in the series Danger Mouse, featuring in four episodes in total and, as we will see, his character was somewhat different to the duck me meet in his own series. Danger Mouse itself was a UK cartoon series about a secret agent mouse, the eponymous Danger Mouse (also David Jason), and his useless side kick the hamster Penfold (Terry Scott, Carry on Christmas).

Greenback's infernal plan

The Four Tasks of Danger Mouse was an episode from the second series and the episode is built up of 5 short parts. In it Dastardly Baron Greenback (Edward Kelsey) has kidnapped Penfold and requires that Danger Mouse carry out 4 impossible tasks (in order that Greenback may create an indestructible monster).

dramatic entry

The task we are interested in is to gain two feathers from a vampire duck – a creature that Danger Mouse believes to be myth. However in Transylvania he comes across Count Duckula. Now, this must be a previous incarnation of Duckula to the one in the stand alone series for this Duckula is prepared to show fangs and threatens to drink blood. He is also scared of sunlight, something the more familiar Duckula is immune to.

fanged duck

Luckily the vampire duck is also stage struck and is willing to trade in his feathers for a TV spot… something Danger Mouse cannot offer (as TV just isn’t ready for him). So after auditioning as a magician (pulling a hat out of a rabbit and being sawn in half – down the middle) and doing some ham Shakespearean acting, Duckula finds himself on the receiving end of Danger Mouses’ exploding harmonica, rendering him insensible as two feathers are plucked.

eye mojo

The next appearance of Duckula was in the aptly named season 4 episode The Return of Count Duckula – indeed Danger Mouse even remembers scenes from his previous encounter (in an abridged format). This time Duckula is called to England by Baron Greenback with the task of hypnotising the Members of Parliament to act like stage struck fools (a little like Duckula) in return Greenback will get Duckula a TV show (and take over Britain in the ensuing chaos).

vampire backing group

In this episode we discover that both bad eggs and rotten cabbage are an apotropaic against vampire ducks – and the stench of the cabbage can break the duck’s hypnotic grip on a mortal’s mind. During the episode we actually get a backing group of vampires. In order to defeat the tenacious Duck, Danger Mouse summons Agent 57, a master of disguise, who appears as an American talent agent and books him on a theatrical tour of the Antarctic.

diabolical duckula

Later in the fourth series Duckula returned in the episode The Great Bone Idol. In this Greenback hired the vampire duck to go to the Himalayas and retrieve the mystic stick that would then lead him to the great bone idol. The idol is kept in a magic kennel (which can only be opened once every thousand years) and is a bone containing the bark of Cerberus. Possession of the bone gives the bearer control of all dogs.

relaxing in the sun

In return for his help, Duckula is promised Australia and is quite taken with the idea of Bondi Beach – a strange thing for a vampire duck you might think. However later we see him in the Sahara Desert, the place where the bone is hidden, sunning himself. Yes, despite fleeing the sun the first time we met him and, in this season, him burning in the sun, the scriptwriters have forgotten their own lore and allowed him into the sun – but that’s alright as the series is silly enough to get away with it.

Colonel K

Finally the Chris Randall directed Duckula Meets Frankenstoat was from season 7 of the series and began with Danger Mouse and Penfold on a skiing holiday, a holiday cut short when Colonel K sends then a recorded message warning that Count Duckula and Doctor Frankenstoat had teamed up. It is time for a trip to Transylvania.

vampire bat

However, before they can leave the Piste they are confronted by Duckula – in full on am-dram mode. He turns into a bat (a cricket bat, and there are a lot of cricket related puns in the dialogue) but is thwarted by a neatly aimed snowball flung by Danger Mouse. Penfold and Danger Mouse then make their way to Castle Duckula.

cor chief

There they discover that Frankenstoat has built a vampirematic, a machine programmed with Duckula’s personality that will create an army of vampoids – that he needs Duckula to control. The vampoids take the form of flying cricket bats! Danger Mouse has to destroy the machine.

So there you have it, 4 episodes and a rather different vampire duck. Nevertheless it was still great fun – as a whole series and these episodes in particular. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Duck Tales: The Ducky Horror Picture Show – review

Director: Terence Harrison

First aired: 1987

Contains spoilers

I was informed of this episode of Duck Tales by Alex and found it online, at Daily Motion, though it is available on DVD.

It is, of course, a Disney series featuring Scrooge McDuck (Alan Young) and his Grand-nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie (all voiced by Russi Taylor).The premise being that the nephews have been left wqith Scrooge after their uncle Donald joins the navy. Scrooge is the richest duck in the world but is always trying to find ways of becoming richer.

movie monster

The first of his money making schemes in this episode is a movie theatre, in which he plays monster movies. The boys wonder whether monsters are real, and panic when they are confronted by the Frankenstein’s Monster, but he is only an actor drumming up publicity for the cinema and Scrooge tells them that monsters are just in movies, they are not real.

Wolf hires the convention centre

To further make money he buys a wreck of a building and has it renovated to make a convention centre. He is approached by a Mister Wolf who wants to hold a convention there and, hearing that they’ll need a hotel, he offers to hire his mansion out as a hotel also. Of course Mr Wolf is actually a werewolf and the convention is for monsters.

the creature, Drake-ula and the Mummy

We have a full house of various monsters. The wolfman has been mentioned and we also get Igor, the Mummy, the Creature from the Blue Lagoon (as it is renamed), Frankenstein’s monster and bride, the invisible man, King Kong, the blob and, of course, Dracula. Actually Dracula is renamed in this as Drake-ula (get it) and tells the nephews that although he is a real vampire he only bites apples (they keep his fangs healthy).

as bat

The only other real vampire lore we get is the fact that he can turn into a bat (a tad redundant for a duck, but there you go). The episode sees Scrooge on the verge of making his first loss in a business venture and turning it around. It also sees the monsters protesting his cinema because of the way that monsters are portrayed – that is until they realise that the kids love them.

I only bite... apples

It really is standard fare and I guess whether you love it or not will depend on whether you are a Disney/Duck Tales fan, which I’m not particularly. For me, therefore, it was an average episode of an average kid’s show – doing nothing particularly wrong (bar pushing an ultra-capitalist worldview, if you want to get picky), treating the monsters with due reverence and just getting on with it. I understand, however, that some will love it. 5 out of 10.

The imdb page is here.

Count Duckula – the complete third series – review

Director: Various

First aired: 1990-1993

Contains spoilers

The complete third series of Count Duckula (David Jason) is somewhat of a misnomer title wise. The first thirteen episodes are the complete third season. The final seven episodes are the shorter lived fourth season, but let us not split hairs.

We have previously looked at the first and second seasons – though you can buy all three/four seasons as a single set now.

rare fanged pose

When it comes to a review the trouble is, of course, it is absolutely more of the same with each episode being a stand alone adventure with the vegetarian vampire duck, his evil manservant Igor (Jack May) and his gargantuan pea-brained Nanny (Brian Truman). There was no more lore added in this then previously, except for the idea that the original Count Duckula was turned into a vampire by the bite of a bat – something the present incarnation tries and fails to prevent by travelling back in time.

The Egg

The two standout episodes come from season four. “Venice a Duck not a Duck” sees the arch-villain The Egg (Jimmy Hibbert) setting a series of dastardly traps for Duckula involving many of the criminals who have previously graced episodes. As such it becomes somewhat of a rogue’s gallery of an episode.

Dr Quackbrain

The final episode, “The Zombie Awakens”, is a surrealist joy with the insane Dr Quackbeak – and his hand puppet binky – using his zombie, named Morpheus, to kidnap Duckula so that he can watch his dreams. A wonderful tonal grey (which could have looked even better if these episodes had been digitally restored), with a castle straight out of a German expressionist classic and Igor’s nightmare of cute fluffy bunnies.

This – like the other two seasons – gets a score of 7 out of 10 and the imdb page is here.

Count Duckula – the complete second series – review

Directors: various

First aired: 1989 to 1990

Contains spoilers

This was the second series based on the vegetarian vampire duck, Count Duckula (David Jason) and I previously looked at the first series set here. The basic premise around the show is that Transylvania is home to a lineage of vampire Ducks.

If the Count Duckula is killed, by one of the standard vampire killing methods ie stake through the heart or sunlight, he can be resurrected through a ceremony that can take place but once a century. Unfortunately this time the reincarnation process went awry when Duckula’s manservant Igor (Jack May) called for blood and the dim-witted Nanny (Brian Trueman) brought tomato ketchup instead. The resultant Duckula is a vegetarian who cannot stand blood. The advantage gained from this is that he can also stand sunlight and doesn’t bear fangs, although he still casts no reflection. Note, that during this series, Igor tricks Duckula into signing a contract that forces him to wear false fangs and pace the battlements screaming every Tuesday night.

The series was shorter than season 1, 7 hours over 2 discs or 19 episodes. I do have to mention the episode with the best title ever: Return of the Curse of the Secret of the Mummy’s Tomb Meets FrankenDuckula’s Monster and the Wolf-Man and the Intergalactic Cabbage… An absolute genius of a monster mash that also includes vampire hunters, a village mob and a lake monster. You just don’t get episodes or titles like that anymore.

All the main characters are back, Igor, Nanny – of course Duckula himself – and Doctor Von Goosewing makes sporadic, amusing appearances – still believing that he has an invisible assistant called Heinrich when no-one is there. There are the assorted villains – the crow gang and the French master criminals, plus a whole plethora of incidental characters appearing. Barry Clayton still does the intro and outro voiceovers.

The episodes are all stand alone, zany moments and silly stories that anyone who watched the show as a kid will find fills them with nostalgia. The show has travelled well though, I found my son coming in and watching it with me, chortling away, as I watched the set. What has not aged that well is the actual transfer, this season, like season 1, has not been remastered and it makes the cartoon look that much older.

There isn’t much else to say, that wasn’t covered in the review for the first season as this is more of the same. If you liked that, you’ll like this and it scores the same nostalgic 7 out of 10. The imdb page is here.

Count Duckula – the complete first season – review

Directed by: Chris Randall & Keith Scoble

Originally aired: 1988

Contains spoilers

The character Duckula originally appeared in the cartoon Danger Mouse but eventually got a series in his own right. The first season is now available on DVD, a set containing 3 discs and coming in at over 11 hours of viewing. However, there has been no digital re-mastering and the series shows its age simply in the quality of the transfer.

Each episode is stand alone, and indeed facts can shift from one episode to another depending upon the gag, and concern the Transylvanian vampire duck Count Duckula (David Jason). Duckula’s father (and other forebears) are often mentioned – we even get a sepia flashback to his great-grandfather, but in truth they are all Duckula – he is simply reincarnated.

The title sequence tells us the basic rules around vampires and the way in which they can be resurrected. Vampires can be killed by exposure to sunlight or a wooden stake through the heart and can then be resurrected through a ceremony which can take place once a century. Unfortunately the reincarnation process went awry when Duckula’s manservant Igor (Jack May) called for blood and the dim-witted Nanny (Brian Trueman) brought tomato ketchup instead. The resultant Duckula is a vegetarian who cannot stand blood. The advantage gained from this is that he can also stand sunlight and doesn’t bear fangs, although he still casts no reflection.

Other constant characters include Igor, the butler. Igor has served the Duckula family for centuries and is disgusted by his new master’s hatred of blood. He spends many episodes trying to lure the Count into the ways of evil and often tempts him with blood and maiden’s necks.

There is also Nanny, a giant, ham-fisted, dim-witted hen, who refers to Duckula as “Ducky-boos” and cannot get the hang of doors. Blessed with very few brain cells the character becomes the centre of many of the verbal jokes and is a joy to watch for any fan of Monty Python as her voice is very reminiscent of Python doing little old ladies.

In every episode, at the beginning and the end we also get a voice over by Barry Clayton, for all the world doing his best Vincent Price type voice.

Another recurrent character is Dr Von Goosewing. He is, obviously, the Van Helsing like character but also takes on the role of the mad scientist character, at one point Frankenstein and at another Jekyll – though his potion turns him and Duckula into blood-thirsty vampires, makes Igor nice and Nanny intelligent. He tries to make an assistant, Heinrich, invisible – there is no Heinrich there but he then assumes invisibility and often talks to him in other episodes, despite the fact that there is no Heinrich.

Occasionally we see the bats Sviatoslav and Dimitris pop out of their clock to tell some funnily bad, off-the wall jokes. The clock is vitally important. Duckula can transport his castle anywhere in the world (which makes going on madcap adventures easy) and when the clock reaches the time of dawn in Transylvania it causes the castle to transport home.

In several episodes we get to see what Duckula would have been like if blood had been used in the ceremony. One of these episodes sees a statue of Duckula brought to life and we get the full cape across the face mode. In the one where Duckula drinks Von Goosewing’s potion he can suddenly not go out into the light of day.

I said earlier that the stories are not always consistent. In some Duckula is aware that they have a pet werewolf (we never actually see it) and in others he is not. It really depends how the gag is supposed to run. That said we often pop down to the village and share a pint with the peasants in “Ye Tooth and Jugular” Inn, nice to see and reminiscent of the taverns in the Hammer films.

The gags are silly and zany, as one would expect from a cartoon and, although this is really for kids it is a nice rose-tinted look at our youth (in truth I was getting a little old when this came out but who can resist a cartoon – at any age). If you are searching for serious vampire lore then look away but if you are after something that is fun for the kids, and perhaps nostalgic for adults, this could be the ticket. Zany and madcap, although perhaps 26 episodes get a bit much in a condensed period of time – but none the less, for the price, its great value. 7 out of 10.

The imdb page, for season 1, is here.

I’ll leave you with one of my favourite narrator voice over quotes: “It’s time to say farewell to this realm of darkness. Where the werewolves roam and the ogres and the Hell Monsters play. Where seldom is heard an encouraging word and foul slimy things slither all day. Goodnight out there, whatever you are.”