Count Duckula facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Count Duckula |
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| Narrated by | Barry Clayton |
| Opening theme | "Count Duckula" by Mike Harding |
| Ending theme | "Count Duckula" by Mike Harding |
| Composer(s) | Mike Harding |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 65 (list of episodes) |
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| Executive producer(s) | John Hambley |
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| Running time | 22 minutes |
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| Original network | ITV |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | 6 September 1988 – 16 February 1993 |
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| Related shows | |
Count Duckula is a fun British animated TV show. It's a mix of comedy horror and dark fantasy, created by Cosgrove Hall Films and Thames Television. This series is a spin-off from another popular show, Danger Mouse, where Count Duckula was a bad guy.
The show first aired on September 6, 1988, and ran until February 16, 1993. There were four series in total, with 65 episodes. Each episode was about 22 minutes long. All the episodes have been released on DVD in the UK.
It's important not to confuse this show with a different cartoon called Quacula from 1979. A new version of Count Duckula also appeared in the 2015 reboot series of Danger Mouse.
Contents
What is Count Duckula About?
The main idea of Count Duckula is that each time a vampire is brought back to life (resurrected), they become a new version of themselves. They don't remember their past lives. This means each Count Duckula can have a different personality and interests. The Duckula family has a long history of being "vicious vampire ducks," including knights, scientists, and even gamblers!
The show's opening song explains that the latest resurrection "did not run according to plan." The ritual, which happens once every century, needed blood. But Nanny, one of the characters, accidentally used ketchup instead! Because of this mistake, the newest Count Duckula isn't a blood-sucking vampire. He's a vegetarian who loves juicy carrots more than hunting victims.
Igor, his butler, is very upset about this. He wants his master to be a proper, scary vampire. Even worse, this new Count Duckula wants to be rich and famous as an entertainer!
Adventures and Challenges
The stories often follow Duckula's adventures as he tries to find fame and fortune. His castle can teleport to anywhere in the world, which leads to many exciting journeys.
Igor often tries to turn Duckula into a "real" vampire. Another recurring character is Doctor Von Goosewing, a vampire hunter who is based on Dr. Abraham Van Helsing from the Dracula stories. Von Goosewing never believes that the current Duckula is harmless and always tries to catch him.
The show also features strange enemies, like zombies and robot werewolves. A funny part of the show is a cuckoo clock with two bat-like characters, Dmitri and Sviatoslav. They come out and tell jokes, often about what's happening in the episode. This clock is also key to how the castle teleports and can even turn back time!
Comics and annuals were also released, telling more stories about Count Duckula and his friends.
Meet the Characters
Count Duckula
Count Duckula the 17th is a short, green duck with black hair. He wears traditional vampire clothes but speaks with an American accent. Unlike other vampires, he has no fangs and loves broccoli sandwiches! Sometimes, he even wears Danger Mouse pajamas, a nod to his origins. The Duckula family motto is Per ardua ad sanguina, which means "work hard for blood."
Duckula is quite modern and doesn't like being a gloomy vampire. He hates his dark castle and finds his servants depressing. He gets annoyed with Igor trying to make him a "proper" vampire.
Even though he's not a traditional vampire, he still has some powers, like teleportation and not showing up in mirrors. He can also create a lightning flash when he's angry. He can go out in the daytime without any problems, which is different from many vampires in stories.
Duckula can be a bit selfish, but he's usually good-natured and tries to help people. He often gets obsessed with new hobbies, like becoming a blues musician or a cowboy, which usually forms the plot of an episode.
The Count Duckula in this show is very different from the one in Danger Mouse. The old version was evil and wanted to be a TV star. He had more magical powers and was not a vegetarian. The new Duckula in the 2015 Danger Mouse reboot is a mix of both versions.
In the Count Duckula comics by Marvel, it was explained that because ketchup was used in his resurrection, he has ketchup, not blood, in his veins! He even had a girlfriend named Vanna Von Goosewing, who was the niece of his enemy, Dr. Von Goosewing.
Igor
Igor is the Count's butler. He's like a classic horror movie servant. He's a hunched, balding vulture with a deep, slow voice. He loves all things dark and spooky. He really dislikes Duckula's vegetarian ways and always tries to get him to be more evil, like the old Counts. Igor hates "nice" words like "bless you" or "lovely."
He's been serving the Duckula family for a very long time, possibly even since the very first Count Duckula! He might even be responsible for the first Count becoming a vampire.
Nanny
Nanny is Duckula's nanny and housekeeper. She's a very tall and clumsy hen with a strong Bristol accent. Her right arm is always in a sling, and she has incredible strength. She often crashes through doors or walls because she has a "blind spot" for them. She's the one who accidentally used ketchup instead of blood for Duckula's resurrection.
Nanny isn't very smart and can be unreliable, but she loves her "Ducky-boos" (Duckula) very much. Her clumsiness often causes problems for him. She sometimes mixes up words and doesn't always understand what people are saying. She's very motherly and gives Duckula tight hugs that almost suffocate him!
Castle Duckula
Count Duckula's home is a classic Transylvanian castle. It has everything you'd expect: a dungeon, a torture chamber, a library of spooky books, and a lab. The castle is also home to a werewolf named Towser, who Duckula doesn't believe exists.
The castle can teleport anywhere on Earth (and beyond!). It automatically returns to Transylvania at dawn. To teleport, Duckula has to get into an upright coffin and say where he wants to go, often with a rhyme. The controls for this are inside an old-fashioned cuckoo clock on the wall. Inside the clock are two mechanical bats, Dmitri and Sviatoslav, who tell bad jokes.
Dr. Von Goosewing
Dr. Von Goosewing is a mad scientist and vampire hunter. He's a goose with a German accent and dresses like Sherlock Holmes. He constantly chases Count Duckula, but he can never understand that this Duckula is harmless. He's not a very good scientist and often gets hurt by his own inventions. He's also very unobservant and sometimes talks to Duckula without realizing who he is!
Von Goosewing often calls for an assistant named Heinrich, but Heinrich never appears on screen. It seems Heinrich might just be an imaginary friend. In the comics, Heinrich is his former assistant who complains about his low pay.
The Crow Brothers
The Crow Brothers are four criminal crows: Ruffles, Burt, Junior, and a masked brother. They often try to climb the walls of Castle Duckula using climbing gear. They want to steal the treasure inside the castle, but they rarely make it to the top.
Gaston and Pierre
Gaston and Pierre are a pair of French criminals who sometimes act as villains. Gaston is a tall, thin black stork and the "brains" of the duo, even though they are both clumsy. Pierre is a short, chubby parakeet. These characters were later made into humans for another cartoon series called Victor and Hugo.
Pirate Penguins
These are a tough crew of pirate penguins. Count Duckula once hired them, but they turned against him when his actions crashed their ship. They are all typical pirate characters, and one of them, Mr. Mate, often shouts that he will "bite their heads off!"
Narrator
The Narrator (voiced by Barry Clayton) starts and ends every episode. He usually begins by describing Castle Duckula and its spooky feel. He ends with a famous line, "Goodnight out there ... WHATever you are!" followed by a crazy laugh that leads into the credits.
Relatives
Duckula has many vampire relatives around the world. They are more like classic vampires, with fangs, red eyes, and evil personalities. Only a few, like Don Diego, are friendly with the harmless Count Duckula. These relatives come from different countries, like Spain and Scotland, and their costumes match their cultures.
The Peasants
The town below Castle Duckula is full of peasants who are always scared of the Count, even though he's harmless. A running joke in the show is that "the peasants are revolting" (meaning they are both gross and rebellious!). Their local pub is called "The Tooth and Jugular." The people there often sing a song about killing a vampire.
Episodes
Home Media
You can find Count Duckula on DVD. The first series was released in North America in 2005. In the UK, all four series have been released. There was also a complete collection DVD set.
VHS tapes of the show were also released when it first aired. Some episodes were even put on special VHS tapes with other cartoons like Danger Mouse.
Audiobooks
In the early 1990s, some episodes were turned into audiobooks on cassette tapes. These included the original voice actors and had new narration to make them shorter and work without the visuals.
Computer Games
Alternative Software made a computer game based on Count Duckula called "No Sax Please, We're Egyptian!". In this game, Duckula, Igor, and Nanny search an ancient tomb for a mystic saxophone. The Crow Brothers are also there, trying to cause trouble.
It was a platform game where players had to go through a pyramid, avoiding bad guys, to get the saxophone before the castle teleported back to Transylvania. The game was available for old computers like the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. There was also a sequel called Count Duckula 2 in 1992.
Images for kids
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The title screen of Count Duckula.
See also
In Spanish: Count Duckula para niños
