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Count Duckula is a British animated television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall and a spin-off from Danger Mouse, a show in which the Count Duckula character was a recurring villain. The series aired on September 6, 1988 and was produced by Thames Television for three series and Central Television for the fourth and final series. In all, 65 episodes were made, each about 22 minutes long. All 65 episodes have been released to DVD in the UK, while only the first series has been released in North America. Both the series and its characters continue to have a large following on the internet.
The show is a loose parody of the story of Count Dracula. Set in Transylvania (a region in Romania), 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 wearing an arm sling). Almost all of the characters in the show are anthropomorphised birds.
Plot:
The story (as shown in the title sequence of each episode) is that Duckula has been a vampire for centuries. He could only be destroyed by exposure to sunlight or by a wooden stake thrust through his heart. In fact, Duckula has 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" (The opening credits depict Igor's incantation). Several episodes explore the theme 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 own personal interests. The vampire is thus able to pose as a "dreadful dynasty," the Counts of Duckula. The preceding generations included knights, sorcerers, scientists, artists, Egyptologists and even professional gamblers, all of whom were also secretly "vicious vampire ducks".
Yet, as the title sequence put it, "the latest reincarnation did not run according to plan." The successful conclusion of the ritual requires blood (a send-up of the Hammer Dracula films), the source of sustenance for any vampire, but Nanny accidentally substituted tomato ketchup. Consequently, the newest version is not a blood-sucking vampire, but a vegetarian one. He is more interested in juicy carrots than hunting for victims. Naturally, Igor is appalled at this. Even worse, his "new" master is obsessed with pursuing wealth and fame as an entertainer.
The stories often centre around Duckula's adventures in search of riches and fame, assisted by the castle's ability to teleport around the world. Another regularly occurring theme is the reiterated attempt by Igor to turn Duckula into a proper vampire. Some episodes feature Duckula's nemesis Doctor Von Goosewing (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. There is also an array of bizarre, often supernatural foes, from zombies to mechanical werewolves. The show also features a cuckoo clock whose bat-like Russian-accented characters come out and make jokes about the current situation (or just corny jokes in general); the clock is also a vital part of the castle's travelling mechanism, and even has the ability to turn back time.
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.
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