This one's for you, Duckie-poos!Count Duckula is perhaps one of three animated series that I can distinctly remember having an impact on me as a child (the other two being He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Thundercats). Unlike He-Man or Thundercats, however, Count Duckula was based in a long history of horror comedy in which a terrifyingly familiar monster stereotype was rendered harmless in all its slapstick splendor. As a kid, I simply couldn't get enough.
I mean, what's not to love? There's crazy monsters, a catchy theme song and 20 minutes of zany, macabre adventure. Although my first experience with Duckula would come with its syndication on Nickelodeon in the late 80s, the series is actually British in origin with the titular vampire duck making his first appearance as a villain in another UK import, DangerMouse. The funny thing is that I was also into DangerMouse, though I can't recall having seen the two ever having met up until a few days ago on YouTube.
The differences in the character are slight, mostly a few minor changes having been made to his appearance and speech, and I'm glad that the animators took the direction they did with the Duckula series. The extra dose of horror in Count Duckula is definitely appreciated and sets the precedent for future series like The Cartoon Adventures of Teen Wolf. Its interesting to note here that both series were from the UK and both feature insanely cool ending credits... I'm just saying.
I loved Count Duckula. I particularly liked Nanny, the giant chicken who was sort of his maid (I think she was a chicken. Whatever she was, she was funny as hell!)