"Arctic Circles"

As opposed to aristocratic ones.

Season 2 Episode 9 (episode 35 overall) Original broadcast date: 7 November 1989 Writer: Brian Trueman Additional voices: Albert Penguin Jyves/Dr Von Goosewing: Jimmy Hibbert Colonel Willoughby: Jack May

Staff: (all the cast)

Travel location: The Arctic Castle transport visual used.

Joke Credit: Best Boy - Me sir! Please sir! Me sir!

This was another favourite growing up. It was on our home-made (recorded off the telly) VHS tape along with some other episodes of the series (and of The Sooty Show!) we put together during both shows' original broadcasts back in 1989. It survived a long time and probably still lies on my parents' shelves somewhere! It wasn't as rare as at least two of the other episodes we taped, since this one had an official VHS release too. It's still a firm favourite of mine to this day, not least of all for the hilarious couple of scenes involving Colonel Willoughby (I recall trying to transcript that whole scene on my ZX Spectrum back in the day) but as an adult I can better appreciate the lessons Duckula learns in this outing and how he ought to Count (ho ho) his blessings and not take his loyal butler for granted. We feel some sympathy for Igor too as he feels rejected and worthless, yet still retains his loyalty. We'll get to all that soon. Opening on an unusually hot day in Transylvania, Duckula is sucking a dark red fluid from a lifeless object (a raspberry ice lolly) and is getting hot and bothered as to how to keep cool. After an amusing exchange whereby we learn Nanny broke the fridge by trying to keep it clean in the washing machine, ('It fell off the clothes-line!') Duckula decides to travel via castle to the North Pole. Well, it'll certainly be cooler there. There's another funny little exchange as the trio try to make sense of a 'you are here' map. I like how the map somehow knows where they are, even if they don't Igor: Do you understand that Nanny? Nanny: Er, yes I understands it. Igor: Hmm. I knew there must be something wrong with it. A sleigh-ride they take (using the werewolf!) ends in a snow drift so Duckula decides to pitch camp. Igor makes what will later turn out to be a mistake, by suggesting that they camp in the garden of a nearby stately home - er - igloo. This is where they run into a sneaky butler by the name of Albert Penguin Jyves. He seems to size up the Count pretty sharpish and invite him in but insists that his servants use the tradesman's entrance. Igor, in turn is pretty sharp to size up Jyves and immediately deems him suspect. He's right of course as we'll soon discover.    Jimmy Hibbert does an impressively straight performance as Jyves. He's clearly a character who is unhappy with his job and sees Duckula as a splendid opportunity to jump ship. However he does so in a sneaky way, by subtly suggesting that it's time for the Count to replace Igor. I like how he talks about butlers as if they were cars and I also cringe slightly at how he wastes no time is calling Duckula 'milord' - a bit over-familiar there matey! Jyves: I daresay there's some damp rot in the differential and some carburettor trouble and one of these wet mornings when you really need him you won't be able to start him at all. Duckula's not a bad guy of course, but because of his ongoing feud with Igor, he's easily convinced by Jyves to hire him in replacement and kick the old model out. So not long after Igor finds his way around the igloo than he's sent out again. He cannot even return to the castle as technically, he doesn't work there anymore. Now it's our turn to feel sorry for Igor. He may be a sinister fellow but he is loyal, especially considering he never gets paid! He wallows in self-pity for a while but also displays more of his resentment for Jyves. He doesn't trust him and feels he would make a poor choice of butler for Duckula. He is right of course, as we will discover later on. Just then, who should bumble along in his hot air balloon but Doctor Von Goosewing. This is where Igor proves he can outsneak Jyves in the sneaky butler stakes. He makes an alliance for sorts with Goosewing by pretending he wants Goosewing to zap Duckula. To do this, he insists that the Count and the butler have disguised themselves as each other. I really like this scene, not only for the comic interplay between Igor and Goosewing, but the fact that it also displays the mutual respect they seem to have for each other, despite being technically 'enemies.' It also further highlights Igor's unquestionable faithfulness as his immediate reaction, before discussing things with the Doctor, is to go and warn the Count. Of course he doesn't tell VG the full story, as he is still trying to defend his master - VG just naturally concludes that Igor wants him to zap Duckula because he's annoyed at having been sacked. It's a great little scene that works on many levels. There's no clear-cut 'goodies' and 'baddies' in this series and this scene is a perfect example of that. Meanwhile, Nanny has stumbled into a polar bears' cavern while still trying to find the tradesman's entrance! Being Nanny, she assumes that all the sleeping bears are fur coats, so she  'wears' one and then ponders how to get out of the 'wardrobe.' Meanwhile, back at the igloo Jyves begins to show some of his true colours by not-so-subtly reminding Duckula that it's pay day. Before this can even be discussed at length, we're introduced to the reason Jyves wanted to get a new boss in the first place. Enter Colonel Willoughby who has to be one of the funniest and most disagreeable characters in the whole series. He bellows at Jyves for his DINNER and his FISH and shakes him by the throat while insulting Duckula. He also fumes and turns beetroot red when Jyves finally squares up to him and resigns his position (stating it in several different ways for maximum effect) before melting the ice in his boiling rage and sinking! Despite Jyves being the sneaky instigator, I kind of feel sorry that he has such an unbearable employer. This scene had me in stitches as a child and it still does. It's interesting to note that Jyves also seems to have used familial connections (real or make believe) to get jobs for his friends. Willoughby immediately assumes that Duckula is 'another of your (Jyves') infernal, scrounging distant cousins' - that's after he mistakes him for a fish that is.   Now we realise why Duckula was better off with Igor. Igor is willing to work without pay - Jyves most certainly is NOT. I can't say I blame Jyves for this, but it does serve to highlight the almost familial affection the main three cast members have for each other. Jyves has none of that. He instantly drops his polite facade and him and his mates are about to lay into Duckula when Von Goosewing appears to add further disarray as (thanks to Igor) he's convinced that the duck is the penguin and the penguin is the duck. So of course, he starts chasing Jyves (and everyone else for good measure) with the vampire blaster! It's great stuff and it's funnier when you take Igor's little scheme into account. This is one time where Goosewing's bumbling isn't really his fault. He's just been duped. Nanny drops in to join the 'party' in her new 'fur coat' which chooses this moment to waken up and chase all the penguins away! Unfortunately Nanny slips up and identifies Duckula as 'Master Duckula' thus finally cluing up Von Goosewing. Not really her fault this time either, as she has no knowledge of Igor's plan. Thankfully for Duckula, VG's blaster has run out of charge so he leaves to get it charged up, though goodness knows how, his balloon flew off on its own! He even passes Igor through the tradesman's entrance and doesn't notice! All's well that ends well. Duckula is pleased to have Igor back, is easily forgiven and all set off home to Transylvania...sadly Col. Willoughby appears to have come along for the ride! A well-written, funny episode and a great insight into the relationship between Duckula and Igor. Animation is by the UK team and is solid and expressive. Lots of funny dialogue jokes too as we've come to expect. Music-wise we open with some of 'Fog Bound' and can hear 'On The Humorous Side' (both Ivor Slaney) when Duckula reads the map. 'Workaday World' (Jack Beaver) plays during the sled ride. 'Hide and Seek' (Richard Alan Harvey - track 37) is heard when Igor and Nanny get the door slammed in their faces. A small snippet of 'The Waiting Silence' (also Harvey) is heard just before Nanny falls into the pit. I have a copy (somewhere) of the music used when Nanny is actually in the pit. It was recorded off of a Vincent Price film, but I haven't been able to locate the name or anything as of yet. It's used a few times throughout the series. Colonel Willoughby's frightening theme would recur in 'The Zombie Awakes.' I don't know what it's called either. 'Deadly Nightshade 1' (Tom Sosuter) plays when Duckula gets in trouble with his new staff. Goosewing's characteristic Teutonic theme recurs again here when he confronts the penguins. The chase music will be familiar to any of those CITV watchers who also watched "Zzzap!" as well. It's 'Keystone Chaos' by Ron Aspery. There's a few other relaxing, aristocratic cues I can't ID yet other than Pachelbel's Canon in D which plays during the 2nd scene in the master bedroom.

Here are some pans and backgrounds. Clicking on them (as with any picture on this blog) will enlarge them. They say episodes set in the snow can be sped though production as there's less to colour, but that doesn't stop the background art from looking great.

A rare sunny day in Transylvania. The closer mountainside on the left is on a separate plane and tracks away faster. This is close to what we see onscreen though. This BG opens and closes the episode. "A stately igloo? Whoever heard of a stately ig-a-loo?" The master bedroom. Do you like snow? Good. Notice the snow effects on the door as it slams shut. There's a lot of snow effects animation throughout this episode. Trivia * Some sources cite the title of this one as 'In Arctic Circles.' * Pay close attention to Ducukla's ice lolly. Does it vanish, get kicked away offscreen, or melt?  * A bit of foreshadowing near the start when Duckula says he may lose a butler. * Snippet of stock Nanny animation. Just her head when she brings the tea. Some of Igor too as he says 'Oh dear' in the same scene. A little reuse from "Town Hall Terrors" too, which makes sense given the similar scenario. * We almost get a  Duckula alliterative gag. He follows up Igor's 'fainting female' with 'ffforget it.' * Duckula uses the US English word 'icebox' whereas Igor used the UK English 'refrigerator'. Igor also uses 'icebox' somewhat mockingly too. An icebox is an old-fashioned non-mechanical fridge, so it's quite possible the castle still uses one of them anyway. * Nanny refers to Igor without the 'Mister' prefix she usually uses, but only because she's quoting Duckula. * The verse to make the castle move: "Take us from this steaming hole   to somewhere near the Northern Pole.   It's time to go, so this is it,   Come on castle hit the grit!" * They use the werewolf as a 'Husky'. We still don't get to see him onscreen! * Duckula, Igor and Von Goosewing all use binoculars in this episode. Goosewing is the 4th Jimmy Hibbert character to do so after Ruffles, a Nessie and Tremendous Terence. * Jyves is, of course, a pun on Jeeves the eponymous butler from P.G. Wodehouse's stories. Eddie out of the BBC sitcom 'Bottom' would also use Jyves as his name when impersonating a butler in the episode 'Digger.' Top Cat also refers to The Brain by this name in the episode 'The Tycoon' and another one crops up in 'Phantom Alligator', an episode of Wally Gator. Unusually, this penguin's waistcoat is lilac instead of a more predictable white. * On the menu: Seaweed, Seaweed a la mode , Terrine of Seaweed, Grilled Seaweed with Seaweed, Filleted Seaweed in a Seaweed Sauce, Seaweed Bon Femme, Poached Seaweed on a bed of Seaweed with a side salad of....Seaweed. * Among the titles that Jyves gives Duckula are Your Importance, Your Nobleness, Your Handsomeness (when he's flattering him initially), Your Wealthiness and Your Munificence (when he's after his money) and Your Bankrupcy and Your Batteredness (when he realises he's not getting any). He also uses Your Intelligence when calling Duckula's dinner choice a wise one.

* Igor bemoans that he has been dismissed 'after seven and a half centuries of faithful service.' This is roughly in keeping with when we can assume he came into service, after the 1st Count got 'turned' - early 13th century. * Colonel Willoughby marks the only occasion a  'human' character is not portrayed as a bird person. He's designed more like a walrus, for obvious reasons, though all the portraits on the walls (that we can see) depict bird people.

* Real penguins are only found in the Antarctic. Could count as a nitpick, were these not, as mentioned above, human type characters. * 2nd time Jimmy Hibbert plays a penguin and one of two times in the series Jack May plays a Colonel. Jimmy would later play 2 further penguins (Bluey and Bella) in 'Avenger Penguins.'  * Both Jack's characters use the term 'ghastly little bounder.' * Another appearance of Von Goosewing's hot air balloon and vampire zapper. This one shoots laser beams, which naturally don't kill Jyves (as he's not a vampire), only hurt and annoy him. Another reference to the ever-elusive Heinrich too.

* Nanny briefly removes her arm from her sling when trying on the 'fur coat.'

* Jyves accent slips from refined and upper class, if servile, to aggressive Yorkshire when he realises he's not going to get paid. * Although the clock appears, the clock bats do not.  * Storyboard by Vin James again. * This episode was released on the Count Duckula Bumper Special Volume 2 VHS, in 1990 along with 'A Christmas Quacker', 'Alps-a-Daisy', 'Unreal Estate' and 'There are Werewolves at the Bottom of our Garden.' * The joke credit is a reference to a best boy, someone responsible for grip and lighting on a movie set.

Goofs and Nitpicks

* Some of Duckula's jacket cel is visible when it shouldn't be when he's talking about going to the Arctic. Pretty hard to spot = pretty nitpicky. * Cel number seen for literally a single frame as Duckula opens the map. Seems to be the same animator each time this little nitpick occurs.   Lets close with some old fan art.