"There Are Werewolves at the Bottom of Our Garden"

Season 3 Episode 5 (episode 50 overall)

AROOOOOO!!!

Original broadcast date: 19th November 1990

Writers: Peter Richard Reeves, Jimmy Hibbert
Additional voices: Dr. Von Goosewing/

                              Svatoslav/Volfie(?)/Witch: 
                              Jimmy Hibbert
                              Dmitri/Towser(?):
                              Brian Trueman

Joke credit: Wolf Man - Jack

Castle transport visual not used.



Some of the best stories in the series are the ones where the castle stays put. No help from exotic locales is called for or needed. Episodes like 'One Stormy Night', 'Amnesiac Duck' or 'Dr. Von Goosewing's Invisible Ray' focus purely on the characters and what plot they can generate through their actions, with the castle being the stage. This episode does a halfway-house. The spooky castle is still there, but is mostly eschewed in favour of another horror staple - the Really Creepy Forest. Much of the action is played out like a cross between a traditional fairy tale and a bedroom farce, with characters just missing each other by seconds or bumping into each other without realising who it is, looking around for other characters, alone or in pairs and traversing the same areas at different times. All the while, with one of the characters, in this case Igor, trying to keep a secret. Very well constructed and stands up to repeat viewings. Perhaps this is Peter Richard Reeves doing, as he constructed the story of 'One Stormy Night' with similar aplomb. CITV screened this episode as part of it's Old Skool Weekend in early 2013. A good choice as it displays a lot of the stuff the show is most known for: the creepy trappings, the banter and all the main cast get to appear. I was having lunch in Slain's Castle, Aberdeen at the time. I wish they'd had this playing on the TV there, it'd have been perfect.

We open up with Nanny panicking over the missing werewolf. A cold-ridden Towser has slipped his lead and ran off into the forest at the bottom of the hill as a means of avoiding drinking his medicine. Meanwhile Igor's drinking a cup of tea (mug handle resembles a D) and Duckula's making himself a snack. The main part of this scene is especially awkward for Igor as he tries to maintain the charade of the castle not having a werewolf. It's a running gag throughout the series that Towser must be kept a secret from the Count. A couple of earlier episodes (and even one much later one) have Duckula a'wer'e that there is such a beast in his castle, but for the majority, he's in the dark about it. I think it's better that way, frankly as it doesn't seem in keeping that he would allow such a creature in his home. Plus the whole idea is perfectly in keeping with Igor's character - he has to have some bloodthirsty fun I suppose! However, the secret is not helped by the fact that Nanny doesn't seem to grasp Igor's not very subtle hints that she should play along and lie to Duckula and this scene is the best of such exchanges, helped by the Count getting a little suspicious. Lets just assume that 'Amnesiac Duck' takes place as a bridge between Duckula's knowledge of Towser.

Igor cleverly befuddles his master with a Humphrey Appleby-esque bit of mind gaming and he and Nanny quickly leave to recapture Towser. On the way we get this little exchange:

Igor: Nanny, why don't you look where you're going?
Nanny: I did Mister Igor.
Igor: Then why did you trip over all those trash cans?
Nanny: Because that was the way I was going.

Classic Nanny logic.

Sadly for them, they're spotted by Duckula who wonders what they could be up to going into the forest. He decides to follow them, donning a suit of armour for protection.

While all this is going on, Von Goosewing has flown over in his airship and is set to release his latest invention, a robotic werewolf, into the forest. Why he doesn't release it into the castle, isn't clear. Perhaps he saw Duckula make his way there? At any rate he bungles his plan by forgetting to install a device that activates the wolf's vicious nature. He also forgets his parachute, as per usual, although 'Volfie' remembers his. It's almost a shame he didn't just decide to keep the robo-wolf as a companion - VG needs some friends, even robotic ones.

Now everyone is in the forest, things get more farcical. Towser is heard howling (and sneezing), prompting Igor and Nanny to change direction and causing Nanny to fall on another pile of metal, the suit of armour. Neither of them pay much attention to it and cannot see that their master is inside this load of cans. Nice callback to the earlier joke with the trash cans.

Meanwhile, Goosewing is striving to get back his cyber-wolf using a giant magnet, but all it attracts is Duckula's armour, ripping it off him and leaving him defenceless. Too bad, because the Count is them immediately 'attacked' by Volfie and given a sound licking! (ooerr - sounds a bit rude) They make friends quickly and Volfie performs a few tricks for him (though he forgoes fetching any slippers) and they explore the forest further, Duckula cheering up now he has a companion.

The next plan for Goosewing could count as a sly off-colour joke. He disguises himself as a tree using an inflatable costume. Just how is a tree supposed to attract...oh yes. I guess even mechanical critters need to relief themselves. Sadly for VG, only 'dat shtoopid Nanny' comes along and they exchange a very funny little scene together, which culminates in Nanny chasing him off to smack his legs and teach him a lesson! I love how initially even Nanny is sceptical about a talking tree (with legs) then slowly accepts it anyway, but still won't stand for any backtalk. It also gives Goosewing a rare chance to come off as a more quick-witted character against the scatter-brained 'en. He can't resist being cheeky to her, even though he seems aware it could ruin his disguise. Then we cut away to two more familiar mechanical critters for this oak-y jokey

Dmitri: You know what you are getting if you are crossing a tree with a grocery store?
Sviatoslav: This, I am not knowing. What is it you are getting if you are crossing a tree with a grocery store?
Dmitri: I'm not sure, but you can bet it will have branches everywhere!

 By now, Duckula and his new pal are searching for Igor and Nanny but instead, they find a house in the middle of the forest. A gingerbread one at that! I guess Igor hasn't read the Count any more fairy tales since the broccoli stalk incident, otherwise he should know to keep well away. His mechanical chum knows there's something wrong here though and strongly hints that they should get away, even tearing his cape in the process. Duckula doesn't seem frightened and is more preoccupied with  gobbling up the sticky knocker (ooerr! Sounds even more rude) and eating into the walls of the house (very quickly thanks to jump cutting!) not noticing that the owner of the house is right behind him. Now who do you think owns the house? If you guessed 'a witch' you'd be right. Volfie runs off, apparently a coward and Duckula is immediately stuck into a cooking pot. I guess it's magical or he realises that escape from its magical owner is futile so he screams for help while the witch looks up recipes and paprika.

Now it's Igor's turn to meet Volfie. He mistakes him for Towser initially, but realises his mistake and agrees to follow the wolf where he leads. Got to love how Igor refers to himself as 'Daddy' when he's scolding who he briefly thinks is Towser.

 Igor: There you are you bad boy. Daddy's very cross with you running off -

Nanny is now fed up looking for the werewolf (the real one) and decides to go home - except she's now as lost as Towser is. Von Goosewing still hasn't come across Volfie and is trying plan 3 - a pretty cool-looking 'full moon simulator'. Animation purists often complain about 80s cartoons being toyetic, and though "Count Duckula" was a refreshing aversion, I'm not going to deny some of the Doc's inventions would have been great as toys! VG fires the contraption up, hoping it will attract the attention of his pet. Nope - but it does however attract the attention of Towser; we can hear his sneezy howling. It wouldn't be a Goosewing invention if something didn't screw up though. He manages to get caught in the wire and ends up running away from the moon as it slips down the hill after him.

By this stage, Duckula's screams and Volfie's help have brought Igor and Nanny zeroing in on him - Goosewing is even charging along too, though not to the rescue, mostly just to escape the fake full moon that's rolling after him. It crushes the confused witch too as it crashes through her house.

Alls well that ends well, Duckula is safe from the witch, is reunited with his servants and praises his new friend for bringing them to the rescue. But what about Towser? Well, he's finally found too - by Von Goosewing, who makes the mistake of assuming it's Volfie and trying to insert the device into him (OOO-ERR! Sounds even ruder than it was before!) and gets attacked (mercifully offscreen) for his troubles. Somehow that makes it seem scarier, the fact that we don't see it.

Monstrous Mechanical Moggy!

Back at the castle, Duckula wonders about the screams while Igor assures him that it couldn't possibly be a werewolf. They just don't exist! Vampires and witches are OK though. We close off with a nice cross dissolve from the moon to the sun and a gently creepy farewell from the narrator.

Creepy, comedic and intense at times - a good all-rounder, with the whole cast getting plenty to do. Only downside? I liked Volfie, he was a good boy, we should have seen him again! Maybe he could've been an enemy of Paws the mechanical cat from the Danger Mouse episode 'Cat-Astrophe'.

Music  Apart from the bats' usual 'vamp' (haha) no comedic music is used at all. This heightens the really creepy atmosphere of the story and setting. "Drama Shock (B)" (track 50) and "Drama Shock (A)" (Richard Allen Harvey) is used over the title card and when Goosewing gets attacked at the end respectively. "Omen" (Jack Trombey) plays as Duckula watches Igor and Nanny make their way to the forest. "Stealth" (also Trombey) is heard when VG first appears. 'Terror By Night' (Hubert Clifford) plays when Volfie licks Duckula to death. 'Scream and Scream Again' (Tim Souster) is heard during Goosewing's fake tree bit where Nanny bumps into him, followed by the clock bats' theme, 'Vamp Til Ready' (Wally Asp, no. 88). 'Premonitions' (Richard Allen Harvey - track 20) plays when Duckula encounters the house and the witch. It plays again briefly when VG gets bopped by the moon. 'Intense Danger' (James Clark) is heard as Igor, Nanny and Volfie come to the rescue.  'The Haunted Piano' (Frank Samuels, no. 23) is heard to close the episode off - this also plays in the mystery dog-related V&H episode "The Hound of the Hobbes-Sutclyffes". That Vincent Price film music I've mentioned many times on this blog gets a used a fair bit in this one - and I still cannot source it! Help! HEEELP!

Backgrounds and Pans

The opening is shot from a wider angle than usual, to give more emphasis on the forest. Velvety blues theme the sky.

A cross dissolve means I can't quite get the full pan. Something, or someONE is missing here....

These backgrounds get used in other episodes, like 'The Return of the Curse...' and 'The Great Ducktective.'

The left hand BG is also seen in 'Amnesiac Duck'. The right hand one appears many times in the series.

Some of the forest puts me in mind of the scenics used in Duckula's 1st appearance in 'The 4 Tasks of Danger Mouse.' Makes perfect sense.

A lot of overlays get used in this episode to simulate the claustrophobic feel of a spooky forest.

Pay close attention and you'll see that they bothered to animate the leaves on the far left. A nice wee touch.

The middle 2 images show the same background with different overlays on the foreground.

As with any image on here, you can click to enlarge.

Trivia

• The title is a pun on 'There Are Fairies At The Bottom Of Our Garden' - a poem by Rose Fyleman, which was set to music by Liz Lehmann.
• Episode starts with Nanny screaming and ends on Goosewing screaming. Nanny also wails a variation on 'Where-oh-where Has My Little Dog Gone?'
• Nanny manages to open the pantry door without breaking it.
• Volfie is the only guest character in the series to be seen in Goosewing's airship.
• I'm pretty sure Jimmy is providing the barks for the mechanical werewolf and Brian is doing the howling for the real one, but I can't be certain. Towser's howling is deliberately similar to Nanny's wailing. There are a few well-timed gags to reflect this.
• Another appearance of VG's airship, but no reference to Heinrich. Maybe 'Volfie' has taken his place. VG refers to him as 'mein Leibling' and 'mein Leibchen' which basically means, 'my darling' and 'my sweetheart.' Other phrases used are verdammt (damned), wunderbar (wonderful) 'Tannhäuser und Lohingrin' and the ever-reliable 'Götterdämmerung!' He also exclaims "Borussia Mönchengladbach!" which is the name of a German football team.
• Goosewing inventions: Mark Ein, Super Deisel Turbo, Doctor Von Goosewing VonderVolf (with no added colouring or preservatives), a giant electric magnet, an inflatable tree costume and a full-moon simulator.
• 2nd time in the series VG creates artificial life. He had a monster version of himself in 'One Stormy Night.'
• Duckula's cape material costs 4 drachmas a yard. 
• Not the first time David's character wears a suit of armour. Danger Mouse wore one in 'The Clock Strikes Back', (with Penfold as the bottom half), Mr. Toad wears one in 'The Tournament' and Hugo lands upside-down in one in 'Jester Minute.' Duckula's ancestor (essentially himself again) wears one in 'The Rest Is History' too.
• Not the last time Jimmy's character would disguise himself as a tree. Victor does the same in 'Scout's Dishonour', (with Hugo as the bottom half).
• The witch's gingerbread house is of course a reference to the Grimm fairy story, Hansel and Gretel. The doorway looks cornered with Bertie Basset's head. There's also a 'Home Sweet Home' sign. Sweets is UK English for candy.
• Both Jimmy's characters (Goosewing and the Witch) gets bashed by the mechanical full moon.
• We get to see Towser's eyes in the dark. This is the most we will ever see of him, at least in the TV series. His paw appears at least once in the UK comics.
  
• 2nd time Towser attacks another character. He did the same to Igor in  'Igor's Busy Day.' 3rd if you count the way he treated Nanny in 'Dr. Goosewing and Mr. Duck.'
  
• This episode was shown as part of CITV's Old Skool weekend on January the 5th, 2013.
• 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 'Arctic Circles',
• Vin James is credited as storyboard artist. He would illustrate many tie-in comics and books.
• The joke credit is a reference to American DJ Robert Weston Smith AKA Wolfman Jack. 
• A different witch appears in 'The Count Duckula Joke Book' by Jonathan Clements.
  
  
  

Goofs and nitpicks

• Duckula's gloves turn grey instead of brown for a brief shot when the magnet rips off his armour. The opposite happens to Volfie's nose for a single frame, when playing dead.
• Duckula's beak doesn't move, but only for the words 'you're kidding?' when speaking to the witch.