"Ghostly Gold"

There's vampires in them thar hills.

Season 2 episode 1 (episode 27 overall)

Original broadcast date: 12 September 1989

Writer: Peter Richard Reeves
Additional voices: Dr Von Goosewing/Barkeep/Desk Clerk/Mad McGraw/Voice off: Jimmy Hibbert
                                Mule: Jack May                       

Travel location: The Yukon, Canada

Castle transport visual used
Joke Credit: Ghosts - Henrick Ibsen

While clearing out the attic, Duckula gets the idea to travel to the Yukon in search of gold after Nanny reads about a gold rush in the newspaper. The reason he does this is because he fails to ask Nanny just where she got the newspaper. There's a couple of good jokes about Nanny's cooking and Igor standing on Duckula's hand too. Duckula's hand makes for a better carpet and a serving tray makes for a good subsitute for Nanny's food.

Meanwhile under the castle, Goosewing has the strange notion of drilling up through the mountain to get inside. I can only assume that this is meant to take place earlier in his career as he has had little trouble getting inside the castle before. But who are we to question the inner workings of the mind of a wacky professor type? Obviously he's planning a sneak attack from underneath for a change. The last time he tried this was in "Vampire Vacation" also written by Reeves, so perhaps it was a motif he cared to revisit. Of course there's an ironic plot-twist reason for what Goosewing is up to as well, but we'll get to that later. VG paints a cross as a target for his tunnelling machine, which is also appropriate as vampires can't stand that sort of thing. It's a shame they didn't use a Christian cross for that joke, as it's not like the show shied from using them elsewhere. Of course, by the time the Doc' has reached the top, the castle has gone and he's puzzled. At this stage in the run he still hasn't actually witnessed the castle's ability to travel, so this holds water too. Then again, with doddering characters like Goosewing you can often get away with little continuity slip-ups. The only character in this show that sort of thing wouldn't work well with is Igor as he seems to have his head screwed on the best. Duckula to a certain extent too, but he often fails to learn from past experience. We end this scene on a version of what Graham (Father Ted) Linehan calls a 'bicycle joke.' Basically, when a character says something like "you'll never catch me riding a bicycle" and in the next scene we see them doing just that.

Goosewing: Zo; vhere is Duckula? Vell he's got to be around here someplace, I mean, vhere else is he going to be? Ze North Pole!?

Cut to a sign reading "North Pole."

The North Pole is indeed where he is, and it's also in the Yukon, but Duckula obviously wants to find somewhere where there's a better prospect (ho ho) of finding gold. It's lucky he's not after silver, that's pretty bad for vampires is it not? They soon make their way to Goldsville (pretty certain that may just be a fictitious place) which Nanny manages to spot first - by virtue of her being the one pulling the sled, as the dogs are all at home. Clearly they get the best of the deal. Puts me in mind on "Arctic Circles" where Towzer ate all the dogs.

The trio soon arrive in town and decide to relax in a saloon. There's a nice twist on the 'suddenly silent tavern gag' deployed in "Igor's Busy Day" here. The instant Duckula and co. enter, the raucous music and revelry stops and the place appears to be deserted. This doesn't stop the Count from ordering a drink, allowing a ghostly barman to appear out of nowhere and oblige. Duckula cannot hold his drink though - quite literally. It travels through his hands every time he tries to grab it. The music and revelling continues behind his back yet stops every time he looks round. Igor claims not to notice though. Some really good timing on this segment which follows on with some more of the same when Duckula and the barman have a spitting contest. The trio soon get chucked out however when it comes to light that they 'don't allow your sort here' - meaning vampires. In fairness, like Duckula, the barman cast no reflection in the bar-room mirror either.

Meanwhile Von Goosewing is still trying to locate the Count and/or his castle with the driller. He emerges in a peasant hovel, excuses himself in his typical fashion, then leaves.

Back in the Yukon, the three check into an hotel and while the servants prepare the room, Duckula deals with the spooky hotelier, who literally vanishes just as the best guest character in the episode appears. I've got a real weakness for crazy, yee-hah, over-the-top, 75% proof beard prospector types and MAD McGRAW is right up there with the best of them. He's having trouble with his mule and is willing to trade Duckula a map for his staff. He also immediately takes a shine to Nanny.

McGraw: Shucks she's mighty purty too!
Nanny: Ooohohoo!
Duckula: Hmm, they didn't call you Mad McGraw for nothing did they?

Duckula thinks it over (briefly) and trades the two of them, though he assures Nanny it won't be for long since he'll buy them back when he's rich. Nice saving throw there! Igor is still disappointed, because he misunderstands that gold veins and blood veins aren't quite the same thing. Rare instance of Igor being a bit silly! He should be at least comforted that the love of money is the root of all evil, so maybe there is hope for his (ex)master yet! After a few clever visual gags in the hotel, Duckula turns in for the night.

You may have noticed that by this stage, everyone they have met so far in the own has been oddly pale and (literally) transparent. There was even a case of (again literal) sign-posting earlier if you care to spot it. Meanwhile, back in Transylvania Von Goosewing is complaining about finding nothing but 'yellow rocks' during his tunnelling exercise. Can you see where both these plot points are heading folks?

Now Duckula has the map, he sets out to find the gold. It's a pretty round-about exercise of him running back and forth past the screen and along the map. I love the out of nowhere joke about the telephone booth and the wrong number that calls. Twice. Just so amusingly absurd and leads nowhere, but that's the beauty of it. David Jason's delivery makes even funnier. They're not above doing a pun on the word 'mine' either (oh that was just ripe for a Goosewing pun involving 'mein' but alas!) when Duckula locates the 'oh-so-subtly-labelled' mine and loads up the sled to return home a rich duck.

Ach vell, maybe I can sell this device to Shredder und Krang.

Turns out to be for nought however as when he returns to the castle Igor and Nanny are already there, apparently having figured out what went on. The 'gold' turns out to be snow and Igor reveals that the people in the town were all ghosts. Duckula checks the date of the newspaper for verification. It's about a century out of date, implying Nanny found it in the attic while clearing out at the start of the episode. If only Duckula had asked! But then sitcoms are based on people not asking for full information and carrying on regardless. Still, back home and all is back to normal; the Count seem cheery enough. Unfortunately by this stage Von Goosewing has drilled so many holes in the mountain that a door slam from Nanny causes everything to collapse in a massive heap. The biggest irony is that Goosewing actually did find gold after all - it was all under the castle the whole time and he failed to recognise it.

A really over-the-top ending, even by this show's 'everything that can go wrong, will go wrong' standards and certainly an unusual way to end the very first episode of a season! Don't worry, the castle and mountain are somehow just fine for the next adventure. Maybe they used the magic clock to turn back time. The irony (or should that be goldy?) of the whole thing is really clever though and I approve of that immensely. I remember one of my father's colleagues recorded a handful of Duckula episodes for me back in 1999 and this was one of them. At the time I was doing a video production course at college and I edited over the visual noise of the tape with repeated frames. Such a waste of time in the long run! Speaking of which, Happy Birthday Dad and thanks for the grainy 2nd hand recordings!

Pans and Backgrounds

Quite a lot actually! I was surprised at how many clear shots I could piece together. Most of the pans occur in the new territory. Snow animation covers most of the outdoor scenes and looks really nice. All sort of Christmassy as Nanny would say! A lot of blues and some rich browns. Clicking on any image or image set will afford a closer view.

Music
'Wenn Die Soldaten' (John Leach) - X marks the spot!
'Tomorrow the World' (Cedric King Palmer) track 22 - Goosewing tunnelling.
'The Stranger In Town' (Tony Kinsey) - Trio arrive in town.
'Fingerpickin'' (John Edmed and Vic Flick) track 16 - Duelling spitballs.
'Green Bluegrass' (Lloyd Green and Glen Sutton) - Mad McGraw!
'Saloon Bar Hoedown' (Dick Water) track 22.11 - skeleton staff.
'Rushing About' (Dick Walter) track 6.3 - Duckula searches for goldmine. 
'Flash Harry' (Dick Walter) track 6.4 - Duckula loading up the sled.
'Film Fanfare (A)' (Dick Walter) track 3 -Duckula returns with the 'gold'.
'Blue Danube' (Keith Papworth) Von Goosewing quits.
'Finger of Fear' (Fredric Bayco) closes off.
The pub scene is definitely a reference to the 'Duelling Banjos' scene from "Deliverance" and the music reflects this. It's the same music used in "Good Luck Father Ted" in a scene that actually does involves a banjo and a guitar. 'Swiggin' Down the Rye' plays when Duckula retires for the night. The melancholy harpsichord tune plays again near the end when Igor reveals the 'gold' to be snow. There's also that weird trumpet(?) tune that plays in 'The Great Ducktective' when the castle collapses. 'Green Bluegrass is also heard in "Cowboys and Indiscipline" (V&H) during the shop scene, which makes reference to prospectors. The music that plays when Goosewing emerges on the mountain top is heard in 'The Vampire Strikes Back' and distorts and fades in the same way. 

Trivia

• Second episode to (sort of) have the word 'ghost' in the title, the prior one being 'The Ghost of Castle McDuckula.' The same semi-transparent effect is used for the ghosts here, but with marginally more colour. 
• Opens and closes in Transylvania and on Duckula screaming in pain or frustration.
• Goosewing is humming 'Ride of the Valkries' by his old favourite, Richard Wagner while he paints the cross. Another Jimmy Hibbert character, Victor, also paints a cross on a wall in "The Hole Truth" in "Victor & Hugo - Bunglers in Crime" also with the intent of drilling through.
• Von Goosewing invention of the week: Super Tunneller - designed and built that morning! Vampire Blaster (mentioned).
• Goosewing makes no direct reference to Heinrich in this episode, however he does use the pronoun 'we' instead of 'I' a lot. Obligatory German is limited to a brief "Was ist das?" when he breaks into the hovel.
• The newspaper is titled 'Vampire News 1896'. The Klondike gold rush was indeed from 1896-1899. Duckula later clarifies the date at Tuesday September the 14th 1896 which is roughly a month after the gold rush started on 16th August of that year. Of course it would be a Tuesday, it's always Tuesday on this show! It would actually have been on a Monday that year. There was a date misprint in the newspaper as a plot point in "Bad Luck Duck" as it happens.
• Another appearance of the magic coffin.
• Verse to get the castle moving:
  To the Yukon castle we must go
  To the land of frost and ice and snow!
• There's a really unusual effect when the lightening strikes during the castle's take-off. The silhouettes of the castle and mountain get flipped a couple of times in black and white. A bit of foreshadowing for the ending maybe?
• Duckula orders "two fingers of sarsaparilla." Hugo (also David Jason) orders the exact same thing at a saloon in "Cowboys and Indiscipline."
• We almost get to see the village again in this episode as Goosewing tunnels into a peasant house.
• 1st time Jimmy Hibbert plays an old beardy prospector type. Next time is in "Dead Eye Duck." (WEEJUS! WEEJUS!) and 2nd time he plays an hotelier. Previous was "Hard Luck Hotel" where the lift was also out of order. Jimmy also played a barman in the Avenger Penguins episode "High Doom." Jimmy plays most of the townsfolk, but David and Brian can be heard in a collective 'Vampire?!' from the pub patrons. This means that all the main four actors have played barmen in this or a related series. Brian voices one in V&H's "Cowboys and Indiscipline", Jack May plays the one in "Dead Eye Duck" and David Jason plays the one in Ye Tooth and Jugular (though Brian does one line). The Doc from Saskatoon is another beardy prospector type of a character (voiced by Rob Rackstraw) from 'Avenger Penguins' and Saskatoon is also in Canada. Jimmy uses a similar voice for the barman here as he uses for Quiet Earpe in "Dead Eye Duck."
• The skeletons in the closet look distinctly human. Maybe they were short-beaked fellows, maybe a nod to the end theme tune.
• A map shot was also used in "A Mountie Always Gets His Duck", also set in Canada. 
• "Hotel Mario" 'fans' will get an extra chuckle from the name of the mine.
• Duckula paraphrases Spike Milligan near the end when he refers to gold  getting you 'a better class of misery.' The Milligan quote: "Money couldn't buy friends, but you got a better class of enemy."
• Snippet of stock animation on Igor near the beginning and the end. 
• Igor makes reference to "Eastern Transylvanian standard time" again. We hear the clock, but we don't see it.
• The joke credit is a reference to the play "Ghosts" by Norwegian playwright Henrick Ibsen. Very close to Heinrich that name!
• This episode was released on VHS in 1989 (October 23rd) along with "Prime Time Duck", "The Incredible Shrinking Duck", "Ducknapped" and "Blood Sucking Fruit Bats of the Lower Amazon." The last of these episodes was broadcast a mere day after this tape was released!
  
  
  
  
  
  Goofs and nitpicks
• Duckula's hand and sleeve switch colours when he looks at the newspaper Nanny finds. Unless that's a really awkward pose!
• The sign reads Goldsville but the map reads Goldville.
• Igor's wrist is coloured as his shirt cuffs when he warns Duckula about saying 'stake.' 
• Nanny's sling is not reflected correctly in the mirror. Eh, it's a spooky mirror.
• Igor's dentures must be slipping when he gets angry at the prospector.
• The tunneller's door hinges switch sides. I realise this is a staging license though.