"Venice a Duck Not a Duck"

Vhen it's not down?

Season 4 episode 5 (episode 63 overall)

Original broadcast date: 2 February 1993

Writer: Jimmy Hibbert
Additional voices: The Egg/Ruffles/
                             Krool/Mr Mate/Gaston:
                              Jimmy Hibbert
                              Oddbeak/Burt/Morrice/
                               Pierre: David Jason
                              Charlie/The Phantom/
                              Cap'n: Brian Trueman
                     
Travel location: Venice, Italy
Castle transport visual used.


The obligatory 'villain team-up' episode. This one almost seems like a sort of reward for long-term fans. Remember those guys from episode X, Y and Z? Well, here they are again! The Egg masterminds some sort of army to eliminate Duckula using some of the characters from previous adventures. Von Goosewing doesn't seem to have been invited to this party, mores the pity, but there are plenty of others on the guest list. Don't forget to bring a bottle.

The plot set-up is complex enough, although the rest of the episode is fairly simple as it comprises a series of set pieces as each villain tries and fails to kill and/or humiliate Duckula in some manner, without him ever noticing, or at least even suspecting. For some of these characters it comes across as second nature to be this evil, whereas for others, perhaps having been humiliated by the Count and his cronies so often has pushed them over the edge. The opening scene has the Bond villain wannabe introducing his new army to his assistant Oddbeak (and by extension, the viewers) accompanied by some clips of their previous appearances on the show. Then he spies on Duckula and Igor using the ever reliable invisible camera device that all cartoon villains have.

The Egg has baited Igor (and by extension, Duckula) with a painting of one of his distant relatives and a fake treasure hunt clue. Duckula wants the Eye of the Borgias jewel because it looks valuable, Igor wants it because it may make Duckula evil. Hmm, that sounds familiar! (see trivia)

That's where the familiarity ends though, apart from the familiar faces that start to crop up once the Count travels the castle to Venice to undertake the search which is were all his enemies lie in wait to murder him. After each failed attempt their screams are assumed by Duckula to be Venetian pigeons.

First port of call is St. Mark's Tower to see if the jewel in at the peak.

Assassination attempt no. 1 - The Crow Bros. climb St. Mark's Tower and try to snap a piece of elastic into Duckula's face causing him to fall. This actually sounds really painful! Sadly the lads mishear Ruffles instructions and let got of the rope first, catapulting themselves into the skies instead. Neither Igor nor Nanny wish to climb the tower.

Having failed to locate the jewel at the peak of the tower, the next step is the Torre dell'Orologio, which only Nanny and Igor can pronounce correctly.

Assassination attempt no. 2 - The embittered circus performers (still in full circus gear!) from 'Sawdust Ring' do their take on the old 'when I nod my head, hit it' bit. Morrice the Strongman (posing as a bell-ringer statue) knocks out Charlie the Clown with a large bell hammer. Again, looks really painful! Nanny doesn't come up, but Igor does yet neither he nor the Count notice anything suspicious. Again, no jewel hidden in the bell, so off they go to try elsewhere. Duckula never met these guys properly in "Sawdust Ring" either.

Assassination attempt no. 3 - The Phantom of the Opera and Krool attempt to open a trap door in the Bridge of Sighs, plunging our heroes into the water. Duckula slams the door open, flattening the Phantom against the wall in a comedy pose, whilst Krool gets stuck behind a pillar. I really chuckle at the frustrated way Krool tries to get unstuck and the fact that the Phantom cannot see past his own nose, quite literally. Needless to say, they manage to open the trap door and fall into the water themselves, after our trio have left.

Assassination attempt no. 4 - The Mutinous Penguins are appropriately on the water again, in a gondola. Presumably being perfectly fine with committing murder in broad daylight, they pose as a water taxi. The Cap'n's terrible Italian accent is a pretty nifty voice trick from Brian Trueman, because of course he also did the voice of Stiletto. Brian-as-pirate-as-Italian sounds a bit like Stiletto, but also nothing like him at the same time, like a badly acted version of the same character. Anyway, Nanny's too heavy and the catapults the crew away when she jumps in the boat.

Assassination attempt no. 5 - Gaston et Pierre sell the Eye of the Borgias to Duckula for a bunch of random rubbish he happens to have in his pockets. Of course it's not the Eye at all, but a bomb and of course Pierre forgets to put the bomb in the box first. Guess what happens next?

After the explosion and more comments about pigeons from Duckula, he discovers the box is indeed empty. Then Nanny decides to empty the Adriatic by messing with a chain she's found that turns out to be a giant plug. This drains the water, exposing The Egg's secret base and capping off his humiliation.

Nothing particularly deep, just an enjoyably straightforward blackout gag based adventure (without the blackouts). Fun to see all the guest stars from prior episodes and amusing that our main three almost never see them (or recognise them) themselves. I imagine this would be a good way to save on animation too, because you're mainly distracted by the wealth of characters. Almost all of the animation is new though, and nicely done by the UK team with some cool water effects for good measure. Overall, a nice goody-bag style reward for fans who stuck with the series right til the end, especially considering that the final 7 episodes were not shown on ITV until much, much later than the rest of the run (look up the Thames/ITV split - not pretty reading). Some people identify them as a briefer season 4, others as an oddly delayed part of season 3. The DVD sets mark them as the latter.

Music 
'Spring' by Vivaldi - Opening title and end. 
'Nauticalities' (Keith Papworth) - Pirates on viewscreen.
'Eccentric Walk' (Roger Roger) - "Torre dell'Orologio!"
'Unease' (Dick Walter - track 3:16) - Gondola scene.

Some other familiar cues are used in keeping with the baddies. For example, opera organ music is heard for the Phantom and the circus guys have the same theme as their first appearance.

Pans and Backgrounds

Lots of amazing and accurate renditions of Venetian landmarks, including what looks to be a photograph as part of one landscape. Very Danger Mouse. Some other Venetian landscapes can be seen on The Egg's monitor. Not many sideways panning shots though, just the bookended Venice shots, with and without water.

Trivia 

Above: No Sax, below: this episode

• Another episode with the word duck in the title. It's an oblique pun on the riddle 'When is a door not a door? When it's ajar.'
• Since Vivaldi was an Italian composer, the use of his music over the title card is appropriate.
• Episode opens and closes in Venice.
• Episode does not start on a scream, but ends on The Egg's screaming. In fact, Duckula gets in a rare chuckle at the end, even though he still 'loses'!
• Apart from the castle landing and a re-used clip of the Crows climbing, the exterior is not seen in this episode, nor the mountaintop.
• 2nd and final appearance of The Egg and Oddbeak. 7th and final appearance of The Crow Brothers. 2nd and final appearance of Charlie the Clown and Morrice the Strongman. 3rd and final appearance of The Mutinous Penguins. 2nd and final appearance of The Phantom of the Opera and Krool. 5th and final appearance of Gaston and Pierre. Whew!
• This comes near the end of the run, which also explains the guest spot episode "Around the World in a Total Daze."
• The Egg's monitor static will be familiar from when Colonel K contacts Danger Mouse on his viewing screen.
  
• This is the only time The Crow Brothers are identified onscreen by that appellation.
• The Egg himself gets in some of Duckula's traditional alliteration when he describes him unfavourably.
• The (possibly faked?) portrait is apparently of one Contare san Mallardo de Duckulini. The Borgias were indeed a real family, but I suspect the Eye of the Borgias has been invented for this episode - possibly by The Egg himself!
• This episode re-uses some animation or art from the guest villains' respective inaugural episodes. There's even a bit of Duckula and Igor in the portrait gallery re-used from the first episode but with the new portrait in place of the old. Some parts, like The Phantom at his organ or Gaston and Pierre being hit by the bell are new animation though, even though they reference stuff that's already happened, or re-use a background. See respective blog entries to see the background art for the relevant episodes. The 'beret-in-the-mouth' gag is the same as from "Hunchbudgie of Notre Dame" only reversed.
  
  
• Gaston and Pierre's mugshots look cribbed from model sheets. They were also used for glitter stickers. (left) Can anyone read what it says beside them on the villains' viewscreen though?
• The tower The Crow Brothers and Duckula climb is Campanile di San Marco (St. Mark's Campanile) though none of the characters state this.
• The Crow Bros. don't do their trademarked thump, thump, thump....thump bit here. Though they do still scale a building and fall/fly off it.
• The Torre Dell'Orologio is also known as St. Mark's Clock Tower. 
• Duckula channels a bit of Victor when he says 'That is what I said!' when Nanny corrects his pronunciation. Although this episode was aired not long after Victor & Hugo ended, it was probably in production earlier. He says the word 'bunglers' too.
• Using Morrice to replace a statue of one of the Moors is appropriate (apart from him looking like it) because his name means 'moorish.' I ought to know, given that it's also my surname! 
• Charlie gets bashed on the head with a bell hammer. The same thing happens to Dmitri (who is voiced by the same guy and wears a similar hat and bow tie) in "Igor's Busy Day."
• Interesting to note that David Jason plays most of the dopey sidekick type characters. In fact, his voices for Burt and Morrice are a little close, but he makes careful effort to make Morrice sound even deeper than his first appearance for contrast, so they don't sound alike. Brian Trueman's Charlie voice is like a more confident version of his Crow Brother voice, only in a slightly deeper register.
• The Bridge of Sighs is also referenced in the Danger Mouse episode "DM on the Orient Express" which also starts off in Venice and the Victor & Hugo episode "Blunder on the Orient Express" begins and ends in Venice and features the same titular train.
• In "A Fright at the Opera" Igor's last words to Krool are 'we may meet again' to which Krool replies 'Maybe.' This is almost exactly what happens here, but Igor doesn't seem to recognise Krool's voice, which seems a shame. Perhaps if he'd seen his squint, which he'd know anywhere, he'd know. Then again, does he give Krool a sly aside glance as he leaves? Maybe. Also May is Igor's voice actor's surname. 
• Mr. Mate again wishes to 'bite their heads off' as he did in his first appearance.
  
• Duckula's attempting to whistle and Nanny's succeeding is a little similar to a gag in the V&H episode "Woof and Tumble" where Interpoll is the only one who can whistle successfully.
• Rare episode where Nanny does not break any walls or doors. Though she does injure the pirates and mess up the Adriatic. Instead, it's Duckula who slams the door into The Phantom as he did to Igor in "Dear Diary."
• This episode was released on Cult Kids Classic 2 - a compilation video of several shows - in 2001.
• We never do see exactly where The Egg has his secret headquarters in "00 Duck." We do here.
  
  
  
  Goofs and Nitpicks
• The bell changes colour for a shot.
• You'll only notice this if you freeze frame, but the hook-handed pirate seems to have grown his hand back again. Maybe it's a prosthetic.