"Transylvanian Homesick Blues"

Duck down that alleyway

Season 1 Episode 4 (episode 4 overall) 

Original broadcast date: 27th September 1988

Writer: Peter Richard Reeves
Additional voices: Dr. Fazakerley Tyme/

                              Sviatoslav/sweetcorn/

                              swede/carrot/Frenchwoman/

                             Revolutionary: Jimmy Hibbert

                               Dmitri/World's First Vampire/

                               peapod/radish/onion/turnip: 

                              Brian Trueman

                 Potato/onion/cucumber: David Jason  

                     Carrot: Jack May

                     All: Peas

Travel location: Past, future and Paris; France (past) - not via castle

Castle transport visual not used.

                  

On a day out to the fun fair, Duckula and co. take a ride on a time-and-space-travelling roller-coaster.

This is one of a handful of episodes I never tended to watch as much as the majority of the others and again upon reviewing, it's another one that I enjoyed a lot more after an absence. I can now appreciate how the apparently unrelated segments build on each other and come full circle at the end. The banter between the main three is strong enough to keep things going along, even if some of it is not as good as the majority of entries. Overall, TVHB has the weird feel of an early episode, not least of all because Nanny's voice is still in it's somewhat more warbling stage and the whole concept seems more like a strange heady trip than the sitcom/horror plot that would be more common. A hangover from the Danger Mouse days perhaps? Dr. Tyme's character and motivations are a bit of a puzzle too. Is he just a nutty professor, genuinely malicious or is it all just part of the fun fair attraction? At any rate, this adventure is a jarring contrast to Peter Richard Reeves' prior episode immediately before this one, the fantastic, funny and flawless "One Stormy Night." An odd duck here for sure!

We open at the castle where  the Count seems to have anticipated our curiosity and has left a note saying they're all at the fun fair. For once it seems to be a nice day, so I guess he had to take advantage of it somehow! Duckula misses a coconut, Nanny misses the point of a helter-skelter and Igor fails to miss getting egg on his face after all three fail to miss crashing into each other on the dodgems.

Next up, they hear an announcement for a roller-coaster run by a colourful character by the name of Dr. Fazakerley Tyme. They barter their way onto the ride and buckle up to travel back and forwards through time (and space too it would seem.) I like how instead of taking a carriage each they all cram into the one immediately behind the Doctor. Particularly impractical when you've got someone as big as Nanny travelling with you, as Igor finds out.

First stop in prehistoric times where they have a chat with a gormless fellow who claims to be the world's first vampire. He even emerges out of a stone coffin. Igor of course, is honoured and delighted to meet such a person and offers some advice about avoiding sunlight whilst wishing him well on his neck-biting exploits. This raises some interesting questions. Could this guy be considered Duckula's great-great-great-etc grandfather, or relative of some sort? Duckula is of course his own great-great-great-etc grandfather (due to reincarnation) so this seems unlikely. This character is not played by the same actor, strongly implying that he's a separate person entirely so he could still be a relative. It does make one wonder just how he became the world's first vampire though. Who started it all? Was he bitten by a vampire batodactyl? This is probably something that a lot of vampire and werewolf fans have pondered about their monster of choice in general. It has to begin somewhere!

Their little beak-wag is cut short by a marauding dinosaur (or 'maiden') that the vampire says he tried to bite earlier. Back on the roller-coaster and away again to the next stop, which is very much in the opposite direction.

The year is 4008 and the vegetables have taken over! This is an interesting sort of nightmare for the Count. It's like his version of a peasants' revolt for a more traditional vampire. Not that his lack of tradition stops the peasants in this series anyway. A tense scene all round as a crowd of vegetable people accuse the newcomers of all the crimes committed in the name of stews and salads. The ludicrousness of the concept only partially takes the edge off it. Igor once again comes to his master's aid (albeit in an incorrect way) by pointing out that Duckula, being a vampire, could not possibly be a vegetarian and therefor has no interest in eating his greens. Doesn't work. Seems these guys don't like vampires either and garlic is summoned. Back to the roller-coaster again it is, except that Doctor Tyme has become something of a villain and only takes Nanny with him. For whatever reason, he wants to marry her! Fortunately for Duckula and Igor, they manage to make it back to the last car in time anyway. 

Nanny now breaks off the engagement. She wants nothing to do with someone who'd be so cruel to her Duckyboos and - to an extent - Mister Igor. Dr Tyme now goes into total villain mode and takes them all to Revolutionary France to get them executed! Now this is a real peasants' revolt. Is this a roller-coaster or a ghost train Doc'? 

Once in Paris, Tyme gets a taste of his own medicine as he is imprisoned with the other three anyway because of his 'funny clothe-es.' This possibly explains why Igor and Nanny (servants) have been imprisoned too, although I like to think it's because they're so faithful that they refuse to leave Duckula's side even though they themselves are not aristocrats. They devise a plan to clobber the guard with one of Nanny's rock hard soufflés and then escape. It works - sort of. The guard stuns the others by slamming the door against them (that bit wasn't actually intentional) and then Nanny clobbers him. Simple, but more effective! 

During their escape Igor makes a really grisly joke that I'm surprised made it past the censors.

Igor: Oh sir, perhaps we could stay after all. See? They're only having some innocent fun.

Duckula: You call chopping peoples' heads off fun Igor?

Igor: Perhaps you're right sir. Sewing the wrong one back on is funnier.

Not only that but we see a guillotine actually doing what it was designed to do! OK, it's only in shadow, but still a surprise to see at all. The guard recovers and he and his embittered cronies chase after them all. Back to the roller-coaster they get and they're off again.

Slight mistake though, they've arrived five minutes before they left! We cut to our trio just fresh off the Dodgems and ready to ride the roller coaster again/for the first time. So was Dr Tyme's ride all an act? Was he really evil or just nutty? Well, pay attention folks because it looks like you're about to go through the whole thing again! In a rare moment of clarity, Nanny's the only one who seems to feel this is a repeat run. And given the series has been shown multiple times on TV, it is. For anyone with a mind to, you could bookmark your DVD player to cut from here back to the initial scene where they just leave the dodgems and watch the bulk of the episode on an endless loop! I'm not about to try that. Even as a big fan, I'm sure that it would drive me nuts eventually. Worth it for the comedy value though.

Also since the title is a Bob Dylan reference, Happy Birthday Mum!

Music

"Sitting Sad and Blue" (Stefan Grossman) Title.
"Unknown Waltz" (Walter Warren) - Fairground scenes.

"Overdrive" (Christopher Blackwell) - Dodgems.

"Vamp Til Ready" (Wally Asp) Clock bats.

"La Marseillaise" (Alfred Kluten - track 1)- Paris.

"On Tip Toes B" (Dick Walter) - Totem pole trio.

"Scream and Scream Again" (Tim Souster) - Stunned Count.
"Playout" (Oliver Armstrong) - Escape.

"Drama Sting no. 3" (Peter Knight) - Spotted

Fans of both this show and Jeeves and Wooster (fair crossover appeal there) may spot that the carousel music is also used in the episode that featured Jack May as the vicar. The music during the vegetable scene is briefly used in Father Ted a couple of times, but I don't know what it's called. Some of the weird time travel noises can also be heard in "Astro Duck."

Pans and backgrounds

Buckle up for a ride! There's quite a lot of them this time. A fair few pans as well, including a couple of up and down ones. I really get a kick out of all those surreal clocks, watches and bells during the journeys between stops. Spanish animation - or Spanimation if you will.

Note how the first two here are the same except that the second one has a wall on a separate level.

Trivia

• The title is a reference to the Bob Dylan song "Subterranean Homesick Blues." It is also the name of an episode of "The Real Ghostbusters" which is - surprise surprise! - about a vampire.
• One of three episodes with the word 'Transylvanian' in the title.
• Episode does not start with a scream nor end on one, but it does end in arguing.
  
• Apart from the standard intro and a brief shot of the outside of the door, the castle is not seen much in this episode. The interior is not seen at all other than the clock bats' gags.
• Is this the same fun fair that appears in "AutoDuck?" I think it might be.
• Duckula misses the coconut on the coconut shy. Two episodes prior, Nanny says this is what always happens to her too.
• Fans of Cosgrove-Hall's earlier series "Jamie and the Magic Torch" will get a bonus chuckle out of Nanny breaking the helter-skelter. 
• Duckula rides in car 4, Nanny and Igor in car 2 and Igor alone in car 7.
• Igor makes a crack about removing his head from his body, which comes back later as a reference to beheading during the French scene.
• Igor also makes a pun on the word philistine which references American author Gertrude Stein.
• Second time in the series Jimmy Hibbert plays a wacky Doctor. He makes a habit of this throughout several shows! 
• The Doctor is also one of three characters in the show to wear a watch-chain and one of three times in the first series Jimmy Hibbert's character wears a top hat. The watch-chain fits his character well. First of two Jimmy Hibbert characters to use a megaphone and first of two to speak over a megaphone speaker system.
• Dr. Tyme's top hat has an American flavour to it, only without any stars. Possibly to avoid making it too obviously American, or simply to aid animation.
• Apparently, cheese brings Nanny out in a rash. Cheese sandwiches are also referenced in "Whodunnit?"
• Unusually, the currency in this episode appears to be 'grisly artefact barter' rather than the usual drachmas. This is probably done just to show how brassic they are though, since that's all they have on them.
• Igor and Duckula would also be on the receiving end of seat space struggles with Nanny in "Hi-Duck."
• This being a time-centric episode, fittingly, the clock bats appear twice.
• Dmitri slaps Sviatoslav about inside the clock. He does the same again in "Family Reunion."
• This is the first time the crew travel back in time. The next will be in "The Rest is History."
• This is also the first time they encounter some dinosaurs. The next will be in "The Lost Valley." When you think about it, birds are modern day dinosaurs.
• Dr. Tyme's somewhat low estimate of 'a million years before you were born' isn't so off when you consider Duckula is his own fathers' fathers' father etc.
• Two of Brian Trueman's characters are seen emerging from coffins opening to the left hand side looking on. Both have fangs too, either going up or down.
• This vampire is also the first of three vampire ducks voiced by Trueman in the series and the 1st of five ducks voiced by him overall.  
  
• Duckula claims not to like cucumber, though he could easily be lying to try and save his skin.
• Nanny is pleased to be engaged to a doctor. She almost does the same thing in "Dr. Von Goosewing's Invisible Ray."
• In 4008 the President of the USA is an artichoke and two turnips have landed on Venus. Lets wait and see if this comes true!
• The DVD subtitles misdescribes the peas' line as "Killed us alive!" which is, frankly, funny in its own right.
• The French Revolution did indeed start in 1789, on May the 5th however, the tricolore flag was not officially adopted until many years later. It makes sense to see one on the Bastille though as these were the colours of the French militia.
• This is the first time the trio travel to France, though not by castle.
• This is the second episode in a row to feature a guillotine.
• We get a bit of specific animation on Sviatoslav as he sniffs the air.
• Duckula alliterates when describing when he needs "something heavy, hard and horrible."
• Appropriately, a soufflé is a French recipe and would have been current at the time.
• Igor only calls Duckula 'milord' once in this episode. All other instances are 'sir's.
  
  
• Although the episode is ascribed to Peter Richard Reeves, Chris Randall is credited with additional dialogue and Jimmy Hibbert as script editor.
• This episode was released on a Lollipop VHS (volume 2) in May 1989 along with "Restoration Comedy" and "All In A Fog." However, the back of the video shows a still from "AutoDuck" instead, which was released on volume 1 of the Lollipop Duckula tapes. It was also released on a "Children's Picture House" tape along with episodes of several other shows (Huckleberry Hound, Fireman Sam, Paddington and Barney.)
• Again, along with "All In A Fog", "The Mutinous Penguins" and "One Stormy Night", this episode was transcribed into book format, including many images taken directly from the episodes. (see above and right)
  
• The Flintstones episode "Time Machine" uses a similar premise, also set at a fairground.  

• Goofs and Nitpicks
  
• From a distance, the note on the door looks like it reads 'Count Duckra' - this is corrected in the close-up.
• Duckula's bow tie is briefly coloured green when first in the roller-coaster, because it looks like his hands. His eyelids get coloured green a scene later. It works with that animator's particularly creasy sort of style though.
• When meeting the vampire, the doc's eyes briefly turn white.
• The carrot speaks first in Jack's voice then later in Jimmy's. Same with the onion and David and Brian's voices. Could be a different vegetables to be fair, there's a lot of them!
• Some behind shots of the potato have his hands backwards.
  
  

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  Let's start this again.