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Ooh dear, now how did THAT happen?

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It can't be true, man!  But it is. I have just learned of the passing of Brian Trueman at the age of 92, so I'm kind of writing this in a mad haze. Maybe I'll edit it later or maybe not, who knows. While there's a lot to be said for fine-honing one's writing, sometimes it's good to just get raw feelings out and leave them as they are.   I'm not going to get all maudlin here. I am however going to take the opportunity to put down why I enjoyed his work so much and in my own humble way, attempt to learn from and emulate all the aspects of it that appeal to me. Also, as if re-animating a vampire corpse, I'm going to resurrect this blog, however briefly! Growing up, I imagine a lot of children, when asked who their idols were, might have listed the names of popular singers, footballers and movie stars. However, I was one of those strange kids, who most likely would not even recognise these celebrities. Nine times out of ten, my heroes were nothing more than

"Unreal Estate"

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Season 3 Episode 3  (episode 48 overall)   Original broadcast date: 5th November 1990 Writer: Brian Trueman Additional voices: Caterpiller/Von Goosewing/                              Dmitri:  Jimmy Hibbert                           Sviatoslav: Brian Trueman                           Zizi L'Amour: Ruby Wax                         Travel location: Nice, Moscow, Hollywood Castle transport visual used. Duckula decides to fly the castle to Hollywood to see if he can sell it. I suppose it's oddly fitting for me to end this reviews blog with the very first episode. Well, sort of. This was in fact the first episode put into production as a sort of test pilot and viewing it, you can see this. A lot of the animation is kind of weird and oddly crude at times and much of the first half is spent on exposition. Von Goosewing even seems to be surprised to read in the newspaper (in the undeaths section!) that Duckula is back from the dead. At some stage they obviously decided to work this into

"Mystery Cruise"

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Season 3 Episode 13  (episode 58 overall)   Original broadcast date: 21st January 1991 Writer: Jimmy Hibbert Additional voices: Game Show Host/Captain                                Farley/Sviatoslav:                            Jimmy Hibbert                           Sandy: Ruby Wax                        Dmitri/Number One: Brian Trueman                         Travel location: Unspecified ocean (it's a mystery cruise after all!) Castle transport visual not used. Nanny wins a mystery cruise on a ocean liner whilst taking part in a game show. Duckula and (reluctantly) Igor come along for the ride. This episode features no traditional horror trappings other than what we'd usually expect as standard (a scene in the castle, Igor insisting on rampart-stalking) and instead is mostly pure sitcom with a bit of game show/nouveau-riche mocking thrown in. Although, unusually, it does feature a bit of an education spot (from Igor naturally) about the Mary Celeste A real life event which ca

"All In A Fog"

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It's a real beef brother. Season 1 Episode 9  (episode 9 overall)   Original broadcast date: 1st November 1988 Writer: Peter Richard Reeves Additional voices: Parkie/Dr Von Goosewing/                            Sviatoslav/Cabbie/Mildred:                            Jimmy Hibbert                          Dmitri/Arthur: Brian Trueman                          Hawkeye Soames: Jack May                          Dr Potson :  David Jason Travel location: London, England Castle transport visual used. Duckula decides he wants to be a Sherlock Holmes style detective in London. This is the first time in the series off-brand Holmes and Watson show up as well as being the only time their literary inspiration is mentioned. So we've got Dracula and Sherlock Holmes sharing the screen here! Without even looking this up, I wonder whether there are any classic (ie. old) movies that can boast that claim? I very much hope so. The closest I can think of offhand is the original story of "the Susse