"Jungle Duck"

Trees, grass......BAM-BOO

Season 1 Episode 19 (episode 19 overall)

Original broadcast date: 24th January 1989

Writer: Jimmy Hibbert
Additional voices: Major: Jimmy Hibbert
                               Commodore: David Jason
                               Timmy: Jack May

Travel location: African Jungle

Castle transport visual used.
Joke credit: Animal Trainer - Hal E. Gator

This'd make a nice bookmark.

Count Duckula travels the castle to the jungle to search for lost treasure after reading about it in his newly purchased Encyclopedia Transylvania.

Actually it's Igor who proves to have low sales resistance, amusingly enough. After failing to carry out a vicious sounding threat involving leg-slicing, he returns from the front door (or where it used to be) with the full 24 volume set in tow. I don't know if  encyclopedia salesmen are still as much of a nuisance as they were in the late 1980s, (readily available information on the internet may have played a part in this) but door-to-door nuisances certainly haven't gone away. Although I imagine Jehovah's witnesses at least give the castle a wide berth.

It's not all doom and gloom though, Duckula gives the books a try and before long is engrossed in them. Of course, Duckula, being Duckula believes anything he reads, especially the entry on hidden treasure. Treasure which, apparently, still lies undiscovered in a lost temple in the African Jungle. So, off we go then! It's just as well the castle can travel, I imagine the Count's bank balance would be in even more of a sorry state were he to travel as much as he does via more conventional means.

Being a Cosgrove-Hall cartoon, it's naturally time for some "BLAAARGH SMASHING! JOLLY GOOD!" type characters, so naturally again, we meet two of them already in said jungle. Commodore (David Jason) and Major (Jimmy Hibbert) are also in search of the lost temple (read:treasure) and have apparently been doing so ceaselessly for quite some time. The whole jungle exploration idea in this story seems to be treated as some kind of weird cyclical déjà vu sort of affair. This ties in well with the ending, which we'll get to later. One just gets the impression that these great white hunter chappies have gotten stuck in some sort of a time and space loop. As a child I always used to think of the computer system when I heard the word Commodore. I also seem to recall being bed-ridden when my mum taped this episode for me in 1989.

Despite the duo's dotty nature, they do seem to at least be somewhat on the ball and regard the sudden appearance of a Transylvanian castle in the jungle to be a little odd. Though they attribute this to that 'tricky chap',  jungle fever and dismiss it as an hallucination. That squared away, they finish their breakfast and set off for the temple, just as Duckula has the same idea. It now seems like a race to see who'll get there first. (SPOILER ALERT: neither party do.)

Duckula and his trusty bearers (Igor and Nanny of course) trek their way through the ' dense and unyielding jungle foliage' in search of the temple, Duckula keeping them 'entertained' with facts from the encyclo'. I imagine Igor probably knew most of them anyway, he already seems like a walking encyclopedia. He ought to watch it with his cheeking though - after all he was the one who bought the books! There's a running gag about how the books are alphabetically ordered, which most schoolchildren who spent any time in the library over lunch break (like the writer of this blog always did) will appreciate. The spines of the books have the names of the articles within them, from first to last. Therefor we get stuff like "Easy to Explain" and "Set to Work". Of course Nanny doesn't understand and Duckula can't explain properly, though Igor does try.

On their travels they encounter upper-class yahoo toff character #3 in the shape of a Tarzan type fellow. There's a reason he's so polite and refined. Turns out he, his father and some chaps came in search of the lost temple many years ago and got shipwrecked. He ended up getting raised by apes in the jungle a bit like what Tarzan did in that book - "Rather jolly really!" Certainly makes an amusing change from the typical depiction of Tarzan being all grunts and shouts, at least initially. Duckula is naturally a bit wary about telling him the real reason for their expedition, partly through his innate greed. One gets the impression that 'Tarzan' views material gain as rather greedy and useless, which - to him - of course it is. Not much use for money and jewels in the jungle! He gives them directions anyway before swinging off the tree on a vine. Duckula tries the same, but decides walking is easier - after swinging into the tree on a vine. Speaking of vines, the Count reads out a fact from his book that the plants have an amazing growth rate. This fact will come into play for the episode's ending. Igor also gives a great beatdown of his thoughts on the 'grrrreeeeen things' that persist in scratching him in the face.

Meanwhile, Commodore and Major are still on their search and decide to stop for the old British panacea - cup of tea! Jolly good. They still imagine that our 3 heroes are an hallucination as they go past on their journey.

Major: Dashed persistent that hallucination!
Commodore: Mmmm, dashed persistent.

They assuage their worries with the assurance that the likelihood of an hallucination finding the treasure before they do is, in the Commodore's gobbly words "Highly improbable!"

They don't know how true those words are. Duckula and co are still no nearer the treasure, despite following the jungle chap's directions. Stopping for a brief rest, (and possibly a cup of tea) Nanny almost gets eaten by a giant plant but she proves a little too much to swallow! Nanny also finds the constant facts from the books and Duckula's way of expressing himself throughout the episode to be somewhat hard to swallow. This marks a rare instance where she actually gets pretty angry at him! It's funny to see, as it doesn't happen that often, at least not with Duckula as the target.

Nearing what he assumes to be journey's end, Duckula now crosses paths with the two explorers who make the somewhat absurd request that the Count clarify whether or not he is an invention of their diseased minds. Satisfied he is not, their next question (presumably regarding the temple) is interrupted by another surprise appearance of the Tarzan fellow, who asks them all how they're doing. Duckula attempts to sneak away to what he assumes is the lost temple, leaving Tarzan to chat with the other two.

The ending's actually rather touching, especially for a show like this. Tarzan recognises his father in the Commodore and, after initial indignation, the Commodore identifies his son, Timmy. Even the Major gets in on the reunion, earning the affectionate title of Uncle Willoughby. With the three fellows reunited, it's off to meet some jolly apes and no doubt have another smashing cup of tea. Good show!

Of course, the Count's ending isn't quite so happy. Turns out the lost temple just Castle Duckula, now covered with vines (remember the rapid growth rate?) and the trio have been going round in circles the whole time.


Castle returns home, Duckula screams in frustration and the jungle chappies seem rather miffed that they were lied to. "Hallucination all the time!"

A nicely balanced episode, with more emphasis on adventure than comedy and a smidgen of heart-warming as a nice change of pace. Most of the comedic moments are taken care of by the very English explorer chaps. Animation is at it's most angularly expressive, courtesy of by the British division of the studio. There's a fun little bit when the two explorers halt for their cuppa tea and set up camp and brew it within seconds. Slow it down for added amusement. Nice bits of cross-dissolves are in evidence too, for example the photo in the Count's book merging into the jungle landscape and the rope bridge to tree trunk shots.


Music
Title card/Duckula deciding to go to Africa is "Talking Drums" (track 1) "Finger of Fear" (Fredric Bayco) opens the episode. "Unsteady Feet" (Christopher Evans-Ironside) underscores Duckula reading the books. The Major and Commodore's theme ("Working Party" by Paul Lewis) resurfaces later in "Mysteries of the Wax Museum."
A lot of jungle-y music like pipes and beating drums characterise this episode and give it the hot, intrepid feel it should have. Episode ends with the same cue as "Duck and the Broccoli Stalk" and "A Family Reunion" do. "Floating  Up/Down" (Dick Walter, tracks 72-74) play when Timmy and Duckula swing on the vines."Champagne Waltz" (Jack Trombey) plays as Timmy and his family go off to visit his adoptive family. "Barrage" (also Trombey) - Closes us off.


Pans and backgrounds
There are some really lovely water and steam effects in many of the jungle scenics. Really adds to the feeling of heat. Appropriately, there are quite a few organic roamin' and zoomin' pans however, which make piecing them together somewhat tricky. Nonetheless, we have quite a few on show here. Clicking on each set will give you a better view.

This is a multi plane pan so it isn't exact. A relit version appears in "Around the World in a Total Daze."

Trivia

• Another episode with 'duck' in the title.
• The title card actually moves down like a blind and covers the main series title, rather than a thunder/lightening effect cut as usual. This is the only episode in the series to do this. 
• Episode does not start with a scream, but ends on Duckula's. Opens and closes in Transylvania.
• Encyclopedia Transylvania is the Duckula equivelant of the Encyclopedia Britannica. Igor identifies it as a 24 volume set, but it looks like there are more books than that, but then again, the Count is in the library so he could be using all sort of books. Or perhaps volume counts as something else. At any rate, we can see 41 books in a long downwards pan, including the one the Count is reading. The fact that "Set to Work" is volume 2, suggests there are many MANY books per volume!
• The tribe of the M'bisili's is a pun on imbeciles, while the Temple of Bhami is a reference to barmy (ie. mad).
• The three guests for this episode are a rare example of barefoot characters. Normally everyone but the Count and some of the peasants, wear shoes.
• Rare episode where Jimmy Hibbert voices only one character. (except see odd fact below*)
• The Commodore is the third David Jason character in the series to wear a pith helmet and explorer gear, after the Arch Duck Merganser and the Count himself.
• Both David Jason's characters have titles started with 'Co' - Count and Commodore. 
• Jungle fever is the slang term for malaria.
• There's an odd little bit where Jimmy Hibbert* speaks a line for the Commodore. I can only assume that, for whatever reason, David Jason's line was un-recorded or unusable and he himself was unavailable so Jimmy had to step in to fill in for that one line and a bit. It's just at the end of their first scene.
• Another mention of Towzer. Igor disavows his existence once more.
• It should be fairly obvious that Timmy is a spoof of the Tarzan character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In the original novels, however, Tarzan's father was killed, whereas here they get reunited. The original Tarzan's real name was John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke. No relation to Barry Clayton then?

  

  Timmy makes an appearance in this comic.

• There's a funny little anecdote about this episode according to the old Cosgrove-Hall website. Apparently Jack May requested he be given more incidental voices, so he got the role of Timmy. He read the Tarzan yell exactly as written, hence his 'AA-EE-AA-EE-AA-EE-AAA-EEE!' which cracked everyone up so much, more lines were added in for the character. Poor ol' Jack! He May have had less vocal range than the other actors but he more than made up for it by providing a solid block of the series' sound that just could not be imitated by anyone else. It's no wonder they simply decided to have Igor remain silent when Jack was unable to speak for him in Victor & Hugo's "Treasure Haunt."
• Timmy makes reference to various muscles of the body: Triceps (arms), pectorals (chest), long adductors (thighs) and gluteus maximus (bottom!) Thankfully Duckula interrupts him before he can show off that last one. Timmy is described as being hunky, but he's depicted as very lean, though definitely not out of shape.  
• First of two times in the series where Jack May's character gives the Count some turn left/turn right directions. Happens again in "00 Duck."
• Igor's legs get rather long when he dismounts the crocodile.
• Duckula eats a broccoli sandwich in this one. And an apple it seems.
• The Commodore uses the expression "Tickety-boo!" - also used in "Ducknapped" and "Mystery Cruise."
• The Commodore, Major and Timmy would reappear in "Around The World In A Total Daze."
• First of three characters in the series to be called Willoughby. Happens again in "Arctic Circles" and "Who-Dunnit?" First of two characters so-named to be voiced by Jimmy Hibbert.
• Jungle Duck is also the name of an episode of "Duck Tales".
• This episode was adapted into a storybook and illustrated by Vin James. I have had at least 2 copies of said book, but they keep going missing! If it gets found, I will update here with some pages. In the book, Dmitri and Sviatoslav appear and make a joke about lion repellent. The story is paired up with a story version of "The Vampire Strikes Back".

  

  As you can see, I found it again!
• This episode was released on VHS in 1989 along with "Vampire Vacation" and "Igor's Busy Day." Though no screenshots from the first and last episodes are shown. A reversed shot of the ending to "The Mutinous Penguins" has been used instead for some reason.
  
  
  
  
  

 Goofs and Nitpicks

• All just trifling colour errors really. Nanny appears to be missing her tights when the trio set off on their trek and again when riding on the crocodile, though less noticeable. Duckula's cuffs turn grey when he gestures to what he thinks is the temple. Igor's collar turns flesh colour for one frame as he enters the 'temple.' Finally, a tiny sliver of Timmy's legs are flesh colour when he asks if his father can spare an hour or two.