"00 Duck"

Directed by Cubby Broccoli-Sandwich

Season 3 episode 12 (episode 57 overall)

Original broadcast date: 14 January 1991

Writer: Jimmy Hibbert
Additional voices: The Egg/Dr Von
                               Goosewing/Trashman/
                               Bud: Jimmy Hibbert
                               Lucrecia Overeezi:
                               Ruby Wax
                               Oddbeak: David Jason
                              1st city gent/Porter:
                              Jack May
                              2nd city gent/Louie:
                              Brian Trueman

Travel location:  Cluj (by train)
                           Alcatraz Island (by castle)
                                                    
Castle transport visual used.

Evil Bond-villain wannabe The Egg takes over Duckula's castle to harness the power of some precious mineral contained in it's mountain tower. He fails to research the fact that the castle can move however.

This show was so abundant with literary tributes and spoofs that it should come as no surprise that it reached beyond horror works (and their subsequent movie adaptations) to tread the paths of many other genres. Ian Fleming should be no exception given the classic adventure feel of so many of the episodes. That said, this is probably one of the more modern themes the show tackled and would still have been contemporary at the time. After all, James Bond films are still being made at the time of this blog going to press! Generally the literary adventure feel of the series took it's (non-horror) cuttings from the likes or Arthur Conan Doyle, Jules Verne or Edgar Rice Burroughs, which helped keep the characters seeming older and more familiar than they actually were and are.

 

Opening on the villains' lair (the exterior of which is not revealed in this episode) the lairy villains (The Egg and his assistant Oddbeak) set up the story. They wish to take over the castle as a base of operations as well as mine the minerals of the mountain to power a ray gun. This is probably the most ambitious of Duckula's enemies so far. You can't get more ambitious than global domination! Well, there's always outer space next I suppose.

Anyway, to get the Count out of the way, an accomplice agent is sent out to divert him with a phoney mission. The baddies have either done a lot of research or not enough (I suspect the latter as we shall find out later) because the Count won't be needing to travel by castle to complete this assignment. Igor is quite right to be suspicious from the get-go and tries to talk his master out of it, but Duckula is of course having none of it. After all, he wants to be a secret agent so he can live out his dream of running people over in a tank and shooting Robbie Coltraine in the crotch. For once it doesn't seem to be a case of Igor disapproving of Duckula's idea of fun, but more out of concern for his safety. In fact both he and Nanny come across as like very tolerant parents humouring their offspring in this one in terms of how they react to Duckula. After a funny bit about clean vests (NOT a joking matter) all are off to find some secret space probe plans what have gotten nicked. 

Of course, there are no such plans but in typical cartoon coincidence fashion, Dr Von Goosewing has just completed some plans for his latest Duckula death trap which just so happens to be space probe shaped. If you look closely at his plans, he seems to...plan to have Duckula just drifting about it space trapped in a coffin. Ingenious perhaps, but very cruel! All justified in his mind no doubt by the Count being infinitely more cruel. Nonetheless, all very I have no beak and I must scream if you ask me.

They both set out by train to Cluj, in Goosewing's case to go to the patent office, in Duckula's case...to follow the spy lady's lead. You can probably guess what'll happen soo, but it leads to one of my favourite Count and Doctor confrontations.

Von Goosewing barges into the train's bar and starts hilariously attacking the Count with the rolled-up plans, miSTAKEing them for something more usual to impale a vampire. Great how he thinks he can basically commit an act of murder on public transport with no worries! Vampire hunter or not, who would believe him if he succeeded anyway? I love the irony of how the battle takes place right in front of a sign advertising 'Beautiful Transylvania.' (see images below) This is probably one of the the most obvious examples of Goosewing doing the Count some genuine harm, though if you listen closely Duckula is laughing at him throughout. Igor and Nanny (and the spy) doing nothing to help is amusing too, like they either know he's in no danger or are simply having an off-day. It's already been established that Nanny thinks VG is Duckula's playmate anyway. Still, he might get a nasty paper cut! 

 Igor disposes of the good Doctor by comically hanging him to one of those mail posts in a catcher pouch. Speaking of which, do they still use these on trains? Pretty sure they'd have been very dated even when this show was made. Anyway, now Duckula has space ship plans in his possession it's time to return them. It's clear the spy lady was not prepared for this Von Goosewing-aided complication so she quickly jumps ship - er -train- in a rocket pack. Duckula is too busy eulogising himself to notice.

At Cluj station Duckula asks a porter for directions to T.R.A.S.H, which is misheard as trash resulting in him being directed to the local rubbish tip. I love these areas in cartoons - they're such fun to draw. All that junk! Duckula approaches the trashman and, believing him to also be an agent talking in hush-hush terms, dumps the plans in the bin. Sorry, deposits them at the drop-off point. Somehow it seems very fitting that Duckula bins the plans that were meant to seal his doom. Of course, he isn't aware of either of those facts and assumes he's saving his country! Poor Goosewing though, what a waste of effort! For his sake I hope he made a copy. I hate to lose originals.

Back to the castle now only to discover that it's been taken over by The Egg. Got a problem with that Duckyboos? Down a conveniently placed trap door and into the dungeon for you! The squatting ovoid super-villain finally reveals his plan in full. Using the ovulonium to power a ray gun that will go worldwide and make any fuel of any kind powerless thus putting him in charge of everything. Basically stealing the world's keys and asking for ultimate power in exchange. I said he was probably the most ambitious of Duckula's foes! Despite appreciating the surroundings of the torture chamber, Igor uses a bit of reverse logic and manages to get Nanny to break their bonds - and the door - to aid their escape. Duckula also ably redeems himself from his earlier easily-duped buffoonery by quickly making for the coffin room to transport the castle. The Egg's ray won't work if the ovulonium isn't there! Come on evilton guys! Even the fake genie and his evil master found out the castle could travel before they did their naughtiness.

Next stop is a prison island to hand our elliptical evil-doer over to the authorities. Sadly Duckula cannot convince the guards (warders, whatever) that landing a huge Transylvanian structure - brimming with super-spy weaponry mind you - in the prison courtyard was the best course of action. 

Duckula: I saved the world I'm a hero!
Guard: Yeah, hero doin' time. Lock him up Louie!

The Count's embittered protests close us out in an amusing way, all the more tragicomic because for once he actually was the hero of the hour and deserved some praise.

An extremely fun and adventurous episode ('ridiculous espionage nonsense' as Igor would have it) and one that was a lot funnier than my memory told me it already was. Some things really do improve with age. Lots of great little exchanges and witty acting. Animation is by the UK team with some stock use, mainly of Igor. Some of the villains' artwork would get reused in their next appearance. And since it's Christmas at the time of this going up it's time to go and watch the James Bond film! We'll all have "Goldfinger" and then pack it in, OK?

Seriously though, a Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) to all my readers during these trying, tortuous and terrible times. Don't forget to keep browsing this blog if you're as big a fan as I am because, like a Christmas stocking, there'll always be a little something you might have missed what with it being constantly updated. So pour yourself a large sherry, fix up a broccoli sandwich with sage stuffing and enjoy some vampiric waterfowl cartoon fun. See you in the new year. 

Music

"Path of Destruction" (Tim Souster) - Opening/move the castle.
"A Question of Doubt" (John Devereux) - Count and spy converse in fireplace room.

The not-James Bond theme is also used in the Avenger Penguins Bond spoof "Fishfinger."

Pans and Backgrounds

Cool and crisp lines and atypically less gloomy colouring for the most part give a fresh clean feel to this episode. Blogger won't let me add captions to these for some reason. It's very clunky to use lately, so just as well I'll be nearing the end of this blog in the coming year! The pan of Goosewing's lab' was too good to omit even if it's presented in a cropped manner here. Same for the rubbish dump. I'd love a cel of that bit where he attacks Duckula with his rolled-up plans too. Such a great image! 

 

Nein, nein, nein! Stop getting Bond wrong!

 

Trivia

• Yet another episode with the word duck in the title! The 00 is a James Bond (007) reference. It is also the name of an episode of Duck Tales, albeit written differently.
  
• Episode doesn't start on a scream but ends on Duckula's one. 
• Episode opens in The Egg's headquarters. This would also be the case for "Venice A Duck Not A Duck." Closes on the prison island.
• First appearance of The Egg and Oddbeak. Oddbeak is a spoof of Oddjob from the James Bond franchise. The character would get spoofed again (Bob-a-job) as played by Harry Slime in the Avenger Penguins Bond caper "Fishfinger" - ie. Goldfinger - also written by Hibbert. He must have liked Goldfinger! That is the film in which the live action version of the character appears.
• "Fishfinger" also uses part of the same music cue over the title card as this one does.
  
• Ovulonium is a fictitious element which is so-named as a pun on the words associated with eggs, like ovulate or oviparous. If The Egg is anything to go by, all the cast of this show reproduce via eggs like regular birds. Although they probably still go to hospitals and do the rest of the business just like us.
• Despite his apparent name, The Egg really REALLY doesn't like being reminded of eggs or any word that even sounds like ... the E-word. Which leads us to wonder if The Egg is really his supervillain name. Oddbeak refers to him only as 'master.' How EGGSasperating.
  
• Both David Jason's characters wear bow-ties and similar jackets and shirt collars.
  
• The spy lady has the same name as Duckula's Auntie from "A Family Reunion." Her surname is a pun on the way of preparing eggs (over easy).
• Three characters are seen with newspapers; Duckula and the two city gents.
  
• Another use of the "or may I call you (first name)? - No" routine with Duckula and the agent, although he calls her by her first name before he realises she's not there later on.
  
• The spy is one of two Ruby Wax characters in the series to sit in Duckula's chair. They even have similar voices.
  
• Another reference to Transylvanian Space Headquarters or TRASH. The previous one was in "Astro Duck." Here, Duckula claims not to have heard of their space probe, suggesting that this episode takes place prior. Either that or Duckula's memory is poor.
• Von Goosewing's caveside lab' makes another appearance. He also briefly hums Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries." No references to Heinrich.
  
• Von Goosewing inventions: Rocket ship (plans only). It is designed to look like a coffin, presumably to trick Duckula into going inside. This could actually work if VG replaced the magic travel coffin with this invention! Unlikely to work otherwise as Duckula tends to avoid any other coffins. The plans seem to involve steps so he might be thinking along those lines. (see above)
  
• Von Goosewing curses: "Schinken und Kase!" (ham and cheese) 
• Another trip to the city of Cluj. Also known as Cluj-Napoca, it is considered the unofficial capital of the Transylvania region. 
• The city gents refer to the London-Oxford railway line.
  
• Igor gets in an allusion to the word Hell by saying "Thank Hades that's all over." Caractacus Doom's James Bond persona manages one step better in "Fishfinger."
  
• The porter and the trashman previously appeared in "Town Hall Terrors." Like the doorman in that episode, the porter gives long-winded directions and like Jack May's other character in "Jungle Duck" they also involve 'left, left again' and 'you can't miss it.'
  
• A picture of Danger Mouse appears on the gate surrounding the rubbish dump. (see above) This fits, what with this being a secret agent type episode.
• Two of Jimmy Hibbert's characters wear pince-nez.  
• The dustman calls Duckula a funny bloke behind his back. The last person to do so was a crewman from "Prime Time Duck."
  
• A rare instance of Igor laughing at one of his own jokes.
• The Egg's voice sounds different (and less creepy) over the public speaker system to what it normally sounds like.
  
• What looks like a cross can be seen in the torture chamber of all places!
  
• Nanny mistakes Igor's use of the word 'perspicacious' as a swear word. In "Sawdust Ring" she mistakes Duckula's (mangled) use of the word for an ex-member of staff.
  
• Another appearance of the magic coffin.
• The Count can't count when he says 'got it in one.' The Egg actually 'got it' in two!
  
• If we take "Ghostly Gold" into account, perhaps the 'yellow rocks' that Goosewing found in the mountain weren't gold after all, but ovulonium. 
• A naturalistic seagull can be spotted near the prison.
  
• It's subtle, but there are guns and alcohol in this episode. 
• Alkatraz actually ceased operation as a prison in 1963, but to be fair, the island here is not identified by name and could be fictionalised. 
• Rare episode that has Jack May voicing three characters.
  
• The storyboard is accredited to Erland Hodge. This was used as what I assumed was a joke credit (which I didn't understand) in "Hardluck Hotel." So this is either a genuine name or another joke credit. Anyone know? Andy Roper storyboarded at least part of this episode, including the title card idea.
• This is episode number 57 which coincidentally is the same number as Agent 57 in Danger Mouse.
  
• This episode was released on VHS in 1990 (September the 3rd) along with "A Mountie Always Gets His Duck" and "Manhattan Duck" all prior to their ITV broadcasts. All the screenshots are from this episode and all titles feature the word duck. I rented this tape out regularly (along with the Bumper Special volume 2) from one of my local(ish) video rental stores and copied them on my school's editing suite before I figured out how to do this at home. Remember getting into trouble for that! The tapes were there for many years until they finally updated their children's section, mores the pity. Oh well, in this day and age the show isn't exactly hard to find. Different story back in 1996, at least for me.
  
  

  

  If you look closely you'll see that the art of the Count has been reused from the "Jungle Duck" release.
  

  
  
  

 Goofs and Nitpicks

• Goosewing drops his pen but is holding it in the next shot.
• For the only time in the series a possibly flipped cel means Nanny's sling is on the wrong side in a close-up shot. It's during the dustbin sequence. I'm not counting the mirror sequence from "Ghostly Gold" as that's a similar, but distinctly different kind of error. 
• The dustman's beak giggles for a frame. 
  
• The soundtrack seems to suggest The Egg is meant to move into shot to talk to his prisoners, but if you look really closely at the edge of the screen, he's already there.