Yep, thanks to the powers of Blogspot we now have some sort of a "guestbook". It might not seem like much but it's the best way I think for you to have your say on Duckyboos until I'm smart enough to build a proper guestbook. Whether you just want us to know what you think of the site or maybe a few suggestions, it's right there, but please read the rules carefully before posting.
I've also put the second season episode guide online [no pretty screenshots at the moment I'm afraid], and managed to fix a few bugs that were driving me insane! There's probably a few more that might drive me potty as I do more work.
Count Duckula wishes you all a very merry Christmas!
And as a bonus, Duckyboos is now back online! There's still some things to fix and build as I've been working very hard, but I hope you all enjoy the new layout!
Internet Explorer users, please be aware that the shortened menuhead is a known issue that I might not be able to fix. If there's anything majorly wrong, please tell me!
Been a while since I last updated the site, and yes, sorry for the shutdown. I decided to get rid of the splash page [aka Enter] because I felt that it was getting in the way of actually entering the site. I also got rid of the previous news for good because to me it sounded rather hyper and rushed...if you catch my drift! XD!
But man, have I been busy or what? I've been pimping up the likes of the header, the side menu and some pages, although most other pages are still under construction. Stay tuned is all I can say
We also wish with a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!
It looks like us lucky Brits will see the second season of Count Duckula on DVD on the 19th February 2007, as it apparently says on UK-based shopping site Play.com. I believe this might be the doing of FremantleMedia, who already released the British version of the first season release back in July. Nothing like special features are announced at the moment, neither there is an image of the set. All I can do for the moment is just wait for things to develop, but my spirits are high this time because whatever Play places in its Coming Soon area is very likely to be coming soon.
I can't wait! :}
Update 29/DEC/2006: Uh oh...the release date's been pushed to the 26th March 2007 now. Cheeky little...
I found Count Duckula's theme in French! But all I can say is...very weird, especially the way the song is sung... Duckula's voice en frencais ain't too bad, but still.
There's also this video. Check out the alternative logos!
And also a VHS cover. I've love to see a full episode in French, since that and Spanish are the only languages I ever had the chance to learn back in school. It kind of chills me whenever I hear or read French that I could understand some of it!
It's come to my attention that apparently the Count Duckula First Season is now available in Spanish!
I was looking around on eBay when I first of all found this in the Buy It Now section. I wasn't too sure if this one was official even though it says in the listing that they "don't sell bootlegs, copies or anything illegal". It looks like a nice cover though, much better than the British versions. I then looked for "conde patula dvd" in Google for a bigger version of that cover, and I ended up finding two links to what looks like the first season:
Well I must say, these are REALLY nice renditions of that one picture of Duckula they use on every release. I don't speak much Spanish, but even if I did I still wouldn't be able to tell which one's a mock-up or which one's commercial. If anyone out there in South America has bought this DVD, I'd be VERY obliged if you guys can help me out.
What I can make out of this Spanish is that apparently the release has a photo gallery, 30 episodes [as opposed to the usual 26 on the American and British releases], tracks in both Spanish AND English, interactive menu, episode selection and a total of 600 minutes. But that doesn't make sense! If the English version is 675 minutes and has 26 episode, how can the Latin American one have 600 mins and 30 episodes?
I'll be really grateful if anyone who's bought the DVD can send me in some scans or something.
On the 7th November, or this Tuesday evening, to be precise, there was a documentary on ITV Granada where they take a look at how Cosgrove Hall, those very people behind Count Duckula, came to be one of the most well known animation studios in the UK. However, ITV Granada is a regional version of ITV [one of our main channels here], and is only shown in the North-West of England.
Most thankfully though, I happened to have a friend who lives in Liverpool, and was able to capture the programme from ITV Grandada on his PC. I've only got the first part so far, as transfering the 230MB DivX file with MSN Messenger was a pain in the arse. But the wait was so worth it!
The first part of the documentary covered the earlier works of Cosgrove Hall, such as Chorlton and the Wheelies, Jamie and the Magic Torch, and Dangermouse. I expect Duckula will be featured in the second part which I should get from my friend tomorrow.
Update Well, I got the second part of Cartoon Kings just now, and well, very good. This part does cover Duckula, but also the more recent of Cosgrove Hall's work. However, I don't think 30 minutes is enough for such a prolific animation studio. Maybe perhaps an hour would do nicely. But anyways, it was worth documenting, because ever since I read about in a Wikipedia article, I always wanted to hear David Jason do all the voices of Duckyboos and ol' DM!
Many thanks go out to Psyke for taking the time to record it for me.
Meanwhile, today I had a muck around with Fimo clay...
Heh, I suck.
Small edit: I just found out that Toonhound's linked to my blog! LOL!
Just a few days ago I was in sky high spirits, because I was looking around in Wikipedia and found this on the Count Duckula article:
Airing History [United Kingdom]:
ITV1
The Children's Channel
Nickelodeon
Sky One
Boomerang [TBA]
That shot me up so high I couldn't sleep that night. The cartoon was last seen on UK TV on Sky One in 1996, so to me it was a miracle. I didn't like Boomerang for the sole fact that they dedicated an entire six weeks of summer to Scooby Doo cartoons, which I really can't stand, but I started to like the channel when they started showing another classic, The Raccoons recently.
However, today I got really mixed up. Count Duckula seemed to have disappeared from a list of cartoons that were supposed to be airing soon on Boomerang UK, and it had me really pissed off, because later on I found that the cartoon is definately on air in Central and Eastern Europe. I also found a copy of the cartoon introduction which had been recorded in the Netherlands, with Dutch subtitles and the Boomerang logo, as you can see below.
What's more, I've been looking up the schedules for all the areas they have this channel, and I found that in the east and central European versions of the channel there's going to be a Duckula marathon on the 29th October. This schedule is in ENGLISH for crying out loud!
I wasn't too sure anyway, so the other day I sent Turner Media an email making an inquiry about the cartoon being aired. No word yet, sadly. Perhaps I should write to Ofcom? After all, if they could do so much for that one person who complained about smoking in Tom & Jerry cartoons, they could change something for one Count Duckula fan?
However, all I can do is keep on hoping, rather than venting my spleen over Scooby Doo. Boomerang pops their cartoons in very, VERY randomly, as do most of our other channels here. Until then, I'll carry on searching for VHS of beyond-season-one episodes, or downloads of episodes I haven't got.
7/SEP/2006: Really sorry guys, but I had to take most of the pages down...there's this damn table bug that I can't seem to fix and it's doing my head in!
I'll let you know when it's up and running again.
---- I'm very happy to announce that my Count Duckula fansite, which shares the name of this blog, is online!
Thought I'd like to make a post about what Duckula sounds like in other languages.
In Spanish [Conde Patula]
We also have an episode in Spanish too.
Over at Duckula Online you can download the theme in German [Graf Duckula]
There was also an Italian theme on Youtube which was totally different. I would share this, but it sadly got flagged months ago. In Italy he is known as 'Conte Dacula'
Do you have an opening theme in a language other than those shown here? If so, I'd love to hear from you!
I'm an artist in long training. I've been drawing Count Duckula since late 2005, although I first became a fan ten years before that. As well as Duckula, I love cartoons, cookies, Enya and music in general. =3
Quote of the Mo
"So how many people do you know with pistachio flavoured thumbs, Igor?" - Duckula
