My first Dracula (or The Count for kids)

I wanted to take a trip down memory lane today, and delve into my very earliest experiences with Dracula. When I reflect back and think about where my interest in all things horror came from, I can trace it all back to a little cartoon that started in the late 80s called Count Duckula.

For those unfamiliar with the show, Count Duckula was a vegetarian vampire duck, which came to pass after ketchup was used in a ritual rather than blood. Duckula lived in a castle in the middle of Transylvania, though the castle had the ability to transport, which was often very helpful for story purposes. I distinctly remember an episode where Duckula took on Phineas Fogg in a race around the world – the teleporting castle providing a huge advantage of course.

Count Duckula ran for four seasons from 1988-1993, with the titular character being voiced by David Jason and accompanied in Castle Duckula by dour butler Igor and effusive but ineffective housekeeper Nanny. Fans of the original might also be interested to see Dr Von Goosewing appear in a number of episodes, part mad scientist and part vampire hunter, and our Van Helsing equivalent for the series.

I can’t say that the show marks the first vampire – or indeed the first Dracula on children’s TV. The early 1970s saw Groovie Goolies, run on US TV, featuring a host of Universal Horror monsters, including a somewhat clumsy version of Dracula voiced by Larry Storch. Quacula was a character who appeared on The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle in the very early 1980s. Even Duckula himself was seen on TV before getting his own show, being a recurring villain on Danger Mouse – though his persona in his own series was far more affable and bumbling than we saw in those initial appearances.

I stand by that I would never have the same interest in Dracula, vampires and all things horror without Count Duckula appearing on my TV screen. Indeed the first story I ever wrote, when I would have been four or five, is a page long and tells the story of Duckula’s tropical vacation – where they ate exotic fruits pineapple and ‘payapa’ (my best attempt at the spelling at the time).

If you’ll forgive my reminiscing, the point I’m driving at here is that many of us have these stories of encountering Dracula before we have heard of the Stoker novel, or the Hammer movies, or any other iteration you care to name. Since the era of my childhood, Dracula has been seen many times on children’s TV and indeed in children’s films – Adam Sandler’s Dracula of Hotel Transylvania, the evil count of Monster Force in the 1990s, even the ultra child-friendly Vampirina on Disney Junior in the early 2020s.

By establishing a base of knowledge at a young age, when as teens or young adults we come to Dracula in his more ‘grown up’ form we already have all the coding and understanding that we need from our experiences so far. Of course, the original Count is a very different thing, but in speaking to childhood we can certainly find more people experiencing Dracula in his many, many forms in years to come.