serenity
Bumbling French Crook
Posts: 189
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Post by serenity on Oct 1, 2007 13:07:34 GMT
Yesterday I was watching Unreal Estate, and a doubt came to me: could it be the real pilot episode? The "strange" animation, the fact that Igor explains too much everything, and then Von Goosewing who reads in the newspaper about Duckula’s undeath…what has he done in the 3 years before? Then the scene in which Igor throws away Duckula’s harmonica is present also in the opening sequence. Maybe it was realized in a first place but then they preferred to put “No sax please, we are Egyptian” as the first episode, because it was simply perfect. And then, towards the end of the series, they decided to air that episode too, perhaps because it was necessary to fill in a gap. Boh…
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Post by Nightwish on Oct 1, 2007 15:28:11 GMT
Yeah, you're right Serenity. I had noticed that as well when I watched it and wondered the same thing. When Duckula was asking why did this happen when he did this with his cape etc, he already knew that before from all the previous series. Plus the animation was different. Maybe it was an experimental episode and, like you said, they decided to replace the pilot with No Sax Please we're Egyptian because the first series was more major and had to make a good first impression.
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Post by Arabella on Oct 1, 2007 19:05:21 GMT
That's probably it! The undeath thing always made me wonder, too... Not to mention how the animation was different.
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Post by Stacey W. on Oct 1, 2007 20:26:47 GMT
Cartoon pilots are often a whole lot different than the proper cartoons [Sonic SatAM is an example of this if you've seen the pilot to that], and sometimes they end up becoming proper episodes. I've heard that Dangermouse has TWO pilots, one of which was remade into an episode. That must explain why the animation in Unreal Estate was rather bad then, not to mention why the harmonica bit in said episode was used in the intro. On Cosgrove Hall Ate My Brain there's a model sheet that has drawings right from the episode [the last one under Design]: www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/chamb/prodstages.htmlWhile most of the first episodes aired were finished in 1987, this model sheet dates to 1986!
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Post by Gaston on Oct 1, 2007 20:45:40 GMT
Definately finished in 1987 I reckon. Also Duckula's voice speeds up sometimes and Dimitri and Sviatoslav has their voices (but not names) swapped. Still a fine episode with a wierd quality to it. Strange how the animation can alter the mood of a script. I also doubt that all 65 episodes could have been made within 3 years - seems a bit quick.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2007 4:11:24 GMT
I first watch this episode in Spanish, for me it was the very first episode until the day I confirmed that 'No sax please, we are Egyptian' was... Still confusing!
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serenity
Bumbling French Crook
Posts: 189
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Post by serenity on Oct 2, 2007 6:38:26 GMT
When Duckula first appeared in Dangermouse someone must have thought of the possibilities of the character, and then developed the idea of the spin-off, but at least an year or two before 1987: maybe 1987 is copyright year for the final version; a Duffy Duck Duckula would be not the same, imagine also a Desperate Housewife Nanny and a old butler, which should be the evil Igor, full of aliments! Ok, the first samples scared me!
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Post by Rory O'Bannion on Oct 2, 2007 13:06:19 GMT
I will have to watch itr. I have seen it on youtube but never got around to watching it. I believe it's time I did.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2008 18:47:34 GMT
A few things I've noticed about Unreal Estates would be the fact the characters spent a lot of time explaining lots of things and Goosewing being shocked Duckula is back from the dead.
It's quite funny how Duckula sometimes looked a bit too much like his DangerMouse counterpart.
I must admit, the morphing art-style kept distracting me whenever I watched this episode. It's amazing how an artstyle can really make or break and episode.
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BC
Bumbling French Crook
If liking vampire ducks is wrong, I don't want to be right!
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Post by BC on Aug 20, 2008 23:01:27 GMT
I've never seen Unreal Estate but maybe I should.
I think 'No Sax' was a good way to start the series - it was rather introductory in its own right.
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Post by WilloughbyStain on Sept 17, 2009 15:07:43 GMT
I am glad to see this thread. I remember seeing Unreal Estate on Nickelodeon back in 97 or 98, and when I saw it I would have been prepared to bet that it was the first episode. So later when I got the Internet I was more than a little surprised to see No Sax was the first episode and Unreal Estate didn't air until the third season. But even at that young age and with a limited knowledge of the TV industry I just knew that Estate had to have been the first episode made even if it was far from the first shown.
It's a shame there isn't as much production information out there for Duckula as there is for a lot of other well known shows (even cartoons), and so it seems unlikely that we will ever be able to "know" for sure that it was the first episode. I wonder who would actually be able to say?
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Post by chriswyatt on Jun 28, 2014 9:19:58 GMT
I also thought this must be the pilot episode, also I'd be interested in seeing it in its original form (i.e. I wonder if it used to have alternative credits?), or perhaps that's lost but would have made a nice special feature.
Also wondered why they didn't redub this episode.
(also apologies for the thread necromancy, but I was Googling this episode and couldn't help putting my thoughts across!)
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hly66
Peasant
I'm new to this site and my first time getting involved with a forum
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Post by hly66 on Dec 6, 2014 19:57:56 GMT
.... Plus the animation was different. Maybe it was an experimental episode.... they decided to replace the pilot with No Sax Please we're Egyptian because the first series was more major and had to make a good first impression. It was indeed the pilot but this however was made as a test and wasn't indended to be aired. But they decided to make it part of Season 3 anyway. Like a demo track for an album, it was created to experiment many things (voices, music, sound effects, animation, colour....etc) so that it can be played back for everyone to note down what to keep and what to change. Unfortunately, the final cut had never been made, which is a shame since the story made for a good pilot. It gave us an introduction of the characters, their personalities and traits. It also added more back story following up from the Ketchup/Blood mix up scene in the opening credits (also including the narrator giving us brief information about the Duckula Dynasty, the castle, how they are killed and brought back to life). I remember watching this episode and thinking how bizarre it looked. A quarter of the way in, Duckula's voice suddenly went all high pitched and almost 'chipmunk' like with small sections where his regular voice would return. Sviatoslav and Dmitri had the same thing happen to them. The quality of the animation did have a distinct change to it. In one split second close up of Goosewing's face, the quality used in all the other episodes was shown. Using the same style Danger Mouse had (which included hand drawn photo-realistic backgrounds).
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hly66
Peasant
I'm new to this site and my first time getting involved with a forum
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Post by hly66 on Dec 6, 2014 21:19:06 GMT
Definately finished in 1987 I reckon.... I also doubt that all 65 episodes could have been made within 3 years - seems a bit quick. Count Duckula ran from 1988 - 1993. From Sept 6th - Dec 20th 1988, a new episode was released every 7 days. They took 2 weeks to release an episode every now and then. Season 1 ended in March 1989. So they spent 6 months making new episodes. Season 2 started up again in September 1989 to January 1990 9 month gap until October 1990 9 day gap before A Christmas Quacker is released. 12 day gap before The Rest is History is released on Boxing Day 1990.
Season 4 started 2 years later in January 1993.
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hly66
Peasant
I'm new to this site and my first time getting involved with a forum
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Post by hly66 on Dec 6, 2014 21:56:02 GMT
.... I've heard that Dangermouse has TWO pilots, one of which was remade into an episode.... The unaired pilot is called The Mystery of the Lost Chord. It was pretty much exactly the same as the Who Stole the Bagpipes episode but with one or two changes. Apparently on the DVD release, there was even an 'easter egg' shortcut which will let you access the episode if you paused at the right time. Here is some key information about it from Wikipedia: • There is no narration • Danger Mouse is voiced by William Franklyn instead of (Sir) David Jason • Penfold is voiced by Peter Hawkins instead of Terry Scott • Greenback is instead named Greenteeth • Stiletto's assistant henchman, Leatherhead makes an appearance • The Tower of Terror DVD (UK - 2001) states that this is the second pilot, as the first pilot is "yet to be found"
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