Obscure Cartoon Spotlight Episode 6: Quackula

[Neomysterion]

Hey there fellow ToonZoners, and welcome back to the Obscure Cartoon Spotlight, the weekly thread series that talks about cartoons that have been neglected for years. I've received requests that I should lay off the 1990s/2000s lost stuff for one night, and cover something from the late 70s. This Halloween, it's about time that I talk about an obscure cartoon that just might scare you (not really, though).

This week, the Obscure Cartoon Spotlight goes to... Quackula!

Don't confuse this guy with Count Duckula, Quackula existed a decade before Count Duckula did.

Quackula was a comedic cartoon series that was made back in 1979 by Filmation, and was truly a short-lived cartoon segment of the New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle cartoon series once aired on CBS Saturday Mornings, and the segment only lasted 16 episodes.

Quackula (voiced by Frank Welker) does sport a similar appearance to Daffy Duck, only with pale-blue skin, vampire fangs and a vampire cloak to boot. Quackula did have all the trappings of a regular vampire, yet he received more laughs than screams of horror. During the day, Quackula did sleep in coffin, but it was oddly styled after a duck's egg. His scare victim, Theodore H. Bear (portrayed by Norm Prescott), always had plans to get rid of Quackula, but he always failed every time to rid himself of that vampire duck.

Quackula is too obscure for his own good, here are a few fun facts on the short-lived cartoon segment:

Cartoonist Scott Shaw did create a character called Quackula a few years before this one. Shaw did file a complaint to Filmation concerning the fact about the character name. After 16 episodes of the New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle cartoon series, Quackula was unfortunately canned due to being viewed as a liability (legal reasons).

Norm Prescott, the guy who voiced Theodore H. Bear, was more recognized for being a co-founder of Filmation and an executive producer for most of the Filmation produced series (alongside with Lou Scheimer) rather than for his voice acting.

Quackula's article on Wikipedia
Don Markstein's take on Quackula

I hope you enjoyed this piece of cartoon obscurity, and don't forget to vote on how you liked the short-lived series. I'll be back next week with another lost cartoon that so few of us may know. Until then, Happy Halloween to all of you here at ToonZone!

*Discussion of The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle is also permitted.

Informational basis provided by Wikipedia and Don Markstein's Toonopedia.
Quackula is (C) 1979 Filmation Associates, Inc.
The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle is (C) 1979 Filmation Associates, Inc., charatcers (excluding the Quackula cast) are (C) Terrytoons

 

[Prof Ultimate]

A few (possible) corrections to make. It was Filmation co founder Lou Scheimer that typically augmented their shows with his vocal talents, not Prescott. Haven't seen the show in years, but I'm almost certain it was Scheimer as Theodore. Prescott may have done minor character voices throughout the studio's history, but I honestly can't recall a regular character credited to him.
And while The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle debuted as an hour long series in 1979, I don't think it got a second season, getting cut to a half hour with repeat segments, minus Quackula (never knew back then there was lawsuit drama). Viacom did package the series separately for syndication, with The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse comprised of the 3 MM segments that were featured in the 16 hour long shows and The New Adventures of Heckle and Jeckle featuring the 2 H&J segments plus Quackie.

Cartoon Network ran these many years ago, mostly during various Tom & Jerry blocks-which sometimes included the Filmation T&J toons.

Syndicated version of the half hour MM opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxfFABK4Co4

And a dubbed in Italian version of the H&J/Q opening-suprising, I couldn't easily find an English version..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIGej7J10vc

And for trivia buffs, you may scratch your head over the same music for the openings...the original hour long show opening, the H&J-Q intros came right after MM's spinning into camera bit with JJ Abrams' lens flare/explosion.... At the end all characters were grouped together singing "ooooh yeah" before the title card an announcer (Scheimer) blared the full show title.

 

[Neomysterion]

A few (possible) corrections to make. It was Filmation co founder Lou Scheimer that typically augmented their shows with his vocal talents, not Prescott. Haven't seen the show in years, but I'm almost certain it was Scheimer as Theodore. Prescott may have done minor character voices throughout the studio's history, but I honestly can't recall a regular character credited to him.
And while The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle debuted as an hour long series in 1979, I don't think it got a second season, getting cut to a half hour with repeat segments, minus Quackula (never knew back then there was lawsuit drama). Viacom did package the series separately for syndication, with The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse comprised of the 3 MM segments that were featured in the 16 hour long shows and The New Adventures of Heckle and Jeckle featuring the 2 H&J segments plus Quackie.

Cartoon Network ran these many years ago, mostly during various Tom & Jerry blocks-which sometimes included the Filmation T&J toons.

Syndicated version of the half hour MM opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxfFABK4Co4

And a dubbed in Italian version of the H&J/Q opening-suprising, I couldn't easily find an English version..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIGej7J10vc

And for trivia buffs, you may scratch your head over the same music for the openings...the original hour long show opening, the H&J-Q intros came right after MM's spinning into camera bit with JJ Abrams' lens flare/explosion.... At the end all characters were grouped together singing "ooooh yeah" before the title card an announcer (Scheimer) blared the full show title.

Thanks for the info and (possible) corrections, Prof Ultimate. I was just looking up The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle on IMDb, and the results did lead to Lou Scheimer being one of the executive producers for the series (among all the other Filmation toons), but didn't end up getting any voice roles from that particular series. Lou Schmeimer did nab more Filmation cartoon voice roles than Norm Prescott did while comparing the two, which is a true statement right here.

You know, it's very unlikely for any of the younger TZ members (or least those who didn't grow up in the 60s or 70s) to understand what we're talking about here. Quackula however, is well before my time, and I'm more than happy to have some contributors to help out and give their feedback. Quackula is definely a rather obscure choice for an animated series, and a very short-lived one at that as well, so people try to be as accurate as they can about information on such an abandoned cartoon series.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Count Duckula was a wee bit before my time and so I have never actually watched it. I never heard of it until I read about it in Jeff Lenbury's Cartoon Encyclopedia.

 

[Prof Ultimate]

Thanks for the info and (possible) corrections, Prof Ultimate. I was just looking up The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle and Jeckle on IMDb, and the results did lead to Lou Scheimer being one of the executive producers for the series (among all the other Filmation toons), but didn't end up getting any voice roles from that particular series. Lou Schmeimer did nab more Filmation cartoon voice roles than Norm Prescott did while comparing the two, which is a true statement right here.

I watched a few of the MM toons that are posted on Youtube today and I'm shocked to realize after all this time that Scheimer is voicing MM! I had assumed that it was Frank Welker (who voiced H&J and Quackula, but it's definitely big Lou. Why hire Welker and not let him cut loose?? The closing credits on the MM shorts only list Alan Oppenheimer and Diane Pershing.

It was late last night when I posted, and I assumed an English opening title for H&J-Q would be somewhere on the 'tube, but if it is, I'm not finding it. So roughly for memory the lines are

I'm Heckle...I'm Jeckle, and we're here on the double..
We're silly, we're funny, and always in trouble...

I'm the goofy, crazy, vampire duck..
///something something (can't remember) ///..., I can't ever get enough..

 

[dtemplar]

I would love to see The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle on DVD, especially with the Quacula shorts.

 

[Doyng]

Re:

To Prof. Ultimate's post about Quackula:

The theme was...
I'm the crazy, goofy, vampire duck
Though I like to scare you
But I never have me luck
(Quacks in laughter)

I do believe this is close....

Now, if I can only see the original '79 opening titles of this hour long series

 

[Debbie]

More accurately, it's:

I'm that crazy, goofy, vampire duck!
I sure would like to scare you,
But I never have the luck!
(Quacks in laughter)

 

[Eric B]

Great! I remembered him quacking something like that, but didn't know the words (and these videos that are up are only in Italian).

Does anyone remember Heckle& Jeckle's lines in the opening?

 

[dtemplar]

Heckle: I'm Heckle!
Jeckle: I'm Jeckle, and we're here on the double.
Heckle: We're silly, and funny, and always in trouble!

 

[dth1971]

Quackula was the forerunner of Count Duckula.

 

[Neomysterion]

Quackula was the forerunner of Count Duckula.

You are right about that fact. I'm not sure if Cosgrove Hall is aware of Quackula, if they were, therefore Quackula is a possible inspiration for Count Duckula.

...even though Count Duckula doesn't look as much a vampire-esque Daffy Duck lookalike compared to Quackula.

 

[Eric B]

Looks more like a vampire-esque Donald Duck lookalike!