Thursday, October 05, 2006

Hoomite and Youbee (Who might and you be)

Long ago, there was an insignificant channel called Home TV which used to air some of my favorite shows. Mostly animation series from Cosgrove Hall productions and a couple of chinese mythological dramas-- totally enjoyable!.

One of the animations was "Count Duckula".

taken from http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/countduckulaseason1.php :

"Castle Duckula—home for many centuries to a terrible dynasty of vicious vampire ducks: the Counts of Duckula! Legend has it that these foul beings can be destroyed by a stake through the heart or by exposure to sunlight. This does not suffice, however, for they may be brought back to life, by means of a secret rite, that can be performed once a century when the moon is in the eighth zenith. The latest reincarnation didn't run according to plan."

Count Duckula is a funny, odd guy (voiced with above average enthusiasm by David Jason) a vampire duckwho now only wants to munch on veggies instead of hapless necks and who often finds himself overwhelmed by his bumbling, caustic staff. There's Nanny (voiced by Brian Trueman), an oversized bird with a bandaged arm and a knack for walking through walls; and Igor (Jack May), a stuffy Jeeves-like butler who often looks bored/indifferent/annoyed with Count Duckula and Nanny's antics. Other minor characters pop in and out of a few episodes, including Duckula's enemy, Van Goosling (a la Van Helsing).

Count Duckula is often based on odd exchanges between the various characters. To show you the goofy extents the show goes to, here's an example of a dialogue exchange between Count Duckula and two Egyptian characters (Hoomite and Yoobee):

Hoomite: I am Hoomite, High Priest of the Sun God Ra! And this is my assistant Yoobee.
Yoobee: Delighted, I'm sure.
Hoomite: Who might you be?
Count Duckula: Yes, I got that.
Hoomite: No, who might you be?
Count Duckula: Yes, I know, you said that already.
Hoomite: So you will not tell me?
Count Duckula: Well, I hardly need to, do I?
Hoomite: We shall see about that! Yoobee, you try.
Yoobee: Oh, very well master. Listen I am Yoobee, right?
Count Duckula: Wrong. I am, you are.
Yoobee: Aahhh! There you are Master, he is Yooare.
Hoomite: So you are Yooare?
Count Duckula: I am not, I am not.
Hoomite: See! He is not Yooare, he is Knot!
Yoobee: You are Yooare!

4 comments:

Ragz said...

Rockula...Rockula...Hoomite Kedar bee?
Youbee Rockula...with the hilarious Duckula....

Yeah I know Youbee, You are Kid are....aha..Cool one dude...

Gandaragolaka said...

I knew, even if no one else, you will surely like it!

But this conversation is atleast doubly hilarious when you actually see it. I rememeber laughing my ass of when I watched this episode.

Sketchy Self said...

I loved count duckula! It was intelligently funny humor, with amazing comic timing. Igor was a vulture, if i remember right...and Van Goosling wore a sherlock holmes-style tweed garb and spoke with a spectacularly thick east european accent. It was great how the seemingly positive character of van helsing was transformed into the wild, scheming and blundering van goosling.
My favorite episode was the one in which van goosling tries to invent a machine that would make him invisible and it doesn't work....till it gets struck by lightning...its rays are reflected on itself, and it disappears! Van goosling jumps with delight crying "Look at it! Look at it! Invisible!" But then the machine goes haywire and starts shooting rays all around, in the process making parts of people disappear and reappear on someone else...creating hilarious combinations of all the already crazy characters!
Thanks for bringing back memories of that show!

Gandaragolaka said...

well... thank you! I didnt know of anyone else in our junta who saw that show.

There were 2 other shows by cosgrove hall that I caught my attention-- one is danger mouse, and the other was 'victor and hugo'. I somehow liked victor and hugo over the others.

The funny sequence that I posted here was a common thing there... with the french accents, and all... it was an explosive combination I still remember victor saying: "Hugo! what is it that it is that you want?"