Review by 'Tofu Nerdpunk'[]
Overall, this review from a German fan is quite positive and recommends the first episodes "to any cartoon fan" in particular. Here is the review in its entirety:
"High up in the Transylvanian Alps stands the castle of the Counts of Duckula. An old, venerable vampire family with a long and dark tradition. For just as many centuries, Igor and Nanny have taken care of the well-being of their masters. However, the counts are all killed by vampire hunters like the dumbfounded doctor Dr. Von Goosewing. Every 100 years, the count can be revived. But, unfortunately, Igor and Nanny are a bit incompetent, this time no bat blood, but tomato ketchup was used in the ritual. Thus, Count Duckula is reborn, but has become a sinister, vegetarian vampire duck. While Igor tries to make a real vampire out of the broccoli lollipop, Nanny smashes all the walls and doors of the castle with stupidity. The count himself is completely megalomaniac and selfish. He keeps coming up with new plans to make him rich and famous. In addition to his two incompetent henchmen, the castle itself aids him, with whom he can teleport to any place, at any time.
Count Duckula was actually only one of the rare bad guys on 'Danger Mouse' but then got his own spin-off series. This British cartoon production by Brian Cosgrove ('The Wind in the Willows') and Mark Hall brought it to a total of 65 episodes, divided into four seasons. 'Danger Mouse' is no longer in it, instead there is a slight parody of the 'Dracula' films. As can also be seen in the narrators in many of the series, they imitate the old sinister narrative style of Boris Karloff ('Castle of Terror'). Otherwise, there are consistent allusions to the old Grusler Universal and Hammerstudios. The Mummy has a guest appearance, the Wolfman as well as the creature from the lagoon and so on are cited again and again from old science fiction comics, short stories and other pulp publications. Fun for any science fiction, horror and movie fan.
The stories themselves are usually not very spectacular and are either about a fixed idea of the count, which usually leads to an adventurous trip or there is a larger concept behind it. Then some genre is parodied for a whole episode. For example, there is a series in which Duckula wants to solve a murder case in Noir style. The drive of the series are never the arcs, but only the stupid word games and running gags. Igor tries to seduce Duckula to drink blood, Duckula prefers to eat broccoli rolls. Other running gags are the 'Wolfie' Werewolf, who is never to be seen, two bats in a cuckoo clock that always tell bad jokes, Dmitri and Sviatislav, and so on. The humor is usually intentionally very bad, so you could certainly titillate the series to a pioneer in anti-humor. On the other hand, the series is also packed with some pretty clever puns that no kid can understand. Thus, the series is still a lot of fun for adult viewers.
The only problem is the blatant wear effect. Already after the first season everything repeats itself very often, which partly shows episodes that did not have any new gags to offer. The final season is now hard to bear, and is almost unmanageable with a new archenemy and his racist henchman (who, in addition to the many other racist stereotypes of the series, is very negative). On the other hand, the first 20 episodes can be entertained well and contain some wonderfully silly puns that have been part of my everyday vocabulary since my childhood until today.
Visually, it's an ugly duckling. The animations are very economical, often bumpy. Worse are the completely dead backgrounds, which always look like a lifeless backdrop of a theater stage. The character designs are boring, with a few exceptions. So it should be about the content, otherwise Duckula will not be a nice swan for you.
Count Duckula is basically a cool series. However, I am also a bit nostalgic and at the first complete sighting, my pink glasses have darkened very much. The first episodes I would continue to recommend to any cartoon fan, the later seasons hurt me a little as a fan."
Source: https://tofunerdpunk.blogspot.com/2015/01/graf-duckula-1988-1993.html