Drak Pack

Drak Pack
Promotional art for The Drak Pack, from left to right: Toad, Dr. Dred, Vampira, Frankie, Drak, Howler and Big D.
Genre	Adventure
Written by	Doug Booth Larz BourneGlenn Leopold Cliff Roberts
Directed by	Chris Cuddington
Voices of	William Callaway Hans Conried Jerry Dexter Chuck McCann Julie McWhirter Don Messick Alan Oppenheimer
Country of origin	United States Australia
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producer(s)	Joseph Barbera William Hanna
Producer(s)	Doug Paterson Art Scott
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 6, 1980 – September 12, 1982

Drak Pack was an animated television series. It aired in the United States on CBS Saturday Morning between September 6, 1980 and September 12, 1982. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera's Australian subsidiary, listed in the credits as "Hanna-Barbera Pty. Ltd". A total of 16 episodes were made.

Premise

The series centred around three young men (apparently in their late teens): Drak (called Drak Jr. in the opening segment, but almost never in the series; voiced by Jerry Dexter), Frankie and Howler (both voiced by William Callaway), descendants of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and a werewolf. To atone for their ancestors' wrongdoings, the three, united as the Drak Pack, became superheroes.

They appeared initially as normal humans, but when they put their hands together and shouted "Whack-o!" (called the Drak Whack) they would transform into a vampire, a monster and a werewolf, respectively. Drak's powers included flight, telekinesis, and the ability to change shape. Unlike most cartoon vampires, Drak was able to assume a variety of forms, although he did favor the customary bat. Frankie had superhuman strength and could release electrical charges. Howler had an ultrasonic howl and super-breath, apparently an homage to the Big Bad Wolf of The Three Little Pigs. Oddly, even in human form, they called each other by the same names, calling into question why they had secret identities.

Their principal mode of transport was an amphibious flying car called the "Drakster".

Their principal opponent was Dr. Dred, a blue-skinned evil genius, memorably voiced by Hans Conried. Dred's henchmen, collectively known as OGRE ("The Organization for Generally Rotten Enterprises [or Endeavours]"). OGRE include the Peter Lorre-like Toad, Fly, the massive mumbling Mummyman and Vampira. The sycophantic little Toad (a "toady"), voiced by Don Messick, was Dr. Dred's right hand, but very often would unwittingly assist the Drak Pack. Fly, a humanoid fly, also voiced by Messick, mostly buzzed and flew and walked on ceilings. Mummyman, a reanimated mummy, had super-strength and could stretch his wrappings indefinitely, often using them to tie up the Drak Pack. His rather inarticulate voice was provided by Chuck McCann. Vampira was a female vampire, with shape-shifting powers similar to Drak's and a voice like Eva Gabor's (provided by Julie McWhirter). She had something of an unrequited crush on Drak.

OGRE's headquarters were on an artificial island called "Dredquarters" (occasionally called "The Drednought" and "OGRE Island"). They traveled in an airship called the "Dredgible".

When the Drak Pack needed counsel, they would turn to Drak's granduncle, Count Dracula, whom they referred to as "Big D". Alan Oppenheimer provided his Bela Lugosi-like voice. A constant running gag involved Big D catching his fingers in the closing lid of his coffin as he signed off.

The series had a lighthearted, somewhat satirical tone. The dialogue was rather sophisticated for a Saturday morning cartoon of its time, and made use of alliteration, rhyming, colorfully-turned phrases and pop culture references. This was most visible in Drak, Jr's regular homages to Get Smart, including regular use of "the old (fill in the blank) trick".

Drak Pack had a similar premise to a live action series, Monster Squad, which had aired a few years earlier. There has been speculation that Drak Pack drew its inspiration from this series. However, one could also argue that both series were inspired by the ten years earlier Groovie Goolies series.

DVD releases

Visual Entertainment released Drak Pack: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only) on February 5, 2008.^[1] On September 6, 2011, VEI (distributed by Millennium Entertainment) will release the complete series on DVD in the US.^[2]

DVD Name	Ep #	Region 1 (CAN)	Region 1 (US)
Drak Pack: The Complete Series	16	February 5, 2008	September 6, 2011

References

1. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Drak-Pack-Release-Date-Change/8868
2. ^ http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Drak-Pack-The-Complete-Series/15417

External links

• Drak Pack at the Internet Movie Database