“It’s right versus wrong, good over greed, niceness against naughtiness… That’s the dedication of the terrific trio--Frankie, Howler and Drak, Jr… The Drak Pack!”
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| (Frankie, but not the GROOVIE GOOLIES' Frankie!) |
DRAK PACK was an animated series that ran on the CBS television network between 1980 and 1982 with a total of a mere sixteen episodes. It was produced by an Australian subsidiary of Hanna-Barbera.
The show centered around three characters: Drak (referred to as Drak Jr. in the opening segment, but very rarely in the series), Frankie and Howler, descendants of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster and a werewolf. These three “monsters” combined to do good deeds to make up for their progenitors’ wrongdoings.
The three usually appear as normal humans, but when needed, they strike their right hands together and shout, “Whack ‘em!” or “Whacko!”. This is called a Drak Whack. They are then transformed into the vampire, the monster and werewolf. Drak can fly, is a telekinetic, and is a shapeshifter. Unlike most cartoon vampires, Drak may take on many forms, though he seems to favor that of a bat. Frankie has super-strength and can produce electric bolts. Howler has super-breath and an ultrasonic howl.
Frankie was very much the typical Karloff Frankenstein Monster with green skin, big boots, bolts in his neck and a seemingly shrunken suit stretched over his large barrel chest. The distinctive feature of Frankie is that there are no clear scars and that his hair is more of a pompadore than a flat-top.
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| (Click to Frankensize) |
They use a flying car that can also work as a submersible, which is called “The Drakster”. And when they need advice, they turn to “Big D” Count Dracula, Drak’s great-uncle.
Their arch-nemesis is Dr. Dred, a blue-skinned evil genius. Dred’s henchmen, who are known by the name OGRE (The Organization for Generally Rotten Enterprises), include Toad, Fly, the Mummyman and Vampira. Toad is very much a toady to Dred, and he often unintentionally helps the Pack. Fly is a humanoid fly with similar traits. Mummyman has super-strength and use his wrappings to entangle the Pack. Vampira, a female vampire with powes similar to Drak, has a crush on Drak.
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| (Dr. Dred doing his best Vincent Price.) |
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| (Drak's Great Uncle Count Dracula) |
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| (Vampira and Toad) |
OGRE is based on an artificial island called “Dredquarters” or “Drednought” or “OGRE Island”. They also travel in an airship referred to as “The Dredgible”.
It’s possible other concepts influenced the creation of The Drak Pack, as Hanna-Barbera weren’t exactly known as innovators, such as Dell Comic’s heroic monsters or NBC’s MONSTER SQUAD, which featured Dracula, Frankenstein and a werewolf fighting bad guys.
DRAK PACK employed the voice talents of William Callaway, Hans Conried, Jerry Dexter, Chuck McCann, Julie McWhirter, Don Messick, Alan Oppenheimer and John Stephenson.
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| (Click to Frankensize) |
Those wacky websites with knowledge of Frankie and the DRAK PACK that you may wish to delve further into:
That's all folks...
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| (Click to really Frankensize this Charles Addams drawing!) |
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