Drak Pack

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Promotional art for The Drak Pack

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". In total there were 16 episodes made.

[edit] 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 antecedents' 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 favour 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 Organisation for Generally Rotten Enterprises [or Endeavours]). OGRE include the Peter Lorre-like Toad, Fly, Mummyman and Vampira. The sycophantic 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. Mummyman, an animated 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 powers similar to Drak's and a voice like Zsa Zsa 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"). They travelled 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.

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, colourfully-turned phrases and pop culture references.

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 even earlier animated series Groovie Goolies.