Speaking of which, this article is about childhood classics.
Before Lao Meng introduced the veteran American horror IP "Ghost Show", he said that it may be the childhood shadow of many post-80s.90s.
In fact, if you think about it, most of our childhood was basically contracted by cartoons.
I have to say that the cartoons of that era can be described as a hundred flowers.
There are classic to no"Journey to the West", "Divine Pen Ma Liang" with high artistic attainments, and "Black Cat Sheriff" with positive energy.
Of course, most of these classic cartoons bring us good childhood memories, but some of them have left us with deep childhood shadows, such as the weird and deformed "Rubik's Cube Mansion", and this article will talk about -
Duck Detective
Although "Duck Detective" is a 2000 animation, nearly 20 years have passed since now, it still maintains a high degree of activity on a bullet screen website, with millions of views and hundreds of thousands of bullet screens.
Even if you open it at 2 a.m., you'll be pleasantly surprised to find that there are still people watching the film with you.
It also received a rating of 9.1 from more than 20,000 people on Douban, a little higher than "Journey to the West".
"Duck Detective" is a domestic animation jointly produced by Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio and Shanghai Oriental Television.
It tells the story of Merrard, the famous detective aunt of the duck class, and The Inspector Weiler of the Swiss Police Station, relying on their meticulous logical thinking, superb reasoning ability and inexplicable luck to solve various strange events around the world.
The combination of Aunt May and Weller is also our common combination of detectives, one is responsible for brain power output, and the other is responsible for luck bonus.
So the most common dialogue in the film is, "Well done, Weller! ”
Wheeler falls and discovers the secret hidden in the cake. Aunt: "Well done Well, Well done. ”
Wheeler fell again and found a clue in the snow. Aunt: "Weller, you're such a genius." ”
Wheeler fell in two more fell and managed to knock off the rolling stones, and everyone avoided injury. Aunt: "Well done, Weller! ”
On the surface, this is a simple style, cute characters, relaxed dialogue, and although it is a detective animation with suspenseful reasoning, there are no bloody and violent scenes in the entire 26 episodes.
Even a duck life has not been lost in the whole play, and the cases in the play are generally based on disappearance and kidnapping.
However, although the ducks and ducks are cute, Lao Meng still has to say with certainty: everyone who has seen it will have an inexplicable sense of fear, which is also applicable even when they grow up.
First of all, the opening song of "Duck Detective" alone bears most of the horror output.
I think that when Old Meng finished watching it, when he went to sleep at night, all that echoed in his mind was this cheerful and strange piano melody, and he would also make up for the darkness of his brain with a bunch of terrible eyes staring at his back, so that in the end he could only sleep in the bed trembling.
"Duck Detective" can be said to be scared of countless post-90s in that year, and netizens also gave the evaluation that best represents their voices:
"Honestly, these ghostly ducks ruined my childhood, and their empty eyes are still my nightmares."
"Why would an animation for a child be paired with this weird bgm?" Now when I hear the song, I still get hairy. ”
"This weird feeling, like the twin girls in The Shining, is more than just childhood trauma."
So, to say that it is a childhood shadow is not an exaggeration at all!
For example, the most terrifying case of the whole series voted by netizens top3, the fifth episode "Headless Ghost", the eleventh episode "Kissing Earl" and the 17th episode "Castle Ghost".
The story of "Headless Ghosts" takes place in the depths of the jungle with a prehistoric civilization, and it is said that a large amount of gold and silver treasures are hidden here, attracting countless explorers.
Wheeler receives instructions from his boss, the Bald Chief, to protect Dr. Grey Duck, the archaeologist, to explore the rainforest, along with Aunt May.
Before Leaving, Dr. Grey Duck receives a threatening letter signed "Headless Ghost".
In this regard, Wheeler obviously did not believe it, in his opinion, how can a headless person write a threatening letter? I also had to put a stamp on the letter.
But another of his peers, the spectacled duck who claimed to be a banker, was very afraid of this, and even if Aunt Mei kept persuading, he still wanted to back off.
And they did encounter a lot of strange things along the way, like a boulder that suddenly appeared on the road, and the canoe they were riding was destroyed and leaked.
There has also been a mysterious mask duck trailing all the way, passing the suspension bridge when the rope was cut, this mask duck is haunted, with a strange bgm, is the childhood shadow of many friends.
Aunt Mei carefully inspected the scene of the two accidents and analyzed that someone had deliberately obstructed them from going to the mysterious prehistoric civilization.
Wheeler also hurried to express his opinion, successfully ruling out a wrong answer for his aunt.
So they arrived at the ancient city after a hard journey, and the glasses duck looked at the ruins and told the story of the ancient city.
At night, a group of people set up a bonfire in the jungle, and the headless ghost actually appeared, but the "headless ghost" did nothing, slipped around in front of everyone and disappeared.
For a moment, people were panicked, except for their aunt and Dr. Gray Duck, the rest of the ducks were frightened, and they spent the night like this.
The next day, the plug-in duckViller went online, first found a bicycle trace that should not appear, and then accidentally crashed into a secret room.
In this chamber of secrets, there is the equipment of the headless ghost.
That is to say, the headless ghost is disguised as a duck.
At this moment, the aunt Mao Seth suddenly opened up and knew who was behind it.
That night, aunt and Weller set a trap and take down the duck pretending to be a headless ghost.
He was the spectacled duck that followed them all the way, and the aunt concluded based on various clues that the spectacled duck was not a banker at all, but an archaeologist who had been stealing cultural relics all along.
The case was successfully solved, and the masked duck who had been following them before also appeared at this time, he was actually the bald chief inspector who came to support Weller.
I have to say that although "Duck Detective" is a reasoning-based animation, it also integrates the classic design of suspense and thriller into it, and the most typical is the two types of open-ended endings and ending reversals.
The open-ended ending, with more room for imagination, will invisibly double the sense of fear, and "Ghosts of the Castle", one of the most terrifying horror stories mentioned above, is a good example.
In the hall of the castle, Aunt Mei cracked who was pretending to be a ghost in disguise, but left an unsolved question: Who turned off the lights?
Meanwhile, Wheeler's boss, The Bald Chief, is locked up in the secret passage by the mysterious duck, and ghostly laughter is heard in the secret passage.
Can this kind of open-ended ending, which is extremely frightening, not make people's backs chill?
And in the painting hanging on the aisle wall in "The Kissing Earl", the eyes are rolled.
And at the end of "The Strange Case of the Express", we are given a terrifying reversal, the real mummy closes the tomb door...
But in the end, this is still a cartoon after all, so in addition to a small part of the horror hidden in it, it is more of a laugh-filled dialogue.
When I first watched it, I thought it was reasonable, but now it seems that while lamenting the intentions of the producer, I can't help but laugh at the lines.
For example, in the first episode, Dr. Ed, a good friend of my aunt's, said this to the duck who satirized him on the stage:
"You know, you and I'm not ducks at all."
And in the fifth episode of "Headless Ghost", the boat made by Aunt May and Weller and others leaks, and the dialogue between a duck and Aunt Mei is like this:
"Oh my God! We almost drowned! ”
"Don't talk nonsense, we're ducks..."
And "I am the authority of the ancient duck culture of the world, and you are questioning me!" "One more duck, one more pair of wings, always useful", "Why is every Parisian duck in a hurry?" ”
In addition, although it is a 2000 animation, the texture of the picture does not seem to be exquisite today, but it is not sloppy in the drawing of scenes and character costumes.
Given that Aunt May and Weller are a world-class detective combination, in just 26 episodes, the footprints of the two ducks are all over the world, and the background environment that appears in the story is depicted in the animation.
For example, the medieval castles of Scotland,
The streets of Rio de Janeiro, the foggy weather of London, and the exquisite and luxurious train cars can all find a contrast in reality.
Then there are the costumes in each episode that are also very suitable, just like in "Castle Ghosts", everyone's setting is to participate in the masquerade ball, all the ducks are dressed up, and what pharaoh ducks, kimonos ducks, clown ducks, and uniform ducks have appeared.
Needless to say, the details are perfect.
For example, in "The Legend of the Snow Duck", Aunt Mei came to Tibet to find Weller, who disappeared because of Mount Everest, so she wore a hiking suit + a hat that looked very warm, and the ducks and ducks she met were also dressed by Tibetans.
As well as the waiter duck and cos Sherlock Holmes's bald duck in "The Strange Case of the Express".
However, when it comes to costumes, Aunt Mei is the fashion queen of the whole play, especially the contrast between Weiler, who is in the world with "Benshan suit" and "suit", is even more obvious.
On the streets of London, she is a bowler hat; on jungle expeditions, she is a straw hat; when she goes to the castle, she is a knitted beret; on an overseas vacation, she is a Panamanian straw hat; when she is rowing in Venice, she is a special bell hat; and there are ethnic costumes with Chinese characteristics.
The hat alone doesn't look the same, not to mention that sometimes the styling changes more than once in an episode.
However, although the shape of the aunt is ever-changing, the wool bag in the hand is always put, which makes people wonder if the body of the aunt should not be a wool bag.
Overall, although it is a cartoon from nineteen years ago, it is neither outdated nor young.
And it can not only introduce geographical knowledge, humanistic customs, but also cultivate logical thinking and convey correct values.
So, it's time to revisit this 19-year-old anime!
Bluestone Film Editorial Office | Old Meng