“Mina and The Count” is one of those Animated shorts that was never developed into a complete series. Although I feel it had the potential to be an award-winning show.
The short was featured in Cartoon Network’s What A Cartoon! Show and Nickelodeon’s Oh Yeah! Cartoons.
A Brief History of Mina and the Count
The “Interlude With a Vampire” was the premiere episode of Mina and The Count Show that was featured in the What a Cartoon! Show in 1995. This was the only episode that was picked for by Fred Seibert.
The plot was about a Seven-year-old Mina Harper and her adventures with Vlad. Vlad is a 700-year-old vampire. Vlad accidentally bumped into Mina while searching for Nina Parker.
Other episodes revolved around the vampire, know simply as Vlad the Count, mina, his best friend, Lucy, Nick, who was Lucy’s school bully, and a handful of monsters, and Igor, Vlad’s servant. Most of the events happened in Mina’s school and home, including The Count’s castle in a small town in North America.
Let’s take a look at the characters that made the show memorable.
The Characters
Mina
A 7-year-old girl with thick red hair in a ponytail. Often seen in red clothes. Mina loves going to school and playing with her toys. She doesn’t get along very well with her sister Lucy. One night she bumps into Vlad, and they became best friends.
At school, Mina is bullied by Nick, her classmate. The perfectionist Martha is her only human friend. Mina is good at cooking, but Vlad has no idea how to cook and is allergic to garlic. Something that Mina had no idea about at the time.
Mina was my favourite character in the show, followed by Vlad. Ashley Johnson voiced Mina. Besides skipping the rope, Mina’s new is chilling with the Dracula.
Igor
Jeff Bennett voiced Igor. Igor was Vlad’s servant who used to wear green clothing and sandals and had a wild laugh. He hates Mina for turning Vlad into a caring man. Igor struggles to continue serving his master even with the hate he has for Mina.
Igor was the weirdest character in this show. He even hated kisses, embraces, affection, and anything close to showing love to others. He loves watching TV in his spare time.
Igor has a very close resemblance to Gru (Despicable Me), or is it just my eyes playing tricks?
Vlad The Count
Vlad was a 700-year-old immortal vampire with blue skin and a black suit. Mark Hamill voiced him. Vlad survived by drinking young women’s blood. When he met Mina, he repressed his evil impulses.
Vlad has many abilities; he can become a mist, a bat, use telekinesis, and he could also hypnotize people and animals. He considers comics and toys fun and very smart. He hates the food humans eat.
Mr. Harper
He is the stern by caring dad to Lucy and Mina with unique back hair. He has no idea that Vlad is a vampire. At first, he thinks he is a life-size doll with a weird body smell. He is later led to believe that Count is Mina’s Violin teacher and invites him over for dinner.
He is a polite guy but often irritated by Count’s actions and considers him a mad European.
Lucy Harper
Candi Milo voiced Lucy. Lucille Harper is Mina’s elder sister wit ha long blond hair. She’s got a boyfriend called Bobby, who appeared in the show.Lucy has a crush on Vlad and has no idea he is a vampire. Lucy doesn’t get along very well with her sister Mina, but at the same time, she cares about her little siz.
Mina and the Count Nostalgia review
Mina and The Count remain one of the amazing short series of the ‘90s. Even though it lasted for a very short period. The show ran six mini-episode series that was part of the What A Cartoon! Show and Oh Yeah! I bet you know how amazing these two projects were, they were the most popular cable TV shows.
The show has nostalgic tendencies for many people across all generations. Dating as far back as the 50s. This is because the show borrows a lot from the 1950s animations that were centered on the Draculas and Vampires theme.
Rob Renzetti did some good work on this script. He was the director and producer of the show. He is known for producing amazing cartoons like “My Life as a Teenage Robot,” which is another captivating show that breathes life in the stale genre of epic cartoons. He is also known for his unique works as the director of the Dexter’s Laboratory, PowerPuff Girls, and Samurai Jack.
Mina and the Count Retro Short: The Vampire who came to Dinner, OY!
One of my favorite episodes in Mina and The Count was: The Vampire Who Came to Dinner. Check it out below:
This episode was funny, watching it again took me back to the ‘90s. I love the little gags like when Bobby’s photo turns to a frown when Lucy changed the plans! It also happened in another episode when the chaos ensued in the classroom, the name of the school is “ahhhh.”
The voice cast for this short is incredible; it is a shame the ideas were not further developed into a more extended series. There is a host of plot ideas in here that could be developed into a long sequel.
Although it appears to be a very short one, it brings out the idea of Count being thrown into a new world with mortals. And Mina being able to deal with the supernatural abilities of Vlad Count.
A similar plot and storyline idea was adopted by some other animations like Billy and Mandy. It is much like when Katie Ka-Boom was dating Chicken Boo! A few will get the reference here J
I got the link to that short from Fred Seibert’s Vimeo channel. He was the founder and creator of the Frederator Studio and the Oh Yeah Cartoons that contain the other four cartoons like ChalkZone.
Watch the short and get the connection of the characters and the nostalgic feeling of cartoons of the ‘90s.
I enjoyed the cast and development of ideas of this short. Their views were unique and easily relatable by kids back in the ’90s. Maybe it is because it was started as a school project, hence he easy connection to the school going kids.
Mina and the Count also had its dark moments that would keep you on toes, mostly when The Count uses his powers to hypnotize others.
Even if the show only ran for six episodes, they were all deep. They were designed to be unforgettable with a smooth storyline that grabs you. It is a show well worth watching, and I hope someday someone will see sense in reviving it and making a longer version it.
Some characters were not developed well, like the teacher and the mummy. It is easy to create engaging and breath-taking stories around such characters.
Mina and The Count remains a must-see for those who enjoy some horror cartoons. Especially those who loved the vampire and Dracula kind of stories. The art and style of the show were pretty cool and had some charm to it.
The overall animation and changes of color to a monochromatic background made the show unique, captivating, and wholesome to watch.
Another amazing element of the show was the epic music, which was creatively put together by Steve Bucker and Thomas “Chase” Jones. The duo also collaborated in other shows like the PowerPuff Girls, Dexter’s Lab, Batman, and Codename: Kids Next Door.
Bottom Line
The show Mina and The Count was a cool show, and if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend you give it a watch. Check out all the episodes. There are only six episodes; it will probably take you less than an hour to watch all of them!
Here is the full series of Mina and The Count, enjoy!
Well, that was a spooky short “Short”, be sure to check out tomorrow for another nostalgic retro review. Please remember to share GeezeZone.com with your friends who love nostalgia and are fond of looking back at the sweet old days of the ’90s and 2000s.
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