School for Vampires

School for Vampires
Created by	Gerhard Hahn, Antony Power
Country of origin	Germany, Italy, Luxembourg
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	104
Production
Running time	12:04 min (International) 25 min (Germany)
Production companies	Rai Fiction, Cartoon-One, Warner Bros. International Television (Distribution)
Original release
Network	KI.KA, ARD
Release	January 1, 2006 – July 2010

School for Vampires (German: Die Schule der kleinen Vampire, Italian: Scuola di vampiri) is a children/teens Italian-German horror-comedy animated television series, based on children book Die Schule der kleinen Vampire by Jackie Niebisch in 1983.

Characters

• Oskar von Horrificus: Oskar is often seen as the hero and is one of the students at the school. Count von Horrificus is his uncle. Oskar tries to be a great student, but unfortunately he has a fear of blood, therefore he is a vegetarian. He is still able however to change into a vampire bat like his friends and often visits the human girl Sunshine because he has a crush on her and she feels the same. However, Sunshine doesn't know he's a vampire, as she is a skeptic, although she did turn into a vampire herself for a while. His name may be based on the character Oskar from the vampire novel and movie, Let The Right One In.

• Stoker: Stoker is rather an anti-hero and a troublemaker to the Vampire Academy. He is often getting himself or his friends into trouble and suffers from the most bad luck than anyone else in the series. His name is obviously a pun of Bram Stoker, the author for the popular novel of Dracula. Stoker looks the most stereotypical of his vampire friends, since he looks like Count Dracula and loves blood. He has a one-sided crush on Gothetta. In the English dub, he speaks with a Cockney accent.

• Leechy: Leechy is a child prodigy, often very intelligent and making inventions for his friends. He is seen to be very close with Oskar, and had a crush on Professor Oxford's young relative, Ravena. He dresses and acts like a stereotypical nerd and has sharper fangs than the other students.

• Klot: Klot is the youngest vampire and is often confused for a girl by certain people, he even dresses a little like Madeline and has a high-pitched voice. Klot also believes in the Fang Fairy.

• Gothetta Gothetticus: the only girl vampire in the school, and the most level-headed. She is a skilled botanist. Gothetta gets into trouble herself at times, but isn't as bad as Stoker. Many fans usually prefer her and Oskar to be a couple in spite of Oskar's crush on Sunshine and the fact that Stoker loves Gothetta. She doesn't particularly like Sunshine. Gothetta is also as smart as Leechy (only not as nerdy) and is often seen as a big sister figure to Klot. She has long curly red hair in a ponytail with the sides of her head shaved (also known as a wolftail). One episode shows her as a human. In the English dub, she speaks with somewhat of a "Valley Girl" accent.

• Ashley von Ghoulfangs: Once a young vampire like the others, but was exposed to the sun, resulting in him to be a talking, sentient, immobile pile of dust. Ashley often speaks about his vampire life and that he was the best one in all the land where he comes from. Ashley also often tells everyone things they should know about others, like why Lenny was upset for a while. His name acts as a pun, since he is an ash pile. He can be seen as a sort of comic relief. As a vampire, he had red hair and wore green clothes.

• Lenny: The school's custodian. He is very protective of the students (especially when Sunshine's grandfather tries to kill them). Unlike them, he was bitten by a vampire, not born as one. He speaks with a British accent.

• Ravena: A female vampire whom Leechy has a crush on. She is related to Professor Oxford. She has black hair in a bun and somewhat resembles Mina from the Dracula franchise by the way she dresses.

• Professor Oxford: A vampire teacher and a relative of Ravena. He looks similar to Count Orlock from Nosferatu.

• Sunshine Polidori: A female human whom Oskar has a crush on. She may be called Sunshine because of her blond hair. When she turned into a vampire, she had black hair and was called Moonshadow. Sunshine is a skeptic and is unaware that Oskar is a vampire. Her grandfather is a vampire hunter.

• Paulus Polidori: Sunshine's grandfather, who is a vampire hunter. Even though he is not a skeptic like Sunshine, he is also unaware of the fact that Oskar is a vampire. He has a brother who is a skeptic, but even though Sunshine is also a skeptic, she demands that her grandfather be treated with respect. His brother eventually becomes a believer when Gothetta and Stoker change into bats and scare him. Paulus Polidori is often thought of as a "crackpot".

• Count Alerich von Horrificus: Oskar's uncle who works as the headmaster of the vampire school. He is always striving to make Oskar the best vampire he can be.

Minor Characters

• Buck: a mischievous vampire boy.
• Lady Kryptina: a female vampire.
• Nofre: An Egyptian vampire princess who resembles Cleopatra. She only appeared in one episode and is a spoiled brat. Her name is a combination of "Nosferatu" and "Nefertiti".
• Count Fracula: An elderly vampire who is a parody of Count Dracula.
• Batoria: Gothetta's cousin who looks like a stereotypical goth or scene girl. She's friends with Stoker. Her name is a parody of Countess Bathory.

Animated films for TV

The German Media (MDM) supported the project development of the movie SCHOOL FOR VAMPIRES by promoting a 3D produced by RABBIX VFX GmbH Weimar and Hahn Film AG - stereoscopy teasers. Director and producer Gerhard Hahn will begin this year with the production of the feature film.

A vampire boy who can see no blood and still in love to all evil in a human girl named Sunshine is - pretty bad cards for Oskar, the vampire! His friends are flashy, adorable, hot, Stoker, Gruftine, Klot or Count Horrificus and have something in common: they are all vampires and students.

The film adaptation of the already published in 5 countries book series by Jackie Niebisch is co-produced by the ARD, CARTOON ONE and the DZT and the first 78 episodes were broadcast by ARD and KIKA with high odds. An animated television series was developed, producing several seasons. The first 26 individual new adventures were completed under the direction of Tony Power and aired from March 2010. The international pre-sales of the series support the sale of the movie, which is planned for 2010.

The animated series had one significant difference, depending on the voice dubbing and location of its broadcast. The German dub had different names for four of the main characters.

See also

• List of German television series
• List of Italian television series

External links

• Die Schule der kleinen Vampire at IMDb 
• [1] The official School for vampires mobile game