How delighted was I, a Muppet-loving vampire from the seventies, to find a DVD full of monstery puppety goodness called Transylvania Television at a horror convention several months ago? Plenty delighted! The creative minds behind TVTV (Gordon Smuder, Michael Heagle, and Clarke Stone to name just a few) pack a huge amount of ingenuity and humor into the brief first season.

Transylvania Television revolves around a television station owned by a wonderfully dichotomous vampire named Voldimir Le Shoc. Suave and somehow course at once, Le Shoc has a cast of delightfully nutty characters in his employ, each helping to keep the aging station barely afloat. Furry J. Ackermonster (nice), an unemployed American Yeti, is hired onto the staff at Le Shoc’s castle. Though a bit bumbling, Ackermonster manages to earn his keep by boosting the broadcast power of the station to a ridiculous pitch.

A terrific and lengthy pilot promises good meaty episodes, but sadly, the subsequent episodes are brief, each being around a minute. The season gets a slow start until hitting a great stride of hilarity when the antiquated Le Shoc joins the modern world with a foray into email and contemporary technology. The shorter episodes work well for these rapid-fire pieces, showing Le Shoc’s slide into the abyss of chat groups, web-speak, and ultimately, porn without pants.

The geniuses behind TVTV aren’t afraid to experiment either. One episode is done completely from a “technical difficulties” screen using voice-overs. It’s not my favorite episode, but I give much respect for the experimental nature. For Trekkies overlapping the horror community, there’s a nice little Star Trek spoof in puppet-form to look forward to as well.

Adding reality to a castle full of fabric and greenscreens, the voice-acting behind the puppets is tremendously good. I watched the full season with no picture just to listen to the talented articulation of the characters. The puppets themselves are also very well crafted. They’re every bit as good as the puppets you might be tempted to compare them to. Also worth mentioning is the music by the Coffin Daggers (http://www.myspace.com/thecoffindaggers), a band from New York who add their surf-goth blend of spookshow music.

A friend ran into the TVTV crew at a comic book convention recently and brought me back a tiny little fuzzy finger puppet they were selling as souvenirs. I love my little finger monster!! The creativity coming out of the TVTV gang is so refreshing!

Once you’re done watching Season One, don’t miss the outtakes. They’re nearly as funny, and as long, as the season itself. Seeing the puppeteers and voice actors truly having fun with the making of the show added a good deal to the experience. Also not to miss is the not-so-hidden Easter eggs. Listed right in the main menu for those who are a few eggs short of a basket, the Easter eggs are two brief pieces of Charles Hubbell and Gordon Smuder at the CONvergence convention doing Le Shoc and Furry. Not afraid to show both puppet and puppeteer on stage, the two actors give a wonderful performance and allow just an eek more time out of the brief disc. For more peeks “under the puppets”, check out the video blog here: http://www.transylvania-tv.com/episodes/ (scroll towards the bottom)

I give TVTV a solid four dangling eyeballs for creativity, humor, and awesome puppetry. The short short episodes are the only thing that keep this from being a five-eyeball hit.

You can find TVTV at horror conventions round the states or on their website through the link above. The well-packaged DVD sells for $12.99 and despite being just the smallest taste of the full fun potential, it’s well worth the cost. Season 2 releases soon in late February 2010!