Did you know Dracula had his own TV show in 1990? This is the Halloween season, so let’s watch it!
Lots of TV shows do an episode based on Casablanca, and Dracula the Series got its version out of the way in episode 18, “I Love Lucard.”
Cemetery plot: Uncle Gustav is visiting with one of his former students, Lance. Lance has written a tell-all vampire book that he hopes will expose the identities of vampires worldwide, including Lucard (a.k.a. Dracula). Lucard wants to put a stop to the book, but there’s a complication — Lance’s wife Margo once had a whirlwind romance with Lucard. In an ending right out of Casablanca, a heartbroken Lucard lets Margo leave with Lance rather than slaughter them both.
King of the vampires: Margo and Lucard had their romance years ago, when Lucard lived in New York. He says he was much more of a free spirit back then.
Blood brothers: The B-story is young Max thinking that Lance’s publishers want his amateur novel, only later to learn his kid manuscript got mixed up with Lance’s professional one. (We don’t actually see this meeting with the publisher. They must have just been humoring the poor kid, right?)
The new Mina: In keeping with the theme, the episode’s opening scene has Sophie and Chris acting out the end of Casablanca, in black and white.
Stake master: Back when he was a teacher, Gustav used to lecture at length about the existence of vampires. He’s since stopped doing so, for the safety of his students.
Killer quotes: Lucard: “Well, Maximillian, could this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship?” Max: “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Behind the screams: This episode was directed by prolific TV director Allan Kroeker, who has the distinction of directing three Star Trek final episodes, for Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. I could have sworn that the character Kif Kroker from Futurama was named after him, but after much Googling last night I could find no evidence of this.
Bite me: What’s interesting about this one is that Lucard is actually the main character, instead of the villain. Like the previous episode, the writers are making an effort to show us just what’s going on inside his head. This makes the title character feel like more than just a big scary monster.
Next: No flowers up there.
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