Did you know Dracula had his own TV show in 1990? This is the Halloween season, so let’s watch it!

The previous episode of Dracula the Series ended with Gustav pursuing Dracula into the land of the dead, to continue their eternal struggle. It felt the big finale, except then we get episode 21, “My Dinner With Lucard,” which is… the clip show. Freakin’ clip shows.

Cemetery plot: Lucard (a.k.a. Dracula) has invited Max, Chris, Sophie, and Uncle Gustav over for dinner, a friendly, one-night truce. Throughout the course of the evening, everybody reminisces about their past adventures. It’s all a plot, though, by Lucard to convince the three kids to become vampires and betray Gustav. Just when it looks like Lucard has won, Gustav wakes up. Yes, it was all a dream, and the series ends on a “I shouldn’t have eaten so much schnitzel before bedtime” joke.

Is Meat Loaf’s body under there?

King of the vampires: There’s a joke in which Lucard gathers up everyone’s plates after dinner and, rather than take them away or hand them off to a servant or something, he throws them out the window. What’s going on there?

Blood brothers: The episode calls back to Max and Lucard developing a friendship of sorts, despite being enemies. But then it was a dream.

Hesitant.

The new Mina: Sophie in this episode remembers what it was like when she turned into a vampire, when previous episodes suggested she has no memory of it. But then it was all a dream.

Stake master: After seeing everything Gustav went through with his son Klaus throughout the series, this dream shows us a bit of Gustav’s psychology, and his fears of these three new kids in his life facing the same fate as Klaus. So, there’s that at least.

It’s suppertime.

Slayer’s handbook: There’s much question over whether this episode was meant to air before or after the finale. Being in syndication, the episode order got jumbled around in various local markets. We could argue that this takes place before the finale, or at some undetermined point afterwards. It might be more interesting, however, to interpret this as if this is what Gustav is experiencing while inside the otherworldly portal.

Quadruple fang shot.

Killer quotes: Lucard: “I thought it might be nice to take a break from the hostilities and partake in a sumptuous feast, which, I might add, I have been preparing all day.”

Behind the screams: Allegedly, Dracula the Series did well enough in the ratings for another year, and all signs were go for season two. Contracts were signed, and everyone was back in Germany ready to start filming again, when the French co-producers abruptly pulled their funding, pulling the plug on the whole thing. You can find a bunch of unfilmed Dracula the Series scripts online, but I have no way of verifying whether any of them are genuine.

Formal attire.

Bite me: And that’s a wrap on Dracula the Series. This show is goofy and campy, but I love how goofy and campy it is! I had a ton of fun revisiting it this October, and hope you’ve all enjoyed it along with me.

Happy Halloween!

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