"Schnitzel. Hot and steamy."

Phil Bedard, who along with his partner Larry Lalonde, served as "Dracula: the Series" story editor and wrote six of the episodes, has very generously shared some exciting inside information--things that I for one have always wondered about, but never dared to hope to find out! You will remember Mr Bedard not only as one of the series' most important writers but also as Magnus St. John-Smythe's assistant Malcolm from "The Great Tickler," and, most memorably, as the hot and steamy schnitzel delivery guy from "Bats in the Attic."

About season two, and answers to some of the mysteries from season one:

• When "Dracula" was cancelled, the writers were well underway writing the stories for season two. The first four episodes were in long story form and they had some short sketches for the rest of the season.
• Season two was going to be a little darker and deal more with vampires, especially Lucard. But, in spite of the darker turn, they had every intention of keeping up the humour of the series.
• The first two episodes picked up where the final episode left off--in the void--and would have taken place in 1979 (thanks to the fact that the void is a time vortex) as well as in the present. We would have met Gustav's wife, the boys' father, and a pre-vampire Klaus!
• Eileen's husband was Gustav's nephew, so Max and Chris were Gustav's grand nephews. Eileen did meet the pre-vampire Klaus, but all memory of him was wiped out in the whirlwind of events that would have happened in the two-part season two opener.
• The Gustav/Sophie relationship was going to be revealed in another two-parter. Sophie's parents had been students of Gustav and had become victims of Lucard... and not dead ones!
• The Gustav/Mrs. Helsing/Eileen/Klaus/the boys' father/Lucard equation was going to be answered in season two as well, but Mr Bedard wants us to speculate a bit before he reveals that!

• Mary Delli Colli, who played the opera singer whom Frederick Rilling stakes in the "My Fair Vampire" teaser, is Phil's wife. She really is an opera singer, and it is her voice that is heard in the opera scene of the Forever Knight episode "Let No Man Tear Asunder."
• Francois Pescatore, one of the location scouts, is a member of a very famous Luxembourg family (after which the Pescatore Foundation old people's home used in "My Fair Vampire" is named). Mr Pescatore is more familiar to us as the weird church sexton from "Double Cross."
• The reason that writers, writer's and director's wives and children, location scouts, etc., were used in acting roles was that the budget only allowed for two Canadian actors per episode and the English talent pool in Luxembourg was almost non-existent. That put a real crimp on the writing and meant that if they needed a third role they were asking for acting trouble.
• Jang Linster, Lucard's chef, is named for the brother of the woman who owns the restaurant Cuisinerie Linster. (I was going to visit there on my last night in Luxembourg, but found that it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The address, however, is 17 Route de Luxembourg, and it is listed as Restaurant Lea Linster in the telephone directory.) Lea won the Prix Bocuse, given by the famous French chef to the chef he feels is the best in Europe. Jang owns a recording studio next door to the restaurant where some of the post production sound for "Dracula" was done.

Information about "Dracula" locations:

Phil Bedard also gave me some invaluable tips for my visit to Luxembourg, and it's thanks to him that I was able to find as many sites as I did. I was not able to visit all the locations he described, though, so here is information on the places I was unable to track down:

• The castle interiors, Gustav's house interiors, and Lucard's office interiors were all shot in a studio that was a non-descript warehouse outside of the city in a town called Livange on the Rue de Bettembourg. Only the pilot, which was shot a few months before the rest of the series, was filmed inside the actual castle.
• The House of Helsing exterior was an empty house about 5 kilometres from the studio, just outside a town called Roeser, not too far from Livange.
• The Cine Kursaal Cafè movie theatre was shot way out of the city.
• The ruins from "Mind Over Matter" were also a fair distance out of town, in a town called La Rochette.
• The carnival scenes in "My Fair Vampire" were shot not far from the former hotel Pullman where a lot of cast and crew were staying, and not too far from the Pescatore old people's home. That carnival has been coming to Luxembourg for something along the lines of 500 years.

Inside Information / Lucard's Home Page / lpetix@dpcc.com