About

Surf Dracula is a slang expression describing a trope in television shows and other media in which the character's backstory takes too long and the exciting main part of the character's arc arrives too late and gets insufficient screen time. The trope was metaphorically summarized in a viral tweet about a fictional TV show called Surf Dracula in which the entire first season is the backstory of Dracula getting his surfboard and the actual surfing only happens for five minutes in the finale.

Origin

On October 7th, 2021, X^[1] / Twitter user @topherflorence made a post in which they humorously compared older television shows to those made in the streaming era. The post argued that in the past a show called Surf Dracula would have Dracula surfing in every episode, while in a modern show, the first season would be a prolonged flashback in which the viewers learn Dracula's backstory before actual surfing briefly happens in the finale. The post (shown below) garnered over 11,000 reposts and 43,000 likes in three years.

Spread

On June 18th, 2023, Urban Dictionary^[2] user AOmundson cataloged the phenomenon as "Surf Dracula Syndrome," defining it as:

A phenomenon in film/television series, most notably streaming series, where the main premise is drawn out to such a point that it takes an entire season or more to get the parts of the series the audience is actually interested in seeing.

On May 24th, 2022, X^[3] user @CarlosAlonzoM made the earliest found post that used the term to criticize a real show, using a screenshot of @topherflorence's post in a tweet about the Paramount+ Halo television series. The post (shown below) received over 970 reposts and 6,200 likes in two years.

The slang term saw more use in 2024 as it was used to make criticisms of various modern films and TV series. For example, on March 27th, 2024, X^[4] user @BurstangelIn quoted a news post about the upcoming Blade film, posting a screenshot of the "Surf Dracula" tweet. The post (shown below) garnered over 1,600 reposts and 12,000 likes in one day.

On November 26th, 2024, X^[5] user @itsashotgunbaby made a post calling actor Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik / Eggman portrayal in Sonic the Hedgehog films a "surf dracula" but praising the character development (shown below). The post received over 2,000 reposts and 39,000 likes and prompted a surge in the popularity of the term online.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References