Kolchak: The Night Stalker

[Rondadoronron]

Kolchak:the night stalker
The Ripper.
I thought id give the Kolchak box set a spin as its been awhile since I last watched it.
What I luv about the series is it completely relies on Darren Mcgavin,he really sells the show,even given the most ludicrous plot lines and dialogue his performance is superb throughout the entire series and some of the stories are straight out of Scooby Doo school of writing.Aided by his ever put upon editor Tony Vincenzo played by the wonderful Simon Oakland, a lot of the comedy comes from there love hate relationship.
The Ripper see's Kolchak being temporarily demoted to answering Dear Emily letters by Tony Vincenzo, for impersonating a Police Chief.Meanwhile Ron Updike has been given the job of investigating the Ripper murders,a copycat killer of Jack The Ripper is stalking the streets of Chicago.
Well its the 1970's so we get go-go dancers,masseurs and hookers and most of the men wearing paisley shirts.A splendidly gaudy episode with a goofy story and some nice comedy moments with rival reporter Jane Plum.One of the highlights of the episode has Kolchak caught in massage parlor sting set up by the police.
"lewd proposal he wanted to watch me with someone"
My only criticism would be the direction,it is a bit shoddy in places,mainly in the action scenes,for example the scene were the police chase the Ripper over the rooftops is abit messy.Also Ruth McDevitt who plays Emily in later episodes turns up in this episode but as a totally different character.But overall a good start to the series.

[Rondadoronron]

Episode 2
The Zombie
Somebody or something is killing members of organized crime in Chicago by snapping there spines,mean while Kolchak is given the task of teaching Monique Marmelstein the art of journalism.
A nice fast paced episode that neatly ties in the Mafia with Voodoo and a slight twist of blaxploitation.With some nice guest stars Huggie Bear aka Antonio Fargas as Sweetstick Weldon and Hong Kong Phooey himself Scatman Crothers.1970s checklist,stereotypical Italian Mafia check,stereotypical black pimps check,stereotypical voodoo priestess check.Criticizing anything from the 70's is pretty futile and it certainly doesn't suffer from the prissy we can't offend anybody TV drama were stuck with nowadays.By the way are all Haitians into Voodoo,(got to be better than stamp collecting as a hobby).
This is a great episode,with a really interesting story that has some rather neat ideas and a cool looking monster to boot.And now I know how to kill a voodoo raised zombie.(no thanks to you Mr Fulci).

[Rondadoronron]

Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Episode 3
81Xrs50gWwL._SL1500_.jpg

They have been,They are.They will be.
Animals are being killed and there bone marrow is being removed,two ton of lead ingots disappear,electrical equipment is being stolen and there's a sticky mess on the lawn and its the start of the baseball world series.
"My grandfather fell init,Were still trying to clean him"
Probably one of the more convoluted plots from the series,and also one of the more sci-fi themed stories rather than the usual supernatural escapades of Kolchak.This episode see's Kolchak in full investigative reporter mode,its all very Columbo in tone and about as deep but like Peter Falk,its McGavins character that's holds it all together.As UFO stories go its pretty uneventful and apart from a few scenes of cops being thrown around most of the story unfolds thru Kolchak's narration.None of the interesting threads of the story are tied together so were left clueless at the end.Not a great episode im afraid a small glitch in an otherwise great series.

[iank]

Heard of this show for a very long time but only discovered it this year. Really enjoyed it, just two episodes left sadly. I think my two favourites of the series were Horror in the Heights (which - is it just me? - actually seems like it could have been an influence on It Follows, albeit less dull ) and the one with the doppelganger trying to take over this concerto bloke's very existence. Those two had some genuinely creepy stuff in it.
Not every episode is great but McGavin is brilliant and the supporting cast are great too, as is the whole 70sness of it.
Glad I took a punt on this. I like discovering these older things and then genuinely becoming a fan, even if it is a bit late. Only found Callan in the last year as well!

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by iank

Heard of this show for a very long time but only discovered it this year. Really enjoyed it, just two episodes left sadly. I think my two favourites of the series were Horror in the Heights (which - is it just me? - actually seems like it could have been an influence on It Follows, albeit less dull ) and the one with the doppelganger trying to take over this concerto bloke's very existence. Those two had some genuinely creepy stuff in it.
Not every episode is great but McGavin is brilliant and the supporting cast are great too, as is the whole 70sness of it.
Glad I took a punt on this. I like discovering these older things and then genuinely becoming a fan, even if it is a bit late. Only found Callan in the last year as well!

Kolchak is a brilliant show. I just wish someone would treat it a better on dvd. Or dare to dream BR.

[Rik]

Yeah, I have the box set and the picture quality is pretty poor

[SharonLynette]

You know I didn't even realise there was a thread dedicated to this until I browsed. I picked it up blindly as I've never heard anyone mentioning anything about it but it's just such a fab little series.

[Rik]

Dug out my box set the other day, gonna have a Kolchak marathon over the next few days

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Rik

Dug out my box set the other day, gonna have a Kolchak marathon over the next few days

Wonder if treb will buy a copy?

[Rik]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Wonder if treb will buy a copy?

He's probably already bought and sold it three times