Interesting Kolchak Night Stalker Timeline

[drwayne]

Ran across this, thought it wasn fun/funny/interesting:

http://members.fortunecity.com/lost_giant/kolchak1.htm

 

[jim48]

There's a lot of interesting Kolchak stuff on the web. Someone at YouTube who calls herself VonBlixenburg did a tribute to Kolchak with the funkiest music! She keeps promising to send me a CD. She also has another video with a model of Kolchak and his office that she made! Nice to know that you're a fan. I was a sophmore in high school when the series was on. Pity how it started out strong then got boring towards the end, although Kolchak himself was never boring!
YouTube - BaronVonBlixberg's Channel

 

[drwayne]

I started to write a story about an out of work, homeless scientist (loosely based on me) who
stumbles across Dr. Richard Malcolm's notes and starts working on his own Elixir, never could
figure quite where to take it - its in a drawer here somewhere.

I have great admiration for Kolchak, the stuff he encounters obviously frightens him, but he
still confronts it. Not a fearless hero, which makes him even more remarkable to me.

Wayne

 

[jim48]

Kolchak would be a cool Halloween costume. A white seersucker suit is easy to find, there's a company that sells reproductions of his hat online. The toughie would be finding an early '70s vintage flash camera and cassette recorder with black leather cases. E-Bay, I suppose. I would also have press credentials made up! If not this year then definitely next year. I might even pop in on a city commission meeting.

 

[a_lost_packet_]

I loved that show. I was especially touched when McGavin did a guest appearance on the X-Files as an old FBI X-Files agent. Too bad they wouldn't let him reprise his role as Kolchak for that episode!

Kolchak was Everyman in extraordinary situations, paranormal even. He wasn't tough, got scared out of his wits, didn't know a darn thing about whatever bugaboo he was up against and was seemingly motivated by a simple desire to make his mark by getting out a great story. But, he'd occasionally rise to the top by doing whatever it was that needed doing, no matter if anyone else ever knew about his deeds or not.

Great character! I don't know who else could have pulled that character off besides McGavin.

PS - Ran across this while looking for a suitable pick. If you're a BIG fan and like to wear hats, then here's the hat for you! Only $250. (Which, in my experience, isn't really THAT much more than a really nice hat should cost. Hats are rare nowadays. Sometimes, I wish they were more in style.)

 

[drwayne]

Kolchak would be a cool Halloween costume. A white seersucker suit is easy to find, there's a company that sells reproductions of his hat online. The toughie would be finding an early '70s vintage flash camera and cassette recorder with black leather cases. E-Bay, I suppose. I would also have press credentials made up! If not this year then definitely next year. I might even pop in on a city commission meeting.

I may have a 110 camera around here somewhere - may be one of my late father's....

The tape recorder is a different story,

Wayne

 

[drwayne]

You will also need to find a white mustaang convertable.

 

[jim48]

As I mentioned there is a lot of Kolchak on YouTube. You can even watch both movies. I love the scene in The Night Strangler where Vincenzo seems to be a fast study of Kolchak's rotted 100 year-old superkiller and almost seems to be going along with it until "FACTS!!!" In the summer of 1975 ABC re-ran 4 episodes of the show plus The Night Strangler, but they edited The Night Strangler to 90 minutes. That was one of many scenes cut. What a treat it was to see that about a year ago, a Kolchak/Vincenzo scene I'd forgotten! Those first two movies scared the bejeezus out of me. I was in junior high and ABC Movies of the Week were hot! I'm getting old! First one aired in January of 1972, highest rated movie that season, the second aired in January of 1973. The network wanted another one but Dan Curtis insisted on directing it. McGavin wanted the guy back who did the first one. Universal television suggested a weekly series and it was added to ABC's fall 1974 schedule at the last minute.

 

[jim48]

You will also need to find a white mustaang convertable.

How could I forget the car? This is getting expensive. It was yellow, by the way. I'd better start saving my money.

 

[drwayne]

Thanks for the color correction.

My father had a 67 Mustang for a while, then a 69 Camaro. Both long gone and recycled by now I am sure.

 

[jim48]

Thanks for the color correction.

My father had a 67 Mustang for a while, then a 69 Camaro. Both long gone and recycled by now I am sure.

Thanks for this thread! Let's hope we hear from some other Kolchak fans. That guy was one-of-a-kind. Most today remember Darren McGavin as the Old Man in A Christmas Story, not as Kolchak. My older brother remembers him from Riverboat!

 

[drwayne]

He was also in that movie - Turk 182?

His wife passed away a year or two before he did.

 

[jim48]

He was also in that movie - Turk 182?

His wife passed away a year or two before he did.

Yes, and I only learned that recently. Kathie Browne passed before he did. They've said that John Wayne played John Wayne. Well, Darren McGavin pretty much played himself. I've been watching clips of him as Mike Hammer on YouTube and he's really just a younger Kolchak. Of course I overlook where he guest-starred on shows like The Virginian or Lancer where he played a villian. He was in one of the early episodes of Magnum: P.I. and he was pretty much himself! I didn't quite know what to make of Magnum when it first came on, but after watching the one with McGavin I became interested in the show and ultimately became a fan. McGavin always seemed to enjoy playing whatever character he was. Who else could have played Kolchak? Good question, and after all these years I still have no answer. I loved that he was sort of tough and certainly a veteran of pretty much everything and knew his way around, but along comes the monster and he's just like us... Get me the hell outta' here!!!

 

[drwayne]

As one of those wild thoughts that amount to nothiing...

A cross-over between Kolchak and ..... CSI

The pilot "Night Stalker" was in Las Vegas, remember. Well suppose Janus Skorzeny, or one of victims
starts killing there again. Can you imagine the interaction between Kolchak and Grissom?

Which does raise another question - what do you suppose ever happened to his girlfriend
from the Night Stalker pilot?

Wayne

 

[a_lost_packet_]

...I may have a 110 camera around here somewhere - may be one of my late father's....

The tape recorder is a different story, Wayne

I've got a couple of 110's. Several very "old style" Land cameras too as well as a few weird ones. At one time, I thought about starting a collection.

 

[drwayne]

I have noted a lot of a wide variety of old cameras in local flea markets and "antique" stores.

Wayne

 

[drwayne]

Classic Kolchak - The Night Strangler concluding segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciSMI8Cp ... re=related

 

[andrew_t1000]

The Night Stalker was a great show!
The precursor to the X-Files and everything else in that genre!
I loved the way no matter how scared he got, he still kept going!
It made it really easy to relate to.
It was one of the highlights of TV in the 70's!
I have been waiting for it to come out on DVD!
The remake was terrible!
The new "Kolchak" was nowhere near **** scared enough!

 

[jim48]

Classic Kolchak - The Night Strangler concluding segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciSMI8Cp ... re=related

Since you've been snooping around on YouTube, BaronVixBlurg or whatever she calls herself is not far away. I just got an e-mail from her. She and her husband have also seen UFOs... good sightings! She is a super-hardcore Night Stalker fan, and she found the CD to send me from her tribute to Kolchak. I would sure love to hear from more Kolchak fans! As for the re-make show it was actually quite good by itself. By itself it should have caught on, but it was hopelessly stuck in the shadow of the original. The original was a comic book by comparison. Pity. The new one was awfully slick, whereas no one could ever accuse the original Night Stalker of being slick or even cool. The new Night Stalker deserved better than it got, in all fairness.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

I loved that show!! Especially the pilot with the modern vampire. That was damn good television!!

I impulsively responded to this thread. Now I'll go back and read what all you guys have to say.

If I owned a tv station, this would be my Friday night line-up for us old-and broke- folks who stay at home on Friday's these days:

5pm- Lost in Space
6pm-Time Tunnel
7pm-Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
8pm-Star Trek
9pm-Twilight Zone(1 or 2 episodes)
10pm-Original Outer Limits
11pm-Night Stalker
Midnight- 1950s SciFi movie of the week
2am-Classic Horror Movie (From the 30s, but not limited to that decade)

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Okay, read up. Glad also to see other fans of good tv. As far as remakes, they never seem to be up to par, and that's being understatedly nice. Think the 'Dark Shadows' remake in the nineties, absolutely god-awful crud!

I wasn't aware that they ever even did a 'Nightstalker' retry. That's probably how bad it was.

Btw, you can also see McGavin in a movie called 'Tribes', with Jan-Michael Vincent. He plays a level-headed, sympathetic Marine drill instructor opposite whats-his-name's meaner drill instructor. Jan-Michael Vincent plays a drafted hippie who out performs all the gung-ho jarhead guys (physically and mentally). It's kind of dated, but it was a good movie.

 

[Boots09]

A bit before my time, but my dad has mentioned that he really liked the Night Stalker show. Not sure though as sometimes the older stuff is hard to watch as the spc. effects can be a bit ..hokey..

 

[jim48]

Okay, read up. Glad also to see other fans of good tv. As far as remakes, they never seem to be up to par, and that's being understatedly nice. Think the 'Dark Shadows' remake in the nineties, absolutely god-awful crud!

I wasn't aware that they ever even did a 'Nightstalker' retry. That's probably how bad it was.

Btw, you can also see McGavin in a movie called 'Tribes', with Jan-Michael Vincent. He plays a level-headed, sympathetic Marine drill instructor opposite whats-his-name's meaner drill instructor. Jan-Michael Vincent plays a drafted hippie who out performs all the gung-ho jarhead guys (physically and mentally). It's kind of dated, but it was a good movie.

As I mentioned, the ABC Movies of the Week were the ones to beat back in the '70s. McGavin did Tribes about the same time he did The Night Stalker. That was a good movie. I think Earl Holliman was in that as well. The short-lived Night Stalker re-make was on ABC in 2005, I think, and Dan Curtis was an executive producer.

 

[andrew_t1000]

Thanks for the color correction.

My father had a 67 Mustang for a while, then a 69 Camaro. Both long gone and recycled by now I am sure.

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't that the car that Jim Rockford drove?
I always remember the"Rockford Files", it was the glue that held together a long standing relationship I had!
Ok, that sounds sad, but I did end up with Anniekins Dalmatian, Sophie!
The bestest friend a person could ever have!
Damn I miss my spotted dog!
RIP Sophie you will be remembered for a long, long time!

 

[ZenGalacticore]

andrew- Rockford drove a mid-seventies gold Pontiac Trans-Am, IIRC.