Kolchak: The Night Stalker: Difference between revisions
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*[http://www.jackgrinnage.com Jack Grinnage] (played "Ron Updyke") |
*[http://www.jackgrinnage.com Jack Grinnage] (played "Ron Updyke") |
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*[http://www.kolchakdvd.com/ The Kolchak DVD Official Universal Studios Site] |
*[http://www.kolchakdvd.com/ The Kolchak DVD Official Universal Studios Site] |
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*[http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/9554 The Kolchak Series Gil Melle Universal Television Soundtrack CD] (The Ripper, UFO & Vampire suites) |
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080822052602/http://www.monstersinmotion.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/9554 The Kolchak Series Gil Melle Universal Television Soundtrack CD] (The Ripper, UFO & Vampire suites) |
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*{{tv.com show|kolchak-the-night-stalker|Kolchak: The Night Stalker}} |
*{{tv.com show|kolchak-the-night-stalker|Kolchak: The Night Stalker}} |
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*[http://www.biglight.com/ Big Light Productions], production company for the 2005 ''Night Stalker'' series |
*[http://www.biglight.com/ Big Light Productions], production company for the 2005 ''Night Stalker'' series |
Revision as of 00:28, 12 December 2017
Kolchak: The Night Stalker | |
---|---|
Genre |
|
Created by | Jeff Rice |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Gil Mellé |
Composers |
|
Country of origin | United States |
No. of episodes | 20 ( list of episodes ) |
Production | |
Running time | 50 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | September 13, 1974 March 28, 1975 | –
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American
The series was preceded by two
Predecessors
Origins
The main character originated in an unpublished novel, The Kolchak Papers, written by Jeff Rice. In it, a
The second television film, The Night Strangler, was also turned into a novel (written by Jeff Rice but based on a script by Richard Matheson), published in 1974 by Pocket Books.
Both novels were republished in 2007 by Moonstone in an omnibus edition called The Kolchak Papers. Moonstone Books continues to produce Kolchak comic books.
The Night Stalker
ABC approached Rice with an offer to
The Night Stalker first aired January 11, 1972, and garnered the highest ratings of any television movie at that time (33.2 rating – 54 share). Matheson received a 1973
The Night Strangler
Impressed by the success of the first television movie, ABC commissioned Richard Matheson to write a second movie, The Night Strangler (1973), which featured another serial killer in
A fictitious version of
Simon Oakland reprised his earlier role as Kolchak's editor, Tony Vincenzo. The cast also included Richard Anderson, Scott Brady, Wally Cox, Margaret Hamilton, John Carradine, Nina Wayne and Al Lewis.
Several scenes were filmed with George Tobias playing a reporter who recalled a series of murders he had investigated during the 1930s. These scenes were cut before airing because of time constraints.
Production
The first four episodes had the title The Night Stalker, with Kolchak: The Night Stalker being used for the rest of the episodes, although home video releases were changed to reflect the second title. (The series theme had originally been part of the music score which
In late 1973, Matheson and William F. Nolan completed the script for an intended third television movie, to be titled The Night Killers,[2] a story about android replicas. ABC decided that it wanted a weekly series instead.[3]
After some negotiation, McGavin agreed to return as Kolchak and also served as the series's executive producer, though he was not credited as such.[4] However, ABC did not obtain Jeff Rice's permission, and he sued the studio.[5] The suit was resolved shortly before the series aired in the fall 1974 season, replacing Toma on the network's Friday night schedule. Rice received an on-screen credit as series creator. The first four episodes aired under the title of The Night Stalker. After a month-long hiatus, the series was renamed and returned as Kolchak: The Night Stalker.[6] While the show was set in
The show featured a wide range of guest stars and many Hollywood veterans, including:
In addition, the series provided the first professional writing credit for Robert Zemeckis and his writing partner Bob Gale, who wrote the script for the episode "Chopper." David Chase, creator of The Sopranos, also worked on the series as a story editor, his first regular crew position in Hollywood. Though Chase is credited on eight episodes as story editor, he also helped rewrite the remaining 12, and McGavin and others attribute much of the show's quirky humor to his creative input.
The show's ratings were mediocre and McGavin was growing dissatisfied, resulting in its cancellation after one year. The series aired on Friday nights at 10pm - a virtual graveyard for most TV series, particularly one aimed at a younger audience. In January 1975, the show was moved to Friday nights at 8pm, where it remained until August when it was cancelled. McGavin found himself rewriting scripts and doing much of the work of a producer, but without getting either the full credit or the full compensation of one. McGavin had been unhappy with what he felt was the show's "
Two television movies, The Demon and the Mummy and Crackle of Death, were cobbled together in 1976. Each contains new footage as well as previously screened episodes from the series. McGavin provided a voice-over for both, which allowed the narrative to maintain some continuity.
Unproduced scripts
The series was cancelled with only 20 episodes completed but the initial order of 26 meant there were scripts that were completed but unproduced for the series. Three additional scripts commissioned before the series was cancelled still survive.
- "Eve of Terror", written by Stephen Lloyd
The story is summed up by Kolchak's opening narration: "What if I told you that a deranged feminist murdered a Casanova lab technician, a sex goddess, and her purveyor?"
- "The Get of Belial", written by Donn Mullally
Kolchak is assigned to cover a miners' strike in the mountains of West Virginia. He uncovers gruesome murders associated with a backwoods family and Kolchak suspects that they have some sort of inbred monster living with them.
- "The Executioners", written by Max Hodge
Kolchak is demoted, and is given the choice of writing obituaries or writing articles for the arts section. He chooses the latter, and discovers a painting tied into a series of murders that Vincenzo is covering. These murders occur in a series of three, in which the first victim is hanged, the second executed with an ax, and the third poisoned. Working with an art expert, Kolchak attempts to unravel who or what is behind these bizarre murders and what they have to do with the painting, without alerting Vincenzo that he is working on the same story.[7]
Characters
The series features Kolchak as a reporter for the
INS characters
- Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) Kolchak is a talented but outspoken investigative reporter with an affinity for bizarre and supernatural occurrences, obtaining information driving around Chicago in his yellow Ford Mustang convertible and snatching exclusives armed with his camera and portable cassette recorder.
- Using only limited information, Kolchak has cracked several cases relying on gut instinct and often prevailing through sheer dumb luck. More often than not, Kolchak's prospects are hampered by the destruction of evidence to prove his claims, advancing the sheer implausibility of his stories where his peers, particularly his editor, are concerned. On other occasions his investigations have led to demotion or relocation of varying authority figures, though reasons for these actions are never truthfully disclosed.
- Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) – Kolchak's bellicose editor who seems to be one of the only people willing to tolerate Kolchak's antics, despite their arguments. Vincenzo has a grudging respect for Kolchak's reporting skills, but often finds himself caught between Kolchak's zeal and his own management responsibilities. Vincenzo's hot temper often affects his blood pressure and digestion and he sometimes laments that he did not go into his family's Venetian blinds business.
- Ron Updyke (Jack Grinnage) – Kolchak's supercilious rival at INS whom Kolchak repeatedly refers to as "Uptight". A San Francisco native, Updyke is the opposite of Kolchak, always smartly dressed and hobnobbing with Chicago's elite.
- Emily Cowles (Ruth McDevitt) – an elderly puzzles and advice columnist known as "Miss Emily". Cowles aspires to be a novelist and expresses passion for issues relating to the elderly. She is often sympathetic toward Kolchak and the two share a warm working relationship.
- Monique Marmelstein (Carol Ann Susi) – an intern whose Uncle Abe is highly placed in the management of the Independent News Service's New York office. Marmelstein is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and despite her education and enthusiasm, many of her coworkers believe she got her job due to nepotism, an allegation she denies.
Other recurring characters
- Gordon "Gordy The Ghoul" Spangler (John Fiedler) – a city morgue attendant and sometime source for Kolchak.
- Captain "Mad Dog" Siska (Keenan Wynn) – a Chicago police officer whose efforts to rein in his temper were constantly thwarted by Kolchak's abrasiveness.
Monsters
In the series' short run it managed to tackle most of the major
The series also dealt with creatures from science fiction, including a killer android, an invisible extraterrestrial, a prehistoric man thawed back to life and a lizard-creature protecting its eggs.
The series also featured some more esoteric antagonists, including a headless motorcycle rider that hinted at the
Music
Mellé left the series after the fourth episode, saying it was becoming too light-hearted.
Two soundtrack albums have been produced. One released in 2000 by Varèse Sarabande features two suites of Cobert's music from the TV movies. The other, a bootleg copy of Melle's private tapes, features his theme and scores written for the first three episodes (The Ripper, U.F.O. and Vampire), and two cues from TVmovie "The Questor Tapes."
The Mellé theme also appears on the TVT Records' Television's Greatest Hits Volume 5. However, all licensed soundtrack recordings of the theme use an otherwise rare original recording alternate take of the theme. Initially identifiable by the altered opening whistle, an off-key electronic note is seemingly randomly introduced towards the end, but when synchronized with picture it corresponds to a specific visual. Mellé was known for his innovative use of electronic orchestration (which was used throughout the series), however the producers chose not to include this stylistic element in his main title for broadcast, instead opting for a more conventional all-orchestral sound.
Legacy
Though Kolchak was short-lived as a series, its impact on popular culture has been
substantial.[10] In particular the series has been described as a predecessor to The X-Files (1993–2002, 2016). The X-Files creator, Chris Carter, has acknowledged that the show had influenced him greatly in his own work. In one interview when mentioned that the majority of the viewing public considered the success of The X-Files series as being inspired by other such past shows such as The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits, Carter mentions that while those shows were indeed an influence on The X-Files, it was only about ten percent, with another thirty percent coming from the Kolchak series, with the rest derived as being based upon original 'pure inspiration'. Carter paid tribute to Kolchak in a number of ways in the
show.
Gary Gygax has cited an episode of the series as part of the inspiration behind the Rakshasa in the Dungeons & Dragons game.[12]
2005 television series
Though Rice retains the rights to written Kolchak works, and
In a nod to the original series, the pilot episode has a brief shot from the original TV series of Darren McGavin in the INS newsroom, as the new Kolchak (Townsend) is walking through it. Inserted digitally, McGavin is dressed in the same frumpy clothes he wore as Kolchak in the original series and smiles knowingly while touching his hat. The satchel in which Kolchak carried wooden stakes and a cross to battle Skorzeny is shown. In another shot, when fellow reporter Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) is searching through Kolchak's room, the hat McGavin wore in the original series is seen hanging on a coat rack. Other character names from the TV movies are referenced in various episodes, and one episode ("Timeless") recycled much of the plot of the TV movie The Night Strangler. In the 1970s, the Kolchak character was often seen in his yellow 1966 Ford Mustang convertible while in the new series' Kolchak drives an orange Mustang from 2005.
Other projects
In 1991, author Mark Dawidziak wrote Night Stalking: A 20th Anniversary "Night Stalker" Companion detailing the production of the movies and TV series. In 1994, Dawidziak worked with Rice to produce the first official "Kolchak" material since the end of the TV series. The novel, Grave Secrets, moved Kolchak from Chicago to Los Angeles where he obtained a job at the Hollywood Dispatch newspaper (nicknamed the "Disgrace"). Most of the recurring characters from the TV movies and series also appear. Kolchak investigates a ghost who is killing those responsible for the destruction of the cemetery where its body is buried. An expanded and updated version of Dawidziak's "Night Stalking" was published in 1997 by Pomegranate Press as "The Night Stalker Companion." In 2003, the scripts for "The Night Stalker," "The Night Strangler" and the unfilmed "The Night Killers" were published by Gauntlet Press as "Richard Matheson's Kolchak Scripts" (edited with introductions by Dawidziak).
A comic book based on the property was published in 2003 by Moonstone Books with some commercial success. Moonstone continues to publish both a bimonthly serial magazine and a series of prose novels and graphic novels featuring the characters. Moonstone also adapted Rice's original The Night Stalker script as well as two unfilmed scripts for the TV series: "The Get of Belial" and "Eve of Terror".
In 2006, Moonstone published a short fiction anthology, The Night Stalker Chronicles, with short stories contributed by writers such as
Film adaptation
In May 2012, Disney announced a film adaptation is in the works with Johnny Depp starring and producing with Edgar Wright directing.[13]
Home media releases
DVD Name | Ep # | Release dates | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
Kolchak: The Night Stalker – The Complete Series | 20 | October 4, 2005 | August 21, 2006 | July 15, 2009 |
References
- ^ "Johnny Depp's "Kolchak, the Night Stalker" Will Be Made by...Disney?". Forbes. 2012-02-23.
- )
- Martin, Bob and David Hirsch, "'Kolchak: The Night Stalker,'" Starlog Photo Guidebook: TV Episode Guides, Vol. 2, Starlog Press, Inc., January 1982, p. 84.
- ^ Martin, Bob, op. cit.
- ^ Vanessa Cortez (September 12, 2003). "Return of Carl Kolchak: Night Stalker & Paranormal Investigator". Weekly Universe. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
- ^ "The Night Stalker Companion: A 25th Anniversary Tribute", Mark Dawidziak
- ^ "Unproduced NS scripts". darrenmcgavin.net.
- ^ "Answerbag.com - Ask Questions, Get Answers, Find Information". Answerbag.
- ^ "Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-75 series)". fulvuedrive-in.com.
- ^ "Night Stalker (2005) - The Complete Series". fulvuedrive-in.com.
- ^ "X-Files vs. The Night Stalker". geocities.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007.
- ^ "Ended Q&A with Gary Gygax - Page 400". enworld.org.
- ^ Kit, Borys. "Johnny Depp's 'Night Stalker' Movie Enlists 'High Fidelity' Writer (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 6 May 2017.