Reporter Carl Kolchak's third reported encounter with the supernatural, The Ripper, was broadcast the night of September 13, 1974.
Reporter Carl Kolchak's third reported encounter with the supernatural, The Ripper, was broadcast the night of September 13, 1974.
Chris Stachiw and Mike White discuss the first episode of The Night Stalker (AKA Kolchak: The Night Stalker). Written by Rudolph Borchert and directed by Allen Baron (Blast of Silence).
The episode pits Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) against Jack the Ripper who has come to Chicago to slaughter sex workers (and Carl's fellow reporter Jane Plumm (Beatrice Colen). The episode introduces us to Carl's co-worker Ron Updyke (Jack Grinnage) and the actress Ruth McDevitt who will return in later episodes.
Special Guest: Mark Dawidziak, author of The Night Stalker: A 25th Anniversary Tribute.
Links:
Buy Kolchak: The Night Stalker series on DVD
Buy Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone: A Fifth-Dimension Guide to Life by Mark Dawidziak
Read the It Couldn't Happen Here discussion of "The Ripper"
Visit The Kolchak Tapes Facebook page
Subscribe to The Kolchak Tapes on iTunes
Music:
Music by Gil Milles
Listen/Download Now:
I'm gonna be the contrarian here and say that the lack of mythology isn't a dealbreaker in enjoying this show - in fact, it's refreshing. It may also be having grown up on 60's & 70's television that it's not a necessary item, since it seems to be more of a hindrance to shows nowadays. I do wish there were a tighter continuity - but considering the production history of the show, it's a miracle that things actually came off as well as they did onscreen.
ReplyDeleteIf one does some stretching of the imagination, one COULD consider some of the monsters to indeed be metaphorical stand-ins for some of the contemporary issues of the day - there's plenty of corporate malfescence afoot in THE SENTRY, THE ENERGY EATER to name two episodes; environmental issues, political corruption... but there's something very satisfying in vanquishing literal monsters, since the metaphorical ones seem to survive whatever is thrown at them.
Besides, I think there's already a clear picture of what a 'mythologized' NIGHT STALKER would look like - a poor knockoff of a Chris Carter production - NIGHT STINKER.. which may yield some treasures for you guys, but it still remains D.O.A. - (except for getting Darin Morgan to write a never-produced episode for the show, which he retooled for the X-FILES ABOMINATION 2016).