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Kolchak: The Night Stalker
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Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC in 1974. It featured a newspaper reporter — Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin — who investigates crimes with mysterious and unlikely causes that the proper authorities won't accept or pursue.
The series was preceded by two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). It is often credited as the inspiration for The X-Files and was succeeded by a second television series with a new cast and characters in 2005, as well as several novels and comic books.
Kolchak character originated in an unpublished novel, The Kolchak Papers, written by Jeffrey Grant Rice.
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Encyclopedia
Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC in 1974. It featured a newspaper reporter — Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin — who investigates crimes with mysterious and unlikely causes that the proper authorities won't accept or pursue.
The series was preceded by two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). It is often credited as the inspiration for The X-Files and was succeeded by a second television series with a new cast and characters in 2005, as well as several novels and comic books.
The original incarnation
The original novel
The Kolchak character originated in an unpublished novel, The Kolchak Papers, written by Jeffrey Grant Rice. In the novel, Las Vegas newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak tracks down and defeats a serial killer who is really a vampire named Janos Skorzeny. Although the character in the novel uses the name "Carl," it's revealed in the book that his birth name was "Karel."
The novel was finally published by Pocket Books as a mass-market paperback original under the title The Night Stalker with a Darren McGavin photo cover to tie in with the movie. The novelizations of the first two movies were republished by Moonstone in 2007 as an omnibus edition called The Kolchak Papers.
The TV movies
The Night Stalker
Rice was approached by ABC who optioned the property, which was then adapted by Richard Matheson into a TV movie produced by Dan Curtis and directed by John Llewellyn Moxey.
Darren McGavin played the role of Carl . Also included in the cast were Carol Lynley, Simon Oakland, Ralph Meeker, Claude Akins, Charles McGraw, Kent Smith, Stanley Adams, Elisha Cook Jr., Larry Linville, Jordan Rhodes, and Barry Atwater as the vampire Janos Skorzeny.
The Night Stalker aired on the ABC network on January 11, 1972 and garnered the highest ratings of any TV movie at that time (33.2 rating - 54 share). Matheson received a 1973 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best TV Feature or Miniseries Teleplay.
The Night Strangler
Impressed by its success, ABC commissioned Richard Matheson to write a second movie, The Night Strangler (1973), which featured another serial killer in Seattle who strangled his victims and used their blood to keep himself alive for over a century through the use of alchemy. The Seattle Underground City was used as a setting for much of the action, and provided the killer with his hiding place. Dan Curtis both produced and directed the second movie, which also did well in the ratings. Rice then wrote a novelization based on Matheson's screenplay, a reverse of the situation for the first movie. The novel was published by Pocket Books as a mass-market paperback original under the title The Night Strangler with a close-up of the monster's eye to tie in with the movie.
Simon Oakland reprised his role as the newspaper editor, and the cast also included Jo Ann Pflug, Richard Anderson (as the alchemist), 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 that he had investigated during the 1930s. These scenes were cut from the version first played to air because of time constraints; however, Tobias' character and his scenes were restored prior to the film's DVD release.
The first television series
In late 1973, a script for an intended third television movie entitled The Night Killers was written by Matheson and William F. Nolan, a story about android replicas. However, ABC decided they wanted a weekly series instead.
After some negotiation, McGavin agreed to return as Kolchak and functioned as the series' executive producer (although Cy Chermak and then Paul Playdon were the producers appointed by Universal), in an ABC-commissioned weekly series; however, ABC failed to obtain the permission of Jeff Rice, and a lawsuit resulted. It was resolved shortly before the series aired in the fall 1974 season and Rice received an on-screen credit as series creator. The series was now named The Night Stalker (originally called Kolchak: The Night Stalker, but its title shortened to avoid confusion with a similarly titled series, Kojak; both shows were produced by Universal Studios).
The series version was set in Chicago and featured Kolchak as a reporter for the Independent News Service (INS). The series also featured Simon Oakland, again appearing as Kolchak's editor; Ron Updyke (Jack Grinnage) as a supercilious rival at INS; and Emily Cowles (Ruth McDevitt) as an elderly advice columnist (and the only character who is sympathetic toward Kolchak). Each week Kolchak investigated murders involving supernatural and science fictional creatures. The series was light-hearted black comedy and placed Kolchak in an office setting with quirky co-workers. Other recurring characters included Monique Marmelstein (Carol Ann Susi) as an intern whose father owned the INS, Gordy "The Ghoul" Spangler (John Fiedler) as a helpful morgue attendant who ran lotteries based on corpse statistics, and Captain "Mad Dog" Siska (Keenan Wynn), a Chicago officer who found his efforts to reign in his temper through group therapy constantly thwarted by Kolchak's abrasive nature. McGavin's wife and behind-the-scenes assistant, Kathie Browne, appeared in the final episode as Lt. Irene Lamont, who found herself forced to deal with Kolchak.
The show featured a wide range of guest stars, many Hollywood veterans, including: Ken Lynch, Charles Aidman, Randy Boone, Scatman Crothers, Dick Van Patten, Jan Murray, Larry Storch, Jeanne Cooper, Alice Ghostley, Victor Jory, Murray Matheson, Julie Adams, John Dehner, Phil Silvers, Bernie Kopell, Marvin Miller, Jesse White, James Gregory, Hans Conried, Mary Wickes, Henry Jones, Carolyn Jones, Jackie Mason, Stella Stevens, Abraham Sofaer, David Doyle, Jim Backus, Kathleen Freeman, John Hoyt, and Dwayne Hickman. Other actors that would go on to subsequent popularity included Eric Braeden, Tom Skerritt, Erik Estrada, William Daniels, Jamie Farr, Pat Harrington, Jr., Larry Linville, and Richard Kiel. Jimmy Hawkins appeared on the series as a Catholic priest on November 1, 1974, in what turned out to have been his last acting appearance. He since became a producer and a home builder.
In addition, the series provided the first professional writing credit for Bob Gale (story 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. He is credited for eight episodes but as story editor helped in the rewriting of the remaining 12, and McGavin and others attribute much of the show's quirky humor to his creative input.
The characterization of Carl Kolchak
In The Night Stalker, Carl Kolchak is described by his editor, Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland), as "a has-been big-city reporter". In the same film, his girlfriend Gail Foster (Carol Lynley) recounts the number of times Carl has been fired:
- Foster: "Let's see, how many times has it been... uh, twice in Washington, three times in New York, twice in Chicago, and once — or was it twice — in Boston?"
- Kolchak: (holds up three fingers)
- Foster: "Oh."
At the conclusion of The Night Stalker, Kolchak finds himself out of a job once again, and blackmailed by the Las Vegas police never to return to Las Vegas. Kolchak is told that his girlfriend Gail has also been "asked to leave town". Carl exhausts his savings placing personal advertisements across the country in an attempt to find her: he is unsuccessful, and Gail does not make an appearance in The Night Strangler or any of the television episodes which followed.
At the beginning of The Night Strangler, Kolchak encounters his former editor Vincenzo at a bar in Seattle, where Kolchak is trying in vain to use his old news clippings to convince someone that vampires exist. Although Vincenzo does not appear happy to see Carl, he hires Kolchak as a reporter for The Daily Chronicle, where Vincenzo now works as an editor.
History repeats itself:
- Vincenzo: "I came to Seattle for some peace and quiet, and what do I get? You again, and another crazy story!"
Kolchak recruits exotic dancer/pre-med student Louise Harper (Jo Ann Pflug) to assist him in tracking down the eponymous strangler, but he confesses to his tape recorder (Sony TC-55) that his interest in her is not limited to the story.
- Kolchak: "I telephoned my belly-dancing undergraduate friend, and asked her to attend an afternoon tour of the underground with me. Confession of news man, chapter one: her being with me had nothing to do with the story."
Despite this confession, there is no evidence that the relationship between Kolchak and Harper is anything other than platonic (although Jeff Rice introduced a romantic relationship in his novelization of Matheson's script). At the conclusion of The Night Strangler, Kolchak is once again out of a job, but this time he is accompanied by Vincenzo, who has been fired for attempting to print Kolchak's story. The pair are last seen driving to New York, with Harper in the back seat; all three are arguing.
In the Moonstone short story collection, Kolchak: The Night Stalker Casebook, one story, "Until Tomorrow" by Joe Gentile, establishes that Louise was shot in a convenience store holdup and that she and Carl were married at the time. The story has the note, "The following is based on notes from Kolchak's original chronicler Jeff Rice..."(page 253), making it canon. Another story in the collection, Mark Dawidziak's "Cancellation," establishes that Louise died in Chicago, presumably just prior to the events of the TV series.
Kolchak as a paranormal newspaperman mirrors the real-life reporter Charles Fort.
Mythology
Between the series' short run and the two movies, they managed to tackle most of the major monster myths. Two stories about vampires, one about a werewolf, a mummy and a zombie story make up the classic monster genre. In a related classification, it also included a good old fashioned ghost story, one about witches and one involving a pact with Satan. A story about Jack the Ripper is one of the few based an actual historical figure, which is given a supernatural explanation. Three more episodes dealt with immortality and aging related murders, involving a mad scientist, a succubus and Helen of Troy/Hecate. Four episodes focused on monsters and spirits based in native folklore (two involving Native American legends, one Hindu and one Creole). Another featured a killer android, which was a popular subject of the 70's. The series even tackled a UFO encounter and an invisible alien, complete with a government conspiracy. Of the more esoteric were episodes about a headless motorcycle rider (the headless horseman myth), an animated knight's suit of armor possessed by a spirit out for revenge, a prehistoric man thawed back to life and a lizard creature protecting its eggs.
Episodes
The series was canceled after one year and 20 episodes due to mediocre ratings and at the behest of McGavin himself, as he had been unhappy with the "monster of the week" direction the program took, as well as with the exhausting filming schedule. McGavin has been quoted numerous times stating that he did, however, like and encourage the series' emphasis on comedy and its quirky family of office characters. Ultimately, however, McGavin asked for a release from his contract with two episodes left to be filmed, a request that the network granted in light of the show's dwindling ratings.
Two television movies, The Demon and the Mummy and Crackle of Death, were cobbled together in 1976, with each new movie being composed of two previously screened episodes from the series. A voice-over provided by McGavin allowed for some continuity in the narrative. Due to this reediting, the four actual episodes were removed from the syndication package and were unavailable in their original format until Columbia House released them on VHS. In addition, another two-parter was released on video called, The Night Stalker: Two Tales of Terror which was simply two separate episodes included on the same tape.
The entire series is now available in syndication and occasionally rerun on the Sci-Fi Channel with its original expanded title, Kolchak: The Night Stalker. In 2008, it began running on Chiller TV.
The series is now available on DVD.
Legacy
The impact of Kolchak in popular culture has been substantial. In particular the series has been described as a predecessor to The X-Files (1993-2002). The X-Files creator, Chris Carter, has acknowledged that the show influenced him greatly in his own work. He paid tribute to Kolchak in a number of ways. A character named "Richard Matheson", named for the screenwriter of the pilot films, appeared in several episodes. Carter also wanted McGavin to appear as Kolchak in one or more episodes of The X-Files, but McGavin was unwilling to reprise the character for the show. He did eventually appear in several episodes as Arthur Dales, a retired FBI agent described as the "father of the X-Files".
Nicolas Cage credits Kolchak: The Night Stalker for his inspiration in producing the new TV series, The Dresden Files, about a private detective/wizard who investigates crimes involving the supernatural.
The 2005 television series
While Jeff Rice retains the rights to written Kolchak works, and Universal owns the rights to the TV series, ABC maintained ownership of the two TV movies and began airing a new Night Stalker series on September 29, 2005, with the character Carl Kolchak portrayed by Stuart Townsend. On November 14, 2005, the network and creator Frank Spotnitz announced the cancellation of the new series, due to low viewership. The lack of interest may have been due to the more dramatic tone of the new series, or the more youthful/pop oriented style and setting meant to appeal to a different demographic than fans of the original program, or the fact that the show was put up against the top rated show CSI on Thursday. Also, ABC only owned the rights to the two TV movies, restricting their access to the better known minor recurring characters in the TV series. Superficial similarities to Spotnitz's previous work on The X-Files (a male believer as the protagonist and a female skeptic as his partner, the generally darker tone, an unseen conspiracy) were also cited.
In the pilot episode, there is a brief (about three seconds) shot of Darren McGavin in the newsroom (taken from the original TV movie) 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 smiling a knowing smile while fondling his hat. In another shot, when fellow reporter Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union) is searching through Kolchak's room, the hat that Darren McGavin wore in the original series is hanging on a coat rack. Other names of character from the TV movies are referenced in various episodes, and one episode ("Timeless") used much of the plot of the TV movie The Night Strangler. The 2005 series is available on DVD.
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 author Jeff Rice and produced 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 (nicknamed the "Disgrace"). Most of the recurring characters from the TV movies and series also appeared. Kolchak becomes involved with a ghost-guardian killing those responsible for the destruction of its Ohio cemetery.
In 1996, Dawidziak's 1991 book was re-released as The Night Stalker Companion: A 25th Anniversary Tribute with additional material added to the 1991 book.
In 2003 Dawidziak worked with author Richard Matheson to produced Richard Matheson's 'Kolchak Scripts, containing the three original TV movie scripts: The Night Stalker, The Night Strangler and the un-produced 3rd movie The Night Killers.
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 original graphic novels featuring the characters to this day. Moonstone also adapted Jeff Rice's original script of The Night Stalker 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 Peter David, Mike W. Barr, Stuart Kaminsky, Richard Dean Starr, and Max Allan Collins. A second volume, Kolchak: The Night Stalker Casebook, was published in January 2007 featuring new short fiction by authors including P. N. Elrod, Christopher Golden, Richard Dean Starr, and Elaine Bergstrom.
DVD Releases
The 2 TV movies were released on DVD by MGM Home Video on August 24, 2004. (an earlier DVD release of the two films by Anchor Bay Entertainment is out of print). The subsequent TV series was released on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on October 4, 2005.
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|
The Night Stalker / The Night Strangler
Double Feature | 2 | August 24, 2004 | | Kolchak: The Night Stalker- Complete Series | 20 | October 4, 2005 |
Music
Robert Cobert scored the music for the original Television movies. Gil Mellé was hired to write the music for the series, beginning with the distinctive theme whistled by Kolchak in the opening credits, which doubled as a haunting melody used throughout the series soundtrack. Mellé left the series after the fourth episode citing it was becoming too light-hearted. Composer Jerry Fielding took over for the remaining series augmented by one score each from Greg McRitchie (best known for his collaborations with Fielding (who composed music for episodes of this show) and James Horner) and Luchi De Jesus. Music Supervisor Hal Mooney re-used much of Mellé's score in various later episodes (most notably The Spanish Moss Murders which has no credited score composer) along with material from the other composers as well.
The 2005 series was composed by Michael Wandmacher.
Two soundtrack albums have been produced. One released in 2000 by Varese Sarabande featuring two suites of Bob Cobert's music from the TV movies. The other, a Universal Television soundtrack album released in 2002, featuring Gil Mellé's theme and scores written for the first three episodes (The Ripper, U.F.O. and Vampire).
The Gil Mellé Theme also notably appears on the TVT Records Television's Greatest Hits Volume 5. However, all licensed soundtrack recordings of the theme commercially available use an otherwise rare original recording alternate take of the well known theme. Initially identifiable by the altered opening whistle, an off-key electronic note is seemingly at random 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.
Mellé was hired and the theme was written in 20 minutes before the opening credits where Kolchak whistles it, were shot.
External links
- (authorized website)
- (played "Ron Updyke")
- (The Ripper, UFO & Vampire suites)
- , production company for the 2005 Night Stalker series
- , a print media fan magazine.
- Publisher of The Night Stalker Companion: A 25th Anniversary Tribute by Mark Dawidziak
- Publisher of Kolchak comics and novels.
- An article about "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" from a fan of the series.
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