The Last Episode Was the Worst - Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) Discussion

[–] babybaby923 11 years ago

This was not suppose to be the last episode, They were picked up for another year BY UNIVERSAL STUDIO. But what I was told some of the original cast was not available for more seasons due to low ratings & took other parts, being told they were going to be cancelled.

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[–] lenlarga 11 years ago

The only 2 members of the regular cast were Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland, si I assume it was one or both of those two.

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[–] a_l_i_e_n 11 years ago

The series had a commitment to do 22 episodes. Mcgavin was exhausted from the rigours of all the night shooting and asked the network to be released from having to do the last two. The ratings (in part because of all the timeslot switching) had been abysmal, so they agreed and the show was cancelled at just 20 episodes.

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[–] 11 years ago

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[–] mam13143 11 years ago

It was amazing to me that every episode had a string of prominent actors of that time. So the lack of good stories and really awful special effects if you can even call them that, really did the series in. I remember watching the series when first telecast and was so disappointed by both those elements. The other actors were bland and never developed. What a shame. Finally, every story had the exact same theme - kolchak yelling that killings are being done by something unworldly, cops don't believe him, and Tony never believes him. After awhile it got tiresome.

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[–] tommary1962 11 years ago

Nonsense. Worst eps were Primal Scream, Mr. Ring and Legacy of Terror.

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[–] NxNWRocks 10 years ago

The Sentry is the worst-looking villain without a doubt. Doesn't look remotely scary, it just looks like something you'd see at an amusement park for kids.

"Worthington, we're being attacked by giant bats!"

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[–] TVholic 10 years ago

No way. It was bad, but hardly the worst. The headless biker in "Chopper" looked infinitely more fake. I don't think that would have scared a two-year-old.

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[–] Fletcherj119 10 years ago

On "The Sentry" Kolchak rides the golf cart down long tunnels and you can see past him pretty far and there's nothing there, but whenever he stops, the thing comes shuffling right behind him.

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[–] TVholic 10 years ago

You're mistaken. He only drove the cart twice. The first time, he drove out of Sector M and into Sector O, where the creature was ahead of him, not behind him. It presumably smashed through some tunnel walls from M to O. The second time, it wasn't right behind him. Kolchak himself says, "So here I am. In a few minutes, it will be here, too." Hardly right behind him.

Which also doesn't rebut my point that the "headless biker" with the four-foot torso was ludicrous and wouldn't fool someone who was half-blind.

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[–] Fletcherj119 10 years ago

I'll have to see it again. My DVDs were faulty, so I have to replace them. Although I do have them all on VHS, including the original TV movies.

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[–] richard.fuller1 10 years ago

Like the werewolf, we didn't like it when we were little, but now I enjoy all of them.

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[–] Fletcherj119 10 years ago

I loved this show when I was a kid. The first one I saw was The Energy Eater, which isn't on too many people's favorite episode list, but it kinda scared the crap out of me (but in a good way). I was hooked after that.

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[–] ms2000vette 10 years ago

For me, the Legacy of Terror is easily the worst episode. It was downright boring.

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[–] Doom 10 years ago

I didn't really mind the quality of the costume (I was used to things looking a bit cheesy on this show); one of the main reasons I love The Sentry is the whole idea of the underground tunnels (the atmosphere that provided the episode) just creeped me out - still does.

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Wait a minute... who am I here?

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] pjpurple-1 9 years ago

This episode scared me plenty when I first saw it! Come on, driving down those lonely, dark underground hallways not knowing what you might encounter... The only thing that ruined it was the view of the "monster" at the end. No doubt a mother protecting her babies can be ferocious but the audience needed to NOT see the creature. What you don't see is always scarier.

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[–] Doom 9 years ago

I'd still love to know where they filmed that.

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Wait a minute... who am I here?

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[–] a_l_i_e_n 9 years ago

but the audience needed to NOT see the creature. What you don't see is always scarier.

I agree, and another one that might've worked better without actually seeing the monster is the claustrophobic episode "The Werewolf". They should've just shown the creature from a distance, but never in close up as the makeup was pretty disappointing. It could've also have worked fine if they never actually showed it until Kolchak confronts it at the end.

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