Kolchak: The Night Stalker (original)...

I won't hold my breath over this. For one thing the first strike against them is casting. Is Depp going to be Kolchak? Right there I think they're off. Kolchak has to seem an unlikely hero including the way he looks. I'm not saying to you have to perfectly mimic Darren McGavin and his manner of dress, but he should look like one of the last people you'd expect to be the hero.

Are they going to camp it like Dark Shadows? That would be stupid as the original work already had its flavour of humour.

Until I hear more I'm presently not interested in this.

 

It is funny to think of Kolchak running around in white makeup.

 

I'm never a big fan of reboots or recasting, and Kolchak would be especially hard to recast. Johnny Depp really isn't the type. I don't think he can pull off the rumpled, rough-around-the-edges, worse-for-wear type. I'd have to think if there are any contemporary actors who could do it. Darren McGavin is a tough act to follow-- pretty close to impossible, in my opinion.

And how exactly will they handle this? Will it be a remake of the original movie? Will it be set in 1972? Or will it be a new adventure for Kolchak, following the show in 1975? Or will it be set in the present day? As with all remakes, the ways to screw it up are nearly infinite, and the ways to get it right hard to imagine.

 

Johnny Depp does reboot of Dark Shadows and the pooch is screwed. He's also doing The Lone Ranger and the pooch might get again. Now it's Kolchak.

I'm not feeling very confident. Are remakes all he's doing?

 

One thing that always bothered me about the Sentry, besides being a remake of Devil in the Dark, was Kolchak "racing" away from the creature in that golf cart. He's suppose to be running for his life, but his arm is casually draped across the back of the seat, as relaxed as if he's headed for the 9th tee.

 

Yeah, I noticed that too. I guess you could rationalize he wanted to be able to look behind him, but if it were me I'd have been hunched over the wheel (to see where I'm going) with my foot to the floor.

 

I'd agree that the last few eps of Kolchak do seem to be running a bit out of steam, but I like The Sentry, or at least parts of it. I find the whole bit where Carl is on his own down there, running from the creature, very creepy, of course it's all ruined by the Gorn, er I mean the Sentry, but it is genunely scary for a while.

Re Depp as Kolchak. Actually I can see it. He can play crumpled, and the fact Edgar Wright is involved gives me a bit of hope as well.

 

I'd sooner believe Nicholas Campbell from Da Vinci's Inquest as Carl than anyone else right now.

 

Jeff Fahey, maybe?

 

I was a 16 year old nerd back in '74 when The Night Stalker was on Friday nights. The original tv movies (which I own on dvd) hooked me a few years before, so no way was I gonna miss Kolchak

Anyway, I saw the show was on Netflix and watched The Ripper last night. The climax was somewhat similar to the original movie (searching around in the dark, creepy house because apparently otherworldly monsters love themselves a good, decrepit rental ). Losing his cool in the closet after the ripper's several attempts to hang up clothes cracked me up - think he was having a Barry Atwater (who, of course, played Surak in TOS The Savage Curtain) flashback I'm looking forward to the whole series again after lo these last 38 years that have passed by

 

Overall I've really enjoyed the series.

Today I received a book I ordered from Amazon, Kolchak: The Night Stalker Compendium which is a collection of 43 short stories from Koclchak: The Night Stalker Chronicles and Kolchak: The Night Stalker Casebook.

I'm looking forward to diving into this.

 

I've got both the Chronicles and the Casebook. Pretty good stuff.

"The Ripper" is definitely a lot like the original movie, but it sets up the series well without being a remake (like they did with Logan's Run and others).

 

I've just finished reading the first story "Every Coin Has One." The story feels pretty authentic and the writer does a good job of writing the words as if it's really McGavin as Kolchak speaking. The only thing that blipped for me were the references to the internet and the History Channel, both of which weren't around in the '70s.It was also odd catching the reference that Karl and Vincenzo were working for a Hollywood paper.

But it's a good start.

 

Yeah, and cell phones and word processors. If it were me, I would have kept him in the 70s where he belongs. Like The Shadow and Sherlock Holmes, he lives in a certain era and should stay there.