kolchak: the night stalker Studio: Universal Studios Home Video Year: 1974-75 (2005 Release) Rated: Not Rated Aspect Ratio: 4x3 Audio: English DD 2.0 (Mono) Captions/Subtitles: English SDH; Spanish Subtitles Time: Approx. 17 Hrs. 6 Min. Disc Format: DS/DL (DVD-18) Case Style: ThinPaks The Feature: Wow, talk about a blast from the past. Yet another show from my childhood has made its appearance on DVD. After two highly successful TV movies in 1972 and 1973, the exploits of intrepid newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak became a TV series in 1974-75 with Kolchak: The Night Stalker. I remember tuning into these shows religiously, even though they were probably a tad too scary for a sensitive boy like me. Focusing on horror, the supernatural, and the occult, Kolchak paved the way for shows like The X-Files. Sadly, Kolchak did not last long--only twenty episodes over a partial season ever aired, compared to over 200 episodes of those files in the cabinet of X. That's a shame. Kolchak was an endearing character, a writer for the Independent News Service, who made his way around Chicago in his cheap suit and hat, driving a yellow convertible, always lugging his tape recorder and cool (to me at the time) 110 camera, after the latest case of unusual circumstances. Did a headless motorcycle rider slice off the head off a victim? Did a dead body keep turning up... alive? Count on Carl Kolchak to dig up the details. He was the bane of boss Tony Vincenzo's (Simon Oakland) existence. He constantly got in the way of police investigations (as far as they were concerned). But werewolves, vampires, zombies, even Jack the Ripper himself were all fair game for Kolchak's unique investigative style. The original Kolchak movies have been released twice on DVD, first by Anchor Bay in 1998, and later by MGM in 2004. I was very happy with the original Anchor Bay release, mostly for the fond memories. And that is the spirit in which I watched this TV series. In reviewing a TV series, I seldom have time to watch the entire set, but I watched about three hours total of Kolchak, including three complete episodes and parts of three others. What was fascinating to me as a child is, alas, a little cheesy today. But the show is still reasonably fun. Kolchak is a great character, and the series is populated with equally memorable ones. As far as the shows go, I found the series pilot "The Ripper" to be rather intense, and actually a little risque. By today's standards, it is pretty tame, but I can't believe I was allowed to watch this as a kid! "The Zombie" had its gross makeup moments. "Chopper" (with its story by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale) had me chuckling a bit when I saw the "headless" motorcycle rider and the shadow of the boom mike. Okay, so the production values were a little cheap--but that adds to the charm. And the writing was fun. Universal has split the series across three dual-sided, dual-layered (DVD-18) discs. The discs were housed in individual ThinPaks (like Firefly). I could not make out the country of manufacture on the disc, but there was no "Made in Mexico" sticker on the outside of the package. I mention this because of production problems that seem to originate from Mexico on DVD-18 product from Universal. Thankfully, there were no glitches evident on these discs. The episodes are laid out as follows: Disc 1 Side A The Ripper (51:42) - Air Date 9/13/74 The Zombie (51:28) - Air Date 9/20/74 They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be... (51:50) - Air Date 9/27/74 The Vampire (51:49) - Air Date 10/4/74 Disc 1 Side B The Werewolf (50:51) - Air Date 11/1/74 Firefall (51:23) - Air Date 11/8/74 The Devil's Platform (51:40) - Air Date 11/15/74 Bad Medicine (51:50) - Air Date 11/29/74 Disc 2 Side A The Spanish Moss Murders (51:45) - Air Date 12/6/74 The Energy Eater (51:49) - Air Date 12/13/74 Horror in the Heights (51:12) - Air Date 12/20/74 Mr. R.I.N.G. (51:19) - Air Date 1/10/75 Disc 2 Side B Primal Scream (50:30) - Air Date 1/17/75 The Trevi Collection (50:30) - Air Date 1/24/75 Chopper (50:33) - Air Date 1/31/75 - Story by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale! Demon in Lace (50:35) - Air Date 2/7/75 Disc 3 Side A - almost broke it off the hub attempting to remove it from the case Legacy of Terror (50:29) - Air Date 2/14/75 The Knightly Murders (50:30) - Air Date 3/7/75 The Youth Killer (50:34) - Air Date 3/14/75 The Sentry (50:30) - Air Date 3/28/75 Disc 3 Side B is blank. The Feature: 3.5 / 5 
Video: Unfortunately, the video quality is a real mixed bag. I know for a fact the transfer is not to blame for obvious problems with the source: splices, film off-center (briefly), dirt. There was no cleanup at all for at least the first two episodes. But later episodes did not look as bad, especially during the lighter daytime scenes. The image was a little soft, but honestly I expected that on the big screen. During the darker scenes, however, the image was too dark to make out a lot of detail. My recommendation? Watch this on a small, old TV like you did as a child and you'll never notice how it looks. Video: 2.5 / 5 Sound: Sound quality for this Dolby Digital 2.0 presentation is perfectly fine. It is monophonic, and a little hollow with the narration. Spanish subtitles and English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired are included. Sound: 3 / 5 Extras: There are no extras. But I won't hold that against the overall score, so... Extras: 0 / 5 In Conclusion: I like Kolchak: The Night Stalker. It is not the greatest TV show ever, nor is it the best presentation I have ever seen on DVD. I wish a little more could have been done with the video quality, but that inevitably would have made the production of the set (and therefore the set itself) more expensive. Still, this would make great viewing on Halloween. Overall Rating: 3 / 5 Display calibrated by Steve Martin at http://www.lionav.com/
