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Kolchak - The Night Stalker
: ATTENTION BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER FANS:
There are more than one episodes featured on Buffy that appear to have been taken directly from this show. Not only are both the original stories interesting and fun to watch, but Joss was able to bring his own twist to them.
 I hate to write this review. I discovered Kolchak in syndication and eventually fell in love with it. When I heard about this DVD release of the entire series, I was ecstatic and instantly purchased it.
What I found, however, was pitiful.
NOT the series. No, no, this is one of the lost greats of TV Land. No, what is pitiful is the quality of the DVD. It would seem (in my case anyway) that in their haste to cash in on the crappy redux of the show, Universal has supplied us (or maybe just me) with very low quality discs. My episodes REPEATEDLY skip, pixelate, and some eps won't even start up at all. I was appalled and took my copy back to get another one. I sit down tonight to watch another episode.
Nope. Can't happen. My copy freezes, then jumps fifteen minutes later. Pitiful. I want to take my second copy back for a third, but fear the same thing will happen. I am continually met with disappointment as I try to enjoy a series that, apparently, I never will on DVD.
For the sake of the late, great original, I urge you to buy Kolchak on DVD...but buy it at your own risk.
 Kolchak: Night Stalker and the two prior TV movies were the inspiration behind the greatest television series ever made, of course in my opinion , The X-Files. I actually remember viewing the original Kolchak series as a ten-year old (don't ask about parental restictions in my home at the time...)and being scared, really scared. It's doesn't quite have the same effect on me now but I still find it creepy and suspensful in parts and overall great fun.
I had hoped that the new "Night Stalker" series that aired last autumn would be just as good but surprisingly it wasn't and was soon cancelled, rightly so. It was the baby of two of the people behind the "X-Files", especially Frank Spotnitz, but somehow failed to capture the spirit of both the old "Nightstalker" and it's latter prodigy. So please watch and enjoy the elder "Nightstalker" and don't forget to switch the lights off!
You wouldn't be looking if you didn't already love the series. Thirty years later it still retains its campy charm. Kolchak as played by Darren McGavin is without a doubt one of the great television characters---a Watergate-era hero with a commitment to the truth, no matter how crazy it might be. If only there were a few like him on the job now...
The series itself I give five stars, if only because I have loved it ever since my mother allowed me to watch it (unbelievably) at the age of 4. I was particularly traumatized by The Trevi Collection and had a phobia about store mannequins for years afterwards. Despite its brief span of 20 episodes, The Night Stalker was an inventive show that was way ahead of its time and for my money far superior to the rather dour and dead-pan X-Files. This was a show that not only scared you but made you laugh.
In regards to the Universal DVD release---well, it's pretty standard Universal fare, which means 1 star. The usual dual-sided DVDs with no extras and no-frills packaging. At least this set features mini-cases as well as the uncut episodes (as opposed to the Sci Fi channel's hatchet jobs). The transfer is pretty crummy but then again I get a certain nostalgia watching it that way---I mean, that was the way reruns on TV used to look---washed out, high contrast. Naturally Universal wouldn't spend a dime on cleaning it up. Why should they when they know we'll buy it anyway? That's the power of corporate control over nostalgia.
Of course this doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it. By all means, do so. Forget about Universal and just settle back, whistle those first few bars with Carl and enjoy the show and the memories.
I remember when this series first aired in '74. It was spooky then and it remains spooky today. I can't think of anything better to watch on Halloween than Kolchak: The Night Stalker (except maybe Lifeforce or The Exorcist and maybe the original Dawn of the Dead or its enjoyable 2004 remake). One can now have a Kolchak: The Night Stalker marathon!
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