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Interesting. Very interesting.
Apr. 19th, 2011 10:09 amYesterday, thanks to the amazingness that is F.Y.E., I was able to pick up a new copy of the pre-series Kolchak movies for $13.99. This is out of print. On Amazon it goes for about $67 new. I have no idea why F.Y.E. had a copy still kicking around, but it was so awesome that they did! I'd seen it two weeks ago and was interested, but I hadn't remembered it was out of print and I thought I could get it even cheaper on Amazon, in the Marketplace. Plus, I only had enough money to order something else.
I also was able to pick up the something else, a graphic novel I ordered from Borders. I'll get to that in a moment.
I've watched the first movie now, and it's very difficult to restrain myself from watching the second until later. I wasn't able to resist just peeking at the scene where Tony sees Kolchak in the bar and takes pity on him and hires him for the paper he's working on then. Tony coming up behind Kolchak and plopping Kolchak's hat on his head was adorably squeeable.
Kolchak in the first movie, The Night Stalker, is a little bit different from the TV show Kolchak. He certainly isn't a believer in the supernatural to start with, so it's very intriguing seeing his first such case and how he becomes convinced of the truth (thanks largely to his girlfriend Gail). His comment when Gail asks him what he knows about vampires is absolutely hilarious, classic sarcasm as only Kolchak can deliver it. "They wear dinner suits and talk with marbles in their mouths." LOL!
He seems a bit more concerned with himself over anything else, although when it's all over the police mention that he was raving about having to save the world from the vampire. Aside from that comment, what we seem to mostly see is him hoping that he can get a break with this vampire story and get back on a big newspaper in New York. I certainly agree with what my favorite article on Kolchak said, that he would immediately deny any accusations of heroism with a sarcastic crack, but he still seems more concerned with himself than the people in this movie.
And honestly, why wouldn't he be? He's a distrusting cynic, fired from so many newspapers across the country, and he wants to get ahead again. This story is his chance. It's so bizarre and outlandish that he probably doesn't even fully start to grasp the horrors until he sneaks into the vampire's house and sees the latest victim strapped to a bed, alive while being slowly drained of her blood. It's probably only then, and moreso after he starts encountering such oddball things repeatedly, that he starts to really realize what's at stake and that he has to be the one to protect the people since no one else is doing it right. In the TV show, this seems to be his main priority over catching a big break. By that time he's probably even more cynical and disillusioned and burned and doesn't have much hope left of getting ahead.
His relationship with Tony is also a bit different in the movie. For the most part they are fully at each other's throats, with no hint of a possible friendship until their final scene together near the end. They certainly don't seem to like each other much. In the TV show they have their spats too (which are always episode highlights), but there's more of an indication that they've become closer and are indeed friends (although they, especially Tony, would surely deny it). Las Vegas was probably the first city they worked in together. I'm anxious to see how things go in the second movie, The Night Strangler. As already mentioned, I adored the scene I sneaked a peek at. And I highly got the giggles in the first movie when Kolchak quipped in their first scene, "You're beautiful when you're angry." Such comments made by characters who have been canonically established as straight really crack me up.
I'm going to review my graphic novel at Amazon. When it's up, I'll provide a link, or else copy and paste it here. But for now I'll say it's the crossover with Sherlock Holmes called Cry of Thunder, and, though it has its flaws, it's very interesting overall and I think it deserves a read. There's some wonderful scenes between Sherlock and Watson in their segments in the past. And Kolchak is armed with his glorious sarcasm in the present. And indeed, it's the present. He has a computer instead of a typewriter.
I'm not sure the author fully has a grip on his character, though. For the most part, he's in character. But there were some odd comments that struck me as very out of character, such as where he seemed to paint himself as somewhat egotistical (even though I don't think he really meant it deep down). When a girl he's seeing suddenly disappears of her own free will he narrates, "I know you're saying how can a woman get tired of the Kolchak?" And I was thinking "No. Just no. He doesn't talk like that." There's nothing in the series like that, nor is there in the first movie. He may occasionally bluster in and be bold and proud of his stories and proclaim them excellent journalism, but it's not the same thing.
However, overall such flaws can be overlooked in the face of the novel as a whole. The art style could be better, but the story is intriguing.
And now I'd better stop before I review the whole thing here instead of at Amazon.
I also was able to pick up the something else, a graphic novel I ordered from Borders. I'll get to that in a moment.
I've watched the first movie now, and it's very difficult to restrain myself from watching the second until later. I wasn't able to resist just peeking at the scene where Tony sees Kolchak in the bar and takes pity on him and hires him for the paper he's working on then. Tony coming up behind Kolchak and plopping Kolchak's hat on his head was adorably squeeable.
Kolchak in the first movie, The Night Stalker, is a little bit different from the TV show Kolchak. He certainly isn't a believer in the supernatural to start with, so it's very intriguing seeing his first such case and how he becomes convinced of the truth (thanks largely to his girlfriend Gail). His comment when Gail asks him what he knows about vampires is absolutely hilarious, classic sarcasm as only Kolchak can deliver it. "They wear dinner suits and talk with marbles in their mouths." LOL!
He seems a bit more concerned with himself over anything else, although when it's all over the police mention that he was raving about having to save the world from the vampire. Aside from that comment, what we seem to mostly see is him hoping that he can get a break with this vampire story and get back on a big newspaper in New York. I certainly agree with what my favorite article on Kolchak said, that he would immediately deny any accusations of heroism with a sarcastic crack, but he still seems more concerned with himself than the people in this movie.
And honestly, why wouldn't he be? He's a distrusting cynic, fired from so many newspapers across the country, and he wants to get ahead again. This story is his chance. It's so bizarre and outlandish that he probably doesn't even fully start to grasp the horrors until he sneaks into the vampire's house and sees the latest victim strapped to a bed, alive while being slowly drained of her blood. It's probably only then, and moreso after he starts encountering such oddball things repeatedly, that he starts to really realize what's at stake and that he has to be the one to protect the people since no one else is doing it right. In the TV show, this seems to be his main priority over catching a big break. By that time he's probably even more cynical and disillusioned and burned and doesn't have much hope left of getting ahead.
His relationship with Tony is also a bit different in the movie. For the most part they are fully at each other's throats, with no hint of a possible friendship until their final scene together near the end. They certainly don't seem to like each other much. In the TV show they have their spats too (which are always episode highlights), but there's more of an indication that they've become closer and are indeed friends (although they, especially Tony, would surely deny it). Las Vegas was probably the first city they worked in together. I'm anxious to see how things go in the second movie, The Night Strangler. As already mentioned, I adored the scene I sneaked a peek at. And I highly got the giggles in the first movie when Kolchak quipped in their first scene, "You're beautiful when you're angry." Such comments made by characters who have been canonically established as straight really crack me up.
I'm going to review my graphic novel at Amazon. When it's up, I'll provide a link, or else copy and paste it here. But for now I'll say it's the crossover with Sherlock Holmes called Cry of Thunder, and, though it has its flaws, it's very interesting overall and I think it deserves a read. There's some wonderful scenes between Sherlock and Watson in their segments in the past. And Kolchak is armed with his glorious sarcasm in the present. And indeed, it's the present. He has a computer instead of a typewriter.
I'm not sure the author fully has a grip on his character, though. For the most part, he's in character. But there were some odd comments that struck me as very out of character, such as where he seemed to paint himself as somewhat egotistical (even though I don't think he really meant it deep down). When a girl he's seeing suddenly disappears of her own free will he narrates, "I know you're saying how can a woman get tired of the Kolchak?" And I was thinking "No. Just no. He doesn't talk like that." There's nothing in the series like that, nor is there in the first movie. He may occasionally bluster in and be bold and proud of his stories and proclaim them excellent journalism, but it's not the same thing.
However, overall such flaws can be overlooked in the face of the novel as a whole. The art style could be better, but the story is intriguing.
And now I'd better stop before I review the whole thing here instead of at Amazon.
