![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I watched The Night Strangler again, snapped a bunch of random pictures throughout, and made a few icons. Kolchak and Tony have so many awesome scenes in that film!
One thing I noticed more strongly this time around was that Tony really did try to help Carl, repeatedly, and I don't think Carl always really recognized it or appreciated it. At one point during an argument Carl is yelling at Tony for not printing the latest story about the murders and Tony calls him ungrateful/unappreciative, which isn't entirely unjustified.
Tony was not pleased to discover Kolchak in the bar at the beginning, but he could have just ignored him. Only he wouldn't do that, because he's such a softie. So he resignedly smiled and went over and ended up offering Kolchak a job.
Tony was not pleased for Kolchak to stumble over another weird mystery, but after Las Vegas who can blame him? In spite of that, he did a lot for Carl. He brought in a sketch artist to sketch the murderer as described by a witness. He published some of Kolchak's early stories on the murders, even ones that got into the creepy stuff. He even tried to print the big story, exposing the full truth. It was pulled after 20 copies, but that wasn't Tony's fault. He tried. Carl should not have blown up at him the way he did, accusing him of selling out. It was their boss who refused to let the story go through. Tony even said he was stupid enough to think that things would be different in Seattle and that they would be allowed to print the crazy-sounding story.
Seriously, after the events of the two movies (and being fired himself at the end of the second one), it's no wonder that Tony outright refuses to publish most of Carl's stories on the TV show. Once he did try to get out a story of Carl's, but their superiors pulled it again.
According to Robert Palmer, the devil's advocate, Kolchak blames Tony for most of his problems even though he knows deep down that he himself is at fault. The blaming comes into play full-force in the second movie. It isn't seen as strongly in the TV series. I wonder if Kolchak was forced to take a long look at himself after the events of The Devil's Platform and didn't blame Tony so much after that.
In any case, Tony definitely deserves more understanding and appreciation. Long-suffering is a good term for him. I love Kolchak dearly, but I love Tony too, and he doesn't deserve all of the blame thrown at him in The Night Strangler. And in the TV show, too, he tries to help Carl out where he can. Even in the middle of the night, he'll come to bail Carl out of jail. One episode had him turn up in a robe and slippers to get him out.
And eeee, I learned that there's an awesome Moonstone story where Kolchak and Tony are trapped in a haunted house! And it will be included among the stories of the graphic novel The Rise and Fall of Carl Kolchak that I've ordered! I can hardly wait to see that one.
I suppose it was largely that story that was responsible for me listening to the Partridge Family song Only a Moment Ago and coming up with a far different interpretation than one is meant to get. The song is fairly innocuous and innocent, and a bit introspective: http://www.songlyrics.com/the-partridge-family/only-a-moment-ago-lyrics/
But I ended up picturing it taken literally, as in: there really were people and music, and suddenly they all vanished. The plunnie started developing of Carl and Tony lost in a mysterious ghost town where people appear and disappear at random and the town itself doesn't linger for long. I've done a couple of stories involving towns like that (Cooperstown and Lily Valley) for other fandoms, but I'd be game for another. This town would be different from both of those.
But seriously, a Partridge Family song inspiring a Kolchak fic? It's hard to imagine two more different fandoms.
One thing I noticed more strongly this time around was that Tony really did try to help Carl, repeatedly, and I don't think Carl always really recognized it or appreciated it. At one point during an argument Carl is yelling at Tony for not printing the latest story about the murders and Tony calls him ungrateful/unappreciative, which isn't entirely unjustified.
Tony was not pleased to discover Kolchak in the bar at the beginning, but he could have just ignored him. Only he wouldn't do that, because he's such a softie. So he resignedly smiled and went over and ended up offering Kolchak a job.
Tony was not pleased for Kolchak to stumble over another weird mystery, but after Las Vegas who can blame him? In spite of that, he did a lot for Carl. He brought in a sketch artist to sketch the murderer as described by a witness. He published some of Kolchak's early stories on the murders, even ones that got into the creepy stuff. He even tried to print the big story, exposing the full truth. It was pulled after 20 copies, but that wasn't Tony's fault. He tried. Carl should not have blown up at him the way he did, accusing him of selling out. It was their boss who refused to let the story go through. Tony even said he was stupid enough to think that things would be different in Seattle and that they would be allowed to print the crazy-sounding story.
Seriously, after the events of the two movies (and being fired himself at the end of the second one), it's no wonder that Tony outright refuses to publish most of Carl's stories on the TV show. Once he did try to get out a story of Carl's, but their superiors pulled it again.
According to Robert Palmer, the devil's advocate, Kolchak blames Tony for most of his problems even though he knows deep down that he himself is at fault. The blaming comes into play full-force in the second movie. It isn't seen as strongly in the TV series. I wonder if Kolchak was forced to take a long look at himself after the events of The Devil's Platform and didn't blame Tony so much after that.
In any case, Tony definitely deserves more understanding and appreciation. Long-suffering is a good term for him. I love Kolchak dearly, but I love Tony too, and he doesn't deserve all of the blame thrown at him in The Night Strangler. And in the TV show, too, he tries to help Carl out where he can. Even in the middle of the night, he'll come to bail Carl out of jail. One episode had him turn up in a robe and slippers to get him out.
And eeee, I learned that there's an awesome Moonstone story where Kolchak and Tony are trapped in a haunted house! And it will be included among the stories of the graphic novel The Rise and Fall of Carl Kolchak that I've ordered! I can hardly wait to see that one.
I suppose it was largely that story that was responsible for me listening to the Partridge Family song Only a Moment Ago and coming up with a far different interpretation than one is meant to get. The song is fairly innocuous and innocent, and a bit introspective: http://www.songlyrics.com/the-partridge-family/only-a-moment-ago-lyrics/
But I ended up picturing it taken literally, as in: there really were people and music, and suddenly they all vanished. The plunnie started developing of Carl and Tony lost in a mysterious ghost town where people appear and disappear at random and the town itself doesn't linger for long. I've done a couple of stories involving towns like that (Cooperstown and Lily Valley) for other fandoms, but I'd be game for another. This town would be different from both of those.
But seriously, a Partridge Family song inspiring a Kolchak fic? It's hard to imagine two more different fandoms.
