So... we end with a monster that looks somewhat like this, or perhaps like this... Scary, isn't it?

The episode it self was pretty much like all other Kolchak episodes, except that the writers seemed to be focusing on diversifying Kolchak's police antagonist. In this case, it was a "alluring" female lieutenant ("Aileen, Ailee, she's the sweetest cop I've ever seen"), but we all know that fortunately Kolchak is immune to this kind of witch's spell. And their relationship followed the usual path when it comes to "nice" antagonist. At first she tried to be friendly (though she always sounded a little forced and trying too hard to look nice), but then she completely lost her patience with our reporter hero.

I think I've figured out why Kolchak never got to report a single line about his supernatural exploits: he focused too much on stopping the monster, instead of just reporting the news. Had he been more of a reporter, and less of a hero, OK, a lot of people would've died, but come on, the public has the right to know! So, in hindsight, I'd say he should've dedicated his energies to be a good reporting without interfering so much in the chain of events.

For a formulaic show, it was not bad, and I even enjoyed lots of parts of it. The best of all is that it reignited my passion for old photography techniques. But I don't think I could've put up with much more of that.

The final chapter gets 6 rolls of 16mm film now almost impossible to find.

Wow, what a finale! Kolchak gets a story published and wins the Pulitzer Prize for it. He’s rewarded with a job on a top national newspaper. And we finally get to see what his house looks like (surprising sophisticated, too). And how about that scene where Carl saves Updyke’s life and then, in a poignant scene, tells him, “Hey, I know I always give you a hard time, but you’re a good guy.” My eyes are still moist from that.

Okay none of that happened, of course. But I can dream, can’t I? Sadly, the final chapter of Kolchak was probably the weakest episode of the series and definitely had the most laughable monster. No wonder they kept it in the dark for most of the show; it looked utterly ridiculous. I’m surprised the actor could keep that oversized crocodile head up without its weight tipping him over.

You can see trouble from the start with that overlong scene with Carl driving the little cart through a bunch of tunnels. It was like the episode had run short so they had to drag this out to pad it up. It didn’t get much better afterward.

Instead of the usual male cop thwarting his efforts, this one was decidedly female. She managed to charm all the other reporters away from the story (a little too much, actually), but Carl was immune to her attempts. She was about as nasty as any other cops to him – exposing his film and chasing him down as he attempted to do some undercover investigating at the archiving company. It’s one thing for cops to not want Kolchak messing around in an active crime scene, but to chase him down at this company was going overboard. Does she have nothing better to do? Still, having Carl twice compare her to the Nazis was overkill as well. The funniest part of their interplay was when she tried to wrap up their talk and leave and he asked if she was trying to get to the autopsy in time. She says yes, and then realizes she just gave herself away. Her frustrated reaction with his smile was just great.

Aside from having Kathie Browne as the cop Det. Irene Lamont (Mrs. Darren McGavin in real life), we had our one and only “special guest star” Tom Bosley as the executive at the archiving company. His funniest scene was when Kolchak was caught by Irene and he declared he knew Carl was suspicious and he was just giving him enough rope to hang himself. That’s the famous defense of the guy caught taking bribes and claiming he was investigating the people doing the bribing. Actually, two of the best characters were the ones billed in the closing credits – Frank Campanella as a frustrated foreman who wanted hazard pay for his workers and Cliff Norton as Arnie, the guy who smuggles Kolchak back into the archive facility in a crate. I loved his story of explaining how a parrot smuggling attempt went sideways while only giving a smattering of the details. It sounds like the whole thing would have made a funny sitcom story.

Albert Paulsen plays the German archeologist, Dr. James Verhyden, who found a nest of lizard eggs and was determined to keep the find secure because he didn’t want “Utah” to happen all over again. However, the Utah story was ridiculous. Supposedly, he found a rare stratum of rock and tried to ship it back to his institute only to have some clown change the address on the crates, ship it to himself and steal the credit. The whole idea is ludicrous – as if Verhyden wouldn’t have had photos or film footage of himself finding the rock, not to mention receipts for the shipping of the crate. For him, this incident was worse as it literally cost him his life. You know you’re in trouble when you’re alone with Carl and he says, “Did you hear that sound, like a …..” The minute he said that, I knew it was Minerva Musso all over again. Sure enough, the beast comes crashing through the wall and takes him out.

To make a long story short, the nest that Dr. Verhyden found was a nest of reptile eggs that the creature was trying to get back. Kolchak doesn’t destroy the monster this time, but instead returns its nest to it (minus one egg he pulled out earlier). The creature takes the nest and leaves. It was reminiscent of a famous STAR TREK episode “The Devil in the Dark” where a creature was attacking miners who were inadvertently wiping out its eggs with their drilling. That episode was a classic, but not this one.

I did like the scene where Kolchak posed as a Doctor Kolchakovsky in order to attend the autopsy of the electrician. As soon as he learns the cause of death, he announces he’s running off to hit a bucket of balls. Irene’s claim that she could charge him with impersonating a doctor is ridiculous. He didn’t try to dispense any medical advice or do any other doctor-related activities except observe an autopsy.

The layout of the mines was peculiar as well. The foreman told Carl that of course tunnel M came before tunnel R, as if M led into R eventually. But the tunnels were spread out singularly in corridors, not one leading to another. Further, Carl walked into tunnel M and saw the creature walking toward him. He ran back out, hopped into the cart, turned it around and then drove into tunnel O – only to see the creature in there as well. How did it get from one tunnel to the other? Do they have sideways tunnels connecting the tunnels? And did that slow-walking reptile walk faster than Carl’s cart?

The last image we have of Carl is him explaining that there might be more creatures like this hidden in other tunnels, like subways or stadium tunnels. As he walks down the corridor, he advises us that if we see a creature that looks like a reptile coming toward us in one of those tunnels, to run – not walk – to the nearest exit. Having reached the far end of the corridor he turns and high-tails it off to the side. Give the man credit – he does know how to make an exit. But the same can’t be said of the series. The best I can give this episode is 4 machine-gun wielding men, who couldn’t put even a dent in one oversized crocodile.

@brimfin said:

To make a long story short, the nest that Dr. Verhyden found was a nest of reptile eggs that the creature was trying to get back. Kolchak doesn’t destroy the monster this time, but instead returns its nest to it (minus one egg he pulled out earlier).

Actually, minus at least two. There's also the egg or three that the geologist broke to bits to study. Yet another similarity to...

It was reminiscent of a famous STAR TREK episode “The Devil in the Dark” where a creature was attacking miners who were inadvertently wiping out its eggs with their drilling. That episode was a classic, but not this one.

Yeah, if you hadn't posted that first, I was gonna start mine off with "What do you get when you cross a Horta with a Gorn?"

I did, however, get a good laugh when the police Lt. was using her seductive wiles on the reporters: "You don't want me to get busted back down to traffic, do you?" and while the other reporters were eating it up Carl was grinning and nodding. Hilarious!

All in all, this series went out not with a bang, but a whimper. 5 improvised torches.

@mad-pac said:

The best of all is that it reignited my passion for old photography techniques.

Yeah, that topic of yours got me thinking about my own past love of film photography. My digital camera just can't compare in ways I find hard to express. Next thing I know I googled "Kodak Brownie Hawkeye" like my mom's old camera that was the first one I ever used, Now counting two of those I have four film cameras, three of which are usable and one for which I can't get 126 cartridge film, but is the same model I grew up shooting. And a fifth on the way, the 35mm SLR I never had, used and on the cheap, not completely tested, from an Etsy vendor, so I hope it's fully functional when I get it.

In other words, it reignited my childhood passion for film photography in the hope I can do better with it now than I could as a kid.

I also remembered the couple of eps of this series I saw as a kid as better than I found the series now. 5 rolls of unavailable, long out of production 126 cartridge film.

Yep, everyone spotted it, it seems we all were going to mention The Devil In The Dark. That story was brilliantly written atmospheric and a bit scary, this was a joke. A pantomime crocodile, or as it's US A should not that be alligator?!

So Kolchak ends with a whimper, definitely squeezed all they could out of it, and gets 2/10 from me.

I didn't vote for this rubbish but I felt it important that I stick with it and not throw my toys out of the pram, ironic really because we've lost others from the group whose third or fourth preference votes got this show through ahead of a much more inventive show that got more"gold" votes. Yes it does annoy me because...( da da revelation time) Hawkman 47 goes into the phone booth divests himself of his costume and resumes once again as mild mannered Michaellevenson! (yawn)

Finally I hope the group continues but its doubtful I'll continue. You know there has never been a show covered that wasn't American audience made. Even UFO, British production but not aimed at British audience, the closest the sages got to a multi national targeted show was The Prisoner.

Anyway I'll see what transpires then decide if I'll take part. My humble suggestion is that one nomination of a show each, then just ONE vote. As in the French elections, any show with over 50% wins or the top two have a run off..simple.

And really finally, I saw our leader Madpac on facebook the other day, I don't have an account but got a friend to type in the name. Lovely vacation snaps I saw...but amazing, I had wondered what became of George Costanza !

It's the final episode do do do do, dum dum dum der.
So we open with Kolchak seemingly trying to escape the Delos complex from Westworld. I expected to see Yul Brynner stalking after him, if only this was the case.
Next we have an archeologist Dr Verhyden making a great discovery. A cluster of eggs.
This scene was pretty atmospheric but for the most part the gloomiest episode so far. All the important events, a quick look at the eggs, them being removed and the attack on Kimper were clearer.
The next attack was far more impressive, shooting the monster from below with only brief images before it smashes the light made it quite intimidating. A shame they could maintain this.
So we meet our police representative for this week Detective Lamont.

@brimfin wrote:
Aside from having Kathie Browne as the cop Det. Irene Lamont (Mrs. Darren McGavin in real life)

Good going Kolchak, were they together during this or did their eyes meet over an exposed film and it was love?
Kolchak does very well in his first meeting with Lamont. He clearly sees right through her and bounces her empty compliments right back at her.

@brimfin
The funniest part of their interplay was when she tried to wrap up their talk and leave and he asked if she was trying to get to the autopsy in time. She says yes, and then realizes she just gave herself away. Her frustrated reaction with his smile was just great.

Yeah I loved his little smile as he scurried away.

Kolchak does a great job sneaking right into the autopsy under everyone's nose. This time he is smart and stays just long enough to gain some juicy info about crocodile attack before slipping away.

He then travels to the Merrymount archive and meets Jack Flaherty played by Mr C himself. I like to think Richie and the Fonz are waiting at home for him.
For the final time we get Kolchak making up a company name, International Nickel Syndicate.
I always find these and Kolchak's fake names to be quite amusing. I wonder if he dreams them up on the car over or as it appears if he just makes them up on the spot. I guess by keeping the same initials he is less likely to make a mistake.
A very annoyed worker airs the company's dirty laundry in public, I think this would be grounds for discipline but it gives Kolchak more info about what is going on.
The tour reunites us with Dr Verhyden who is concerned about something and references Utah. Quite amusingly he happens to accuses Kolchak of not being who he says he is, but as it comes as part of a rant and general paranoia noone realises how close he is.
Kolchak again shows his awareness of when to withdraw when the telephone call comes that would have got him caught. He is getting better at this.
Kolchak tracks down the disgruntled worker and again takes on a new role to get the info he needs. He finds out about how Verhyden got his discovery stolen in Utah.

@brimfin wrote:
However, the Utah story was ridiculous. Supposedly, he found a rare stratum of rock and tried to ship it back to his institute only to have some clown change the address on the crates, ship it to himself and steal the credit. The whole idea is ludicrous – as if Verhyden wouldn’t have had photos or film footage of himself finding the rock, not to mention receipts for the shipping of the crate.

Yeah the story as told doesn't make much sense. I guess if Verhyden hadn't had chance to do much work on it then the other guy now possessing it would have all the time in the world.
Verhyden might not have known where his sample went till the other researcher published his examination, and unfortunately he who publishes first, gets the credit.

Kolchak has his first meeting with the creature. The corridors do look very impressive, lit from only the ends, and initially this black shape stalking towards him looks good. It does appear halfway down the tunnel which I suppose means it broke in.
Kolchak then attempts a 3 point turn. I had to laugh as this just reminded me of Austin Powers

@brimfin wrote:
He ran back out, hopped into the cart, turned it around and then drove into tunnel O – only to see the creature in there as well. How did it get from one tunnel to the other? Do they have sideways tunnels connecting the tunnels? And did that slow-walking reptile walk faster than Carl’s cart?

I guess this is it breaking between tunnels to create shortcuts.
The first good look at the creature is not very effective. It doesn't look very convincing even in this brief view.

@mad-pac wrote:
So... we end with a monster that looks somewhat like this, or perhaps like this... Scary, isn't it?

I think I would have found the second one more scary to be honest. Heh I love that picture.

Back in the office, it seems Tony's diet didn't last between episodes. I do like the references to bicarbonate so at least Tony's ulcer story continues. I think that might be the only series arc we had.
It seems Tony is not immune to Lamont's charms and wants Kolchak to drop the case, but Carl stays on it.
A shame really as this was the last office scene that there was no Updyke and no Ms Emily. I don't know if they knew at the time the series wouldn't be returning but it's the end of the season.

Kolchak gets himself packed into a crate to access Merrymount again. He's also got himself the big book or reptiles for reading.
The guy assisting putting Kolchak in the box looks familiar but they don't say his name.
I thought it was a bit easy to get past reception. It's a bit like the old bank robbery routine, laundry delivery.
Surely the receptionist should have a record of expected parcels. Then the box is left abandoned in a corridor, again convenient for Kolchak.

Kolchak then meets Verhyden, a man burning with impotent rage throughout the scene. Kolchak's technique this time is just to agree he should leave and then not leave, but continue with questioning. You can practically see Verhyden's blood pressure rise.

Then the monster arrives and oh dear. The carnage it unleashes and the destruction is impressive but it just looks so terrible it sucks anything from the scene. It does turn out that some of these workers are military which is interesting.

Back with Detective Lamont, Kolchak is being forced to expose himself again. He does seem pleased with himself when Lamont reveals her more steely edge.
I did think she was going to let Kolchak know how difficult it would be to rise in the police force as a woman but she doesn't go for this.
Instead Kolchak is left to the cigar chewing worker from earlier who he correctly guesses is an officer Colonel Brody.

Before we learn much more, the lights go out and it's time for another monster attack. This one is more effective as the creature never actually enter the room. The destruction of the wall was impressive.

Kolchak uses the opportunity to escape and runs into the worker from earlier, fleeing the complex. He reveals Verhyden is dead, which I must admit I missed in the lab attack. Kolchak explores a storage room, to find the eggs Verhyden found.
Kolchak hears the monsters approach and after improvising a torch takes off with the egg on the golf cart.
Even by torch light the monster looks crap, once it has knocked away the light it then takes it's eggs and leaves.

We then watch as Kolchak leaves the office for the last time and our time with the INS crew is at an end.

I did have some questions that maybe others will answer:
Was the reveal that some of the workers were military supposed to be a big one?
It lingers on the dog tags after the lab attack and Colonel Brody is wearing a "water" uniform so it appears they were there covertly but what where they up to.
It was already establish the government or the miltary kept records there so why were they disguised.

So not the great ending to the series, let down massively by a rubbish monster. I shall miss the INS gang.
5 point turn required to turn a golf cart out of 10

@HawkMan47 said:

Yes it does annoy me because...( da da revelation time) Hawkman 47 goes into the phone booth divests himself of his costume and resumes once again as mild mannered Michaellevenson! (yawn)

So the plot thickens and we have a final twist! Look who's coming out of that phone booth Hawkman just got in? Now, rereading your posts, I should've suspected, but then you were wearing glasses and a different hairstyle. Just one question remains. Why the charade?

I didn't vote for this rubbish but I felt it important that I stick with it and not throw my toys out of the pram, ironic really because we've lost others from the group whose third or fourth preference votes got this show through ahead of a much more inventive show that got more"gold" votes.

Hmmm. Things are not that simple. Well, if you're talking about Twin Peaks (2 golds), I should agree with you. If you're referring to Star Cops (2 golds also), don't worry, it didn't really have a chance in the end, because its supporters had already propelled it as high as it could be, and the swing vote was mine, actually, and I was in doubt between Peaks and Kolchak, removed my support to Twin Peaks, it sank, and Kolchak: TNS won with 1 gold and two silvers. And I would've given it a gold if that's what it took, but that was not necessary. Had I known this could be our last show altogether, and for sure the last on IMDB, then I'd surely have voted for Twin Peaks.

Also, what we could have done and perhaps should have done was vote for the chosen show all over again once we'd realized others had given up. Anyway, no use crying over spilled milk, right?

Finally I hope the group continues but its doubtful I'll continue. You know there has never been a show covered that wasn't American audience made. Even UFO, British production but not aimed at British audience, the closest the sages got to a multi national targeted show was The Prisoner.

There are no shows targeted at Brazilian audiences, by the way, yet, that doesn't seem to bother me.

Anyway I'll see what transpires then decide if I'll take part. My humble suggestion is that one nomination of a show each, then just ONE vote. As in the French elections, any show with over 50% wins or the top two have a run off..simple.

Would the results be that different? In the present system, I vote for shows as my fourth or fifth choice. (I personally find it interesting that we have to go out of our comfort zone and consider, even in a small degree, the nominations made by others.) If we had just one vote, sure we'd all vote for the show we like best (yay, comfort zone!) and forget the others, but then surely it would be very unlikely any show would reach 51% in the first round. Then we'd have to vote again and again, and if I had to choose between a show that would normally reach from 3rd to 5th place in the present system and a show that would never, ever be on my list at all, the #5 choice would suddenly turn into my #1 choice just like that.

And really finally, I saw our leader Madpac on facebook the other day, I don't have an account but got a friend to type in the name. Lovely vacation snaps I saw...but amazing, I had wondered what became of George Costanza !

Ha, ha... I do have more hair, though...

@brimfin said:

Wow, what a finale! Kolchak gets a story published and wins the Pulitzer Prize for it. He’s rewarded with a job on a top national newspaper. And we finally get to see what his house looks like (surprising sophisticated, too). And how about that scene where Carl saves Updyke’s life and then, in a poignant scene, tells him, “Hey, I know I always give you a hard time, but you’re a good guy.” My eyes are still moist from that.

Ha, ha! That was the best comment of all! Perfect ending! Yeah, imagine if they had done something like that.

@BobPeters61 said:

@mad-pac said:

The best of all is that it reignited my passion for old photography techniques.

Yeah, that topic of yours got me thinking about my own past love of film photography. My digital camera just can't compare in ways I find hard to express. Next thing I know I googled "Kodak Brownie Hawkeye" like my mom's old camera that was the first one I ever used, Now counting two of those I have four film cameras, three of which are usable and one for which I can't get 126 cartridge film, but is the same model I grew up shooting. And a fifth on the way, the 35mm SLR I never had, used and on the cheap, not completely tested, from an Etsy vendor, so I hope it's fully functional when I get it.

In other words, it reignited my childhood passion for film photography in the hope I can do better with it now than I could as a kid.

Well, as for me, I still have a 1996 Vivitar PS650DB. I had a 1986 PS35, which I loved using, but my mother lost it and got me the other one to replace it. I checked it again today, trying to think of a reason to spend money on batteries, film and development. It would be nice to test my old camera again, though.

@mad-pac said:

Well, as for me, I still have a 1996 Vivitar PS650DB. I had a 1986 PS35, which I loved using, but my mother lost it and got me the other one to replace it. I checked it again today, trying to think of a reason to spend money on batteries, film and development. It would be nice to test my old camera again, though.

Yeah, for me it was a couple of the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash model that my mom had stashed away in the back of a junk closet until I dug it out and started using it. Then the Hawkeye Instamatic II she gave me when she took back her camera and put it back into disuse. A model that isn't even suitable for the annoyingly chiche 35mm sprocket hole hack some lomography geeks do with 126 instamatics, due to a difference in how it resets the shutter. Then a Holga, and finally a Chinon SLR, which is a model of the 35mm SLRs I wanted but couldn't buy in my youth.

Based on the product description and the other stuff the seller has to offer, I'm hoping for a fully functional camera and will probably get a roll of mystery film, which is likely to be ruined by the camera back having been opened with the used portion of the film rolled up on the takeup reel and I'm guessing the seller not knowing how to roll back and unload the film from such a camera. I guess Monday when I get the package I'll know if I'm guessing right.

I've never been part of one of the votes. From reading through @mad-pac and @HawkMan47 post and from what I saw at the end of UFO I have a little idea.
I like the idea of a show, I might not watch otherwise, popping up. I would like to re-watch some shows with you guys and read your views.
I also like the idea of finding a hidden gem.
I don't know what you thought of Daybreak when you watched it (I'd didn't read all the posts) but I picked it at random (well because I love time travel concepts) and loved it.
It was also where I found the Sages trail.

I can also see @HawkMan47's point. I did feel bad reading your posts as it was clear this series wasn't for you.
At 20 episodes, that's nearly half a year of pain. I applaud you for sticking with it and making it through to the end.
I can imagine it would be especially annoying if others who chose this drifted away.

I've enjoyed the last 20 weeks. I'd never heard of Kolchak so I went in pretty blind.
The show was enjoyable but I don't think I will ever watch it again. I can imagine for another generation it might have been their X-Files.

20 episodes was probably the right limit, I think that is probably a reason the group chooses single season shows as I don't know how I would cope with Kolchak Season 2, at least back to back. (I want to see how Kolchak screws up his new job and how he pushes his Pulitzer in everyones face

I hope the group continues. I can see how with the much reduced traffic that attracting new members may be difficult.
I don't know what everyone thinks about posting on multiple boards, I did it briefly when the old boards were still active and apart from the formatting it wasn't too much hassle.
I don't know how much tmdb will grow as most traffic will still go to imdb. At least we will have left the Kolchak board looking more healthy than when we arrived.

Cloister 56- thanks for support. Yes it was unfortunate that voters for Kolchak drifted away, but as madpac said no use crying now. I see you're a regular on Dr Who board and therefore I assume you know all about Chris Boucher and his writing skills, Robots of Death was one of his of course.

The show I nominated last time was Boucher's nine episode Star Cops, a BBC production that actually had massive input from NASA, Pete Conrad, third person on the moon, even got involved, so if this group continues I'll give it another shot.

I see you opened a thread on last night's Dr Who story, the premise seems intriguing, but for this season I've decided to wait until the DVD box set comes out and watch the series at my leisure. Sorry to hear this is Capaldi's last season, he is the best thing about the show by far and has been ill served by Moffat in my opinion.

@HawkMan47 couldn't agree more about Capaldi and Moffat.
I wish there had been a complete change at the end of last series.
Having said that there has been a great episode this series so far and it has just started a mini arc. Interested to see what you think when you watch it in closer succession.
I hadn't heard of Star Cops but I know the quality of Boucher's work.

@mad-pac said:

Robert Englund ... Willie

Tim Minear ... voice of Karma Chameleon [uncredited]

DIRECTED BY

Peter Dang

Ok, Robert Englund played a lizard character in "V", but Craig R. Baxley actually played the lizard-like creature in this episode.

Tim Minear was a guest on WONDERFALLS, a previous Sages series. Alas, that was before my time with the group. I watched what was aired of the original series but it was pulled before it completed all its episodes.

Seymour Robbie was the actual director of this episode. I can't find a Peter Dang listed on IMDB. A fictional character perhaps? Please fill us in, mad-pac.

@brimfin said:

@mad-pac said:

Robert Englund ... Willie

Tim Minear ... voice of Karma Chameleon [uncredited]

DIRECTED BY

Peter Dang

Ok, Robert Englund played a lizard character in "V", but Craig R. Baxley actually played the lizard-like creature in this episode.

Tim Minear was a guest on WONDERFALLS, a previous Sages series. Alas, that was before my time with the group. I watched what was aired of the original series but it was pulled before it completed all its episodes.

Seymour Robbie was the actual director of this episode. I can't find a Peter Dang listed on IMDB. A fictional character perhaps? Please fill us in, mad-pac.

Oh, you must have missed it! Peter Dang has only one directing credit in his name, but that was enough to make him a legend, since his masterpiece became an instant classic: Lizard Man - 2012.

And Tim Minear does, in Wonderfalls, (again, the only credit, this time as an actor) the voice of a plush chameleon which, I checked, qualifies as a lizard, and that's our past shows connection of the week.

@mad-pac said:

I think I've figured out why Kolchak never got to report a single line about his supernatural exploits: he focused too much on stopping the monster, instead of just reporting the news. Had he been more of a reporter, and less of a hero, OK, a lot of people would've died, but come on, the public has the right to know! So, in hindsight, I'd say he should've dedicated his energies to be a good reporting without interfering so much in the chain of events.

Back when I had my website where I was completing the series BRIMSTONE, I was trying to do some episodes referenced in the original series' plans. One was called "Deadline," saying that a reporter sees Stone send back a damned soul and then follows the events in reverse order. I couldn't come up with anything at all for that, until my good friend Laurel Stewart suggested that since it was a reporter, why not make it Carl Kolchak? Thanks to that brilliant suggestion, I wrote the story of Kolchak seeing Stone send back a Hell escapee and following the story in reverse. Once he has all the facts late in the story, he agrees not to publish it until Stone has completed his task (by then, he was down to just over 30 souls to send back.) However, a clue left by the damned soul that he uncovers in his investigation leads Carl to a victim who had been presumed dead but was in fact abandoned in a deep well. The final scene has Carl taking her grieving widower to a hospital room, where he finds that she is alive and well. Since I did the story in 1999, Simon Oakland was long dead. So I said that Vincenzo in his will had asked that some of Kolchak's stories be published. As a result, some people were commenting on his crazy stories during the episode, not sure of what to make of them. After reuniting the victim with her husband, Carl had the following voiceover at the end:

"And so this case that began with a nameless detective accidentally knocking a verminous piece of filth named Otto Crats into a meat grinder comes to an end with a happy reunion. So too does this column. My happy ending, besides the safe return of Shirley Marley, is that I've come to realize how blessed I've been in my life. I've done what I enjoyed doing the most for many years. No, I've never won a Pulitzer. I'm not rich and I'm not a household name, and even those who do know me think I'm some kind of nut. But I've come to realize that, years ago, I made a decision - I could either simply report the news or take a part in it. And I chose the latter. Maybe if I'd gone after a vampire with a camera first instead of a stake, I might have taken a picture that would have won me scads of awards. But I could never have forgiven myself if that vampire had taken the life of a Shirley Marley, or a Vince or an Anne or a Herb or a Renee - all people who make this world a better place to live in. This is my last column for this paper, but I'll still be around, searching out the truth. And if my only legacy is helping to save Shirley Marley or anyone else, well then I wear that proudly. And I can die a happy man."

So, though what you say makes sense from a reporter point of view, I found myself feeling just the opposite which is why I concluded the episode that way - that, and the fact that Kolchak was much older at that stage and I thought that it would make a nice finale for him.