@brimfin said:

@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.

That's brilliant, and an apt tribute to both shows. Did you upload the complete story to your Brimstone website?

[@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)

I was wondering about that. I was doing my "By the number" statistics last night and had noticed that JohnQ, Lorkis, and Michaellevenson all disappeared just when HawkMan47 showed up, and wondered if you could have been one of them. That answers my question.

[@cloister56 said]

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.

Yes. In fact, before we came they were missing episode 11. I added a title, description and even a photo for it.

[@BobPeters61 said]

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.

Oh, my goodness, what memories. I started with a 127 camera where I had to spool the film and turn it manually to the next number after each picture. I have a few old B&W photos from that. I then moved up to a 126 camera with the easy drop-in cartridge film. Eventually, my wife got me a 35mm camera one birthday. Now, I'm all digital. It's difficult to find film anymore, and even getting the last few reels developed took some searching to find out who still developed it.

As for the series as a whole, I enjoyed watching it again. I'm glad to see some episodes still held up well, although I was reminded of what a jerk Kolchak could be at times. I'm glad I bought those DVDs some years back.

I hope the Sages can continue, especially now that we have a name. We seemed to be lost when IMDB closed, but we managed to set up shop here rather quickly and efficiently. No matter what happens, at least we pursued this series to the end.

@mad-pac said:

@brimfin said:

@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.

That's brilliant, and an apt tribute to both shows. Did you upload the complete story to your Brimstone website?

I did upload the complete story (more of a synopsis than a story) but unfortunately the free website my cable company used to provide was taken away some years back. I had a lot of neat stuff there. I keep promising myself I will get another one someday. This is just one more reason to do so.