06.30 It Takes A Thief
11.00 The Avengers
01.00 Kolchak: The Night Stalker
It Takes A Thief. Episode 5. "One Illegal Angel" Very good. Nothing flashy this time. It's a simple tale, well told. Al steals a painting to sell it to The Bad Guy. He then has to swap the real painting with a fake (which contains a bug placed there by the Good Guys). The first half of the episode is devoted to Al's relationship with the women checking the authenticity of the painting. Katherine Woodville is great. Very classy and sexy. The second half is all about Al doing his thing: breaking and entering. And (for the first time in the series) rescuing The Girl.
The Avengers. Episode 135. "Look- (stop me if you've heard this one) But There Were These Two Fellers..." Pure Avengers. This is as good as it gets, baby. I would/could never tire of watching this masterpiece. Why is it so good?
The killers are two clowns! The find ingenious ways to commit the murders and then dance out of camera shot to a very jaunty tune. Clowns! On a murderous rampage (and there are lots and lots of murders in this one) while in full clown make-up! It's genius. And they totally manage to make it work. Plus, as I said, the killings are cool. My favourite? The killers unspool a long red carpet, wait for their victim to walk upon it and they pull it from under him (sending him falling through a nearby open window to his demise far below!). Where else would you see that?
Linda Thorson is beautiful beyond belief in each and every shot. She wears a succession of fantastic outfits and is both funny and charming in scene after scene. Her prolonged scene of awkwardness with the man she is protecting is a classic. And her outfit for the final (funny scene) is simply breath-taking. I gasp when she walks into shot.
The mastermind behind the plot gives his orders using Punch And Judy puppets. What more needs to be said about that?
The guest stars are fantastic. Jimmy Jewel is one of the killers. That's pretty cool. But the whole episode is stolen by John Cleese and Bernard Cribbins as two of the murder victims. Cribbins turn as joke writer (firing joke after joke at Steed) must be one of the best guest shots ever in the series history.
The comedy is way, way Over The Top. It reaches it's zenith in the final minutes with a succession of costume changes during a fight scene. Everything from a cowboy to an Indian is included. Completely absurd. Even Steed gets in on the trick for the hilarious final seconds.
Such a delight. A true classic.
Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Episode 6. "Firefall" The series puts a bold step into uncharted territory. Everyone has heard of Jack The Ripper, vampires, zombies, UFOs and werewolves, the foes that Carl faced in his first five episodes. But from here on in the show has to get a bit more creative, and is - in my opinion - all the better for it. These episodes, more than any others, are the ones that can seen as templates for shows like The X-Files and Supernatural.
So how does it measure up to the expected Kolchak formula?
The Bad Guy. This time out the baddie is a ghost, a doppelganger spirit that can burn you alive if you fall asleep and ultimately wants to take your place. It's totally goofy, but it's highly creative and lots of fun to watch. Since the evil he faces isn't as easy to define as in earlier stories, Kolchak takes a while to (logically) figure out what it is. So much the better for the show. Our hero investigates several real-world options before accepting that this is a supernatural force. He seems much less like a nut, and very much like a clever reporter.
The Authority Figure. After two great ones (the LA Cop and the Ship's Captain) we are back to having a bland forgettable police Sgt. He's no real match for Kolchak and, since this is an episode without a conspiracy, he is matter less to the story.
The Conspiracy. There isn't one this time. There's no indication that the cops know what is happening. Kolchak does end up arrested at the very end, but it's not part of a cover-up this time.
The Experts. Kolchak often enlists Ordinary People as Experts in his quests. This time out there are two. David Doyle and Madlyn Rhue are two of the best. He plays a flame/fire expert and she plays a fake psychic who actually knows a lot of this stuff and is, in fact, the character to tells the viewer what is happening.
The Regular Cast. Not much comedy from the regulars this time out. Simon Oakland is good as always, but the script gives his very little to do (that is funny or interesting) and it totally ignored the others.
The FX. The effects don't match the script and kinda ruin the early scenes. The Ryder Bond doppelganger is too transparent. We can barely see him. Yet witnesses claim the saw the man clearly. It would have made much more sense to have skipped the effects altogether and just have Fred Beir walk in and out of shot quickly. That's always bugged me about this episode.
The Scare Factor. Off the chart!! The scenes in the church are classic. The music and sound effects are beyond superb and Fred Beir is totally creepy leaning in the various windows.
The Logic. This one skips a beat here and there. The witnesses claiming to have seen Ryder Bond when (thanks to goofy effects) he can barely be made out on-screen is one great big logic flaw for me. Also, if the doppelganger can only kill sleeping people, how come he is able to kill one guy who is driving a car. Did he dose off? What the heck happened?
Flaws aside, I still think of this as a damn-near perfect episode of KTNS. Grade: A
Highlight? The Avengers (pure avengers)
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Fri, Nov 28, 08 - It Takes A Thief, Avengers, Kolchak
