Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Legacy Of Terror

February 14, 1975 Season 1 Episode 17

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

In this one, Carl Kolchak investigates the brutal, unsolved murders of healthy people whose hearts were removed. It seems that an Aztec cult is offering them as sacrifices for their mummified warrior chief. It’s needed every 52 years in a ten-cycle pattern; this being the ninth, and the fifth and final offering must be a willing one. Pepe Torres seems to be that man, though if Carl has any say in the matter, he may make him change his mind…

Though not tightly plotted, this is still an interesting episode that makes use of its millennium theme and 52-year cycles – we’ll have to watch out for the year 2027! This had some gruesome things in it, especially for network television at the time. If this were on today, it would be an HBO series, I’m sure. 

In this episode, we have toothy Erik Estrada (playing Pepe Torres) before his fame in CHiPs. Three lovely ladies, Vicky (Sondra Currie), Nina (Merrie Lynn Ross), and Lona (Dorrie Thomson), who is at Pepe Torre’s beck and call, but the story drops the ball by mostly ignoring them, with only Currie getting much screen time. We also have Sorrell Booke, a wonderful character actor made famous by The Dukes of Hazzard and many other shows he was in. 

I must say this. One thing I didn’t understand here. Tony Vincenzo is attending a journalist’s convention and has invited Carl Kolchak along. Kolchak hears of a homicide over his police radio and abruptly leaves. I can’t believe that any editor or company, for that matter, would try to prevent a reporter from going to the scene of a crime. But to give it some credit, it’s not a secret that Kolchak doesn’t exactly listen to Tony anyway, so there would be some frustration on Tony’s part. 

You know, it would have been cool if Simon Oakland could have been written to help Kolchak a little more. In fact, Oakland said, “I wish he would, then I could get away from the office, but the scripts have been running this way. They want more of me in the office, but we’ve found we’re competing with the other networks for action, so it’s been all Darren’s (McGavin) show. I suppose I could help him, but…”

“Well, I’m supposed to keep the office scenes alive because they can go dead. I’ve got to bring some organic life into them, and I’m really trying to bring a feeling to it…I wish I had a little more to do in the show. I don’t like it, but I don’t mind.”

Fun Note…Simon Oakland and Darren McGavin got along well both on and off set. They were both featured in a Gunsmoke episode called “The Hostage” in 1965. 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

24 thoughts on “Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Legacy Of Terror”

  1. Pingback: Kolchak: The Night Stalker – Legacy Of Terror – MobsterTiger

  4. I watched this one last night and thought it was good. That silhouette above is chilling to me. The special effects were good in it and I liked the pacing. I thought they were a little skimpy on the victims, who felt more like snapshot props. I liked the woman who worked for the hotel that Kolchak talked with and who let him off easy after he stole a uniform and the meal. Erik Estrada was good in this but you’re right they used the 3 babes as props as well. The ending was scary and I thought the mummy was going to chop Kolchak.

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    1. SPOILERS FOR ANYONE READING!
      I had to have that silhouette…it looks so creepy. This one completely surprised me with the ending. I didn’t think Pepe Torres would survive.
      That lady was Pippa Scott…I should have mentioned her…I see her a lot in 70s television. I also watched the Gunsmoke episode where McGavin and Oakland was in…that was fun…

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      1. I didn’t think Pepe would survive either! I like Oakland the way he is in the series. He and the young dude and the old lady are great anchors/grounders. What I wonder is why they keep changing the police and detectives all of the time. I understand the crimes happen in different parts of the city, but I don’t like how they keep changing them with every episode, or you might see them once or twice more but not more than that.

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      2. I was going to mention about the police chiefs! I’m glad you brought it up. The only reason I would think is to get a new guest star every week…that guy they had on this episode…he has hundreds of character roles…but it would have been nice getting only one.

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  5. Seems you’ve been snowed in/snowed under. The South just ain’t set up for more than a light frost, or so it seems to me living all these miles away. You have my sympathy Max, though that is/was probably cold comfort!

    I’ll watch this ‘un tonight. The fun in some of these old shows IS seeing a future Ponch or an old character actor whose presence has added a bit of interest to a ton of film or TV roles. As for the rotating roster of cops I agree, the studios must have had a fair few sub-Fred McMurray types who still needed to earn their pay cheques. In those days you couldn’t live off the residuals of ‘My Three Sons’ forever, or not at least until Nostalgia TV came along.

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    1. Yes I have been obbverse…and I’ll tell you…2 days of seeing your breath in your house…I turned old over night…I still am not warm enough (usually I like it cooler not warmer….but not now)! I’ll catch up with your site this weekend!

      Yes…I do think it was for more guest stars per episode. It worked but Chicago was hard on police chiefs on that show.

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      1. I don’t envy you, I loath the cold. Yes, I love Scotland but could only live there for four, five months of the year. I bet you and your neighbours must be wondering if it was more than a cold spell and/or Hell was freezing over?🙄

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      2. Yes! Basically! We get some snow every year but that freezing rain and sleet…that is hard to prepare for. We get one of these every once in a while but this one was really bad.
        We did stay with the neighbor one night…he had gas heat…I felt I was thawing out. It took our house 20 hours to get back in the 60s again because it got down to 0 the night the power came back on.
        Some people who live in Davidson County where Nashville is…still doesn’t have power…so all in all…we were lucky.

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