Favourite Episode

[Guest ZeusFaber]

Please give your reasons too.

[4th Horseman]

Please give your reasons too.

ZF...for me at least it was "Burning Man"....my main reason is that an ordinary hard working man became so obsessed with who he was chasing that he actually assumed the role of the criminal...sort of "criminal by proxy".....

what did Kolchak say -

"Pinero spent 10 years trying to catch a monster, i think the monster finally caught HIM"...

i thought Kolchak had developed a nice repoire with Pinero and was truely grieved by his death at the end of the episode...

by far my favorite

4th Horseman...

[Guest ZeusFaber]

That's interesting, because "Burning Man" is probably one of my least favourites. I just found the story to be a bit of an old one, often told before on both The X-Files and Millennium, and of course other shows too. That's not necessarily an immediate reason to mark it down, but I just felt that it didn't really bring anything new to the table in exploring and old kind of story.

I'm still not sure which is my favourite. I'm perhaps torn between "Malum", "The Sea", and "Timeless".

[4th Horseman]

That's interesting, because "Burning Man" is probably one of my least favourites. I just found the story to be a bit of an old one, often told before on both The X-Files and Millennium, and of course other shows too. That's not necessarily an immediate reason to mark it down, but I just felt that it didn't really bring anything new to the table in exploring and old kind of story.

I'm still not sure which is my favourite. I'm perhaps torn between "Malum", "The Sea", and "Timeless".

different strokes for different folks, i guess would be the order of the day. I know the idea was a rehash, but for some reason it just seems to work for me..You bring up some interesting episodes by the way..

The Sea - again, we are on opposite, yet respectful sides. I found the idea of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse posing as 4 Hell's Angel's castoffs to be a bit of a stretch. I guess metaphorically it works, but i thought it cheapened the storyline a bit, 4 guys riding around Los Angeles with their weapons holstered to their bikes, ala the wild west...

Timeless - this premise has also been redone many a time, similar to "Burning Man". Eternal youth, and the means to achieve it have been the centerstage for many a movie....

Malum - I agree with you here. The reason i watched this origionally was because of Paul Dillon. It did have somewhat of a surprisingly, yet predictable plot, but somehow it worked...again, this central issue has been rehashed many times as well, but i found Malum to be a very enjoyable episode...

4th Horseman...

[Blackoil]

It's a relly difficult question for me. :) You know, there are JUST 10 episodes and I like them all. I guess I would vote for "The M Word" but this episode wasn't filmed. As I said before, it's one the best scripts Darin Morgan ever wrote, and we can only imagine how good that story could be.

I like all Frank Spotnitz's episodes, I like "The Five People..." and "Malum," (such a twisted story!) and I love "What's The Frequency, Kolchak?" It's one the best Vince Gilligan's scripts, too. I think my least favorite episode is Burning Man.

Oh, I don't know... :) It's so hard to choose just one. Well, I'm gonna give my vote to "The Sea" but still... I'm not sure! :) I liked the concept about the bikers a-la the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, there was fantastic chemistry and intercation between Kolchak and Reed, and Stuart Townsend did a great job!

[Guest ZeusFaber]

different strokes for different folks, i guess would be the order of the day.

Oh absolutely, especially in light of...

The Sea - again, we are on opposite, yet respectful sides. I found the idea of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse posing as 4 Hell's Angel's castoffs to be a bit of a stretch. I guess metaphorically it works, but i thought it cheapened the storyline a bit, 4 guys riding around Los Angeles with their weapons holstered to their bikes, ala the wild west...

You see, I really liked this metaphor. I guess it was because it wasn't hammered over the head, and I expect there is a large percentage of the casual audience that would have missed this entirely. While their triggure-happy methods may not be subtle, their identities very much were, which is why I enjoyed it. Also, it elevated the show into grander territory (just like "Gehenna" did for Millennium bringing in a metaphorical devil character) in this case bringing in the metaphorical Four Horsemen.

Timeless - this premise has also been redone many a time, similar to "Burning Man". Eternal youth, and the means to achieve it have been the centerstage for many a movie....

Agreed, it has been done before just as much as the premise of "Burning Man" has. It's essentially another "vampire" story, in the broadest sense, but in this case I think it kind of worked and was a fresh enough take on it. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for anything with Mira Furlan in...

Malum - I agree with you here. The reason i watched this origionally was because of Paul Dillon. It did have somewhat of a surprisingly, yet predictable plot, but somehow it worked...again, this central issue has been rehashed many times as well, but i found Malum to be a very enjoyable episode...

Agreed on this one. I don't think I saw the overall outcome coming either, that it was the boy who was the evil. Paul Dillon put in another good performance, as so did that "evil" boy, Zachary Winard I believe.

[Guest ZeusFaber]

I guess I would vote for "The M Word" but this episode wasn't filmed. As I said before, it's one the best scripts Darin Morgan ever wrote, and we can only imagine how good that story could be.

I liked his script too, his usual comic genius, but I'm not sure I would go so far as to call it his best. Very clever of course, but I think a couple of the scenes were retreating part of the ground he covered in "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" (the shaving scene for example is identicle). Still great though, and I would have loved to see it performed -- I particularly like the running gag of the sketch composite ("ignore that part!").

I like "The Five People..." and "Malum," (such a twisted story!) and I love "What's The Frequency, Kolchak?" It's one the best Vince Gilligan's scripts, too.

"The Five People You Meet in Hell" was certainly a good one, well directed by Rob Bowman, and Thomas Schnauz most certainly improved on his (woeful) efforts on The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen.

I think the concept for "What's the Frequency, Kolchak?" was fantastic too, great refference in the title, although I do think the ending is a little muddled, preventing this one from becoming a true stand-out amongst Vince Gilligan's work.

[4th Horseman]

"The Five People You Meet in Hell" was certainly a good one, well directed by Rob Bowman, and Thomas Schnauz most certainly improved on his (woeful) efforts on The X-Files and The Lone Gunmen.

I think the concept for "What's the Frequency, Kolchak?" was fantastic too, great refference in the title, although I do think the ending is a little muddled, preventing this one from becoming a true stand-out amongst Vince Gilligan's work.

ZF - i think the biggest mistake i made when this series came out was i tried somehow to tie it to the origional series with Darrin McGavin...it took a while to see that the newer series was so much darker than the origional, and lacked the humor (on a consistent basis) that the origional series brought...I loved the banter between Darrin and Simon Oakland, never tiring of their witty and slapstick interaction. I most certainly DID NOT like the continuation of the Tony Vincenzo character in the person of Cotter Smith...it is hard, once one has a concrete "emotional" attachment to a certain character to veer off and accept a whole new direction....plus, there was very little, if any humerous interaction between Stewart and Cotter, which made it feel hollow...there may be two Kolchaks, but to me there will ALWAYS ONLY BE ONE VINCENZO...and that is Simon Oakland...

anyway, with that being said, lets discuss "Whats the Frequency, Kolchak?". I thought this episode brought it all together for Stewart, in particular his emotional scene with Perry at the end, where he is clearly shaken by seeing her "die" - I also liked the growing attraction between Kolchak and Perry, and wonder what would have happened had he been able to go to her birthday party.. (LOL)...man, she is breathtakingly beautiful....

I am still somewhat mystified by the concept of the "Old Man" who supposedly resides in the room at the end of the hallway...is there really something there? or is it a figment of Paul's imagination? There are scenes which seem to validate both, but there is most certainly something strange going on because of the resurrection of Perry at the end of the hallway and the expression on the face of the first victim who clearly seems "something"...that and the thermographic camera which seems to startle and confuse Kolchak when it reveals some form of "heat" behind the door...organic?

I have viewed a few discussion threads about this episode and it seems that most people believe that there is some kind of entity, but what it is, no one seems to have a clue...

also, at the end, Kolchak says something like "He found his answer, but it didn't come from me"....then, where did it come from?

4th Horseman...

[Guest ZeusFaber]

i think the biggest mistake i made when this series came out was i tried somehow to tie it to the origional series with Darrin McGavin...it took a while to see that the newer series was so much darker than the origional, and lacked the humor (on a consistent basis) that the origional series brought...

Well, I think I was in a fortunate position really of not having seen the original series, and thus went in with no such expectations or comparisons. It's simmilar to how I viewed the re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica -- in that case I had actually seen a fair bit of the original, as well as the woeful Galactica: 1980 but I didn't feel a strong allegiance to it, and thus embraced all the changes and updates wholeheartedly.

I think, when it comes to remakes or re-imaginings, it's always best not to reach for comparisons, and to judge each show on its own separate merits, however hard that may or may not be.

Not that it will change how you feel in any way, but it might be worth noting something which Frank Spotnitz pointed out in his audio commentary for "The Sea", that his show was in fact a re-imagining of the TV Movies, and not the weekly series, since Touchstone didn't actually have the rights to that, only The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler as separate properties.

anyway, with that being said, lets discuss "Whats the Frequency, Kolchak?". I thought this episode brought it all together for Stewart, in particular his emotional scene with Perry at the end, where he is clearly shaken by seeing her "die" - I also liked the growing attraction between Kolchak and Perry

I agree that Stuart pulled off some strong acting in this episode as he grew into the character, and also that his relationship with Perri could have headed in interesting places. Eric Jungmann also does well, as always, to play the different sides to his character.

I am still somewhat mystified by the concept of the "Old Man" who supposedly resides in the room at the end of the hallway...is there really something there? or is it a figment of Paul's imagination? There are scenes which seem to validate both, but there is most certainly something strange going on because of the resurrection of Perry at the end of the hallway and the expression on the face of the first victim who clearly seems "something"

I remember being quite confused and having alot of questions after this episode. I have only watched it once (so far) though, and as such can't quite articulate the issues as well as I might have with it fresh in my mind. However, I share your confusion about the nature of the Old Man -- was there ever anything there or was it all in their heads? The ending seems to imply that it was all in the mind, but something clearly killed the victims, and how was the main antagonist supposed to die at the end?

I don't think Perri was supposed to be "resurrected" per se, at the end though. My interpretation of that was that Perri was never really physically there at that point, that her arrival and execution were all in the mind, and thus the "real" Perri is able to show up at the end after the action is over.

Still, it's quite confusing. I suspect I will be able to understand it far better after watching it a second time, and indeed upon subsequent viewings. I remember this being the case with more than one episode of Millennium, and that's really a testament to the complexity of these shows. However, at present, I do feel that the muddled nature of the ending to "What's the Frequency, Kolchak?" prevents it from being amongst the Vince Gilligan classics such as The X-Files' "Pusher", or "Paper Hearts", or "Bad Blood".

[4th Horseman]

I don't think Perri was supposed to be "resurrected" per se, at the end though. My interpretation of that was that Perri was never really physically there at that point, that her arrival and execution were all in the mind, and thus the "real" Perri is able to show up at the end after the action is over.

ZF - Wow..i must have been on some other planet when i posted this...i too dont believe that Perry was there at all...so if that is so, then is Paul as crazy as he seems? Then that would mean that since no one comes out of the room after being put in, why did his case worker suddenly appear in the hallway? Perhaps Paul was not as crazy as we thought him to be...there was definately something going on in the house, but from what source, i am not sure..

4th Horseman...