Welcome to THE KOLCHAK PAPERS, an in-depth analysis of the entire catalog of the Darren McGavin character, Carl Kolchak.

I really like Kolchak.  If I get another dog I'm naming him Carl Kolchak.

Carl Kolchak started as a character in an unpublished novel by Jeff Rice but he was not very much like what we ended up getting when the character was first adapted to a hugely popular TV Movie which lead to a sequel and then an ongoing series.

In Rice’s novel Kolchak is a big guy who dresses in Hawaiian shirts— the Kolchak we got in the form of Darren McGavin is average/shortish with a ruddy complexion, red hair and a seer sucker suit topped off with a cheap $2 hat. Most of all McGavin brought the right attitude to Kolchak.

Like cartoonist Evan Dorkin said to me (and Evan is equally cool) Kolchak is the best kind of hero because he falls down a lot.   He's not some uber confident superman who is never seemingly in danger-- that's boring-- he's an everyman who gets himself into and out of some pretty tough spots.

Kolchak was the inspiration for The X-Files TV Series, so much so that creator Chris Carter asked McGavin to appear in an episode as a now elderly Kolchak. McGavin declined but did appear as the retired FBI Agent who had started The X-Files in the first place.

This is a page which links to all of my KOLCHAK THE NIGHT STALKER REVIEWS which covers the two TV movies and all 20 episodes of the series:

• The Night Stalker TV Movie

• The Night Strangler TV Movie

Kolchak: The Night Stalker Series

1. The Ripper

2. The Zombie

3. UFO

4. The Vampire

5. The Werewolf

6. Firefall

7. The Devil’s Platform

8. Bad Medicine

9. The Spanish Moss Murder

10. The Energy Eater

11. Horror In the Heights

12. MR R.I.N.G.

13. Primal Scream

14. The Trevi Collection

15. The Chopper

16. Demon In Lace

17. Legacy of Terror

18. The Knightly Murders

19. The Youth Killers

20. The Sentry