Hm, this is one story. I mean, I get to file in
person, so I'll have to talk fast because it's after me. Claustrophobia has
long been a part of the human experience, from Lacrole magnan follow up to
Freud. So if you ever happen to find yourself underground, I'm deep underground,
don't linger in the shadows. That was the voice of reporter Carl Coolcheck
in the Case that We call The Century. It was written by al Ford
Neil and John Huff, directed by Seymour Robi, and aired March twenty eighth,
nineteen seventy five. I am Mike White, and I am joined as
always by Chris ashe You're actually joined by a giant man in a rubber giant
monster suit. Holy shit, Holy it is right emphasis on the ship.
So The Century is the last filmed episode of Colchack the night Stalker. So
this is We're not to the end of the podcast yet, but this is
the end of an era. Chris and I have to say, I'm a
little sad. Yeah, I'm a little sad too. I remember the evening
where you kind of put the feelers out for anyone wanting to do a Col
check podcast and I at the time that would have been the second podcast that
I was on other than my own. And I mean I remember I owned
the cole Chack DVDs from a long time ago. My dad bought him for
me because there was a show he liked. When I guess my dad probably
would have been little younger than I am now. But it is crazy that
we've kind of come all the way to the end, like here it is
the final episode of the show, not of us. We heard about this
one when we were doing Mister R I n G and talking to John Hoff
who was the co writer of that episode, and I remember him saying that
by the time they were shooting this, a lot of people had checked out.
And I can't say that that necessarily comes through too much in the episode
you made mention of the rubber suit. Yeah, that could look a little
bit better. I kind of wish they had gone a little more Gorn from
Star Trek because I would have Gorn a little bit, or even like the
last episode that we talked about where it was Molder and Scully meet the wear
Monster that two thousand whatever technology. But that was a sweet costume that Murray
was wearing yeah, but this one, it kind of feels like something that
Ultraman would have thought. I think they really did themselves a service by keeping
this thing in the dark as much as they possibly could. It reminds you
of the Star Trek episode with the Horta where it's like all underground and they're
touching the thing's eggs. That's what it reminded me of. It is a
bummer that this is the final episode of the show that was filmed, because
it's not good. Well. This episode reminded me a lot of the Matchamendo.
The whole idea of the building that is being built in having troubles because
it's being plagued by supernatural forces. It reminded me of another one too,
and I'm sure as we talk it'll come to me, but yeah, I
was just like, okay, yeah, it feels like very familiar territory in
this one. They're going for the whole hollow Earth lizard people kind of thing.
I mean, we've had so many different types of creatures and this one
is playing a little bit into that because we've got this storage facility that is
what ten thousand feet underground, which I'm surprised that you can do that so
close to Chicago, it feels like it would be kind of a little dangerous.
I can't see the bedrock being that strong around there, But I might
be overthinking this. I think you're doing the job that the riders should have
done. Yeah, it's it's this weird kind of alluding to lizard people underneath
the ground, lizard people in the sewers, the mole people, like,
it's very much in that vein, and then you even have like the eggs
at the end, which just ends up being like a very obvious trope to
go to. It's just a misunderstood monster trying to get its eggs. It's
okay, he just wants his machete. Yeah, exactly. Wow, have
you seen that movie? Oh yeah, that's the only Jason movie I've seen
all the way through other than Freddie versus Jason. It's okay, Oh god,
it's a great line. It is. It is a great line.
It's a really weird thing to have a Cold Tack episode where you see the
monster and you almost wish you hadn't because it is just a guy in a
clearly rubber suit, and um, there's a there's a YouTube series or a
YouTube channel called um Tested with Adam Savage, and he talks about how like,
when you make costumes, you should not put the support for the head
of the costume on your own head because it looks weird when you move around.
And that's clearly what is going on with this costume is the support mechanics
for the head of the creature is on the actor's head, and so it's
like wopping around when they run, which is even more distracting. The shots
of it when it is in silhouette coming towards the camera and you hear the
growling, I'm like, okay, that's good. But then yeah, as
you see more, Oh, I know which one it was. It was
the one with the Primal Man and the fight with the Primal Man underground towards
the end. That's also what this episode reminded me of. That makes sense
too again because it's set underground, I mean setting things underground kind of a
compound. Yeah, and then also the whole idea of like, oh,
we are reviving this thing and pissing it off. And Primal Scream was the
name of that one, and you know, it was like, hey,
we I don't understand this facility that they're at because most of it are these
really nice concrete walls, but then there are caves that are part of this
thing, and it's like, okay, like all right, we're gonna build
it down to like level N. But after that, fuck it, we
found natural case We're just going to leave those there. It's like what is
going on here? And there's this weird story too. The scientist who finds
these eggs, he has this whole weird backstory about how he found these rocks
in Utah and was sending them back to his lab, but then another scientist
wrote his name on the box and so they got sent to him and he
took all the credit and I'm just waiting for that to pay off, and
it never pays off well. And Albert Paulson, who is Ecuadorian, is
given the task of trying to do a German Austrian accent. I think he
was maybe Russian because he's talking about Russia, but yeah, who knows.
His character's name is doctor Verheyden, which you know it's about as German as
German can get, I guess in this show. And his character is really
annoying and not a character you want to spend too much time with because he's
poorly written and all he does essentially scream at Cole Jay or anyone for that
matter. This episode was strange to me and that I didn't feel the act
breaks as much as I've felt other episodes. It really felt like this whole
thing was of a piece, and it moved very nice once we got into
the story proper, and I liked Kathy Brown as Lieutenant Irene Lamont and how
she was playing the reporters against each other, and the way that she was
using her looks and things and like, oh boys, you don't want to
have me busted back to traffic and all this kind of stuff. I like
the way that she was manipulating the system. First time we've actually seen a
female cop of any sort of rank in this episode, in this whole series,
which is unfortunate because she's the best part of this episode. She's great,
right, Oh yeah, Kathy Brown is great in this episode. Almost
makes you forget about the guy in the lizard suit most you'll notice, I
said, almost, what's worse this or the headless biker this? Wow?
This because the suit is just this is look we talked about it. What
feels like a lifetime ago but remember the Werewolf episode. How can I forget?
You bring that up almost every episode. Well, it's because it was
just so bad. The makeup on Eric Braden was just so bad it's kind
of hard to forget. And that's what this smacks of. It smacks of
that, just like, really it knows that it's cheeseball and cornball to the
max, and it doesn't fight it. And I'm normally okay with that,
but it is it's even a little much for this show. I don't know
I can actually look past that because the rest of the episode is so strong.
To me, I like the whole investigative angle that's going on the way
that Carl is figuring this stuff out the way that I don't buy that Tom
Bosley as Jack Flaherty knew that Carl was something other than a Nickel salesman from
Albuquerque. I don't buy that when he says like, oh, yeah,
I knew and I was just stringing him along. I think Bosley's lying there.
I don't think he's that smart. I'd like that he's finding information out
from that guy, he's finding information out from the union guy that he is
pretending to be a doctor and we've got, speaking of Star Trek, a
guy who I mostly know from Star Trek in the Twilight Zone as our head
doctor there. John Hoyt does Doctor Beckwith. I'd like that. There's actually
a little bit more in the script when it comes to that autopsy scene,
and that autopsy scene, I have to say, is not handled very well
as far as the direction goes, because they actually they have to stick in
that line where he turns off Doctor Beckwith turns off the microphone and then talks
amongst the other doctors, and then she has to turn around and say,
well, I guess he doesn't want us to hear this stuff. And it's
like, okay, I understand what's going on here, but it's really super
subtle what's happening as far as him turning off that microphone. But anyway,
there's a little bit more in the script, which is he turns to cole
Check and ask for a certain type of saw, and cole Check looks down
at all of these instruments and has no fucking idea what it is and hands
something to the guy and the guy goes, this isn't a Geiger saw or
whatever. This isn't even a saw, and that's when cole Check does say,
well it's Wednesday, I'm gonna go hit a bucket of balls and runs
out of the room. Yeah the Lord, I will. I will say
this, but I did not dislike this episode. I just can't bring myself
to overlook the man in the suit, which is me being a little narrow
minded. One of the weird kind of idiosyncrasies of this episode is Andrew Robinson,
who plays Scorpio in Dirty Harry. He's in this episode. No,
he's not, okay, because I thought that I saw him and I saw
on IMDb that it says he's in here, but it was just some guy
who looks like him. Yeah. I asked him about it, and he's
just like, no, I've never been in Colchack okay, because like I
kept looking at the guy being like, that looks like him, but it's
not. So IMDb, get your shit together, because it's it says he's
on there, and I swear to god that guy looks just like him.
Well, and then you get the guys on Facebook who are just like,
oh, happy birthday to Andrew Robinson and here's all these pictures here. He
is, as you know, the guy from d Space nine in this role,
in this role, in this role, and here he is at Colchack
and it's like, no, I'm sorry, but that's not him. Yeah,
but I am not crazy. It does look like it. No,
it totally looks like him, more so than anyone who's not him should look
like him. Well, if people are looking, where is he at,
he's he's what the what's the guy's name? The guy that, like Colecheck
calls on the phone? Right, oh right, yeah, the guy who
ends up shipping him to the place kind of looks like him. It does
look like him a lot. I can see that. It's like, IMDb,
don't you just don't let people assign actors to ship that they're not in,
Like, come on, I like that whole idea of them shipping him
to the place that's kind of good too, feels very Scooby Doo. Like.
The end of the episode feels very Scooby Doo. I like that this
episode starts kind of in C two, where we've got Carl on the run
from the creature and the whole like, I might not be able to file
this one in person, so here I go. I bet you're wondering how
I got here, Like, that's what that help. It's very jj Abrams,
Like had that continued on? Like had that been the like probably like
the climax of the fourth out of fifth five acts then continued on for like
another ten minutes. That's a jj Abrams. That's what he loves to do.
See Mission Impossible three for more of that. Yeah, exactly where it's
like two thirds of the movie is just a flashback. I liked it,
like you said, I liked everything underground. I like how this being the
final episode, we got to see Vincenzo again. We didn't get to see
Jack Grinnage. We didn't get to see Miss Emily, which is unfortunate.
That newsroom is pretty empty. Yeah, it's almost like everybody left. And
by everyone, I mean the actual actors didn't want to be in the show
anymore. I mean, look, I can't I can't help but feel a
little melancholy towards the fact that this is the final episode. It was really
sad watching this the other day, and I was just like, oh,
there's no more to see, because look, you and I are used to
doing a podcast that can run infinitem I mean, the projection booth, the
Culture Cast will essentially run until either one of us are done and or probably
in my case dead, and so like they're going to run until they're done.
But this is the first time I've done a podcast where there is a
definitive this is the last of it, and that's it, and it is
it is, it's it's it's sad. It is sad in a way.
I mean, we could start writing Colcheck fan fiction if we wanted, and
then just read stories to each other. What about cole check slash fiction?
Oh, Tony, talk to me, big man, talk to me,
big daddy. Don't get your ascid in an uproar, and then Tony unzipped
his pants. Oh my god. I also really kind of feel sad that
the way the show ends is with col Check Scooby Doo like Shaggy get out
of this tunnel at the end. It's not that it's not a high note.
It's just like a really dorky note to go out on. At this
point, they knew that was it, but I mean, they still had
a couple episodes written, so they weren't planning at the beginning that this is
how Carl's going to go out And did the monster kill Irene Lamont. You
know, that's a good question, because she just kind of disappears. They're
like all in that room, and then the monster kool aid Man's its way
through the wall twice. Hi God, I'm thinking they should have hired this
guy because he can dig through walls, and you know, he's like Charles
Brownson in The Great Escape. So what I thought was going I thought there
was actually gonna be a twist in this episode, and it was going to
turn out that it was just like a rival someone like fucking with them,
and that it was going to be a person in a suit. And I
would have gotten away with it do if it weren't for you meddling kids.
How about if he takes away Lieutenant Irene Lamont like the beast taking you know,
Faye ray away. Oh, like makes her his like dungeon bride.
Yeah, I'm okay with that. Is that headcannon? Now, Irene Lamont
is just underground, being just like impregnated by this weird lizard monster. I've
seen shit like that in an Allen Moore comic. It's pretty weird. It
seems kind of hr Geiger to me, Like, especially if the lizard was
just like implanting eggs down her throat or something. Wow, this took a
turn. It did for the worst. That was worse than the slash fiction.
Thinking about that. Yeah, thinking about Irene Lamont being forcibly raped by
this monster, it's awful. I can see her like, h Dallas and
alien, ye kill me where you made in the deleted scene where he's being
turned into an egg. Oh Jesus, that's not Cannon Goldchack just goes and
murders her, because we all know Coldchack is okay with murder. Yeah,
and he had that torch, he could have just torched her right there.
I don't understand why Colchack didn't just give the beast its eggs back, right
and he's just like no, He grabs the eggs and like hauls them to
the end of his hallway with torches and then he's just like swinging at it
like I didn't. The other issue I have with this episode is normally,
when we have coal Check facing the monster at the end, it's very much
understood what he's trying to achieve in facing the monster. I don't know what
he was trying to achieve facing the monster at the end of this episode.
Right, it's not like he had a magic stick to poke him with.
No, right, he could have just given the creature its eggs back.
It could have just left the eggs in the middle of the hallway and then
ran someplace. Well, that's my point, like the eggs could have been
taken out of the which again, also, nut's not overlook the fact that
this creature can break through walls but can't open up a metal locker to get
its eggs back. No, you're getting crazy. Well no, I'm just
using logic. There's a lot of stuff in this episode that's really dorky and
goofy, and it's coal Check, so it's kind of to be expected.
But even I have a hard time overlooking some of the stuff in this episode,
like huge like logic jumps, like get like logic, like gaps in
logic. I just sometimes I can't get on board with him. Yeah,
I would say this isn't at the top of the game, no, but
again, it's just it is. The disappointment of it all is that this
is that final shot of cold Check running through the tunnels. Is the last
time we see Darren McGavin in that role. That's right. Sad aside from
that one time in the two thousand and six show Oh Shut your Face where
he shows up, it just kind of stands there. Well, let me
ask you, when do we want to talk about what our favorite episode of
the show was? On this episode or on the next one? No,
I think on the next one. I mean, so we can either do
one of two things. One is talk about the unproduced scripts and I think
we were talking about having Richer back for that chieh. Yes, we can
do that, and that can be the end of things. Or we can
do that and we can do another thing where we kind of wrap some stuff
up and talk about our favorite episodes. We sing memories in my be a
perfect time because I think Kats is coming out right around that time. And
then we can talk a little bit about the books if we happen to get
to some of those things. But well, that would take us through the
end of the year. That would take us right through the end of the
year, and then we start fresh in January with our new podcast venture.
I think we do that, Okay, So yeah, so come on back
folks next month. We were talking about the Eve of Terror, the get
of Belisle, and the executioners, especially if we can find that executioner script.
Somebody on Twitter messaged Richard and I'm still waiting for him to actually get
the script and shoot that over. So come on folk back. That a
script called The Get of Belisle did not get made into an episode is a
missed opportunity. I'm still waiting the title. I'm still waiting to know what
Belisle gets? What does Beliet? What are you getting? What does this
get? What is the Get of Belisle? I'm sorry, I just don't
get you. Yeah, what is get get? What? What are you
getting? Yeah? I want to thank John Walker for doing our theme song,
and I want to think all of you find people for listening this long.
I think we've been doing this for three years now. If you have
been here since the beginning, thank you so much. Maybe somebody can tell
me how many times Chris has complained about the Werewolf episode. Maybe someone can
tell me how many times people just ignore the fact that I'm on this episode
of this show. How many times people ignore the fact that I'm on this
show. I know what's going to happen now as far as the authorities are
concerning the event, so they Pril twentieth and twenty first, will never have
occurred. They're gonna tell me that if I ever breathe a word of this,
they're gonna break me like a strong man. What about the century was
eggs hatch in the warm, dark bank dampness of its nesting place. Who
knows? Maybe the government will find the nest, maybe they won't. Who'll
probably never know. But if you're on a subway or a pedestrian tunnel underneath
the ballpark and you think you hear something moving in the walls, it may
not be your imagination. Take my advice, don't walk. Run to the
nearest exit poll. Pop up the po