They Have Been, They Are, They Will Be...
- Episode aired Sep 27, 1974
- 52m
Kolchak connects a string of bizarre thefts committed by a powerful invisible entity that targets metal deposits to a string of suspicious animal and human deaths connected by the fact that ... Read allKolchak connects a string of bizarre thefts committed by a powerful invisible entity that targets metal deposits to a string of suspicious animal and human deaths connected by the fact that the victims' bone marrow is missing.Kolchak connects a string of bizarre thefts committed by a powerful invisible entity that targets metal deposits to a string of suspicious animal and human deaths connected by the fact that the victims' bone marrow is missing.
- Observer on Street
- (uncredited)
- Radio announcer
- (voice)
- (uncredited)
- Lecture Guest
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaKolchak is trying to finish a reporting assignment so he can go see the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. He, correctly, says the Cubs are in the World Series for the first time in 29 years. The last time the Cubs were in the World Series was 1945, which was 29 years before this episode aired. In reality, the 1974 Chicago Cubs finished last in the National League East Division with a 66-96 record. The Chicago Cubs were absent from the World Series from 1945-2016, when they won the World Series for the first time since1908.
- GoofsJust after the pallets of lead ingots disappear in front of them, Kolchak (Darren McGavin) looks at Captain Quill (James Gregory) and says, "Wha- wha do you think happened?" James Gregory then confuses the actor's name and replies not with the character Kolchak- but to the actor's name - "I don't know Gavin, looks like to me I've got to take some of that overdue vacation time I got comin'."
Captain Quill actually says, "I don't know what happened," not "I don't know, Gavin." As he speaks, "what happened" is somewhat mumbled, so this could easily be misunderstood.
- Quotes
Carl Kolchak: [Voiceover intro] I knew this one would be more than the biggest story of my career. It was the biggest story in the lives of everyone on this planet. I fought for the story, fought harder than ever before. I wanted people to know, to be prepared... if you can be prepared for something like this.
On a sunny early-September day, intrepid reporter Carl Kolchak eagerly anticipates attending Game One of the World Series hosted by the Chicago Cubs when editor Tony Vincenzo dangles a story about disappearing animals at the Lincoln Park Zoo in front of him.
Smelling the supernatural, Kolchak can't resist taking the bait, but en route to the zoo, he intercepts another juicy lead on his police scanner and arrives at Raydyne Electronics just in time to see a wall silently blown out and two tons of lead ingots disappear before his astonished eyes and those of the police squad led by Captain Quill (James Gregory), who is buttonholed by four Mysterious Men in Suits.
Are the two mysteries connected? You bet they are in Rudolph Borchert's lively script, adapting Dennis Clark's story, and of course it's up to Kolchak to link the two. Zoologist Bess Winestock (Mary Wickes) is initially tight-lipped about the mysterious monkeying around. However, after Kolchak interviews irate homeowner Alfred Brindle (Dick Van Patten) about the load of presumed asphalt the city dumped on his lawn, he brings a smelly sample back to Bess, who admits that the animals, not "missing" but killed, have had their bone marrow extracted from their bodies, to tell from her own smelly sample of the same substance.
Bone marrow? Lead ingots? Brindle also mentioned that his neighbor's fancy stereo had had its electronic guts ripped from it. And who are those Mysterious Men in Suits who have just confiscated Kolchak's photos taken at Raydyne from Independent News Service factotum Monique Marmelstein (Carol Ann Susi) under pain of IRS audit? Meanwhile, the visiting Boston Red Sox wind up winning 1-0 as the first game of the World Series ends before Kolchak can get to the ballpark.
The pieces come together for Kolchak when he encounters the Raydyne-like phenomena at a planetarium: Chicago is being visited by extraterrestrials--but try to prove that when you can't even see them. A comic-relief scene of Carl attending a UFO group's local meeting, with Maureen Arthur hilariously playing a woman who claims to have been abducted by a "smart-looking alien" who plied her with drink and tried to get fresh with her, spoofs the growing contactee cults of the 1970s, but otherwise "They Have Been" plays it fairly straight.
Once again, however, Kolchak is plunged into darkness for the inconclusive, uninvolving resolution as "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" reveals its limitations, with the less said about the cheesy flying saucer--which may be its own droll joke, anyway--the better. On the other hand, as other reviewers have noted, here is the geniture of "The X Files," on which Darren McGavin guest-starred twice. ("X Files" producer Frank Spotnitz also failed to reboot "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" in 2005.)
As always, though, watching McGavin's absorbing engagement and utter credulity is its own special pleasure, with memorable guest-star turns from Van Patten and especially Wickes as Gregory preps for his upcoming recurring role in "Barney Miller."
Oh, and a World Series being played in September? Seemingly a goof, right? Except for this intriguing historical curiosity: In 1918, the baseball season was cut short by a month because of America's involvement in the First World War, so the World Series was played in early September. In Game One, the visiting Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago Cubs by a score of 1-0. This is the slyest joke in the episode. And as Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up."
- darryl-tahirali
- Apr 5, 2022
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- 407 S. Dearborn St Chicago IL 60605, USA(INS office exterior in Chicago where elevated train passes by)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime52 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1