Photo source: Amazon.com
And you’re right! I adore my geekiness! I revel in my geekiness! I celebrate my geekiness!
And yesterday was no exception. My boyfriend had a surprise for me: A viewing of The Norliss Tapes.
This was a made-for-TV movie, with aspirations of becoming a series, that originally aired on February 21, 1973, on NBC. It was directed by Dan Curtis, who also brought us The Night Stalker — which is why my boyfriend brought it out.
I’d heard of the film before, but never seen it. So I was looking forward to it. It had its good points, but frankly was not as good as The Night Stalker. Here’s my analysis:
The Night Stalker
The Norliss Tapes
The protagonist, Carl Kolchak, played by Darren McGavin, is an investigative reporter with a bad fashion sense and a penchant for being a pain the police chief’s ass
The protagonist, David Norliss, played by Roy Thinnes, is an investigative reporter with a decent fashion sense (for the 1970’s) and a stiff upper lip (aka nearly emotionless)
Kolchak dictates the story with a snarky tone into his tape recorder at the end of show, parts of which are used to narrate the show
Norliss dictated the entire story onto tapes and disappeared, his editor is now listening to them. His tone is reporter-ly and stolid
Kolchak, although bravely attempting to stop the creature d’jour, shows genuine fear for his life
Norliss, although making an effort to stop the creature d’jour, shows pretty much no emotion either way
Kolchak is a believer and passionately tries to convince others of the truth
Norliss is a non-believer who “just asks questions” and doesn’t reveal his beliefs to others either way
Kolchak is an everyman, with emotions the audience can relate to
Norliss is apathetic, except in the opening when he’s depressedly afraid for his life, with emotions so below the surface the audience can’t relate
Overall, although The Norliss Tapes is basically a poor man’s version of The Night Stalker, I did enjoy seeing it.
How did you celebrate you yesterday? Did you do something fun? Did something special happen that made you go, “Wow”? Please share your celebrations in the Facebook group and/or in comment below. You are worth celebrating!
0 Comments