Saturday, May 14, 2005

The Night Stalker

A Writer's Life: The Night Stalker: "ABC has announced their fall schedule and one of the shows they picked up is Frank Spotnitz's new version of The Night Stalker."

I remember the original version of this series with great affection. I also remember that I once wrote a letter to a writer named Les Whitten, suggesting that he sue somebody for plagiarism because the series seemed to me to be a direct steal from his novel Progeny of the Adder. I got a reply from Whitten that said, in so many words, that it just wasn't worth the effort. I still think he was ripped off, though.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

As much as I'm hoping for the best I'm pretty sure the new Night Stalker will not hold a candle to the Darren McGavin version.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the comments. I remember the movie of Moon of the Wolf, of course, and I still have my paperback copy of the novel. I liked it nearly as much as Progeny of the Adder. All this was a long time ago, of course, and I'm glad someone remember more about the whole thing than I do. It's interesting that I'm not the only one who saw the similarities. Well, they were obvious to anybody who'd read Whitten's book and then see the TV series.

Anonymous said...

Well, you've piqued my curiosity.What was the plot of Progeny of the Adder? I remember the telefilm of Moon of the Wolf and liked it.Are the books still in print or this is an ebay situation?

Unknown said...

As I remember Progeny of the Adder at this late date, the plot is very similar to the first Nightstalker episode. And it might be an eBay situation, for sure.

Will Errickson said...

With the recent death of Jeff Rice I've seen a lot of horror blogs and whatnot posting about him and NIGHT STALKER but it seems PROGENY is even more unheralded. I read Whitten's book about five years ago and the similarity is undeniable...

Unknown said...

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks so.