Kolchak: The Night Stalker/The Sentry

The Sentry
Season 1, Episode 20
Airdate	March 28, 1975
Written by	L. Ford Neale & John Huff
Directed by	Seymour Robbie
Produced by	Cy Chermak
Stream
← 1x19 The Youth Killer	— N/A
Kolchak: The Night Stalker — Season One

The Sentry is the twentieth episode of the first season of Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

Starring: Darren McGavin (Carl Kolchak)

Also Starring: Simon Oakland (Tony Vincenzo)

Guest Stars: Kathie Browne (Lt. Irene Lumont), Albert Paulsen (Dr. James Verhyden), John Hoyt (Dr. Beckwith), Frank Marth (Colonel Brody)

and Special Guest Star: Tom Bosley (Jack Flaherty),

Co-Starring: Cliff Norton (Arnie Wisemore), Frank Campanella (Ted Chapman), Margaret Avery (Ruth Van Galen)

with Lew Brown (1st Detective), Keith Walker (1st Reporter), Bill Deiz (2nd Reporter), Greg Finley (Dr. Phillips), Tom Moses (Dr. Gordon)

Plot Overview

A series of killings at Merrymount Achive, Incorporated, an underground archiving facility, leads Kolchak to impersonate a doctor and attend the autopsy of the victim, Howard Kipper. He discovers that the victim died of reptilian bite wounds.

Carl heads right over to Merrymount Archive and pretends to be the head of a nickel mining consortium in order to get a tour of the facility (which is ten-thousand feet underground). When Lt. Lamont arrives looking for Kolchak, she alerts Jack Flaherty that Kolchak is not who he says he is. Realizing that the jig is up, Kolchak slips away on his own, while his tour guide, Mr. Flaherty, is on the phone.

Carl talks with a union man and learns the layout of the tunnels (alphabetical order). He heads to section R, hoping to see the creature. He finds it (or it finds him), and he gets a few pictures before he has to run. In his panic he flees right into Lt. Lamont's men and is arrested. His boss, Tony, has to bail him out.

Not to be deterred, Carl contacts a shady friend who helps him stow away inside a crate of precision instruments that are headed for Merrymount Archives. Back inside the facility, Kolchak searches the offices of Dr. Verhyden and finds egg shells -- reptilian egg shells. Verhyden catches him in the act, but after a few brief questions, the creature breaks through a wall and enters the office, forcing the occupants to run.

Carl is detained for questioning. While he is being interrogated, the creature breaks through the wall of the interrogation room. In the ensuing panic, Kolchak is able to slip away.

In a level O store room, he finds eggs and takes them. He then makes a torch from strips of cloth and lights them on fire. He flees to the unfinished, cave-like level R, where the creature corners him. As a gesture Kolchak places the eggs on the floor. The creature doesn't kill him, it just takes it's eggs and leaves.

Trivia

The Show

• The events portrayed in this episode begin on April 20.

Behind the Scenes

• The character of Lt. Irene Lamont is played by Kathie Brown, the wife of actor Darren McGavin (Kolchak).