Werewolf (TV series)

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For other uses, see Werewolf (disambiguation).

Werewolf was an American action-adventure television series, and one of the original shows in the Fox Network's broadcast line-up during its inaugural season of 1987-1988.

The show follows the adventures of Eric Cord (John J. York), a reluctant werewolf on a quest to rid himself of his curse by killing the originator of his 'bloodline,' a drifter named Janos Skorzeny (played by Chuck Connors in his last television role). While pursuing Skorzeny, Cord himself is pursued by the persistent bounty hunter "Alamo" Joe Rogan (Lance LeGault).

The show aired a two-hour pilot and 28 half-hour episodes before being cancelled in 1988.

As of June 6, 2007, Chiller is airing Werewolf. Chiller premiered the series with a marathon on June 6, 2007. The series airs Wednesdays at 8PM and 8:30PM, replacing the airing of two episodes of Monsters.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Eric Cord was just an average college student until his roommate Ted handed him a gun loaded with silver bullets and told Eric to kill him, because Ted was a werewolf who had been killing people. A red pentagram on his palm is the sign that the change is coming. Confronted with Eric's disbelief, Ted asks Eric to tie him up in a chair and wait until midnight, when he'll either see for himself or call in the shrinks. As midnight comes, Ted transforms into a werewolf, forcing his friend to shoot and kill him -- but not before he bites Eric. Before long, Eric finds a pentagram on his own palm, and soon after, undergoes his own transformation. On the run for his friend's murder, Eric spent the remainder of the series trying to break the curse by finding and killing the originator of his bloodline, the mysterious Janos Skorzeny.

The series was similar in tone and formula to shows like The Fugitive and The Incredible Hulk. Eric wandered from place to place, hitchhiking, taking odd jobs and befriending various people whose paths he crossed along the way, before invariably being transformed by his werewolf curse just in time to save his new friends from the clutches of some evildoer. Though Eric appeared to have no control over his actions while in werewolf form, and typically retained no memory of them afterward, he seemed to prey pretty much exclusively on villainous characters, never attacking or killing an innocent person. There were hints as the series went on, however, that this control was slowly eroding, as indeed Ted had warned him it would, threatening to destroy Eric's morals/conscience/will if he couldn't end the curse soon.

Near the end of the show's run, it was revealed that Skorzeny was not the originator of Eric's bloodline, but rather a powerful, long-lived werewolf named Nicholas Remy (played by Brian Thompson). The series ended before Eric could be rid of his curse.

The special effects of the show were considered impressive for the time, specifically the transformation sequences, in which the pentagram-shaped scar on Eric's right hand would rise, thicken, and eventually bleed; this would usually happen at the climax of the episode, at which time Eric would become a seven-foot tall werewolf.

[edit] Notes

  • The show's recurring villain, Skorzeny, was named after the vampire battled by Carl Kolchak in the original TV movie The Night Stalker which was spun into the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. In its turn, that name may have been inspired by Otto Skorzeny, a noted Waffen SS officer in World War II, once described as "the most dangerous man in Europe". He organized a German special forces unit called Werwolf SS which would carry clandestine attacks against Allied occupation forces in Europe in case the Nazi regime fell. [1]
  • Chuck Connors last appeared as Janos Skorzeny in the ninth episode, "Friendly Haven" -- Skorzeny's subsequent appearances starting with "The Unicorn" only showed him in werewolf form, or played by a body double. It is unclear why Connors left the series at this point, but it's been suggested that it was a salary issue. The script for Skorzeny's final appearance in "To Dream Of Wolves" gave him a dialogue scene with Remy as the writers must have thought Connors would still be available to return, but all Skorzeny's dialogue was cut in the aired version. This was due to the fact that Connors objected to the scenes where his character Skorzeny knelt down in submission to the new villain. When a body double was used in his place along with archive footage, Connors successfully sued the show.
  • "A World of Difference," in which Alamo Joe suspects he's been bitten by Eric, was written as a one-hour episode but aired as two half-hours.
  • The producers of the show established a 1-800 number where viewers could call to report "werewolf sightings", and many called to report sightings of what they believed were actual werewolves.
  • In The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shape-Shifting Beings by Brad Steiger, Werewolf is reported to have been the only television series to feature a lycanthrope as its lead character, despite a previous reference to the syndicated series She-Wolf of London in the book's Forward section, a show which also focused on a character seeking a cure to her werewolf curse.

[edit] Episodes

  • 1) Werewolf (pilot) - Eric is attacked by his best friend, who is a werewolf. Now afflicted with the curse, Eric must track down the originator of his bloodline in order to rid himself of his new alter ego, while also avoiding the bounty hunter who's been sent after him.
  • 2) Nightwatch - After trailing Skorzeny to a shipyard, Eric is set upon by a pair of seamen looking to collect the bounty on his head.
  • 3) The Boy Who Cried Werewolf - Injured by Rogan, Eric seeks shelter in a young boy's treehouse, and soon runs afoul of his mother's abusive boyfriend.
  • 4) The Black Ship - Eric is captured by an old friend of Skorzeny's and must find a way to escape before Skorzeny comes for him.
  • 5) Spectre of the Wolf - Eric consults Dr. DeGoethels, a well known author and professor of werewolf lore, for help in finding a cure.
  • 6) The Wolf Who Thought He Was A Man - While on the road, Eric meets up with a hunter who takes the phrase 'hunt like a wolf' a little too far.
  • 7) Nothing Evil In These Woods - Lost in the woods, Eric happens upon a local witch who claims she has the power to rid him of his curse.
  • 8) Running with the Pack - Working at a small diner to make ends meet, Eric gets more than he bargained for when a cutthroat motorcycle gang rides into town.
  • 9) Friendly Haven - Eric takes refuge at the home of an old woman while being chased by Skorzeny.
  • 10) Let Us Prey - Chasing reports of a wild cougar, Eric takes refuge at a monastery where he soon learns that some of the staff prey in a different way at night.
  • 11) A World of Difference (part 1) - Rogan finds Eric locked up in a small town, but when his captive changes into a werewolf and escapes, the bounty hunter finds he's no match for the hunting skills of the wolf.
  • 12) A World of Difference (part 2) - In the hospital recovering from a werewolf attack, Rogan reflects on how to deal with his dilemma. Things get sidetracked in a hurry when he learns that Eric isn't dead after all.
  • 13) The Unicorn - Eric gets kidnapped by a pimp when he saves one of his charges from a brutal beating. Meanwhile, Rogan is hot on Eric's trail, not realizing he's actually closer to finding Skorzeny.
  • 14) All Hallow's Eve - Eric holes up in an abandoned house on Halloween night in order to lock himself up before the change, not realizing that the house isn't actually abandoned after all.
  • 15) Blood on the Tracks - Eric gets a job working the railroads and runs into one of his childhood heroes, a former heavyweight champion with some demons of his own.
  • 16) Nightmare at the Braine Hotel - Eric crosses paths with a slasher and a sinister hotel manager.
  • 17) Wolfhunt - Eric and a wolf form a bond of friendship out in the wild, but a rancher is out to hunt them both down with silver bullets thanks to a visit from Rogan.
  • 18) Blood Ties - Working as a groundskeeper at a high class residence, Eric must clear his name when he is framed for murder.
  • 19) Big Daddy - Forcefully taken by a state trooper to Big Daddy Frasier's home, Eric learns that Big Daddy has an idea of what Eric can do to help cure his cancer.
  • 20) Eye of the Storm - Eric finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery at the Simms Lodge. He convinces the other lodgers to work together in order to find the culprit, but his plans change when he is about to.
  • 21) Nightmare in Blue - The long arm of the law finds Eric when he is at his most vulnerable. To make matters worse, Rogan's reach is even closer.
  • 22) Skinwalker - Eric learns that the Native American legend of the Skinwalker is true, and that it's up to him to stop the bloodshed.
  • 23) King of the Road - Hopping a train, Eric runs afoul of a group of homeless travelers trying to escape a 'ripper' who's been preying on vagrants in their small hometown.
  • 24) A Material Girl - Eric chases Skorzeny into a mall after business hours. He meets a girl who lives there and learns he wasn't chasing Skorzeny after all.
  • 25) To Dream of Wolves (part 1) - Eric finally tracks down Skorzeny but learns that, contrary to what he was told, his old nemesis is not the originator of their bloodline after all.
  • 26) To Dream of Wolves (part 2) - Eric breaks into the home of Nicolas Remy and learns that Remy is the one he must destroy in order to rid himself of his curse.
  • 27) Blind Luck - Working at a carnival, Eric runs afoul of a group of schemers who are taking advantage of blind women.
  • 28) Gray Wolf - While being chased by Rogan, Eric meets an old werewolf from another bloodline. Together they can defeat Remy, but only if Eric can keep the man on his side.
  • 29) Amazing Grace - Eric saves an old lady who loves to tell stories from two thugs. Soon she is placed in a mental institution and Eric tries to break her out.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Biddiscombe, Perry (November 2000). The Last Nazis: SS Werewolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe 1944-1947. Arcadia Publishing, 192. ISBN 978-0752417936. 

[edit] External links