I pulled this fact-filled quote from an older Kolchak thread. In it, Videoaddict tells us about the Region 2 Kolchak set as compared to the Region 1 set. This is from 2005:

videoaddict wrote:
This message is for the Kolchak fanatics/purists/etc. out there. As such people may know, the original title for the series was The Night Stalker. It was changed to Kolchak: The Night Stalker at episode 5. Beginning with the Sci-Fi channel airings and continuing on with the Columbia House tapes and Region 1 DVD release, the first four episodes' title sequence baring The Night Stalker was replaced with Kolchak: The Night Stalker. No big deal, I guess, but for the fanatic...

Which brings me to the recent Region 2 release. Despite the fact that the packaging is virtually identical, the content of the Region 2 Kolchak release is NOT the same as the Region 1 release. This release features the original title sequences for the first four episodes. Furthermore, the episodes do not appear to have gone through any remastering so that you can actually see the Ripper emerge on the left side of the screen during a key scene in the first epsiode. Also, you actually see the dog fade out of the picture in episode 7. In fact, there are none of those artificial fade-outs here. In summary -

Pros - No DVD 18s (DVD-9s), Original titles, No phoney fade-outs
Cons - PAL speedup (if that bothers you), Not as sharp looking as Region 1

I'm glad I spent the $ on the set. This is how I remember seeing them in 1974/1975 and when CBS used to rerun them on Fridays through 1987.
John
I will also add that the theme music (including Kolchak's whistling!) is slightly different on THE RIPPER (episode #1). Its subtle, but I noticed it immediately. I actually have a copy of this different theme plus a bunch of early Kolchak episode music on a bootleg CD. The quality is right from the TV master tapes. Pretty cool.
  

Last Edited By: Rakshasa Jan 20 11 5:39 PM. Edited 1 times.