(This post first appeared in somewhat different form on November 17, 2004.)
I'm addicted to
the cheap DVDs at Dollar Tree and Wal-Mart. One that I picked up a while back
at Dollar Tree has three episodes of the old TV series SERGEANT PRESTON OF THE
YUKON on it. Since the book I'm writing has a Mountie in it, I thought it would
be appropriate to watch an episode of SERGEANT PRESTON. Call it research. Yeah,
that's it, research. Hard to believe that in 170 books this is the first one to
feature a Mountie, but as far as I can remember that's the case.
Anyway, I was surprised to find that the show was in color. Not very good color, mind you, but still . . . The story was set in a ghost town, and as anyone who has ever watched a B-movie or read a pulp story knows, the buildings in ghost towns are always full of hidden passages and secret hideouts. This episode was no disappointment. Sergeant Preston got to the bottom of the mystery and caught the villains, with the help of his wonder dog, Yukon King. I enjoyed every minute of it.
Anyway, I was surprised to find that the show was in color. Not very good color, mind you, but still . . . The story was set in a ghost town, and as anyone who has ever watched a B-movie or read a pulp story knows, the buildings in ghost towns are always full of hidden passages and secret hideouts. This episode was no disappointment. Sergeant Preston got to the bottom of the mystery and caught the villains, with the help of his wonder dog, Yukon King. I enjoyed every minute of it.
(UPDATE: The book with a Mountie in it that I mention above is LONGARM AND THE SCARLET RIDER, which came out in 2005. I know I've written at least one book since then with a Mountie in it, but I've certainly never done much with them and have never written a full-out Northern. I ought to remedy that. There are a bunch of episodes of SERGEANT PRESTON OF THE YUKON available on YouTube, and I ought to watch some more of them, too.)
7 comments:
Maybe a Northern with, say, and underground lost race of mammoth riders (or wooly rhinoceroses)!
That's a good idea!
I find old episodes of this show every once in a while. Definitely B stuff but kind of fun. The summer episodes feature Sergeant Preston on a great looking black horse.
Sometime in the future when you finish your next Mountie book, will Livia say, "Well, James, this case is closed."
Is it just me or does the mounty resemble Harvey corman?
It's not just you, Pete. There's a definite resemblance.
Yes, these are truly "Kind of fun" but they have nothing to do with what the Mounties of the era where actually like. Some of 'em were great administrators,social scientists, investigators and lawmen. Some of 'em were idiots, caused a great deal of hardship and fixed nothing.
www.dmmcgowan.blogspot.com
Post a Comment