a fitting final episode


What would a fitting final episode have been like? If the producers had decided to end the series with a bang, what would a final hour-long episode have been like? I like to imagine it would have been about the final, wars'-end liberation of the camp, when Hogan and his crew get to shut down their operation and hitch a ride to England. Perhaps they give Klink a tour of the tunnel system and explain what has been going on under his nose for the last few years. Perhaps there would be a final, action-packed shoot-out with the SS. It's intriguing to consider, and we'll just never know.

How would it go if you wrote it?

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Great question, Dave. I take it you mean a final episode keeping in tone with the show as it was produced at that time. (Not a MASH-like final episode 6 years later).

It has to be light, with a slight hint of danger or tension. Preparations for a fight for the camp, or camp wide evacuation.Perhaps rumors of the SS taking over camps or forcing marches. Waiting desperately for word of the breakthrough. If the camp is near Dusseldorf, that area wasn't liberated until mid-April.

But once they hear the Allies are closing in, I see perhaps the tunnels being blown after liberation as they would probably have kept the operation a secret.

two possibilities for Klink. They feel sorry for him so he remains oblivious to the end. Or, in a twist, we discover that either he, Schultz or Burkhalter is Nimrod, and the whole operation is a con from both ends.

Klink knows what is going on, but Hogan doesn't know that Klink knows.

Hogan said in one episode that he'd be going out the Front Gates. (Hence the title of my own liberation story, "Out the Front Gates." LOL.

There are quite a few liberation stories on the fanfiction site. They range from short one-shots to novel length tomes.

my fanfiction page: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1695456/

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Yes, I always wished the show had filmed a final episode. I would have enjoyed watching Klink, Hochstetter, and General Burkhalter reacting when they finally discover Hogan's operation and tunnels at the end of the war. Schultz wouldn't have been surprised at all, as I suspect he knew all along something was going on!

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It could start out with Burkhalter finally getting fed up with Klink and Schultz, assigning them to the Russian Front, but Germany is invaded by the allies before they depart.

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I figure with the multiple occasions when there were reports of extensive tunnels under the camp: told to Burkhalter in the pilot episode, and to Hochstetter in "Sticky Wicket Newkirk" and "Lady Chitterly's Lover"; besides occasions when Hochstetter, and others before him, were suspicious of how Stalag 13 was the epicenter of pervasive sabotage, Hochstetter, with Burkhalter, would determine, as the war was nearing the end, to uncover the truth once and for all -- and WOULD!

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I would have loved to see a TV movie made a few years after HH was canceled. My take on it would be a movie set in 1965 where Hogan and his Heroes return to Germany to celebrate the 20th anniversary of VE day. They would of course return to Stalag 13 which would be a museum. In Hammelburg, Klink would be the burgermeister and Schultz would be the police chief. Klink would ask for help from Hogan's Heroes to rescue Hilda who is trapped in East Germany. The Heroes spring into action for one last caper, digging a tunnel under the Berlin wall, freeing Hilda and her family. It would have been more dramatic than the series, but with humor as well. I think this would have been a great follow-up to the series.

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I like that idea myself. Done properly, that could have been fun and also given a dignified and entertaining send-off to the show.

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I like that idea, too! Like "Gilligan's Island" did.
And that reunion was such a ratings blockbuster for CBS, they did a couple more after that.

But a "Hogan's Heroes" TV movie done in 1991 would mean
that the heroes would be without Hogan, because- .... Well, you know.

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If a TV movie had been done in 1980 it would've been without Hogan.

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...and without Sgt Schultz.


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and Schultz as well since John Banner died in 1973 just 2 years after HH ended.

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Would've been lame.

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I agree that's a great idea too!

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brilliant

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Thanks. It was one of my favorite shows growing up, and when I watched them again on DVD I see it didn't loose any of it's charm.

He who fights and runs away, lives to run away again!

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I think the final episode should be filmed back at the camp not in some unfamiliar surroundings years later.

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I hate to say it, but I doubt that Schultz would be police chief because, don't forget,he has a very successful toy company to run. Know how to pronounce it, but not sure how to spell it.

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I always imagined that Schultz had reopened his Schatze toy company after the war.

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Five years after the War (whether a time skip or reunion movie, take your pick)

-- Schultz, now a Millionaire as he has regained Control of his Toy Factory, decides to make a statement by Buying the Stalag land and Building a new toy factory

-- His construction efforts expose the Tunnels which gets the Media to track down the senior officers on either side (our regulars and recurring characters)

-- between Flashbacks... and 'Flashbacks that never happened' they fill in the details about how the program was started, who Nimrod was, how corruption within the Gestapo Let it happen (how many selfish Gestapo sat on the information, rather than 'going Gestapo' or simply exposing the system?)

with the Framing Device of 'future interviews' we learn
-- Schultz is Rich of Course
-- Klink is his accountant
-- Hogan is part of an Early Target/WalMart Type chain store
-- Newkirk is the 'British Hugh Hefner'
-- LeBeau is a Famous Chef, on par with Julia Child
-- Carter is a College Chemistry Professor
-- Kinchloe is a Millionaire thanks to advances he makes in computer technology
-- Crittenden Married into the Royal Family

-- Hochstetter is in Prison
-- Burkhalter and his sister Fled to South America... but are Captured due to some one recognizing them from the news story.

through everything, it is strongly Hinted that Klink was Nimrod, Turned by the Americans in/after WWI... and in the closing scenes we see that he's actually an investor in Schultz's Toy Company... working as the accountant to help grow his money so it didn't look suspicious that he has more money than he should for a fair & honest Officer.

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Quite a few years ago, here on IMDB I had written a short summary of how I thought the finale would be. It's long gone, but I'll try to recreate it.

It's March 1945 and the Allies are advancing across Germany. In the camp, Klink, who's been at Colonal grade the longest of his class, finally get's notice of his promotion to General. In Klink fashion, he insists Gen. Burkhalter give him his new rank in the camp in front of the prisoners and Hogan volunteers the prisoner band to play for him.

Secretly, groups of commandos have been coming into the camp through the tunnels in and effort to take Hammelburg after they've organized. Hogan sees Klink's promotion party as a method of capturing a lot of the German Brass at one time and has the commandos pretend to be the band as they will be on the stage with the officers.

The ceremony starts and just as Burkhalter is to give Klink his promotion, Major Hochstetter bursts into the camp with a truckfull of SS and claim the Allies are coming. They are to quickly round up the prisoners and prepare them to move to another facility.

Hogan, at this point, gives the signal and the commandos drop the instruments and pick up their hidden weapons and surround the officers on stage. The lead commando points his .45 at Hochstetter and says, 'Sir, I believe you are now my prisoner." The SS give up without a shot and the camp is liberated.

Before the credits roll we hear the familiar drum music from the opening of the show. With the music in the background, superimposed over Hogan's cap hanging on Klink's helmet, we get a run down of the key characters:

Major Hochstetter has a mental breakdown and is taken to a Hammelburg asylum where it receives treatment. Whenever his doctor enters his room his is heard to exclaim, "What is this man doing here!"

Gen Burkhalter is cleared of any charges at trial and now lives in Heidleburg with his sister who helps him with his gout.

Sgt Schultz is given reparations for his toy company and opens a cafe in Hammenbug which specializes in French pastry he obtains from LeBeau's world class resturants.

LeBeau opens his resturant in Paris and has a Liberation Day party every year.

Newkirk returns to the RAF but is discharged almost immediately after impersonating Field Marshal Montgomery. He later enteres the fledling TV industtry and becomes a popular game show host for the BBC.

Carter marrys his sweetheart, Betty Lou becomes a high school chemestry teacher until he accidentally blows up the school gym.

Kinch/Baker entered politics where they helped Edward William Brooke III became the first African-American popularly elected to the United States Senate in the 1960s.

Col Klink, volunteers to help shut down the camp after the liberation and due to recommendations of prisoners is allowed to stay. One night, while in is quarters, he accidentally opens the tunnel entrance under the stove. Grabing a light he investiagates, and is never heard from again.

Col Hogan, upon returning to the states is awarded the Medal of Honor. He retires from active service to take a position of the chief engineer of for the Utah Mining Corporation. There he lives with is 2 wives, Helga and Hilda and their 9 children who affectionatly call him ' Papa Bear'.


The music swells, and the picture fades to black.




He who fights and runs away, lives to run away again!

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Burkhalter tires of Klink spurning his sister and orders his arrest. Klink flees to Hogan's barracks and, to his surprise, the tunnel for his escape. What he doesn't know is the underground awaits him for a sub trip to London. Hogan's crew worries about Klink's replacement who is arriving from the Russian front. Their concern is eased when they discover that the replacement is an impostor, none other than Col. Crittendon.

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This is how I see it:
These are snippets, Let the writers fill in the blanks.

Pan to stock footage of American columns of tanks roaring across Europe.
In the tunnels Hogan is conferring with a couple of OSS officers.
Cut to the yard. Burkhalter drives into camp.
interior Klink office.
Burkhalter: KLINK! I will be leaving the country for a while. The Furher wants me to inspect a vacation home in Argentina. But before I go I'm giving you wedding present.
Klink: A wedding present?
Burkhalter:I have documents proving that you are an Allied collaborator. I will leave them with my dear sister Gertrude.
Klink: butbutbut
Berkhalter: Shut up Klink, you'll thank me later.

An American column arrives

A pomous overbearing American colonel is in the lead jeep.

Schultz is there to receive him.
Schultz: Mein Komandant! May I show you to your quarters?
( There needs to be an American version of Schultz)
Last scene of Schultz: He and the remaining guards are raising an American flag. Schultz is leading them in "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

Scene to fit in: A OSS officer screaming "WHO IS THIS MAN"
Also Hoffstetter, Can we connect him to Leonard Hoffstetter from The Big Bang Theory?

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"Also Hoffstetter, Can we connect him to Leonard Hoffstetter from The Big Bang Theory?"

cute idea! Since it's Hochstetter (easy to make that error), perhaps they changed the spelling of the last name after the war.



my fanfiction page: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1695456/

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The war is over and Stalag 13 is liberated and Hogan and his crew helps outs Klink and Schultz in the war tribunal saying their incompetence helped them while Burkhalter and Hochsetter are facing war crimes.

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I'm glad there was never a final episode. One of the things that I find boring about the way show's end nowadays is the "season finale" where everything gets wrapped up. I dread those episodes to the point that if I know a series is coming to the end I pretty much stop watching it. By that time it's no big loss as the show usually should have ended way before the "season finale" anyhow. I like that one can pretty much watch all the episodes of Hogan's Heroes in any order and that goes for a lot of those shows from the fifties and sixties.

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Well, knowing Klink, if he realized that the Allied liberation of the camp was imminent, then he'd most likely try to get in good with the Allied prisoners and Col. Hogan in particular.

Major Hochstetter would probably be around with some SS troops, but then Carter could dress up as Hitler and divert them on a wild goose chase while Allied forces liberate the camp unimpeded. Unfortunately, as the SS troops are captured by the Allies, Carter is still with them, and the Allied troops (led by the recently liberated Col. Crittendon) think they have the real Hitler, and Carter is trying to explain it to them.

Meanwhile, back at camp, LeBeau is preparing a big welcome banquet for the Allied troops, Hogan is showing the tunnel system to Allied officers, along with Col. Klink, who is both humiliated and relieved, since now he can get back to his life as a bookkeeper - or perhaps restarting his career as an artist. Kinch, Newkirk, and the other prisoners would be dismantling and packing all their equipment. Schultz is looking forward to getting back into the toy business. Meanwhile, Crittendon shows up with captured Hochstetter and Carter who he still thinks is Hitler. Hogan finally convinces him otherwise.

At this point, Helga reappears out of nowhere, then runs up and kisses Col. Hogan - just as Hilda is walking out of the office. Hilda and Helga then start to fight, but then both end up hating Col. Hogan for his two-timing. As they're walking away to console each other in a more private setting, Kinch goes up to Hogan and tells him that he just received an urgent message that Marya has been arrested by Soviet agents and is going to be purged by Stalin (she was a white Russian and considered unreliable). She desperately needs Hogan's help to come rescue her and help her defect to the United States.

That can set the stage for one final mission.



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good narrative! Ever consider writing for fanfiction?


my fanfiction page: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1695456/

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There was a McHale's Navy in the 4th and final season where Skip and his sailors try to convince Old Lead Bottom that they are all in New York City, in 1950, having a reunion, which I always thought would have worked well for Hogan's Heroes too. In some ways, the film, The Wicked Dreams Of Paula Schultz (1968), set in 1968, with the actors who played Klink, Schultz, Burkhalter, and Hogan, is like a wierd reunion of sorts.

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In part weird since the show was still on in 1968.

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Heard Crane had idea of Hogan helping,Klink and Schulze escape through the tunnels!

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